Top 10s for 2009: It's a Trap!

Sirius playlist week #50

Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU, 100% pre-millennium edition:

01. TALK 1
02. Honey Is Cool - Bolero
03. Beyond Dawn - Addictions are private
04. Commando M Pigg - Baby doll
05. TALK 2
06. Kent - If you were here
07. Fireside - Let Rasputin do it
08. CMX - Ainomieli 97
09. Docent Död - Bensin i blodet
10. TALK 3
11. Bitch Boys - Automobile
12. Nicolai Dunger - This town
13. Broder Daniel - I'll be gone
14. Starmarket - Ten seconds
15. TALK 4
16. Madrugada - Beautyproof
17. Breach - Black sabbath
18. Silverbullit - Thank you Mr.
19. Camouflage - Syster sol
20. TALK 5
21. Entombed - Lights out

Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers. Next week's show will feature tunes from my top 10 albums of the year.

Daniel GIlbert - Maelstrom (video)

Daniel Gilbert (ex-Broder Daniel) has a video for his debut solo single "Maelstrom": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC5lsVlxO1U
As mentioned before, his album "New African Sports, Soul Café Club No #1" comes out December 28 via Dolores/EMI.

The best things in life are free: Fare You Well, Livaventura, Okkultokrati, Penny Century, We Are the Storm

Festival report: CMJ 2009

Broder Daniel box coming in December

The new Broder Daniel limited edition 2DVD/2CD box set "Broder Daniel forever" will be released on December 2 and in addition to the new documentary film on the band, it will also include previously unreleased live footage.

Daniel Gilbert from Broder Daniel to release solo album

Ex-Broder Daniel bassist/founder Daniel Gilbert will be releasing his debut solo album "New African Sports, Soul Café Club No #1" on December 28 via Dolores Records. Hear a sample tune at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/mybuddy

New Theodor Jensen album gets release date

Theodor Jensen (The Plan, Broder Daniel) has confirmed his forthcoming solo debut "Tough love" will be released on September 2 via Razzia Records.

Interview: Magnus Ekelund (Elmo)

This week's Last.fm chart

Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week, unique to our group:

01. Miss Li
02. The Tough Alliance
03. Mew
04. Håkan Hellström
05. The Bear Quartet
06. Broder Daniel
07. Fever Ray
08. bob hund
09. Tiger Lou
10. Logh

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

This week's Last.fm chart

Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week, unique to our group:

01. Bob Hund
02. Håkan Hellström
03. Mew
04. The Soundtrack of Our Lives
05. The Radio Dept.
06. Moneybrother
07. Deportees
08. Britta Persson
09. Broder Daniel
10. Hello Saferide

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

MP3: Elmo - Darkness falls

Too much work to do, not enough time to crawl through the daily updates. Let's make this quick: Elmo are a melodramatic pop band from way the fuck up north in Sweden who sound more than a little like Broder Daniel. I know that totally sounds like a recipe for disaster on paper, but somehow they pull it off -- I've been listening to the new album "Once" over and over ever since I received in earlier this week. No, they're not as brilliant as the original masters of teenage melancholy, but I'll shrug it off when hit with grandiose sentiments such as "We were not supposed to die!" So over the top! I'm loving it.
Stream the whole damn record at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/elmoswe

Elmo - Darkness falls

MP3: Broder Daniel - What clowns are we

Another Broder Daniel track for Friday because, well... because I said so. And also because I have been thinking a lot about the qualities that makes them who they are. The melodies, of course, are paramount, as is their anthemic scope, but I also think that one of their strongest attributes is the inclusive language of the lyrics. It's "What clowns are we", not "What a clown am I" ("What clowns are you" would be an entirely different story). Henrik sings that we are all in this thing together. We feel down and out and unloved, but we are not alone, we all feel that way. It's not so much empathy as it's group therapy; no doubt that explains the legions of Pandas following the band. I think I've said it before, but I bet that if I had heard BD at a young, impressionable age, I'd be one of them too. As for the actual lyric sentiment in this, BD's final song, it's simple and to-the-point: We get older, but we're just as lost as we ever were. What always was, always shall be.

Broder Daniel - What clowns are we

MP3: Broder Daniel - Only life I know

I've been obsessed with this song recently and its triumphant resignation. Like many Broder Daniel anthems, the soaring melody is at odds with the lyrical content and that makes me question its intentions and sincerity. Sometimes I hear it as a celebration: I love my dead-end town, it is my destiny. You know that any talk of "the grass is always greener..." is total bullshit anyway; why set yourself up for disappointment? There is power is knowing what you face, knowing your enemy. On the other hand, it's much more easily read strictly as a down-and-out heartbreaker: No initiative, no fun, no future. Living in this town is barely living at all. I go back and forth, but generally find myself siding with the former. I love my own small town. It's potential can seem stifling, so I understand why so many move on from here to other opportunities, but there are also plenty of possibilities open to those willing to take charge, take risks. In that spirit I hear this song as sarcasm -- yes, I know my city, sometimes all too well, but that's also why I love it.

Broder Daniel - Only life I know

MP3: We are the Storm - Where we used to be heroes

We are the Storm resent being labelled emo and I can't say I blame them, but I gotta call 'em like I see 'em. Obviously they don't want to be lumped in with modern neon/hairband travesties like Brokencyde or even Panic & Action's artist roster, but that stuff isn't emo to me. I'm using the term in a more old-fashioned sense, meant to conjure memories of bands like Embrace or Fugazi, or as in We are the Storm's particular case, the 90s Midwest scene with acts such as Promise Ring, Texas is the Reason and so on, bands that they actually own up to liking. I'm not much of a Sunny Day Real Estate fan myself, but admitting their influence is hardly an embarrassment. This is emphatic rock music with ambitions of grandeur. "Where we used to be heroes" is more than a Broder Daniel homage, it also incorporates the sounds of bands such as Last Days of April or Sounds Like Violence. It's a strong debut, so all I can say is: keep singing your heart out. It's working.

As mentioned before, the band's entire EP is available for free download here.

We are the Storm - Where we used to be heroes