JJ - Let them (video)

A new video clip from JJ. Link: http://www.sincerelyyours.se/yours0158.php

JJ kills preview

Preview a little something from the new JJ mixtape"Kills", due to be officially released on Christmas Eve: http://www.sincerelyyours.se/kills12.24.10.html

Top tens for 2010: It's a Trap! Contributors

Gaffa SWE top Swedish album picks

Gaffa Sweden's top Swedish album picks of 2010 out of their top 30:

01. The Radio Dept. - Clinging to a scheme
03. Håkan Hellström - 2 steg från paradise
04. Masshysteri – Masshysteri
09. Säkert – Facit
11. Tallest Man on Earth - The wild hunt
15. Robyn - Body talk part 1
20. JJ – n° 3
21. Anna von Hausswolff – Singing from the grave
26. The Bear Quartet – Monty Python

Read more: http://gaffa.se/artikel/45193 (in Swedish)

JJ - Let them

Download the new JJ track "Let them" via Sincerely Yours: http://www.sincerelyyours.se/yours0150.php

JJ - Shoreline

Watch JJ cover Broder Daniel's "Shoreline" at PSL: http://blogg.svt.se/psl/2010/10/17/extra-extra-jj-tillbaka-med-mixtejp-och-fjarde-skivan/
Apparently the group has a new mixtape on the way to be followed by another full-length album.

Warmer Climes interview at Vice

It's only very tangentially related to Scandinavian/Swedish music, but Vice has an interview posted with Vlad of the blog Warmer Climes: http://www.viceland.com/music/2010/08/being-a-gay-romanian-hipster-is-lonely/
Worth reading, if only for revisiting Vlad's JJ and The Embassy confrontations.

This week's Last.fm chart

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

01. Band of Horses
02. Familjen
03. Håkan Hellström
04. The Radio Dept.
05. The National
06. Shout Out Louds
07. jj
08. The Bear Quartet
09. Jonathan Johansson
10. Robyn

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/

jj European dates

Europeans will get the chance to personally witness the jj live trainwreck next month:

05/21 – Point Ephemere, Paris (FRA)
05/22 – Europavox Festival, Clermont Ferrand (FRA)
05/23 – Comet, Berlin (GER)
05/25 – The Charlatan, Gent (BEL)
05/26 – Paradiso, Amsterdam (NL)

This week's Last.fm chart

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

01. The Radio Dept.
02. The National
03. Håkan Hellström
04. Jonathan Johansson
05. jj
06. Hello Saferide
07. Shout Out Louds
08. Robyn
09. The Bear Quartet
10. The Mary Onettes

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/

This week's Last.fm chart

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

01. This is Head
02. jj
03. Anna Ternheim
04. The Bear Quartet
05. Beach House
06. Håkan Hellström
07. The Radio Dept.
08. Kent
09. Love Is All
10. Jonathan Johansson

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/

This week's Last.fm chart

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

01. This Is Head
02. jj
03. Anna Ternheim
04. The Bear Quartet
05. Beach House
06. Håkan Hellström
07. The Radio Dept.
08. Kent
09. Love Is All
10. Jonathan Johansson

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/

jj
jj n° 3
Sincerely Yours/Secretly Canadian

On last year's well-received debut "n° 2", jj brought a summery sound akin to a hypothetical The Tough Alliance-light, if such were a project (and an obviously close reference, as they're on their label). Its mixture of slower ballads with down-tempo firelight pop numbers took in the breezy coastal Swedish twilight. Perhaps they've not waited long enough before issuing their second album, perhaps they've had this release written and recorded before their first was out, but it's glaringly obvious that it doesn't reach the heights of "n° 2". It's as though they took the median of their first record and wrote each track accordingly, while also leaving out (both melodically and sonically) those aspects which would cause one to randomly hum "Masterplan" or "Are you still in Valda?". And that's quite a shame, too.
- Matt Giordano

jj live lets down Perez

Pitchfork weren't the only ones let down by jj's pitiful live performance at SXSW, Perez Hilton was also quite disappointed: http://music-mix.ew.com/2010/03/21/perez-hilton-sxsw-interview/

Pitchfork on the new jj album + live experience

Pitchfork reviews the new jj album "jj n° 3": http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14045-jj-n-3/
Also, see the reaction to their live show at SXSW here: http://pitchfork.com/news/38222-sxsw-thu-broken-social-scene-jj-lets-wrestle-marina-and-the-diamonds/