After visiting Salt Lake City in November and playing to a pretty decent sized crowd at The State Room, Fanfarlo is set to return later in the month on the 27th at the Urban Lounge. If you happened to miss them the first time (shame on you!), I would highly recommend you make the trip the second time around, as I’m sure you’ll be entertained to no end with their warm, summery pop sounds of trumpets, violins and acoustic guitars.

But for those who may be a little cash-strapped, the folks at Atlantic Records have been kind of enough to provide a pair of tickets for me to giveaway for the upcoming show. To win these tickets, just email me at theyellowstereo.blog@gmail.com with “I want to see Fanfarlo!” in the subject line with your full name in the body.

I’ll probably run this until the end of next week (no concrete date, but possibly on February 19th at midnight).

MP3: Fanfarlo :: “Luna”
MP3: Fanfarlo :: “Finish Line”

Fanfarlo recently announced on their website of an upcoming US tour starting on November 9th in Chicago, and for all of you locals — a November 14th date here in Salt Lake City.  This is excellent news, as I have been wanting to see these guys for quite a while now.  I missed my opportunity to see them way back at SXSW in March, so I’m anxiously awaiting this!

As an added bonus, the band uploaded a laptop session that includes a cover of Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea”, which you can watch below.  Also, if you have yet to listen to their excellent debut Reservoir, please do yourself a favor and listen to it right now.  I promise that you will fall in love with it.  You can thank me later.

MP3: Fanfarlo :: “I’m A Pilot”

Lots of great stuff this week, as the new album Middle Cyclone from Neko Case certainly comes out on top with having both excellent songs and equally good cover art.  Honestly, she could release an album of her just reading from a phone book and I would probably buy it.  I’m sure we can all agree on this one.

A couple of other albums that I would personally recommend have been released digitally on iTunes: The Boy Least Likely To’s The Law Of The Playground and Fanfarlo’s Reservoir. Other releasese worth checking out include Marissa Nadler’s (god she has a gorgeous voice) Little Hells, Say Hi’s Oohs & Aahs, Wild Light’s Adult Nights, and The Soundtrack Of Our Lives’ Communion (if only because I haven’t heard from these guys since their debut so many years ago).

As always, feel free to recommend anything that may have slipped past our radar.

Bell X1
Blue Lights on the Runway
MP3: “Defector Single”

The Bitter Tears
Jam Tarts in the Jakehouse
MP3: “Starlight”

The Boy Least Likely To
The Law Of The Playground (iTunes only)
MP3: “I Box Up All The Butterflies”

Bosque Brown
Baby
MP3: “Went Walking”

Boston Spaceships
Planets Are Blasted
MP3: “Big O Gets an Earful”

De Rosa
Prevention
MP3: “Nocturne For An Absentee”

Emma-Lee
Never Just A Dream
MP3: “Never Just A Dream”

Extra Golden
Thank You Very Quickly
MP3: “Anyango”

Fanfarlo
Reservoir (iTunes only)
MP3: “I’m a Pilot”

Justin Townes Earle
Midnight at the Movies
MP3: “What I Mean To You”

Marissa Nadler
Little Hells
MP3: “River of Dirt”

Neko Case
Middle Cyclone
MP3: “Middle Cyclone”
MP3: “People Got a Lotta Nerve”

Say Hi
Oohs & Aahs
MP3: “November Was White, December Was Grey”

The Soundtrack Of Our Lives
Communion
MP3: “Flipside”

U2
No Line on the Horizon
full album stream

Wild Light
Adult Nights
MP3: “California on My Mind”

In a wonderful bit of news yesterday, Fanfarlo released their much anticipated debut titled Reservoir digitally on iTunes.  I’ve been waiting for this for almost a year and a half, so of course, I downloaded this immediately considering the only way to pick this record up previously was during the band’s tour, which started earlier this month in the UK.

I still haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet, but I think I’ve made it clear how much I enjoy this band.  I have no doubt that this debut will fulfill all expectations, especially after hearing one of the new songs which had premiered last month.

If you needed any more convicing, another new song has been added to the Fanfarlo website called “Luna.”  It’s just another great pop song to add to the quality list of everything we’ve yet to hear so far.  I’m sure you’ll hear more about it as the year goes by, especially as more blogs start to jump on the bandwagon.

Here’s a little something extra, as the group performed a few songs from Reservoir for Manchester’s Channel M. You can watch the video below.

MP3: Fanfarlo :: “Luna”

Knut over at Eardrums (if you’re not a reader of that site, you really should be) has been doing such a wonderful job keeping up with all of the news from Fanfarlo.  Of course, he would be the first place I read the news in regards to the band’s upcoming debut, which is titled Reservoir.  They’ve also made available a song called “I’m A Pilot” available for download as well.  It’s a great little track, and plays out at a much slower tempo compared to the usual upbeat pop sound that i’ve been accustomed to hearing.  I particularly love the string arrangements, and the slide guitar that comes in towards the end before leading into a wonderful buildup where all the vocalists sing together in unison.

According to their website, the album will be made available on their upcoming tour.  Good news for those that live in the UK, as the tour begins on Valentines Day.  So yeah, anyone that happens to attend one of those shows and wouldn’t mind sending me a copy, that would be great!  At least they’ll be coming to the US for SXSW, which i’m hoping to actually attend this year.

MP3: Fanfarlo :: “I’m a Pilot”

When we last covered Fanfarlo back in November, the band had just entered a studio here in the U.S. to record their debut record.  With recording now officially finished, the London group is poised to take 2009 by storm.  Knut over at Eardrums posted a brand new video of their split single “Harold T. Wilkins” — which has been re-recorded for the new record — that features some minor touches here and there if you pay close attention.  Not that it needed any work, since it was already a great song to begin with.  Hopefully, we’ll be hearing some new material very soon.

MP3: Fanfarlo :: “Harold T. Wilkins”

For the most part, news involving any band entering a studio to record isn’t terribly important to be posting about, though, there are a few instances where that kind of thinking is completely thrown out the window.  Case in point, one of our favourites here on the site, Fanfarlo, have recently entered the studio here in the States to finally record their album.  I imagine 2009 being a very big year for this band, as they’ve managed to make quite a name for themselves with only a handful of singles since their formation in 2006.

If you head over to their myspace, you can find a couple of recent video diaries of the band in studio.  It’s fun to watch, and just very exciting to know that we’re finally going to be able to hear an album from these guys. 

MP3: Fanfarlo :: “Harold T. Wilkins”
MP3: Fanfarlo :: “Fire Escape”

In part of their new Tripwire Acoustic Series at SXSW, The Tripwire put up a video of a performance from Fanfarlo – one of my favorite bands right now. They apparently performed two songs, but only one video is up at the moment for “Sand And Ice,” which is a demo that was recorded in the band’s living room.

Still no word as far as a new album goes, but they did release a split single with Sleeping States that is currently out on Felt Tip Records. You can check out the song “Harold T. Wilkins” over on their myspace (it’s fantastic, if you needed to know). You can read the previous post I did about the London-based six-piece right here.

MP3: Fanfarlo :: “Sand And Ice”

I can’t exactly put my finger on when I first heard “Fire Escape” from Fanfarlo, as when I was listening to it a month ago, I had this sense of familiarity with the track. Maybe it’s a testament to how great and instantly likeable the single is, because it has certainly stayed fresh in my mind now for quite sometime. In fact, every song that i’ve managed to hear so far have been a delight to listen to, but “Fire Escape” is definitely the single that will command your attention right from the very beginning with it’s catchy choruses and melodies.

Though the band currently makes it homes in London, everything starts to make a whole lot of sense once you figure out that lead singer is originally from Sweden. Of course, only those Swedes make this kind of delectable indiepop goodness. They’ve also garnered a few notable fans, which include the one and only David Bowie. You can find a handful of singles that have been released as far back as October 2006, but still haven’t released an album yet as far as I know.

myspace | website

“Fire Escape” :: Fanfarlo

“You Are One of the Few Outsiders That Understand Us” :: Fanfarlo