the give it ups (my myspace favorites. 01)

the give it ups

to inaugurate a new session of the blog called my myspace favorites i present you the give it ups. they "are two girls and three boys from South London, who play short, fuzzy pop songs."
as far as i know, they have one ep released on cloudberry records and another on odd box records.
the songs here were collected throughout the years from different sources.
their best songs tend to talk about animals, like the lovely 'be my cat' and the fuzzy 'dinosaur song'... but expect great moments with 'i wanna me metal' and 'whatever happens happens'.
and 'four day week' should be the global hymn for the workers of the world that think that friday should be part of the weekend.

photos from underexposed

01. be my cat
02. dinosaur song
03. four day week
04. i wanna be metal
05. make & do
06. whatever happens happens


download
myspace
buy their latest ep here

tutankamon

tutankamon ~ tutankamon (playground music, 2009)

this is a brand new side project formed by members of 4 of the most successful bands from sweden: shout out louds, new rose, peter bjorn and john and the concretes.
upbeat with gorgeous guitars and (sometimes visible) hints of shout out louds melodies. it also has some pretty ballads like 'can't have this undone' and its beautiful backing vocals humming...
a side project that promise to be as good as their 'official' bands.
the highlights are the already hit 'have you ever been in love' and a personal favorite is 'all the things'.



01. starting to appreciate
02. have you ever been in love
03. it's not over
04. three of us
05. new band in town
06. are you sure
07. can't have this undone
08. all the things
09. oh oh oh oh
10. the grown-up

here's tutankamon performing 'have you ever been in love' for the awesome psl blog


myspace
buy it

music to see. 06

my teenage stride is one of my favorite bands from the new york scene...

love this video






and live on the nyc popfest '07


site

it's berlin. and it's winter.

it's berlin. and it's winter (mixtape #5)

my favorite historical event definitely is the fall of the berlin wall... i get really emotional when i see images of the people celebrating by the wall, crossing the border between east and west...
so for this month's mixtape i made a selection of songs inspired by that. i mean, the selection is a combination of songs from some of my favorite german bands, songs that i was listening when i went to berlin (most of them were listened while taking walks through the tiergarten) and songs recently discovered that i think that go well with berlin.
the opening track is the german hit (almost hymn?) from the cold-war era '99 luftballons' (yeah, i'm that obvious) and closing the mix is the german version of david bowie's 'heroes' (in my opinion, way better than the english version).
hope you enjoy!

01. nena - 99 luftballons
02. candyaudioline - pretend we're smart
03. my lily of the valley - precious moments
04. the bright and shiny - hasta la victoria siempre
05. the marshmallow kisses - i wonder why my favorite boy leaves me in the rain
06. pumuky - la hoguera más grande del mundo
07. locas in love - comandante
08. cessna - we can still be friends
09. c'est tout martine - den første smøg
10. princess niko - miss pixel and all her stupid daisies
11. oppressed by the line - sunset from the 16th floor
12. seaside stars - if you think
13. handsome train - i want you to know
14. familiar trees - discreet robots
15. subterfuge - i will never ever
16. space kelly - kleine taschenlampe brenn'
17. the psychedelic furs - heaven
18. we & lisa - too close for comfort
19. tramway - technical college
20. number 4 joystreet - the flowers are calling
21. david bowie - heroes / helden

[if any song fail to be unzipped, just click and drag it into the destiny folder]

de viaje al país de las tormentas

pumuky ~ de viaje al país de las tormentas (federación de universos pop, 2006)

pumuky stands today as one of the most inventive indie groups on the spanish scene. a must hear.

it all began with jair ramírez as 'alex kid en el país de las tormentas' in the canary islands trying to fill his soul with his own music. after dozens of awards and favorable reviews, he was joined by his brother and other friends and pumuky was born.

'de viaje al país de las tormentas' is their first lp and was recorded by the band in different places of the canary islands.

it's dense, idyllic, full of atmospheres and melancholy. guitars and eletronic elements flirting with (sometimes)post rock and (sometimes) folk wrapped around jair's whispery voice. the album, as a whole, gives you a sense of walking through landscapes of an island that could be situated in antartida or pumuky's own gran canaria, facing dark skies and cold winds.
very beautiful, extremely sad and amazingly delicate.
'la hoguera más grande del mundo' is among the prettiest songs ever written...



01. vertigo ante la posibilidad inminente de ser feliz
02. la hoguera más grande del mundo
03. dummies in love
04. demasiadas r.p.m.
05. pequeño
06. morir soñando nuevamente
07. noviembre; el eterno retorno
08. réquiem por el chico cangrejo
09. de viaje al país de las tormentas
10. último ensayo en el sótano



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sambassadeur's days (preview from upcoming album)

sambassadeur ~ days (new album preview) (labrador records, 2010)

sambassadeur was the band that made me fall in love with labrador records... after almost 3 years, their new album is set to be released next january and labrador already gave us a beautiful gift in form of a less than three minutes song (probably the first single)...
'days' is a song with that sambassadeur aesthetic that we'll never get tired to love and beautiful (delightful!) orchestrations...
ps: feel free to play it again and again.

sambassadeur - days

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the panduhs interview

the panduhs interview

almost a month since my last post... unfortunately sometimes we have less free time than we wanted. hope i can start posting with more regularity now.

some time ago i thought that the blog could have way more interviews so i decided to contact some bands that i wish to know more about. today you'll have a q&a with this awesome indiepop band from sunny california called the panduhs. they already showed up here with their calvin johnson ep. with their interview you'll have a video for 'the yeah!', a song from the calvin johnson ep and an exclusive track just for the readers of the blog! how cool is that!?

meanwhile you read what neil and frank said, download the awwwwwweeeeesome 'summer time'!!! and be prepared to sing along because it is catchy.

01. tell us about the beginning of the band... how did you guys meet and stuff.
neil: me and frank met in continuation school the fall of 2006. he had some drums and i had a tele. we started jamming after school to stay warm, and hosted shows in his garage which we called "panduh studios". it was the place most people in our town came to hang out, do drugs, break windows, listen to music, and get in fist fights almost every other weekend. once the crowd of twenty turned into a crowd of three-hundred we started to book outside our area. barney the local sheriff was pleased with this news.

02. how's your process (if there's any) of making music?
neil: i write the music, usually after i buy a new synth, break it, and send it franks way to get it circuit bent. when i write a new song, frank adds his drums and jeff does whatever it takes to rock like a champ.

03. what's next for the panduhs? new songs soon? a single, an ep, a full length?
neil: no plans for a full length right now.
frank: neil hates full lengths.
neil: it's not that i hate full lengths, necessarily. i feel like most full lengths are about three good songs and five fillers. why not simply release those three good songs on an ep? i'm trying hard to push the band in a new direction, and as long as frank stays by my side, i should be successful - well i hope to be.
we recently took our "calvin johnson ep" on tour. we hit san jose, portland, seattle, and berkeley. we hope to have a new ep out soon and as far as a new single goes, we just got done recording. it's called "summer time" and "chaotisch und charmant" is the first to receive the single, free of fucking charge.

04. are you guys living the dream of being musicians 24/7 or do you have to
face reality and go to work? and most importantly, do you wanna be musicians 24/7?
frank: i have yet to face the reality of a 9 to 5 work schedule. i'm hoping to soon be able to live the life of a 4/20 musician.
neil: i go to school full time as a culinary student but do my best to play shows as often as i can. it's not that hard when you have a really good manager booking your shows. i'd love to be a full time musician - maybe one day!

05. let's talk about the video... it's quite simple and nice and it makes you think 'oh,
it would've been nice to be there'. how long did it take to get it ready and who came up with the idea?
neil: the video was shot by ben barker and directed by cherub freed our manager, who came up with the idea. she likes videos, so she makes her own. check em' out: http://www.vimeo.com/user413240/videos
she says "i just wanted people who haven't ever been to a panduh's show to know what it feels like to watch them play and dance around with everybody - plus, their music feels so retro and fun to me, and that's why i have the frame story of a 50's girl time-traveling to their show."



06. name three songs you'd like to cover.
neil: well, we cover a song written by our friend uni & her ukulele called "on my way". i'm real strict on covering songs, the band hates me for that.
frank: the ronettes- "be my baby", the beach boys- "darlin", and the pixies - "where is my mind".

07. if you could give a perfect place and time to hear your songs, what would it be?
neil: perfect place: your bedroom, jumping on your bed with a descent pair of head phones on blast. perfect time, when your bored.
frank: listen to "the yeah!" while reading "youth in revolt" instead of watching miguel arteta's film. why are good books butchered?

08. finally, recommend something you've been listening to lately...
frank: weezer, the pixies, daft punk, css, and bonde do role
neil: i recommend el guincho, quiet riot, selena and vicente fernandez

09. anything else you feel like to say?
frank: read.

neil: thank you so much for the interview and for the ep review, it really means a lot and it's blogs like yours that drive me to play shows and write better music. thank you!


site
myspace