Swedes are getting a lot of love this week. Not only have Peter Bjorn and John been sampled repeatedly during the Capitol Hill Block Party (by Blue Scholars and Girl Talk) this past weekend, but they are reportedly being tapped by Kanye West to support him when he performs the Way Out West Festival on August 11 in their home country. According to Pitchfork, the whistle loving Swedes have yet to respond.
Here’s West’s take on “Young Folk” (thanks to I Guess I’m Floating):
Two new songs are available from another popular Swede, Jose Gonzalez, on his MySpace page. Check out “Down the Line” and “Killing for Love,” both excellent and slated to appear on his upcoming full-length In Our Nature, from Mute on September 25.
Also new, and filmed in a location that looks Nordic (actually, it’s Canada), is this latest video from The White Stripes, “You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You’re Told)”
There’s something rockin’ in Denmark, and that would be The Raveonettes, who revealed details of their forthcoming album to NME. As you can tell from the title, Lust, Lust, Lust, “There are a lot of songs that deal with desire, restlessness and the tough choices you have to make sometimes.” So says the male Raveonette, Sune Rose Wagner, who insists, “It’s a grittier, tougher and much more powerful record” than their last. Here’s one of the new songs that they played at The Triple Door in June:
Or it could also be The Figurines, whose When The Deer Wore Blue drops next month from local label The Control Group. You can now download two new songs from their MySpace page. Here’s one of them (thanks to Eponymous):
From further east, but still just as freakin’ cold, comes this Russian translation of Nine Inch Nails‘ “Survivalism,” recorded by Xvostya completely with acoustic instruments:
