In this day and age, 5 song EPs are fairly common. What is rather UNcommon is a 5 song EP that doesn't have 5 songs that mostly sound alike. Kristoffer Ragnstam 's EP, Do You Want A Piece Of Me , although employing much electronic sounding instrumentation, offers such a wide range of sounds for such a tight little package that you truly get your money's worth. This musical nugget is the teaser for his upcoming full-length release, Sweet Bills . Hailing from Sweden, the land of fellow countryman Jens Lekman [...]
Kristoffer Ragnstam's MySpace page says he is from "Gothenburg/New York/Hamburg, Sweden," and his music is just as eclectic. In fact the variegated styles from his U. S. debut, Sweet Bills , can supply blogs and tastes of multiple genres. I've selected two earlier pieces that accord well with our little niche and encourage you to visit bluhammock music and the MySpace page for others before buying. Ragnstam originally hails from Kungalv, a town celebrated for its biscuits and cookies. A few minutes' listening and you could be thinking "sweet." [...]
***First a note - JT's not doing the Stretch tonight and the schedule's generally pretty empty, so I'm going to be on the air from 8-10 (central). I'll save the regular programming for the 9 o'clock hour, but if you tune in an hour early, I'll just be having some fun and playing some older stuff (and by older, I mean not brand new). If you want to listen, you best tune in live, because the first hour won't be archived. [...]
Each weekday, My Morning Download introduces you to some of the coolest new music on the web. We clear through the noise so you don't have to. Meet Kristoffer Ragnstam. Critics are calling Kristoffer Ragnstam the "Swedish Beck," and on Ragnstam's U.S. debut, Sweet Bill, he's got a unqiue sense of melody and along with some Beck-ism's, Ragnstam pulls up some old school Prince like falsetto
Black Angels : 2006-11-09, Carrboro [mp3,ogg,flac] @MySpace @Hype Machine Brice Woodall : several tracks [mp3] "Wired Up" [mp3] from Awkward @MySpace @Hype Machine Drive-By Truckers : 2006-11-10, Quincy [mp3,ogg,flac] "Marry Me" [mp3] @MySpace @Hype Machine El Perro Del Mar : "God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get)" [...]
Not only is Sweden's Kristoffer Ragnstam gorgeous, he also seems to be a very quirky and talented singer/songwriter. The sound is very comparable to that of a 70s David Bowie with a Beck'ish quality, but his vocals can differ in style from song to song. Pinning him in one spot is almost impossible. I missed his performances during CMJ, so I'm thinking about hitting up his show tomorrow night at the Knitting Factory. Another thing I wanted to mention (because I found this to be very, very odd), while looking through his [...]
Kristoffer Ragnstam is a Swedish singer/songwriter who started out as a drummer. Not that he could play drums, but he was not satisfied with them kits you could buy in a shop. He designed his own, sold a couple to fellow drummer - mostly jazz guys. He was part of a group of non-musicians called Blind - none of the members could play their instrument, but they went ahead anyway, only playing original material. Ragnstam found out that he could write songs and tell other musicians what he would like to hear. A demo [...]
Y otro músico sueco más que interesante para añadir a la lista, aunque con un estilo algo diferente al pop que nos llega últimamente de aquel paÃs. Su nombre es Kristoffer Ragnstam , ha trabajado como ingeniero de sonido y baterÃa de sesión y debuta este año en una compañÃa independiente americana con Sweet Bills , su primer álbum que ha sido precedido por Do You Want A Piece Of Me?, Ep al que pertenecen estas dos canciones. * Kristoffer Ragnstam-Breakfast By The Matress [...]
Kristoffer Ragnstam - "Beauty" This song, like its brother below, has two separate halves. The first is sliced from the stalk of the Hidden Cameras-style run-on-the-spot upward spiral that goes and goes and crests and crests. It's like a baby grand with a ragtop. The second half is the daytime motel room, scotch from an old cooler that's long lost its cool, lifestyle, or fake lifestyle, of a Van Morrison song. I'm suddenly in a dirty old suit, ragged from partying, and giving the finger to some kids waiting for the school bus. [Site] Snowjackets - "The Holy Flower (The [...]
Kristoffer Ragnstam Do You Want a Piece of Me EP (digital) Label: Bluhammock Records Swedes, Swedes, Swedes and more. Our mailbox is practically stuffed with surströmming, tunnbröd and långmjölk. But when it's Kristoffer Ragnstam, we just can't complain. In our review of Sweet Bills -- Ragnstam's full-length American debut out in September -- we called the disc, "a Swede pop masterpiece." So why would we complain about an EP of demos - including the catchy hook of "Breakfast by the Mattress." [...]
I generally avoid rehashing press releases and posting music suggested by pr companies but of late there have been a rash of Swedish acts signed by American indie labels and they deserve your attention as much as the more anonymous bands usually found on Swedesplease. Kristoffer Ragnstam's new cd, Sweet Bills , should be out in the states soon on the small indie label Bluhammock Music . Kristoffer is trained as drummer so it's no surprise that the rythyms on Sweet Bills are prominent [...]
Kristoffer Ragnstam - Breakfast By The Mattress The Knife - Silent Shout The Magnetic Fields - When The Open Road Is Closing In The Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out Queen - Don't Stop Me Now
Is it just me or has there always been a certain type of band that came out of Sweden? No matter what the music, the feeling always evokes the beautiful landscape of the tundra, but Kristoffer Ragnstam recalls a beauty of a different kind. He is equal parts the passion of Ted Leo , the pure pop of Spoon and the expert eclecticism of Beck , a sound that he has spent years crafting. Look for the full-length Sweet Bills in March [an EP is digitally available [...]
Look on the bright side, we're approximately halfway through the work week. Only two more days until Friday. So far this week, I've rediscovered Pizzicato Five for the twentieth time. Sure, they are one of the most successful Japanese acts of all time (as far as sales in overseas go, signing to Matador) but even that might not be enough to showcase their brilliance. Surprisingy, I've been listening to their commercial failure this week, being 1989's On Her Majesty's Request . Their promotional department must have been lacking in skill, as this one [...]
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Sunday Ramblings & Considerations: 05.27.12
Antony and the Johnsons - "Rise"
