Why did I not know about this earlier??

Apparently, Samsung hosted a contest on youtube for the best lip syncing video to Melody Club's sublime Destiny Calling. How it warms my heart to see tons of (what I assume to be, based on the behind the scenes stuff) Americans putting up videos rocking out to a song that I'm surprised they even know. Kudos to Samsung for choosing this song, and ultra ultra kudos to the winning video (below), an awesomely backwards shot video that begs for repeat viewings.
You can see the top twenty videos here, if you're interested.



Best bits?
* the balls (get your minds out of the gutter)
* the newspaper
* the umbrellas

Superfamily - Warszawa
Release Date: May 21, 2007
Label: Propeller/Universal

Norway’s Superfamily have created something potent and undeniably special with their second full-length Warszawa. Cribbing the best from rock acts of years past (and usually improving on them), it’s easy to feel, upon listening to the record, like this is what everything’s been building up to. This is the grand scope The Killers were going for. It’s the perfect concoction of space age hyper drama that Muse just nearly missed last year, and it's what U2 would sound like if they truly were the gods that everyone seems to make them out to be.

A bizarre concept album about love and loss and time machines, it feels very much like a product of the seventies, even though the synth-heavy music is clearly inspired primarily by the eighties. Despite all of its heady ruminations, though, the album boasts eight huge, instant, singalong pop songs. I Could Be A Real Winner and The Radio Has Expressed Concerns About What You Did Last Night are already deserved hits in the band’s home country. Each possesses the kind of melody that feels like a lost classic upon the first listen, yet in no way seems derivative or uninventive. The title track, with its majestic, symphonic synth work could just end up being the sweeping, lovelorn throwback of the year. Most instantly impressive, though, is Teens Of The 70’s, a wild mash-up of rock opera, stabbing dance, and punk attitude (propelled by yelping front man Steven Wilson). If you’re not involved in the record yet, from this point on it’ll sweep you up in its spacey fantasia. Put simply, the track redefines the term “epic.”

Warszawa is, if not the best, at least one of the best things you’re going to hear all year. It’s just in a completely different league than most everything out there right now. It’s the kind of album that redefines things, sets a new standard. Undoubtedly, a staggering achievement, and it goes without saying, a must-own. A

Key Tracks: Teens Of The 70’s, The Radio Has Expressed Concerns About What You Did Last Night, Warszawa

Video Premiere: Juvelen - They Don't Love You

A simple, stylish video for a fantastic track. Now, when are we going to get some news on an album release? I don't think I can wait much longer...

Video Premiere: Superfamily - I Could Be A Real Winner

I can't say I'm too impressed by this bizarre, low-budget video, but I implore you to watch it just to hear this brilliant single (taken from the equally brilliant album Warszawa). I think it'll set the radio alight just like their last single did. These guys are one of the most amazing, dynamic young bands out there today. I am officially obsessed. Here's hoping the majestic title track will be the next to be released.

Girl Happy - Je T'aime



"I got a feeling this time it will be different"

Rounding out Norwegian Artists Week, Girl Happy is a fun pop/rock duo who specialize in light, catchy rock music with a slight electronic influence. Their single Remind Me Tomorrow Of Today could, I think, singlehandedly reinvigorate the genre here in the States. Too bad nobody knows about it. Not anymore, though... I'm including the excellent video at the bottom of this post. Watch it, please. As for Je T'aime, it's another fantastically singalong pop song with some great, rocky verses and a big chorus. Tailor made for the radio, yet completely unknown outside of Norway, let's get these guys some exposure!

Girl Happy - Je T'aime (mp3) (zshare)

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists! Buy the album here!)

Girl Happy - Remind Me Tomorrow Of Today

Karatkorn - Days



"Days fade away while I walk away"

I know very little about Karatkorn, except that it's a dance project that sounds like it could fit right on the new Pleasure album. It doesn't sound totally unlike the kind of stuff that the UK's Booty Luv is doing right now, though it's far more refined and stylish. It's also a duet with a female singer and one of the guys in the band. Days is a perfect track for the summer, all sweeping synths and insistent beat. Nevermind the pretty dark lyrics... with a sound like this it is absolutely impossible not to dance.

Karatkorn - Days (mp3) (zshare)

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists! I don't know where to buy the single, though!)

Write A Pikko Poem & Win A Pikko Cd: WINNERS!

The drawing was held, the winners were contacted, and the cds have been shipped out. Now all that's left to do is post the winning poems. Thanks for everyone who entered. I loved reading the stuff that you sent in.

Greg's poem:

A bit strange

A poem for Pikko?

Well,

OK

But to win

shiny aluminum

and

pulsing synth

it must be done

Star-spangled past

League CFNY '82

Swedish Sounds WOXY '02

Radio is dead

Super-shiny Pikko

somewhere beyond

musically

Be mine.

Megan's poem:

Pikko

bright, sunny

shining, pulsing, chirping

uptempo, leftist, danceable, unique

lingering, longing, needing

odd, intriguing

fabulous

Congratulations to the winners, and I hope you enjoy the cd!

The Work - Givin' It Up



"Givin' it up I've got to try"

The Work, an electronic pop duo, hail from Bergen, Norway, a hotbed of new talent in the region. They're signed to the same label as Annie (of Chewing Gum & My Heartbeat fame) and have a similar (if a bit more dreamy) sound. Their new double single is out in August and you can hear it at their myspace. Givin' It Up was released earlier as their debut single and, though it may not instantly bowl you over, its labyrinthine melody and bubbling synths will win you over before the song's finished. The chorus, when it finally rears its head, is absolutely gorgeous.

The Work - Givin' It Up (mp3) (zshare)

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists! Buy the single here!)

Superfamily - Teens Of The 70's



"I keep dancing to the song that your bitch threw away"

I've promised you the biggest, most bombastic band out there today and I don't think that this will disappoint. Superfamily (kicking off my Norwegian Artists Week) are like nothing else out there. A huge seven member band (including three background singers/dancers), they mix styles and sounds from every decade of popular music and fuse it all together with an undeniable energy and spark. Their new album Warszawa is (no joke) one of the best albums I've ever heard. Their first single off of the record, the brilliantly titled The Radio Has Expressed Concerns About What You Did Last Night is, I've read, the most played song on Norwegian radio this year. And, as such, I'm counting on it to be the same sort of breakthrough that It Takes A Fool To Remain Sane was for the Ark. It's a grand, catchy track that only reveals its true brilliance after a few listens. I'm posting the music video below because I want you to see it. But, I'm choosing to post a different track today. Teens Of The 70's is less of a straghtforward pop track but that is in no way a bad thing. Epic in every sense of the word, the song moves through different portions, drawing to mind comparisons from Queen to ELO to Tim Curry to Green Day to The Killers. It's the kind of song that just keeps expanding. Just when you think it can't get any bigger, it does. It's also the kind of song that demands a full stereo system (or at the very least, a nice pair of headphones). It is, quite simply, like no other song I've heard before and is 100% more ambitious than any other band out there right now. Expect a review of the album soon.

Superfamily - Teens Of The 70's (mp3) (zshare)

(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, support the artists! Buy the album on itunes in any country, or here!)

Superfamily - The Radio Has Expressed Concerns About What You Did Last Night

Some reminders...

1 more day to get your Pikko poems in and win a Pikko cd!

1.5 more days until you meet the universe shattering band I promised last Thursday

0 more days until I finish Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows, and my god it was good, not to mention the end of an era.