Swedesplease – The Swedish Music Blog

Unlike Discobelle and Big Stereo I don’t have Stockholm dj’s sending me their latest mixes and remixes. I don’t feature that much electronic dance music so I’m off their radar a bit I guess. So that means I’ve got to work a little bit harder finding the gems out there. From the little I’ve heard so far Lucy And The Teenage Monster they deserve to be in that category.

As I said in my post about Tikkle Me last week it’s a nice change of pace to have these girl duo’s popping up in Sweden (the land of a million boy band duos).

Nasty
Beep In My Sleep

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I missed the first wave of coverage back in March for the Swedish group Elenette and then I missed the fact that they just released a new ep in June. But I’ve listened to that record and now want to play a little catch-up on this indie pop group that will have a proper full length out soon on Snow Day Records. These songs are sung in Swedish and as a change of pace feature horns and tamborines along with the 80′s beats and retro sounds.

ge mig nåt att skylla på
kär (imaginär) pensionär

Video

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When a famed indie-pop mailorder house (Fraction Discs) decides to get into the record label game you assume that they know exactly what they’re doing and that they’ve heard a shitload of pop, so they probably have great taste, and will only put out the best stuff available. Depending on how much you like Tillmann’s new material you may agree or disagree with the above statement.

I find their music off-putting and disorientating. I mean that in a good way though. They use some of the elements of indie pop that we all know and love and subvert them. They do this on the single “Heavy Rotation” by slowing both the music and the vocals to a crawl. At times it seems the song is actually speeding up and then slowing down again or that the tape it was recorded on is warped or something. It’d be easy for the band to play it straight but that they don’t I find refreshing. The video for “New Place” so puts me in a Felt frame of mind that I am practically giddy. Fraction Discs is releasing the debut lp by Gothenberg duo Tillmanns.

Heavy Rotation

And the Tillmann’s first video from A Careless Lifestyle, the song “New Place”:

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I now realize that no matter what style Pinto plays in or accoutrements Pinto adds to it’s sound, they’re really a take it or leave it, love it or hate it, type of proposition. That’s because the lead vocals as sung by Andreas Magnusson are the main ingredient in the mix and they are the reason you’ll love (or hate) these songs regardless of the style or genre they take.

After a number of ep’s, singles and web only tracks Pinto is ready to release their debut long player on the world. And with the track “We Breathe Too Much” I suspect the world will be ready to hear it. The crazy thing about Pinto, and I’ve probably said it before, is that they sound just like some of my favorite pop acts from NJ/NY/Atlanta/SC; namely the great pop of Chris Stamey and the db’s and 80′s NJ pop like the Bongos (Richard Barone) and The Feelies.

The new record, Hook Me Up, collects the aforementioned tracks in a tidy little package of 13 songs that will be available September 24 from Pinto’s homepage.

We Breathe Too Much

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Big Stereo is feeling the lull in Swedish releases much like I am but still uncovers new songs from The Bell.
A Tune A Day discovers The Little Dragon and is as impressed as I was.

Stereoscope delivers in stunning 2d with another new song from the new Jens Lekman.

#1 Hits From Another Planet has a song I hadn’t hard yet from Pacific!, probably is pretty juicy.

Gorilla Vs. Bear jumps on the TTA bandwagon with another song off the import, here’s one from the domestic release on Summer Lovers Unlimited:

Silly Crimes

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I’ve been inundated with requests from far and wide to write about Cloetta Paris and Sally Shapiro but I just figure if you’ve found me on the web than you’ve probably already heard of these artists on the larger, more prominent blogs like Stereogum, Fluxblog, Pitchfork, GvB et al. So my lot in life is to bring you the next such group that no one has found/written about/heard.

Today that’s an unsigned band that fits right alongside the two bands mentioned above both in style (electro pop) and quality (great!). These songs are Swedesplease exclusives that you won’t hear anywhere else. In fact if you work at a label this is your chance to sign your very own Swedish electro pop duo.

Tikkle Me is the name that these two women from Eskilstuna have chosen for their group. I haven’t heard the new Siouxie Sioux solo record but I’m sure the song “Boys Vs. Girls ( A Case Study)” would probably be a better choice for a single than anything she’s concocted. Both songs (and the photo above) share a certain aesthetic; the common elements are the whimsical, almost other worldly references to nature, the incessant beats and the gorgeous vocal interplay of the duo of Frida Herchenröther & Karin Taberman.

Butterflies
Boys Vs. Girls (A Study)

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Band In Box has a manifesto (wrote about `em here). Usually I don’t just cut and paste but to understand the band’s sound it does help to read this:

“The rules of the band in box bakery:

#1: band in box will explore a new instrument each month. December was all about the clarinet I got from the trunk of a highly suspicious man’s car. January is devoted to the ukulele. February concentrates on tambourines and March knows how to master a violin. If I don’t know anything about playing a specific instrument, neither will I know when I’ll make mistakes. Each instrument gets a tune of it’s own and each tune will have it’s own sound, smell and taste.

#2: band in box will, as illustrated by the name, never grow larger than approximately 1.5 x 1.5 metres. Thus, it will always fit in a larger box and I’ll never have to learn how to play the double bass.

#3: No fake instruments allowed. Never use margarine instead of butter. Never go on a diet.

Influences: Infantilism. Hospitals and animals, junkfood and whiskey.”

The band, led by Siri af Buren, have been making a bit of a stir on this blog and others. Their music, while not obvious and propulsive, is still something to get excited about. And excited is exactly how the British label Stereo Test Kit is feeling upon the announcement that they’ve signed the band and will release both a 7″ in 2007 and an lp in early 2008.

Lost And Foundland

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Upp Till Kamp! is a new miniseries debuting on Swedish Television on Sept. 3. The soundtrack to the show is a 2 disc set of music by Mattias Barjed (Soundtrack Of Our Lives). The first single, “Coming Down Cold”, features vocals by the lead singer of TSOL – Ebbot Lundberg. Here’s the first video. More info here – http://www.tsool.net/.

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Peace In Our Time is the solo project of a swede named Johan from Uppsala. I’ve written about his music here, here and here. This new song is lofi brilliance and is the title track from the new 9 song ep. From the band name you may expect to hear left wing political rants but at least on this song what you get is a personal plea to from a man to a woman. Not for sex but for a respite and to be left with some “nice and decent thoughts” for a change.

Some Nice And Decent Thoughts

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Some of the regular suspects are back with free mini ep’s (see yesterdays post about Little Big Adventure). Today we have a couple new songs from Tower Of Foil. If you’ve hear this band’s music I guess it should come as no surprise that their name comes from a Prefab Sprout song. Here’s one new song but the whole ep can be downloaded for free here.

Robins and Wrens (warning – slow download)

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Little Big Adventure has it’s third mini ep up for free download. They hope to put these all together for a full length one day but for now you can download the songs here free. I’ve written about the band here (they were formerly know as Penny Century), this new song reeks of the Cure which I’m sure a lot of you will appreciate (as I did).

The Easiest Thing

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Offerprasters Orkester can best be descibed as indie hip hop. They add a lot of out of tune junk to the songs and sample the hell out of that shit. The lead singer sounds a bit like the Swedish version of Shock G from Digital Underground….weird.

What makes this post even weirder is that I’m writing this sitting underneath a giant moose head in a McDonald’s in New Hampshire that’s decked out like a hunting lodge. These two songs are from their last record, probably their debut. Rumor has it we can expect something new from them soon.

Lagliv med las palmas och becci cuvert
Tank om vi far do med bita gosskor

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(Editor’s Note: I’m going to be away, with I suspect spotty internet (the wilds of NH), for the next week or so. I’m going to try to post every day or so (just cause I’m crazy). But I may miss a day or three and the posts themselves my be abbreviated. But the music I have lined up for the week is cool, so stay tuned and be patient.)

Am Bandet clearly have a love for analog perhaps that explains the name (Am radio?). This is a new song off of their new cdr Amplitude Modulering.

Listen To The Am Radio

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(Photo by Corey Arnold)

Not sure if you’ve noticed but Swedesplease is no longer the go to place for all things Swedish. There are so many other sites picking up on Swedish acts that some of the bands that I wrote about in the beginning no longer need what little support I can give them. But I don’t want to ignore them completely. This is where Swedish Music Wrapup comes in.

Big Stereo (as do Panda Toes, Stereogum) has the brand spankin’ new Sally Shapiro track.

Subterranean Blog has the new Jose Gonzalez video for the song “Down The Line”

#1 Hits From Another Planet has a song up from The Models.

Death Rock Star has posted an interview with Karolina Komstedt of Club 8.

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If I could, I’d start a weekly feature on all the 8bit, c63, analog-video-game electronica coming out of Sweden. If I couldn’t find enough of that I think it’d be ok to mix a bit of Skweee in as well. But since I’m flying by the seat of my pants I don’t think a weekly feature is going to happen. If it did this would be my first post.

How cool is it that Martin Wiklund of Animal Keyboard coaxes much of his sound out of a child’s toy?

Asian Hotel

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I don’t know half the story of Johan Hedberg’s new release since everything’s in Swedish (damn those swedes writing/speaking in code), but I can confirm that Johan Hedberg is one half of Suburban Kids With Biblical Names and that as of July 7 his new self-titled ep is available in a 300 cd numbered copy pressing from Cosy Den (yes, yesterday’s Cosy Den). Again contact the label here to get your copy - (popen_maste_do@hotmail.com).

Perhaps it’s just the visual influence of the cd’s cover but I’m getting at least a touch of tropicalism or the electro pop of Pacific!, TTA, or Boat Club.

Nygubbe 4

Bonus songs from SKWBN

Teenage Poetry
Parakit

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Cosy Den is an obscenely small Swedish indie label that just happens to have one of the hottest groups in After School Sports. Distribution is sketchy so you’ll have to just contact Mattias at (popen_maste_do@hotmail.com) to find out about ordering this title.

After School Sports is a duo consisting of two girls (for once!) from Gothenburg. Their songs average out at about 1:20 or so. Lyrics are hard to decipher and the sound is extreme lofi indie synthpop. But I think the basic tracks are there for this band to expand upon and turn into something slightly bigger and better. Their charmingly titled song “Almost Left My Boyfriend For his Casio” is perfectly twee in so many ways it belies description.

Almost Left My BF For His Casio

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There’s at least one alt-country nightclub in Sweden and it’s held once a month at a place called Club Springfield (after Buffalo Springfield natch). This past weekend saw the Swedish pop group Sleeping Beauty perform.

Sleeping Beauty are that rare Swedish band that is confident enough in their mastery of the Americana style to play up-tempo rockers, xtc/beach boys/gram parsons-like sunny jangle pop, and slower piano based ballads. There’s an example of each below. Their new record, their debut Embrace, came out in May of this year and has a chance to be the Swedish record that can be mentioned in the same breath as Swedish bands like Amandine or The Perishers. Can you tell I really like this stuff!? Buy the new record here.

Summer Smile (iPod/iPhone ready mpeg)

Bonus mp3

Let’s Take A Ride

YouTube video for “Let’s Take A Ride”

YouTube Video for “Somebody New”

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(Untitled (Bather At Rest) by Robert Standish)

Ederblog has a couple of interesting nuggets from singer Johan Orjansson, a singer-songwriter I had not heard of but one that I should look into.

Muzorama has the new single from Irene. It’s fantastic! Don’t tell me you’re surprised!?

Not much commentary by 5 Acts but why bother when you have a new song from Taken By Trees (ex-Concretes lead singer).

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I’m sure you, like me, were unable to attend one of the smallest but perhaps one of the greatest Swedish music festivals of the year. Rip It Up was held on July 6-7 a couple hours outside of Gothenburg, outside of the small town of Saffle. It had the cream of the crop of Swedish and English indie pop (including TTA, a Jens Lekman dj set and Liechtenstein). Relive it here for the first time:

My Darling YOU! – “Please Don’t Talk To Me I Fall In Love Too Easily”:

The Tough Alliance:

Cats On Fire:

Kissing Mirrors:

Days – “Simple Thing” (in a sea of blue umbrellas):

Ring Snuten feat. Dorotea:

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