Club 8 - Western hospitality

Pitchfork has a new track from Club 8 for streaming/download: http://pitchfork.com/forkcast/13937-western-hospitality/

New Radio Dept. album has a new release date

The long-awaited new album from The Radio Dept. "Clinging to a scheme" now has a release date of April 21, or so says label Labrador Records. The band seems to think otherwise. Anyhow, in other Labrador-related news, the new Club 8 record "The people's record" also has a release date: May 12.

New Club 8 on the way

There's a new Club 8 album due in late December.

Johan Angergård interview at Warmer Climes

Wamer Climes interviews Johan Angergård of The Legends/Club 8/Labrador Records: http://warmer-climes.blogspot.com/2009/10/facts-figures-with-johan-angergard-of.html

Jari Haapalainen to produce Club 8

Club 8 has announced that they have hired The Bear Quartet's Jari Haapalainen to produce their next album, the first time the band has worked with an outside producer. Jari of course is very well-known for his production skills nowadays, having worked with artists such as The Concretes, Camera Obscura and Laakso.

Burning Hearts
Aboa sleeping
Shelflife Records

Everything about Burning Hearts just seems to fit - from the beautifully conceived cover art (that reminds me of the early dust jackets of Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's cradle") to the whirling swells of pop instrumentation that provide the landscape for Jessika Rapo's voice (one that wonderfully channels Nico at times) to glide along. There is a twee playfulness reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian and Camera Obscura, but Burning Hearts are very much a collaboration that could only have come together in Scandinavia. Opener "I lost my colour vision" exists somewhere between Club 8 and Moonbabies, and "Aboa sleeping" continues to transverse this Nordic territory throughout with a dexterity that only echoes certain bands, Granada and The Chrysler among them, without feeling weighed down by their influence. "Aboa sleeping" is a lavishly imagined pop album, one where my favorite tracks has shifted almost every listen. There is one stumble on the record, however - the strangely conceived "The galloping horse" was removed from my iTunes quite quickly (I can only listen to the sound of heart arrhythmia and a narrator from a 1950s-style medical instructional film played over an arpeggiated synthline so many times). Stumbles and arrhythmia aside, "Aboa sleeping" is one of the best albums Shelflife has put out, and Burning Hearts have proven themselves one of the strongest members of a very strong label roster.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson

The Legends
Over and over
Labrador

With his first three albums, The Legends' Johan Angergård slowly traveled through his enormous catalogue of musical references, from 60's rock to 80's wave and 90's pop. All the while, The Legends managed to show an originality in their genre-bending musicality that always made them more than a simple retro-act. Still, their musical development seems to leave The Legends with a dilemma for their new album: What should the next logical step be when reaching contemporaray influences in their musical journey. Fuzz R&B? Ringtone shoegaze? Maybe not so surprisingly, "Over and over" takes the opposite chronological direction. Only this time, with the first three albums up their sleeves, The Legends can move on from ordinary reference to actual self-reference. Accordingly, the new album contains bits and pieces from The Legends' previous periods -- fuzz-pop, synth-layers, and quite some Pet Shop Boys'isms -- amalgamated with influences from Johan Angergård's other projects Club 8 and Acid House Kings. Quite logically, "Over and over" therefore lacks the aesthetic uniformity and clear vision that made the first three albums stand out. This becomes most obvious when The Legends noisiest single ever, last fall's brilliant "Seconds away", only two songs later gives way to a clear-sounding, very 60's pop boy-girl duet. What the album lacks in coherence in its sound-design is, in part, made up by Johan Angergård's ever-impressive songwriting and fondness for melodies, especially during the record's strong first half. Still, considering their landmark earlier efforts, I'd expected a little more from The Legends than this motley crew of somewhat divergent reference-pop. But then again, maybe they're just surprising us by transforming from an album-band to a singles-band, just like in the old days.
- Arnulf Köhncke

New Sweet Serenades single available for download, album for streaming

Leon Records are offering The Sweet Serenades new single "Die young" as a free download: http://www.leonrecords.se/songs/die-young-the-sweet-serenades.mp3
Karolina Komstedt from Club 8 provides guest vocals. Listen to their full album "Balcony cigarettes" at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thesweetserenadesmusic

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

01. Hello Saferide
02. Anna Ternheim
03. Kleerup
04. Moto Boy
05. El Perro del Mar
06. Loney, Dear
07. Club 8
08. Håkan Hellström
09. The Soundtrack of Our Lives
10. Glasvegas

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/

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

01. Hello Saferide
02. Anna Ternheim
03. Håkan Hellström
04. Detektivbyrån
05. Club 8
06. The Radio Dept.
07. Frida Hyvönen
08. Jens Lekman
09. The Tough Alliance
10. Shout Out Louds

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/

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

01. Broder Daniel
02. Laakso
03. Kristofer Åström
04. Håkan Hellström
05. Pelle Carlberg
06. Hello Saferide
07. The Bear Quartet
08. Juvelen
09. Jens Lekman
10. Club 8

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/

Labrador is offering the new Club 8 single "Jesus, walk with me" as a free download: http://www.labrador.se/mp3/Jesus-remixed.zip

Pitchfork reviews Club 8's latest album "The boy who couldn't stop dreaming": http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/47687-the-boy-who-couldnt-stop-dreaming

The 2nd part of Indie MP3's interview with Club 8 is now posted: http://www.indie-mp3.co.uk/2007/12/boy-who-couldnt-stop-dreaming.html

Top 10s for 2007: It's a Trap!