Calgary Herald from Calgary, Alberta, Canada • 50

D8 CALGARY HERALD Thursday, May 10, 2007 ENTERTAINMENT Calgary's Top 10 Music Source: SoundScan Country i Alternative Current Hard Rock This Last This Last This. Last TOs Last This Last week National Artist week week National Artist week National Artist week week National Artist week week National Artist week 1 1 Carrie Underwood 1,1 1 Feist 1 1 JJi01 "ill Rush i 1 1 Timbaland 1 Some Hearts Reminder Call Me Irresponsible Snakes Arrows i Timbaland Presents Shock Value 2 2 Tim McGraw 2 2 2 AvrilLavigne 1 2 2 Fe5s 2 2 Nine Inch Nails 12 2 Ne-Yo Let It go Best Damn Thing Reminder Year Zero Because of You 3 5 Rascal Ratts 8 I 3 3 Nine Inch Nails 2 3 4 AvrilLavigne 1 I 3 3 Daughtry 3 3 3 Justin Timberlake 2 Me 4 My Gang Year Zero Best Damn Thing Daughtry FuturesexLove Sounds 4 4 Martina McBride 3:4 5 Arctic Monkeys 3 4 3 "sh 4 4 Finger Eleven 2 4 4 Akon 3 Waking Up Laughing Favourite Worst Nightmare Snakes Arrows Them Vs. You Vs. Me Konvkted 5 3 Dixie Chicks 4 5 15 John Mayer 8 5 6 Timbaland 4 5 5 Nickelback 8 5 5 AmyWinehouse 5 Taking the Long Way Continuum Timbaland Presents Shock Value All the Right Reasons Back to Black 6 8 Keith Urban 7 6 6 Daughtry 6 16 11 Nine Inch Nails 2 6 7 Three Days Grace 7 6 6 Joss Stone 4 Love Pain the Whole Crazy Thing Daughtry Year Zero One-X Introducing Joss Stone 7 10 Johnny Reid 5 7 7 Finger Eleven 4 7 8 Ne-Yo 7 8 RiseAgainst 4 7 7 Fergie 10 Kicking Stones Them Vs. You Vs.

Me Because of You Sufferer A The Witness Dutchess 8 12 StraitBuffett 9 8 4 Tori Amos 8 16 Arctic Monkeys 3 18 6 Billy Talent 5 8 10 Corinne Bailey Rae 8 Live at Texas Stadium American Doll Posse 1 Favourite Worst Nightmare I Billy Talent II Corinne Bailey Rae 9 6 Alison Krauss 6 9 8 GwenStefani 7 9 20 Carrie Underwood 7 9 12 Hell Yeah 10 9 8 Christina Aguilera 7 Hundred Miles or More: A Collection Sweet Escape Some Hearts I Hell Yeah Back to Basics 10 9 Taylor Swift 10 20 Hinder 9 I 10 9 Nelly Furtado 6 10 9 Buckcherry 6 10 12 Robin Thicke Taylor Swift Extreme Behaviour Loose 15 Evolution MUSIC Swedish trio uncomfortably cool Finger Eleven lighten up "IJ 11 pjii.ii. mjuu, 111. iv -Wa rrrnrf Jo Peter Bjorn and John wary of hype's perils HEATH McCOY Calgary Herald Sweden's Peter Bjorn and John may not be entirely comfortable with the notion just yet, but it's hard to deny they're the darlings of the indie pop scene. They score choice gigs at such elite music festivals as Coachella and South By Southwest. Indie tastemaker gushes over them.

Their magnetic single Young Folks was played on the primetime TV drama Grey's Anatomy. And, as the news release for their upcoming Calgary gig, Friday at MacEwan Ballroom points out, you can't stroll down trendy 17th Avenue or Kensington without hearing that song's catchy whistling refrain being piped out from the hippest shops. Actress Drew Bar- CanWest News Archive Peter Bjorn and John is riding a wave of hype, but still consider itself a "loser's "In a word, I was simply captivated!" AS VP'S- SPOTLIGHT Peter Bjorn and John perform Friday at the University of Calgary's MacEwan Ballroom. Tickets at Ticketmaster, Megatunes and Sloth Records Divine Performing Arts has sold out in more than 30 cities in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia rymore even wore a shirt sporting the band's logo when she appeared on Saturday Night Live recently. Peter Bjorn and John are riding a voguish wave that they're unaccustomed to, because, HEATHER ADLER CanWest News Service If you ever were (or are) a melodramatic, manic-depressive angst-addict, then you've probably been told your tantrum-prone poetics are "just a phase." Adding to the overwhelming evidence your mom is, like, totally right, Finger Eleven formerly Canada's crowned kings of rock in the key of melancholy have travelled through the darkness and into the light with their new record SPOTLIGHT Them vs.

You vs. Finger Eleven Me. play MacEwan The disc's lead sin-Hall on Friday, gle dance-floor-inspired shimmy-shaker Paralyzer can currently be heard dominating rock radio in Canada. The poppy, clunky, up-beat rocker of a song tells the story of a reveller looking into the eyes of someone he'd like to ask "your place or my place?" while imagining what her body can do, all while the dancey beat drives on. It's quite a departure from the dredging gloom of songs such as Drag You Down from 2000's Greyest of Blue Skies, or the sombre collapse of Temporary Arms off 1998's breakthrough Tip.

Guitarist Rick Jackett says the new album's re-imagined spirit and dance-punk sound are just a sign of the band's new attitude. "I can see where people get the impression that we're these dark, angry people. A lot of our second record, when we were younger, we probably were those angry dudes like a lot of young guys with that testosterone shooting through your veins," he explains. "It's just not that way anymore. But people come up to us and expect us to be these angry dudes, which we're really not." Jackett admits he expects some fans will be surprised by what they hear on Them vs.

You vs. Me, which features a blend of hard-edged pop hits, acoustic ballads and deep grooves meant to make your hips shake. But he rationalizes the band has always been about evolution, changing their sound on each album they have released. "It probably is just getting older and growing up. And that's what music should be a reflection of yourself at that point, that year, that moment in your life," he says.

"I think this band has this real serious obsession with trying to write the best songs we can." Them vs. You vs. Me was also written differently than any of Finger Eleven's previous efforts: the band composed more than 100 songs for the disc, many of which were penned by individual members, then sent to the others over the Internet instead of sitting down for conventional writing sessions. "A lot of it was written with acoustic guitars instead of full-blown jams for three hours with the whole band," Jackett explains. 3KC A '311 Hives, The Sounds, The Hellacopters and Division of Laura Lee, and Peter Bjorn and John knew they didn't fit into that mold.

"That's part of the reason we named our band after our own names," says Moren. "It was a reaction to that garage rock thing. We didn't feel a part of having a cool image and a cool stage act. We weren't part of that whole attitude thing." So how is the band adjusting now that they've become the flavour of the day? "I'm very grateful, but I hope it will last and people will listen to the next album as well," Moren says. "That's one thing I'm concerned about." That's because, as someone who's always resisted hype himself, he knows overexposure can stifle bands as much as it builds them up.

"I remember when The Strokes first came along and they were very hyped in Sweden, I didn't even want to hear them because they were all over the place," Moren says. "But then, about a half a year later, I actually listened to the album and I liked it very much. "There's nothing you can do about it. We just do our best and try to make good music." Moren holds out hope that in a changing music world, where My-Space, YouTube and blogs play such a big role for indie bands when it comes to building their own fan base, the old modes of music industry hype will become outdated. "Maybe this is the right time for a band like us," he says.

"As I say, the business has changed and maybe now we fit in better. Maybe now we work. I'm not sure." HMCCOYTHEHERALD.CANWEST.COM CMnts Spectacular' May 14 15 at since the band formed in 1999, they've always felt like the complete opposite of cool. "It's really hard to understand," says Peter Moren, who sings and plays guitar in the trio. "We used to be a loser's band, so it's really hard to make this sink in." The roots of Peter Bjorn and John go back to the early '90s when Moren bonded with fellow musician Bjorn Yttling while the two were attending high school in northern Sweden.

Inspired by Manchester favourites the Stone Roses, and such shoegazing bands as Ride and My Bloody Valentine, the lads formed a duo, churning out the shoegazer pop they so loved, backed up by robotic drum machine beats. Moving to Stockholm in 1996, they went through a number of bands before meeting drummer John Erikkson in 1999. Suddenly tasty grooves were married to their jangly folk-pop and the three songwriters knew they were on to something good. At that time, the Swedish music scene was bustling with the sort of fiery rock that would eventually spearhead the post-millennial garage rock movement in bands such as The JUBILEE AUDITORIUM 1415 14th Avenue NW, Calgary Hotline 403-532-31 19 (English) 403-532-3136 (Chinese) shows.ntdtv.com TicketMaster 403-777-0000 www.ticketmaster.ca ticketmaster The Epoch Times Naw Tang OynaMy Talavtaton AUTOFOCUS every Wednesday in the driving ca" section Ui To place an ad ral235-7355 Wy ii I' M9 (MElDSOHIffi 111 LJ LSif 'i i I :1 17' ii 111" "JbIbV-JII'bIHI I Tickets are selling fast: phone 221-3708 today 6b 11 (SI 52. WW iif-.