Slowing down a bit...

Due to troubles in my personal life which I'm not sure yet how much I wanna tell about here, I won't be able to post as much as I did the last weeks and months (I do realise I've always been quite irregular in my posting here...) Hope to bring you fine tunes now and again though...
This is the song I've been singing along all week :



Kids (mp3) - MGMT

Buy their album Oracular spectacular here

Rewind the video : Off the record

It must have been Sunday that I woke up with an irresistable tune locked in my head on endless repeat. But you know how it goes : you just don't seem to find the right words to the song. You keep wondering to yourself : "but which song is this ?" You almost go mad trying to find it. And then all of a sudden, it hit me (after about half a day). It was this great song :

More Videos

Off the record (mp3) - My Morning Jacket (from the album Z)

Although I have to admit I don't really get the lyrics (well, English is my second language after all...), I really like the atmosphere of both song and clip.

For your enjoyment, I have added the live version from their live double album Okonokos :

Off the record (live) - My Morning Jacket (mp3)

You can buy the albums Z and Okonokos here

Def Real

Dutch hiphop pioneers Def Real have released various singles that made you feel good : silly lyrics and capturing melodies that did well on the radio, especially in summer !

On their website, they offer their older songs for free. Here's a selection :

• Me & the pizza (mp3)
• Daar gaan we... (mp3) (in spite of the Dutch title, most of the song is in English)

Find them all on their site and donwload the remix of their new single here

The Nits

In the winter of 1989 I discovered a Dutch band that made pop music with a lot of brains. They sounded like they had attented art school, but still there music wasn't arty farty or difficult, it remained pop music foremost...
The Nits have recently released a new album, with their original -and most successfull- members all aboard again. Doing the dishes lives up to the expectations.
However, if you wish to get acquainted with them and hear what they are capable of, the best introduction remains their 1989 live double album, Urk, which did the trick for me anyway.
I hope you'll enjoy these songs :

From Doing the dishes : The flowers (mp3) is their first radio release in The Netherlands for the new album

From Urk :

• An eating house (mp3)
• J.O.S. days (mp3) : probably the best song about football (soccer for most of you non-Europeans) EVER !
• Nescio (mp3)

This is the original video clip for probably their best known song (In the Dutch mountains) :

You can buy their music here

Some songs to enjoy...

Here are a handfull of songs I really like and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do :

• Flux (12" version) - Bloc Party (mp3)
• Nightless night - Husky Rescue (mp3)
• Foundations - Kate Nash (mp3)
• When under ether - PJ Harvey (mp3)

Buy the Bloc Party single here

Buy Ghost is not real (Husky Rescue) here

Buy Made of bricks (Kate Nash) here

Buy White chalk (PJ Harvey) here

I'm (not) from Barcelona

I am not, and neither is Emanuel Lundgren (he's from Sweden !). But he and his friends have brought some of the purest pop music of the last years, and I still can't help smiling every time I listen to We're from Barcelona, their big hit...
Enjoy these tracks :

• We're from Barcelona (mp3)
• Treehouse (mp3)

Buy their record here

Today's favourites

Two songs stand out currently for me when listening to the radio (and it seems I can hear them almost any time I turn on the radio...)

Back to black (mp3) by Amy Winehouse is the kind of song which makes you realize Amy's got a voice that can really convey a message. She's the kind of girl you'd be afraid to be falling for. To me, she's like the dark side of Lily Allen, and in looks she resembles Janice (from Friends) : somehow I expect here to burst into one of the Janicy laughs any minute... Nevertheless, the song is awesome !

Hard-Fi's Suburban knights (mp3) on the other hand is a sticky song : it attaches itself to the back of your head, and your ears seem to be picking it up all the time. Just like that other great song (Cash machine) by the same band, it's exactly what's pop music is supposed to be : catchy as a cold !

Buy Amy Winehouse music here
Buy Hard-Fi music here