I owe Mystery & Misery a big heapum thanks for introducing me to The Radio Dept (XL Recordings artist page). I was hankering for something new and his post on these Swedes was just what the doctor ordered. To my ears, they’re the perfect mix of Belle & Sebastian folksy tweeness, eclectic Boo Radleys-ish pop, the gentle electronic flourishes of Trembling Blue Stars and a healthy dollop of Jesus & Mary Chain-approved fuzztones – a perfect mix of grit and delicacy.

It’s like being wrapped in a warm, static-y blanket with soft boy-girl vocals. Bassist Lisa Carlberg only takes lead vocals on one track, but hopefully there’ll be more of her on future recordings. Despite being wonderfully poppy, it took a little time for it to properly sink into my consciousness but now it’s definitely in heavy rotation – highly recommended. Their debut, Lesser Matters, came out in North America last November and they released the This Past Week EP consisting of five all-new songs, uh, this past week. I expect to have a helluva time getting a copy.

I’m not the only one who’s discovered the joys of The Radio Dept., either – Bradley’s Almanac has just twigged onto them and Bob Mould describes one of their b-sides, “You And Me Then”, as “one of the most haunting pieces of music I’ve heard in a while” – he’s got the track available to download from his site. If you want to hear more, check out Labrador Records for mp3s, streams and videos, or this BBC interview.

The Fiery Furnaces tell Billboard their master plan for 2005 – release as many albums as humanly possible.

The House Of Love message board recently conducted a brief interview with Guy Chadwick about the reunion and the new album Days Run Away, out February 28. Read it here, thanks to Joyce for the link.

That Donnas show at the ACC I mentioned yesterday on April 12? Don’t quote me, but it could be opening for U2… Interesting that the date has disappeared from Pollstar’s listings – mayhap someone in Camp Donna jumped the gun in announcing the dates? Conjecture! Hearsay! Shazam! I blame Tori Spelling, or “evil Donna”. Update: So all the press is saying that Kings of Leon are opening the U2 tour… so who’s at the ACC on April 12?

Watch Feist’s new video for “Inside & Out” – very stylish and sexy, a shame about the stream quality. If anyone finds a better one, let me know s’il vous plait. From Brooklynvegan.

Thanks to More Cowbell for bringing the Lawrence.com Turnpike to my attention – there’s a tremendous archive of video interviews and live performances with a slew of great artists, like Arcade Fire, The Shins, Spoon and Neko Case dating back over the past couple years. Great stuff.

Tonight’s Bright Eyes show is early to a ridiculous degree. Doors are at 5pm, Tilly & The Wall start things off at 5:30 and I expect the whole to-do to be over by 9/9:30. The curfew is on account of the fact that the Phoenix turns into a meat market discotheque later in the night, and they have to clear out all the sensitive and impressionable Conor-ites before the debauchery begins. But what this means, practically, is that even if I high-tail it outta work at 5 sharp, I will still probably not make it before things start (assuming they stick to schedule, which honestly is not likely). Never mind trying to get any dinner, either. Oh, and did I mention it’s ridiculously frigid out today? Yeah, that pretty much goes without saying.

Sympathies to Information Leafblower on the passing of his cat, Jarvis.

np – Trembling Blue Stars / Alive To Every Smile

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