My friend Nicci (aka yeahyoureright) sent me a link to this incredibly sensitive and joyful video called "Moments". It features the song Where Were You by Reykjavík's Parachutes.

Also, I urge you to listen to Halogen from Perth, Australia. Their music reminds me a bit of the early Pretty Girls Make Graves, just a bit softer maybe.

Why has no-one ever told me about Neva Dinova? Anyone? Anyway. They're from Omaha and play very nice soft, folksy indie country. That's the best description I can offer. People who are into the late Bright Eyes are definitely going to like these guys.

Also, you should check out The Moth & The Mirror from Glasgow, they play incredibly warm indie pop. Listen to the song Soft Insides, it was instantly my new favourite song. Their live cover version of MGMT's Kids is cute!

Buy Nena Dinova — You May Already Be Dreaming and/or The Moth & The Mirror — Say That It's Summer/Soft Inside.

There's a hot tip from my girlfriend. She says she listened to these guys a while ago, then forgot about them and then found the link somewhere on her computer. I'm talking about Portland, Oregon-based quartet Botanist. It's very mellow indie pop with electronic beats and a soft voice. They've got some nice arrangements there and a new, selftitled album out. You can check out three of their new songs on their Myspace.

Another band whose awesomeness I had no idea about is indie rock band The Good Life from Omaha, and being on Saddle Creek they're probably pretty well-known. Anyway. The other day I came across an acoustic version of October Leaves and fell in love with it. There is actually a limited edition of their third album Album Of The Year which features very pretty acoustic versions of the same songs on a second CD. If you can, get your hands on a copy of this one because these versions are brilliant.

• Botanist — Rifles Shoot Hearts
  from Botanist
• Botanist — Fluorescent Microwave
  from Botanist
• Botanist — Motor
  from Botanist
• The Good Life — Heartbroke
  from Help Wanted Nights
• The Good Life — You Don't Feel Like Home To Me
  from Help Wanted Nights
• The Good Life — A New Friend
  from Album Of The Year
• The Good Life — Always A Bridesmaid
  from Lovers Need Lawyers
• The Good Life — I Am An Island
  from Black Out

Buy Botanist — Botanist and/or The Good Life — Album Of The Year (Limited Edition).

There's a really nice label called Lucky Madison, check out their artists.

Also, you should listen to Rogue Wave and Palomar because they're good. Oh, and of course, listen to the band with the most hilarious Myspace nickname ever (take a look at the link in the browser bar): Talulah Gosh.

Au Revoir Simone are a bunch of girls from Brooklyn who play pretty and pretty sad keyboard pop.

There's a band that would have definitely worth checking out when they were still around: Neutral Milk Hotel. But one would have had to live in Denver in the 90s. Two Headed Boy has an intensity that peels off your skin.

Attention, download:

• Neutral Milk Hotel — Holland, 1945

And listen to this:

• Neutral Milk Hotel — Two Headed Boy

Friends of English guitar music, here's two bands that sound like a children's birthday party at the playground—please listen to Great Eskimo Hoax and Cats In Paris.

Everyone who likes Tegan And Sara should give An Horse's glorious album Rearrange Beds a listen. And similarly wicked are indie-pop-fetishist-happy-making Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin from Springfield, Missouri. Their song Glue Girls is such a nice reminder of Built To Spill's 90s sound. Also, please listen to Grand Archives, especially their song Index Moon will be stuck in your head forever.

• An Horse — Camp Out
• Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin — Glue Girls
• Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin — Think I Wanna Die
• Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin — Oregon Girl
• Grand Archives — Miniature Birds
• Grand Archives — Torn Blue Foam Couch

Silversun Pickups have a new album out. Enough said.

Everything's gonna get lighter, even if it never gets better.

It's Barsuk time again. Thank you Tim for showing me Mates Of State. And, you gotta love this line from a Say Hi song: "I feel better when the winter's gone." How true.

• Mates Of State — My Only Offer
• Say Hi — Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh

Have a nice weekend!

Don't be afraid, you're already dead.

For this weekend I picked two bands. The first one is Akron/Family. I must have had a random mp3 of one of their songs on my computer for years. Today it accidentally played in iTunes and I thought, wow, that's actually pretty good music there. The other band I just started liking is Ra Ra Riot. They're on tour with Death Cab at the moment.

• Ra Ra Riot — Each Year
• Ra Ra Riot — Dying Is Fine

Music from computer games. Back then: Fuzzy electro sound in the intros or loading sequences of games like Xenon II and World Games. Now: Pop. Here are a couple of bands whose music gets played in the background of what's currently my favourite football video game: Jakobínarína, My Federation and The Kissaway Trail.

Over at beatcast.tv there are videotaped concerts of Pennines, of Dartz, of Cats And Cats And Cats and other english bands. The video and sound quality is extraordinary!

The Beauty Shop was a band from Champaign, Illinois. One of the members now plays in Golden Quality whose recordings sound like they must be massive live. I should fly over to check them out. There is another really awesome band who is from there, New Ruins. And I also just found out about Califone, a wicked dreamy acoustic kinda band from Chicago.

• New Ruins — Ships
• Califone — Spider's House
• Califone — The Orchids

I went into your house and stole all the pictures from the wall.

The last couple of weekends I didn't get around to write "Highly commended" posts because I was just too busy attending shows of wicked bands in England. Here is a band I kinda saw by accident because they played a show with Cats And Cats And Cats: they are called A Genuine Freakshow. They were indescribably good. After the show the band gave away CDs for free, containing the three songs they urrently have on their Myspace page . Listen to them, they're really nice songs.

Talking about England: Last night I finally got to watch Control, the film about the rather short life of Ian Curtis, singer of Joy Division. I actually didn't know any of their music before, but watching the film instantly turns you into a fan. So yea, you have to watch it. Watching actual live footage of Joy Division shows made me realise how accurately the acting of the guys playing the band in Control is. It's such a good film. Go to the video shop now.