Slightly, but not entirely OT: Scottish indie favorites Camera Obscura will once again be working with producer Jari Haapalainen (The Bear Quartet, Laakso, etc.) on their next album with Björn Yttling (Peter Bjorn and John) handling the string arrangements.

Listen to Peter Morén (Peter Bjorn and John) do a live performance on WNYC Soundcheck: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/episodes/2008/04/21/segments/97157

Here's the playlist for this week's radio show:

01. Boys of Scandinavia - Worse than a girl
02. TALK 1
03. Markus Krunegård - Jag är en vampyr
04. Deathbed - Neon light fantasy
05. The Grand Opening - Dark dark dawn
06. TALK 2
07. The Bear Quartet - I have an itch
08. C.Aarmé - Dustin
09. Noxagt - Wall's end
10. TALK 3
11. Menfolk - Hell is in Texas
12. Detektivbyrån - Hemvägen
13. Folk&Røvere - Solveigs sang
14. TALK 4
15. Bobby Baby - Goodbye love
16. Häive - Raina: Yömyrsky
17. Peter Bjorn and John - All those expectations
18. TALK 5
19. Meleeh - Vittra
20. Rigas - The hardest pocket to pick
21. The Kid - Mayhem troopers
22. TALK 6
23. Cortex - Warrior night
24. Tiger Lou - The war between us
25. Sophie Rimheden - Stay the night (ft. Adam Tensta)
26. TALK 7
27. Moto Boy - Beat heart
28. Nina Ramsby & Martin Hederos - Kanske jag kommer hem
29. September Malevolence - Who watches the watchmen?
30. TALK 8
31. Säkert! - Sanningsdan
32. Paper - Before that day
33. Moonbabies - Walking on my feet
34. TALK 9
35. Susanne Sundfør - I resign
36. Stina Nordenstam - Trainsurfing
37. Red Moon - The height
38. TALK 10
39. Broder Daniel - When we were winning

Peter Morén
The last tycoon
Quarterstick Records/Wichita

The huge success of Peter (Morén) Bjorn and John's "Young folks" did the disservice of casting them as potential one-hit wonders despite a back catalogue of some mighty impressive song crafting. Given this, it's interesting to hear what Peter Morén does on this first solo outing.

The short story is that he goes the singer-songwriter route, creating quiet, intimate, and earnest numbers built on his singing, a warm guitar very well-played, and additional instrumentation ranging from sparse to lush, percussive to orchestral. Some songs evoke the breezy French jazzy lounge sound that gentle Swedish bands do so well (one even finds him singing in French). Others are more straight-ahead pop numbers akin to his work with Peter Bjorn and John.

Morén's voice conveys an appealing honesty and vulnerability, and he's grown considerably as a singer, but in some passages, his songwriting talents stretch further than his voice. The resulting intermittent dopiness and a few too many slow or too-long songs keep "The last tycoon" from being uniformly great, but there are more than enough creative, touching and memorable melodies paired with thoughtful lyrics to affirm his status as one of Sweden's best exports.
- Nancy Baym

Check out a Studio 360 segment on Swedish pop featuring interviews with José González and members from Shout Out Louds and Peter Bjorn and John: http://studio360.org/episodes/2008/04/04/segments/96110

Peter Bjorn and John's upcoming instrumental album has been pushed back to fall. As for a new album with vocals, they've already started writing songs and are aiming for a 2009 release.

Karin Dreijer Andersson (The Knife) and John Eriksson (Peter Bjorn and John) will be contributing b-side remixes to the new First Floor Power single "It's an interview". As mentioned last week, the group just signed to Danish label Crunchy Frog who will be releasing their new album "Don't back down!" on May 5.

Tobias Fröberg will accompany Peter Bjorn and John frontman Peter Morén on his upcoming solo tour: http://www.tobiasfroberg.com/index_live.html

Folke, the pop alias of jazz bassist Torbjörn Zetterberg, will release his self-titled debut solo album on April 2 via Finest Quality Recordings. The record was produced by Johan Berthling (Tape, The Tiny) and features guest appearances by Ellekari Larsson and Leo Svensson (The Tiny), John Eriksson (Peter Bjorn and John), Lars Skoglund (Laakso), Ola Hultgren (Loney, Dear), Tomas Hallonsten (Tape) and more. Samples at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/folkemusic

Peter Morén (Peter Bjorn and John) has added a few demo tracks to his myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/petermorn

Peter Morén (Peter Bjorn and John) will be touring in support of his debut solo album "The last tycoon" later this spring after a few shows at SXSW:

04/21 - Mercury Lounge, New York, NY
04/22 - Middle East Upstairs, Cambridge, MA
04/23 - Cabaret Musee Juste Pour Rire, Montreal, Quebec
04/24 - The Mod Club, Toronto, Ontario
04/25 - Wexner Center, Columbus, OH
04/26 - Schubas Tavern, Chicago, IL
04/28 - Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver, British Columbia
04/29 - The Triple Door, Seattle, WA
04/30 - Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR
05/01 - Swedish American Hall, San Francisco, CA
05/02 - The Hotel Café, Los Angeles, CA
05/03 - Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA

Confessions of a Would-Be Hipster reports on Peter Morén's (Peter Bjorn and John) LA show at Hotel Cafe: http://wouldbehipsterconfessions.blogspot.com/2008/01/peter-morn-hotel-cafe.html

Peter Bjorn and John frontman Peter Morén has signed with Touch & Go imprint Quarterstick for the release of his solo debut "The last tycoon". It's set for an April 8 release.

Peter Bjorn and John frontman Peter Morén reports that his debut solo album is done and being prepped for a spring release in both Europe and North America via two different labels.

The new Caesars double-album "Strawberry weed" will be released on March 5. Look for the new single "Boo boo goo goo" soon. In semi-related news, look for a new 7" from Caesars/Peter Bjorn and John sideproject Smile on Dolores. Hear samples of that one here: http://www.myspace.com/cleangloves