Ushering in a return from a recent hiatus from his website, quirky Swedish songwriter Jens Lekman dropped this killer summertime mix where the common thread between samples is, as expected, their waltz-y time signature. Always known to have an eclectic taste in music, Mr. Lekman provides a fluid 28+ minute mix chock-full of obscure tracks and movie snippets (with some better known songs sprinkled in here and there) that are arranged so brilliantly that you can’t help but think to yourself: “Bravo, Jens! Bravo!”

You can check out the samples Jens used as well as a download for the entire mix below. Also, head over to his site to read more about the origins of this project.

• Au Revoir Simone // Shadows (Jens Lekman’s remix)
• Barbara Mason // Oh How It Hurts
• Thomas Mapfumo // Madiro
• The Morning Benders // Excuses
• Dialogue from Gregory’s Girl (1981)
• Chad & Jeremy // Everyone’s Gone To The Moon
• Music and Dialogue from Day Of The Locust (1975)
• Eggstone // Birds In Cages
• Pete Drake // Forever
• Armando Mantovani // Around the World
• Dialogue from Puberty Blues (1981)
• Jane Morgan & the Troubadours // Fascination
• Armando Trovajoli // L’Amore Dice Ciao
• Sharon O’Neill // Puberty Blues
• Like A Sleepy Blue Ocean

Jens Lekman // A Summer in 3/4 Time Mix

Came across two cover songs today that are amazingly good and are worthy of some Two for Tuesday coverage. The first is a cover of The Magnetic Fields song “Yeah! Oh Yeah!” by UK chanteuse Tracey Thorn and Swedish oddball singer/songwriter Jens Lekman. It seems like the two are diving head first into a musical relationship, as Jens is slated to be featured on a couple of tracks on Tracey’s upcoming album, while Thorn is returning the favor by writing lyrics about Lekman. Though a lot more melodic that the original 69 Love Songs-featured song, it is quite surprising how similar Tracey/Jens voices are to that of Claudia Gonson and Stephin Merritt.

The second song is an out-of-nowhere cover of Justin Timberlake’s wildly popular hit “My Love” by Portland native White Hinterland (née Casey Dienel). Stripping the overly-produced track of all its bells & whistles, Dienel takes Timberland out of the equation and replaces it with only a minimalist tribal drum beat and her soft, beautiful voice. What a great rendition! And if you like this, be sure to cop White Hinterland’s latest album Kairos from Dead Oceans today!

Tracey Thorn & Jens Lekman // Yeah! Oh Yeah! (Magnetic Fields Cover)

White Hinterland // My Love (Justin Timberlake Cover) [via: Dipped in Dollars]

If there is anything that Swedish singer/songwriter/humorist Jens Lekman knows best, it’s how to treat fans in the 21st century. In fact, it would be good for a lot of artists to take cues from what Lekman has done, infusing his self-run website with monthly open-dialogues and an endless supply of free mp3s. When it comes to the topic of filesharing, Lekman takes a practical point of view much to the chagrin of the RIAA: “you can download my entire records with filesharing programs, I don’t mind that but if you like my music please support me – buy my records, come to my shows or make a Paypal donation”. Lekman seems to be one of the few artists who can elicit a smidgen of sympathy from the pirate going rapidshare-crazy.

Well Jens has posted a lot more free material since the last time I checked his site. The first track, which you can download below, is from a 2005 split 7” with friend and fellow Swede El Perro del Mar, entitled “I Don’t Know If She’s Worth 900 Kroner”. The 7” is long since sold-out, so going digital is your best bet of hearing the record (the B-side is del Mar’s “Shake It Off” which is from her Look It’s El Perro del Mar! debut). The second recording posted below is a half hour live set Lekman did for the Kortedala Beauty Center — which may or may not be where “Shirin” works. Also meant to be a companion to his latest Night Falls Over Kortedala LP, the recording is very beautiful, even by Jens’s standards.

Check out the songs below and, if you want more, head over to his site:

Jens Lekman // I Don’t Know If She’s Worth 900 kr.

Jens Lekman // Kalendervägen 113.D

Burgerville is a Northwest based fast-food chain. Mean Jeans is a Portland punk band. Combine the two, and you have one very envious Ronald McDonald.

LA based Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino has been steadily releasing 7” and singles since early 2009 (one of which winded up on my Best-Of List), and she’s back in the studio recording for another Black Iris release. Here’s a vid of her in the studio throwing down some vocals/guitar with a baby crawling around.

If it wasn’t for Jens Lekman and his freakishly eclectic tastes, I don’t know where I would turn to get my off-the-wall music:

M.I.A. is back and when she’s not lambasting the NY Times, she’s videotaping unofficial versions of tracks from her forthcoming as-yet untitled album. For “Space Odyssey” you get 4+ minutes of Ms. Arulpragasam dancing in front of a spotted green laser light while her music is playing on some terrible speakers in the background. Somehow this has wound up with over 100,000 plays in less than a week.

I think the world would be a much happier place if Ezra Koenig danced all the time. We certainly would at least laugh a lot more, that’s for sure. Here is his and The Very Best’s official video for their track “Warm Heart of Africa”:

Rising up my list of my favorite French music sites, Wow Magazine has been releasing some great stuff lately. Here is a video they recorded at a recent Beach House show in Paris:
(embed has been disabled).

Finally, a video recap wouldn’t be complete without a La Blogotheque mention and this sweet 12 minute video, shot also in Paris, of LA’s HEALTH blazing through four tracks is just the right one (I recommend full screening this one):

We’ve all had those moments waking up late on a Saturday morning after a long night of partying where the only plans for the day is laying on the couch, mindlessly surfing the net, and drifting in and out of sleep. Well my new mix Laid & Paid: Weak ‘n Mixxx is the soundtrack for these times — keeping it nice and chill so not to exacerbate the hungover headaches.

You can download the mix directly from here (EDIT: rapidshare seems to be having problems this morning, so here’s a more direct link) and after which sit back, relax, and enjoy the 75+ of smooth tunes while drinking your Bloody Marys and downing your Ibuprofen. There’s a good blend of foreign/domestic, popular/obscure, full-band/instrumentals, so you’re sure to be able to pick up a couple of new favorites while revisiting some classic songs you might not have heard in a while. Here’s the tracklist:

Jóvenes y Sexys // El Reloj
Mountain Man // Animal Tracks
jj // Let Go
Jens Lekman // Jag Tyckte Hon Sa Lönnlöv
Broken Bells // The High Road
Acid House Kings // The Heart Is a Stone
Cryin’ Sam Collins // Lonesome Road
Sara Lov // My Body Is a Cage (Arcade Fire Cover)
El Perro del Mar // From the Valley to the Stars
The Wave Pictures // Just Like a Drummer
Woods // The Dark
Beach House // Gila
Chromatic Flights // I Am a Rock (Simon & Garfunkel Cover)
Man Man // Doo Right
Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba // Bambugu Blues
The Knife // Vegetarian Restaurant
A Studio // Self Service (Short Version)
Run DMT // St. James
Cass McCombs // Don’t Vote
Moonface // Marimba and Shit-Drums (Excerpt)
Ducktails // On the Boardwalk
jj // My Way

If you like the mix, check out the Pre-Party one I did a month ago.

Instrumentally stripped down, this EP feels more like intimate home recordings that were never planned to see the light of day than a touring album. Accompanied by only a piano in the Nagisa Ni te cover song “Me on the Beach” (sung in what sounds like fluent Japanese) shows a more serious side of Jens that is mostly shrouded under dense layers of situational humor and irony in his present work.

“How Much You Mean to Me” – self described as “one of the most saddest and sincere songs I’ve ever written” — showcases Lekman’s storytelling ability that has been chiefly responsible for his rise in fame. Much in the same vein as the interlude in “Postcard to Nina”, Jens uses his soft and emotionally disconnected voice to convince us of his depression after a brush with love. Lines like “I’m alone now. I would be so afraid if someone put their arms around me” are more serious than the humorous “Nina” which makes for more of a connection of our own life experiences to Jens’ most likely fictional account.

A pleasant surprise from the EP is the Swedish version of “Maple Leaves” (or “Lönnlöv” in Swedish) – a song off of an earlier EP of the same name and a later compilation disk, Oh Your So Silent Jens. Contrary to the other recordings, Jens opts to only use his voice and a ukulele rather than a full on orchestra to churn out a much sweeter version of the song.

You can get a copy of the EP along with other older mp3s off of one of the most well run fan site I’ve seen. I haven’t had a chance to sift through any of the other stuff posted, but if it is good as this EP then I won’t wait for too long!

Jens Lekman // How Much You Mean to Me

Jens Lekman // Me On the Beach

Jens Lekman // Lönnlöv