Swedes Kill It  

First off, Congratulations to Curt Schieber host of the Invisible Hits Hour on WWCD Columbus, OH who is now officially a Mediaguide Specialty show panel reporter. Please service Curt with all your cool releases to this address: 2667 Adams Avenue Columbus, OH 43202. Curt is also a well known music journalist in town so make sure you hook him up on both fronts. The Swedes (Peter Bjorn & John) are back at it this week reclaiming the #1 spot on BOTH the Mediaguide Songs Chart & Albums chart with sick sick sick support from the likes of KROX Austin, TX, KITS San Francisco & WXRK Detroit, MI. Also, KROQ Los Angeles bumps “Young Folks” up from 6 to 11 spins this past week while KDLE Los Angeles, CA increases the spins in regular rotation from 30 to 31 plays… “Young Folks” is such an obvious smash (excuses the dated term) it amazes me that there are alternative stations still unaware of the single and album, Writer’s Block. Big ups to Expatriate (Dew Process, Australia) who make a stunning debut this week in the Top 10 on the songs chart with much love from KROQ Los Angeles, KDLE Los Angeles, & WFNX Boston among many others. Other Huge debuts this week from: The Aracade Fire’s “Keep The Car Running,” Nine Inch Nails “Survivalism” & Foreign Islands’ “We Know You Know It.” 

Record of The Week: Foreign Islands

Swedes in the House – Tack!Tack!Tack! 

Back in 2002 Nick Levine met a Swedish girl while flyering for British Sea Power’s No Defunct club night in Brighton. The two hit it off, musically speaking and she introduced Nick to an amazing roster of Swedish acts including Girlfrendo & The Radio Department. Fast forward a few years later and Nick is hanging out in London dismayed to see relatively well know Swedish bands playing first on bills to a handful of club goers. It struck him that he should re-brand the way Swedish bands were being introduced to the London Scene by creating a club night strictly in support of Swedish artists and recordings. Nick immediately contacted Jason Christie who had a background hosting Swedish artists both in the UK and Sweden. And well, the rest is history… Tack!Tack!Tack! has been airborne since autumn 2005 and has played host to around 25 Swedish acts including Swedish Grammy award winning Marit Bergman. The crowd is a mixture of Swedes, Germans and fashonistas and tends to attract followers of Twee Pop in the UK and Sweden. The club has the acclaim for being London’s only truly international live music event where all music and all records played is foreign. Check out this cool link of Sweden’s Cat 5 performing live at Tack!Tack!Tack!

Down with Rock n’ Roll - I have to be honest, I stole the streamer of the week from from a Big Stereo posting earlier last week. Sue me. This is Sneaky Soundsystem’s “UFO” remixed by Australia’s Van She Tech Listen up here.

Andy Langer

Andy Langer (KROX Austin, TX) – Ice, Ice, Baby? 

Talk to any independent promoter and they will tell you that Andy Langer (KROX Austin, TX) is the most mysterious on-air personality in the music business. Let’s be honest, he programs what his gut tells him and doesn’t bother playing the game with record slinging-fast talking-hustling promo guys. For those promoters feeling a little iced by Andy’s refusal to return phone calls and e-mails, check this out: After ten plus years of hosting/programming The Next Big Thing, Andy says he has not once answered a listeners call or taken a request! In his own words, “The Next Big Thing is about me presenting what I like. The show has a consistent voice which happens to be mine. What I don't have time for is to talk to everybody that's being paid to talk about records. The drill is simple and makes sense. Send records, if you like. I'll listen. If I like them, I'll play them. Nothing (and I mean nothing) you can tell me on the phone could change my mind one way or another. I’ve set fairly hard and fast parameters for the show; no singer-songwriters (that's KGSR’s turf), no Metal or Nu-Metal and no Emo. And most importantly, sonically everything I play must sound like something the station itself could be playing in a different day part (just not the artists they'd be playing).” And it must be noted that Andy does not work full time at the station. In fact, he is Esquire's music columnist and a regular contributor to the Austin Chronicle, Revolver and the Dallas Morning News. In addition, he is the host of the Esquire Minute and Armadillo Radio Hour on XM Radio and a television reporter for News 8 Austin. So go easy on Andy the next time an e-mail goes unanswered. The Next Big Thing airs Sundays from 6-10pm.

Is it over yet? Wake me when it is… Live footage of Uffie performing with Feadz last week at The Social in Hollywood. Click here. Uffie will be performing close to 20 dates from March 4^th starting in Toyko and ending in Gräfenhainichen (a city near Dessau, Germany) on July 14^th at The Melt! Festival held at Ferropolis AKA “The City of Steel,” an open museum of old huge industrial machines. 

While the internet has literally tens of thousands of blogs, many of which claim to be 'tastemaker music blogs', it gets quite difficult to sift through all of the bullshit to find something worth while. That's why we are here; we'll tip you to the blogs that will change your life, or at least twenty minutes of it. This week's blog is called " Yeti Don't Dance" - created by a 25 year old kid named Jerry Yeti from Brooklyn who works as an architect. Not only does he feature some fantastic new music and sweet little remixes, he also highlights some of his favorite wacky videos from YouTube as well. Now, I'm not saying you are going to find your "next big thing" on this blog, but you could perhaps find a new favorite song for the week. Or you can take Yeti's advice, and try to woo your woman with these songs. Enjoy.

Invisible Hits Hour w/ Curt Scheiber

WWCD Columbus, OH

2/25/07 Sunday 9-10pm 

Subtle – For Hero: For Fool (Astralwerks)

Peeping Tom – self-titled (Ipecac)

The Circuit Riders – Let The Ride Begin (Pinecastle)

Jorma Kaukonen – Stars In My Crown (Red House)

Happy Chichester – Lovers Come Back (Pop Fly Music)

Pacha Massive – All Good Things (Nacional)

Mighty Fairly – Perfectly Good Airplanes (unsigned)

Ono – Yes, I’m A Witch (Astralwerks)

Gladys Knight – Before Me (Verve)