The Zebras, The Explorers Club, Is This Really Me

zebras

The Zebras is a band that I really like. Their album Worry a Lot is a little indie pop masterpiece in my books. That beautiful thing came out in 2007 and equally magnificent EP New Ways Of Risking Our Lives followed a year later. After that it has been awfully quiet but thankfully these Australian indie pop heroes are now back and are ready to release their new album Siesta on June 27th. Siesta will be co-released by Australian The Lost and Lonesome and US-based Jigsaw Records. I can’t wait to hear the whole thing in a month or so. This is Try from the forthcoming album.

The Zebras at Facebook

explorers

South Carolina’s The Explorers Club already called it a day once, but they are now back in this ball game. And I couldn’t be any happier, because their earlier albums are wonderful. What the world need is love and amazing pop music. I’m not familiar with their love making capabilities, but they certainly master this thing called pop music perfectly. New digital single Don’t Waste Her Time is out now on Burger Records. This slice of pop heaven goes like this.

The Explorer’s Club at Facebook

isthis

And let’s end this little blog post with something Finnish and fabulous. Is This Really Me charmed us with their debut 7″ single last year. A week ago they released a new song Sun, which is even better than the songs on that single. I’m looking forward to hear their next release. This is Sun by Is This Really Me.

Is This Really Me at Facebook

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Album of the Month: Gim Kordon – Ei ole helppoo

gim

I’ve been mostly exhausted for a month, because the day job has been a bit of a nightmare. Therefore I haven’t even selected a new album of the month until now. But of course I knew it all along that it was going to be this debut album Ei ole helppoo by Gim Kordon. Heck, this thing pretty much kept my body running and mind somewhat sane during those 10-12 hour shifts. This isn’t entirely flawless, but damn it feels good to listen to this. In some way, I come from the same place as this album. This is influenced by the same music that reshaped my heart back in the 90s and early 00s. A bit of US indie, a bit of Australian indie and a whole lot of Finnish obviously. This is my youth squeezed into a box. Despite all this, it doesn’t feel like this is something old and borrowed. I do find Ei ole helppoo unique and original 2014 album. And damn how I love listening to it. The early singles Ei ole helppoo and Sä oot mun unelma, beibe still sound perfect to me. Other big favourites are the candy machine -flavoured Kaikki on hyvin and Sateessa which has my favourite chorus of the year. I can pinpoint that exact moment in my life.

Ei ole helppoo by Gim Kordon is a wonderful album. It was released by Soliti Music on 9th of may, 2014. You’ll find a few samples below. First Sä oot mun unelma, beibe and then the video of the title track Ei ole helppoo.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqx23QaUDbA]

Gim Kordon at Facebook

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The Lieblings, David Myhr, The JAC

lieblingsss

Hey it’s finally hot out there. So we need a summer single. Finnish pop group The Lieblings can take care of this small matter. They are currently working on new material and released a brand new single Big Girls (Of Summer) a week or two ago. Sounds mighty good as always. Big Girls (Of Summer) goes like this.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk4Sa9Xgofw]

The Lieblings Website

davidmyhri

Swedish master of melodic pop music David Myhr released a wonderful solo album Soundshine back in 2012. His new release Record Collection EP came out on few weeks ago on Lojinx. This is a digital only EP. You can get it from his label Lojinx (or iTunes). There’s also a lyric video for the excellent title track. I’m sure this will make most pop geeks (like yours truly) smile. This is Record Collection.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXgyGhv8P0g]

David Myhr Website

jac

The JAC is back with a new single called Love Dumb. This thing came out in March 2014, but yeah. I’m kind of slow these days. The JAC is a project led by Australian pop superhero Joe “Big in Finland” Algeri. The debut album was a solo effort, but nowadays The JAC seems to be a band. This is Love Dumb from the forthcoming second The JAC album.

Joe Algeri at Bandcamp

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The Delines, The Redlands Palomino Company & Skip Zone

Maybe I start writing this blog again. Well actually I begun yesterday with that Nat Johnson song/video and I’ll continue tonight with these beautiful songs. All of these are current favourites of mine and I think these fit rather nicely under the same post.

thedelines

Colfax Avenue by The Delines is probably my favourite album right now. Of course that changes fairly often, but damn this is good. Of course I pretty much knew that before even listening. The songwriter is Willy Vlautin after all and he can’t do much wrong in my books. Actually, if I think about it, I didn’t like the previous Richmond Fontaine album as much I had expected. But this is good, really good. Mr. Vlautin has written bunch of great songs and Amy Boone sings them perfectly. That Randy Newman cover Sandman’s Coming is kind of pointless if you ask me, but all the original The Delines material is gorgeous. This is I Won’t Slip Up.

The Delines Website

redlands

The Redlands Palomino Company came to my attention back in 2007 when I bought their previous album Take Me Home. They took their time to make the follow-up, but it recently came out on Clubhouse Records. I’ve only listened to it two times so far, but I’m really enjoying it. So my kind of music. The Redlands Palomino is still one of UK’s finest americana bands. This is the first single In These Lines.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR7ePKB415I]

The Redlands Palomino Company Website

skiproad

Moving on to Finland. One of Finland’s finest americana bands Skip Zone is working on their second full-length album. A few weeks ago they released the first single called The Road and the River from that forthcoming album. This great song is a perfect way to end this little blog post.

Skip Zone at Facebook

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