Swedesplease – The Swedish Music Blog

Most of the great music this week comes thanks to reader suggestions. I couldn’t do it without you, so thanks. I’m especially grateful for the recommendation to check out the Stockholm based band Armand Mirpour. The band is centered around Armand and creates pop music influenced by The Smiths, Belle and Sebastian and The Decemberists.

The band is releasing their debut record in a few months called Boy Will Sing for Directions Home. It’ll be a concept record with a storyline that you can follow from song to song. In this way it reminds me of Billie The Vision and Dancers, as well as Ramona Cordova. The song that undoubtedly will be the hit single is called “Curly Boys Law”; it’s streaming on MySpace and I should have the video to share in a week or so (cross fingers).

The song below may or may not make the final cut. It’s exclusive to Swedesplease so let Armand know what you think in the comments.

Lucky Lady Hotshot

P.S. Armand asked me to relay this video game challenge to Swedesplease readers:

Oh! Did I mention – I really enjoy videogames? Super Smash Bros in particular. My friendcode is 4725-9375-8797. Anyone who wants a good challenge can send me theirs on MySpace.

I have lots of small little bits of news clogging my email inbox. I’m going to try to free things up a little bit this morning. And as a byproduct share some pretty great Swedish pop with you.

1) Björn Kleinhenz has a new record coming out on Tomt Recordings. In lieu of releasing the album for free like many others are doing Bjorn and his label are releasing two cover versions of his new songs each week. So, while the band Kid Icarius is from Germany, here they are covering one of the new songs off of Björn Kleinholtz’s new record Quietly Happy and Deep Inside.

Princes

2) Kora records has announced the upcoming release of the new record by a side project of The LK’s. The band is called Fredrik. The new album Na Na Ni will be released in the fall. The song “Black Fur” doesn’t have any of the electronic dance pop sounds we’re become familiar with from The LK. But the layered vocals, cello and other odd instrumentation make this a charming song.

Black Fur

Jonas Lundvall is a singer songwriter based in Gothenburg who performs under the name Klifton Filente. He’s released his new ep and it is now available for free over at Last.FM. The loungy indie piano pop of Deux will appeal to fans of Brian Wilson, The Pernice Brothers and Joel Alme.

To Make Things Right

As you’ll read I didn’t write today’s post. Alex did in the form of an email to me. I couldn’t say it any better or with more conviction so here’s the email and a song from Andy Love.

Hi there! You don’t know me, I found your email through the Swedesplease blog. First off I want to thank you for the blog of which I am an avid reader and listener since several years back. You may or may not get a lot of emails similar to this one (if so I apologize) but the reason I’m emailing you is that I’d like to recommend a band, or rather, a person, that I think you might like to feature on Swedesplease.

Andy Love, or Anders, is a guy who is too shy for his own good. After recording a couple of songs at his kitchen table a few years back and posting them on Myspace he seemed surprised to find huge interest in his music. He was interviewed by (the now dead) Le Manchester and other sites (see link below) as well asked to come and play at Mondo in Stockholm. Sadly he turned the offer down and subsequently removed his music saying he did not deserve the attention.

However, a few years have gone by and Anders has bounced back and is recording songs like never before.

Here’s one, thanks again Alex.

Exit Bag

Annika Norlin’s group Hello Saferide has just released its first single from her upcoming Razzia Records sophomore effort More modern short stories from….. The song, “Anna”, continues her string of confessional pop tunes with a twist. Here she bemoans the fact that had she and her beau stayed together they could have had a wonderful, bright, young girl who could have supported them in their retirement and to whom Annika could have taught guitar. Instead she’s left with nothing; no future, no child, and no relationship.

The new record will be available on September 24. As you can imagine this is a highly anticipated release here at Swedesplease and throughout the Swedish music community. I’ll have more soon from Hello Saferide.

Anna

Do you ever sit and wonder who will be the next impossibly large, incredibly poppy, Swedish indie pop ensemble to rival I’m From Barcelona? Well, wonder no longer it’ll be salut!machaut or at least I wish it could be.

The band is from Malmo, one of the epicenters of Swedish indie pop, and is seven members large. Here’s their new song…see what you think. The band will be performing at the Lidhult Festival on August 23.

The Fastest Boy In School

Bonus from their first demo ep

Tom and Joanna
Train Song

What if Morrissey had slight Swedish accent and Johnny Marr was more into jangle pop than whatever it was he did on “How Soon Is Now”? What if instead of depressing tales of self hatred and lost love they were slightly more positive and humanistic. Well enter Them Jacks from Gothenberg. This group has an EP under their belt and they’ve just added a couple new songs to their Myspace profile. I love “Out Of Your Head” and I expect you will too.

It’s amazing that here in Chicago(land), where there are more people than in all of Sweden, we can’t come up with a handful of bands to compete with all that Gothenberg has to offer. Why is that!?

Order the band’s EP by emailing them directly here – them_jacks@hotmail.com.

Out Of Your Head

I had a super busy weekend at Six Flags Great America so I’m afraid both of my sites might suffer a bit this week. Luckily the band Second Hand Rumors emailed me their new summertime single “Summer Night Tune”. What stands out to me on this song and from this band is the musicianship and the pop stylings. This song is taken from their 2008 release So Many Steps.

Summer Night Tune

Bye Bye Bicycle have made all the rounds on the indie pop blogs including posts by myself, indie mp3 and skatterbrain. But it’s been awhile since we last heard from them and they’re back for the summer of `08 with a retooled, even dreamier, sound. The band’s upcoming debut lp is called compass and it will feature this single.

“Eastside” is a bookend and a response to their song “Westside” from their first EP, I can only assume it refers to sections of their Gothenburg hometown. It’s these micro-geographical namedroppings that are so endearing to both locals and fans abroad as well. This song will leave preteen girls and 40-something fans of The Smiths and The Cure swooning.

Eastside

Bonus tracks

Westside
Black Spot

I occasionally bitch about getting too many pr, artist and label emails but for every 100 stinkers there’s a diamond in the rough. Today’s diamond comes from the bottom of the sea. Ossian Ekenger emailed me literally 10 minutes ago from Gothenberg suggesting his song “Sunset Shell” might sound nice on Swedesplease. After just a few listens to “Sunset Shell” it’s clear Ossian knows his way around an idie pop song and can croon with the best of them (riyl Jens Lekman, Joel Alme).

Check out the odd recorded voices and drum machine break down about halfway through “Sunset Shell”. Then keep listening for Ossian’s velvety and deep voice. It’s a pretty magical combination of way out experimental music and the sunny lounge pop of the 60′s. These songs are all taken from the nautically themed record The Famous Seashore Life.

Sunset Shell

Seahorse
Velvet Swimming Crab

The big news around here is that Swedesplease is going to get a slight overhaul in the next few days with the main change being a new custom header. It’s so cool and I can’t wait for you to see it. I’m inept at WordPress updates so it’s in the hands of my trusty web guy (Jason over at One Flower Media) so I hope it’ll be up soon.

Also here’s the new impromptu video from Mockingbird, Wish Me Luck. It’s the glorious single that I wrote about here that is now available on their debut record courtesy of Blow Up Records from the UK. You can listen to some of the new record here at Last.fm.

“Picture Too big To Fit” performed unplugged on a blustery day in Bristol along the canal

One of the bands I was most looking forward to seeing at Hultsfred was the all girl band Those Dancing Days. I’d heard in the past that their live show was somehow lacking and it’s no wonder since the girls can barely play their instruments. A guitar solo consists of a few plucked notes, while a keyboard solo means single fingered tapping. I hope this doesn’t make it seem like I didn’t like their set, because I did. In fact I loved it!

Girls (and it was mostly girls) in the front screamed and waved to their childhood friends on stage. The band (particularly the keyboard player) were clearly giddy with excitement to be playing Sweden’s largest summer festival. The guitarist was mostly shy and humble `til near the end when she ripped off her torn stockings and danced bare footed. Lisa (the lead singer) was the one with true star presence and she used her voice (and her looks) to great advantage.

Comparing Those Dancing Days joyful brand of indie pop to the more calculated dance pop of Luke Li proves that these girls, and not Lykke Li, should be the recipient of all that glowing foreign press.

Those Dancing Days – “Run Run”

I can’t help but have my musical tastes colored by the 80′s. That’s when I came of age. More and more it seems that that is also when a lot of Swedes came of age as well. That whole generation is forming pop bands or like Melodies In Mono going the one man band route.

This song is Myspace demo and maybe it won’t progress much further than these rough sketches. But even as a lofi, not-fully-fleshed-out recording this pop song (and the track or two on Myspace) does speak to me.

Malmoe

Did you notice I was gone on Monday? Did you even miss me? Anyway I was on posting sabbatical spending time finding more great music to post. No that’s not right, truth is we were updating to the shining new WordPress 2.5 platform. It went well thanks to One Flower Media. In response to this guy, I say yes, as a matter of fact I do have some more lovely Swedish music, some of the loveliest actually.

These songs from Staphan Obell floored me when I heard them a couple nights back. They blend the crooning Swedish pop style with the more forward busker style of the film Once. Staphan says people have been trying to peg him as a Coldplay knockoff or sounding a bit like Dylan. He says he’d more like to be Freddie Mercury at Wembley in `86 if that gives you a clue. More info at Staphan’s Myspace page here.

Fashion Street

Bonus

Just Like Me

Ironville is prepping their new record and they’ve decided to share the song “Roses” from it. I wrote about the eclectic 7 piece group first here.

This song is from the forthcoming lp Welcome To Ironville. If you like the idea of a bunch of Swedish women fronting a seriously energetic pop group, like a Swedish version of Tilly and the Wall, then Ironville may be for you.

Roses

Vit Päls has put together a limited edition compilation of his best songs from 2007/8. You know I’ve always liked his stuff (here, here, and here).

The band members listed on this recording are a who’s who of Swedish underground pop including Siri from Band In Box, Hans from Houses In Motion and Laban from Canarie Records. The layers of instruments and assorted percussion along with the “sha la la’s” and trumpet solo on the second song are worth the price of admission alone.

The disc is really only available by sending an email to carljohan_lundgren@hotmail.com.

Here’s two new songs from Vit Päls.

Translation please?

Trodde Jag Slutat Tro
Ryck Upp Dig Nu