Join Our Club 8

Club 8 (not "S Club 8") are producing Swedish-popmusic that sounds like you would imagine Swedish-popmusic, even if you have never heard Swedish-popmusic before. Summery meadows, long summernights, blond boys and girls strumming guitars and whispering songs. In short: Something short of a soft-porn soundtrack.

Jesus walk with me (Jimahl mix)

The duo of Karolina Komstedt and Johan Angergård have begun working together in 1995. Their very sporadic output consists of six albums and a few singles. Angergård is also the owner of Labrador Records and member of two another ridiculously good pop bands: The Legends and The Acid House Kings.

My favourite album is "Spring came, rain fell" from 2002. That´s the records were all their ideas are falling into place and the end result is a wonderfully, flowing record with brilliant production and great melodies.

Spring came, Rain fell

From the opener "We´re simple minds", with it´s underlying Thomas Dolby sample, to the wonderful title track, you get the feeling that Karolina is singing just for you, whispering in your ear. Club 8 are a bit like a more personal and intimate version of St. Etienne. Titles such as "The girl with the northern soul collection" and "The beauty of the way we are living" are clearly a nod to the London trio.

Their latest effort is an EP release from the 2007 album "The Boy who couldn´t stop dreaming". Once again they compiled a bunch of very relaxed campfire songs and unashamed catchy pop-hooks.

Take me Home

Labrador have re-released all their albums with bonus tracks, which can be ordered here

Thomas Dolby: The Earth is flat

I wanted to post something about Thomas Dolby for some time (after I borrowed the title for this entry). But now I was beaten to it by the mighty Popdose.
Anyway, this is no contest and Thomas Dolby is hardly suffering from over-exposure, so here is my favourite Dolby song:
The Flat Earth.

Like many productions from the mid-eighties it relies heavily on the Fairlight. But while most albums from this era suffer from a sterile, dated and generic sound, the seven songs on "The Flat Earth" are not dated at all. The production is lush, multilayered and transparent. Like its predecessor its a pretty grown-up album. Pretty impressive if you consider that Dolby was only 23 when he made it.

The first video shows Thomas talking to his audience about his past as an 80s star and his involvement with Trevor Horn (and his fuck-off-Joe-90-glasses). The second video is an amazing live version of "The flat earth", which he builds from scratch on stage. And yes, he looks a bit like Bruce Willis.

Introduction:

The Flat Earth:

More Dolby on his website.
The mugs are on sale here.