If you were lucky enough to catch The Head and the Heart's sold-out show at Neumos a few months back, you know just how excited we are about this Friday.

Back in January, THatH took the stage at Neumos with Lemolo and Curtains For You, one of the first shows they played where we stood with fellow "I saw the Sonic Boom set last summer" fans and realized we didn't know most of the people in the room. Well, as the nation's well aware (yes, the nation, not just the Pacific Northwest anymore), this band has been going onward and upward on a steady pace since -- up to and including the current west coast tour that has them playing two nights in Seattle this weekend. On Friday, April 29th, THatH will be playing to a sold out Showbox with Lemolo and the The Devil Whale, and the next night finds them at the Moore (yep, that's sold out too) with Grand Hallway and Ivan & Alyosha. Both nights are sure to make the mark, but we're definitely excited that we've got tickets in our hot little hands for the Showbox version of this latest breeze-through-town installment from one of our new favorite hometown bands.

more...

My love for the Moondoggies is rooted in an accident, by way of KEXP: it was the one-two punch tracks that made it onto my radar a while back of "Save My Soul" > "Changing" that got me onto their brand of junk. And I say 'accident' there because I wasn't seeking out any new alt.beardrock, and while I loved those songs, I wasn't aching in the soles of my workboots for more Moondoggies music as a result of that listen. But inherent in those songs was some kind of catch, something that couldn't be denied -- it seemed like no matter how many times I heard that combo, I just couldn't get sick of it. The lines translated, every single time. The music lifted me up and sat me gently back down in my seat, every single time. And just as that started to fade out, my recent obsession with the video for "Empress of the North" -- so lovingly illustrated by Drew Christie -- faded in, coupled with the pinch of fame generated by Lynn Shelton's $5 Cover. And all of a sudden, this band was taking up a legitimate percentage of my bandwidth.

Suffice it to say, the Moondoggies are what's good, and I'm hooked. Their presence on the scene is increasing these days, and with good cause -- they've got an earnest brand of indie.Northwest.lumbercore going, varying in sounds-like influences from The Band to Band of Horses depending on the track, the weather, and the day of the week. And everything I hear makes me pay more attention, every new track makes me want to listen to one more, and everything they've done lately takes them one step further from separating themselves from the Great Beard Movement of the last few years.

It's quite an accomplishment to transcend a pigeonholed state like lumbercore / beard rock, and these guys have done it. They're taking everything that's good about that kind of sound and pulling it across the land of post-hippie jam bands, closer to the other side of that wide road into a more genre-less territory -- where things are still all heartache-y-breaky but lean a little more toward anthematic, and bands like the Avett Brothers hold seat at the top of the hill. Case in point, the Moondoggies have released a track off the new album Tidelands, that's been on heavy rotation since the end of last week at our imaginary desks. It's called "What Took So Long" and you can go 'n get your repeat on over at the band's Soundcloud page here.

more...

I have the major hots for just about anything with the Labrador Records stamp. Although I can't verbalize it as well as Steve Thornton, imaginary staffer who objectively and positively swooned over the comprehensive Labrador compilation, Labrador 100 - A Complete History Of Popular Music, in 2007, the label's decade plus of solid releases has cemented them as a staple conversation topic in any indie-pop thinkthank... and therefore, recipient of my lustful gazes from across the crowded dance floor.

On April 25th, Labrador Records' The Mary Onettes will be in Seattle at the Sunset Tavern in support of their new album Islands with Hotels and Erik Blood opening.  The Mary O's new full length is a dreamy set of modern day anthems fit for any John Hughes soundtrack. The songs are exceptional pieces of beautiful orchestrated indie-pop that flows with pretty angst ("Now I dared to think I'm something that I'm not " from the song "Dare" which you can sing along to in the video below).

In short, if you like your mix tapes chock full of Jesus and Mary Chain, Cure, New Order, and Pains of Being Pure at Heart you'll kick yourself for missing this show.

more...

Gothernburg, Sweden's sweet-voiced Sarah Assbring has teamed up with Rasmus Hagg of the duo Studio this time out, for the third album from El Perro del Mar, Love Is Not Pop.

"Album" might be pushing it, if you're looking for length, as this is seven new songs plus three remixes. Following up 2008's From The Valley To The Stars, which had oodles of small little ditties about desire and deities, "L is for Love" is just as romantic and lyrically ambitious, but deeper and more concerned with human amore. Besides a splendid if sobering adaptation of author-theologian G.K. Chesterton poem "It Is Something (To Have Wept)" Assbring (and Hagg) have crafted a stainless examination about what makes our bodies warm, and what turns our hearts cold. 

more...

Dear lord, this is exciting.

Annie, the Norwegian princess of perfect pop, is FINALLY going to release her second album, Don't Stop, in November. I mentioned here that it was supposed to be released sometime last year (I blogged about it in early May of 2008) but that was a false start with Annie leaving Island Records and this looks like it's the real thing. Quoting the press release extensively:

Annie calls her sophomore album, Don't Stop, “pop with strange edges”; it moves with twists and eccentricities so surprising that the tunes persistently demand a double take. Both immediately listenable and utterly beguiling, this "pop with strange edges" is mainstream and underground, all at once. Sometimes expressive, sometimes funny, but always totally fresh and utterly human, Annie’s new album, Don’t Stop, puts on something of a show. Recorded over the last three years, Don’t Stop will pull off the tricky task of pleasing Annie’s existing fans, while, just maybe, making her a bit of a household name.

more...

When songs from Sally Shapiro’s debut album, Disco Romance, began showing up on mp3 blogs and music websites, there was not a lot known about the reclusive Swedish pop star, including her name. “Sally Shapiro” is the name of both the anonymous Swedish pop singer and the duo between producer Johan Agebjörn and the anonymous singer. She is known for refusing to play her songs live, or even record her vocals with anyone else in the same room. Still, it’s a beautiful idea that someone could succeed making excellent pop music free of the pressure of becoming a pop star.

Sally Shapiro's latest album, My Guilty Pleasure, like its predecessor, is a dazzling collection of Italo Disco songs that blends Agebjörn’s production values over Shapiro’s gorgeous, breathy harmonies. The songs are often melancholic and wistful, but still sound as though they belong in dance clubs, on mix CDs for potential partners and to be heard individually on your iPod. The album comes out on August 25 on Paper Bag Records.

I spoke with Shapiro by phone from her home in Sweden to discuss making this album, the expectations that came with having a popular debut album and why, exactly, is Sweden home to so much great pop music.

more...

Mariam Wallentin & Andreas Werliin are a married Gonthenburg, Sweden couple who make warm butterscotch sauce on vanilla ice cream music with just voice and some drums and a little sound splash here and there. Their band Wildbirds & Peacedrums is coming to the States in September, but let their new album "The Snake" help cool you down before the fall.

If you're like Pitchfork ("8.3"), The Guardian ("sensual, pulverizing, and mesmeric"), MOJO ("exceptional"), Uncut ("extraordinary"), or me ("Sweet!") it will massage away the prickly heat of the day as previous Control Group releases from El Perro Del Marr did. This Seattle-started label seems to have a sexy finger on the vein of the Nordic-soul fetish, and songs like "My Heart" and "There Is No Light" should be getting tons of airplay on certain stations with a similar taste in exquisitely made minimalism.

They toured supporting Lykke Li last February and their return here will spread through October. TCG also announces that the next El Perro Del Marr will be out around that time (September 22, specifically), their third one States-side entitled "Love Is Not Pop." Sweet!

more...