Scandinaivan synth pop by Finland's Burning Hearts

"Their second full-length album, “Extinctions”, will be released in February 21st, 2012. If the debut was a collection of early songs that were not intended to end up on an album, "Extinctions" was written as a consequence of many tragic stories that touched the band. Most of the songs are dedicated to persons or creatures that no longer exist.

Finnish indie pop stalwarts Jessika Rapo (vocalist for Le Futur Pompiste) and Henry Ojala (ex-drummer for Cats on Fire) teamed up to form the shambly, synthy duo Burning Hearts in 2006. Burning Hearts’ debut full-length, Aboa Sleeping, was released 2009.
After releasing two singles in 2010, “Night Animal” (featuring A peasant’s dream Jori Hulkkonen remix) and a cover of Arthur Russell’s “The Letter”, the duo decamped to the Finnish countryside in Ostrobothnia and recorded a four song EP, "Into the Wilderness" released in June 2011." Thanks to Edvinsson Publicity for sharing this information with me.

Burning Hearts offer this free .mp3: Burning Hearts - Burn Burn Burn

The Mary Onettes: new free .mp3

"Love's Taking Strange Ways" is taken from the brand new four track EP "Love Forever". It's out on digital and vinyl (limited edition 1000 copies) on February 28th.
"The Mary Onettes have worked with an outside producer, Dan Lissvik, for the first time. Gone are the echoing reverbs, the 80's guitars and the big, splashing drums."
Wasn't that exactly why I listened and played their work? Let's see where this goes.
Labrador Records is offering a free .mp3 taken from the new ep.

Shoegaze With Lions: "Leaving Me" Video

"Christian Celaya (Benzos) and Woody Ranere (Lake Trout) make up the group known as With Lions and November 1st, 2011 marked the kick-off of an ambitious four-EPs-a-year cycle with the release of, Touch the Sound. Epic and cinematic, With Lions' EPs are broken into mini scores. Dark, saturated harmony, their music can only be described in film terms. "We try to score life," says Celaya."
The next EP is "Equipo", Spanish for 'team' and will be released in Spring 2012.

Synthie Pop

Synthie pop heroes Mirrors offer a selection of demos and new material over at their bandcamp page.

You know I find German synthpop to be the cream of the crop, and here we have a wunderbar example from The Flood.
Latest tracks by TheFlood

While we are on the subject of electro-pop, we head back to the U.S. (Texas, in fact) and arrive at Fanfic's page for a good dose of the "the newest wave". Their most recent single "Amnesia" is available for free download and streaming. I love how they reference an influence as "Ministry's first album"... brilliant! Fanfic will certainly appeal to true synthpop fans.

Pop From Philly: Potpourri of Pearls

Started the afternoon listening to Philadelphia's Potpourri of Pearls over on Soundcloud. I quite enjoyed the morning music of "Ronnie's Shells" and I found "Birds Of Luther" to be even more to my taste. Ending with the synthpop sound of "Chickadee" and "Wake Up, Tom", I am pleased to share Potpourri of Pearls with my readers. I don't have much in the way of a bio, so let that mystery be part of the package.
Our first AND last EP. It's all singles & celebrity remix albums from here on out. by Potpourri Of Pearls

New Saint Etienne

New track from Saint Etienne. Download it free for a limited time here. Thanks to DJ Narcolept for the tip on this one.
Saint Etienne - Tonight by Saint Etienne

The Horrors Cover Beyonce: The Best Thing I Never Had

If you haven't caught this one yet, here's your chance. I need to post about The Horrors at least once a month.

Vacant Kiss: Killing Me

Vacant Kiss just released a new video for the track "Killing Me". Readers / listeners know I have been a fan of Insect Guide (be sure to check out "Reason to Exist", a fine single released 06-06-2011). Vacant Kiss is a related act, perhaps a wilder version of Insect Guide. Vacant Kiss on Soundcloud.

Like Sugar PopCast 39 is alive...alive!

Like Sugar PopCast #39 is live here. When that link goes dead, I'll have it up permanently on the right column of this blog. I have gathered enough new material to create two podcasts, so I expect to publish #40 on the heels of #39. I mean, I have the music lined-up, but the lame talking part, by me, well... that takes effort and alcohol and I hate that. I wish I could get myself back on iTunes... just can't figure it all out. iTunes says I have to start all over, but can't I keep my same Like Sugar name? Not known. Guess I can switch to Just Like Honey, which conveys the same message as the music I play.

Listen To Nada Surf: 'The Stars Are Indifferent To Astronomy' In Its Entirety

NPR hosts yet another early listen to an upcoming release by a band you care about!
Here's what the nice link looks like:
http://www.npr.org/2012/01/15/144962428/first-listen-nada-surf-the-stars-are-indifferent-to-astronomy

Familiar vs The Next Thing Part 1

Wandering through some music blogs tonight. Came across some great stuff, but this one really appealed to me. It combines a lot of what a friend recently told me I was looking for: familiar. Not the next thing... familiar. Wise words.

Bears: Eleven a.m.

I tried to post this as close to eleven a.m. as possible. It's a perfect indie pop track that uplifts on this gloomy (the weather, I should mention) holiday (Martin Luther King Day, here in America).
It's track 1 from the upcoming album, Greater Lakes, to be released on February 14, 2012 via Misra Records. Available on clear vinyl LP, CD and digitally. Check out Bears at www.bearspop.com.

Eleven a.m. by Bears

Tracks:
1. Eleven a.m.
2. You’re Going
3. From Good to Bad
4. More Left Out
5. Don’t Wait
6. The City Still
7. I Don’t Have You on My Mind
8. Perfect Girl
9. Wash My Hands
10. I Can’t Make Things Right
11. Until the Very End

Eux Autres keep the indie pop coming

I am looking forward to more indie pop sounds from Eux Autres. On February 28, they release a new 6 track ep titled "Sun Is Sunk" (Bons Mots Records). Darla Records has the audio previews here.

Synthpop for a Saturday

Australia's John Rowley turned 18 a couple of months ago, and is now working on getting his music ‘out there’. He lives in Sydney, and has studied music classically for the best part of a decade (clarinet, he says). You can find several original tracks and a mash-up cover type thing of ‘Radioactive’ by Marina & The Diamonds, and ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ by Foster The People over on Soundcloud.
I quite enjoyed his work and hope you can favorite him on Soundcloud.
Here, I offer you my favorite John Rowley track:
Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder (Demo) by John Rowley

More from Sweden: Kids

Found this by way of the It's A Trap blog (and it's going straight into my TT queue!):

Kontroll Recordings first release is smooth electronic pop and pure bliss by Swedish duo Kids. The band consists of Jonas Linngård and Maria Pettersson. The songs were recorded in living room studios in Stockholm, Alfta and Hiboviken. You can download all the songs for free either here or on Soundcloud.

Kids - My Sincerest Apologies from David HJ. Lindberg on Vimeo.

Big Pink 4AD Sessions

More good news from The Big Pink:
Ahead of the release of their second album, Future This, The Big Pink have recorded a set of five songs as part of the 4AD Sessions series.
Go here to watch and listen. I had goosebumps as soon I heard the opener, one of my favs.

Track-list:
1. 'Stay Gold'
2. 'Hit The Ground (Superman)'
3. 'Velvet'
4. 'Rubbernecking'
5. 'Give It Up'

Too Close

I posted this to twitter and on my Facebook page, but neglected to share it here on my blog. This one works for me musically, lyrically and emotionally. This is the kind of track that can go anywhere. It can be pitched up for the dancefloor, looped for trip-hop, darkened for certain clubs and so on. Great stuff as it is, to be sure. Please add deetak if you use Soundcloud.
deetak - Too Close by deetak

The Big Pink (4AD): Future This Out Next Week

I'm glad to find I can still connect with the 4AD label via The Big Pink. Their new album "Future This" is officially released next week on January 16th. In the US, iTunes have the album on sale as of today. Buy it here. Spin Magazine have a stream of the entire album, along with track-by-track insight from Milo, here.
For those outside of the US, you can pre-order the album now and stream it in its entirety from NME.com.

Canada's Memoryhouse on Sub Pop Records

Looking forward to the release of Memoryhouse's album "The Slideshow Effect" on Sub Pop Records. Glad to see I can catch them here in San Diego on March 17th at Soda Bar.

Friday Find: Frankie Rose "Know Me"

rcrdlbl.com continues to astound me with excellent music finds. Within seconds, I knew I was going to like this one from Vivian Girls founding member Frankie Rose (also works with Crystal Stilts). Read more of her bio here. The album "Interstellar" will be released on February 21, 2012.

The Twilight Sad's new single "Another Bed"

Read up on what's on their mind, then get the new single for free here. “We never want to remake the same record just because it’s pleased some people.” Thanks to The Skinny for the article.

Trailer Trash Tracys: stream the upcoming album

I have been anticipating more music from Trailer Trash Tracys. How many times can I play the lovely "Candy Girl"? Answer: Over and over.
The Guardian's Music Blog is hosting a streaming preview of the new album "Ester" and I'm about to check it out myself!
Buy the album from Domino USA.

2012 Is Here

A new year is here on Like Sugar. I wanted a first post for 2012, so I'll go with this. I slept through midnight somehow. Gunfire woke me up at 12: 20 p.m. oddly enough. Here is remix that should have played last night:
Röyksopp vs Thin White Duke - What Else Is There (Neon Stereo 2012 Refix) by neonstereo