This is a horse named "Montée"

Well, folks, it looks like our #1 competitor in the music-bloggin’ world, the less-well-known PitchforkMedia.com (more like Shit-Fork-Dot-Gay), is spending the week revealing their exclusive list of the top six hundred MP3s downloaded by Stereogum readers, or something (ha ha, that’s obviously a joke, since this list involves rap, and as we all know, Stereogum racists/commenters hate rap). We weren’t invited to contribute, which in my opinion is a huge oversight, but you can’t really blame them for being intimidated by our writing prowess and influence in the blog-o-sphere, plus, we’re well-known as serious critics, bloggists and writers and I’m pretty sure their list is a joke, since it contains tracks by the Decemberists and a band called “The Pains of Being Pure At Heart,” which is almost definitely made-up, because what kind of person would name a band that, or even utter that as a phrase, ever.

In any event, I was probably not asked to contribute because I would have just voted for the Subway “Five Dollar Footlongs” song ten times. And probably whatever I had been listening to that weekend (which is usually just “Five Dollar Footlongs,” over and over, and over)—in this case, a ridiculous album called “Isle of Now” by a bunch of Scando fucks—the LP was recorded and mastered by half of Mungolian Jet Set and it’s being put out on Lindstrøm and Joakim Hoagland’s new label, Strømland. “Isle of Now” is like a lost 80s AOR masterpiece—there’s a little bit of Phil, a little bit of Peter, maybe even some Dan—and it sounds fucking fantastic, wide-screen and full-bodied, with jazzy pop hooks by the thousand and robotically good playing.

The fact is, I don’t really have any jokes to make about this album, not because the album is a joke (though I can see how people might think that), but because it seems to exist in this weird Norwegian no-irony zone, beyond any concept of “cool” vs. “uncool” or “sincere” vs. “sarcastic.” This isn’t TV-On-The-Radio-style Gabriel re-appropriation or Vampire-Weekend-style DIY-80-Africa; it’s straight-up Toto ripoffs and “world drums.” As far as I can tell, the lens through which these guys are checking out their favorite 80s Fleetwood Mac albums is pure, unvarnished, love. And, you know, I think that’s pretty rad.