Stars In Coma
Midnight puzzle
Kingem Records

I'm just going to go ahead and say it...Kevin Barnes. From the light touches of soul and funk, to the use of found sound, to bandleader André Brorsson's wobbly croon, the of montreal leadman's DNA is all over Stars in Coma's fifth album, "Midnight puzzle". Not that there's anything wrong with that.

The Malmo, Sweden-based quartet creates a dazzling cloud of sound that deftly skirts baccalaurean excess -- even as synths, guitars, dulcimers, choirs and strings are piled sky-high. Ideas as well are stockpiled with a care that almost borderlines on fetishism. The album contains a career's worth of evolution all silly-stringed together -- songs seemingly traveling from point A to B via point D. Or, as is the case of opening track "And so", via point X -- its jaunty, folk pop transforming into a nu-disco jam before folding in on itself in a radio-influenced haze.

For a lesser band, this more-is-more technique might indicate hiding behind sound rather than songwriting. However, Brorsson exonerates himself nicely on the title track -- a 1970s torch song ballad featuring his expelled angst over a single piano and whistled refrain. Hard to believe this is the same guy who hit the dance floor on previous tune, the slick new wave jam "Unique emotion". But therein lies the power of Stars in Coma: over the course of "Midnight puzzle", they somehow manage to be all things to most listeners...and they do so brilliantly.
- Laura Studarus

Casiokids RSD split preview

Pitchfork is streaming the upcoming Casiokids/of montreal split 7" being released for Record Store Day: http://pitchfork.com/news/42087-listen-to-of-montreal-and-casiokids-split-7-for-record-store-day/

Interview: Casiokids

Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 albums of the week:

01. Glasvegas – Glasvegas
02. Radiohead – In Rainbows
03. Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes
04. Hello Saferide – More Modern Short Stories From Hello Saferide
05. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
06. Kings of Convenience – Riot on an Empty Street
07. Tiger Lou – A Partial Print
08. Markus Krunegård – Markusevangeliet
09. Cut Copy – In Ghost Colours
10. of montreal – Skeletal Lamping

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Herr Nilsson
Downhill thrill
Karisma Records

Any record that starts off asking, "Would you trade a dysfunctional kidney for a broken heart?" has my immediate attention. As far as opening tracks go, Herr Nilsson put an inspiring foot forwards with "Camera for an eye", a tune whose competence and peculiar drive brings "Downhill thrill" completely alive and kick-starts its strange exploration. While comparable in many ways to Shout Out Louds and Figurines, and quite prone to the unusual bursts of energy that endear Laakso to their fans, Herr Nilsson are almost a distillation of everything that makes quirky Scandinavian pop so damned appealing. Title track "Downhill thrill" dances a little into of montreal's territory in its midsection before sealing the deal with thin guitar chords, building strings, and anthemic lyrics. It was "Huskies", though, that completely won me over, four tracks into a record I was already stirred by. "Downhill thrill" does meander into more bizarre terrain as it reaches its conclusion, quite markedly during the Beatles-esque, Consciousness Expansion-era duo "On the road again" and "Killerbee", but overall it is yet more proof that the Scandinavian music gods have smiled fondly upon 2007.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson

This week's It's A Trap! Last.fm listening group top 10 artists of the week:

01. Interpol
02. Shout Out Louds
03. Architecture in Helsinki
04. The Shins
05. Bright Eyes
06. of montreal
07. Stars
08. Laakso
09. Death Cab for Cutie
10. Belle and Sebastian

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Join us! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

This week's It's A Trap! Last.fm listening group top 10 artists of the week:

01. Shout Out Louds
02. Feist
03. The Arcade Fire
04. Laakso
05. Death Cab for Cutie
06. Justice
07. The Smiths
08. The White Stripes
09. Modest Mouse
10. of montreal

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Join us! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

This week's It's A Trap! Last.fm listening group top 10 artists of the week:

01. Shout Out Louds
02. The Arcade Fire
03. Arctic Monkeys
04. Björk
05. of montreal
06. The National
07. Feist
08. The Tough Alliance
09. Modest Mouse
10. Radiohead

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Join us! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

This week's It's A Trap! Last.fm listening group top 10 artists of the week:

01. The Arcade Fire
02. Feist
03. Shout Out Louds
04. Laakso
05. Björk
06. Bright Eyes
07. of montreal
08. Radiohead
09. The Shins
10. Bloc Party

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Join us! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

This week's It's a trap! Last.fm/Audioscrobbler listening group top 10 artists of the week:

01. The Arcade Fire
02. Bloc Party
03. The Shins
04. Sufjan Stevens
05. Modest Mouse
06. of montreal
07. The Knife
08. Peter Bjorn and John
09. The Radio Dept.
10. Jens Lekman

Album charts are still not working and the top 10 tracks are all from the same 2-3 records, so I'm not going to bother. If you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod, please join us! The more people that join, the more interesting our chart will be, the more interesting new music you'll discover. Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

This week's It's a trap! Last.fm/Audioscrobbler listening group top 10 artists of the week:

01. Bloc Party
02. The Shins
03. The Knife
04. The Arcade Fire
05. Death Cab for Cutie
06. Camera Obscura
07. The Radio Dept.
08. Bright Eyes
09. of montreal
10. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

And the top 10 albums of the week:

01. The Knife – Silent Shout
02. Camera Obscura – Let's Get out of This Country
03. Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
04. The Radio Dept. – Pet Grief
05. The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema
06. Bloc Party – A Weekend In The City
07. The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
08. The Pipettes – We Are the Pipettes
09. The Arcade Fire – Funeral
10. The Knife – Deep Cuts

If you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod, please join us! The more people that join, the more interesting our chart will be, the more interesting new music you'll discover. Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

I'm almost ashamed to post this week's It's a trap! Last.fm/Audioscrobbler listening group charts, it's so damn uninspiring. Here's the top 10 artists of the week:

01. Bloc Party
02. The Knife
03. The Arcade Fire
04. Death Cab for Cutie
05. The Shins
05. The Radio Dept.
07. Radiohead
08. of montreal
09. Modest Mouse
10. Sufjan Stevens

And the top 10 albums of the week:

01. The Knife – Silent Shout
02. Death Cab for Cutie – Plans
03. Beirut – Gulag Orkestar
04. The Postal Service – Give Up
05. The Arcade Fire – Funeral
06. Camera Obscura – Let's Get out of This Country
07. Hot Chip – The Warning
08. The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
09. TV on the Radio – Return To Cookie Mountain
10. The Radio Dept. – Pet Grief

If you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod, please join us! The more people that join, the more interesting our chart will be, the more interesting new music you'll discover. Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

Loney, Dear on tour in the US supporting of montreal:

03/10 - Irving Plaza, NYC
03/11 - Avalon Ballroom, Boston, MA
03/16 - First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN
03/17 - Pabst Theathe, Milwaukee, WI
03/18 - Schubas Tavern, Chicago, IL
03/19 - Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland, OH
03/20 - Southgate House, Newport, KY
03/21 - Mercy Lounge, Nashville, KY
03/22 - Gray Eagle Tavern, Asheville, NC
03/23 - Banana Joes, Columbia, SC
03/29 - Abbey Road, Gainesville, FL
03/30 - Studio A, Miami, FL
03/31 - The club at firestone, Orlando, FL
04/01 - Freebird live, Jacksonville, FL
04/02 - The Moon, Tallahassee, FL

This week's It's a trap! Last.fm/Audioscrobbler listening group top 10 albums of the week:

01. The Radio Dept. - Pet Grief
02. The Knife - Silent Shout
03. The Knife - Deep Cuts
04. The Arcade Fire - Funeral
05. Mew - And The Glass Handed Kites
06. The Postal Service - Give Up
07. Thom Yorke - The Eraser
08. of montreal - The Sunlandic Twins
09. Tiger Lou - The Loyal
10. Hot Chip - The Warning

Top 10 tracks for the week:

01. The Rapture – Pieces Of The People We Love
02. Irene – Little Things (That Tear Us Apart)
03. Peter Bjorn and John – Young Folks
04. Marit Bergman – No Party
05. The Plan – Walk for gold
06. Laakso – High Drama
07. Mando Diao – Killer Kaczynski
08. The Knife – Silent shout
09. The Radio Dept. – It's Personal
10. Isis – Dulcinea

Want to make your own playlist count? Join us! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

This week's top artists for the Itsatrap Audioscrobbler/Last.fm listening group:

01. Mew
02. Sigur Rós
03. Franz Ferdinand
04. Death Cab for Cutie
05. Randy
06. Architecture in Helsinki
07. of montreal
08. M83
09. I'm from Barcelona

I'd like to encourage all regular readers of this site who listen to music on their computers to join up so we can get an even better idea of what everyone is listening to. Go here for more: http://www.last.fm/group/itsatrap/