New Arrivals/Restock

WEEKEND is latest studio album from the female-fronted Swedish rockers, The Sounds. Produced by Alex Newport (Death Cab for Cutie, Bloc Party), WEEKEND features 11 new songs.

Sweden's the Sounds have built a career around making infectious, highly danceable, '80s new wave-influenced pop since 2003's Living in America. Centered around the engaging, charismatic vocals of lead singer Maja Ivarsson, the Sounds have long drawn favorable parallels to such new wave icons as Missing Persons and Berlin. These are all well-deserved comparisons and nothing about the band's propulsive 2013 effort, Weekend, is likely to dissuade listeners from drawing upon them. Following up the band's equally dance-centric 2011 album, Something to Die for, Weekend finds the Sounds once again imploring their fans to let loose and hit the dancefloor. On the album-opener "Shake Shake Shake," Ivarsson sings, "You better change your way/And get out, out on the floor/You got to shake shake shake." The track crackles with disco-influenced percussion, Chic-style high-end guitar, and the Formula One burn of bass-heavy synths. Itￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬ￢ﾄﾢs a no-holds-barred Blondie-style rave-up and perfectly sets the tone for what's to come. The Sounds have dabbled in the chillier, synthesizer-based end of dance music, as well as the punkier, guitar-oriented end, and Weekend combines the best of both worlds with a bent toward the latter. We even get a smattering of banjo among the keyboard blips and bleeps of "Great Day." Elsewhere, "Panic" combines synthesized strings and four-on-the-floor to malevolent effect and "Emperor," with its direct allusion to the classic folktale about a king who parades in his all-together, combines '60s pop and Joy Division-style post-punk. Ultimately, itￃﾢ￢ﾂﾬ￢ﾄﾢs this combination of great songwriting and stylistic dance music cross-pollination that makes the Sounds' Weekend speed by in a burst of inspired pop euphoria. ~ Matt Collar, Rovi

Performer	The Sounds
Music genre	Rock
Music subgenre	Indie/Alternative
Music release type	Studio Album
Media format	CD
Original release date	2013
Language	English
Is collectible	Y
Number of tracks	11
Has parental advisory label	N
Number of discs	1
Track listing	Shake Shake Shake, Take It the Wrong Way, Hurt the Ones I Love, Weekend, Great Day, Outlaw, Too Young to Die, Panic, Animal, Emperor, Young & Wild
Record label	Arnioki Records
Music producer	Alex Newport
Track name	Shake Shake Shake, Take It The Wrong Way, Hurt The Ones I Love, Weekend, Great Day, Outlaw, Too Young To Die, Panic, Animal, Emperor, Young And Wild
Digital audio file format	CD
Music media format	CD
Is edited	N
Is enhanced	N