Swedesplease – The Swedish Music Blog

Something happened to The Second Band. They admit as much when they say on their homepage that “There has been some major changes in the band. Some has left and one is all new. We’re currently not sure exactly how many persons this band exists…”. Prior to this new record the band received some amount of good press, near fame with a song placement on Grey’s Anatomy and significant blog buzz. I think all of that may have pushed the band in a slightly new direction. The songs I’ve heard (below) are more challenging, less likable and at times nearly discordant.

That’s not to say there isn’t much to love. At one time I questioned whether The Second Band wasn’t the greatest Sweden had to offer. Hearing these two songs off of the upcoming lp the definite form and sensing a new, more serious, direction from the band makes that still a relevant question. On “The Funeral At Sea” the lead singer half moans/half screams at various times during the song; where before horns were used as a celebratory effect, here they are mournful or by the conclusion of the song they are down right dirge-like in effect. On “The Urgency of Now” the music is not as somber and is nearly uplifting, but now the lyrics have taken a turn for the worse with lines like “the cancer in my head still grows, doctors say that they don’t know why the pills I get aren’t making me well” and “I can’t seem to get my melody straight, it seems to worsen each time I play”. True, the song’s chorus of “I couldn’t get out of bed, to clean up my head, couldn’t get out of bed” is catchy, but it still conveys a sense of loss and despair bordering on depression.

No, this is not your run-of-the-mill Swedish indie pop. Yes, the band has changed and possibly for the better! More info here soon or at the band’s label – Orange Grammofon.

The Urgency Of Now
The Funeral At Sea

Sakert (aka Anika Norlin, aka Hello Saferide) has released the new single, “Det kommer bara leda till nåt ont”, from her soon to award winning self-titled debut on Razzia. She’s started a bit of a contest online for the best fan created video; my Swedish isn’t great but I think these gals are either in the running or may have already won. It’s cute, but what did you expect? Check out that Johnny Marr guitar riff throughout.

Not sure how long this has been circulating but here’s an unreleased demo of a song called “Faller Isär” that’s not on her debut. It’s incredibly upbeat but my guess is the lyrics are anything but.

Faller Isär

If Swedesplease (and all these other pretenders…just kidding guys!) were around in 2003 we’d all have been falling head over heels for Second-Hand Furniture. The band played a couple gigs, released some singles and an ep or two and were just generally indie popsters around town.

The Peruvian based (Yes, Peru!) Plastilina Records will be compiling all their music including two unreleased songs in a upcoming 2008 release called Game, Set, Match. Here’s three songs off that upcoming record; the first two from a 2005 7″ EP called Everything Will Fall and the last one from their self-titled 2004 debut EP on Yellow Mica.

Nice Try Sunshine
Hard To Distinguish
People Like You

Band members went on to form groups like Thirst For Treasure, Punktslut and Mr. Pedro. Just for kicks here’s two songs from Thirst For Treasure now based in London but still churning out Swedish indie pop.

I Want To Shoplift Your Heart
Downsize My Path To Everything

And something new from Mr Pedro plus his remix of My Darling You!

VS 4theKix Lets XXX
Please Don’t Talk To Me I Fall In Love Too Easily (Mr. Pedro remix of the My Darling You! “hit”)

Chuck Morgan describes his music on his MySpace page as Spanish Pop. This may be an in-joke but there is a hint of truth in that statement as these songs do have a touch of romantic Spanish acoustic guitar in certain sections. Chuck Morgan is from Gothenburg, a city that seems to be as romantic as any in Europe or Scandinavia so perhaps I’m just adding the romance based on that. Chuck Morgan is working toward putting out his debut ep tentatively titled Spring, Sprang, Sprung.

These songs are rough little indie pop gems that combine a bunch of influences with a number of different sounds (Spanish guitar, electronic beats, emo, folk). Chuck puts it best when he writes: “I hope you tolerate my clumsiness and find something of value here…” We do Chuck. We do.

Talent For Luck
We May Even Bloom
Reveries and Reveries

Springfactory has a new record, their full-length self-titled debut, out on Nebraska’s own Series Two Records now. The record is a combination of their first two eps and a couple new songs.

Springfactory is a duo consisting of lead singer Lina who is also in the band The Big Picture and Peter from Suburban Kids With Biblical Names. They play a loose style of lofi indie power pop. Which means lots of fast guitar strummings and an incessant beat.

No More
Get Out Of Bed

Songs from The Big Picture:

A Good Start
I Wonder What they’re Doing Now

“It Will Be Back” is as close to a perfect pop song as it gets. Indie pop mind you. Bonne Idée is the group that came up with the great idea (sorry I couldn’t resist!) to record this song. The band was all female until one member quit and now they have Victor on bass. The number of women in this group and their slightly under-produced sound reminds me of that other Swedish girl group – Those Dancing Days. On “It Will Be Back” the group flits back and fourth between English and French before a cascading chorus of overdubbed “Bababababa’s” and high pitched squeels end the song.

Email the band through their MySpace to order a copy of their new disc.

It Will Be Back

Bonus video from Those Dancing Days – “Hitten”

If any of you are (Swedish) record collectors than you might like to know that James Ausfahrt’s new vinyl-only release could well be your holy grail. I’ve written about his stuff here and here. The new one, Party For The Arty People, has just been released in Sweden and is only available from a small number of select local retailers.

What characterizes these songs as something different are the irreverent lyrics and the odd mixture of casio beats and guitar strumming. For instance “Lucy Ferocious” starts with a blast of electronic feedback and then quickly morphs into lofi bedroom pop a la Jonathan Richman meets Jens Lekman. Buy it here at Open Field.

Lucy Ferocious

P.S. I’ll be away for a week on Thanksgiving break. So you may not hear from me again until next Monday.

When I’m old and infirm and sitting in some retirement home somewhere in Arizona blabbering away about the Swedish mp3 blog I used to run I’m sure I’ll struggle to remember 99% of the bands I’ve covered. However, there are a handful I think I’ll never forget. And Blood Music is safely in that handful.

Blood Music’s Sing A Song Fighter was one of my favorite releases in the past couple of years regardless of genre or country of origin. I expect Blood Music’s follow up to that debut, Don Quite, to be as good, if not better. You can hear a song or two streaming on MySpace but Swedesplease is the only place you’ll get to download a song from Don Quite before it’s November 28 release date.

Lead singer and sole band member Karl-Jonas Winqvist sings in a lilting sing-songy voice that is not that far removed from the crooning style of Jens Lekman. His Swedish accent is strong and lends to the charm/exotic nature of these songs. “Eagles In The Water” is a tipsy-topsy song where nothing is quite as it seems. In the song there are “sharks in the air” and “eagles in the water” and a chorus of “hold on, hold on” sung as if his life depends on it. Karl Jonas described the recording session for Don Quite as “quick and mostly live in this tiny old analogue studio in Stockholm”. The record becomes available through mailorder and iTunes on November 28. Blood Music is opening for Scout Niblet on Dec. 9 at Debaser and Of Montreal on Dec. 10 at Medis – if that gives you any indication of the bands stature and range.

Keep checking back on the Make It Happen homepage for ordering info or stay tuned here for more info in the coming weeks. Without further ado here’s “Eagles In The Water”:

Eagles In The Water

Normally I wouldn’t write about a band like The Shout Out Louds. I’d be a little turned off by their overexposure on other blogs, the relentless good press, and the obvious machinations of the pr machine of a band that size. But it’s hard not to be charmed by their playful new record Our Ill Wills. The fun that they seem to be having with their music, in their tour photos, and in videos is catchy and reminds me of any number of films from Wes Anderson.

The other reason The Shout Out Louds became a must-mention on Swedesplease is that the band is passing through Chicago on their North American tour. They play October 19 at Logan Square Theater with Swedish opening act Johnossi. “Tonight I Have To Leave It” sounds like the Echo and The Bunnyman single that that reunited band has been trying to record for the last twenty years, could even be the lost b-side outtake from Oceans?!

Tonight I Have To Leave It (downloadable iPod/iPhone ready .mov file)

Johnossi:

Man Must Dance (Courtesy of FreeIndie.com)

The Shout Out Louds “The Comeback”

The Shout Out Louds “Please Please Please”

I’d like to post something new and daring. Like new Jens, some b-side or other. But the song that’s burning a hole in my brain is “If We Just Want To” by Juni Järvi. This is off his 2006 record Wherever Thou Art, which as far as I can tell was criminally overlooked when it was first released. The record is now available in the states through CD Baby here and the song above is a free download from his site. The band seems to be on a bit of hiatus (not much updated either on the homepage or MySpace) but it’ll be good to hear something new from Juni Järvi in the future.

“If We Wanted To” has that peepy Pelle Carlberg pop sound but the vocals are a beat behind and always trying to catch up. No matter how sunny the music appears there is still a maudlin undertone that seeps through.

If We Wanted To

“The Stars Above Indian Lake” video