Music Alliance Pact

A month ago I got an email from a fellow blogger recommending some sort of music exchange program. The idea is this: get a few country specific blogs (such as this one you’re reading) and get them to upload a song a month to be reposted in all the other participating blogs, so that the music gets exposure outside that blog’s readership. Good idea I thought, so we joined up. And this is the first of a monthly exchange of world music galore.

AMERICA – I Guess I’m Floating
Arizona - The Glowing Bird

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The title track from their sophomore album which came out on October 14 on Echo Mountain.

ARGENTINA – Zonaindie
Brian Storming – France

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France is the new single by Brian Storming, a psychedelic pop orchestra from Buenos Aires. This band was the support act for Coldplay and Björk when they performed in Argentina. The song is included on their new EP, Brian Storming Avec L´Enchanting Device.

DENMARK – Pastries, Peppers And Canals
Diefenbach – On The Move

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Diefenbach have been long-time stalwarts of the Danish indie scene, starting out as a post-rock band and gradually evolving into what they are today. Think Beach Boys meets Mogwai meets…well, Diefenbach, actually. The new album, Dark Spinner, is due in late October but the track we’re presenting is from 2005’s Set And Drift.

ENGLAND – The Daily Growl
Absentee – Bitchstealer

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Absentee’s debut album proper Schmotime was one of The Daily Growl’s favourites of 2006, and new record Victory Shorts is a direct continuation of what the Londoners do best. Singer Dan Michaelson’s ravaged drawl, the sweet boy-girl vocal play-offs with keyboardist Melinda Bronstein and hugely pleasing riffs from Babak Ganjei all call to mind a much less polished Teenage Fanclub or a poppier Pavement.

ICELAND – I Love Icelandic Music
Plúseinn – Shake

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The man behind the band Plúseinn is Árni Rúnar Hlöðversson also known as Árni Plúseinn (a.k.a. Árni +1). He recently released an album called Lettuce And Tomato, made in his apartment in Brooklyn, New York under the name Hungry And The Burger. Árni Rúnar is and was involved in a lot of Icelandic bands and projects (e.g. Hairdoctor, Motion Boys) and is a founding member of the band FM Belfast.

IRELAND – Nialler9
Fight Like Apes – Digifucker

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The band have just released their debut Fight Like Apes And The Mystery Of The Golden Medallion in Ireland and the UK. The album was produced by John Goodmanson in Seattle over the summer. They are currently touring the UK with The Ting Tings.

ITALY – Polaroid
Le Man Avec Les Lunettes – The Happy Birth Of You And Me

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LMALL’s new album Plaskaplaskabombelibom is free to download from their website http://www.lmall.it.

PERU – SoTB
ERA – Opium

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Taken from the band’s second album Ufocalipsis which was released last year.

SCOTLAND – The Pop Cop

Roddy Hart – Dead Of The Night

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Roddy Hart made the folk-rock masterpiece Bookmarks, arguably one of the best albums to have come out of Scotland. Dead Of The Night is the first fruits from its follow-up due out in 2009. It’s a live favourite and easily the most immediate pop song the Glaswegian has ever written.

SPAIN – El Blog De La Nadadora

Blacanova – Los Remedios

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Blacanova is a band from Seville and this song is from their second demo, Perro EP. They are influenced by Joy Division, Seefeel, The Cure, Spanish band Sr Chinarro, David Lynch and Tod Browning films, and the writer Alejandra Pizarnik. Their music is a cross between dark pop, IDM (intelligent dance music) and shoegaze.

SWEDEN – Swedesplease

Tvärvägen – September

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Tvärvägen is an eclectic one-man orchestra from Gustavsburg, Sweden. Notice both the clattering instrumentation and hummable melody. It’s that dichotomy that makes Tvärvägen so unforgettable. The band’s debut record is out November 6 on the small label Knoppar.