I was stumbling around the net (Myspace in particular) and came across this band called MAKTHAVERSKAN. I have since learned they are signed to Luxury. Consider this your introduction to the new “it” band from Gothenburg. They are agitpop combined with postpunk and little bit of Joan Jett tunefulness.

German Boy

Carolina Wallin Pérez plays in or fronts literally half dozen groups in and around Stockholm. She has a solo record due out in the fall and a Kent cover available now as a single. But it’s her group with Kristin Amparo Sundberg called STRiKE that I’ve got for you today.

These demos are drum and bass, but not the techno version, it’s really just drum and bass (and vocals). I imagine when/if they get fleshed out a bit they’ll be a little more polished, but the energy is there and the song too. Enjoy!

It Would Do You Good

I’m really supposed to be previewing the Swedes at SXSW. But when I heard about this debut record from The Late Call being put out by the very fine German label Tapete everything else was put on the back burner.

The Late Call is really just one guy (+friends) from Stockholm named Johannes Maye. His debut record is called Leaving Notes and chronicles the long distance relationship he had with his girlfriend. The record and this song has an organic feel on account of the mostly acoustic instrumentation. He’s joined by Andreas Söderström (ASS, RUBIES, TAKEN BY TREES), Elias Åkesson (Stockholm’s ELIAS & THE WIZZKIDS), BJÖRN KLEINHENZ and Henrik Roger (GHOST OF TOM JOAD).

“Linnea” is an example of the gorgeous pop you can expect from The Late Call. Lots more info on this project here.

Linnea

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Bonus:

A band I’ve been writing about faithfully since 2006 (here, here) has been newly signed and minted by Labrador Records. I don’t think I should ignore them now that they’ve made it. So here’s their first single and the title track off Little big Adventure’s upcoming Labrador release.

The Hateful Eye

Bonus mp3:

Salt (Erik Hallden cover)
Everything’s Going to Be Alright

Fuglesang

You can get pretty jaded pretty fast doing a music blog. The daily deluge of PR emails, lame band recommendations and mp3 links is truly astounding. So it was refreshing to barely get an email that didn’t really contain an mp3 of the debut single off of Rena Rama first record. See, Rasmus Ek from the band acknowledged that he was crap with computers and didn’t know if the file he sent was an mp3 or not. It wasn’t (it was a goddamn .wma file). Anyway I converted it to an mp3, but that’s besides the point. The point is that here’s a band that has made the music first and foremost and not the marketing and promotion. You won’t hear about them on any other site, but this song is simply drop dead gorgeous.

“Klass 6B” is hard to quantify or pigeonhole. It’s very rhythmic without being over come with electronic beats. It’s very joyous too, but I expect the lyrics aren’t all sunshine and puppy dogs. Rasmus sites influences as diverse as Timbuktu (Swedish hip-hop artist), Laleh, Maia Hirasawa and The Beatles. But there’s clearly a touch of jazz and perhaps some Eastern European folk in “Klass 6b”. Add to that the children’s voices in the background, an umpa umpa tuba, a catchy sing-along section, and a muted trumpet and you have the Swedish song of the new year.

The band is unsigned out of Stockholm and is preparing to release their self-titled debut on January 27 with a release party and show that night at Debaser Slussen.

Klass 6b

The new record from Lowood is ready for pre-order. It will appeal to fans of The Primitives, Eurythmics, and even Blondie. The band is signed to NONS and they have set a March 25th street date. Here’s a couple of songs off it, including the single “Crash”.

Crash
Mess

I was on a Malmö kick a few weeks back and one of the bands I sneaked in with little comment was the group The Argument. As I said at the time the band is made up of members of Big Strong Union and Bakers At Dawn. These guys are all part of the unofficial Canarie Records co-op. The sound is either unstructured pop or tightly controlled experimental rock, pick your poison.

The new record Summer/Winter Nights is pretty rough production wise, but the energy and the songs on there point to good things in the future from this band

The Argument’s new record is now available in full from here.

The Air I Breathe

You can download a .zip of the new Bakers at Dawn record here or listen to a new song at their Myspace page. Here are the songs I like from each group.

First You See Me, First You Don’t

The Argument

Forget About The Politics

What do Bela Lugosi, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Alice Coltrane have in common? Not much I wouldn’t think but they are all listed as influences of the Malmo based group Death and Vanilla. This is the only song up on the band’s Myspace page but it’s a pretty good indication of what the band is capable of, as well as being an amalgamation of all their other influences (Nico, VU, Suicide, Current 93 and Sun Ra).

Run Rabbit Run

There were a couple of big developments when I was away last week. I wrote about the biggest yesterday (Hello Saferide anyone!?). And today I write about the most amusing. Adventure Kid released his remix/re-imagination of the new I’m From Barcelona song Music Almost Killed Me. Like his earlier work he has a knack for combing video game blips and beeps with disco beats and some pretty fine remixing.

Music Almost Killed Me (Adventure Kid Remix)