A while ago I gave you my all-Nordic country (I think I included Belgium as well) playlist--mostly Swedish stuff from Kent, the Hives, the Cardigans, et al.

Anyway, all of a sudden there are a TON of good bands coming out of Norway. Or to be precise, there are a ton of good bands from Norway that I'm finally finding out about. My main cheat sheet is Eardrums. Anyway, without further ado:

Annie
"Chewing Gum"
Previously mentioned here, and if you read about music online you know about Annie. After her album Anniemal came out over a year ago in Europe she became the guilty pop pleasure of choice for hipsters and other people who take their musical taste too seriously. She's cute but not too hot, writes her own stuff, and she's been pimmped by Vice which is just odd but cool. This was the first single I believe.

Annie likes Coke (l) and DFA79 (r). I ask you, would Britney wear a DFA79 shirt???

Datarock
"Maybelline"
"I Used to Dance With My Daddy"
I know about Datarock because Nina insisted on their quality and eventually convinced me of it. They're two Norwegian guys from the same town as Annie (Bergen) who--somewhat surprisingly for a band--sound like they're named. They mix dinky electronica with disco beats and funk guitar, which is good enough for me. Their best song is "Fa-Fa-Fa" which I couldn't find a link to but which is a disco track that they couldn't have been the first band to write. Whatever, email me if you want it.

Datarock: They've kind of got a DFA meets Ali G look going on.

Poor Rich Ones
"Twins"
"Milwaukee"
Mentioned previously, these guys (yes, lead singer William Hut is a man) have been around a while but are smart enough to name one of their songs after my adopted hometown. Anyway, they (surprise surprise) never made it in America but managed to get distributed via ">Five One. Unfortunately they've split but Hut is still doing his thing.

Röyksopp
"Only this Moment"
Another Bergen product, they're probably the most tenured of any of the bands I'll mention today, and the most Euro-sounding too (read: electronic and poppy). Their new album is supposed to be very good as well, and --well whatdya know--they produced Anniemal too. Most importantly, however, their name has a legitimate umlaut in it, unlike those clowns in Motley Crue.

Washington
"Landslide"
"Have You Ever"
Wussy indie rock that works. I think I got the rep in high school and beginning of college for liking exclusively whiny britrock, but I really don't listen to much stuff like that anymore. I would have been all over this back in the day, but even now I really like it. The guy has a nice voice but otherwise sounds kind of goofy, but he's foreign so that's OK. Generously suggested by Karo.