STRICTLY GLOBAL

-The only real way to look Icelandic Indie is not to be Pooped so soon.
- You can build an Indie Band with a Irish Car Bomb, but you can`t sit on it for long.
- The Universe does not have MTV -- it has Dawn, and Dawn can be Australian.
Clearly I was stumped on how to start off this week's show blog, so I went the Mad Lib 'a la fortune cookie route, and got the important stuff across- new music videos from Australia, Iceland, Irish-American, and Indie bands galore all this Friday on Strictly Global.  Woo woo!

From Australia, electro duo Empire of the Sun (members stemming from The Sleepy Jackson, and Pnau) will make their SG debut (finally right!??) Their album Walking On a Dream went platinum in Australia back in 2008, but they are finally getting more recognition around the globe.  In fact they have been nominated for International Album and International Breakthrough Act at the 2010 Brit Awards.  Stateside, they've been compared to MGMT, i.e. they are visually stunning.  And like the name, they are totally visually inspired by all things Japanese.  Seiko!

We'll also check out the lastest from Iceland's Sigur Ros' frontman Jonsi, rocking the solo action (as Sigur Ros is on an indefinite hiatus.)  Usually singing in his native tongue of Icelandic, Jonsi has been known to sing in "Hopelandic."  Basically, it's just gibberish/nonsense words, but works in fitting the dreamy musicality of his and Sigur Ros' sound.  His album Go, a predominately acoustic and string set composed by Nico Muhly, is set to be released world wide on April 5, but it has already leaked onto the net, as of last week.  Grr!

And new stuff from Chris Merritt, whom we actually met on a past Strictly Global shoot with Danni.  A cool dude- he's been playing piano since the age of seven, where at that age he was obsessed with jazz and blues.  In fact, by age 12 he was already recording next to the legendary Marcus Roberts!  Merritt, former lead singer of Paperface, now rocks out with his new trio where he "plays the piano like a guitar" and combines the keys with 8-bit Nintendo blips (awesome!) And if you have any interest in low-budget music video competitions- check out his blog. He has a contest in the works right now to help promote his album Virginia is For Hoverers (Part II) due out May 1.  Sounds fun- do it!