Där Allt Blir Bra Imonrn

Veronica Maggio “Gammal Sång” – Someone really needs to get Veronica Maggio to record her songs in English. This is not to say that I disrespect the fact that her music is sung entirely in Swedish — as a person who can only speak one language, I’m always a little surprised that more European pop music is not written and performed in the singer’s native tongue — but rather that it seems that Ms. Maggio would have a good shot at modest success in the UK and US. She specializes in light, peppy neo-Motown pop that sensibly trades out “urban” affectations for a sleek, colorful, cheerfully inauthentic suburban aesthetic. Many have tried for this sort of sound, but it’s rarely successful — sometimes it ends up sounding too conservative and syrupy, or it gets bogged down in superfluous modern signifiers, or the tunes simply aren’t strong enough. Even as a lyrical abstraction to American ears, “Gammal Sång” is wonderfully catchy and delightfully low-key, and its arrangement hits just the right balance of lush orchestration and economy of space and sound. (It also doesn’t hurt that the piano part sounds like the affable grandchild of “This Old Heart Of Mine.”) (Click here for the official Veronica Maggio site.)

Matmos “Rainbow Flag” – “Rainbow Flag” doesn’t belong on earth. It belong in another universe, off-register with the colors and out of sync with the rhythms that we know in our lives here in this dull, drab place. This is what is must sound like on Danny The Street — camp, magical, and both a part of, and removed from, the sepia-toned sadness of the world. (Click here to buy it from Matador Records. Click here to hear a fun interview with Matmos on Fair Game.)