If you follow our blog, you must be aware of our Swedish obsession. It's not that we are all happy people, and it's not because all Swedish girls are blond and hot, it's simply because Swedish indie pop rocks!

 

 

So, after having fun with Suburban Kids with Biblical Names and Irene, crying with El Perro Del Mar, Dancing with I'm from Barcelona and feeling proud of Jens Lekman, I am thrilled to share with you my latest Swedish discovery: A Smile and a Ribbon.

 

 

A Smile and a Ribbon have actually been out there for a while and released their debut album last September, but I figured that if I only just heard of them, surely some of you haven't been exposed to their magic as well.

 

 

This great combo is made up of Rebecca Mehlman and Martin Lindqvist, who took Rebecca's misfortunes in love and made an album out of it. On their MySpace page, they describe themselves as the musical equivalent of a lemon pie and I couldn't agree more - their music is sweet and yummy with a twist of sourness.

 

Usually, we don't post live shows videos. but it's dedicated to Darren Hayman, and we L-O-V-E him.

 

If this description is not enough for you, I can also say that their album, "The Boy I Wish I Never Met", derives its influences from 50's girl bands and 90's twee and contains 10 awesome songs that will probably make you fall in love with Rebecca Mehlman.

 

So go ahead, enjoy another Swedish wonder and thank me later.

 

Download: A Smile and a Ribbon - The Boy I Wish I Never Met

Download: A Smile and a Ribbon - Pebbles

Download: A Smile and a Ribbon - Book Cover

 

Our video of the week spot is given to our favorite Swedish band, Suburban Kids with Biblical Names, and their video to "Rent a wreck". Of course you know what that means… All of the superb 8hands alpha users will get the video straight into their 8hands. Sweet!

 

 

Sometimes all you need is a good pop song. Sure, I’ve been accused one too often for liking the experimental underdogs, but sometimes you just want a catchy tune to make you all so fuzzy. Eddie Argos of Art Brut, which we mentioned in this blog before, described the mixed feeling of pop loving in the song “Pump Up The Volume”, when he sang “I know I shouldn't / is it so wrong? / to break from your kiss / to turn up a pop song”.

 

Of course, there are many indie-pop songs that will make me turn up the volume myself, but the past couple of days I have a specific song stuck in my head: Irene’s “By Your Side” (download it here).

 

 

Irene are Swedish – just like many other great pop acts (Suburban Kids with Biblical Names, Jens Lekman, I'm from Barcelona and more). They are just about to release their second album, “Long Gone Since Last Summer”, and the single “By Your Side” makes me think that this album is gonna make me a happy creature. Just like every good pop song, it’s a love story. It’s melodic, danceable, romantic & sweet. I love it!

 

 

We grabbed the three girly-girls of the All Girl Summer Fun Band for an interview, and then started to jump on a trampoline.

 

Summertime can be the worst. I swear to god, sometimes I think that the heat, the humidity, and the scorching sun are all here just to make sure we're ready for the lava in hell.

 

But there are some, not as pessimistic as me, who actually consider summer to be fun. Some people even prefer it over wintertime. I know, it sounds impossible, but I have proves! Meet the All Girl Summer Fun Band, a.k.a AGSFB. Kathy Foster (drums, bass, vocals), Jen Sbragia (guitar, vocals) and Kim Baxter (guitar, keyboards, drums, vocals) redefine the meaning of summer.

 

 

When listening to their all-girl-fun twee pop, you just have to love this hot season. Since summer is in its last days, I thought it would be a good idea to chat with the girls who turn summertime into a bearable period.

 

First of all, I have to ask, what have you been up to in the past two years? When are we gonna hear about a new AGSFB release?

 

Kim: "Well, we’ve all been pretty busy doing a lot of different things. I finished writing my thesis and got my master’s degree in Applied Linguistics, toured a bit with the band Viva Voce, and have been busy running my bag and t-shirt company Kissycake. But AGSFB has also been working this whole time. We have been recording the new album ourselves, so it’s taking a little longer than expected, but we are taking our time and making sure we get it exactly how we want. We are just about finished recording all of the songs and are hoping to release it in the near future".

 

Kathy: "I’ve spent most of the past year touring with my other band, The Thermals. I’ve been in and out of town so much, I don’t know whether I’m coming or going anymore. Luckily, Kim is extremely organized and motivated and helps me schedule writing and recording time with her and Jen. Because of her, we’ve managed to come up with 12 songs! I’m really happy with how they’re sounding and I’m excited to get this album done".

 

Jen: "I graduated with high honors from design school and am currently working full time as a graphic designer. I have taken up surfing, but I’m not very good yet. I am still making zines, the latest being 'Diary of a Heavy Metal Girl', and I do spray paint stencil art in my spare time".

 

Sounds fun. What was the last fun thing you guys did together?

 

Kim: "Working on this album together has been exhausting but a lot of fun. Kathy and I went swimming the other day, which was great, and I’m hoping I can go out surfing with Jen sometime soon. Oh, and Kathy and Jen took me out to dinner for my 30th birthday!"

 

Kathy: "And we’ve started getting pedicures together"!

 

Jen: "Kim had a raging party at her house recently, that was super fun. I also like just hanging out and getting burritos or Thai food together".

 

 

What do you think about the way music and internet integrates?

 

Kathy: "The internet is a phenomenal tool for spreading your music around the world. I think people are listening to more music than ever, which is great! The internet makes it so easy to listen to tons of music. On the industry side though, cd sales are decreasing and stores are closing. As far as downloading, I have bought a few songs online, but I still prefer to buy cds and vinyl. I like the packaging and graphics and three dimensions. I don’t really know what my stance is on illegal downloading because I don’t feel like it’s directly affected me yet. So far, it hasn’t bothered me. I just love that more and more people are hearing our music and sharing it. But I’m really curious to see what the music industry will be like in 5 years or 10 years".

 

What’s your use in social networks?

 

Kim: "AGSFB has a Myspace account. We included our music videos that are hosted on YouTube on our Myspace page. We also have a Flickr account for our photos. All of these new social networks are pretty amazing and it’s great being able to link them all up".

 

Apart from social network usage, do you use the internet to seek music online? If you do, tell us about one good artist you’ve found.

 

Kathy: "I never really search around online for new music. I mean, I’ll look for stuff I’ve heard about from friends or other bands, but more often I buy used cds and records. I’m always online, but mostly doing band stuff (or occasionally shoe shopping) and then I get to that point where I just can’t be online one more minute. But recently I was looking for something I heard in a little art gallery, unsuccessfully, and I ran into the Aquarius Records website. It’s a very cool record store in San Francisco with lots of hard-to-find genres and artists. I got sucked in because they write descriptions about everything and have clips you can listen to, and of course you can buy online".

 

Jen: "I like to get music on iTunes that I used to have on LPs when I was a teenager. So, lots of heavy metal lately".

 

Kim: "I never watched videos growing up because we didn’t have cable, so now I am spending a lot of time on YouTube catching up on all of the videos that I missed in the 80’s and 90’s. Lately I’ve been watching a lot of Dinosaur Jr. and Dead Milkmen music videos".

 

And besides downloads, what are you listening to these days? What’s your favorite 2007 album?

 

Kim: "These days I’ve been listening to Architecture in Helsinki, M83, Silversun Pickups, and a lot of 'This American Life' on NPR. My favorite 2007 releases were The Shins' 'Wincing the Night Away' and Life at These Speeds' 'To Your Health'."

 

Kathy: "The Thermals recently toured with The Cribs from England, and I’m in love with them! They just put out a new album called 'Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever', so now they have three albums and I love them all. Also on that tour was another English band called Shrag. They just put out a 6 song ep-cd and I really love them too. Another fave for 2007 is Albert Hammond Jr’s, 'Yours to Keep'. Older stuff I’ve been listening to a lot is Teenage Fanclub's 'Bandwagonesque', The Hold Steady's “Separation Sunday” and Quix*O*Tic's 'Mortal Mirror'."

 

Jen: "People always assume that since I play music, I’m really in touch with what’s hot in music. Nothing could be further from the truth".

 

I think that a human with eight hands is also far from reality. What would you do if you had eight hands?

 

Jen: "I’d wear all my rings and bracelets at once".

 

Kim: "Sew, check e-mail, record music and make art all at once".

 

Kathy: "Yeah me too! I think I would explode from multi-tasking bliss! Oh shit, and I could also play drums and bass at the same time, an ongoing dream of mine. And I’d still have four hands left over! I could be my own band. Whoa, now I’m really going to explode".