PO & MOLLY

MO SAYS It is time. 2011 is coming to a close and thus the...

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 09:02:12 +0100

MO SAYS

It is time. 2011 is coming to a close and thus the entire internet MUST make a bunch of lists. Luckily, I really like lists. Especially music related lists (playlists?)

Anyway, everyone’s making a lot of year-end lists with a bunch of Bon Iver nonsense on them, so I thought Po & Molly could bring you some best-of 2011 that is a bit more dancey and scandinavian. The rules are:

1) Song must be awesome and have impacted at least one of our lives in 2011

2) Song must have a music video

3) Song/artist must NOT have yet been featured on Po & Molly (sorry, Rebecca & Fiona)

POLLY SAYS

Omg, you know what’s even better than a list? A challenge list.

MO SAYS

They’re sort of in chronological order of when they made an impact on our year(s), but since there’s two of us, the ordering is gonna be a little whatever. Now let’s start off with the first one which is just above this text:

1. Crystal Fighters - At Home

I listened to this song more than ANY OTHER in 2011. 168 times. In a ROW. No, just kidding, but almost. First of all, it’s amazing, and second of all, I was abroad, and studying abroad in Sweden is the absolutely ideal time to enjoy this song because a) you can actually romanticize ‘home’ (since it’s far away for a change), b) because I had my own room (and bathroom, let’s not forget) that was inexplicably soundproof so most of my party nights would end with me dancing like a maniac in my underwear alone in my room with the volume cranked up and this song on repeat… and then going and raiding the fridge for some ridiculous Swedish midnight/5 am snack.

LALALA/LALALA/LALALA/LALALA/LALALA/LALALA/yeahyeah/yeahyeah <— great lyrics.

POLLY SAYS

I don’t think it’s too farfetched to say that I can pretty much visualize exactly the whole scene Mo described above.

MO SAYS

Even the underwear. ESPECIALLY the underwear. #swedishsaunatime

POLLY SAYS

While I didn’t manage to top Mo’s 168 possibly consecutive plays of At Home, I did listen to it (quite a lot, actually) the week before I flew back to California in August, a time when I was feeling more than slightlybummed about leaving Sweden. I may even have shed a tear or two at some point while listening to this song. So at that point I basically thought of Sweden as my home and all my friends as, well you get the idea. /meltedRöyksoppflavoredsyrup

MO SAYS

I cried too. Probably multiple times. And I didn’t even cry during Up.

POLLY SAYS

Now I got that off my chest we can move on to:

1. FM Belfast - I Don’t Want To Go To Sleep Either

Where would this list be without at least one FM Belfast track? Obsessive and undying love for this Icelandic collection of geniuses is pretty much essential to the Po & Molly brand. Life would not be complete without experiencing at least one live rendition of Underwear, preferably in their hometown of Reykjavik but as we well know, Huskvarna also works.

MO SAYS

You haven’t lived until you’ve danced topless in the front row of an FM Belfast concert while they’re playing Underwear. Quite seriously, that was one of the best moments of my life.

POLLY SAYS

This track is a nod to our hardcore festing lifestyles in Sweden, and it could apply to both the winter months, when the nights are ridiculously long (=plenty of time for not sleeping), or the spring/summer, when the sun just will not go to bed.

The video features the (probably sleepless) members of FM Belfast wreaking havoc and is self-explanatorily amazing, but it also gives you a pretty good idea of the group’s personalities and their usual mode of performance.

T-rex doesn’t want to go to sleep either, and neither do I.

MO SAYS

I used to have a rule — no going home until the sun comes up. This usually meant waiting from 2:45 AM until 3:15 AM in Polly’s bedroom, and then wandering in the daylight the 30 minutes back to my place, and occasionally finding some randos in a parking lot to hang out with instead and staying out until 7 AM.

It was like every day was a competition between me and the sun,

to find out who could stay up longer and who could have more fun.

I also like how the video is so crappy.

2. Icona Pop - Manners

MO SAYS

Badass Swedish electronica with neon lipstick. Really, what more do you need? I actually really like the Chiddy Bang version too.

POLLY SAYS

Icona Pop…how do I begin to explain Icona Pop? Icona Pop is flawless.

And while we’re on the subject, I demand a video for this track:

Sun Goes Down feat The Knocks by Icona Pop

Hell, maybe I’ll just make it myself.

2. Tiger Love - Pussy Cocaine

Along with the likes of Digitaria, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour, Tove Styrke and Acid House Kings and Non Tiq, this song was a staple on the soundtrack to our decadent, epic Swedish spring days spent lying in the sun and partying all night long, so it totally made the cut onto this list. The VHS-style video and awkward dancing is an added bonus.

MO SAYS

It’s as if their video to Gio Gio is the sexy, non-80’s, non-awkward response to this. Also with possibly more salmonella.

3. LCMDF - Future Me

MO SAYS

LCMDF, or Le Corps Mince de Françoise if we want to be technical about it, are a couple of adorable girls from Helsinki who make amazing music (Check out their entire album, Love Nature, please). Future Me is a perfect summer tune, and it defined my summer because

1) it was some Scandinavian music that I started listening to after I returned from Sweden, so it helped bridge me over from svensk life to amerikansk again

2) This was during the first month or so I was working at Facebook, which meant I had 8 or 10 or 12 hours a day to work and listen to music, so I literally did put this on repeat and attempted to listen to the song telling me that the Future Me would tell me not to stress. Because yeah, I was kinda stressed. And the Future Me (which is now the current me, I suppose) would, in fact, like to tell the June 2011 version of me, “Yeah, yeah, don’t stress.”

POLLY SAYS

I’m pretty sure that’s what the Future Me would tell the Current Me every day, guess I should listen to this song more often?!

3. Ritualz †‡†- Ghetto Ass Witch

(I sort of cheated with this one. I recommend not watching the video above, which is a relatively underwhelming live performance and not an actual music video, and please just listen to the embed below instead)

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href=”http://ritualz.bandcamp.com/track/ghetto-ass-witch-feat-gvcci-hvcci” _mce_href=”http://ritualz.bandcamp.com/track/ghetto-ass-witch-feat-gvcci-hvcci”&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;GHETTO ASS WITCH (FEAT. GVCCI-HVCCI) by RITUALZ&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

This track comes from the album that initiated me into the cult of witchhouse, which if you don’t already know, is fucking skitbra, but not for everyone. For me, it has turned into a full-blown obsession. If you’re interested in the genre, it’s best to start with something more on the witchhouse-lite side like Ritualz. They’re total BAMFs from Mexico.

MO SAYS

While witchhouse is probably a little bit #dark-er than I normally listen to, I definitely can’t deny that this album sums up the side of Polly that’s sort of spiritual/magical/witchcraftery. Or maybe I only think of that because of Harry Potter related things? I am definitely a muggle when it comes to all the crazy symbols in Ritualz’s name, but I love the opening to this song for reals, and I hope that Polly’s expertise in this genre helps save me from any dark magic, because while she was getting super into witchhouse I was gushing over the way more silly and ridiculous genre of swinghouse.

4. M83 - Midnight City

MO SAYS

Okay, so this is gonna be the one on everyone else’s year-end lists, and I had to resort to YouTube here…but it’s worth it, because Midnight City REALLY IS one of the best songs this year.

For me, this song/band and Twitter are responsible for a brand new friend I made, Haley, when she tweeted that m83 was playing in Portland the night we were there for the same conference, but alas, tickets were sold out.

We tried to find a scalper but in the end we were standing out in the rain in front of the door of the concert, where we could hear very clearly, as long as someone had just opened the door. We were pretty sure that the doorman wanted us to run in past him, but didn’t quite have the balls to do so in case it would end with us getting beaten up by a large man with a british(ish?) accent.

Then we went to the Barcade and drowned our sorrows in Pacman, DDR, Centipede, and pinball.

POLLY SAYS

Portland + M83 sounds like an excellent way to start a new friendship. Though given Mo’s track record with bouncers, backing off was probably a good call. Also, I highly recommend Trentemøller’s remix of Midnight City.

4. Woodkid - Iron

Next up is Woodkid’s mindblowing/#canteven Iron which is amazing even without the stunningly choreographed video but together they are unstoppable. The film shows Agyness Deyn and several other hot young things fleeing the scene as giant black ink blots spill from the sky like Death Eaters in a universe populated by mysterious key tattoos, German Shephards, Vikings, meat cleavers and Twin Peaks-esque owls.

It could just as well be a guide to surviving the impending apocalypse in slow-mo style. Nothing else could make even dog saliva seem so incredibly dramatic.

If I ever make music videos, I promise they’ll be like this.

MO SAYS

So the guy behind Woodkid, Yoann Lemoine, is a French music video maker / filmmaker and that makes this video / song make SO MUCH MORE SENSE — even the music is just movie-soundtrack level epic/dramatic, so it’s not surprising that the person behind it is a film guy. Also kinda convenient that he can make his own music videos!

A multitalented fellow, just 5 years my senior, Yoann also directed the music video for Teenage Dream (yes, Katy Perry).

And thus ends your Woodkid FUN FACT.

5. The Young Professionals - D.I.S.C.O.

MO SAYS

Polly is fully responsible for the fact that I can’t hear this song or even think about the concept of disco anymore without seeing this man prance around in his teal silky getup. His image has been burned into my brain and I am SO VERY GLAD.

POLLY SAYS

I’m so happy Mo included D.I.S.C.O. on this list. It’s just so wonderfully lulzy and yes, CAN’T UNSEE #inagoodway.

5. Austra - Beat and the Pulse

This last track seems to be popping up on every mix I make lately, maybe because it’s so very me. As in, it’s probably the type of stuff I would make if I did make music. In any case Austra’s witchhouse-influenced Feel It Break is inseparable from this autumn for me, given the number of times I listened to it. Especially while wandering around SF at the end of October.

While I don’t feel the video really encapsulates the dark beats and absorbing lyrics of the song, the moody voyeurism, boob obsession and webbed fingers are pretty interesting.

MO SAYS

I like boobs and lingerie too, so I endorse this video!

Also, since that’s the end of our list, all I can say is GOOD LUCK 2012 at outdoing this year, because there was some pretty great stuff. I anxiously await the new Asteroids Galaxy Tour album, a bunch of awesome concerts in San Francisco, an whatever it is Lady Gaga is going to do at the VMAs to outdo BOTH the meat-dress AND Jo Calderone.

Röyksopp, if you haven’t heard, is a stylized version of...

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 01:30:00 +0200

Röyksopp, if you haven’t heard, is a stylized version of the Norwegian word for the puffball mushroom, “røyksopp”. According to the fount of all knowledge, the band has stated that the word could also evoke the mushroom cloud resulting from an atomic blast.

Also, one member of the duo is named Torbjørn. HOW CAN YOU BEAT THAT!?!?!

Röyksopp - Shores Of Easy by Miscellaneousleblog

POLLY SAYS

I just love how this starts a bit ominously and then dissolves into a puddle of Röyksopp chillwave or whatever we’re supposed to call it these days.

MO SAYS

This track totally sneaks up on you and it’s the best thing. I was walking around campus with HypeMachine playing and this chillwavey goodness starts growing around me and i have no idea that I’m about to be swallowed up by THE RÖYKSOPP ZONE. I annotated the SoundCloud with where exactly the track goes from your everyday electrochillwave to Röyksopp ‘R Us.

“The Röyksopp Zone” is also going to be the tagline I use to inspire all of my interior design decisions in my next room. It will be really minimalist and involve a lot of beanbag chairs or something, and a dancefloor.

POLLY SAYS

Only Röyksopp can get away with naming this Shores of Easy and not sounding ridiculous. Because it really does have this kind of ocean vibe and the mellow bass will go a long way towards convincing you that you’re floating on your back in a sea hopefully devoid of sharks, instead of just passed out on your couch.

MO SAYS

I am currently passed out on my couch.

POLLY SAYS

Kind of like this:

It just goes on and ON……….

MO SAYS

Readers, your guess is as good as mine for what on earth Polly is getting at here.

POLLY SAYS

Lol. Does anyone actually read this? IF YOU’RE OUT THERE READING THIS, TELL US.

Well. Just try it, you’ll see what I mean.

Royksopp - The Girl and The Robot (Chateau Marmont Remix) by Stayloose

POLLY SAYS:

Chateau Marmont’s remix of The Girl and The Robot isn’t new but it can’t be ignored while we’re on the subject of Röyksopp. This version is rather more robotic sounding and less Robyn-centric than the original, but nearly equally omg amazing. And that’s all I have to say about that.

MO SAYS

I totally agree. The only thing better than Röyksopp is Röyksopp and Robyn. And the only thing better than Röyksopp and Robyn is really really good remixes of Röyksopp and Robyn.

No Röyksopp education could come close to being complete without some Happy Up Here:

As much as this song might WANT to be about drugs, or about being about a digital robo-invasion, I always was pretty sure it was about my own wanderlust and living in Sweden. Cuz I was happy up there.

Also, Röyksopp is a really good example of a Scandinavian band with really simple lyrics that are really good and just get stuck in your head:

I’m in love with a robot. (happens to me like, daily.)

You know I really like it / I know I’ll always be here

It’s what I want that’s easy / it’s getting it that’s complicated

Yay, and with Robyn!!

polly says I know, we’ve been gone for a while and that...

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 00:12:00 +0200

polly says

I know, we’ve been gone for a while and that sucks. Especially for us because then we feel guilty. At least I do. While Mo was busy finishing up her top secret mission at Facebook, I was readjusting to the American Way of Life by taking a break from anything moderately productive. But guess what, I’m based in San Francisco now and that means it’s time for our Official YACHT Shrine Appreciation Post, or The Different Types of Triangles There Are. Don’t panic: we haven’t fallen out of love/obsession/infatuation with Sweden. It just means I’ll be experiencing far more fog than rain during the next few months, and possibly just as much good music.

mo says

And since I’ll probably be moving out to the bay in the next say, six months, I’mma leave it to you to find all the best beard-toting-electrosynth-dance hangouts, which were like, a dime a dozen back in Lund, but all I managed to find in San Francisco were people sitting in parks smoking pot and playing guitars to their dyed-pink poodles. Which is fine, but enough with the guitars already. #whereisyourdrummachine

polly says

What is YACHT? We’ve been scratching our proverbial heads for a while trying to answer that question. Just kidding, they actually break it down with a helpful diagram, Exploded View of YACHT Semiotics (pictured above), to sort of clarify themselves metaphysically. Because YACHT is more than a band or a badass androgynous duo from Portland*.

mo says

I too noticed that their website was rather in-depth. Man does YACHT make me excited about my trip to Portland in November.

polly says

YACHT is a philosophy, which is so fucking appropriate I can’t even. The YACHT Mission includes but is not limited to the following tenets:

▲YACHT believes art and spirituality are inseparable; both are concerned with the creation of something from nothing, with form without antecedent. The feeling or moment of creation is a kind of spiritual high that can be achieved by anyone with the willingness to transmute an idea into form. When we create something, we relive the first spark into consciousness of both the microcosm (ourselves) and the macrocosm (our universe). Art is ontological birth. No religious culture is without an image-making culture. In more ancient religions, the making of images is the spiritual act itself.

▲YACHT seeks to explore frontiers and to expand awareness of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (ETI). There is nothing marginal about acknowledging the greater possibility of life in the cosmos; it is chauvinistic, beyond the pale, to imagine otherwise.

▲YACHT believes that in the province of the mind, there are no limits. Every person is the master of their own neurological experience. Our minds contain the universe, by the act of comprehending it.

▲YACHT encourages online dissemination of all things.

▲YACHT believes “Free Wi Fi” is not an advertisement of services, but a political statement.

mo says

THAT WAS MY FAVORITE ONE!!! Though, I can’t decide if they mean political statement in the sense that, “Everyone is entitled to the internet” or that the wi-fi is trapped and it NEEDS TO BE FREE.

polly says

Slutever, the point is they’re super awesome and what are you waiting for? This shit is dope. It’s definitely what I would listen to while walking around Christiania. If the trippy visuals don’t do it for you, just listen to what they’re saying. I mean, Psychic City, fun stuff there. Whatever these two are on, it’s working.

I used to live in a voodoo city,
Where every little thing had its own secret life.
I might be washing up the dishes,
And the kitchen might say:
“Hang around baby, baby, hang around baby, baby,
Hang around baby, we’ll be baking a cake for you.”
PSYCHIC CITY (VOODOO CITY)

YACHT - Psychic City (Voodoo City) from Jona Bechtolt on Vimeo.

mo says

omg the lick at the end there #icanteven <3

polly says

The Earth, the Earth is on fire!
We don’t have no daughter,
Let the motherfucker burn!
DYSTOPIA (THE EARTH IS ON FIRE)

YACHT Utopia / Dystopia (The Earth Is On Fire) (Explicit) from DFA Records on Vimeo.

mo says

The baby in the toy car creeps me out, but I love how Claire is running on a treadmill… in SPACE #dystopiaforsure

She is also so androgynous and prettyyyyyyy!!!

Also, fun fact, Jona used to be in The Blow. Yeah, remember that guy??

polly says

If my friends were a drug, not one of them could afford it, but it’s already in their blood.
And if your enemies caused you cancer, we’d find a cure for you, then bring it to the club.
I WALKED ALONE

Protect your eyes! Protect your eyes!
Be careful with the downloading, and protect your eyes!
Read the comments! Read the comments!
And protect your eyes. Protect your eyes!
Don’t get error, 100 percent!
WE HAVE ALL WE’VE EVER WANTED

“Hello my children, hello my sons, hello my daughters, hello my brothers and sisters. I’m here to tell you that the world’s last unpleasant experience will be a precisely dateable event. Yes! It will happen in our lifetimes, if we commit all of our energy today to the task of Paradise engineering. Up, up, out, eyes closed, we’ll move at the speed of light, expanding, expanding, faster and faster, until we become so large and so blissful that we’ll no longer actually exist. Our speed will be so great that everything will come to a stop. We willl gaze upon the entire Universe. The future exists first in our imagination, then in our will, then in reality.”

If there was a Hell, that’s where I belong,
For breaking all the rules and singing all these songs.
PARADISE ENGINEERING

▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼▼

mo says

My favorite YACHT lyrics are probably from One Step. Probably because they involve counting, and lines (which we all know I love):

http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858872992/

polly says

YACHT has released a very shiny new LP, Shangri-la, which you can watch them unwrap (unbox?), literally, right here. And you should go listen to it here or buy their stuff here.

Trust YACHT • Tumblr • Facebook • Twitter • Soundcloud • Youtube • Vimeo

*#thedreamofthe90sisaliveinportland #jsyk

mo says

polly says Pollyn is a name to watch, not only because...

Sat, 23 Jul 2011 13:54:00 +0200

polly says

Pollyn is a name to watch, not only because they’re Californian like me and share most of their name with mine thanks to quirky spelling habits. Aside from these fascinating and highly irrelevant details, their track Gave it Up is the perfect moody antidote for Sweden’s current addiction: wet summer afternoons. Give this melancholy electropop a listen - it won’t disappoint.

Pollyn has just released a new single, How Small We Are, from their forthcoming album. Taggad!

Pollyn “How Small We Are” from Pollyn on Vimeo.

How Small We Are (Single Version) by Pollyn

Gave it Up by Pollyn

Shake It Off (Them Jeans Remix) by Pollyn

mo says

After minor amounts of analysis I’ve concluded that Pollyn is a fusion of Feist, YACHT, and xkcd. WHY?

Okay FIRST OF ALL Pollyn is such an appropriate band name here. That’d be like a band being called Mon…oh wait, I just checked spotify and there IS a band called Mon. Whatever.

The music here TOTALLY reminds me of YACHT, particularly Utopia. Even thematically “How Small We Are” seems to be pseudo-philosophical in the same way Shangri-La is. (Hmmm I sense another post coming on…)

[WHOA, sidenote, Mon has a very disturbing cover of “What I Like about You” called “Lo que me gusta de ti”… I am not even going to link to it, as that would be a disgrace to our blossoming little blog.]

This Pollyn video, however, totally reminds me xkcd with all the little stick figures. Here you go, appropriate-in-so-many-ways xckd comic. Now put on Pollyn as your soundtrack and enjoy feeling really really small:

Actually this one is even more appropriate:

Tjena, world. We’re PO & MOLLY. Also known as Mo and...

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 20:33:00 +0200

Tjena, world.

We’re PO & MOLLY. Also known as Mo and Polly. Aspiring Rebecca & Fionites who have been separated unwillingly from home base: Lund, Sweden, now split between Scandinavia and Silicon Valley.

Hopefully this means we will learn to fly. Välkomna.