Swedesplease – The Swedish Music Blog

Sophie Rimheden claims to be the only woman producer in Swedish electronic music. While that is completely untrue she does appear to have one of the highest profiles. Her music is ripe for remixing and is being championed by the likes of Urb Magazine and Fluxblog. Her new self titled record came out in October of `05

Richard Reagh has been called “Sweden’s best Canadian”. He’s a Canadian expat living and working in Sweden and he has been adopted by the underground Swedish electronic music culture. He’s in the middle of putting together a new record for 2006 and it will be released on his own label This Is Pop. In the meantime he’s been busy doing an acoustic remix of Sophie Rimheden’s song “Queen of the Night”. Here it is.

Queen of the Night

Big Strong Union got in touch with me a few weeks ago. They have since fallen off the face of the earth (not really) but I found their new music up on Canarie Records‘ site. This release, The Happiest Valentine, is scheduled for Feb 2006 but you can preview two of the songs on this 6 song ep below.

It’s mostly like lofi strumming accompanied by emotional pop lyrics. It’s perfect.

Happy Valentine
I Like The One I Like

If you were to ask me what the quintesential Swedish sound is It wouldn’t take me long to point you in the direction of the new song by Labrador band Irene. The handclaps, horns and slightly off-kilter accented vocals are the tipoff here.

More perfect pop from Sweden in the mold of I’m From Barcelona, Hello Saferide and Pelle Carlberg.

Baby I Love Your Way

Bonus tracks

Stardust
The Game (Demo)

David and the Citizens are preparing their American debut for the relatively new label Friendly Fire. It’s a scandal that it’s taken this long. And amazing that the label to sign one of Sweden’s most popular bands is so new to the game (this will only be their third release).

I’ve written about the band and it’s lead singer David Fridlund here and here. The upcoming album is called Until The Sadness Is Gone and will be out later in 2006. In the meantime they’ll have a self titled compilation ep out on March 7.

Here’s two songs from this EP:

Big Chill
Let’s Not Fall Apart

MySpace is of course the talk of the town in the US but it’s also an international movement. Bands from all over the world are signing up and befriending each other at a alarmingly fast rate. The musicians from Sweden are no different and one way to find great new music from Sweden is to explore this site.

One such artist, Mans Javelik, from Stockholm has uploaded three demo tracks. And while he’s covered with tattoes and appears to be someone who’d be making rauckus Swedish rock like The Hellacopters or The Killers these demos are quieter and more contemplative. Here’s two demos from Mans Javelik.

Lighthouse
Come Winter

Sandy Mouche is a lot more polished than what we usually feature here on Swedesplease. From their professional photo’s to their epic orchestral pop the band exudes competence and potential crossover success.

Thanks to the band here are two songs from the new album …And Poems For The Unborn which came out out on Jan 4.

In The Sand
Spiderweb Suit

I’d never heard of drill n’ bass until Daniel Andreasson got in touch with me. Did Daniel just make this up or is this some whole subcategory I haven’t heard of. It’s characterized at least in Daniel’s case with a heavy reliance on computers and bizarre sounds/textures. As Daniel explained in his email though he attempts to keep it a little poppy.

I’m loving “My Fucked Up….” as well as the rap star name dropping “Christmas Lights And Mixtapes”.

My Fucked Up Alcoholic Neighbor Song
Christmas Lights and Mix Tapes

Stum is an unsigned Swedish electronic band, stum means mute. Luckily for them the music is pretty good so hopefully they’ll never get any press headlines like “Press mute on Stum”. The website has a bunch of songs to download ranging from Marilyn Manson dirge like downers like “My Disease” to the more confectionary electropop of “A Sigh Too Deep”.

A Sigh Too Deep
My Disease

Hey there. Looks like another exclusive for Swedesplease. This time all the way from poolside in Florida. Bjorn Norestig (wrote about him here and here) just emailed me an outtake from the seesions for his upcoming record. For some reason this song is not making the cut. Although I can’t figure out why.

The track is tentatively called “Work” and has boogie woogie piano, new orleans second line horns and a little doo wopy beatnik rap thing happening. Enjoy this track while we wait for the new record in early 2006.

Work (my server’s down so yousendit.com will have to do)

P.S. Some Velvet Blog has a brand new song from the forthcoming new disc by Nicolai Dunger (the album features production help from Mercury Rev and David and The Citizens).

Mid Air Condo has released their debut record, Shopping for Images, on English electronic lable Type Records. Comprised of three Swedish women this electro acoustic group fuses found sounds, visual imagery and their own instruments for a live show that is said to be transfixing.

I wrote about the band here first. The links at this post still work and you can compare the demo version of Serenade with the new album version.

Serenade
Sorry

Like Hello Saferide, whom she calls a friend, Maia Hirasawa deals in everyday trials and tribulations of life in a simple and direct way. Her song “My New Friend” sounds especially autobiographical as Maia says she does indeed have a new friend on her website. She also says this song is about the two sides of her own true self, so there you go! Her voice has that certain unmistakeable Scandinavian/Icelandic quality that people (i.e. me) find so attractive.

Here’s two new songs:

My New Friend
Parking Lot

Someone recommended Taxi Taxi along the way and I thought I’d better write about them before the twins who are the band become teenagers. They have a charming sound of acoustic guitars combined with a synthy backbeat. Their song “Old Big Tree” will be the hit off their upcoming record. If you like Smoosh but want something with a little more feeling check these young Swedish twins out.

Old Big Tree

There’s something new from Yellow Mica Records, it’s a new band called The Bedroom Singer. He’s got a 2 song cdr out now. You can buy it at the Yellow Mica shop here.

I’ve got half of the cdr here for free and it’s the cool little track called “Your Lover From Berlin”.

Your Lover From Berlin