A video for a song of European album by the Swedish band Sambassadeur, I Can Try. Directed by Philip Ekström of The Mary Onettes.

Robyn - Body Talk Pt. 1
[Konichiwa, 2010]

The Swedish superstar that went from indie to pop status, Robyn showed high class, again, in mass entertainment, bringing electronics to life. Body Talk has an extension, Pt. 1, with two more parts expected to be released later this year.

Don’t Fucking Tell Me What To Do is a starting statement in the album, with the narrative on everything that’s “killing me,” from alcohol to the boss to the boyfriend. Then, it is explained that fembots have feelings too (in Fembot). Dancing On My Own, a single and a song for the girls of all times - whoever stared from the corner at a boy paying attention to another one, will understand. Dancehall Queen - a collaboration with Diplo, with a go at summer reggae. By the end of the album, None Of Dem with expected-to-be-there Royksopp, stomping agression about own exclusiveness and a mismatch with the surrounding world, that is followed by an acoustic (and really accurate and tender) version of Hang With Me. And, as a reminder about Robyn’s nationality, a Swedish-language Jan Vet En Dejlig Rosa.

An album for a party animal night, bar or disco night. Robyn is a queen for those, for whom Madonna and Lady Gaga are too mass-popular.

Read & Listen:
Robyn Myspace

Body Talk Pt. 1 by robyn

Robyn ‘Dancing On My Own’ (Official Video) from Robyn on Vimeo.

Broken Social Scene - Forgiveness Rock Record
[Arts & Crafts, 2010]

It’s so much harder to write about the music that you love the most. My love for the Canadian indie rock band Broken Social Scene has crossed with love for its separate members (Feist, Emily Haines of Metric, Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning) - and it’s a numerous cast. At times, this affection causes stupored on-repeat listens not only with albums, but with one or two tracks. This is what happened (again) with the new album, released after five years of (relevant) silence, Forgiveness Rock Record. I’ve been listening to it for hours, but was it hard to write! To catch, what exactly in the music gets in full sync with your inner state.

The album leaks into your reality slowly and stealthily. Fades out of ambiance. Rolls out its rhythms, and in a minute of two of the opening track, a terrific World Sick, evolves in all its beauty. And brings noise-noise-noise. Broken Social Scene feels like a bunch of friends around out. Not a paranoid crowd, but your people.

The general theme of forgiveness is in the title for a reason - it’s a total forgiveness of everyone in general and each in particular, from people you know to the infamous hate objects. Texico Bitches is a true bitching addressing oil tycoons, and at the same time one of the lightest and most memorable songs on the album. Probably, also because the word ‘bitches’ appears there on a very regular basis. Forced To Love is pushy and dense. Sentimental X’s - foggy and truly sentimental, along with signature rhythm moving forward. All To All - again, gradually growing intensity, this time not with noise pressure, but with Lisa Lobsinger’s sweet vocals (she mostly toured with BSS) and a charming melody. One of the beauties of the album.

Forgiveness Rock Record is definitely not a come-off album, with a couple of hits and the rest indistinct. Every song has its individuality, and in general there’s a common style not only of the release, but in the whole Broken Social Scene music. This music is like a vine, it can be wedded into any day and any mood. It can go with a weekend (or workday) morning, in work process, in a trip, in a tender night… I still haven’t found a mood where the album would not fit. If you want an atmosphere of friendliness and a bit of recklessness - this is it. Noisy at times, but generally relaxing and energizing at the same time.

Read & Listen:
Broken Social Scene website
Myspace
Pitchfork interview

Eric Berglund is half of The Tough Alliance and the full of new project called CEO. With the debut album coming out June 28, there already are two songs available - along with videos.

Come With Me is a perfect combination of liveliness and naivety. The signature vocals of TTA are accompanied by familiar rhythms. Samples and typical “spoken word” over cheerful beat and wonderfully sticky chorus - what else is there to wish for?

ceo - come with me from Modular People on Vimeo.

ceo - prologue from Modular People on Vimeo.

Read & Listen:
CEO website
Come With Me mp3
Prologue mp3

Exclusive Mixcloud mix from the legendary beat makers Zero 7 featuring an eclectic selection of tracks across dubstep, minimal techno, glitch and more.

Morcheeba - Blood Like Lemonade
[PIAS, 2010]

The seventh album of British trip-hop band Morcheeba has a very speaking summer name. It’s about lemonade, but at the same time without extra fun - with all the thickness that blood can bring. Very much in the vampiric trend of the modern culture, producing more and more vampire TV shows and movies - glamorous and hypnotizing. Morcheeba’s music is still as seductive as it was years ago. The return of Skye Edwards only makes it better. Gloomy chords and sweet vocals of a nymph go great together. Yes, probably, the best songs have already been sung, but thanks for not stopping to write music. Crimson is tender as a chocolate melting on the lips. Even Though is fluid and flexible. Recipe For Disaster is dark and mysterious (”Wannt know why there’s a dead guy in my room?”). All the beaty of a downtempo relaxes and brings summer mood in every minute of being within the album. Paul Godfrey comments on the album: “This is the record we should have made after Big Calm, but we had to travel treacherous terrains to get back to our natural habitat.” Don’t know how treacherous they were, but Blood Like Lemonade fully meets your expectations and overdelivers. A right kind of relaxing and summer atmosphere.

Read & Listen:
Myspace
Morcheeba website

Morcheeba by PIAS

Found through Eric Tchaikovsky and his Night Light Radio Show a wonderful Jean Honeymoon, DJ and vocalist from Glasgow, Scotland (downtempo and nu-jazz). Mother of two, by the way - a great combination with her music career.

Jean Honeymoon, Bang Bang Remix EP by Jean Honeymoon

Jean Honeymoon Myspace
Jean Honeymoon SoundCloud

She & Him - Volume Two
[Merge, 2010]

The examples of singing actors, as well as musicians trying their hand in acting, are not always flattering to the original image in the first place and don’t always play well with their status in our eyes. As for Zooey Deschanel, she looks very organic both as an actress and as a singer. The second album of her musical collaboration with M. Ward only strengthens my platonic love and admiration of her talent. This music is best described in one word: sweet.

Sometimes lonely isn’t sad (on the opening song Thieves) is the primary line of the whole album. It can support you when you’re sad:

Well alright
It’s okay
We all feel ashamed sometimes every day
I just keep it to myself in the sun

It always brings you back to yourself, to a place so comfortable and calm, where rays of sunshine get through your window in the morning, and if the day is grey, a cup of tea and a friendly smile will solve everything.

The second She & Him album is fully in the traditions of their debut. It is about love, about mood, about something warm and close, that flows into your life and naturally curl on your bed like a cat. So that all the misfortunes and bad luck disappear in this mint caramel atmosphere. The 60s are in the air - they match Zooey’s style and the traditions of twee pop and indie pop that got their niche in music since the 80s.

Somewhat different from the rest of the album with a faster pace, Ridin’ In My Car, turns out to be a cover from the 70s by NRBQ, and Gonna Get Along Without You Now is one for Skeeter Davis’ song. A downright buoyancy of Volume Two neigbours with coquetry, easy-going about life’s little things, and belief that everything’s going to be all right after all. This sunshine is what we love about She & Him, and Zooey - for staying a great actress in music too.

Read & Listen:
Official website
Myspace
Pitchfork interview (March 2010)

Today, a new M.I.A. video for “Born Free” was posted. Always welcome :)

M.I.A, Born Free from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.

Caribou - Swim
[Merge, 2010]

Having left his other alias, Manitoba, Canadian Dan Snaith moved his attention to a type of dance music, “music that’s liquid in the way it flows back and forth.” As a result, the new Caribou album, Swim, is deeper and more intense than the previous one, Andorra (2007).

It’s possible that Caribou’s success is due to a combination of music talent with Snaith’s PhD in mathematics. The album can be defined as mathematically precise and the effect might well be calculated. Anyway, I’ll just say that Swim is a substance that wraps around you like a spider’s web. The music is diverse: sometimes dance rhythms, sometimes heavy artillery. The opener Odessa is the most pop-like track, representing its “light” side, at the same time being not-so-sunny lyrics-wise, talking about separation. Kaili, as if gaining speed, but never reaching its peak, having a compressed spring inside, is about another side of life, growing old together - which too can be considered sad. But various opinions are possible. This diversity in treatment and in emotions prevails on the album as a whole. Swim can be easily fine-tuned to your mood - depending on it the music becomes either more dynamic and flexible, or heavy and dense. In different states and moods it’s perceived totally differently. Snaith’s definition that this is “dance music that sounds like it’s made out of water” fully represents what we hear on Swim. The theme of complicated relationships in the lyrics and the general tension and innuendo in melody make you listen to the album again and again.

Read & Listen:
Myspace
Official website
Caribou on Twitter

Swim by Caribouband