A couple of weeks ago The Animation , hailing from Göteborg, released their debut album "Dance Into the Unknown". Here it's about arena rock with a massive sound and echoing guitars. The sound could be compared with U2, as in the title track "Dance Into the Unknown" or Coldplay, but the songs themselves give me more vibes from american melodic rock. I like them best when they turn up the tempo like in "Overboard" here below. It was the drummer Johannes who came up with the name The Animation. The others liked it and like in many [...]
A lot of things have happened to Oh My! 's sound since I wrote about them two years ago. Back then, they had entered a studio, recorded and mixed five songs in less than 20 hours, while their current productions hardly can be created that fast. They have, since a while back, stepped out of the garage and put themselves on a bigger stage. The base is still there, though: a feelgood indie with nice melodies and raw guitars. So far they have released a few singles, that have gained quite some traction in for example national [...]
Vaganza Trailerpark , hailing from Malmö, released their second EP in the end of last year, "...and you will know us by the trailer of pink feathers". It's an energic rock that doesn't rest many seconds during the five songs. Heavy blues rock, stoner rock, garage rock and a lot of vibes from back in time like for example in "I Know That Radio" where I imagine Jefferson Airplane, but rawer and heavier. Another ingredient is punk rock, which you can hear most of in the song "Vaganza Dynamite", which is featured here below. The band name was [...]
The band with the remarkable name We Do Not Negotiate With Terrorists have their base in Göteborg and is fronted by singer and guitarist Ross Downing. Ross comes from England, which also shows in the music, where a distinct Manchester blackness is mixed into a raw indie rock with punk influences and ska vibes. They have earlier released the EP "Bombing The Underground" and are now working on new material. You can follow the band on Tumblr and on Facebook . The music is also available on Spotify . The Boy [...]
Leo Kall always speaks the truth. He is settled on Callisto, one of Jupiter's moons, and is recording various sound phenomenas from the planetary system. He sends these cryptic recordings, through a big radio tower, to a band in Skåne, Sweden. With this material also comes a few honest lines with his impressions from the situation here on earth. The band, Leo Kall, interprets what they are sent and create music from it on stage. This is the setup for the band Leo Kall 's music, which is a setup inspired by Karin Boye's novel Kallocain . [...]
Friday night is here and I aim to finish this week by helping you get a good feeling for the weekend. And for this I get help from Six Figure Transatlantic' s new album "The Owl", which in fact is their debut album, even though they started already in 1999. I wrote about the band a couple of years ago, and then the album was on it's way, but you know, if you're waiting for something good... And good it is, at least if you like soft americana, singer/songwriter and a nice retro sound. If you've encountered the [...]
The Tranq , hailing from Örebro, recently released their debut EP "Peninsula". It's an EP and a sound with the roots firmly set in the eighties dramatic alternative rock/pop: the big rooms, the guitar sound, the snare drum, the lead synths, the male choirs and the drama expression in the vocals. And good for us they don't take it too far, but pour some indie vibes into the mix as well, creating their own sound. About the band name they tell me that they liked the harsh pronounciation of the name and the touching points with the song [...]
Around New Year The Virtues released the single "Hope". A really beautiful ballad which you can listen to and download here below. "Hope" is the finishing song on the band's latest album "Beautiful Game", their fourth one since 2003, and was released last year. I haven't written about it yet, so I took the opportunity to listen to it now. And I like the album, it's a good rock/pop-album with a lot of vibes from Big Star and Tom Petty and a dose of early New Wave. I love the intimate sound in the songs; retro, airy and [...]
The electronica duo Posttod, which I wrote about a little more than a year ago, is back with a new release. It's about the 7-track album "Moon", which you can enjoy on their site . Here's a range of ideas and textures, from beautiful pieces of ambience to more energetic songs with vibes of synth pop. A really pleasant album to listen to. The band name is a composition of the word post (in the meaning of after) and the german word for death, tod, which in some view is meant to reflect their thoughts and music. [...]
Normally you will find Oskar Blondell in the band Ben Hogun as a lead singer, but as a side adventure he has also started the solo project The Forest Green. According to Oskar it's his own uncompromising art project, where he can test his limits and do whatever he likes. It sounds like perfect conditions for creating interesting music, and it also shows in his songs. You can listen here below to the first song he published, "Slowmotion". A couple of days ago he released another, "Only One", and more are on their way. He also tells me [...]
On February 28th The Mary Onettes will release the new EP "Love Forever". For the first time, they have collaborated with an external producer, Dan Lissvik, which of course also affect how they sound. They write about the change: Gone are the echoing reverbs, the 802s guitars and the big, splashing drums. "Love Forever" is a wonder of genre-blurring fearlessness drawing on ambient textures, avant-garde rhythms and intricate arrangements. As a taste of the EP, they have released the first song, "Love's Taking Strange Ways", which you can listen to and download [...]
That Tommy Svensson can handle synths we've seen before as I wrote about Yngling in the Autumn. He's also running a solo project in his own name where he explores different electronic domains. It's a rather minimalistic, quirky music where he's also added vocals on several tracks. And the voice, broken, low-voiced gives it al all a quite special injection to the ambience in the music. You can listen for yourself on his Facebook page or on Spotify . Here are two songs: Moraali Uneasy
Last year Joakim " Budji " Buddee" released the album "Eldsjälar och bananskal" ("Driving spirits and banana peels"), a hip hop album which doesn't sound like I would expect hip hop would sound like, seen from my perspective as someone who just occasionally dive into the genre. Here I don't find any drum machine beats or synth backgrounds; instead the sound is built upon drums , bass, piano and foremost acoustic guitars. It works perfectly well, and I guess it's a sign of the span in hip hop today. The formula of the songs is the traditional verse-rap + [...]
Joakim Jakobsson is a former member of The Search and last year he started the band Duellen (The Duel) together with Argentinian Brian Biezki. Brian soon left the band and instead the former The Search-members Tina Bergström and Mikael Saltzman plus Olle Bilius ( Jeniferever ) and Simon Lundström entered the band. Then in december the five-track debut EP was released. It's indie pop in Swedish, rather darkly colored, radiating with vibes from the eighties' new wave scene. They vary smoothly from synth based songs to guitar driven ones without losing the atmosphere. Straight melodies that stick quite [...]
Pal is Albin Johansson hailing from Malmö. In December he launched the 7-track debut album "Weeks". It's about a rather soft, dreamy pop, a bit minimalistic. The mix of analogue synths, guitars, old drum machines and often a nice rolling bass give a special feeling to the sound. It feels a little retro and I can't help thinking of Air when I listen to the harmonies and the bass figures. A very nice new acquaintance and you can listen to the entire album on Pal's Bandcamp page . The name Pal, Albin invented in 2007 when he uploaded [...]
Four years after the last album The Culture In Memoriam released the third album, "Rest In Pieces", in the end of last year. Behind the artist name we find Victor Håkansson as the only permanent member together with a range of musicians in what Victor calls a music collective. Pavestone pop he calls the music which in more than one way symbolise the music, also in a way like two opposites meet. The beautiful melodies, the string and backing vocals arrangements that give an air of classic bombastic pop from both the sixties and the seventies, and at [...]
Behind the artist name Morris i motljus we find Henrik Ivarsson. In the Autumn he released the EP "Morris i motljus", seven instrumental songs, which directly transfered me to the movies. There are alternating bombastic rock orchestral works and softer, more ambient tracks, like it was made for an epic adventure on the big screen. A couple of years ago Henrik read a newspaper article with the headline "Jag fruktade att de hade ätit Morris" ("I feared that they had eaten Morris"), a story about an old lady who was afraid that the fox had taken her cat. [...]
Tenonsaw is a Swedish-Irish duo with the members Salt Eriksson and Thomas Luke. In the Autumn they first released the debut album "Beginnings", and later, in November, the EP "Pact". It's not that easy to describe their music and I can't really find any close comparisons among other artists. The foundation, and what they also started with, is folk music; melancholic and with Tom's acoustic guitar accompanying Salt's sad song melodies. Soon, electronica, guitar figures and other sounds add new layers in a minimalistic way. Scales clashes with other scales and new layers add other types of emotions, [...]
Charlie Persson has released a couple of songs from the upcoming EP "Re:cycling", which is to be released next week, on January 26th. "Den Stora Kärleken (Tur & Retur)" is a beautiful and sad song, sparsely arranged yet grand, and it feels like Charlie has taken a step back with his mic, if I compare to the earlier closer productions. A new sound coming up maybe, and it'll be interesting to listen to the EP. There is another song to taste from the EP, which you can listen to on his site . For news about the album [...]
Klifton Filente released the new album "Breaking the Clouds" in the end of the last year. It's a good album with nice melodies in the same spirit as the last album "Common Ground" . I don't think, though, that "Breaking the Clouds" reaches the same heights as the predecessor, but if you're a Klifton-fan, you won't be dissappointed. The artist name Klifton Filente is, according to the man behind it, Jonas Lundvall, a play with words. In french you say "un étoile filante" (a falling star, a meteorite), and this frase stuck with him a couple of [...]
Meadow Music
My Funny Valentines
Download: James Blake Live Album (Unofficial)
Lana Del Rey - Without You (Kill Paris Remix) [Dubstep]
Miike Snow - “Paddling Out” Jacques Lu Cont Remix (MP3 Stream)
Iron & Wine and Patty Griffin
