
duae is the newly released album by singaporean band lunarin , a follow up to their 2006 debut the chrysalis on aging youth records. the single "zero point red", which our MAP correspondent brian koh picks for this month's issue, also features in local filmmaker jason lai's documentary brother no. 2 . check it out! SINGAPORE : I'm Waking Up To... Lunarin - Zero [...]

CHOO CHOO is a indie pop four piece from Berne, Switzerland, which already managed to create quite a nice fanbase with their self-titeled debut back in 2008. Now the 3 guys & the girl went back to to the studio with Kalle Gustafsson (Mando Diao, Shout Out Louds, Whitest Boy Alive) to record a sophomore record called Cannes. As a little teaser for the new album they're now giving away a song for free. It's called "It's A Good Thing" and is a nice & catchy indie pop tune, without the band reinventing their sound. [...]

It's time for September's edition of the Music Alliance Pact. For those of you who don't know about MAP, it's a collection of thirty-five music blogs from around the world who band together once a month to shed light on up-and-comers from their home countries. It's sort of like the WTO without the human rights violations. After the jump you'll find music from 35 nations spanning the globe. If you'd like to be considered for this feature, drop by the comments section with a link to your site and we'll forward your info to MAP organizer Jason from [...]

Oh, come on Basement Jaxx, you're spoiling us now. A mere three months after Scars dropped, Felix and Simon have unleashed ANOTHER new album, Zephyr. But how does it stand against its predecessor? I'll get to that, but first, a bit of background info... Made during the studio sessions for Scars, the original plan was to release a double album: one disc of the lads' new direction of "soundscape" ambience, and another of the signature quirky house we've come to expect from Basement Jaxx. Felix and Simon later decided to release the latter as a standalone album (Scars) [...]

The UK is not the only country to jump on the motown throw-back bandwagon. The US is catching up. Diane Birch is a singer in that vein. All tracks on the album have the scratch and whimper of a soul vinyl record. The kind one listens to from beginning to end. But, considering that this is a US artist, an element of twang and, dare I say, country exists throughout the album. Bible Belt has some solid old skool tunes like "Choo Choo" and the epic "Ariel," which brings back Elton John during his prime. The whole album [...]

Didnt really knew what to post about, so while i was browsing my collection, this track came in. And as i was listening, i stopped searching and thought: "Got it." The track was from ilictronix regulars, The Bloody Beetroots. Even though their tracks are common, an actual post was never made. Well, no more. The Bloody Beetroots are the italian duo, Bob Rifo and Tommy Tea. For some reason, Bob gets most of the credits, but maybe Tommy isnt really a media guy. (something i doubt, because seeing videos of [...]
May 9, 2009, 6:00am
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Versetzt in der Gegend stehend, gedankenverloren guckend, Röhrlijeans tragend: Bands, die sich immer noch so auf ihren Pressebildern zeigen, gehören geteert und gefedert. Wir suchen das beste Bandfoto des Jahres - und sind vorläufig bei Choo Choo fündig geworden. Bild: Mark Howells-Mead aka Permanent Tourist . Wem das Motiv von Choo Choo nicht ganz unbekannt vorkommt, liegt nicht falsch. Schon Franz Ferdinand haben dieses Jahr mit einem Tatort-Motiv à la Weegee aufgewartet. Entstanden ist das Bild beim einem Treffen [...]

Efterklang - Mirador Hello Seahorse - Bestia Amanda Palmer - Leeds United Black Lips - O Katrina Choo Choo - A Little Wiser Now 13Ghosts - Photographs [...]

We continue our attempts to bring you some lesser known SXSW acts today with Swiss artist Choo Choo . Originally formed as a 3 piece back in '06, the band now performs their brand of 60s style garage rock as a 4 piece out of their home in Berne, Switzerland . Catchy hooks infused with fuzzy guitar and some pop stylings all their own characterize the sound on Choo Choo's debut self-titled LP out in 2008. The band's going to be hard at work making a name for themselves during SXSW and [...]
We continue to explore bands appearing next month at the SXSW Music Festival in the Capitol City. Previous SXSW posts for this and a couple of previous years can be found here. Clicking band names will take you to their SXSW page. Clicking song title will play song. We've got a little dog & butterfly thing going here. We'll let you decide which set is which.CHOO CHOO - A Little Wiser Now mp3 -
I received a very nice email from Dan Choo wondering if he could send me a shipment of "Steam Powered Garage Pop!" When I realized Dan meant the debut album by the Bern band CHOO CHOO, I had to tell him that would not be necessary. You may well be asking yourself, "Why, pp, why??? Why did you have to tell Dan Choo that would not be necessary?" Well, I'll tell ya: I told Dan that because I had
Jan 26, 2009, 9:51am
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Der Kurznachrichtendienst Twitter wird immer beliebter. Auch Bands können das Geschnatter zum zu ihren Gunsten nutzen. Choo Choo aus Bern tun das bereits ausgiebig. 2292 Leute haben die Updates von Choo Choo auf Twitter abonniert, bald 6000 Kurznachrichten hat Sänger Dan für die Band veröffentlicht. Grund genug, nachzufragen - um vielleicht anderen Bands auf die Sprünge zu helfen. Wie lange twittert ihr schon? Ein bisschen mehr als ein Jahr, wenn ich mich recht erinnere. Ihr [...]

... but Morten's post from today reminded me what I wanted to write about this week. You probably all know the SXSW -festival taking place each year in Austin, Texas. Just recently, the organisators released the first line-up, and I was positively surprised when I noticed that there will be three bands from Switzerland playing at this year's edition of the festival. Most of all because one of these bands is Mañana , who delivered their excellent debut-album Interruptions last year (read [...]
Jan 8, 2009, 3:00am
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Mitte März findet in Austin/Texas das grösste Musikfestival der Welt statt. Gleich vier Schweizer Bands sind dieses Jahr am Start. Die Ausmasse des South by Southwest (SXSW) sind jeweils gigantisch und niemand kann so fest mit der Zunge schnalzen, um dem Lineup gerecht zu werden (siehe z.B. Lineup 2008 ). Umso erfreulicher ist es, dass dieses Jahr gleich vier Schweizer Bands mit von der Partie sein werden, wenn vom 13. bis 22. März in Austin die Indie-Hölle los sein wird. Alle vier wurden [...]