Stylus covers I'm From Barcelona in their Stypod/music blog section, offering a few tracks up for download: http://stylusmagazine.com/stypod/archives/785

My radio show this week is all about good-time summer jams:

01. TALK 1
02. Junior Senior - Move your feet
03. Tigerbombs - 1000 sparks
04. Säkert! - Vi kommer att dö samtidigt
05. TALK 2
06. Maia Hirasawa - And I found this boy
07. Margaret Berger - Samantha
08. The Knife - Heartbeats
09. The Ark - The worrying kind
10. TALK 3
11. Bamse - Kapten Busters sång
12. Marit Bergman - Adios amigos
13. Last Days of April - Playerin
14. Nic & the Family - Hej Monika
15. TALK 4
16. Basshunter - Boten Anna
17. The Alpine - No I in team
18. Aqua - Barbie girl
19. TALK 5
20. I'm From Barcelona - Treehouse
21. Bertine Zetlitz - 500
22. Eric Prydz vs Floyd - Proper education
23. TALK 6
24. Children of Bodom - Oops, I did it again!
25. Whale - Hobo humpin' slobo babe
26. Kurt Nilsen - She's so high
27. Desert Planet - Return of the ninja droids
28. TALK 7
29. Laakso - Italy vs Helsinki
30. Peter Bjorn and John - Young folks
31. September - Cry for you
32. TALK 8
33. Randy - Summer of bros
34. Ace of Base - All that she wants
35. Sir Eric Beyond and the Avant-Garde - Democracy
36. TALK 9
37. Håkan Hellström - Kann ingen sorg för mig Göteborg
38. Seven Feet Four - Last days of summer
39. Tiger Lou - The war between us (Rupesh Cartel remix)
40. Madrugada - The kids are on high street
41. TALK 10
42. Europe - The final countdown

Download the companion "Summer jam '07" podcast mix right here.

Podcast: Summer jam '07

Updated livedates for I'm From Barcelona, including a new NYC show:

05/27 - Papillons de nuit, St Laurent de Cuves (FRA)
06/29 - Microcosm, La Roche sur Yon (FRA)
06/30 - Eurockéennes, De Belfort (FRA)
07/06 - Rock dans tous ses états, Evreux (FRA)
07/07 - Oxegen, Punchestown Racecourse (IRL)
07/13 - Melt Festival, Ferropolis/Gräfenhainichen (GER)
07/14 - Latitude, Southwold (UK)
07/15 - Indian Summer, Glasgow (UK)
07/16 - Concorde 2, Brighton (UK)
07/26 - Emmabodafestivalen (SWE)
07/27 - Neapolis Festival, Neapel (ITA)
07/28 - The Secret Garden Party, Cambridge/Huntingdon (UK)
07/28 - Hana-Bi, Ravenna (ITA)
08/02 - Sudoeste Festival (POR)
08/04 - Lollapalooza, Chicago, IL
08/05 - Jelly NYC Pool Parties, Brooklyn, NY
08/06 - Southpaw, Brooklyn, NY
08/16 - Pukkelpop (BEL)
08/24 - Pstereo, Trondheim (NOR)

I'm From Barcelona will finally make to the US this summer for a few festival dates:

08/04 - Grant Park (Lollapalooza), Chicago, IL
08/05 - McCarren Park Pool, Brooklyn, NY

New summer festival dates for I'm From Barcelona:

05/27 - Papillons de nuit, St Laurent de Cuves (FRA)
06/29 - Microcosm, La Roche sur Yon (FRA)
06/30 - Eurockéennes, De Belfort (FRA)
07/06 - Rock dans tous ses états, Evreux (FRA)
07/07 - Oxegen, Punchestown Racecourse (IRL)
07/13 - Melt Festival, Ferropolis/Gräfenhainichen (GER)
07/14 - Latitude, Southwold (UK)
07/15 - Indian Summer, Glasgow (UK)
07/16 - Concorde 2, Brighton (UK)
07/28 - The Secret Garden Party, Cambridge/Huntingdon (UK)

If you missed my radio show on Friday, you also missed my wife and I serenading our border collie Parker with a little IFB. He sure does hate them.

New tourdates for I'm From Barcelona:

05/08 - Fri-Son, Fribourg (SWI)
05/09 - Kaserne, Baselg (SWI)
05/10 - Bronson, Ravenna (ITA)
05/11 - Alpheus, Rome (ITA)
05/12 - Rainbow, Milan (ITA)

PopMatters on the US release of I'm From Barcelona: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/10242/im-from-barcelona-let-me-introduce-my-friends/
Unless they throw together some US tourdates, I doubt that most people will care about this record since it's already been talked to death over the last year or so.

Samuraj Cities will support I'm From Barcelona on the following dates:

03/24 - Botanique, Brussels (BEL)
03/25 - Melkweg Max, Amsterdam (NL)
03/26 - La Cigal, Paris (FRA)
03/27 - Koko, London (UK)

There's now a website for Ireland's Absolut Swedish arts & music festival which will be taking place February 28 through March 4: http://www.swedishfestival.ie/
As mentioned before, artists confirmed include Hello Saferide, Samuraj Cities, Juvelen, I'm From Barcelona and more.

A nice big batch of reviews has been posted today: [click here]
Simon Tagestam leads with some I'm From Barcelona backlash, Matt Giordano reports on having seen Peter Bjorn and John in NYC and more.

Updated I'm From Barcelona tourdates:

02/22 - John Dee, Oslo (NOR)
02/23 - Blæst, Trondheim (NOR)
03/02 - Village, Dublin (IRL)
03/03 - Roisin Dubh, Galway (IRL)
03/24 - Botanique, Bruxells (BEL)
03/25 - Melkweg Max, Amsterdam (NL)
03/26 - La Cigale, Paris (FRA)
03/27 - Koko, London (UK)
04/28 - Bergenfest, Bergen (NOR)

I'm From Barcelona
Live @ ULU, London, 01/24/07

They were much better than when I saw them last year at the Emmaboda Festival in Sweden, that's something I can't lie about. But even though I love their recorded music, I just can't stand them and their hippie ways of conducting a live concert. It's like a constant cringeworthy moment to observe them slaughter their songs on stage. Their stage show makes me feel like crawling into my backpack and chewing my ears off. I seem to be in a minority though, most people tonight at ULU were happily singing along and going "mental" when confetti and other horrible antics were unleashed upon them. I don't mind the odd bit of crowd participation, and I'm definitely against any Sonic Youth-like snobbery were bands might as well play in another room, but in my humble opinion, I'm From Barcelona are just taking it too far, and it makes me sick, sick to the bone!
- Simon Tagestam

MP3: The Bear Quartet - The Supremes

This week's post of The Bear Quartet comes courtesy of Aymeric from French music blog Absolut Noise, a site he characterizes as being solely dedicated to The Bear Quartet 'cept that he also covers other Swedish music sometimes. This is what he had to say:

Yesterday, I saw I'm From Barcelona live. I chatted a bit with their (very nice) singer Emmanuel. I mentioned The Bear Quartet to him. "They made so many records" he said. "They are not very famous in Sweden. They are underground," he added. That's pretty much it. You can be a popular (actually good) band with one single album or remain an underground band which released 14 albums (if I am right). Weird.

Like 99,99% of French people, I had never heard about BQ before moving to Stockholm in August 2003. I discovered them quite late then. Now they are my favourite band ever.

I remember the first time I listened to "Saturday night". Well, I knew BQ changed their sound for each of their albums. I knew they could make strange records such as "My war". But I could not expect that "Saturday night" would be THAT weird. At first I hated it. Where the hell were the guitars? Where the fuck were the melodies? Then, I got it. This is a piece of genius. And if "Saturday night" is an erratic trip to nowhere, it remains now my favourite BQ album (with "Angry brigade").

"The Supremes" is my fave song on this album. Not sure why. Maybe 'cause it makes me wanna bang my head against the wall. Or jump through a window. Anyway, I am pretty sure an elephant shouts in the microphone several times on this track. Definitely not a healthy song.

For more BQ-related goodness, check out Absolut Noise's recent 1-year birthday celebration post which features live tracks from Mattias Alkberg BD: http://absolutnoise.blogspot.com/2007/02/mabd-live-for-my-birthday.html

The Bear Quartet - The Supremes

The winners of this year's Swedish Radio P3 Gold Awards:

Best group: The Knife - "Silent Shout"
Best female artist: Anna Ternheim - "Separation Road"
Best male artist: Timo Räisänen - "I'm Indian"
Best newcomer: I'm From Barcelona
Best song: Mando Diao - "Long Before Rock'n'Roll"
Guldmicken (Best live act): Mando Diao
Best pop:: Studio - "West Coast"
Best hip-hop/soul: Max Peezay - "Discokommittén"
Best rock/metal: Cult of Luna - "Somewhere Along The Highway"
Best dance: The Knife - "Silent Shout"