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The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are reaching Higher than the Stars

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have just announced the release of a new EP and a couple of singles for this coming fall. The New York band that managed to bring a fresh new sound into an almost dying scene will be releasing their new single Come Saturday on September 8 and their new EP Higher Than the Stars on September 22. Hopefully we'll get our hands on this material earlier for you, but until then here's a live version of their new song Higher than the Stars. Enjoy!

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Too many meetings...check out The Tough Alliance in the meantime!!

Today I've been in and out of meetings all day so I've had no time to write a proper post about my next Swedish band (although a number of them are piled up). However, the next one doesn't need much introduction since it is quite well known. Hailing from Göthenburg, Henning Fürst and Eric Berglund are the indie/electro/pop/rock duo behind The Tough Alliance. Since 2003 they have already managed to record three successful albums, numerous hit singles and also start their own label titled Sincerely Yours (with our favorites Air France currently on their artists list). Check out their debut The New School (2005 on Service label) and last year's New Chance (out on Playground Music label) for some genuine Swedish synth pop. Enjoy while I get back to work...

The New School

Lucky

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Starting off another week...Sambassadeur style...

Another week starting off here at work with our usual rounds on the blogosphere for new (and old) albums. I given it a lot of thought, and decided to continue my Swedish quest for a bit longer (although TV on the Radio's latest album may briefly interrupt this cause it's really worth it...if you can't wait then read KostasK's post on it). So, back to Sweden then and let's kick start this week with a quick clip/tune by Sambassadeur to cheer us up with That Town..

PS. More on Sambassadeur later on this week

Giving Swedish pop another chance – The Legends

Continuing on this week’s quest of re-discovering Swedish pop bands, today we’re looking back on a man who has been associated with numerous Labrador projects, Johan Angergård. From Acid House Kings to Club 8, Johan is one of the most successful Swedish producers/musicians. However, in this post we are looking at one of his other projects, The Legends.
The Legends started off in 2004 with their debut LP Up Against the Legends, which became an instant success. This was followed a year later with Public Radio, which unlike their up-lifting debut, was more self-indulged and slow tempo, alienating a lot of Johan’s fans and receiving numerous negative reviews. Thankfully, Johan was quick to respond the following year with Facts and Figures by returning to his original sound, with more pop melodies and 80’s synthesizers, a real trademark of Swedish pop. He’s currently working on new material, with a new single titled Seconds Away coming out on November 5th.

Seconds Away

He Knows the Sun

Closer

Make it all Right

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Indie-pop with the French-Swedish stamp of Envelopes

Envelopes is an indie-pop band consisting of members from Sweden and France, two countries with deep heritage in pop music. They made their debut back in 2005 with Demon and followed it up with Here Comes the Wind back in February of 2008.
Their music is the epitome of musical influences, evident throughout their albums and sometimes even on a single song. From Talking Heads to Pixies and Stereolab they mix post-rock with twee-pop in order to form their unique sound that we can only tag as indie pop with a very wide spectrum. This isn’t the most straight-forward pop for most people, but for those like us seeking anything that differs, their sound is a pleasant surprise (which we admit we missed the previous couple of years…although some of their songs did show up on our hard drive!)

Party

Boat

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Los Campesinos made my day

I'm currently listening to the debut album by Los Campesinos (Hold On Now,Youngster) and I just had to give you a peek before the full review. The album was released back in February this years, but it's never too late to discover such as fresh band. I've been spotting their name all over the internet and today I finally decided to give them a chance. The only thing I can think of to compensate for my delay is to dedicate them my Tune of the Day. Glorious indie pop (flirting with twee) which could prove a great soundtrack for this summer..Enjoy their hit You! Me! Dancing!

In our Bedroom, listening to the Stars

While listening to the Stars' newest release I got this very rare feeling - that I can lie on the bed like this for hours, holding you closely, looking up. I wouldn't have to turn my head to see you, because the half-lit ceiling is a mirror and I am staring right at you; we are shaking our heads in tune with the bittersweet electric dreams emanating In our Bedroom After the War...

It is all so dreamlike; and true.

The Team

Athens66 started off as a common project by a bunch of friends but quickly turned into almost a personal blog (although some remains of previous posts can still be found). Currently, the Team has been narrowed down to two members, who besides being old friends and schoolmates share the same joy for Music, Movies, Alcohol and Pro Evolution sessions.

The sole purpose of this blog is to shout out whatever comes in mind about movies, music, reality, fantasy and all the rest. Nothing posted here is to be taken seriously, but then again what is? Since this blog is still quite fresh, we are definitely open to suggestions and directions (although most of them will just be ignored)

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Athens66

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are reaching Higher than the Stars

Too many meetings...check out The Tough Alliance in the meantime!!

Starting off another week...Sambassadeur style...

Giving Swedish pop another chance – The Legends

Indie-pop with the French-Swedish stamp of Envelopes

Los Campesinos made my day

In our Bedroom, listening to the Stars

Tune in to Athens66 @ Poplie.eu

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