The debut album from the Belle Brigade ended up being one of my favorite releases of 2011 and the brother/sister duo recently released a really fun video for the poppy anthem, “Where Not to Look for Freedom.” Watch this enjoyable and rather humorous video, that has the Gruska siblings sewn together like siamese twins.
Three years ago, I wrote about a little Swedish outfit called The Bombhappies. I may have engaged in rigging some votes in their favor back in the day, and maybe that vote rigging led them to getting on some podcasts and on the front page of Export Music Sweden. That may have happened.
Okay it did happen, and as a result The Bombhappies and I have maintained somewhat of a distance relationship when it comes to cool tunes. Imagine my surprise when two weeks ago I get an email from Joel Bervquist of The Bombhappies.
Turns out they had just released a new single!
I’m not one to really compare artists to each other, but I’m definitely getting some Michael Stipe out of the vocals in “Ants.” Trust me, I’m not complaining when I say this. Otherwise, I’m really feeling like The Bombhappies have found their sound. Each consecutive listen is driving me to a new aspect of the track and it’s incredibly relaxing. Is this what living in Sweden feels like?
It gets sweeter though, because the full album just dropped last week. I’ve been jamming to it for the last few hours as I was hammering out work on my college newspaper. As stressful as that work should have been, I feel oddly happy. There’s only one thing that could have been the thing that made me less stressed, and it had to have been The Bombhappies.
The mix between faster and slower songs on the album really helps level the album. Like ocean tide, the album brushes in and the pulls back out. At the end you have a sweeping relaxation and you’ll just be dying to put the album back on again. Actually, put it on repeat this time so you can save yourself the trouble next time.
The album closes on the aptly named track “Closure.” In my personal opinion, far too many albums don’t give closure. The Bombhappies found a way to fix it. They’re literally giving your closure.
This little alternative outfit from the cold corner of Europe is worth a listen for sure. I’m not just saying that because I have history with them either. This album has some of my favorite offerings from the group since I first heard them back in 2005, and dare I say they have bested what I once thought their best tracks were.
The Bombhappies’ new album, A Good Fire, is available on iTunes and Amazon MP3 right now. Also, you can preview the entire album on Spotify (which oddly enough also comes from Sweden.)
Jag hoppas öronen blöder. Ω
(That’s Swedish for I hope your ears bleed.)
Jimmy Fallon’s talent for impersonation never ceases to amaze me. The first time I heard his Neil Young character cover a pop song, I really thought I was listening to Neil Young. Then I saw him pull off The Boss in the opening of the Emmy’s a couple years back. And most recently he did Bowie for his Tim Tebow tribute. Well last week he really impressed me with his most recent impersonation. This time Fallon pays tribute to the New York Knicks new savior, Jeremy Lin, as Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder.
I tried real hard to avoid writing anything about Whitney Houston since I heard news of hear of her untimely death. Not that I’m not saddened by the loss of another great voice. I just know that I’m not breaking the news to anyone, and I find it kind of gross all of the people trying to boost traffic by taking advantage of sad stories like this. But I just happened to stumble upon this video of Oklahoma native, Ben Rector performing Houston’s hit song “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” and I couldn’t help but share it with you all. Enjoy.
