Play your cards right

Ah, Valentine's Day. The greetings card industry's annual attempt to piss off single people everywhere. Must be fun if your birthday happens to fall on this particular date though, as it would deceive your postman into thinking you're massively popular with the laydeez/gentlemen, what with him or her having to deliver a load of cards bearing your name every 14th Feb. (Alright then, so not that much fun really.)

Valentine's gripes aside, I'm a sucker for a good love song, and this is one of the very best. Magnus Carlson joins Acid House Kings on the wonderful Will You Love Me In The Morning.

Acid House Kings & Magnus Carlson - Will You Love Me In The Morning? mp3

What they did on their holidays

Acid House Kings have released the second single from their excellent new album Music Sounds Better With You, as a free download. It's called Under Water and it's accompanied by this smashing home videos-based promo.



Download the mpfree

Buy the album

More water-based Swindie pop fun below!



Eggstone - Water mp3

Music sounds better with Acid House Kings

I've been listening to the long-awaited new Acid House Kings album, Music Sounds Better With You a lot recently, and it's everything fans of these twee Swedish (Tweedish?) stalwarts could have hoped for. Quintessentially Acid House Kings, basically!

My favourite track on the album would probably be I Just Called to Say Jag älskar dig - a gorgeous little love song tucked away near the end. But when I looked at the album's listening stats on Last FM a little while ago, something struck me as odd about this particular song's figures.

While the other nine tracks on Music Sounds Better With You had all garnered at least 3,000 plays apiece (one track gaining in excess of 8,000 listens), I Just Called to Say Jag älskar dig has managed a total of just 191 plays - almost 3,000 below any of the others. This can lead me to only two possible conclusions:

1) The fact that part of the title is in Swedish is putting people off giving it a chance. Not that this should matter, but it seems to. The ironic thing is, Jag älskar dig (I love you) are the only three Swedish words in the whole of the song.

2) People are worried I Just Called to Say Jag älskar dig might be a cover of that horrible old Stevie Wonder song. An understandable concern, but don't worry, it's not.

Anyway, don't just take my word for how good it is - have a listen for yerself!

Acid House Kings - I Just Called to Say Jag älskar dig mp3

Music Sounds Better With You is out now on Labrador

New Acid House Kings & Christmas round-up

After a break of six years (six years!), Sweden's twee pop maestros Acid House Kings are back with new single Are We Lovers Or Are We Friends? Thankfully for them, after such a long absence, the song's a corker and well worth the extended wait. The band's new album, Music Sounds Better With You, will be out on Labrador in the spring.

Acid House Kings - Are We Lovers Or Are We Friends? mp3

The rest of this entry's devoted to Christmas songs so readers of a curmudgeonly nature may wish to look away now.

Sheffield duo Slow Club are giving last year's festive EP Christmas, Thanks For Nothing a belated release in the US. From it, here's their energetic and faithful rendition of the Darlene Love / Phil Spector classic, Christmas, Baby Please Come Home, a song I still love despite U2's best attempts to tarnish it forever.

Slow Club - Christmas Baby Please Come Home mp3

Buy Christmas, Thanks For Nothing at Moshi Moshi

Dublin's Indiecater Records have released a new Christmas compilation - their third - featuring mostly original seasonal compositions from the likes of Dolfish, Natalie Prass, Paisley and Charlie, The Very Most, Kate and After, Boca Chica, Ali Millstein, Adam and Darcie, Standard Fare, The Gorgeous Colours and Royal Fores. You can stream the entire album here while the agreeable country stylings of Boca Chica's offering can be downloaded below.

Boca Chica - Not On Christmas Eve mp3 (right click)

Christmas was better in the eighties - at least it was according to The Futureheads on their new single of the same name. And who could possibly argue with them, apart, perhaps, from anyone who didn't spend their formative years in that decade? Anyway, I'm with the Futureheads on this. The single's released on December 19th and is rather good. Here's the promo vid:



Finally, as you're doubtless well aware, John Lennon died thirty years ago today. We're marking the occasion here with a super version of Happy Xmas (War Is Over) by blog favourites Daryll-Ann.

Daryll-Ann - Happy Christmas (War Is Over) mp3

I'll have a 'P' please

Labrador favourites who seem to have fallen off the radar singing about European cities beginning with the letter 'P' is the slightly tenuous theme linking our songs today. Acid House Kings have been in the studio laying down some new tracks (man) for what seems like an eternity now; while the previously fairly prolific ex-Edson frontman Pelle Carlberg's website hasn't had an update for getting on for a year and a half. I wish they'd hurry up and come back, anyway. I miss these guys.

Geographical themes aside, the following are up there among my favourite two or three songs by each of these acts. Absolutely chuffing brilliant from start to finish.

Pelle Carlberg - Pamplona mp3

Acid House Kings - Paris mp3

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Three of a Kind #59

It's all about cities today. More specifically, European cities. Even more specifically, non-Swedish European cities being sung about by Swedish bands. Now there's lovely.

Actually, I'd have had a nightmarish four-into-three-won't-go scenario on my hands here had I been able to locate my copy of the Pelle Carlberg CD (In A Nutshell) with the frankly wonderful Pamplona on it. Which I couldn't, so it's not a problem after all. Woo and indeed hoo.

Here we go then!

I'm From Barcelona - We're From Barcelona mp3

Acid House Kings - Paris mp3

Peter, Bjorn & John - Amsterdam mp3

Mildly Interesting City Facts: Of our featured cities, Paris has the biggest population with an impressive 2,167,994, Barcelona are in second place on 1,605, 602, while Amsterdam lag behind with a paltry 747,290. Still, size isn't everything, eh, fellas?

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They Call It Acid (House Kings)

It's been a while since we heard anything from the Acid House Kings, and the news from their website isn't all that great - a follow-up to 2005's excellent Sing Along With The Acid House Kings still hasn't been recorded. The band do assure us, however, that they're in the process of "investing heavily in studio equipment... If all goes well the meaning of perfect pop will finally be defined in 2009."

Well hurrah for that! In the meantime, let's remind ourselves what we're missing.



Acid House Kings - Say Yes If You Love Me mp3

Buy Acid House Kings stuff

"You were writing your setlist on the side of a cup"

Poor old Don Lennon. He must curse being lumbered with a name that sounds similar to the name of one of popular culture's biggest icons (although possibly not as it's been implied in the past that this isn't Don's real name). I know I get irritated every time I search for him in an online shop. "Did you mean to search for that wildly famous pop star?", asks the annoyingly perky search help function. "No, I bloody well didn't, otherwise I would have typed his bloody name, wouldn't I?" is my usual response. If I'm in a good mood.

Anyway, Don Lennon is much better than his almost namesake. His witty lyrics delivered in deadpan style are never better than on his third album, Downtown (2002 Secretly Canadian), which tackles issues such as whether it's alright the pretend to like Dave Matthews in order to get your end away. He's been compared to Jens Lekman, but Don Lennon is much more low key, a bit like Stephin Merritt or the Go-Betweens. Have a listen to this lovely song from Downtown:

Don Lennon - The Night Kramer Met Ann mp3 (available for 7 days)

In 2006, Don recorded the Acid House Kings' Tonight Is Forever for the EP Everyone Sings Along With The Acid House Kings on which 5 artists covered AHK songs (released following the success of their karaoke DVD, Sing Along With The Acid House Kings. Also on that EP was Magnus Carlson's beautiful version of Will You Love Me In The Morning, but I'm sure we'll get around to that another entry.)
Here's Don's interpretation of Tonight Is Forever. "Oh, I like this part. I like that funky guitar..."

Don Lennon sings the Acid House Kings - Tonight Is Forever mp3 (available for 7 days)

Don Lennon has now released five albums full of finely-crafted, original songs and you can buy all of them from his official website.



ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES!

Three of a kind #18

A trio of cover versions by Swedish artists of other Swedish artists' songs today: all-female acapella choir The Sweptaways tackle El Perro Del Mar's Say;Acid House Kings reinterpret Loveninjas' Keep Your Love; and The Cardigans' Carnival is dramatically reworked by, umm, The Cardigans!

The Sweptaways - Say mp3

Acid House Kings - Keep Your Love mp3

The Cardigans - Carnival (Puck Version) mp3

In other news, Spike's modem's knackered so I'm afraid you're stuck with just me until she gets a new one. Come back soon, Spikey!

Buy music by today's featured artists at the Klicktrack mp3 shop.