meanwhile, the center of my pop culture universe is located just a tad bit to the north in that scandinavian utopia we know as Norway.

let's start with the obvious: the hives. if you haven't heard them (or at least ABOUT them), then you truly have been under a rock (or possibly enforcing your media blackout, for which i exclaim "huzzah! good for you!"). the next saviours of rock music, blather the cognoscenti. you know when you are watching your favorite story on the tee vee, and all of the sudden there is incidental music and you have that shock of recognition, that "hey, wait, i know that song!" moment. here is the scene. sydney and vaughn break into the vatican to obtain the code key for the ramaldi manuscripts, all to the rockin' and rollin' of "hate to say i told you so". and the hype? oh yeah, deserved. and their live show? not to be missed. if you don't believe me, believe him.

from garage rock to electronica, there is royksopp. for clarity's sake, there is an umlaut over that first o, but i gots me no idea how to do that, not that i'm html illiterate, just challenged. these boys debut release "melody a.m." beats groove armada at their own game. in fact, it may even be the album you wanted "goodbye country (hello nightclub)" to be. royksopp rotates all tires. anthemic, piano-driven house punctuated by haunting bells (poor leno); soulful, beloved-stylee pop (remind me); ethereal lounge (eple); rejected incidental music from the motion picture version of the avengers (royksopp's night out). truly a revelation.

then there is the return of a-ha, the boys that made living in a comic book sexy and ending up in a trash can behind the counter of a greasy spoon desirable. in all fairness, they have been pumping out records all along, including the catchy theme to an utterly disappointing bond flick, "the living daylights". single number one off the new album is a smash all across europe. no word on american distribution.

finally, to the kings of convenience, the darlings of the new acoutic movement, strumming and tinkling their way into my heart of hearts. tunes for when you're happy feeling sad. songs from "quiet is the new loud" got a remix treatment for their newest release "versus". stuck in my head is the royksopp mix of "i don't know what i can save you from", a subtle reworking that is so incredibly beautiful, it shimmers. and yes, that would be me, smiling through the tears.