Well in honor of the fact that I will be journeying up to Schuba’s to see the Swedish songstresses Lykke Li and El Perro Del Mar, I figured I would give a shout out (hah) to fellow Swedes the Shout Out Louds. Marcus and I saw these guys at Logan Square Auditorium (the place where they hold prom) last year while quite wasted, but they were completely awesome nonetheless. This album from last year is certainly one of my favorites of 2007, and I really wish they would put together another US tour soon because they are great. They played a few festivals already this year, including SXSW and Coachella. You can actually still catch a stream of their set from SXSW here that was on the NPR webcast. Comparisons to the Cure are probably what come to mind first for most people, and that is certainly valid. But being compared to the Cure is not a bad thing at all. Their sound kind of trends to the more upbeat songs in the Cure catalog though, as there are not really any “One Hundred Years” kinds of songs in here. They are of course part of the growing Swedish invasion hitting our shores with great music along with the likes of Jens Lekman and Peter, Bjorn & John. This album was actually produced by Bjorn of the aforementioned PB&J. I highly recommend this album, like I said, one of the albums from last year that is still in heavy rotation on my player. They are one of my fave bands going right now, and they put on a fun, entertaining show also if you get a chance to check them out live. Also if you want a fun little puzzle try to figure out which letter each flag on the album cover corresponds to.

Shout Out Louds – South America – From Our Ill Wills
Shout Out Louds – Hard Rain – From Our Ill Wills