August 15, 2007

{     The Tough Alliance "Taken Too Young" MP3     }    

Sometimes the aim for reality feels too unrealistic. Sometimes you have to indulge in sweet distractions, gentle escapes and beautiful illusions to be able to stand this excuse for an existance. Sometimes you're just too young.

That's the text accompanying this new track from The Tough Alliance, the Swedish electro-pop baseball-bat swingers. The Toughies are an odd thing honestly, their sound is soft and poppy at times, but similar to Hot Chip in the sense that under that droning pop is a dark side. They're known as hooligans on and off the stage - their shows often turning into 'First Class Riots', however their sound is similar to what music might be playing in your head if you awoke in a tall-grass field, your blurred eyesight trying to focus on the rising sun - calm, sleepy, pretty. Um, but mix that with New Order and children's jumprope songs. Their videos often display old footage of things like dolphins and picnics juxtaposed with the duo euro-pop'ing along with a thuggish swagger.

Odd, but wonderful, and a CrownDozen.com favorite. Check out their several EPs and albums as they will not disappoint. But back to the reason for this post, today TTA dropped a new mp3 on the site of their label, Sincerely Yours. It's called
Taken Too Young, with guest vocals by Swedish singer Victoria Bergsman of The Concretes, Taken By Trees, and "Young Folks" fame. Superb stuff...