Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week, unique to our group:
01. Anna Järvinen
02. The Radio Dept.
03. Phoenix
04. A Camp
05. Deportees
06. Passion Pit
07. Bob Hund
08. Grizzly Bear
09. The Bear Quartet
10. Kent
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The Radio Dept. are offering a recent NYC live show as a free download: http://theradiodept.com/Discography/Misc/New_York.php
Chromewaves gives decent marks to The Radio Dept.'s recent NYC performances: http://www.chromewaves.net/2009/05/nyc-popfest-with-the-radio-dept-pants-yell-the-secret-history-eux-autres-and-computer-perfection-at-the-bell-house-in-brooklyn/
The Radio Dept.'s new EP "David" is confirmed for release on June 24 via Labrador Records.
According to Labrador's twitter, The Radio Dept. will be mastering a new EP this coming Monday.
The Danish act Small has an instantly recognizable and very appealing sound -- every single track is chock full of warm fuzzy synths and vocoder vocals set to mechanical beats and layered with major-key arpeggios. Kinda like a summery version of Kraftwerk, especially on tracks such as "Sunshine lover" which is absolutely blissed out robot-pop. So simple and easy to love, yet the band has not received the attention they deserve. It's a shame too, because I can see this appealing to both fans of The Radio Dept. and Robyn and just about everyone in between. For readers who might feel like I don't post enough straight-up pop, this one's for you.
Small - Sunshine lover
Champagne RiotSomewhere between the melodic realms of The Radio Dept. and Sambassadeur's "Migration" exists Champagne Riot's contribution to the Scandinavian electropop scene. The production is fantastic, the voice resting perfectly amongst the swells of synthesizers and the hammering of programmed drums, and the songwriting is usually quite solid, producing interesting twists and turns down alleys and avenues not necessarily expected, all without sacrificing the melodic core of the music... Unfortunately, "Paris and I" treads very little new ground. "Before we wave goodbye" wouldn't feel too out of place on "Lesser matters", opener "Scandinavian warfare" echoes the driving, orchestral pop of Sambassadeur's latest effort; in fact there's very little to be found on "Paris and I" that one can confidently label unique. This said, Champagne Riot do not come off as mere imitators and have actually produced a rather entertaining collection of songs. The band's main failing is that they try to burrow into the exact same part of your heart that other acts have already established residence within.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
The Radio Dept. and Burning Hearts are both confirmed for NYC Popfest in May. Details: http://www.myspace.com/nycpopfest
Sad Day For PuppetsThis week is a great week for Swedish music connoisseurs living in London, both Sad Day for Puppets and First Aid Kit are playing here. Yesterday I went to The Social to see Sad Day for Puppets. First up were The Deer Tracks (also from Sweden), who play music I don't get at all – some kind of slow ambient electro drone. There are fans of this genre, I'm pretty certain on that, but I don't associate with them. I watched half their set, then I ordered another beer and sat down as far away from the stage I could.
Sad Day for Puppets are great, their album is very solid and they've got some blinding songs (they sound a bit like a more melodic The Radio Dept. or a more shoegazing Camera Obscura). Yesterday it was all shambles though, mostly due to the sound situation being catastrophic. Over the weekend I went to a festival in Oslo and, despite short changeovers and stressed out musicians, nothing there sounded as bad as yesterday's show. There was feedback throughout the whole set and Anna Ecklund's vocals were barely audible (something that the crowd kept pointing out, alas to no avail). I don't blame the band, they did as best as they could, just a shame that they had to suffer on the behalf of a sound engineer not being able to do his job (The Deer Tracks brought their own engineer who annoyingly ran back and forth all the time to check that the sound was ok, but at least he got the job done). I'm not particularly fussy about how a gig sounds, as long as I can hear the vocals I'm usually ok, so this was a very rare occasion where the quality of the sound actually ruined my whole gig experience. A total waste of £6 and an evening.
- Simon Tagestam
Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week, unique to our group:
01. Frida Hyvönen
02. Hello Saferide
03. Anna Ternheim
04. Håkan Hellström
05. Kristofer Åström
06. The Radio Dept.
07. Moto Boy
08. Montt Mardié
09. Isolation Years
10. Irene
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/
The Radio Dept. have posted a recent live set from Moscow for free download: http://theradiodept.com/Discog/Misc/Moscow.html
Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week, unique to our group:
01. Tiger Lou
02. Frida Hyvönen
03. Anna Ternheim
04. Juvelen
05. Hello Saferide
06. The Radio Dept.
07. Kent
08. Jens Lekman
09. Britta Persson
10. The Legends
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/
