Horse Shoes!

The most Swedish thing in Florida? Maybe. Horse Shoes write simple, catchy pop songs wrapped up in swirling keys, breathy vocals, and general Sarah-ness (Sarah-n wrap! Oh geez.) They also remind me a lot of The Format, but that's another story. Their new album, The Imperial School, is perfect for those days where all you want to do is stay in bed and watch the rain splash on the window. Did I mention they remind me a lot of The Wake and The Format? For all of its lazy day ambiance, The Imperial School has that beat that might just have you shuffling your feet. The Imperial School is available from Shelflife right now as part of their beautifully packaged 1000 series (though it's not officially out until September 22nd). Oh, I didn't explain the Sweden thing, did I? Air France! Kablow!

I Can't Decide .mp3
The Imperial School .mp3

This Must Be Heaven

Because Slumberland just keeps churning out solid gold. In this installment of the Slumberland Fanclub we'll be discussing Searching for the Now 5 and 6.


Searching for the Now 5 is three all Swedish tracks, and not just any Swedes either, we're talking Liechtenstein backed by the Faintest Ideas. Liechtenstien kick things off with "This Must Be Heaven," and it's simply enchanting (not to mention previously unreleased). The guitars are jangle-y, the drums are toe-tap-y, and as usual, their harmonies are spot on. The Faintest Ideas get two tracks, "You're Gonna Wake Up One Morning And Know What Side Of The Bed You’ve Been Lying On" and "Procrastination Of Every Day Tasks" (probably because they're flying along at like a billion rpm). They're fast, fun, get the job done, and will have you playing some sort of air instrument in under a minute (a la killer guitar riffs or high octane drums).

This Must Be Heaven .mp3
Procrastination Of Every Day Tasks .mp3


Searching for the Now 6 features The School and George Washington Brown, both of the UK. The School do a wonderful cover of Left Banke's "And Suddenly." It's a beautiful little summer pop gem for the remaining days of summer. Flip the disc and flip into George Washington Brown's two tracks of noisy psych-pop. "End of the..." and "Twin Towers" kind of make me want to bike really fast down a busy, tree-lined street and look up at the sky. Or something like that.

And Suddenly .mp3
End of The... .mp3

Lick Your Lips and Fuck Suicide

Oh. My. God. I dare say the Raveonettes get better with every album, and since "Suicide" is the single from their upcoming album In And Out of Control, that would make it the best Raveonettes song ever. Or at least for right now. Allow me to paint you a picture. Imagine a downtrodden young girl who runs away to New York (because it's the shit), and with her heart broken by a sucky boyfriend, and bitchy mother she learns to holster her pain and though it might be tempting, fuck suicide. And most importantly, there's that chorus. Seriously it's infectious. In And Out of Control is out October 6th on Vice Records, and you and me an everyone else needs it.

Suicide .mp3

A Cameo with Zaza

I've been trying to think of a word to summarize Zaza's new album Cameo, and I think "cavernous" does it. In case you haven't heard them before, Zaza's music falls into the shoegaze niche, but not the wall of guitar sound that usually comes to mind when you think shoegaze. Rather, Zaza drop you into a deep, dark cave made of drums and breathy vocals with more reverb than you can shake a stick at. There's guitars and keys in there too, and they just make the cave that is Zaza's sound that much deeper and encompassing. Cameo is so hypnotizing and ethereal that I just space out for the length of the EP. Not the bad kind of space out either, the good kind. The really good kind, like the kind people pay top dollar for. Cameo was supposed to come out August 18th on Kanine Records, but apparently insound and a couple other places have it for sale already. And for those of you in need of a quick fix, you can listen to the whole EP on Zaza's myspace.

Here's the opening track :
The Call .mp3