blonde redhead

no longer overlooked admittedly, but in honour of a terrific show here in iceland a couple of weeks ago i thought you might want to hear what blonde redhead would sound without the italian accent. this version of messenger features david sylvian and comes of the equus single.

apostle of hustle

canada is the new iceland. what is going on up there? i remember a few years ago I had struggle to name a canadian band that didn't deserve to die. that one nation was responsible for barenakedladies and celinedion may just have been better grounds for a preemptive strike than iraq's WMD. But the canadians seem to be able to deal with their own problems. A slew of truly phenomenal bands like the unicorns, arcade fire, godspeed, broken social scene and some lesser ones but still decent like the stills have been popping up - interestingly enough no good bands seem to come from the west coast? so apostle of hustle is yet another canadian worthy our attention - actually it is the side project of someone in the broken social scene - and, yes, it also sounds that way. it doesn't quite reach the heights of BSS but it is nevertheless pretty sweet. baby, you're in luck, a little sample from the album folkloric feel.

mono

this is music made for those moments. like the moment you are walking home after a night of drinking and the sun is coming up (never experienced that? either you don't drink enough or you drink too much). or the moment you just feel like staring out the window for 20 minutes. or some other moment of your own choosing. but basically it is just super pretty and loud music - think godspeed or sigur rós and you'll be close. but I like them more - and not only because they are from japan. it took a little while to get a hooked on them however. it didn't happen until late one night at work with the winamp set on shuffle that a mono track comes on and, well, blows my brains out. jackie says is from their first album "under the pipal tree." They have a new one "Walking cloud and deep red sky, Flag fluttered and the sun shined" out which pretty much sticks to the formula..... but why change it if it works?

nice mono website

the 22-20s

here is one to pierce your heart. this song appeared in a live version on their 10" album earlier this year ... or was it the last one... anyhow, this has none of the fancy shit lesser bands need. no violins, no pianos, no banjos and, oh my gosh, no little electronic beats to keep you tapping your foot [not that i particularily mind those things]. just straight ahead rock that kicks you in the head... that is if you imagine the song is written about you. at any rate the simple approach suits the topic. this version of such a fool is from the new album, which by the sounds of it just might be worth shelling out a few bucks for. here come the hiccups.....

the blood brothers

these guys released a fantastic album, "burn, piano island, burn" last year. yeah, it is a lot of spastic screaming and shit but we can all do with a little of that once in a while. plus the blood brothers do like hardly noone else falling somewhere inbetween the magnificent brainiac and calvin krime. they have a new album coming up which seems to cut a little down on the punkiness without sacrificing much of the energy. a sneak preview, track 16, that actually sounds, strangely enough, a little like blood redhead (who incidently just played a couple of fantastic shows here in iceland earlier this week).

midwest product

not the best of names but with songs like that you can't really complain. Motivator is from their ep World Series of Love (buy). Basically sweet sweet addictive pop in the vein of the Postal Service - only a little lower on the cheese factor.

some more songs over at epitonic.

plastic mastery

song against life

from the sverige ep. don't let it mislead you, the band is actually from florida. but they should be from north carolina....

peculiar

... how you get sucked into things like these?