Friendly Fire Recordings has always been good about seeking out and introducing the states (i.e. the U.S.) to great foreign artists. Their latest introduction is that of Finnish electro-pop band Regina.

We discovered the band a number of years ago — they’ve been around for quite a while — thanks to a handful of releases on Songs I Wish I Had Written.

“Unessa” is a catchy foreign language song that follows Regina’s lovable hooks, and the band’s ability to craft cool, nerdy electro-pop. But where once the band focused on synths, there’s more guitar and rock in this track. It’s a welcome feature.

Regina’s new album, Soite Mulle, is out now on Friendly Fire.

Download: “Unessa” by Regina

I recall enjoying Elk City‘s last release, but boy do I dig “Jerks On Ice”, the band’s new single off the upcoming House Of Tongues. Again the band combines traits common to folk, pop and even jazz for a sound unique with a hint of contemporary and a fair share of originality. “Jerks On Ice” is a laid-back pop song with a light bounce and an awesome electric guitar solo during the bridge. The lyrics are simple but memorable and filled with plenty of rhyme and hook, and an added warble treatment to Renée LoBue’s smooth vocals during the chorus enhances the tune in ways unimaginable. Yeah, I may have enjoyed New Believers, but for me “Jerks On Ice” tops everything on that previous release to the point of being absolutely stunning.

House Of Tongues will be released June 1 via Friendly Fire Recordings.

Download: “Jerks On Ice” by Elk City

Danish experimental psychedelic pop group Oh No Ono recently signed to Friendly Fire Recordings for their upcoming release Eggs. The first single is “Swim” and its accompanying video is one part disturbing and another inspirational. Featuring a young boy (what an eerie resemblance to the boy in The Shining!) who acts as the observer of all things within the hospital in which his mother works, he blurs reality with fantasy. Life, death, sex; they all happen in this somewhat risque video by Adam Hashemi.

Where “Swim” sides a bit more on the experimental end of things, “Internet Warrior” (included below as a download) is more along the lines of Mew. Either way, Oh No Ono can write one powerful and creative tune. See for yourself…

Oh No Ono: Internet Warrior [mp3]

Oh No Ono Swim from Adam Hashemi on Vimeo.

Your first impression of Camphor‘s latest video may simply be that it seems slightly childish. I mean, the thematic elements behind the “Castaway” video include pirates via toys. Despite the somewhat childish Lego-like element, this video with an actual cast would be horrid. But with the toys it works just fine; in fact, add the foggy smoke and it’s pretty damn cool.

In “Castaway”, Camphor’s dark folk-pop melody blends well with the creativity of the video, making it well worth a viewing or two. The lovestruck sailor is swooned by the siren that resides on the barren island, yet instead of her swallowing the sailor’s soul, the ending is… well… much more pleasant. The song and video compliment each other in Camphor’s lyrics, covering A castaway girl in a pirated world.

The song itself mixes soft acoustic folk melodies with various additional pop instrumentation, bowing out at the end with a brazen brass section. Don’t let the folk-y brown Drawn To Dust album cover fool you—Camphor fits right in with the Friendly Fire Recordings pop crowd. Drawn To Dust is out now on Friendly Fire.

This post was originally published April 24, 2008 on the old version of FensePost. Camphor recently released a new track called “Enjoy The Struggle” exclusively on RCRD LBL.

Camphor: Confidences Shattered [mp3]

Camphor: The Sweetest Tooth [mp3]

Camphor – Castaway from friendly fire recordings on Vimeo.

This self-titled EP by David & The Citizens may have preceded Until The Sadness Is Gone only by a few short months, but the debut extended play holds definite traces of an earlier, less mature group. One would think the short amount of time would leave little room change—yet the songs found encased here vary greatly from each other, and many from the long play that followed.

“Graycoated Morning” was a highlight off Until The Sadness Is Gone and, in fact, changed little if at all from this self-titled EP. But the highlight here is “Now She Sleeps In A Box In The Good Soil Of Denmark”, a song that opens with a rapidly strummed acoustic guitar. The harmonies match the most emotional songs off Until The Sadness Is Gone and it rivals that entire album in the sheer power behind both instrumentation and lyrics.

“Big Chill” is a catchy tune that throws in traits of punk-pop—you know, that overplayed one person sing this line, another sing the next so popular around 2006, when this was released—but here they tailor it to indie-pop, which adds an interesting and somewhat pleasing effect. The next few songs are about as different as you can get from “Big Chill” while maintaining indie-pop sensibilities.

The EP concludes with “Let’s Not Fall Apart,” another catchy track also found on Until The Sadness Is Gone. Yet it pales in comparison to the first two tracks. Overall, the EP is good; personally, I’d pick it up for “Now She Sleeps In A Box In The Good Soil Of Denmark” alone. While different in many ways from the album that followed, it was still obvious early on that David & The Citizens was destined for great things.

This review was originally published June 1, 2007 on the old version of FensePost.

David & The Citizens: Big Chill [mp3]

David & The Citizens: Let’s Not Fall Apart [mp3]

Friendly Fire Recordings [CDEP, 2006]

1. Graycoated Morning
2. Now She Sleeps In A Box In The Good Soil Of Denmark
3. Big Chill
4. Let Me Put It This Way
5. Summer Is No-Man’s Land
6. Let’s Not Fall Apart

The Phenomenal Handclap Band mixes synth-heavy dance vibes with traces of experimentation. The combination is somewhat psychedelic, partially disco, and entirely awesome. “You’ll Disappear” encompasses all these traits, and drops in audibly pleasing harmonic female-based vocals. Initially one thinks of School Of Seven Bells, but The Phenomenal Handclap Band is less electronic and beat heavy, and they have a bit more soul and funk. “You’ll Disappear” is easily the perfect song for your summer pop mix.

The Phenomenal Handclap Band: You’ll Disappear [mp3]

“You’ll Disappear” is off The Phenomenal Handclap Band’s debut self-titled LP, out now on Friendly Fire Recordings.

It appears this little album by David & The Citizens was originally released in 2003 under the BMG Music Publishing Scandinavia label and was licensed to Friendly Fire via Adrian Recordings in Sweden. It is good to know the history of an album—the roads it has traveled to reach its current destination here in my hands. Listening to Until the Sadness is Gone, it is apparent why the album was released here in the states. It’s pretty good. While it probably won’t hit mainstream, it definitely has the potential to stick in the independent pop scene.

The group carries a rambunctious indie-pop sound that leaves behind much of the typical Swedish pop traits—the calm and oft sweet vocals of many of the Labrador Records artists and the electronic influences rampant in artists on Songs I Wish I Had Written. Their primary Swedish similarity comes in The Lovekevins, primarily because of David & The Citizens use of trumpet.

Until the Sadness is Gone opens with “The End”, an upbeat, rapid-paced pop song with a heavy shuffle in brushed percussion and a catchy bass-line. The orchestration is superb in this track and continues throughout the album. “Greycoated Mornings” has a trumpet that resembles the use of the instrument in “La La La Lisa” by Math & Physics Club, while the vocals, for some odd reason, make me think of the more peppy moments of Counting Crows’ Adam Duritz.

The title track is another up-tempo song utilizing the now signature shuffle in percussion. The use of orchestration is near perfect in this song, namely in the punchy lines toward the end. “Never a Bottom” slows the album to ballad-pace. It’s a melancholy love song with lyrics like If you ever fall down / I’ll fall with you to the bottom. While these lyrics are a common theme in the verse, the bridge is what makes the song shine, leading the song into a crescendo of sound and sadness.

“New Direction” is also a radio-friendly track with powerful and catchy lyrics:
Did I ever take my eyes off the horizon?
Lead the way from this place
And point me out a new direction
Everyone keeps saying I’ll be fine fine fine
I wonder if I’ll wake one day to find my life-wasted behind me?

Until the Sadness is Gone is filled with such songs—powerful and catchy. The album begins with some of David & The Citizens’ most upbeat songs before slowing in pace and going from a happy lyrical focus to a sad one. This leaves the album slightly disjointed, but does not detract too much from the whole. Despite the definite change in pace and emotion, “Let’s Not Fall Apart” kicks the album back up a notch, and is followed by another more upbeat track, “Silverjacketgirl.”

“As You Fall (I Watch with Love)” is the most moving song on Until the Sadness is Gone, blending the catchy aspects and orchestration of the faster paced songs with the starkly relayed emotion in the vocals and lyrics of the slower ones. The bridge is filled with the repetition of I’m probably… from better off dead to drunk by now to laughing my head off. It’s a wonderful closure to an album that should have been available in the states upon its original Scandinavian release in 2003.

This review was originally published December 28, 2006 on the old version of FensePost. This year, David & The Citizens celebrates the 10 year anniversary of David Fridlund’s original demos. Visit David & The Citizens on MySpace for more.

David & The Citizens: The End [mp3]

David & The Citizens: New Direction [mp3]

Friendly Fire Recordings [CD, 2006]

1. The End
2. Graycoated Morning
3. Until the Sadness is Gone
4. Never A Bottom
5. New Direction
6. Long Days
7. Sore Feet + Blisters
8. On All American Winds
9. Let’s Not Fall Apart
10. Silverjacketgirl
11. As You Fall (I Watch With Love)
12.
13. Betina
14. Glued to the Light

How surprising is it that the name of The Whitsundays’ keyboardist is Doug Organ? Then again, the jokes that could be made are put to rest when Organ steps up to his vintage instrument—his ability to channel the 60s greats like Rod Argent [The Zombies] and Ray Manzarek [The Doors] is stunning, stemming beyond the mere sound to mimic their ability to whip out sections of quick, catchy improvisation. There is no question of whether or not Organ lives up to his name.

These days the term improvisation, in the world of pop and rock music, is reserved primarily for the avant garde. There was a surge back in the 90s thanks to groups like Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr., but it has for the most part remained absent in the world of pop for some time. “Falling Over” and “The Ways Of The Sweet Talking Boys” hone in on this re-found mastery with an audibly orgasmic effect.

Beyond the brief organ solos, the group as a whole focuses their efforts on drawing from the best of 60s pop for a sound that is timeless. Frontman Paul Arnusch [also of Faunts and The Floor] crafts his vocals with a blend of the light fuzziness of Franz Ferdinand and the all-out distortion of The Legends’ debut, Up Against The Legends, though filled with much more mystery and a delicate darkness.

The Whitsunday’s self-titled debut is a must-have for fans of 60s psychedelic and vintage garage pop, as well as more modern Elephant 6 die-hards. It might be packed with pleasant pop, but their ability to look beyond the constraints of more recent nostalgia has allowed them to resurrect a vast array of elements that, when it comes to pop music in the past few decades, should never have demised in the first place.

This review was originally published February, 22, 2008 on the old version of FensePost.

The Whitsundays: It Must Be Me [mp3]

The Whitsundays: Sorry James [mp3]

Friendly Fire Recordings [CD, 2008]

1. Loralee
2. Falling Over
3. I Want It All
4. It Must Be Me
5. Antisocial
6. Sorry James
7. The Ways Of The Sweet Talking Boys
8. Already Gone
9. Bring It On Home
10. Whitsunday Morning Theme