19 Nov 2011 — Tonje Thilesen
We've all been continuously discussing how Sweden
is likely to have the strongest pop scene around, and before we even know it there's a new sound emerging from one of its beautiful cities, ready to embrace us Swedish pop fanatics. Gothenburg's
Happy Hands Club has exactly that fresh and catchy sound that is much likely to be the next Swedish hype, with their sweet-scented pop melodies and a sound that seems to be something of a mixture between Wu Lyf, Craft Spells and, why not, a tiny touch of Gardens & Villa.
Grab a copy of their brand new self-titled EP on 12 inch vinyl
here.
Happy Hands Club - Lost At Sea
Previously:
Happy Hands Club - I'm Not An Antidote
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17 Nov 2011 — Henning Lahmann
LaGrange, Georgia's Rachel and Grant Evans do not only run
a pretty exciting tape label and have joined their creative forces to form the drone ambient project
Quiet Evenings that has had a couple of very compelling releases (
including this one) - above all the two are probably the most amiable married couple in the current North American underground. Now to celebrate a recent anniversary, Rachel and Grand have recorded a split LP under their respective solo endeavors
Motion Sickness Of Time Travel (which is, as some will now, among some of our
favorite stuff to have been put out this year) and
Nova Scotian Arms, and the result is just another delicate and intriguing effort of expansive psych- and noise-informed soundscapes. Below, watch the amazing 17-minute visualization for the Nova Scotian Arms track "Navigation (Devotional)", made last week by Camilla Padgitt-Coles (of
Future Shuttle).
Crystal Anniversary is out now on
Aguirre Records
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17 Nov 2011 — Henning Lahmann
The
Emil & Friends tune "Downed Economy" is off last year's EP of the same name and has thus been flowing around for a good while now already, but as far as I can see this amazing
Hotel Mexico remix is something brand new. So I don't know the particular occasion for this re-work, but in any case our favorite Tokyo-based lo-fi dance quintet has turned the track into a wonderfully lush, laid-back AM pop slow-burner, and I guess that alone should be reason enough.
Emil & Friends - Downed Economy (Hotel Mexico Remix)
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14 Nov 2011 — Henning Lahmann
Found myself repeatedly enchanted and indeed quite impressed by Buenos Aires-based chanteuse Paula Garcia aka
Sobrenadar whose blissful, blurry synth-driven dream pop softly lands somewhere close to Sleep ∞ Over, Boy Friend and the likes, which can't be a bad thing now that the days have already gotten terribly short again.
Sobrenadar's wonderful new EP
Physeos is out today on
Absent Fever. Get it
here.
Sobrenadar - Finales
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14 Nov 2011 — Tonje Thilesen
It feels like it's been ages since we last heard of Canada's
HAPPY TRENDY and his stripped-down synth pop, but fear not, our darling Dylan Khotin-Foote is back with a brand new ear-friendly gem for us all, due to next week on
Orchid Tapes. In fact,
BIRP premiered the first single off the
Die Young EP today, and it does indeed seem to have captured the ears of, uh, the so-called blogosphere. Together with NFOP regular
Foxes in Fiction, the two of them are to be seen on December 9th here in Oslo at Sound Of Mu (
RSVP here). For the remaining tour dates, see below.
HAPPY TRENDY - January 6
November 30th - Porto, Portugal – Passos Manuel
December 1st – Coimbra, Portugal - Oficina Municipal do Teatro
December 3rd – Lisbon, Portugal – Vodafone Mexefest / Terraço Hotel Tivoli
December 4th – Madrid, Spain - TBA
December 5th – Lyon, France – La Triperie
December 6th – Paris, France – L’espace B
December 7th – Lille, France – Peek-A-Boo
December 8th – Haarlem, Netherlands – Geertruida
December 9th – Oslo, Norway – Sound of Mu
December 10th – Berlin, Germany – Mme Claude
December 11th – Leipzig, Germany - Wächterhaus
December 12th – Hamburg, Germany – Astra-Stube
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13 Nov 2011 — Henning Lahmann
We still haven't fully grasped the whole gloriousness of Joe Knight aka
Rangers' magnificent LP
Pan Am Stories, without any doubt
one of our favorites of 2011, but this guy is simply not willing to give us a break: Already working on no less than two new tapes that are scheduled for early next year via his and his pals' still pretty new imprint
Brunch Groupe, he's additionally commenced to remix all (!) of his previous stuff, including the tunes off his stellar proper debut LP
Suburban Tours, released last year via
Olde English Spelling Bee (and, needless to add, also one of
our albums of 2010). As for the
Suburban Tours remixes, Joe says he's probably just gonna make them all available for free via the Brunch Groupe site, so keep an eye on that - and as a start, enjoy his first, very worthwhile rework of "Glen Clarin" below.
Rangers - Glen Clarin (Remix)
Pan Am Stories is out on
Not Not Fun. Seriously,
get it while you can.
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We've already indulged ourselves in the majestic beauty of