Always one to champion the latest fuzzed-out pop group, I cannot help but talk up Je Suis Animal. Their songs boast the heavy guitar distortion and pointed percussion so rampant in some of today’s greatest artists, with a soft and smooth vocal styling not typically found in groups such as this. And that’s what makes them special.

Je Suis Animal comes from Oslo, Norway and “Fortune Map” is their latest video. The song is off their recent LP Self-Taught Magic From A Book (2008), available on Lost And Lonesome Recordings. “Fortune Map” is a bit surreal and at times even eerie thanks to the digital background and occasional odd camera placement, but it works well.

Also below, you’ll find “Painted In My Face” off Je Suis Animal’s 7″ single on Cloudberry Records.

Je Suis Animal: Painted In My Face [mp3]

Written by Fense

I don’t know about the rest of the world, but we here in America like to binge. Be it binge drinking, binge eating, binge buying. We gorge ourselves to the point of being quite disgusting. I am part of the problem, and a recent visit to the Cloudberry Records website saw me binge downloading a mass of mp3s, many of which will soon find their way here into posts (though I may concoct a playlist — better yet, mixtape — of various artists from the label to post all at once).

Bye Bye Bicycle (MySpace) is one of the artists I pulled from the indie-pop and twee label. And their song “Siren” comes from a single. It has the sounds of brit pop, in the vein of a major Morrissey and Smiths influence. Not all Bye Bye Bicycle’s music is super Smiths-y, though. “Eastside” takes a slightly different direction, with synth-heavy hooks and more new-wave-y emotive vocals. Still, the guitars are filled with a lovable jangle and the bass-line is all over the place.

I can feel it coming — that satiated feeling one gets when they’ve filled up on a mass quantity of whatever. Bye Bye Bicycle is just the first band of dozens that I will come to love as I work my way through the Cloudberry catalog. “Sirens” is definitely my fav so far… and it’s no surprise they’re from Sweden.

Bye Bye Bicycle: Sirens [mp3]

Bye Bye Bicycle: Eastside [mp3]

Written by Fense

Hm… I wonder if the lady and gent in Log Lady Train are fans of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. The Log Lady was one of the more bizarre characters in the series — a series packed with bizarre characters. Somewhat similarly, Log Lady Train’s music is fitting for a Twin Peaks-ish spinoff, despite its generally upbeat nature.

“Fireworks” is a super catchy tune that screams lovable pop music. The video is, like the song, filled with lo-fi elements popular in the sub genre. It was filmed in the Swedish winter and has a chill to it; the song, too, is a bit darker than some of Log Lady Train’s other tunes — more specifically, “Pop Art”. The tune available for download is “Repression”, and is one of the mass I pulled off the Cloudberry Records page.

Log Lady Train: Repression [mp3]

Fireworks