Tim Krysko of Wreck The Place Fantastic reporting in with our International Spotlight. Every week we're featuring updates and music downloads from bands outside the North American market. This week we're visiting Poland:

The Polish record label Europeans Records is home to some of that country's premier indie rock bands. One in particular that has caught my eye is Blue Raincoat, from Wolow in the southwest of the country. The band formed in 1997, and demos appeared by 1998. Their debut album was released on cassette only in 2000. "Fast At The Beginning And Then Real Slow" was put out by a small label called Every Color Productions. Afterwards the band shuffled guitarists and drummers, and took a hiatus, before settling down in 2003 to record their second album, "Small Town Addiction" in their hometown of Wolow. The results of this recording session were sent to the opposite side of the world, where Blue Raincoat became the first Polish band whose album was mastered by Jack Endino (who has worked on albums for Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney).

The latest news from camp Europeans is that Blue Raincoat stopped the presses in January to begin work on their new album. No word on the progress of that has emerged, but convention dictates that we'll hear something new in the next few months. In the meantime, the label is promoting a handful of new releases over at their myspace page.

Blue Raincoat - Stars Trying To Fall (MP3)