Superfamily - Pay the price (video)

At long last, something new from Superfamily! Recommended! Expect more singles this fall and then a new album in 2013?

Far From Tellus
s/t
Impeller Recordings

Far from Tellus' self-titled album is a swirling, cohesive, and, most importantly, damned entertaining effort, combining elements of folk and blues, 70s rock and 80s pop, all on their own terms. Like some strange marriage between The Kinks and fellow Norwegians Superfamily, Far from Tellus ramble through decades of inspiration, tying these echoes together into seamless, layered, and often anthemic compositions. Also, like the aforementioned Kinks, Far from Tellus have a fine relationship with the poignant and the playful, never allowing the latter to overpower or besmirch the former: "Norwegian fairytale mix" blossoms to life with such swagger upon layers of guitar, piano, and banjo, only to transition into a gloriously simple and memorable chorus; "Mogens" opens with a strummed banjo and closes with enough rock organ to make any Zeppelin fan happy, its middle section reminiscent of the clever, driving compositions of Herr Nilsson, yet another Norwegian outfit (I'm sensing a theme here); and seven-minute closer "Bless our souls" builds beautifully to its wonderfully raucous ending, reminding me of Britpop acts like James throughout. "Far from Tellus" is an impressive display of talent and songwriting. I wouldn't be surprised to find it on my Best of 2010 list, even with almost half a year left to go.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson

MP3: Donkeyboy - Ambitions

Here's another song I'm semi-obsessed with right now, though not nearly as deep as Susanne Sundfør's latest. I typically make a point of being at least vaguely familiar with most chart-topping bands because you never know -- sometimes the cream really does rise to the top -- but I had always ignored Donkeyboy because their name sucks and also because, for some reason, I thought they were a hip-hop act and Norwegian hip-hop is almost always awful. I'm late to the game, but I stand corrected! Now I know: Donkeyboy is a fine mainstream pop/rock act that manages to be successful by employing smart, strong hooks with a touch of 80s pastiche. It's a good formula, it worked out well for Superfamily at home in Norway and The Sounds sure seem to do well by it, though I'd argue they are far less "smart"; now Donkeyboy are attempting to take it to the next level (apparently Sweden is already conquered). Good luck to them, I say. They might be a tad too unassuming to break in territories where bold and brash win and that's a shame because that's yet another reason they're a good band. I see bands like Datarock and I think "trying too hard," yet people still seem to like them. Whatever, it's not as if I didn't already think the music biz was a shitsystem.

Donkeyboy - Ambitions

Ofag
Session one: Oslo
Sonet

Hard to get around it: Ofag is a pure ego. Five friends convene in a recording studio to hang out, play a little improv music; someone hits record and then they release it on their own label. It's not as if the end result is unlistenable (it's not), it's more a question of why. Why waste the plastic? I'm sure it was tremendous fun for everyone involved and there's no reason they shouldn't be proud of their work, but why not make it digital-only? Or better yet, offer it as a free download? Do they honestly think that fans of their other bands (Heroes & Zeros, Superfamily, Balkansemblet) will be stoked on it? Or that they'll cross over into the already over-saturated experiment/freejazz scene? Doubtful. This is for friends and family, perhaps even the curious superfan, but most of all, it's for themselves. That's fine, but I can't recommend it for anyone else.
- Avi Roig

Sirius playlist week #47

Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU:

01. Bastard Priest - Under the hammer of destruction
02. TALK 1
03. Monty - En till himmel
04. Superfamily - Songs of the weak will die
05. Agent Side Grinder - Black vein
06. TALK 2
07. Murmansk - Silver heel
08. Cleaning Women - Across the void
09. Pintandwefall - Jail
10. TALK 3
11. Tobias Hellkvist - Scars and stripes
12. Truckfighters - Traffic
13. Rockettothesky - Barrie for Billy MacKenzie
14. TALK 4
15. Peter Bjorn and John - I don't know what I want us to do
16. Håkan Hellström - En vån med en bil
17. Barra Head - Common ground
18. TALK 5
19. Makthaverskan - Vi var människor från början

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.

This week's top 20 Norwegian album chart

This week's top 20 Norwegian album chart:

01. Diverse artister - Melodi Grand Prix Junior 2009
02. Solveig Slettahjell - Tarpan Seasons
03. Jan Garbarek - Dresden
04. Thomas Dybdahl - En Samling
05. Paperboys - Oslo Agreement
06. Mari Boine - Sterna Paradisea
07. Ghost Dog - First Book of Samuel
08. Contrazt - Uten Kart og Kompass
09. Stavangerensemblet - Samlekasse
10. a-ha - Foot Of The Mountain
11. Alexander Rybak - Fairytales
12. Superfamily - Guns Tonight
13. Ulf Risnes og Øyvind Holm - Safe and Sorry
14. Röyksopp - Junior
15. Espen Lind, Kurt Nilsen, Alejandro Fuentes og Askil Holm - Halleluja Live Vol. 2
16. Bjørn Berge - Fretwork
17. Valkyrien Allstars - To måner
18. Narum - Samma Hen Du Fær
19. Erik og Kriss - Tabu
20. Lollipop - Lollipop - 50 beste

Sirius playlist week #36

Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU:

01. NEI - City of gold
02. TALK 1
03. Brothers of End - Why
04. Johndoe - Kvikkleire
05. Viola - Sea curtain
06. TALK 2
07. Marit Bergman - Höstvisa
08. Bad Hands - Bad hands (feat. Nina Kinert)
09. Aerial - I am TV
10. Tape - Brakes
11. TALK 3
12. Tsukimono - Mimilalanono
13. Superfamily - The songs of the weak will die
14. Unter den Linden - Motstånd i läder
15. TALK 4
16. The Bear Quartet - Carry your weight
17. Björn Kleinhenz - Show me love
18. Pets - Don't say your heart is broken (we know it's not)
19. TALK 5

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.

Superfamily - Commit self-portrait

Superfamily's new album "Guns tonight" is now officially released and they've added yet another new song to myspace: http://www.myspace.com/superfamily

Superfamily - The songs of the weak will die

Superfamily have added a brand new track to myspace called "The songs of the weak will die": http://www.myspace.com/superfamily

Sirius playlist week #31

Here's the playlist for this week's radio show sirius XMU:

01. Existensminimum - Mirrors
02. TALK 1
03. Solander - Prayer to God
04. Volcanic Places - Goo
05. Zacke - Spela mig på radion (feat. Movits!)
06. TALK 2
07. Hello Saferide - Arjeplog
08. Kristofer Åström - When her eyes turn blue
09. Superfamily - Let's go dancing
10. Barra Head - Undermine
11. TALK 3
12. Pixie Carnation - Little sister
13. The Bear Quartet - I was a weapon
14. Mangrove - Pieces of our yesterday
15. TALK 4
16. Emmon - Lips on fire
17. Eric Ramsey - Enlightened neurotics
18. Håkan Hellström - För en lång tid
19. TALK 5

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.

Superfamily confirm album title, release date

Superfamily has revealed that their new album will be called "Guns tonight". The release date is set for August 24.

Superfamily remix contest

Superfamily is holding a remix contest for their new single "Let's go dancing": http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=55559658&blogId=492554735
The best mix will be included as a bonus track on the download version of their new album, due out in August.

Sirius playlist week #21

Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU:

01. TALK 1
02. Small - Sunshine lover
03. Samtidigt Som - Constant in motion
04. Ironville - Roses
05. Montt Mardié - Dancing shoes
06. TALK 2
07. Samuraj Cities - Spoonful of talk
08. Fronda - Discomusik
09. Billie the Vision & the Dancers - You'd better watch out, 'cause I like you
10. Robert Svensson - I was summer, you were
11. TALK 3
12. Florence Valentin - Spring ricco
13. Lacrosse - We are kids
14. Superfamily - Let's go dancing
15. TALK 4
16. Turboweekend - Trouble is
17. Dyno - Don't speak love
18. Cilihili and DaBook - Orinoco flow
19. TALK 5
20. High Hats - The end
21. Two White Horses - Good times are gone forever
22. Margaret Berger - Robot song
23. TALK 6

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.

Sirius playlist week #20

Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU:

01. Bruket - Stockholm kallar
02. TALK 1
03. The Skull Defekts - Knives, birds, stones & pyramids
04. Cilihili - Happy without the boy
05. Elenette - Kär (imaginär) pensionär
06. TALK 2
07. Existensminimum - Sound of music
08. Volcanic Places - Goo
09. Sonjagon - Aristocrat
10. TALK 3
11. Superfamily - Let's go dancing
12. The Scrags - TV messed up mind
13. Bastard Priest - Merciless insane death
14. Bacchus Tapes - Hold on Magnolia
15. TALK 4
16. Halph - Cheap points
17. Vadadi - 10 seconds before
18. Wired for Mono - The man behind the wall
19. TALK 5
20. Tomas Halberstad - Travel as I wait

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.

Superfamily - Let's go dancing

Superfamily's new single "Let's go dancing" is now streaming at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/superfamily