First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar

Sweden. A country that offers the worst and best of mankind. A country that gives us the artificial fakeness of Abba, Ace of Base and Ikea but has people who sound as authentic as possible. We talked a lot on these pages already of the genius of The Tallest Man on Earth. A man with a sound and voice straight out of the American hinterlands and not at all from his native Scandinavian homeland. Here now is another example in the two young ladies who are First Aid Kid.
They first came into the public’s eye and ears with a beautiful woodland rendition of a Fleet Foxes’ song. The band liked it so much they invited them on stage and from there on things took off. After a good first album comes the brilliant “The Lion’s Roar”. The voices sound like they come straight from Nashville and the songwriting is equally on par. With the help from Conor Oberst they also get well deserved indie-cred on the final song. The singles ‘Lion’s Roar’ is great and the follow-up ‘Emmylou’ places them exactly where they should be, in the ranks of Harris and June Carter. It’s a beautiful ode to country music love.
Sweden, please give us more.

Martyn's Playlist for August 8th

OK, 15 songs and a YouTube feed, deal with it.

1. Beirut - East-Harlem
2. Best Coast - Gone Again
3. Bright Eyes - Jejune Stars
4. Chase & Status - Hitz ft. Tinie Tempah
5. Cloud Control - This Is What I Said
6. Two Wounded Birds - All We Wanna Do
7. The Wombats - Techno Fan
8. Yuck - Get Away
9. Times New Viking - No Room to Live
10. The Leisure Society - This Phantom Life
11. The Black Angels - Haunting at 1300 McKinley
12. Grouplove - Naked Kids
13. The View - Grace
14. THE WoWz - Bubbles in a Bath
15. Death Letters - Temporary Frame

Explorer 23 For March 1st

It's back! Every ten days a new list there will be.

01 The Walkmen - While I Shovel The Snow
Snow won't be falling anymore this year, the Walkmen melancholy sounds will make it melt

02 Radiohead - Lotus Flower
Thom Yorke can also dance, if the entire new album is like this another classic

03 The Vaccines - Wreckin' Bar
Name a better song this year that clocks in under a minute and a half

04 Does it offend you, Yeah? - Monkeys are coming
Don't you love videos that start with a guy cutting his nose hair?

05 Cold War Kids – Louder Than Ever
A band with their own sound and a kickass chorus.

06 Bright Eyes – Shell Games
Conor can write songs, didn’t you know that already?

07 Black Keys – Howlin’ For You
The song gets a little snowed under in this video that looks more like a trailer.

08 British Sea Power - Living Is So Easy
Or why Valhalla Dancehall might be the best album of 2011 so far

09 Crystal Fighters – At Home
Seriously cool Spaniards

10 Hercules and Love Affair - My House
Early 90’s house with video to match

11 Sleigh Bells – Rill Rill
So did she kill the guy?

12 Lupe Fiasco – The Show Goes On
Any hiphopper sampling Modest Mouse should always be in the list.

13 Smith Westerns – Weekend
3 guys with axes go shopping

14 Frankie & The Heartstrings – Hunger
Jack Morgan strokes cats and likes good music

15 The Streets – Going Through Hell
Is this really the end of the Streets? Sad day.

16 MF/MB/ - Seconds Away
Not a video for people with tree phobias

17 Cloud Nothings - Should Have
Another great 90s shoegaze throwback

18 Manic Street Preachers – Postcards From A Young Man
Ok, these guys have been recording the same song over and over, but why shouldn’t you when the song’s good

19 The Strokes - Under Cover Of Darkness
The Legends return

20 Young the Giant - My Body
Don’t you think the guy in the video looks like The Tallest Man on Earth?

21 The Partysquad & Reverse ft. Gers, Adje & Jayh - Ik Ga Hard
Don’t know why I like this, but I do.

22 Lyrebirds – Now I Know Why
I Don’t know anything about this band, just that I like this song a lot.

23 Cage The Elephant – Shake Me Down
So is the elephant named Cage, or do they want to lock up the animal?