Stockholm Boat Sessions: Panter

Check out Panter playing a Stockholm Boat Session with guitars borrowed from Pelle Carlberg. Direct link: http://youtu.be/ehWxjDJvoMw

Pelle Carlberg to tour China

Pelle Carlberg is heading out on a solo tour on China in March: http://www.pellecarlberg.se/live.htm

Pelle Carlberg German tour

Pelle Carlberg is heading down to Germany next week:

01/21 - Bunker Ulmenwall, Bielefeld
01/22 - House show, Kassel
01/23 - Pools, Göttingen
01/24 - Blauer Engel, Kiel
01/25 - tbc, Cologne
01/26 - Mondial Club, Hamburg,
01/27 - Bang Bang Club, Berlin
01/28 - AMP, Münster
01/29 - Feinkost Lampe, Hannover

Fanfarlo
Reservoir
self-released

I'm more than a little late to the Fanfarlo party. Only last week did I first hear about them from the Sigur Rós mailing list, months after the release of "Reservoir" and the subsequent chorus of praise from the likes of Rough Trade, NME, and Brooklyn Vegan -- praise that is well deserved. Centered around Swedish musician Simon Balthazar, the London-based songsmiths temper their Arcade Fire-like sound with Scandinavian influences, at times bringing to mind Pelle Carlberg, Loney Dear, and Burning Hearts, though their inclination towards the atmospheric and epic flesh out these influences in pleasantly unexpected ways. The only issue I run into with Fanfarlo is that they are far better on tracks like "Comets", a track that wouldn't have felt amiss on Carlberg's "In a nutshell", than on the overtly Arcade Fire-esque "Drowning men". This is not to say that "Drowning men" is a bad song, it's not (in fact it's quite good), it just taps so strongly into the "Neighborhood #1 (tunnels)" vein, without filtering the idea through Fanfarlo's obvious talents, that it feels somewhat out of place on "Reservoir". That said, "Resevoir" is a fantastic album (especially as you can download it for $1 until July 4), pushing its frenetic pop structures to their limits, driving them down adventitious avenues and back alleyways, and constantly unveiling new layers upon repeated listening.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson

Pelle Carlberg starts a band with his kids

Check out Pelle Carlberg playing childrens music with his kids på Svenska: http://www.myspace.com/tvillingarnatrulsjag

Lots of Scandinavian artists at this year's SF Popfest

Scandinavian artists Springfactory, Northern Portrait, Champagne Riot, Pelle Carlberg and Suburban Kids with Biblical Names are all confirmed for the SF Popfest in mid-May: http://www.myspace.com/sanfranciscopopfest

MP3: Cats On Fire - Garden lights

To further illustrate my point about only enjoying indiepop with significant oomph, here is a song from Finland's Cats On Fire off their new album "Our temperance movement". It rocks about as hard as Pelle Carlberg, but without his wit, there's not much to grab on to. The twelve-string guitar solo is quite nice as is the clarinet outro, but what of it? Nice guys finish last. Sweet, tender pop doesn't have to be so damn listless. Give me passion! Give me something to care about! Don't give me this.

Cats On Fire - Garden lights

Pelle Carlberg to play London on February 26

Pelle Carlberg will play a one-off London gig on February 26 at Jamm as part of the London Popfest.

Pitchfork reviews 'The lilac time'

Pitchfork reviews Pelle Carlberg's most recent album "The lilac time": http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/148169-pelle-carlberg-the-lilac-time

Pelle Carlberg in Spain

Pelle Carlberg is heading off to do a few dates in Spain and Portugal later this month: http://www.pellecarlberg.se/live.htm

PopMatters on Pelle Carlberg's latest record "The lilac time": http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/65500-pelle-carlberg-the-lilac-time/

Pelle Carlberg is spending the first week of November in London:

11/01 - Westgarth Social Club, Middlesbrough
11/02 - Head of Steam, Newcastle
11/03 - Deaf Institute, Manchester
11/04 - UWIC Howard Gardens, Cardiff
11/05 - Bristol Cooler, Bristol
11/06 - Brixton Windmill, London

Eardrums has revealed the lineup for their upcoming free fall mp3 compilation: http://eardrumsmusic.com/2008/09/17/artists-and-tracks-on-the-new-eardrums-compilation-autumn-2008/
Looks like they've got a lot of good stuff including Jesper Norda, Park Hotell, Je Suis Animal, Pelle Carlberg, Vapnet, The Tiny and lots, lots more.

New Pelle Carlberg tourdates in Germany:

12/01 - Blauer Engel, Kiel
12/02 - Admiralspalast, Berlin
12/03 - Subway, Köln
12/04 - Feinkost Lampe, Hannover
12/05 - Unikeller, Osnabrück
12/06 - Sparte 4, Saarbrücken
12/08 - tbc, Kassel

Look for him to hit the UK and Italy in November as well - dates soon.

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

01. Hello Saferide
02. Håkan Hellström
03. Detektivbyrån
04. Pelle Carlberg
05. Jens Lekman
06. Loney, Dear
07. The Radio Dept.
08. Acid House Kings
09. Air France
10. The Soundtrack of Our Lives

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