Stop Us Not

Hybris = frontrunners!

2009-04-01T17:19:00.001+01:00

HYBRIS SIGNS ALIAS

http://www.myspace.com/babyalias

HYBRIS are very proud to present Alias, our new signing.
Alias first song "Crazy time" is a collaboration with singer "Baby".

Download the first single "Crazy time": http://www.box.net/shared/ond9kiivd1

Alias is a musical prodigy, only seventeen years of age. Alias ran away from home when he was only thirteen. Alias hails from Kiev, where he was brought up by his father. His father was an alcoholic and the abuse started early in Alias life. Alias mother left when Alias was a kid for work as a prostitute in the more luxurious brothels in Moscow. She sent money to Alias and his father every month, but the payment stopped when Alias had reached the age of 11. The beatings and abuse from his father worsened when the money from his mother stopped. When Alias father got visits from the mafia because of gambling debts Alias have had enough. Alias fled.

After Alias had ran away from home he ended up in London where he got to know "Baby". Baby only got eyes for girls, but she took Alias under her wings. At the time, Baby was crashing in her girlfriends studio in the outskirts of Brixton. Alias had been trained in the Ukraine musical school since he was a small child. Together they started playing with various instruments and after a couple of years and endless tears they finally had some songs on an 8-track.

To cut a long story short, heartache, financial troubles, smack never paid, fights and loveless streets made them end up on a coach at our office in Stockholm. On the forthcoming album Alias and Baby have worked with several UK dubstep producers they met in London as well as some russian based producers such as Wolfskin, DJ 2Many and DJ Trexxx.

THIS IS ALIAS AND BABY AND THIS IS CRAZY TIME.
THIS IS THE SOUND OF YOUNG UKRAINE.

This was Hybris, serving you premium music since 2004. All the time, everywhere to everyone.

P & C April 1 - 2009

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HYBRIS
hybrism.com

The new Bob Hund song sounds like it could be a return to form!

2009-03-12T14:11:00.002Z

Nice and flippant video too.

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PS: I used to LOVE Bob Hund!!!

Sad Swedish Boys 44 years ago.

2009-03-06T13:54:00.001Z

Here's hoping they're a little bit happier now. Perhaps the invention of color television cheered them up a bit.

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Pleasant and mellow Swedish hiphop from some rockabilly dude!

2009-03-03T15:44:00.003Z

Perfect for a rainy Tuesday! The stop motion effects make him look slightly retarded though.

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New single by The Embassy out NOW - on eBay!

2009-02-27T14:20:00.002Z

Service, the Swedish record label, have pulled a neat little stunt - instead of releasing the new The Embassy single "You tend to forget" the normal way they're going to put it out as three 12" records on eBay. The first one is here and is currently going for $77. The Embassy are a great band, so hopefully they'll get some well deserved press for this, and it'd also be nice if they made some actual money from this (I will try and snatch one of the 12 inches myself). Hopefully they won't release the song on CD or as an MP3 ever, and it'll be just three people (+ band / label) who will hear this song. I suspect the track will end up on the forthcoming album though...

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Another banger from Maskinen! Weird and fun video too.

2009-02-27T12:55:00.000Z

If you liked Montt Mardié's "Paraply" you're going to love this ...

2009-02-21T10:34:00.002Z

Seriously, it's so good it makes me want to cry!

Argh! Somtimes life is sweet.

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By: Larm 2009 - Day 1 - Far och Son

2009-02-20T17:02:00.002Z

Crazy nice show! Don't think this video captures it very well though, you really should have been there (hmph!).

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It would be a crime to never have posted these Fever Ray videos!

2009-02-19T10:00:00.000Z

Lake Heartbeat - new fresh electropop by old school indiepop god!

2009-02-18T10:00:00.003Z

When I first heard Lake Heartbeat I thought it sounded very interesting, then I found out they were signed to Service (Jens Lekman, TTA) and got further intrigued. But there are even more reasons to give Lake Heartbeat your full attention - here's two:

01. The producer is Dan Lissvik from Studio.
02. Lake Heartbeat is Janne Kask from Brainpool.

Brainpool never became famous outside Sweden, where they were something of an indie Busted, but with good songs. They released 3 albums with Janne Kask as the singer (2½ were great) then 2 more without Janne that were very uninteresting (Kask also made a few good songs as a solo artist). Lately Kask has been stuyding to become a doctor. There's talk about Lake Heartbeat releasing one song per month this year, and if that'll happen you should make sure you get them all.

MP3: Brainpool - We aim to please
Listen to Lake Hearbeat's Mystery here.

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Sad Day For Puppets coming to the UK!

2009-02-16T17:00:00.000Z

I must admit, I haven't given Sad Day for Puppets enough attention. I remember buying their album a while ago and being very keen on it, but then I kind of forgot about it (what would my mother say! Did she not teach me the value of money? Sorry mum!). It's a good album, quite twee, a bit shoegazing and very indie, and they've got some great melodies. Twee shoegazy-like music can be horrible live (eg The Radio Dept.) or fantastic (Crystal Stilts, that I saw last Friday, blew me away), Sad Day for Puppets are hopefully not all shambolic and nervous. Go and check them out live, and listen to the MP3 below. Unfortunately for all you London haters they're only playing in the capital.

20 Feb 09 - Half Moon Putney, London (with Television Personalities)
22 Feb 09 - Old Blue Last, London
23 Feb 09 - The Social, London

MP3: Sad Day for Puppets - Last night

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Oh dear, Anna Järvinen is also releasing a new album this year.

2009-02-11T10:00:00.003Z

Anna Järvinen used to be in a band called Granada (from 1998 - 2003), that were quite good but not too special. Then in 2007 she released a solo album called "Jag fick feeling" that was very serene and pretty (and sung in Swedish). On 23 March her new album "Man var bland molnen" will be released. If her new album will be better than her last one, we'll all be in for a treat. Her last album was very folky, and since her new one is produced by Gustav from Dungen, and with Dungen members playing on it, I reckon it won't be a great departure from her first album. Hopefully the Dungen connection will get her some new fans outside Sweden. I can't wait to hear it!

MP3: Anna Järvinen - Äppelöga

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Frida Hyvönen was ACE last night!

2009-02-06T15:05:00.001Z

Kevin Rowland + SKWBN = Hammarin & Robin

2009-02-04T10:00:00.001Z

Like a more gay and even poppier Suburban Kids with Biblical Names, fronted by Kevin Rowland - that's how I'd describe Hammarin & Robin. Last year they released a two track EP on Swedish label Mad for it. The main track from the EP seems to be "Hell knows I'm in love" (video below), but personally I prefer the other song "Lingering regret", "Hell..." is just a little bit too annoying. I'd be interested to hear more material released by H&B, although I suspect that if they release a whole album of songs like these two, it could be a tad hard to digest.

MP3: Hammarin & Robin - Lingering regret

Download the EP here (both songs incl. artwork).

Video:

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Frida Hyvönen play London on Thursday!

2009-02-02T10:00:00.001Z

2009's first great Swedish concert is upon us! It's the amazing Frida Hyvönen herself who will brave the London cold and play at the charming Bush Hall this coming Thursday. Hyvönen's album "Silence is wild" was one of my favourite albums of last year, and it will be released in the UK on Monday 9 February (pre-order it here). I saw Hyvönen last year and despite not having heard her new album then, her performance was amazing. So yes, I'm for one is heading West on Thursday to see her play.

Tickets for the gig can be bought here.

Frida Hyvönen - Thursday 5 February - Bush Hall

MP3: Frida Hyvönen - Dirty Dancing

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Jenny Wilson is (finally) back!

2009-02-01T10:00:00.004Z

Four years ago, Jenny Wilson released her debut album "Love & Youth". It was a great album, but it didn't get the attention it deserved. Jenny used to be in the band First Floor Power, that I never really liked, who are still going I believe with strangely enough Jenny's sister as their lead singer. Later this month Wilson's second album "Hardship" is due to be released. I, for one, have got crazy high hopes for it! Listen to "The Wooden Chair" below, taken from the new album. It bodes well! Her songs are quirky, but not too quirky, and she's got a quite original sound. Maybe she can become this year's Lykke Li? Huh? How about that? No? Because of the hat? Ok, fair enough.

MP3: Jenny Wilson - The Wooden Chair

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This is not a Lykke Li blog goddamn it!

2009-01-31T10:00:00.001Z

But she does have a new video out that's very intimate and beautiful.

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The Sound of Arrows - the second chance!

2009-01-30T10:00:00.009Z

I'm a big fan of Swedish record label Labrador (home to Radio Dept., Suburban Kids with Biblical Names etc) and when they about 11 months ago revealed new signings The Sound of Arrows I was very excited (we wrote about them here and here). Unfortunately I found TSOA's first release "Danger!" rather underwhelming. Now they're back with a new EP and the title song from it is a real corker! The verse sounds like Pet Shop Boys and they use a children choir (I think!) for the chorus - can it get any better? Anyway, listen below and order the EP here. M.A.G.I.C! If this would have been Sweden's entry to the Eurovision 2009 TSOA could have become the new Abba. Now we just need to get Jo Whiley to hear this song so she can turn them into superstars! Or should that be "now we just need their label to pay Jo Whiley a lot of money so she can play it"? I'm not sure how these radio promotion things work. A good song is a good song, right? If I was a radio plugger I'd call "M.A.G.I.C. a twee version of Justice's 'D.A.N.C.E.'", I'm sure that would get the job done.

MP3: The Sound of Arrows - M.A.G.I.C.

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Speech Defect - Ice Cream Truck (video)

2009-01-28T10:00:00.001Z

Very different from their previous stuff, I like it a lot! Video's fantastic too.

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Another Swedish piano girl? Well, yes, but she's great!

2009-01-26T10:00:00.004Z

Last week I wrote about how Pet Shop Boys have influenced many new Swedish artists. Most of these artists are men (although there are exceptions, such as Cat5). To broadly generalize and make it easy for me, you could say that if PSB have had a great influence on the Swedish male artists, Regina Spektor has done the same for the women. Sweden have really warmed to Regina Spektor, I don't think she's as big anywhere as in Sweden (too bad it's such a small country). She's even headlining Sweden's most famous festival (Hultsfred) later this year. In the last few years I've heard plenty of Swedish female artist blatantly copying Spektor, and now when I hear a Swedish artist playing the piano doubts rise quickly. Thankfully Sweden's got its own piano queen now, in the shape of Frida Hyvönen. A new piano girl on the scene is Hanna Baummann, from Stockholm, who manages to mix great tunes with original lyrics. Below you can download her song "I picked a fight", but if I were you I'd go straight to her Myspace and check out all the songs on there, since most of them are worth your while. I think it's a fact that Regina Spektor and Frida Hyvönen have encouraged more girls to start playing the piano, and if artists such as Hanna Baummann is a result of this - I'm certainly not complaining (as long as they don't sound like Kate Nash).

MP3: Hanna Baummann - I picked a fight (live)

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Lykke Li covers Rick Ross' "Hustlin" and it's great!

2009-01-23T16:01:00.002Z

Much better than her Vampire Weekend cover!

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Moto Boy will live stream a gig on Sunday 25 January 5 pm (GMT)

2009-01-23T15:05:00.003Z

Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - The Comeback!

2009-01-22T17:41:00.005Z

They've been gone so long that I almost assumed Suburban Kids With Biblical Names had become history. Ok, they haven't been gone that long, but I'm such a big fan that it feels like they've been gone for a century. Their new EP "#4" is released on Wednesday 4 February and you can pre-order it here. They've released one of their songs for free (see below), and you can also listen to two more on their Myspace. I'm not exactly blown away by the songs at the moment, but then I'm quite tired and not really in the mood for listening to new SKWBN songs. I'm sure the songs are great, just let me have a good night's sleep before I listen to them properly. Hopefully their album will be released shortly, followed by some UK gigs. Ciao.

MP3: Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - 1999

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Pimp your soul out with MC Tia!

2009-01-21T10:00:00.004Z

MC Tia is a 25 year old Swedish MC who raps in English. She's born in Stockholm, but currently she lives in Copenhagen, Denmark. Apparently she's been around since 1999 and kept really busy since then. Unfortunately I've never heard of her until now (ignorant me!). The reason I'm writing about her is because I really like her "Pimp your soul", it's got a really fresh beat that sounds a lot like that sunshine vibe that Jurassic 5 / Ugly Ducklin have got going. I guess people in general are not really into this kind of thing at the moment (Lady Gaga it's not), but for me this is a goddamn hit! Listen below and judge for yourself. This song deserves to be played in clubs, shopping malls, and in your ipod, it's the music equivalent of phototherapy.

MP3: MC Tia - Pimp your soul

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A Swedish Pet Shop Boy.

2009-01-19T10:00:00.003Z

It's incredible how much influence Pet Shop Boys have had on the Swedish music scene, especially in the last few years. The most notably sign of this have been a bunch of duos (most notably Le Sport, but also The Embassy, The Tough Alliance, Lo-Fi-Fnk, TIAC etc). Maybe 2009 will be see the rise of single person Pet Shop Boys influenced artists. Alex Aran is such an artist. He sounds a lot like Eurosport / Le Sport (ie much more pop than TTA), but despite not being too original I must say I really like one of the songs on his Myspace ("Respect my situation", download it below). It's really catchy (the other two songs are much weaker). There's hardly any info on his Myspace except that his real name is Alexander Petersson, he's from somewhere in South West Sweden and there are also some obvious influences listed. Here's hoping we'll hear more from Alex Aran in 2009.

MP3: Alex Aran - Respect my situation

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Swedish hiphop, in French!

2009-01-16T16:43:00.005Z

Do you remember in the late 90s when everyone went nuts for French rap? Of course you do! I tried to get into MC Solaar but despite that song on the first Jazzmatazz album being great, I never managed to get through any of his albums without feeling a bit bored. I also borrowed a friend's copy of IAM's "Lécole du micro d'argent" and it sounded like Wu-Tang but whereas with Wu-Tang I understood most of the stuff they were rapping about, IAM could have been rapping about adjustable wrenches and make up as far as I knew, and the fact that I could listen to great hiphop where I understood the words didn't really do any favours for my French rap interest. I love hiphop, but just like with any kind of music, the lyrics are crazy important for me, hence me sticking to music with vocals, and vocals that are in English or Swedish. Sens is a Swedish rapper who raps in French (which is fine by me of course, each to their own). Obama's motto "Yes we can" has really inspired him and thus goes the chorus of Sen's song with the same name, and it ends with a sample of Obama giving a speech where he utters these words. Surely everyone must be fed up with the whole "Yes we can" thing by now!? I'm even fed up with people joking about it. The verse is really where it's at with this song, the "Yes we can" chorus and its accompanied la la la's is just a bit too cheesy. Interesting though with Swedish rap in French, I don't think I've ever heard it before.

MP3: Sens - Yes we can

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Best Swedish Albums of 2008

2009-01-15T18:23:00.007Z

01.
02.
03.
04.
05.
06.
07.
08.
09.
10.

Better late than never!

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What I want for Christmas 2009.

2009-01-13T13:09:00.000Z

Best Swedish Songs of 2008

2008-12-20T10:00:00.011Z

01. Håkan Hellström - Försent för Edelweiss
02. Håkan Hellström - Jag vet inte vem jag är men jag vet att jag är din
If all of Hellström's latest album would have been as good as the two above songs, it'd probably be one of the best albums of all time. Now it had too many silly prog songs on it, but he still managed to cram a handful of amazing songs onto it.

03. Afasi & Filthy - Jobb
"Fläcken" is the best Swedish rap album in some time, and "Jobb" is the best song from that record.

04. Markus Krunegård - Jag Är En Vampyr
Krunegård's album was not as patchy as Hellström's, or his old band Laakso's, and "Jag Är En Vampyr" was one of my favourite songs of the year. I'm currently addicted to the brilliant remix by Detektivbyrån.

05. Lykke Li - Little Bit
There's no denying that Lykke Li is a star - her debut album is ace and she's great live. If I had to choose one song from her album, "Little Bit" is the track that probably made me the Lykke Li fan I am today.

06. Frida Hyvönen - Dirty Dancing
After last year's odd but intriguing "Pudel" mini album, Hyvönen delivered a strange and beautiful second album. "Dirty Dancing" is something of the jevel in the album's crown.

07. Moto Boy - Young Love
It's a shame that Moto Boy didn't make a bigger impact upon the world, not even Sweden really took much notice. Their loss, I say!

08. Alexis Weak - Strawberry Rapclash Remix
Ok, I'm aware that it's a bit cheeky calling this a song by Alexis Weak when in fact it's a remix of an Adrian Lux song. Alexis Weak is not even the only rapper on it (perhaps he didn't do the remix either, I don't know), but I'm addicted to Alexis Weak and with hardly no releases from him this year, I've listened to this song an insane amount.

09. Envelopes - I'd Like 2 C U
I must say that after being in love with their album and then seeing them live and not being too impressed, I lost a bit of interest in Envelopes. Their album is nevertheless a really great album, full of playful songs that leap out of the stereo and straight into whatever part of your brain that makes you smile.

10. Paragon - Aavisst
Paragon's album "Glöd" could have been one of the biggest disappointments of the year, and only because "Aavisst" that I heard long before the album came out was such a banging track. This year's Swedish One Hit Wonder.

MP3: Best Swedish Songs of 2008 Mix

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Pitchfork's favourite Swedish tracks from 2008

2008-12-17T17:17:00.003Z

1. Lykke Li Little Bit
2. The Tough Alliance Lucky
3. Lykke Li Dance, Dance, Dance
4. Love is All Wishing well

Whole (international) list here.

/S

Hot tip #1 for 2009 - The Dora Steins

2008-12-16T10:56:00.000Z

Apparently The Dora Steins are "in talks" with The Killers' management. I don't really know what that means in terms of future / current success, but I guess it's a pretty big deal for a small Swedish demo band to do. Either way, I've been listening to their song "Stay" a lot this year. The Dora Steins sound a little bit like Shout Out Louds but more mainstream and less quirky. Listen to below song and get ready to tell all your mates in a few weeks / months how you were listening to The 'Steins way back in 2008.

MP3: The Dora Steins - Stay

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Sorry, should really have posted a link to that Peter, Bjorn and John song...

2008-12-15T16:11:00.001Z

MP3: Peter, Bjorn and John - Hey (shut the fuck up boy)

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Check out the new Peter, Bjorn & John song...

2008-12-15T15:17:00.001Z

... over at Pasta Primevera!

I really like it, it's got a nice groove to it. Video is bonkers though.

/S

Charming video of Lykke Li performing "Dance dance dance" .

2008-12-11T10:30:00.003Z

(from Blogotheque)

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Emmaboda 2009 - good start!

2008-12-10T13:17:00.005Z

The Emmaboda Festival (in Sweden) is a great little festival that I can highly recommend to everyone who's more into smaller festivals than Reading / Glasto / etc. Next year's edition takes place 30 June - 1 August 2009. The atmosphere at the festival is very relaxed and the crowd consists mostly of well behaved Swedish tweenagers. I've seen some great shows there in the past, but for some reason I haven't gone for a a few years. Today they announced their first batch of the line-up, and it's a cracker!

Nordpolen: A bit like TTA but with Swedish vocals!
Markus Krunegård: From Laakso who released a great solo album earlier this year (singing in Swedish).
Parken: Great indie pop!
Joel Alme: One of my favourite new artists of 2008 - competing with Moto Boy in the melting hearts department.

+ Crystal Castles and Navid Modiri och Gudarna

Yep, I think I will have to go to the next year's edition.

MP3: Nordpolen - Skimret
Mp3: Markus Krunegård - Jag är en vampyr (Detektivbyrån remix)
Mp3: Parken - Jag har varit vilse Lisa
Mp3: Joel Alme - When the moon shakes

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Yuletide greeting from TIAC

2008-12-09T10:15:00.000Z

The Hives are not the only Swedish artist to release a Christmas song, now electro duo TIAC (who, to be blunt, sound a bit like TTA but not as good) have released a song called "It's Christmas (but not for you)" as a free download (see below). You can also download the MP3 with the high res artwork here. Does anyone do that? I mean, why would you want the artwork for an MP3? Am I missing something here? Quite a few labels and artists seem to provide this little extra service. Is it to make it as more of an official release, and set it apart from a run-of-the-mill MP3 blog post? It's kind of cute, but I don't really see the point of it. Anyhow, I'll leave all that to the labels - I shouldn't really complain when they're giving away music for free. "It's Christmas (but not for you)" is a neat little Christmas song, that plods along just fine and I wouldn't mind having it playing in the background while sitting in my ugly black leather sofa, cracking nuts and drinking whiskey, come the Holiday.

MP3: TIAC - Now it's Christmas (but not for you)

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New Moto Boy EP

2008-12-08T15:24:00.002Z

Moto Boy - one of my favourite new artists of 2008 released a new EP last week called "For Martha". The EP consists of 5 tracks with one new song and four covers (I believe he played a couple of them live when he was in London earlier this year). Buy the EP here. If you haven't heard Moto Boy before I think you should go to his Myspace page now or download the track below. He's got a voice that makes my knees weak, and he writes the most romantic songs you'll ever hear.

MP3: Moto Boy - I miss you baby

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A good EP by The Fine Arts Showcase

2008-12-02T13:53:00.004Z

Adrian Recordings and (or?) The Fine Arts Showcase (aka Gustaf Kjellvander aka Christian Kjellvander's brother) has done "a Radiohead-lite" and offered up TFAS' new EP "Friday on my knees" as a free download. You can also buy the mp3s or buy the 12" vinyl. I like TFAS and have been a fan for a few years (he did a great album with his brother under the name of Songs of Soil eight years ago). I wasn't too keen on his Rough Bunnies cover album though, but "Modern love" from that record is great (get it below, it's also on "Friday on my knees"). TFAS is quite an overlooked artist and I hope that one of these days he'll get the fame he deserves.

MP3: The Fine Arts Showcase - Modern Love

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DYNO - maybe just a bit too fluffy pop for me ...

2008-12-01T18:51:00.002Z

The first time (ie earlier today) I heard DYNO's "Don't speak love" I thought it sounded great, but now I'm already getting a bit sick of it. It's a great pop song though and I can radio picking up on it, and maybe they will play it at those discos where people get wasted and dance all night. Who knows. Anyway, it's a bit of throwaway fun in cold and dark December.

MP3: DYNO - Don't speak love

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Pretty Whores of Manhattan = The New The Hives?

2008-11-26T15:47:00.004Z

You might have got bored of The Hives long before they started doing Christmas songs with Cyndi bloody Lauper. In fact, you might think that they haven't done anything really decent for 8 years. A valid argument, I think. Maybe you yearn for them to just go back to their roots and record some straight up dirty rock'n'roll tracks, and leave Pharrell etc out of it. Well, you might be hoping for a lost cause, and I think you should just accept the facts that The Hives will never be (or be better than) The Hives you used to love. Do not despair though, there are other bands out there who try to pen those rock tunes that your heart yearn so much. One of them is the awfully named Pretty Whores of Manhattan from Sweden's South West Coast. Give the below MP3 a spin, who knows - you might dig it - like a retarded undertaker!

MP3: Pretty Whores of Manhattan - Ferdinand

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The Hives and Cyndi Lauper - A Christmas Duel

2008-11-24T13:39:00.003Z

Not too bad, for a Christmas song. Hopefully they won't make a whole album together.

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Holy Crap!

2008-11-17T13:27:00.001Z

New Lo-Fi-Fnk song!

2008-11-11T13:48:00.002Z

On the new Kitsune compilation (Kitsune Maison 6 - that you can buy here) there's a new song by Lo-Fi-Fnk. The song is called "Want U" and it's (as you'd expect) just as good as anything from their brilliant 2006 album "Boylife" (that you can get for about £5.50 here). Apparently, the band are currently in the studio recording the follow-up to "Boylife". How exciting! Hope we won't have to wait too long for it to come out, and then some UK dates would be nice.

MP3: Lo-Fi-Fnk - Want U

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London club night for Swedish pop lovers

2008-11-04T16:06:00.003Z

If you think Stop Us Not write too much about guys with guitars, girls with crazy fringes (yeah!) and not enough flesh exposed, and that we're lacking that Popjustice vibe - you should definitely head over to Scandipop. They're really down with the slick pop stuff that's is big in Scandinavia. They've also got a monthly club night in London (every third Thursday of the month). If I was 10 years younger, single and more into my pop music, I'm sure I'd be a regular, but now I'm not just really into all that cheese. Good luck to them though! Good luck.

MP3: ABBA - Dancing Queen

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Timbuktu - Swedish rapper who raps in Swedish,

2008-10-31T17:44:00.004Z

Speaking of Frej Larsson, he features on a new track released by Swedish rapper Timbuktu taken from his forthcoming album "En high 5 & 1 falafel". I've always found Timbuktu charming, and he's done a lot for Swedish hiphop, but I've never been that much of a fan of his music despite buying a lot of it and keeping an interest in his career. This track is alright, and it's a bit different from the previous things he's done which is quite refreshing. It also features Supreme from Looptroop Rockers. I like the beat, it's got that annoying / intriguing vibe that all that Slagsmålsklubben, Maskinen and Far och Son jazz also have.

MP3: Timbuktu f/ Frej & Supreme - 6an (from Discobelle)

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Rude Goldberg Machine

2008-10-30T12:59:00.006Z

I guess most kids like Rube Goldberg machines (ie chain reaction "machines"), and so did I when I was a kid, but I kind of like them more nowadays. I'm not building any myself (maybe one day!) but they sure are fascinating! Right? Right? Right? No? Ok, you might not share this interest with me but you should still check out the new video from Far och Son that starts out with a normal RG machine, but then it changes into something more ... artistic and amazing (and rock n roll!). The song itself is a bit annoying, but nevertheless catchy (I can't get the chorus out of my head!). Far och Son features Frej Larsson (from Slagsmålsklubben). Larsson is also part of music collective Maskinen who sound a bit like Far och Son. Check them out below, they had a song called "Alla som inte dansar" out last year and "Segertåget" (which I prefer) out earlier this year. This type of music is very big in Sweden now, with the kids, a bit like Sweden's answer to new rave (Slagsmålsklubben are their Klaxons then I guess).

MP3: Far och Son - Panik

Video: Far och Son - Panik

Video: Maskinen - Alla som inte dansar

Video: Maskinen - Segertåget

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Strawberry Remix!

2008-10-24T18:12:00.003+01:00

About a month ago I wrote about Adrian Lux's amazing song "Strawberry". I've been listening to that song like crazy since then, but there's a remix out featuring my current favourite Swedish rapper Alexis Weak that's even better! This is such a good song, you must listen to it. Weak raps in Swedish, which is a bit of shame but it's nevertheless fantastic. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before the original will be a worldwide hit. Have a fine weekend!

Alexis Weak - Strawberry remix (mp3)

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Jens Lekman does "Black cab" in a black cab.

2008-10-22T11:29:00.000+01:00

Depressing and pretty! And by "black cab", Lekman of course means an illegal mini cab, and not a proper English black cab.

More great black cab sessions here.

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Hellacopters to play final gigs online

2008-10-22T07:07:00.003+01:00

While I'm not necessarily a huge fan of The Hellacopters you can't deny them there place a one of Sweden's biggest rock bands in the last 15 years (even going as far as to having songs on Guitar Hero III and their own pinball machine!). Along with The Hives they really set a bench-mark for other Swedish rock n roll bands and it will be interesting to see who will come after them as, from this Sunday, the band will be no more.

They will however be playing their last two gigs ever via their myspace page on Saturday (25/10) and Sunday (26/10) at 9pm CET.

In the meantime here is one of their most famous songs "(Gotta Get Some Action) Now!" (which Pelle Almqvist declared as 'the greatest Swedish song ever written'):

Lykke Li - Breaking it up (alternative live video)

2008-10-21T11:00:00.000+01:00

Her dance moves make me nervous ...

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Sweden's king of twee - Pelle Carlberg - is coming to the UK.

2008-10-20T16:45:00.003+01:00

I know a bunch of people who find Pelle Carlberg incredibly annoying, and I can sort of understand why they feel this way. For example, the spoken word segment of the song "1983" from his latest album (listen / download below) is just really cringeworthy. There are usually about 3-4 very good songs on each of his albums. He's incredibly twee but also a bit smug at the same time, which appeals to me. I guess that's what great twee music is all about - cute music with "subversive" lyrics (like Belle & Sebastian or in an extreme instance - Cars can be blue). Anyway, he's coming to the UK in the beginning of next month and if you're into melodic twee with clever lyrics I think you should check him out. He puts on a good show so if it's cold and raining, like it is now, his music might be able to pick you up. I'm not sure at the moment if I'll be able to make it down to his Brixton show, but I'll certainly try.

1 Nov 2008 - Westgarth Social Club, Middlesbrough
2 Nov 2008 - Head of Steam, Newcastle
3 Nov 2008 - Deaf Institute, Manchester
4 Nov 2008 - UWIC Howard Gardens, Cardiff
5 Nov 2008 - Bristol Cooler, Bristol
6 Nov 2008 - Brixton Windmill, London

Pelle Carlberg - 1983 (Pelle & Sebastian) (mp3)

/S

You could do a lot worse

2008-10-14T23:31:00.008+01:00

I don't know what to say about Billie The Vision And The Dancers. They're the nicest guys in the world and the music they produce is completely heartfelt but they really seemed to run out of fresh ideas after their first two albums. If you've not caught them live yet then you could do worse than catch them at Proud in Camden on Friday supporting The Pipettes. If you're not a fan of twee pop music however then seeing BTVATD followed by The Pipettes must be some kind of living hell!!

Other dates on this tour are:

24/10 - The Royal, Derby
25/10 - The Cooler, Bristol
26/10 - Academy, Oxford
27/10 - The Marquee, Hertford
28/10 - The Tower, Winchester
29/10 - The Soul Tree, Cambridge
30/10 - The Charlotte, Leicester
31/10 - Inside Out, Darlington

Don't miss Sounds Like Violence's London show this week!

2008-10-13T11:00:00.004+01:00

The fantastic Sounds Like Violence are playing two London shows this week - Water Rats on Tuesday and The Lexington (never heard of it!) on Wednesday. I might go to both! They're such a great band. Hopefully there will be more people there than last time they played over here. Not sure why they haven't got big yet, their songs are ace and so is their live show. See below for what Kerrang thought about their last gig.

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(click on the review to make it BIGGER!)

Frida Hyvönen's new album! Holy macaroni!

2008-10-10T17:03:00.003+01:00

I just pre-ordered Frida Hyvönen's new album "Silence is wild". Hyvönen's first album "Until death comes" was great, but a bit hit and miss. Last year she released some songs from a dance performance called Pudel. This mini album got me very excited about her next proper full length, and now I've got a feeling that it will be one of the best albums of 2008 that she's about to release (29 October in Scandinavia and 4 November in the US). You can pre-order it here. I think it might be even better than Lykke Li's album! If only 29 October was here sooner! There's a song from the album called "Dirty dancing" that's just gobsmackingly good. Unfortunately that song hasn't been released as a free Mp3. Below you can check out "Enemy Within", which is another great song from the album. She's also coming to play her next year. Tickets go on sale on Monday (buy them here).

05 February - Bush Hall, London

Frida Hyvönen - Enemy within (mp3)

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Robert Svensson is playing in London tonight!

2008-10-08T12:38:00.003+01:00

"Robert who", you might ask. Robert Svensson from Mixtapes & Cellmates! "Mixtapes & what", I hear you inquire. Well, I've never been a big fan of that band so just forget about it. There's this guy called Robert Svensson and he's done a solo album that features such Swedish indie heavy hitters such as Markus Krunegård (Laakso) and Adam Olenius (Shout Out Louds) on guest vocals. You can listen to the album on Svensson's Myspace. It sounds ok, maybe not life changing but pretty decent. He actually played Monto Water Rats last night, but I couldn't go to that show. Tonight's he's playing at Metro. I've got something I have to do this evening but I will try and make it down to check him out, I reckon it can be pretty sweet live.

Robert Svensson - Broadway (mp3)

Robert Svensson f/ Adam Olenius (from Shout Out Louds) - 1987 (mp3)

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New Love Is All album might be pretty amazing!

2008-10-06T19:22:00.002+01:00

(got this from Pitchfork, I should add)

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Kite = Guilty pleasure?

2008-10-03T15:53:00.004+01:00

I'm too old for guilty pleasures. I remember feeling bad about liking Millencolin when I entered high school. A few years after I graduated from high school I decided not to ignore music I like (ie a lot of poppy punk, or recently - Meatloaf) and start ignoring music that I listen to solely because it's hip or because of good reviews (eg post-rock). I also realised I don't like jazz, blues, funk or classical music very much(no instrumental music please). I don't mind on missing out, there's so much else music out there that I like. My parents used to tell me I'd start listening to classical music when I get older. You know what mum and dad? I don't think I ever will, and that's fine with me! It was a big moment in my life, I must say. Maybe not as big as when I came to realise I don't like dry food, but still pretty life changing. Since this (music, not food) revolution there have been songs that I've felt a little bit silly for liking, but I don't want to miss out on good music (life's too short for that!) so I've just gone with the flow. For example, I really love The Killers' "When you were young" but in the beginning it was a bit confusing since I never liked The Killers before and I considered them just another crap band such as The Bravery. Last week when I heard Kite's "Ways to dance" I had to remind myself that a good song is a good song. There's something a little silly and naff about "Ways to dance" that makes me wonder why I like it. But I do like it, I really do. It's a killer! I played it for someone at work and she asked me if this was Sweden's 2009 Eurovision entry. Well, I hope it will be, but despite her weak effort to be cheeky, she reinforced my feeling of something not being quite right about the song. It is a very cheesy song, but I don't mind cheese though, not in music or food (as long as I can have some butter underneath it). That's enough for my Friday rant, have a good weekend, but before you do - please listen to Kite's song below. I'm off to Shoreditch to see a bunch of wilfully obscure indie band at the Concrete and Glass festival (Lykke Li's playing, but I've had enough of her for some time).

Kite - Ways to dance (MP3)

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Lykke Li's show yesterday wasn't exactly...

2008-10-02T14:03:00.002+01:00

... the best I've seen her but it included the obligatory sexy zombie dancing and a totally lame crowd that made poor tired-looking Lykke Li work very hard for her money (there should be a ban on Vampire Weekend covers, by the way).

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I might just go and see Lykke Li tomorrow!

2008-09-30T15:35:00.003+01:00

Lykke Li is playing at Scala (in London) tomorrow, and I think I'll go and see her play. Normally I don't like to see the same artist more than once on the same tour, and I've already seen Lykke Li about 3 times this year plugging the same songs all the time (which is fair enough, I don't except any artist to play different shows every night while promoting an album). It was a few months since I saw her play last time though and I think it can be quite pleasant to see her a rainy October night. Last week I saw Glasvegas at Scala, and it was way too packed, hopefully this gig won't be as rammed. I don't really like Scala when it's too full, I like to be able to move at a little bit (no pun intended) at least. I've just listened to her album, which I haven't done for some time (I OD'ed on it) and there are so many great songs on there, and we all know she's great live. Ok, I think I'm definitely going to go. See you there. Here are the other dates she's doing and an MP3 of "Dance Dance Dance":

01 Oct - Scala, London
02 Oct - Concorde 2, Brighton
05 Oct - Glee Club, Birmingham
06 Oct - Thekla, Bristol
08 Oct - Academy 2, Liverpool
09 Oct - Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh
10 Oct - The Duchess, York

Lykke Li - Dance Dance Dance (mp3)

Merci.

/S

PS: I still can't stand that song "This trumpet in my head" though! Euuurgh!!!

Crazy nice Swedish electropop!

2008-09-26T11:44:00.002+01:00

Speaking of Those Dancing Days, they feature on a song by a new Swedish artist called Adrian Lux. “Strawberry” came out last month, but I haven’t heard it until now. Apparently Justice are fans! Oh la la! Justice are correct in the approval though, it is a belter, and I’m surprised I haven’t heard it before. Maybe I need to read more MP3 blogs? Adrian is from Stockholm and part of the great La Vida Locash collective (he’s a music producer, dj and a club night promoter). This should be on top of the charts - not Eric Prydz!

Adrian Lux – Strawberry (low quality MP3)

New Those Dancing Days single accompanied by a fun video!

2008-09-24T16:57:00.005+01:00

Those Dancing Days have a new single out called ”Home Sweet Home” that’s darn catchy, which seems to be the norm with all Those Dancing Days songs. There’s also a very charming and twee video for the song (see below). This should be a big hit for the girls, right? I’ve only listened to it a few times but I’ve already got it stuck on my brain like toffee pudding. If charm sold records Those Dancing Days would be able to buy those golden toilet taps (now there’s a band name!) that MC Hammer had. Guess they need to make a song about lesbian love before that can become a reality – life is tough! I’m looking forward to see them play later this year when they come to the UK (dates below).

21 Oct - Kings College, London
22 Oct- The Deaf Institute, Manchester

23 Oct - Cardiff, Barfly

23 Nov – Thekla, Bristol

24 Nov – Goldsmith Student Union, London

25 Nov – The Cockpit, Leeds

27 Nov – Fuzz Club, Sheffield

28 Nov – Library, Lancaster

29 Nov – The Other Rooms, Newcastle

30 Nov – Captains Rest, Glasgow

Those Dancing Days – Home Sweet Home (mp3)

Sorry, just kidding, I wasn't there.

2008-09-19T12:30:00.001+01:00

I know, hilarious me! But I've heard good things about it! No, actually I haven't heard anything about it. In fact, I'm writing this on Friday 12 September 2008. As far as I know the world might have ended in the next few hours, or maybe Familjen's crowd made the brittle floor of The Old Blue last cave in due to all the crazy dancing. Anyway, I hope they come back soon so I can see them for real. Now I might have some breakfast (ie in "real" time not while writing this, I had breakfast 9 hours ago)

Did you see Familjen yesterday???

2008-09-19T11:00:00.001+01:00

Off ThE HOOk!!!

/S

You should really go and see Familjen tonight!

2008-09-18T10:00:00.001+01:00

I will be great! Me? I will probably be stuck at Stansted airport waiting for my luggage. Woopy doo.

Familjen - Huvudet i sanden (MP3)

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I love being on holiday! Here's the final [ingenting] video I'd like you to see!

2008-09-17T10:00:00.001+01:00

I love [ingenting]! I hope you've figured out that the people in these videos are not the band members. Yeah, that's right. Crazy stuff. A bit like that Will Oldham / Kanye West video. Kind of. Not exactly. But almost.
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I'm still on holiday - check out another amazing [ingenting] video!

2008-09-16T10:00:00.001+01:00

I'm on holiday - check out this amazing [ingenting] video!

2008-09-15T10:00:00.001+01:00

A song about Lisa - Part 2 of 2

2008-09-12T12:45:00.003+01:00

Theoretically, I shouldn't like Parken (aka Pelle Lindroth) since I'm no fan of the other two bands Lindroth is in - Moder Jords Massiva (an electronic "collective") and The Chrysler (ok, but quite dull). He's also recorded his album with Rigas, another artist who I am no fan of at all. But then Parken sounds a lot like Håkan Hellström, albeit a bit more 80s inspired (there are some The Cure vibes on the album "Länge leve Parken". You can listen to the album on Parken's Myspace page). The first single of the album was "Åt helvete med himlen" which is kind of catchy, and sounds a bit like The Tough Alliance somehow. Second single from the album is "Jag har varit vilsen, Lisa" (you might have figured out by now that Parken sings in Swedish. Parken, by the way, means The Park). Listen to it below. I like it and will probably pre-order the album. Guess I just have to ignore all those other artists that I don't like that Parken is involved with!

Parken - Jag har varit vilsen, Lisa (MP3)

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A song about Lisa - Part 1 of 2

2008-09-11T12:45:00.002+01:00

David Sandström (who I briefly mentioned here) used to play the drums in The Refused, then he went solo and started playing music very far away from the hardcore of The Refused. I wasn't too keen on his first album "Om det inte händer nåt snart så kommer jag" (sung in Swedish and very "folky"), but his second album "The dominant need of needy soul is to be needed" was brilliant (a straight up indie rock record with clever lyrics) . His third album "Go down!", recorded under the name David Sandström Overdrive was decent, but not as good as "The dominant...". David has now signed to Razzia Records (Hello Saferide, Niccokick etc) which is probably a good thing. Razzia reports that he will have an album out on 22 October. The first song released from the album is called "Lisa Lisa" and it sounds like David Sandström hasn't lost his songwriting ability - it's a fine song. I'm looking forward to hear his new album, he's in my opinion one of the most underrated artists in Sweden. Hopefully this time around he'll become super mega known and will end up touring the UK to great acclaim.

David Sandström Overdrive - Lisa Lisa (mp3)

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New video / single from Sweden's best hiphop act!

2008-09-09T16:41:00.003+01:00

Ok, Perez Hilton is going crazy about Swedish rapper Adam Tensta at the moment. Adam Tensta is OK, I mean, there are about 2-3 good songs on his album from last year, but if you want a fantastic Swedish rap album you need to go to Afasi & Filthy and their "Fläcken" which I liked a lot in the beginning (read here) but that I now love like crazy. Their last two singles were "Glider" and "Jobb" (the latter is my favourite song of the album), and unfortunately both those videos (check them out here, and here) were better than the Sverigetrotters video (see below). I doubt Afasi & Filthy ever will come to the UK to play, I can't remember ever seeing any Swedish rap artist on a stage in the UK, which isn't any mystery really. Come to think of it, I haven't seen that many bands singing in Swedish over here either, but if it works for Dungen why not for A&F, huh? Whether or not we'll get to see them live, fact remains - they've done the best Swedish hiphop record ever.

Afasi & Filthy - Sverigetrotters (mp3)

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I really like the new song "Anna" from Hello Saferide, but the video is a bit naff.

2008-09-08T18:19:00.002+01:00

The Deer Tracks playing London tomorrow and Wednesday

2008-09-08T16:42:00.004+01:00

Hailing from north Sweden (Gävle is the name of the place to be precise - about 70,000 is the number of inhabitans there - so a bit bigger than Hereford but smaller than Lincoln), The Deer Tracks are coming all the way to London this week to play a couple of shows. Good on them for ignoring any possible fears of travelling a long way (21 hours by car according to Google)! The music is electronic, a bit shoegazey, and a bit Stina Nordenstam-like. Unfortunately I'm busy doing some other stuff so I'll miss both of their gigs, but if I could change my plans so I'd be able to go and see them I would, because judging from the songs on their Myspace, it sounds like they're a pretty decent band. It'd also be interesting to see if they manage to play a gig that's not boring - it takes a lot of talent to pull off their kind of music live. The photos of the band make them look like some kind of goth punk band from Camden, but don't let that fool you - it's slow stuff we're dealing with here. Slower than anything you'd ever heard before! No, not that slow, but slow. The gigs details are:

Tuesday 9 September 2008 - CMU Social, 299, London (info)
Wednesday 10 September 2008 - Metro, London (info)

The Deer Tracks - Slow Collision (MP3)

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I found Juvelen's gig last night to be quite underwhelming!

2008-09-05T17:16:00.002+01:00

Have a look at the below and judge for yourself!

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Juvelen! In London! Tomorrow! Argh!

2008-09-03T13:12:00.005+01:00

Juvelen, the Swedish artist who sounds a lot like Prince but is amazing, is playing London tomorrow! I just found out, and I'm gutted since I have a office outing that I need to attend to. Boo! Maybe if he's on late I can go there after. He's playing a new electro club called Electroqueer (blog/website here), that's in Soho on Archer Street. I've never seen Juvelen live, so I can't vouch for him, but his songs are so damn good that it can't really be anything but great. I wrote about him previously here.

Juvelen - Money don't talk (mp3)

/S

UPDATE: Looks like Juvelen will play around 10 pm. I will go if I can make it, you should too!

Frida Hyvönen + Marit Bergman = Good Stuff

2008-09-01T17:20:00.007+01:00

Two weeks ago the record label Licking Fingers announced that Frida Hyvönen will be releasing a new album called "Silence Is Wild" on October 29 (in Scandinavia). It will also be released on Secretly Canadian (in the US) on November 4. I love Frida Hyvönen’s last 1½ albums, and judging by the first song released from the album (download it below) and her performance at the Way Out West festival – we’re in for another treat! Hopefully it will be better than El Perro Del Mar’s latest album, and I think I might even like it more than the Lykke Li album. The album is also produced by Jari Haapalainen (from Bear Quartet) who have turned into one of Sweden’s great indie producers, alongside one of the blokes from Peter, Bjorn and John.

Frida Hyvönen – Enemy within (mp3)

Speaking of Swedish female artists, and Friday Hyvönen. One veteran in the game is Marit Bergman who’s been around for a few years (I wrote about her previously here). Earlier this year Bergman started a web subscription service where she posts a new song once a month (together with blog posts etc). Last week she posted a duet with Frida Hyvönen. I’m paying to download these songs and in the interest of Marit Bergman (and being legal) I won’t make the song available for download, but I found a place where you can listen to the song streaming online. It’s a great little track, all in classic Marit Bergman style. Bergman and Hyvönen’s voices really compliment each other, and I hope they do more duets in the future. Actually, I hope they both decide to come to the UK and play soon! If you like the track you should sign up to Marit Bergman's subscription thingie, it was pretty cheap I think.

Marit Bergman f/ Frida Hyvönen - Travelling Companion (streaming)

/S

Two Swedish twee pop bands in London next week!

2008-08-28T12:14:00.004+01:00

Can you believe it? Not only will we be lucky to have the one Swedish twee pop band, but actually two of them will be on these shores next week! Hooray! The cute tune peddlers are Komon and Stars in Coma. I’ve never heard of Komon before, but judging from their Myspace page, they’re a pretty average twee band who might be good live. Twee live is always a bit risky! Stars in Coma have been around for a few years, but I’ve never been able to get into them, although I’ve liked the odd song. Anyway, both these bands are playing a Spiral Scratch night at Betsey Trotwood next week on Thursday (with two English bands). Tickets can be bought here. Komon are also playing a couple more London shows + a Brighton one. Betsey Trotwood is so tiny, it can be quite charming to watch bands there. Who knows - I might just go!

Here are the dates:

Komon + Stars in Coma
Thursday 4 September – Betsey Trotwood, London

Komon
Saturday 6 September – RoTa at Notting Hill Arts Club, London

Saturday 6 September – Somewhere in Kings Cross, London

Sunday 7 September – Indiepop Sunday, Upstairs at the Prince Albert, Brighton

and here are two heart-themed MP3s:

Komon – If my heart was a house (MP3)
Stars in Coma – I saw my heart pass by (MP3)

And a Komon video:

Some old fart at NME reviewed The Tough Alliance's third album.

2008-08-21T18:10:00.005+01:00

Here's a song:

The Tough Alliance - Looking for gold (MP3)

Here's a video:

Such a great album! Such an amazing band! Mark Beaumont is nuts.

/S

You bet it Sounds Like Violence in London in October!

2008-08-20T17:58:00.007+01:00

Ok, so I haven't written anything here for a week. Not because I've been lazy (no way, José!) but because there haven't been anything really interesting to write about. The Swedish UK invasion seems to have taken a bit of holiday! Now things are starting to happen again (phew!). Sweden's best (currently operating) rock band are coming to London for a couple of shows. I'm of course talking about Sounds Like Violence! Sounds Like Violence consist of 3/4 the same members as the migty Niccokick (who I wrote about here), but have a heavier and more punk-like sound. I remember buying the first SLV EP "The Pistol" that came out on Deep Elm in 2004 and loving it like crazy, but then I had to wait bloody 3 years for the album to come out! Argh! Fortunately it looks like the wait for the new album won't be that long. Oh yeah, last year's album "With blood on my hands" was great, but it somehow disappeared and SLV didn't become the behemoths of rock that they deserved to be. I would strongly urge you to see them when they come over in October, because when I saw them at Borderline last time around they were here, it was so good I almost wept.

Tuesday 14 October 2008 – London – Water Rats
Wednesday 15 October 2008 – London – Buffalo Bar

Sounds like Violence - Cold Cold Blood (mp3)

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Update: If you live in the UK, you can get their album very cheap here.

Broder Daniel - Dream My Days Away - Live at Way Out West, Sweden - 9 August 2008

2008-08-13T13:45:00.003+01:00

Best gig in a long time! (+ their last gig ever)

/S

Next week an unknown Swedish band are playing some unknown London venues.

2008-08-12T17:16:00.002+01:00

Have you heard about a band called The Sonnets? Apparently they're playing London next week at such famous venues as Teddy Flynn's, The Miller and The Spice of Life. Huh? Double huh? I don't know about any of those places. I can't even find Teddy Flynn's on Google! The Millers seems to be a pub around London Bridge, and The Spice of Life is that weird pub sort of in between Old Compton Street, Charing Cross Road and Shaftsbury Avenue that's got jazz nights in the basement. The Sonnets themselves released an album in 2005 to no critical acclaim. It's not super bad, just a bit boring, it sounds like The Thrills, Hal etc + Swedish indie pop from the 90s - ie not that ... "fresh"! I really don't feel like going to any of those venues though, not that I'm a venue snob, but after listening to the band on their Myspace page I doubt it'll be any good. My sister's seeing them at a Swedish festival next week though so if she gives them the thumbs up I might change my mind.

The Sonnets - A thousand summers (mp3)

/S

Sweden's twee take on Arcade Fire.

2008-08-04T16:32:00.004+01:00

Ok, it's a bit lazy to compare I'm from Barcelona to Arcade Fire just because they both have crazy live shows and lots of band members, except for those for things they're quite far apart. Another thing they have in common is that I used to be a massive fan of both bands, whereas I now have lost a bit of interest. My disinterest in I'm from Barcelona started after I saw them live a couple of times. I really like them on record, but live I just find them annoying. Perhaps they're better now, who knows! They're coming over here in November for a few shows. When I just now listened to "Britney" from last year , I was reminded that they do actually write good songs (check it out below). Maybe I'll go and see them to investigate if they've become less of a circus and more of a band. Here are the dates:

Monday 24 November - The Ruby Lounge, Manchester
Tuesday 25 November - Scala, London
Wednesday 26 November - Concorde 2, Brighton

I'm from Barcelona - Britney (mp3)

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Familjen to London!

2008-08-01T11:11:00.001+01:00

All respect to Familjen* (aka Johan T Karlsson) who makes pretty sweet electropop. It's a bit too "techno" for myself, but I can very much see the appeal. I do like his hit "Det snurrar i min skalle" from last year though and I might even buy his album and give it a chance. Who knows, maybe it'll make me get into this type of music. At least he sings! That's a start. I've seen him live twice, and he gets a fantastic reaction from the crowd and both gigs were a lot of fun. He seems to have that same crazy (Swedish) fanbase around him that Slagsmålsklubben's got. I also adore the dialect he sings in (ie "Skåne dialect", which heralds from south of Sweden and is traditionally frowned upon by people from other parts of Sweden since it's considered to be something of a farmers' dialect. I disagree though! I've spent lots of time in Skåne and both my sisters have lived there for a long time now - I love it!). Also, since the gig is around the corner from where I live, I might just go and sway back and forth at the end of the room, sipping some beer,

One website says that Familjen are playing at Old Blue Last on 17 and 18 September whereas another only lists 18 ... confusing!

17 September 2008 - Old Blue Last, London (so this might not be correct!)
18 September 2008 - Old Blue Last, London - tickets here

Familjen - Det Snurrar I Min Skalle (mp3)

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* Familjen = Swedish for "The Family"

Let's try and get excited by a Shout Out Louds gig, shall we?

2008-07-31T17:20:00.003+01:00

So, Shout Out Louds are once again returning to these shores to half-rock out. I've seen them enough times already, but still I'm going to see them next week. They're good live! Yes, they are. They've got a nice groove going, and unlike other bands like them there's a bit of energy in there as well. I wasn't too keen on the last album, but there are some cracking tunes on it nevertheless. They're plaing Dingwalls in London, a venue that can get crazy hot. Oh well, I guess there will be beer in the bar to cool us all down. Below are the dates and a 4 year old song that never became the monster hit it could have been:

6 August 2008 - Dingwalls, London
7 August 2008 - Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh (The Edge Festival)
8 August 2008 - Barfly, Liverpool
9 August 2008 - Concorde 2, Brighton (At Home By The Sea Festival)

Then they're coming back in September too:

2 September 2008 - 229 Club, London

Shout Out Louds - Very loud (mp3)

/S

Too ... hot ... to do ... anything ... but ... listen to Eggstone and summery hiphop....

2008-07-28T17:09:00.003+01:00

Not going to any gigs today, might go to one tomorrow but if it's this hot I won't! No sir! All day today I've had to play upbeat music just to keep my brain in the game. If we only had AC at work I could listen to some Christian Kjellvander or something... yaawn!

Eggstone - Against the Sun (mp3)

/S

More UK dates for Those Dancing Days!

2008-07-24T11:00:00.001+01:00

I just bought the two EPs that Those Dancing Days have released. I haven't really got into them, but I thought I'd give them a proper chance since they are so charming. They, together with Lykke Li and Shout Out Louds, are a (good) Swedish band who keep on coming back to the UK for gigs lately. Now they're doing a few shows in August and October. October ... only three months away!

07 Aug - New Slang, Kingston
08 Aug - Underage Festival, London
09 Aug - Roadhouse, Manchester
10 Aug - Summer Sundae Weekender, Leicester
21 Oct - Kings College, London
23 Oct - Cardiff, Barfly

Those Those Dancing Days - Run Run Run (mp3)

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The Swedish bands I really want to see at Way Out West.

2008-07-23T12:51:00.007+01:00

Way Out West is a new (it started last year) Swedish music festival that takes place in Gothenburg on 8-9 August. The festival site is at Slottskogen which is a park in the middle of the city. I went last year and really liked it so I'm going this year again. There's no camping site so if you're going you need to stay in a hotel / B&B or have a kind friend with a spare sofa (I'm opting for the latter). These are the Swedish artists I'm intending not to miss:

BRODER DANIEL

They started out in 1989 and are (together with Kent I guess) one of the most influential bands in Sweden. I saw them a few times when I was a kid. The Best gig was at Emmaboda when Henrik Berggren (their singer) was so out of it that he fell from the stage after about 3 songs and they stopped playing shortly after. To call it shambolic would be to put it lightly, but I was drunk and thought it was fantastic. Their gig at Way out West is in tribute to former member Anders Göthberg who died earlier this year.

Broder Daniel - Whirlwind (mp3)

HÅKAN HELLSTRÖM

Hellström used to be the drummer for Broder Daniel, but then he went solo and became one of Sweden's biggest solo artists (in Sweden that is) ever. I'm not that keen on the album he released earlier this year (his fourth), but live he's an explosion. Listen below to the song that made him famous, and which is still his anthem.

Håkan Hellström - Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg (mp3)

THE HIGH HATS

The High Hats are a new melodic punk band (they have that East Cali Ramones punk sound going on) from Borås (just east of Gothenburg) that I'm dying to check out!

The High Hats - Bitterswede (mp3)

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New Pacific! remix over at BiBaBiDi.

2008-07-21T17:20:00.002+01:00

Pacific! - Sunset Boulevard (Lord Skywave Mix) (mp3)

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Is Montt Mardié fever about to hit the UK?

2008-07-18T12:42:00.001+01:00

Looks like the UK are starting to get into Montt Mardié a little bit. His song "Set sail tomorrow" have started to create some waves (ho hum!). It's doing ok on NME radio (does anyone listen to NME radio though?) , H&M is playing it (nice to see them supporting Swedish music!) and BBC 6music also likes it. I wasn't too keen on his last double album, but he's always seemed to be destined for great thing (see previous posts here and here). Hopefully all this means he'll be coming over here again soon for a proper tour. Give "Set sail tomorrow" a spin (or a "press play"), it's a fine tune.

Monnt Mardié - Set sail tomorrow (mp3)

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If Lil' Wayne was white ...

2008-07-17T11:21:00.000+01:00

and from Sweden he might have sounded like this.

but hopefully not looked like this:

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Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida

2008-07-15T13:45:00.004+01:00

The wait is over! Last week the feel-good hit of the summer “Mamma Mia!” came to the UK and it now rules the box office. I actually went to see the musical many years ago with my two sisters. They loved it, I hated it. I loathe musicals (there are some exceptions such as “Dancer in the dark”), but what’s new? How many people do really like musicals? No one I know (family excluded, my sister for example loves "Sound of music") do. I once lived with a girl who annoyed me and my friend (and other roommate) to quite some extent by walking around singing songs from musicals all the time. She had no interest in music really, she just liked showing off (and singing, to be fair to her). I think she now works as a musical artist, on some ferry somewhere. All the best to her. My mother saw “Mamma Mia!” last Sunday and according to her it’s “fantastic” and she has been urging me to go and see it ever since. Sorry mum, but I’m afraid I’m staying home for this one. I grew up hating ABBA but I’ve started liking them a bit more in the last couple of years. I mean, they wrote some pretty killer melodies, right? Here’s a good song from their first album “Ring Ring” (from when they weren’t called ABBA but Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) that you might not have heard.

ABBA – I saw it in the mirror (mp3)

Love Is All are Twee As Fuck on 5 August in London

2008-07-14T15:49:00.002+01:00

I can't believe that this didn't become a massive hit!

2008-07-11T15:40:00.002+01:00

Such a fantastic video too.

Bom Bom - Pop i kras (mp3)

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Ok, The Social Services have grown on me so I'm going to see them tonight

2008-07-10T16:40:00.008+01:00

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UPDATE! I didn't go! Boo! I stayed home and watched "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" and taped beer cans to my balcony rail instead! Yay!

Hopefully they'll book some great Swedish bands too!

2008-07-02T15:28:00.003+01:00

from Music Week)

Kopparberg launches Scottish music initiative

13:15 | Wednesday July 2, 2008

By Katya Khan, Katya Kan

Swedish cider company Kopparberg has launched a new initiative which it says will help Scottish bands to raise their profiles.

The Kopparberg Collective covers three areas: a singles club, a privilege card and a “one Big tree” installation at this year’s Hydro Connect festival.

The singles club is to release three double A- side singles this summer, featuring tracks from six new acts, including Juno and Kobai. This will be promoted by a Kopparberg Collective tour, calling at venues around Scotland.

The privilege card will allow holders free or discounted entry to a number of club nights across Scotland this summer, with all holders entered into a prize draw to win tickets to Hydro Connect, where the brand will be hosting an arena.

Kopparberg UK managing director Davin Nugent says, “We hope that by helping in some small way to raise their profile, these artists can be heard by a much wider audience.”

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Best 10 Swedish albums of the first half of 2008!

2008-06-16T11:00:00.009+01:00

01. Vapnet – Döda fallet
I haven’t seen Pitchfork give this album a 9.6 review yet. What’s going on? Have they lost their copy of the album? It took me some time to get into this, but now it’s like potatoes to me – great, versatile and very secure (like an old friend).

02. Moto Boy – Moto Boy
Best new artist of the year! Moto Boy came from nowhere and released the most beautiful album I’ve heard in a long time. His live show was also magnificent (what a charming man!).

03. Envelopes – Here comes the wind
I stopped listened to this after I saw them do a disappointing show last month, but before that I played it every day for weeks and weeks. There are so many great songs on here, and I just can’t resist that lo-fi charm!

04. Joel Alme – A master of ceremonies
If you don’t like The Smiths or crooners, you might want to avoid this one. If you do like The Smiths and crooners, this will be like audio gold for you (I obviously belong to the latter category of people).

05. Juvelen – 1
I refuse to not mention Juvelen in the same sentence as Prince, but that doesn’t stop his music from sounding fresh and modern, and there are some real slick hits on his debut album.

06. Markus Krunegård – Markusevangeliet
You could make a very good compilation CD with Laakso, but so far they’ve failed to make a consistently amazing album, so I was rather surprised with how good singer Markus Krunegård’s debut was.

07. Lykke Li – Youth novels
Hype-hoopla! Ok, this is not as amazing as it should be, but still – it’s a fine, fine album. She’s even better live, that where she shines.

08. Pacific! – Reveries
The singles that have been released from this album are all astonishing, the rest is ok. Still, half of the songs being top notch, and the rest average make for a bloody great album.

09. Afasi & Filthy – Fläcken
Swedish hiphop album of the year, and sometimes I wish they’d rap in English so I could share it with my non-Swedish friends without them saying “It sounds great, but I really wish I could understand what they’re rapping about”. Someone called these guys Sweden’s Lil’ Waynes, which is a charming and somewhat fitting description. Nice grooves!

10. Håkan Hellström – Försent för edelweiss
Lots of people love this but in my opinion Hellström’s latest album is the weakest one of his career – there’s just too much lame progrock on it! There are some corkers on here though, so there future is still looking bright.

Disappointments of the first half of 2008
Looptroop Rockers – Good things
With pre-released MP3s “The Building” and “Marinate” my hopes were sky high! They all fell flat.

El Perro Del Mar – From the valley to the stars
Where have the great melodies gone?

Albums from the first half of 2008 that might be great, but I need to listen to them properly before I can pass judgement

Speedmarket Avenue – Way better now
Niccokick – The good times we shared , were they so bad
Gentle Touch – In memory of savannah
Alf – Tivoliv

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The (comeback) Kid

2008-06-12T18:11:00.004+01:00

I sure like a good cover, and earlier this year The Kid released one of the best I’ve heard in a while (read about it and listen to it here). Now they’ve got a new single out and also an album coming out Wednesday 18 June (same date as Sweden vs Russia – sorry my brain has started going white and developing black patches as of late). You can order the album here. They (The Kid, not Sweden or Russia) seem to have improved a lot since their last half-baked album, but despite that I usually order anything from Hybris without batting an eyelid, I might need to give their album a listen before I decide to buy it or not. Hopefully they put it up as a stream somewhere. So far so good though!

The Kid – Transient dance (mp3)

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Sassa brassa mandelmassa!

2008-06-10T18:06:00.002+01:00

Elias f/ Frans - Who's da man (mp3)

(it's weird how some horrible songs can be amazing every 2 years)

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Sweden vs Greece! And Lykke Li

2008-06-09T13:42:00.006+01:00

After watching all four football games over the weekend I've come to realise I need to watch as much of the Euro Cup as possible during the next few weeks. I've got two gigs this week I must go to, first to Death Disco on Wednesday, which will be fun and I'm only missing Turkey vs Switzerland (yaawn!). Ages ago I bought tickets for a show at The Luminaire on Friday (Darren and Jack playing Hefner songs + lots of great support bands), and I must go but Holland are playing France at 7:45 pm! Damn! Damn! Oh yeah, here are the most important events this week:

Tuesday 11 June - Greece vs Sweden - 7:45 pm ITV
Saturday 14 June - Sweden vs Spain - 5:99 pm BBC

Anyway, Lykke Li is playing in London on Wednesday, and she's actually doing a bunch of dates in the next couple of months:

Tuesday 10 June - The Jericho Tavern, Oxford
Wednesday 11 June - ICA, London
Thursday 17 July - KOKO, London

and a date in October:

Wednesday 1 October - Scala

+ she's playing at Latitude, Big Chill, Summer Sundae and Bestival.

Anyway ... Romania vs France starts in 3 hours ...

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Tafra inte på min tjej!

2008-06-06T17:13:00.004+01:00

I once met Tafra (real name: Niklas Tafra) when Suburban Kids with Biblical Name played the Barfly in London some years ago. All I remember from the meeting is that we were both drunk and I also vaguely remember disliking him because I got the impression that he was hitting on my girlfriend (he might be innocent of this hidenous crime though). This deep hidden drunken hatred hasn’t really left me and I haven’t given the guy a fair chance until I heard “Cheesy epic” on the radio the other day. When I found out it was the same guy I got a bit … annoyed. The song feels like a bastard child to SKWBN and The LK, with a distinct lo-fi setting and quirkiness all around. Best thing about the song though is the clever sampling of a mobile disturbance (or whatever you call that static sounds mobile phones can make speakers blurt out). Music for the kidz!

Tafra – Cheesy epic (mp3)

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The Embassy are back - with a vengance!

2008-06-05T18:26:00.004+01:00

The Embassy have been around for about 8 years, and they definitely made the blueprint for a lot of Swedish music. Without them there would be no The Tough Alliance or Pacific! for example. Their first album "Futile crimes" came out in 2002, their second and last album "Tacking" in 2004. Both were fantastic. Now they've released a new single (song?) from their forthcoming album. It's called "State '08" and it's a thunderous song! It wipes the floor with everything else out there, though it's quite repetetive but repetetive in a good way! Yes! It's a lovely summer tune and I've been listening to it all day on repeat wishing I was out in the sun instead of stuck in an office (what a cliché!), when I walked to work I really felt like not turning left and up the stairs to the office but continue to walk around London for the rest of the day. I had shorts on! I bet if that I had this song in my earphones this urge would have been stronger (of course I would still have gone to work, I'm not crazy). You must really give the song a listen, it's sublime! Listen to it NOW before it starts to rain again.

The Embassy - State '08

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