post-hype: Lykke Li

"For You I Keep My Legs Apart"

Lykke Li (pronounced Lookey Loo??) is the latest Scandanavian sweetheart to make our collective hearts flutter. Her record Youth Novels is the type of minimalist pop that blends the boundaries of indie bedroom folk and laptop pop, with weeping orchestrations and arrangements by, you guessed it, Bjorn Yttling of PB&J and Lasse Marten, who also worked on Our Ill Wills and Kelly Clarkson's "Since You've been Gone". Lykke is bound for exponential stardom, or at least fan-boy dom, as her coy, slinky vibe is sure to win over last years Feist converts and hype eating hipsters, alike. Goldmines like "Dance, Dance Dance", which features the precious "My hips they lie/ cause in reality/ I'm shy, shy, shy", is poised to wind up on college playlists across the country, while "Little Bit" is likely to be zapped into your home Television set via a Honda commercial. And rightfully so, as Lykke has all the makings of a Swedish pop sensation; sincere, smart, beautiful and Swedish, that's all it takes. Not only does she have the stuff FM pop stations should be drooling over, she's got tracks that scream "remix", like "I'm Good, I'm Gone" and the slightly robotic breakup jam "Complaint Department" ("If you want to complain/ I'm not the complaint department").

The only thing preventing International stardom is the limited distribution, as Youth Novels is currently only packaged for Scandanavian consumption, although we're pretty sure after all the shows she played at SXSW that somebody is bound to ink a deal to bring it Stateside. Right now the only place to buy Youth Novels is HERE.
She will be making her NYC debut 5/7 at Joe's Pub, with another date at the Bowery Ballroom 5/8. Peep the video that made me fall for Lykke below.






"Little Bit" in the Street

we saw: Shout Out Louds, Joe's Pub

"It's Now, And We're Too Late"

Seeing a band in a place like Joe's Pub is alot different than, say, you're average beer soaked rock club. Not only are the bathrooms clean and void of years of amateur graffiti and bad stickering, but the acoustics are as warm and crisp as any lauded theater and there isn't a bad seat in the house (Although we wouldn't really know as we sat front row, center).

It was clear the Shout Out Louds knew where they were playing, as the band ditched their jeans and button downs for dressed for a more formal look... Did someone say rental tux?? And while the Cure conjuring swede's looked mighty dapper, they're sound was a bit, how do we say, lethargic. Possibly in an attempt to fit the venues super mellow, jazzy vibe, SOL played a toned down set full of alternate versions of songs from their recent Our Ill Wills and 2004's Howl Howl Gaff Gaff. From the beginning we knew something was up, as the happy happy joy joy "Impossible" sounded like the original on ambien. Fittingly, most of their set was played in half time, making use of whistful bossanova melodies and pouring the sap on thick. On record, SOL's overly emotive sensitivities are shroud in joyful sing-a-longs and pigtail bopping harmonies, however, last night the band actually sounded heart broken, and not in a happy go lucky way.

Fortunately after taking a short break from the uber-attentive audience, SOL came back out kicked out the jams, most notably on Our Ill Wills standout "You Are Dreaming," one of my favorite songs of 2007. All in all a special night, even if the band didn't exactly 'bring the heat.'

(Photo by Brilliancy)

(Photo by Alexistheo)

Bobkast #10: Bells & Whistles

"Your Magic's Real So Why Aren't You Using It"

A mess of crayons always makes for the best art. This mix is meant to transport you to a simpler time when you cared for nothing but chocolate chip cookies, Kool-Aid and magic markers. Think of it as an adult version of drawing on the wall, only you won't get yelled at by your parents. If that doesn't do it for ya, how about one of the songs being culled from a compilation called Waking Up Scheherazade: Arabian Psych Nuggets. Figured that'd get ya listening. Shazam.

Bobkast #10: Bells & Whistles
1. Badly Drawn Boy- Bewilderbeast
2. Dennis Wilson- Rainbows
3. Albert Hammond Jr.- Bright Young Thing
4. The Boy Least Likely To- Rock Upon A Porch With You
5. Shout Out Louds- A Track And A Train
6. Manitoba featuring Koushika- Crayon
7. Los Campesinos- Don't Tell Me To Do The Math(s)
8. The Sheffields- Plenty of Love
9. Les Savy Fav- Comes & Goes
10. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks- Vanessa From Queens
11. Mark Mothersbaugh- Hardest Geometry Problem in the World
12. New Pornographers- Myriad Harbour
13. El Guincho- Antillas
14. Caetano Veloso- Lost in Paradise
15. Sea-Ders- Thanks A Lot
16. MGMT- The Youth
17. The Beach Boys- All I Wanna Do
18. Yacht- I Believe In You

The Bobkast #10: Bells & Whistles {direct download: right click to save}

we saw: The Rosebuds

"I'm Not Crazy I'm Just A Little Boy"

Our love affair with The Rosebuds is quite complex. You see, besides being major fans of The Rosebuds Make Out, Birds Make Good Neighbors & Night of the Furies, we also sweat the backing vocals they laid down on the Shout Out Louds Cure-conjuring Our Ill Wills, not to mention they are good buds with our Fall obsession Bon Iver, who used to play second guitar in the Rosebuds and whom we were introduced to the last time we saw Ivan and Kelly during CMJ at the Bowery Ballroom. So yeah, we like the Rosebuds and all their friends and their various incarnations, alot.

Last night we had a chance to catch Ivan and Kelly at Maxwell's on the last stop of a 4 show January tour. Surprisingly, Hoboken's itsy bitsy rock club never really filled in, which was great as we were able to pogo bounce with the rowdy kids up front all night long. And bounce we did as The Rosebuds brought a swinging '60s dance party to the best club in the Tri-State area. Culling from all three albums, with an extensive foray into their debut The Rosebuds Make Out, Ivan & Kelly, accompanied by drummer Matt McCaughn, played one of the most invigorating sets of live pop music I've seen in a while. This shouldn't come as a surprise as their CMJ show at the Bowery was a ton of fun, however the lack of a restricted set time and the coziness of Maxwell's made it feel like one of the best house party we've ever been too. Yeah, it was that kind of intimate goodness (Ivan even laughed at a few of our jokes). All in all a great night, unfortunately they won't be coming North again until the Fall. So until then, we leave you with this, The Rosebuds covering Salt N Pepa's "Push It" with their dog.

"This is for the sexy people"

McG's Favorite Songs of 2k7

"And Take Ya Money!"

For me the summer of 2007 will always be remembered as the three months I spent riding my bike to work throwing my arms in the air like I was firing a sawed off shotgun (Thanks M.I.A). While "Paper Planes" made me nostalgic for Wreckx N Effects, there were certainly some other jams that got me moving, thinking, sleeping and laughing. Here are some of my favorite songs of 2007, many of which we never had chance to write about. But hey, who needs to read when you can just listen. Hasta manana.

Favorite Songs of 2007
Les Savy Fav- Pots & Pans
Grovesnor- Nitemoves
Yeasayer- Sunrise
Beck- Timebomb
Grizzly Bear- He Hit Me
Beirut- Nantes
Taken By Trees- Taken to Young (Tough Alliance Remix)
The Bee's- Left Foot Stepdown
Georgie James- Need Your Needs
Shout Out Louds- You Are Dreaming
Sally Shapiro- He Keeps Me Alive
Muscles- Hey Muscles I Love You
Bishop Allen- Rain
Cat Power- Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
Bodies of Water- Everybody Hurts
Animal Collective- For Reverand Green

coming soon: Shout Out Louds

"Just don't come up to me and say you like it"

Scandinavian musicians are slowly taking over the world. Where I come from, we call this a fact. The term Swedish indie pop has been appearing more and more in my daily discourse, and although The Shout Out Louds, from, uh, Sweden, aren't always poppy, their newly released single from their forthcoming Our Ill Wills album (out Sept 11 in the US) is sure to get plenty of college radio airtime. The Robert-Smith-sounding single, Tonight I Have to Leave It, has been released alongside two remixes and a track featuring fellow indie poppers The Essex Green. Be sure to check out the kleerup remix as well.

Shout Out Louds - Tonight I Have To Leave It
Shout Out Louds - Tonight I Have To Leave It (kleerup remix)
Shout Out Louds - Very Loud [from their debut Howl Howl Gaff Gaff]