It's been a few days, but I've also collected a few new tunes to post. Envelopes - Party Some bassy-guitar rock with a nice "Total Eclipse of the Heart" reference myspace Ghostland Observatory - Dancing on My Grave At their best on the "if Freddie Mercury were alive (and hung out with Was (Not Was))" vibe myspace Professor Murder - Flex-It Formula Older stuff that I heard [...]
The Violets "Co-Plax" - It's hard to pull the Violets outside a few points in time -- early '80s Siouxsie, early '90s industrial alt-rock, early '00s post-punk revivalism -- but the band triangulate their influences nicely, resulting in dynamic pop tunes with a thin, shiny veneer of flamboyant gloom, like an M&M coated in black nail polish instead of a candy shell. "Co-Plax" in particular is more sweet than sour, and its visceral rhythmic shifts seem deliberately athletic, as if it were meant to be the soundtrack to a goth workout tape. ( Click [...]
'Demon' war schon prächtig - doch 'Here comes the wind' macht die Jungs aus Malmö entgültig zu Rettern aus der nervigen Schwedenwelle. Feist fiepen 8-bit-Synths, verspielt tuckern Bässe - Katastrophe! Haben die Envelopes seit ihrem letzten Album die Gitarren etwa versenkt und setzen jetzt auf Chiptune? Ein absurder Gedanke! Nichts haben sie verlernt, keine halbgaren Kompromisse werden gemacht: Brachiale Riffs, zuckersüsser Disco und relaxter Surf - noch immer spielen die irren Schweden alles, was ihnen in den Kopf kommt und knallen es auf 'Here comes the wind'. Je süßer also 'Party' beginnt, desto gefährlicher. Wer [...]
One of my favorite current Swedish groups, Envelopes , are finally back with their follow-up to their 2005 debut, Demon . Titled Here Comes the Wind , the album was produced by Per Sunding who longtime indie fans might remember as the front man of '90s-era Swedish band Eggstone. (He's also produced the upcoming Research album.) He's really opened up the Envelopes' sound (slightly out-of-tune guitars, male-female vocals, shifty rhythms, big hooks) without really changing what they do. Bigger, better, but not radically different. The band [...]

Η Χειμερινή Ακαδημία θα ήθελε στο σημείο αυτό να σας ευχηθεί Καλές Γιορτές, Χαρούμενα Χριστούγεννα και καλή ξεκούραση. Σε λίγες μέρες θα ακολουθήσει το τελευταίο post του 2007 με την ανασκόπηση της χρονιάς. Ως τότε σας αφήνουμε με μια σειρά από μερικά καταπληκτικά Χριστουγεννιάτι κα τραγούδια, και συγκεκριμένα: Η καλύτερη εκτέλεση του Last Christmas που έχετε ποτέ ακούσει, ένας electropop δυναμίτης, φυσικά από τη Σουηδία. Αποταμίευση ευχών από τους Σουηδούς indiepoppers [...]
What did you do for your 8th birthday? McDonald's? Your party was at McDonald's? London's Fabric crew wants to avoid your awkward [...]
Hey, quick update first: I've updated our blogger friends to include the list of awesome blogs that I try to read on a semi-daily basis. If you see something new be sure to check them out! Also let me know if I left anyone out. Now, time for music from the Inbox! Sportsday Megaphone comes at us with a nity remix of Envelope's "PARTY"; its a little funky, a little electroy while still maintaining a rock feel to it. I wouldn't say this [...]
I found a pile of old magazines in my room the other day and plucked from it a copy of The Fly [ link ], a rather good free publication that I suggest you seek out. This issue happened to have a feature on new bands, "2006. The New Breed" and considering I did a feature on 2007 new bands, I thought I would do a bit of appraisal of The Fly's choices. My choices haven't done great by the way (apart from Jack Penate), although I did mention the likes of Jamie T, Klaxons and Kate Nash as being [...]

Swedish band, Envelopes (and The Knife labelmates) have made a summer mix compilation "A Soup of Germs" which features extracts from their new album mixed in with some of their favourite songs. It is really good. it has the B-52's, the riff from Yo La Tengo's "Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind", Kraftwerk, Flaming Lips, Salt 'n' Pepa and loads of other good shit I can't remember the titles of. MP3 Envelopes mixtape Check them out on myspace. [...]

DOWNLOAD: Rodion - 'Fisico' (MP3) DOWNLOAD: Black Dice - Kokomo (MP3) DOWNLOAD: Black Lips - Cold Hands (MP3) DOWNLOAD: Pink Grease - Aliens (MP3) DOWNLOAD: Benzos - Hurt Everybody (MP3) DOWNLOAD: Man In Gray - Stranded (MP3) DOWNLOAD: Envelopes - new album mixtape (MP3) DOWNLOAD: The 180 Gs - Christianity is Stupid (Negativland doo-wop) (MP3) DOWNLOAD: Shout Out [...]

Envelopes have been gracious enough to provide the general public with a mixtape entitled "Soup of Germs". You can download it right here and we will even provide the tracklisting Here is the track listing: 1. Ocean 2. Desert 3. Excuse me please 4. Pass the Freejazz, I think I'm dancing 5. Insane asylum 6. Ocean (reprise) 7. The comeback 8. Going down 9. To the beach 10. It is a hard way of life 11. Remember Stora Hult and you can download [...]
I had no idea that this post from 8 months ago would turn out to be so prescient. No, I'm not talking about my first rant about Too Many Indie Music Festivals, I'm talking about my compare-and-contrast between Hemstad and Detektivbyrån : Italian label Black*Kitten is releasing a Hemstad/Detektivbyrån split 7-inch on June 21st. Limited Edition of 500. Envelopes , who I like very much, just recently started offering a free live version of their latest single, "Smoke In The Desert, [...]

Vamos con algo de música animada para empezar la semana, y lo hacemos de la mano de este particular grupo sueco, particular porque se sale de los cánones establecidos y nos ofrece una música distinta a la habitual en su país donde todo parece dulzura, fragilidad y melancolía. Tal vez sea debido a que el grupo lo componen cuatro suecos y una francesa que residen en el Reino Unido, es decir que tienen variedad de influencias. Con Envelopes nos vamos a encontrar un sonido que en determinados momentos recuerda a unos pixies revisados con un toque electrónico, como [...]

Six, or seven, weeks to go until the music starts at SXSW (March 14th), I won't be there, but I guarantee you that the buzz that'll build in the indie music community will be like a pot of strong coffee to me. Last year SXSW had a massive amount of music and the same will be true this year. You may already know that the festival for the past couple of years has hosted hundreds and hundreds of mp3s of bands that were showcaseds at Austin, although this year's showcase mp3s aren't online yet, last years are still [...]

It's time again to roll out the Christmas songs, and there are some we love and some we can't stand. Anyone who has worked retail through this season, as Indie Mom has, has a long list in the second category. Here is an MP3 that I am not sure actually IS a Christmas song, even though the word is in the title. I don't exactly know what the French group Envelopes had in mind with this strange little tune, but I like it. You might think those weird noises are too [...]

Malmo, Sweden Last night I saw Envelopes at Black Cat as an opening act for Ratatat . They were super fun and frisky! I definitely recommend them if you enjoy sweet jangly pop with both male and female vocals. "It Is The Law" Envelopes on MySpace

I made my way down to Emo's on Thursday night for the Ratatat/Envelopes/Panther show. Tickets for this show were only $12.50, which made me feel like I was ripping someone off. I would have been happy to pay two or three times that amount for what I witnessed. Envelopes, all the way from Malmö, Sweden, put on a pleasant set and warmed up the stage for Ratatat. I was mostly unfamiliar with this band before the show, I only recognized their name from seeing it on various blogs. I enjoyed their set, [...]

In the past, I have been letting you in on who is playing where around Austin, from the big boys to the guys from just up the road and giving a one line blip of what to expect, if even that. Time to shake things up a bit. I will still mention what is worthy (in my opinion) of seeing, but I will also take a few of the locals playing during the week that, from what I heard and read, impressed me and fill in a little more detail about them. There is [...]
Got a chance to catch an excellent show at the Great American Music Hall here in San Francisco last night. The crowd was certainly into Ratatat and were more than open to the opening acts, Panther and Envelopes. I was totally impressed with Panther (myspace). So impressed that I picked up one of his special edition tour cd's, which are all self-recorded. There's a proper release coming