One of the surprise tracks from 2005 was “Stockholm Doesn’t Belong To Me” by Most Valuable Players. Now their full length debut, You In Honey, is out on Friendly Noise Records. MVP are four blokes from Nacka, Sweden and they have set out to make pop music that will brighten your day.
Their label compares them to New Order, Robert Wyatt and Olivia Tremor Control. Here’s the order page for You In Honey that is out now.
Bonus and in case you missed it the first time round
I’d meant to write about The Carny about 6 months ago. I never got to them though and now time has passed and a new Crany release came out in December. The Carny formed in Halmstad in 2001, presently they’re a 9 piece and their live shows seem to have a carnival or circus-like atmosphere. One reviewer said that “NJ has the E Street Band, Halmstad has The Carny.”
The band’s debut full length was called Money Makes Us, that whole album is available on the band’s site. The new release is a three song ep called Bestseller. Here’s two from Bestseller, buy it here.
The second artist that surprisingly released their music as free mp3′s is the Swedish singer Tingsek, whose label V2 was glad to share mp3′s from his latest self titled release. Tingsek is Magnus Tingsek, he has played with artists as diverse as Christian Kjellvander, Willie Nelson and Swedish hip hop sensation Timbuktu.
For his V2 debut it sounds like Tingsek has absorbed and processed all his various influences (I’m not sure if he’d agree but I hear Boz Scaggs soul mixed with an indie singer songwriter thing) and created his own sound. Since V2 was so gracious I strongly encourage you to pick up Tingsek’s record here. Here’s the first and second Swedish singles from Tingsek.
I just found this unposted piece in my archives so I’ve added it to today’s post:
Here’s a gem from the band Mack from Stockholm. Previousely part of the Grass Dancer collective Mack has struck out on their own. People have compared the lead singer sound to the soft songs of Dinosaur Jr. or Mark Olson.
Not much of a web presence yet but you can contact the band here (lillmatti@yahoo.se) if you’ve got any questions/comments .
I’ve had to stay away from a certain type of artist in my attempt to keep Swedesplease 99.5% free and legal. Typically Swedish bands signed to the big international conglomerates do not release their music on mp3. Fortunately two artists this week have agreed to share the wealth. The first is Sara Rumar whose infectious euro-pop will be on display starting February 15 with her debut release, Stupid Like Me, on Dead Frog Records.
Here’s the title track plus “Au Monde” courtesy of Sara herself.
PS Fluxblog continues to explore all things Sweden, especially if it’s got a beat. This time he’s got something new by Marit Bergman – I think you young hip kids would call it a mashup.
Loveninjas have released a 4 song single/ep thingy on Labrador Records. I wrote about the band and their explicit song (“Meet Me Here”) here first. Now they are one of the best selling acts on CDON. The new song is not nearly as rauchy as that first song but it is as catchy. The chorus of “(You can keep) your love away from me” is repeated over a bed of guitar, keys and overdubbed vocals.
Buy the new ep here. Visit the Loveninja’s here for more music and video.
