Swedesplease – The Swedish Music Blog

This is the last of the recycled content here on Swedesplease. Christmas break is nearly over so come Monday we’ll have all new Swedish indie pop to write about. Thanks for sticking around and be sure to come back on Monday.

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Anna Järvinen has a new record out on Hapna. Anna was a member of the great Swedish band Granada. Her solo material deserves more attention than I can give her in this small space (but check out reviews of the new album here). Jag fick feeling has only been out a few weeks in Sweden and is still not available throughout the world, but has already garnered 9 out of 10 or 4 out of 5 or simply the best album of the year by a number of international critics.

Because of the soaring vocals of “Gotgatan” and the incomprehensible (for me) Swedish lyrics I get a sense of the first time I heard the Cranberries or 10,000 Maniacs. Other song on the record have a more organic feel. But this one is as pop as you’ll ever get from Hapna. Enjoy.

Gotgatan

Video (.mov file) for Gotgatan

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

I’m not the first to jump on the Mr. Suitcase’s new single from Guideline for An Emerging Century on Kitty Litter Records (Parker Lewis). But I also won’t be the last. Mr Suitcase has been remixing songs by some of Sweden’s best artists for a couple of years but he hadn’t released a full length of his own…until now. The first single is called “You Don’t Smile Anymore” and as is his custom he’s also provided two remixes.

You Don’t Smile Anymore

Bonus: here’s his remix of the Sophie Rimheden track “Can You Save Me”

Can You Save Me (Remix)

Bonus video of Mr. Suitcases’s “Ours Is A Time For Falling In Love”

Friday Bridge’s place in Swedish music has been cemented with a P3 Guild nomination for Best Pop Record of the Year. Also another sign that someone’s made it is that the remixers take an interest. And Dutch Rubbah has just given the track “Literature” the remix treatment.

Literature

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Here’s my repost from this past April:

A new song from Friday Bridge is a cause for celebration, no? “Love and Nostalgia” is the first song released from Friday Bridge’s upcoming album Intricasy (But Is It Art? Records). I haven’t exactly been able to put my finger on the quintessential Friday Bridge sound but what it reminds me a little bit of is Audry Hepburn in soft focus. FB’s music is romantically retro yet updated with synthy bits of eurodisco.

Love and Nostalgia

MP3, Music

Any year in review type thing on Swedesplease would have to include something from Little Dragon. I’ve been absolutely in love with this group’s songs since the moment I heard them. The repost is below, but first here’s a newish video of the band performing “Twice” at a “Back Room Session”.

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Let’s take a break from all this indie pop for a day. Little Dragon sent us (alright just me) a couple of songs. Even through my small but decent computer speakers (they even have a little subwoofer) the bass on “Forever” is formidable, as is lead singer Yukima’s silky smooth vocals. I’m no trip hop/nu jazz/soul/funk expert but if there’s a better track out there that represents this combination of genre’s I’d like to hear it. And if this sound is going to become commercially viable again I can’t think of a better sounding (looking) group than Little Dragon to lead the second wave.

Rumor has it the band has just been signed but get in touch with them through their MySpace band if you want to inquire further.

Forever

Bonus:

Twice

There’s no way I can do any kind of year in review and not mention Detektivbyran. So here goes. Repost from March. But first a brand new video by the band on the making of their upcoming debut album.

Plus a song I posted in November by the group.

Hem Lvuja Hem

Plus the video for “Lyckans Undulate”:

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Best band in Sweden? It’s a toss up? Most original and creative music? Easy. Detektivbryan. They’ve released another song from their mindblowing ep, Hemvagen, and it’s the magical “Nattoppet”. This sounds like music that would have fit into the creepy world created by the film Pan’s Labrynth.

The band’s just been confirmed for Emmaboda in July. Here’s the new song available from their ep:

Nattoppet

Also in case you missed it:

E18 (may be the standout track)

MP3, Music

Music discovery is the only good reason to get into the music blog racket, so it was with some excitement that I stumbled upon the first demo songs from Those Dancing Days last February. In the post below I wrote about two of the songs but for this repost I’ve added one more song (”Disc Hoe”) and videos for the songs “Hitten” and “Those Dancing Days”.

Disc Hoe

“Hitten”

“Those Dancing Days”

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If you listen real closely you might hear the buzz. It could be whisper between two girls at a high school in Gothenburg or an overheard conversation between the aisles at Pet Sounds or maybe a gleeful proclamation (complete with emoticons) on a message board at the Emmaboda Festival site. Who are they all talking about? Could it be the band Those Dancing Days?

I’ve heard the term wonky pop used to describe these girls (yes, girls! they’re still in high school) also people hear a little Pipettes. The 5 girls romp through the suggestive retro pop of “Tasty Boy” and then they switch gears slightly to the more polished GoGo beats and Siousxie Sioux vocals of the song “Hitten”. Remember these are just demos and I believe the girls had to get back to class for finals after recording them, so take that all into account.

Tasty Boy
Hitten

In this year of irrelevant and often completely fabricated “best of” lists I hope you haven’t come to Swedesplease searching for some sort of convenient year end wrap-up. Because I don’t have any intention of doing that. I assume you don’t come to Swedesplease for a rehash of the biggest Swedish releases of the year by the likes Jens Lekman, Peter Bjorn and John or even Jose Gonzalez.

And I certainly don’t want to add to all the list noise out there at the moment. But to be frank the holiday season is a quiet one for new music (besides x-mas tunes), so for the next few weeks any new posts will be mixed in with reposts of what I think were some of the best and most under-appreciated songs/albums of the year.

And here’s the first repost from January.

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I’ve written about Canadian ex-pat and current Stockholm resident Richard Reagh enough that I don’t think anything further of substance needs to be added. There is some news in his camp however. He’s released a new single from his record Is this the blues i’m singing? and has had it remixed by two of Sweden’s finest – Mr. Suitcase and Sophie Rimheden.

Check out these divergent takes on the new Richard Reagh song “Winterlight”.

Winterlight (remix by Mr. Suitcase)
Winterlight (remix by Sophie Rimheden)

MP3, Music