Blog: Milk Milk Lemonade

There's really not much I can tell you about this one, as my research has been hampered somewhat by my total lack of knowledge of Scandinavian languages. Orangebox (not to be mistaken for any of the other bands called Orangebox or Orange Box out there, of which there seem to be quite a few) seems to be, as I understand it, Norwegian electronica project NortMiehd (something to do with someone

Formed in 2000, The Rum Diary are a four-piece who take their name from the title of a Hunter S. Thompson novel. They're based in Cotati, California, a sleepy town best known for the accordian festival held there every year. They combine the use of homemade instruments with a more classical approach to create a really nice kind of 'indie-rock-with-an-experiment al-twist'

Very quick writeup today... the song's more than good enough to need a lot of fanfare, for a start. After his previous band Chisel broke up in the late 90s, Ted Leo, living in Washington, DC at the time, started recording with Dave Lerner and Chris Wilson as Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, releasing their first album in 1999, and another three since. If you like what you hear here (the song comes

Damien Jurado's folk-influenced indie rock is something of a recent(ish) discovery for me (thank you, Casey), and one I'm very pleased to have made. The Seattle, Washington singer/songwriter, who used to be in the hardcore band Coolidge, has released seven full-length albums (as well as several EPs) over the past decade on various labels including Sub Pop and more recently Secretly

A four-piece outfit from Fresno, California, who have drawn comparisons to The Flaming Lips and Pavement, Rademacher have attracted the attention of music bloggers and the indie music press with their two EP releases and live shows with the likes of The Rum Diary and The Chapin Sisters. Their laid-back, delicate guitar sound is quite hypnotic, and if you like what you hear here, you

I have a confession to make. Despite the date on this post saying February 28th, I'm actually posting it retrospectively, in late July. This is because - in case you haven't spotted this - we're updating (or back-dating, rather) the archives on here with the stuff we've been featuring on our MySpace group since November 2005. Nothing wrong with that, but I just had to explain that bit so that

The Wanteds is the one man pop project of Portland, Oregon area musician Tommy Harrington. From some of the reviews I read, he moved to Portland from L.A. in 1999 and started collecting musical instruments of all kinds. His live performance is quite the spectacle and often controversial. If you like this, check out his website and MySpace page for some more songs to

With a name like American Suitcase you'll be surprised to learn that this band is from Oslo, Norway. Most of the reviews I read about them were from 2003 and earlier. In them, they are repeatedly compared to The Byrds, Teenage Fanclub and Matthew Sweet. (I kind of hear The Posies in there also.) The American Suitcase website looks outdated so I was almost certain

Today's song comes from Patrick Phelan, whose third full-length album as a solo artist (he was previously in South and has collaborated with various other artists over the years) was released in December after a four-year hiatus during which Phelan spent time studying human rights and cooking in Italy. Like his previous releases, 2000's Songs of Patrick Phelan and 2001's Parlor,

Page France began life when Michael Nau started writing and recording songs with his friend Clinton Jones in the summer of 2004, attracting the attention of Baltimore label Fall Records who subsequently released the band's debut album Come, I'm a Lion!. Page France's live performances started to get them noticed, drawing an ever-growing following to them. From what

Okay... this writeup might have to be a bit on the short side as I just sent myself cross-eyed trying to quickly glean some info from the band's website; is it just me who is driven insane by those impressive-looking Flash sites? Maybe it is - they look impressive, after all, but I just want to find stuff quickly! Anyway. What I did gather before abandoning the task was that

Photo by Chris Strong Chicago, IL's Chin Up Chin Up began life in 2001, formed by guitarists Jeremy Bolen and Nathan Snydacker, and soon joined by percussionist Chris Dye and bassist Chris Saathoff, then (after the release of their debut EP in January 2002) by keyboardist Greg Sharp. Extensive touring with the likes of the America Analog Set, Broken Social Scene and the Appleseed

The utterly fantastic Ex-Boyfriends (now there's a collection of words you don't see used in that sequence too often...) are an energetic indie trio from San Francisco who started recording together in 2003. The songs are irresistible and infectious and I can guarantee that after a couple of listens you'll find them stuck indelibly in your head for weeks. With Robert

Childhood friends Christian Hjelm, Andreas Toft and Claus S. Johansen formed the Copenhagen, Denmark-based Figurines sometime in the mid-90s. They released an EP, The Detour in 2001, subsequently signed to Morningside Records, and were then joined by Kristian Volden to complete the band's lineup. In April 2003 they released their debut album, Shake a Mountain, followed two years

It has to be said that sometimes, no matter how taken I am with a song, I struggle to find anything much to write about the artist that made it (given that, as I've said before and I'll surely say again, actually describing the music itself is something I'll do anything to avoid; who was it who said that writing about music is like dancing about architecture? They were dead right). That says more

Right, some lovely, jangly, short-and-sweet guitar poppiness today, courtesy of Irish band Crumb. The band consists of Eamonn Davis and Derrick Dalton (both formerly of Hey Paulette, who you can also find on MySpace if you're so inclined), along with Dez Foley (who also plays with Eamonn Davis in Mexican Pets - again, they have a MySpace page if you fancy a look & listen...) Just to confuse you

You might well know today's featured artist as he's already become quite well-known in Europe, the US and further afield; but if you have heard his music, I doubt you'll object to hearing it again, and if you haven't... we have a treat for you. Photo by J Stlhammar Twenty-five year old Jens Lekman is from Gothenburg, Sweden, and has been recording and releasing music since 2000,