New Music Roundup

"Can you feel it?"



Song :: The Air We Breathe by Figurines
A nifty little piano-fueled tune with Beach Boys-like harmonies. Check out the balloon/ cluster-of-grapes centred "jokey" video.

Song :: You Cream My Pants by Strip Squad
A pretty good, though obviously ludicrous, song that one shouldn't google when in the office environment. Moves from ludicrous to absurd when the chorus kicks in and you find that you can't help but sing "you cream my pants" along with these crazy Swedes. Reminds me of mid-80's Canadian punk heros The Dik Van Dykes (listen to the classic "Curling" here).

Song :: Oregon Girl by Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Yes, SSLYBY, your clumsy yet fashionably verbose band name got me to listen to you!

Bad Santa

Those crazy Brits! Always laying down odds on anything that moves and competing for the coveted Christmas #1 song slot!. Malcolm Middleton (and his current single "We're all going to die") has come outta nowhere to show them top 40'ers what's what and currently sits at 4th favourite with odds of 12/1. "We're all going to die" is strangely uplifting... as in your going to die so get out there and make something of yourself. This time around he's decided to star in his own video - showing the world his best side and in no way perpetuating a Scottish stereotype:

VIDEO We're all going to die by Malcolm Middleton

Music is Happiness

Happiness is an enthusiastic band with a synth and theremin player sporting a PLAYMOBIL® haircut! And oh how Ms. Lambert can manipulate that theremin - yeah - all the while transforming an innocent hamster into a killing (self-defence it would seem) machine. See. It's very easy to keep me happy.

VIDEO Music is happiness by The Octopus Project


The Octopus Project are an "indietronica"(!) band from Texas who have been known to collaborate with Black Moth Super Rainbow in the past and have been described as "filling their songs with brilliant contrasting colors and cascading waves of sonic bliss". Good enough for me.

Here's the excellent, highly recommended, speedy "truck" from their most recent album "Hello, Avalanche" (auto-download)...

MP3 Truck by The Octopus Project

Farewell my fair weather friend

Forget the dog days of (almost) winter and put some colour into that pointy little head of yours... “when the weather gets warm we get the same things on our minds as you boys do.”


VIDEO Fair Weather Friends by Daedelus

More propoganda from the Icelandic Tourist Board

This is the new sigur rós song that forms part of the band's Heima movie.
MP3 Hljomalind by sigur rós

If their music can be described as a slow avalanche then their collective personality, in the interview arena at least, can be described as a slow avalanche without a pulse. This clip may cause more squirms than watching David Brent tell a racial joke on The Office. However, this is exactly as you would expect this band to be...
VIDEO sigur rós interview on NPR

Never has playing hide and seek with an alien sea creature sounded more beautiful...
VIDEO Saeglopur by sigur rós

Of course, they look and sound incredible rehearsing in a parking lot too...
VIDEO Olsen Olsen (live) by sigur rós

Love Love Love

Who knows where we'll all be in 5 years? Love now! Enjoy this video now!!!

VIDEO Five Years Time by Noah and the Whale

MP3 Five Years Time by Noah and the Whale
Noah and the Whale on MySpace



Could a song start off any better than with whistling, ukulele and violin? Well, maybe some handclaps... but this is darn near pop perfection!

Hang on... handclaps are here too!
I melt.

And in case the way they look in shorts didn't give it away - yes they're British.

We Throw Parties (newish music roundup)

Shout Out Louds

Their videos are kinda lame and they tend to wear poorly matching uniforms when performing live, but they're from Sweden so that pretty much guarantees a catchy pop tune or two these days. Here's The Cure-esque:
MP3 Tonight I have to Leave it

Loch Lomond (from Portland, not Scotland)

"Tic" kinda propels along like a sea shanty... the video integrates live action with animation but lacks anything all that interesting going on... "bearing down"...
VIDEO Tic by Loch Lomond

Los Campesinos (from Wales, not someplace where they use "Los" a lot)

Where would this song be without that female-vocal sung chorus?... Not here anyways... The animated video shows, I think, that disco beats war everytime... cool!
VIDEO We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives by Los Campesinos

"But it sounded like he’d broken a limb each and every time he pushed the key down or in"