But first, we're going to update the site by upgrading the blog software. Once that works we're gonna update out look as well.

So, please be patient if occasionally the site acts wonky as we update. We'll let you know when it's all done!!!

I'm not defending Avril, I'd be the first on a haters-bandwagon, but ...

Lush - I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend

Stars - The Night Starts Here

This song is the jam of summer.

The French duo of Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay are best known through their remix of Simian's track Never Be Alone, released as We Are Your Friends by Justice vs. Simian.

On June 11th, (July 10th in the US) Justice will release their debut full-length to be called, †. For now, enjoy the 2007 Summer Jam, D.A.N.C.E. Hopefully, it doesn't get as overplayed as Gnarls Barkley's Crazy did.

Online resources: MySpace, iTunes.

Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (Original)
Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (Extended)
Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (Tittsworth Remix)
Justice - D.A.N.C.E. (MSTRKRFT Remix)

Interestingly, The Mary Onettes sound brings a darkly intense perspective to Swedish Pop. Without a doubt you can hear the influences of Joy Divison, Echo & the Bunneymen, The Cure, and The Stone Roses echoing throughout this record, yet they maintain a fresh voice in a fusion of the their influences and their current country's music Pop movement.

The band was formed in Jönköping, Sweden seven years ago and survived two failed record deals and two EP's before releasing this intriging album on Labrador.

Online Resources: Website, MySpace, iTunes

The Mary Onettes - Lost
The Mary Onettes - Slow

They've taken a solid and engaging Indie Rock track and transformed it into a majestic and powerful piece that shows the confidence and ambition they've amased in the four years since.

Online Resources: Website, MySpace, iTunes

Arcade Fire - No Cars Go (2007)
Arcade Fire - No Cars Go (2003)

Check out Get Up Get Out from the new album, and Outnumbered, from their second album.

Online Resources - Website, MySpace, Blog, iTunes.

Rosebuds - Get Up Get Out
Rosebuds - Outnumbered

Ronson's album, is a interesting pop hybrid of remakes, covers, collaborations, samples, and mash-ups  Featured guests include, Lily Allen, Kasabian, Phanton Planet, Ryan Adams, and more covering some by the likes of The Smiths, Maxïmo Park, The Zutons, Coldplay and Britney Spears.

This kind of album has been done before, and well, by remixer/producer Richard X.  Whereas the Richard X's centered on re-purposing Eighties songs with British R'N'B act's vocals; Ronson targets an rockier assortment of Indie collaborators while still keeping a mind to his dj/club beginnings.

Online Resources: MySpace, Website, iTunes.

Mark Ronson - Stop Me (Original Mix)
Mark Ronson - Just (featuring Phantom Planet)

Montréal trio, Land of Talk, released their visceral debut album, Applause Cheer Boo Hiss, in 2006. The influences of Sonic Youth and PJ Harvey can be heard throughout. The album is a fresh re-take on what indie rock was and should be, again.

Online resources - Website, MySpace, iTunes.

Land Of Talk - Speak To Me Bones
Land Of Talk - All My Friends

J'adorable. Hell, half this band is pretty dang attractive, and seems to have a flavor for every taste. They're Je Suis France, a Georgian progadellic indie psych outfit getting ready to drop their latest full-length, Afrikan Majik. This will be their 3rd full length, and the buzz beginning to build suggests that its their most cohesive to date. With 17 CD-R or 7" EPs under their belt between their first two records and the release of Afrikan Majik, they've made sure to spend the time carefully crafting gorgeous Southern fried indie pop and big glammy psychadelic songs.

The two tracks below hopefully serve to show how diverse and solid the new record will be. Whalebone is a 7+ minute long jaunt into very psychadelic territory, keeping a pop sensibility to the vocals that recalls Dump and Yo La Tengo. The second track "That Don't Work That Well For Us" is a short and sweet indie pop jam that shows they have some accesibility to the band as well.

I just hope he comes over to play it for me. Did I mention his name is Darkness? That shit is too cute. And check the tooth gap, because boys with gapped front teeth make my pants tight. Bands, please have more cuteness like this.

Je Suis France - Whalebone
Je Suis France - That Don't Work That Well For Us

Pleasure, is the project of 25-year-old London-based, Norwegian artist/producer, Fred Ball. A modern update on eighties minor-key synth-pop, the just released album, Pleasure 2, boasts an unusal team of featured artists including Suede singer Brett Anderson, Elastica's Justine Frischman, and Catatonia's Cerys Matthews, Gus Gus singer Heidrun Bjornsdottir, et al.

Like Stuart Price and Richard X, beside his own projects, Ball is also a talented producer and is created with the forthcoming Brett Anderson full length, as well as working with Bertine Zetlitz, and KT Tunstall.

Ball cites Michael Jackson, Prince, Yes, Van Der Graf Generator and The Residents as his musical influences. Without a trace of irony, Ball announces that “My hero is Rick Wakeman!”

Check out a few tracks below, they are pure bold, pleasure.

Online resources: Website, MySpace

Pleasure (featuring Brett Anderson) - Back To You
Pleasure - Uptown
Pleasure - Finest Thing

Much in the style of dancepunk's Van She and CSS, the band melds the remnants of Second-Wave and Electro into catchy tunes. They've released a flirtateous, hybrid EP of original and remixed versions. Hopefully when the full-length drops they put out as well as they tease.

Online resources - MySpace, Website, PETA Interview

New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream
New Young Pony Club - The Bomb

Back in 2005 former Propaganda and ACT chanteuse Claudia Brücken, and ZTT label-mate, Andrew Poppy created a unique album of cover songs.

Well before Nouvelle Vague gave 'new wave hits' the Bossa nova treatment, Brücken & Poppy created Another Language. Like the album name implies, the twelve songs are re-presented through Brücken's distinctive voice and Poppy's minimalist style, in way you hadn't heard before: all are a work of voice and solo piano or guitar.

Online resources: Label Website, Andrew Poppy Website

Claudia Brücken & Andrew Poppy - Running Up That Hill
Claudia Brücken & Andrew Poppy - Broken English

1. Lipstick Vogue
2. White Noise Maker
3. Drive in Saturday
4. Broken English
5. Nice Dream
6. Running Up That Hill
7. Amsterdam 1896
8. Breakfast
9. Die Nebensonnen
10. Libertango (I've Seen That Face Before)
11. You Do
12. Wooden Heart

Rachel Sweet - B-A-B-Y

Online resources: CSS MySpace, CSS Website, Rob da Bank MySpace, Leftfield Show Website

Cansei De Ser Sexy - I Wanna Be Your JLo

Named after a song by band, DNA, Blonde Redhead was formed in 1993 in New York City. Current band members, Kazu Makino and twin brothers Simone and Amadeo Pace, have continued the refinement of the bands unique sound with their upcoming release. Transitioning from the no-wave influence felt on their early releases, the band has grown into to a sound hard to pigeon-hole. It is both delicate and dramatic, and walks in territory occupied by both indie cred and britpop/shoegaze textures.

Check out a track from the forthcoming release below.

Blonde Rehead resources online: official website, myspace, label, tour dates, itunes

Blonde Redhead - Dr. Strangeluv

Six albums later, in 2005, she recorded a self-titled album, Robyn, on her own Konichiwa label. Released only in Sweden, the album will finally see a release in the UK on April 2, 2007. No word yet on a US release.

This release sees Robyn, no longer stuck to her bubblegum pop beginnings and she brings a certain Swedish pop view of contemporary Brit and Euro pop. Hearing her 'rap' with a slight Swedish accent makes me smile with joy. It's so awesome.

Robyn resources online: official website, label, myspace, itunes.

Robyn - Cobrastyle
Robyn - Konichiwa Bitches

Check out her video for Konichiwa Bitches after the jump.

Weekend Without Make-Up Mix

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Weekend Without Make-Up Mix NEW! 01/07
01	Young Folks	Peter Björn & John
02	Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken	Camera Obscura
03	On The Radio	The Concretes
04	You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve	Johnny Boy
05	Shimmy	The Lost Patrol
06	Again & Again	The Bird and the Bee
07	500 (Shake Baby Shake)	Lush
08	The Comeback	Shout Out Louds
09	Julie Christie!	Spearmint
10	Super Electric	Stereolab
11	Ageless Beauty	Stars
12	Hypocrite	Lush
13	Stutter	Elastica
14	Bright Yellow Gun	Throwing Muses
15	Dead and Gone	The Ettes
16	Weekend Without Make Up	The Long Blondes
17	Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me	The Pipettes
18	Out of Your League	Henri Fabergé and the Adorables

Susanna and the Magical Orchestra have released a covers record of some 80's standards, as well as some off the wall choices. Susanna's quiet voice is layered over harpsichord to re-invent these songs as dark and brooding Norweigian blues, trapping pop songs in icey cabaret prisons. Finish half a bottle of wine, and then check out her version of AC/DC's It's A Long Way To The Top.

Susanna and the Magical Orchestra - It's A Long Way To The Top

We also have Norwegian Grammy winners the White Birch. I'm thoroughly convinced that anyone who listens to the full of their album will be hooked. Combining Icelandic production values with Kings of Convenience vocal stylings, and wrapping it all up in a pop manner that invokes early Cold Play (when they were relevant), the White Birch have created what I believe to be one of the most perfect indie pop records ever.

White Birch - Seer Believer

Imagine a brit girl group with hints of the Divinyls and Fergie. Sounds weird, but the song is enjoyable.

Frank - I'm Not Shy

Here's the band's website.

Adrian Orange (aka The Thanksgiving) is like this as well, the first moments of his voice strike you with a discomfort that eventually settles into awe. Twisted and awkward ballads push their way around your brain, asking you to decode their puzzles on the way to your heart. Expertly crafted pop songs that take you inside relationships full of teenage love, immediate and destructive.

Working with Phil Elverum has helped guide Adrian's hand well, and on Bitches is Lord you can hear the craftsmanship he's achieved while still being able to look forward to his future releases. There is a lot more to come from this young man.

Adrian Orange - While You Live

In this case it's the first single, Again & Again, from the new duo, The Bird and the Bee. It's a beautiful trifle of 60's French Pop and Brazilian rhythm wrapped around a jangly Indie Pop center.

There full-length debut is due at the end of this month. You can find further information about them at their MySpace page and on their soon to be relaunched website.

The Bird and the Bee - Again & Again

Marlena successfully fused her Jazz background with the Soul, Rhythm Blues and laid back Funk of the Sixties and Seventies into some amazing recordings. Check out the two tracks here for a sample of her magic.

Discovered in 1966, she orginally recorded for the Chess Records' imprint, Cadet, and then later moved onto Bluenote and Columbia. Her stuff is hard to find in stores, but it's worth the effort.

Marlena Shaw - Liberation Conversation
Marlena Shaw - Woman of the Ghetto

After the jump is Marlena's Biography (courtesy of the discomuseum) and Discography.

WHO IS THIS BITCH ANYWAY? Not only the title of one of her most famous albums, but a real statement that sums up Marlena Shaw. She's known as a jazz artist, but some only knew her as a disco artist, while others yet think of her in an R&B mode. So who is Marlena Shaw? Well.....she is all of these. Ask Marlena and she'll flat out tell you she's a jazz artist, yet there's no denying her R&B sides and her disco undertakings.

Born Marlina Burgess on September 22, 1942 in New Rochelle, New York. She got her love of music and jazz in particular from her uncle. After her uncle, Jimmy Burgess, introduced her to the recordings of Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis, she caught the jazz bug, and purchased records by Al Hibbler, a vocalist who had a big influence on her singing style. When she was ten she performed at Harlem's Apollo Theater, and despite the enthusiastic reception she received in front of one of the world's toughest audiences, her mother refused to let her go on the road with her uncle, a trumpet player.

Shaw began attending the State Teachers' College in Potsdam, N.Y. but later dropped out. For a time in 1963 she worked around New England with a trio led by Howard McGhee. By the mid-1960's she was performing regularly for audiences in the Catskills, Playboy clubs and other New York area clubs. She was discovered by Chess Records in 1966 while singing on the Playboy lounge circuit. On Chess' Cadet subsidiary, under the aegis of producer Richard Evans, she performed vocal counterparts of jazz hits such as "Mercy Mercy Mercy" (number 33 R&B, number 58 pop) by Cannonball Adderley and "Wade In The Water" by Ramsey Lewis Trio. Chess released two albums and a series of singles before Shaw left the company in 1968.

Through her accountant, she was brought to the attention of bandleader Count Basie, and she ended up singing with the Basie band for four years. In 1972, after leaving the Basie Orchestra, Shaw was the first female vocalist signed to Blue Note Records, and she toured for a while with the late Sammy Davis, Jr. Shaw recorded five albums and several singles for Blue Note, and critics likened her singing style to Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughan.

By 1977 Shaw was ready for a move. The move was two-fold, first to a new label, Columbia Records, and secondly to the more profitable pop and R&B arena. Her first offering was "Sweet Beginnings." It produced the out-of-the-box smash "Yu-Ma/Go Away Little Boy" which has since become her trademark song. The Bert DeCoteaux produced album had it's disco leanings also. The title track was very danceable but it was the song "Pictures And Memories" that was very well received as a club hit. In fact had a 12" been issued on it the song would have attained cult classic status. It remains one of my top 100 all-time favorite disco tracks. A second album followed in 1978, "Acting Up" which was finely crafted and well produced and contained the hit single "Don't Ask To Stay Until Tomorrow." The song was the theme from the blockbuster movie "Looking For Mr. Goodbar."

By 1979 Marlena was feeling the pressure from Columbia Records for another hit. Columbia has always been a hit-singles driven company unlike Blue Note or Verve which are more repertoire and artist driven. Disco was in full swing, and to many, Marlena sold-out by jumping on the disco band wagon. Ironically this, her most successful album for Columbia, would be her last for them. "Take A Bite" or the actual cover title "music is a feast...so sit at my table and....Take A Bite" was a triumphant smash. Marlena, who has always done things first-rate, decided that if she was to do disco then she wanted the best. Producers Meco Monardo, Tony Bongiovi and Harold Wheeler were brought in to assist her. Mixing was by John Luongo and Michael Barbiero. Backgrounds were by Lani Groves, Diva Gray, Gordon Grody, Jimmy Maelen and John Luongo.

The centerpiece of the album was the 18+ minute medley that produced two 12" single remixes from the album. The first single was a stunning cover of the Diana Ross hit "Touch Me In The Morning" which became an instant hit and a highly sought after collector's item. The second single, which was released commercially, "Love Dancin' " charted higher and propelled the album to Gold status.

As the new decade began Marlena, now lableless, toured the world doing club dates and jazz festivals. Disco, having gone back underground, was now termed Dance music. In 1982 a small independent West Coast label contacted Marlena and she was persuaded to record one album for them. "Let Me In Your Life" was released after her disco-phase and before her return to jazz. The album was an all-out R&B fest that did produce one 12" single "Never Give Up On You." The album and 12" went out of print when South Bay Records closed it's doors in 1983.

Her disco presence was strong enough for her inclusion in an all-star medley on The Boystown Gang's 1984 album "And A Cast Of Thousands." Marlena and several other disco superstars re-recorded their hit(s) in "The Dance Trance Medley." Once again Marlena was heard on dancefloors from coast to coast.

Like the prodigal child returning home, Marlena came back to her real love, jazz, in the mid 1980's. Two albums followed on the legendary Verve label, both to very favorable reviews. Followed by a move to the Concorde Jazz label in the 1990's she released two more highly successful albums to rave reviews. In 1999 CBS/Sony released "Go Away Little Boy: The Sass & Soul Of Marlena Shaw" which finally featured both of her classic Columbia 12" singles on compact disc. And a 2000 "Anthology" featured samples from her early Cadet jazz and Columbia R&B recordings.

Looking and sounding better than ever in the new millenium, Shaw continues to dazzle audiences with her intoxicating blend of straight ahead jazz, soul, pop and classic R&B, but her recordings will also satisfy fans of traditional jazz who have no prejudices about blues and R&B. Our hats off to the bitch who is bad!

Discography

Out of Different Bags (Cadet 1967)
Spice of Life (Cadet 1969)
Marlena (Blue Note 1972)
From The Depths Of My Soul (Blue Note 1973)
Live at Montreux (Blue Note 1974)
Who Is This Bitch, Anyway? (Blue Note 1975)
Just a Matter of Time (Blue Note 1976)
Sweet Beginnings (Columbia 1977)
Acting Up (CBS 1978)
Touch me in the morning (Columbia, 1979)
Love dancin’ (Columbia, 1979)
Take a Bite (Columbia 1980)
Let Me in Your Life (South Bay 1982)
It Is Love (Verve 1983)
Live at Vine Street (Verve 1983)
Love Is in Flight (Verve 1984)
Dangerous (Concord Jazz 1996)
Elemental Soul (Concord Jazz 1997)
Anthology (Soul Brother Records 2000)
Live In Tokyo (411 Records 2002)
Lookin' For Love (411 Records 2003)

Formed in 1999 in Stockholm, Peter Björn & John is made up of members Peter Morén on vocals, guitar, and harmonica; Björn Yttling on vocals, bass, vocals, and keyboards; and John Eriksson on drums, percussion, and vocals.

Peter Björn & John - Young Folks

From their 2006 release, Writer's Block, the song Young Folks features Victoria Bergsman of The Concretes sharing vocals with Peter on a decidedly lo-fi, sixties baroque pop gem, that lyrically shares some innocent observations of relationships with those of fellow Swede, Jens Lekman.

Peter Björn & John Website

Spearmint - Julie Christie!

The band has had line-up changes over the years and this surely contributed to the quality of their music.

Spearmint Website