In case the MCR thing wasn't your style, let me make it up to you with DAVID & THE CITIZENS who are ruling in every way.

David (who pulls a Mountain Goats thing in that he basically 'is' the band) is from Sweden (of course) and has been rocking my world since I discovered them on a SXSW prep-podcast (they played the same time as three of my other must-see bands so I had to miss them).

I recently found a couple of their releases, Until The Sadness Is Gone and David & The Citizens EP and can't stop listening; There's not a bad song in the bunch (and it's inspired the hunt for the rest of his catalog). It's hard to choose which songs you hear first, so I'll send you to the first DatC song I heard (in YouTube form of course). "The End" is a standout charmer.

But, I can't leave you with just that... I must also send you to the second song I found by David--"Absent Mind" leaves me breathless as well. There's no video for it (even though this is You-Tube-i-licious Day), so follow this link to download the MP3 (thank you Brooklyn Vegan!).

As one reviewer recently described DatC:

Do you like Belle & Sebastian minus the twee? Bright Eyes minus the histrionics? The Decemberists minus the sea shanties? Add that up, then stir in a huge dose of Scandinavian popsong brilliance, and you have David & the Citizens.

Want more? You can stalk him on MySpace and Flickr.