W♥M (Archive)

When Animals Attack: Nina Persson, Gabby Young, Skeletonwitch, and Martin Garrix

Read more When Animals Attack!.

Animal Heart The End Records Read More The Cardigans The Dust Brothers's version of "The X-Files Theme", Noel Gallagher (Oasis)'s "Teotihuacan", and The Cardigans' "Deuce"…

NINA PERSSON
facebook.com/ninaperssonofficial

The Cardigans' First Band on the Moon rocketed the band to international fame, special thanks to that super catchy single, "Lovefool." In 1996, it was hard to go anywhere without hearing that song on the radio, in movies, in advertisements, etc. Unfortunately, American thought this band was more or less a one-hit-wonder band, and they never really follow up with another hit. That lead to the band's breakup, or rather took a long break, but they eventually reformed in 2012 to do a series of reunion tour dates. That's really the last we heard from them.

The good news for Cardigans fans is that singer/songwriter Nina Persson will be releasing her brand new album Animal Heart, out next week, February 11th, for the North American audience via The End Records.

Persson commented on the struggles of going solo, "The most difficult, yet perhaps the most positive aspect of going solo are all the decisions you have to make alone. Somewhere inside, I have a very clear clock, a gut feeling that says what I think. I have forced myself to just keep going and follow my instincts with this album. I have simply no time to dwell on things anymore which I did a lot before."

That tells me that Persson's new songs, perhaps for the better, will be a break from what we're used to hearing from the Cardigans. Expect some 'disco' and 'soul' influences on Animal Heart.

Expect Nina Persson to support the album with some US tour dates later this year. In the meantime, only these European dates are scheduled:

Feb 05 Kulturbolaget Malmo, Sweden Feb 06 Cirkus Stockholm, Sweden Feb 08 Restaurang Trädgårn Gothenburg, Sweden Feb 09 Rockefeller Oslo, Norway Feb 11 Amager Bio Copenhagen, Denmark Feb 19 Mercury Lounge New York, NY Feb 22 Mojo Club Hamburg, Germany

Feb 23 Heimathafen Berlin, Germany Feb 25 Gloria Cologne, Germany Feb 26 Bitterzoet Amsterdam, Netherlands Feb 28 KULTURFABRIK Luxembourg City Mar 01 Arenbergschouwburg Antwerpen Mar 03 La Maronquinerie Paris, France Mar 05 Scala London, United Kingdom Mar 06 Button Factory Dublin, Ireland

I've Improved Gift Of Gab Read More Gabby Young & Other Animals Speaking of 'young', Gabby Young & Other Animals are on tour in the US, in support of their debut album, We're All In This Together…

GABBY YOUNG & OTHER ANIMALS
giftofthegabrecords.com

We previously mentioned Bath's Gabby Young before, for her debut album We're All In This Together. Well the Vaudevillian troupe are back, announcing that they will be playing a number of live dates (including SXSW).

The band will also be releasing a new single, "I've Improved", out February 24th. The single is the preceding song from their upcoming album One Foot In Front Of The Other, set for release on April 28th, 2014.

Gabby Young & Other Animals Live Dates:

03/07 Los Angeles, CA Crest Bar
03/10 Redlands, CA Studio
03/11 Redlands, CA Alley Katz In-Store
03/12 SXSW Esther’s Follies – 11PM
03/13 SXSW
03/14 SXSW
03/15 SXSW
03/16 SXSW

Supporting Al Stewart:

03/20 Decatur, GA Eddie’s Attic
03/24 Melbourne, FL Henegar Center for the Arts

Skeletonwitch Prosthetic Records Read More Animal Adoptions Just in time for the holidays, our friend Moby released a music video called "Almost Home" to benefit the Best Friends Pet Adoption and Spay & Neuter Center in Los Angeles (Best Friends Animal Society)…

SKELETONWITCH
skeletonwitch.com

Proceeds from Skeletonwitch's recent release of their hand-screened, 180-gram limited edition of Serpents Unleashed, will all go to two animal shelters in the band's home state of Ohio - The Athens County Humane Society and Columbus' Pets Without Parents. As you know, many of these "animal shelters" are forced to put animals to sleep because they simply do not have the space to house all the animals they receive. As Moby recently puts it, adopt a pet now and you will have a friend for life.

Fans of the heavy metal group will feel good about supporting two no-kill organizations in their region.

Catch Skeletonwich on tour this year:

2/05/2014 The Paramount - Huntington, NY
2/07/2014 House of Blues - Chicago, IL
2/08/2014 Mill City Nights - Minneapolis, MN
2/09/2014 Grenada Theatre - Lawrence, KS
2/11/2014 Summit Theatre - Denver, CO
2/12/2014 Murray Theater - Salt Lake City, UT
2/14/2014 The Regency - San Francisco, CA
2/15/2014 Wiltern - Los Angeles, CA
2/16/2014 House of Blues - San Diego, CA
4/16/2014The Kings Arms - Auckland, NZ
4/17/2014 Bodega Bar - Wellington, NZ
4/18/2014 The Rosemont Hotel - Perth, AU
4/19/2014 Fowlers Live - Adelaide, AU
4/20/2014 Espy Gershwin Room - Melbourne, AU
4/21/2014 TBD - Byron Bay, AU
4/22/2014 The Basement - Canberra, AU
4/24/2014 The Hi Fi - Brisbane, AU
4/25/2014 Cambridge Hotel - Newcastle, AU
4/26/2014 The Hi Fi - Sydney, AU
4/27/2014 The Hi Fi - Melbourne, AU

Animals Casablanca Records

MARTIN GARRIX
martingarrix.com

Martin Garrix has a hit on his hands with "Animals". It's gone gold, when the song climbed to #32 on Top 40 radio (last year it charted on iTunes' Dance Single at #1). What's interesting to note, according to the press release, that the song is the highest-charting instrumental song since "Children" by Robert Miles in 1966.

Catch this 17-year-old dutch EDM artist on his current "We Are Animals" tour:

02/05 Boston, MA Royale Nightclub
02/07 Toronto, ON Uniun
02/08 Miami, FL Liv Nightclub
02/09 Atlantic City, NJ HQ Nightclub
03/28/14 Ultra Music Festival
03/29/14 Ultra Music Festival
03/30/14 Ultra Music Festival
04/11/14 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival
04/18/14 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival

BRIEFLY:

ANIMALI facebook.com The Alchemists Animali Animali is a new band from Lyon, inspired by psychedelic rock bands from the 70's. The band's debut EP will be coming out March 2014. In the meantime, they released their single, "The Alchemists", which you can hear on their Soundcloud page.

NØMADS facebook.com Free My Animal Mecca Lecca NØMADS' latest single is called "Free My Animal", the title track from their debut album, coming out April 8, 2014, via Brooklyn collective Mecca Lecca. You can grab the track for free on Soundcloud.

ANIMAL STYLE RECORDS animalstylerecords.com Wedding 7" Animal Style Records Animal Style Records has released a label sampler for charity. The founder recently gay-married, so he's is donating proceeds from the sampler (availableAnimal Style Records Bandcamp page) to Freedom to Marry. Founder Matt Medina added, "We got married on January 19, 2014, and with the help of our friends... we released a 7" to commemorate the occasion. We want to make the songs available to a larger audience and donate the proceeds to freedomtomarry.org ..."

AS ANIMALS asanimals.com As Animals Atmosphériques As Animals will release their self-titled debut on March 3rd via Atmosphériques. Also, look for As Animals' upcoming release for "I See Ghost (Ghost Gunfighters)". If you can't wait for the album release, the French duo recently unveiled "Big Slap" on their Soundcloud page.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com

Bettie Serveert - "Hell = Other People"

Lovely Swedes Make Lovely Sounds
Written for We♥Music by Gus
e-mail // vox

Hell = Other People [Alternative Version]

Bettie Serveert

Author's note: I've gone a good long while thinking that this band is Swedish -- I've just recently found out they are actually Dutch!  So don't pay attention to any of this Swede stuff.  Everything else is true, though.

Ah, Sweden; land of gorgeous women with gorgeous voices.  Think I'm lying?  Then take a stroll back through memory lane, and recall such vocal vixens as Nina Persson of The Cardigans (as in The Cardigans), or the entirety of The Sahara Hotnights.

While striking physical beauty abounds, it's the undeniable attractiveness of Sweden's deliberately sugar-coated pop music that keeps us addicted like caffeine-freaks to whatever tasty morsel of sonorous goodness it is that comes bouncing out of the country these days.

Cue Bettie Serveert, the indie pop vets you've never heard of (or maybe you have).

The group entered the music scene with 1992's Palomine, and in the years that followed released a fairly sizable collection of head-bopping goodness.  What's great about Bettie & Co. is their undeniable knack for keeping things fresh -- between 1992's Palomine and 2004's Attagirl, the band (led by front-woman Carol van Dyk) had rearranged their edgy guitar pop formula several times.

Which brings us to Bare Stripped Naked.  Released in 1996 on Minty Fresh Records, Bettie Serveert's latest offering is less edge and more... well, pop.  Take either version of "Hell = Other People."  The original version is soft, flowing, and wrought with piano-y goodness.  Bettie's take on that version is more sullen than it is on the album's later version, where she is accompanied by a college rock chorus and tongue-in-cheek guitars.  She switches between the two blithely, and it works.

And that aptly sums up the remainder of the album -- it works.  Bettie Serveert covers the entirety of the indie pop spectrum in one album; from violin confessionals on "Roadmovies," to gypsy crooning on "Painted Word," the Serveert gang put out one hell of a record, with each track dressed in all the fineries of indie instrumentation, and all the beauty the Swedes can muster.

For more information, please check out the band's official website.  For a cover of Bright Eyes' "Lover I Don't Have to Love," go directly to their Myspace.