Back from the Mediterranean, finally. In the meantime, I hope you haven't forgotten about this Friday's not-to-be-missed event: Our beloved Brooklyn chillwave friends of Small Black are coming to Hamburg's Indra together with their much-hyped Georgia pal Ernest Greene aka Washed Out to play their first ever show in Germany. Go there.

Below, watch Small Black's brand new video for Bad Lover (via pitchfork.tv), one of the songs off the gorgeous self-titled debut EP, out on Jagjaguwar.

Back from the Mediterranean, finally. In the meantime, I hope you haven't forgotten about this Friday's not-to-be-missed event: Our beloved Brooklyn chillwave friends of Small Black are coming to Hamburg's Indra together with their much-hyped Georgia pal Ernest Greene aka Washed Out to play their first ever show in Germany. Go there.

Below, watch Small Black's brand new video for Bad Lover (via pitchfork.tv), one of the songs off the gorgeous self-titled debut EP, out on Jagjaguwar.

There won't be any posts for the rest of the week, as I'll be heading down to Barcelona tomorrow for the incredible Primavera Sound Festival. I'm gonna continue writing on Monday.

So have a nice week and a wonderful weekend. And as homework, analyse this (and read this article about Myles Cooper):

There won't be any posts for the rest of the week, as I'll be heading down to Barcelona tomorrow for the incredible Primavera Sound Festival. I'm gonna continue writing on Monday.

So have a nice week and a wonderful weekend. And as homework, analyse this (and read this article about Myles Cooper):

Let's not give up hope that there's gonna be a real summer this year in Europe, and when it has arrived here finally, be sure to have Summer Camp's magnificent songs in your iPod. There had been a significant amount of confusion and perplexity about the band's provenance for quite a while, but by now it appears we are on the safe side by informing you that Summer Camp's wonderful 50s to 60s-infused sunshine pop tunes that we've been blessed with so far have come into being in our eternally adored and ever vibrant capital of pop that is the city of London, England. In fact, they were first imagined and then recorded by the two supposedly über-rad (or completely nerdy, the above picture allows both conclusions) Londoners named Jeremy Warmsley and Elizabeth Sankey, and the few songs they've made available until today suggest some kind of conjunction of Washed Out, Kisses, Cults, a little Twin Sister and Memoryhouse, The Drums' jangling surf pop, and the whole twee/C86 revival, which results in being more or less the quintessence of what makes this year musically exciting. And that's not supposed to be an overstatement.

The impeccable folks of Moshi Moshi put out Summer Camp's debut 7 inch Ghost Train/Montgomery Avenue 1984 in early April, and it was sold out prior to the release date. Right now, there appears to be no information about any further releases anytime soon, though that's actually quite unlikely given the present buzz the duo is generating.

For those of you who need a genre tag, their Last.fm page suggests "tearoom pop", which sounds both nice and extremely British, but not entirely adequate if you ask me. Sure, you might start dreaming while listening to the music, but there's actual risk that you end up spilling tea all over the place. Be that as it may, Summer Camp should be part of your soundtrack this summer.

Let's not give up hope that there's gonna be a real summer this year in Europe, and when it has arrived here finally, be sure to have Summer Camp's magnificent songs in your iPod. There had been a significant amount of confusion and perplexity about the band's provenance for quite a while, but by now it appears we are on the safe side by informing you that Summer Camp's wonderful 50s to 60s-infused sunshine pop tunes that we've been blessed with so far have come into being in our eternally adored and ever vibrant capital of pop that is the city of London, England. In fact, they were first imagined and then recorded by the two supposedly über-rad (or completely nerdy, the above picture allows both conclusions) Londoners named Jeremy Warmsley and Elizabeth Sankey, and the few songs they've made available until today suggest some kind of conjunction of Washed Out, Kisses, Cults, a little Twin Sister and Memoryhouse, The Drums' jangling surf pop, and the whole twee/C86 revival, which results in being more or less the quintessence of what makes this year musically exciting. And that's not supposed to be an overstatement.

The impeccable folks of Moshi Moshi put out Summer Camp's debut 7 inch Ghost Train/Montgomery Avenue 1984 in early April, and it was sold out prior to the release date. Right now, there appears to be no information about any further releases anytime soon, though that's actually quite unlikely given the present buzz the duo is generating.

For those of you who need a genre tag, their Last.fm page suggests "tearoom pop", which sounds both nice and extremely British, but not entirely adequate if you ask me. Sure, you might start dreaming while listening to the music, but there's actual risk that you end up spilling tea all over the place. Be that as it may, Summer Camp should be part of your soundtrack this summer.

Kudos to the wonderful folks over at No Pain In Pop for directing our undivided attention toward London's latest dream-pop sensation Echo Lake, a band that started as a guy's solo bedroom project late last year, but has by now been expanded into a quintet.

Blurred guitar patterns guide our paths through tunes that sound like the perfect fusion of early new wave and latter day shoegaze, with a girl's ethereal voice drenched in reverb beautifully uttering something we're probably not supposed to understand. There are so far only three songs available, and two of them have not yet left demo stage (the exception is In Dreams), but the splendour Echo Lake are adumbrating makes us curious about the things to come.

Kudos to the wonderful folks over at No Pain In Pop for directing our undivided attention toward London's latest dream-pop sensation Echo Lake, a band that started as a guy's solo bedroom project late last year, but has by now been expanded into a quintet.

Blurred guitar patterns guide our paths through tunes that sound like the perfect fusion of early new wave and latter day shoegaze, with a girl's ethereal voice drenched in reverb beautifully uttering something we're probably not supposed to understand. There are so far only three songs available, and two of them have not yet left demo stage (the exception is In Dreams), but the splendour Echo Lake are adumbrating makes us curious about the things to come.

For the ones of you who cannot sleep, for the ones of you longing: perfection needs no further words.

For the ones of you who cannot sleep, for the ones of you longing: perfection needs no further words.

And all of a sudden, he's everybody's darling. Today, even the guys at Pitchfork seem to like him, though up to now they never seemed particularly fond of Ariel Marcus Rosenberg's efforts. Anyway, it's never too late to change your mind. In any case, Ariel Pink and his Haunted Graffiti's upcoming album Before Today (due 8 June on 4AD) is highly anticipated by pretty much everyone right now. And just in time before next month's release, the great FACT Magazine has published its mix #152, compiled by Ariel Pink together with his band. And it's a real delight, 50 minutes of weirdo pop from all over the planet. Check the whole playlist here.

Be sure to download it soon, as it will only be available for three weeks, and you don't want to miss it, believe me.

FACT mix 152 – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti (via FACT Magazine)

And all of a sudden, he's everybody's darling. Today, even the guys at Pitchfork seem to like him, though up to now they never seemed particularly fond of Ariel Marcus Rosenberg's efforts. Anyway, it's never too late to change your mind. In any case, Ariel Pink and his Haunted Graffiti's upcoming album Before Today (due 8 June on 4AD) is highly anticipated by pretty much everyone right now. And just in time before next month's release, the great FACT Magazine has published its mix #152, compiled by Ariel Pink together with his band. And it's a real delight, 50 minutes of weirdo pop from all over the planet. Check the whole playlist here.

Be sure to download it soon, as it will only be available for three weeks, and you don't want to miss it, believe me.

FACT mix 152 – Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti (via FACT Magazine)

I just wanted to very briefly announce that NFOP has been admitted to the Hype Machine. For you this means that from now on you can listen to all the songs I post here via their page, which includes the possibility to create a playlist of your own by "loving" the tunes you dig (i.e. clicking on the heart next to the title), if you create or already have an account. Moreover, for those of you with a Last.fm profile, listening via the Hype Machine will scrobble once you've set it up.

Read more about the Hype Machine and how it works here.

You will find NFOP on hypem.com right here and you can follow it by clicking on the heart next to the blog's name (again, of course you'll need to create an account first).

I just wanted to very briefly announce that NFOP has been admitted to the Hype Machine. For you this means that from now on you can listen to all the songs I post here via their page, which includes the possibility to create a playlist of your own by "loving" the tunes you dig (i.e. clicking on the heart next to the title), if you create or already have an account. Moreover, for those of you with a Last.fm profile, listening via the Hype Machine will scrobble once you've set it up.

Read more about the Hype Machine and how it works here.

You will find NFOP on hypem.com right here and you can follow it by clicking on the heart next to the blog's name (again, of course you'll need to create an account first).