Swedesplease – The Swedish Music Blog

We’re back. The mighty international music blogging conglomerate known as MAP (Music Alliance Pact) is back with a new batch of songs from around the world.

AMERICA: I Guess I’m Floating
4 Lands & Peoples – Awake
Baltimore-based Lands & Peoples seem to have a knack for hypnotherapy. With a commanding ethereal ambience and gorgeous catatonic tensions throughout, Awake is an eye-opener from start to finish. You’ll ask, “How have I not heard of them?” and “I can’t believe they aren’t signed!” Well, believe it. There’s an album in the works coming out later this year (perhaps self-released), but for now you can listen to more gems at their MySpace page.

ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
4 Les Mentettes Orchestra – Hold On
Les Mentettes is a psychedelic pop band who just released a five-song EP with orchestral arrangements conducted by former Orquesta de Salón member Manuloop. It’s a free release so if you like Hold On you can legally download the other tracks as well. They are currently playing this record live with a full orchestra in several venues around Buenos Aires.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
4 Jonathan Boulet – A Community Service Announcement
I only recently discovered the very talented Jonathan Boulet’s music online, and upon hearing this song immediately purchased his album from iTunes. It is simply amazing that the 20-year-old produced and recorded everything himself in his garage. Big future for this guy.

BRAZIL: Meio Desligado
4 A Banda de Joseph Tourton – #3
A Banda de Joseph Tourton only have a few songs on the internet and released a digital EP last year, but they are already one of the most interesting of the new generation of alternative groups in Brazil. They create instrumental songs full of groove, emotion and originality, making the next step in mangue beat’s (a musical movement from Brazil’s northeast) history, going through post-rock, jazz and their regional culture influences.

CANADA: I(Heart)Music
4 Green Go – Brains For Breakfast
For a year or two now, my friends in Toronto have been raving about Green Go to me and now that their debut album, Borders, is out, it’s easy to see why. As songs like Brains For Breakfast show, the band create infectiously catchy pop with shouted group vocals and bouncy riffs that sound like they’d make for a big, sweaty blast of fun in concert.

CHILE: Super 45
4 Mutrone – Bristol
A mix of experimentation, psychedelia and improvisation are the foundation elements from which Mutrone build solid sound walls comprising samples, effects and a dynamic reminiscent of the machine-like structures of krautrock. With two albums, Oscillatore and Centinela, both released under a Creative Commons licence, the four guys in Mutrone have discovered an exciting way to bring the real sounds of the city into the machine.

DENMARK: All Scandinavian
4 Sinusstøv – Who Am I?
The translation of their name is “Sinus Dust” but there’s nothing at all dusty about Claus Pedersen and Søren Friis Dam’s musical output. Who Am I? is lush, sweeping and crackling electro, showered in the melancholy Scandinavians have to live with and everybody else finds moving. Another grand testament to the incredibly healthy state of Danish electronica.

ENGLAND: The Daily Growl
4 Blue Roses – Doubtful Comforts
Another month and I’m sticking with all thinks folky, although we’re leaving London for Shipley in Yorkshire which is the home of Laura Groves. She has recently rebranded herself as Blue Roses and released an amazing self-titled album (on XL). Of all the young folky female artists I’ve enthused about here and on my blog, she’s possibly the best.

FINLAND: Glue
4 Delay Trees – Desert Island Song
Indie-pop quartet Delay Trees have just self-released their seven-song debut CD, Soft Construction EP. Desert Island Song is the opening track and the beginning of a dreamy trip through tender pop melodies and bits of psychedelia. It is a very promising start for these guys.

FRANCE: ZikNation
4 Walter – Le Dernier Bastion
In the beginning, they were two, playing in parks, festivals and concert halls. Six years and three musicians later, Walter keeps riding French roads offering a tasty blend of reggae, blues and folk, spreading messages of love, respect and peace. They’ll be back in studio by the end of the year to record their next album.

GERMANY: Blogpartei
4 Schlachthofbronx – Good To Go
Schlachthofbronx defined a whole new genre called Munich bass. This bastard relies heavily on Kuduro, baile funk, dub and dancehall but also likes to play with elements of Bavarian folk and synthpop. Good To Go has never been released officially but turned on the crowd at their sweaty gigs all over central Europe.

ICELAND: I Love Icelandic Music
4 Retro Stefson – Papa Paulo III (Re-edit version)
Retro Stefson was founded in late 2006 by a group of eight teenagers, school friends from Austurbæjarskóli. They write catchy, semi-pop/semi-rock crossover songs and give great live performances. Last year the band released their debut album Montaña on the Icelandic Kimi Records label. The band’s principal songwriter is Unnsteinn Manual Stefánsson. The lyrics are in English, Spanish and Icelandic.

IRELAND: Nialler9
4 Super Extra Bonus Party – Radar
The first single from Super Extra Bonus Party’s second album Night Horses sees them joined by Cadence Weapon on a stomping live band/electro-hop crossover. It’s a good indication of a band who don’t like to stick to genres for too long. Night Horses also features pop, acoustic folk, instrumental rock and electronic goodness with guest vocals from Mr. Lif, R.S.A.G., May Kay of Fight Like Apes, Ann Scott and Heathers.

ITALY: Polaroid
4 Buzz Aldrin – Small Bad Talk With Koala Friends
Obsessive rhythms, nagging guitars, alienated voices, dirty synths and strangely beautiful songs that are greater than the sum of their parts. Think of Liars, think of Wire, think of Pere Ubu, or don’t think: just dance. This young trio show a driving strength when on stage and they are improving with every gig.

MEXICO: Club Fonograma
4 Mr. Racoon – Ferry 3
Mr. Racoon is one of several projects by Roberto Polo, among them 60 Tigres and Fuck Her, Or The Terrorists Win. This is by far his most charming moment yet. His music unfolds the very best of a prolific songwriter that, as opposed to what his music may sound like, is a maximalist taking the lo-fi production and his shimmering voice to heroic amplitudes. Ferry 3 is a cut from his third album Katy, released earlier this year through the free storage music website Delhotel Records.

NEW ZEALAND: Counting The Beat
4 The Sing Songs – Pamphlet Baby
The Sing Songs sing songs, saccharine sweet pop songs. What gives them their staying power are the lyrics. Where you might expect girl loves boy, boy loves girl, instead you get the story of a woman dealing with the death of her baby by walking the streets with a pram, delivering pamphlets. To date the band don’t have any releases but this song has been included on a compilation issued by Real Groove magazine to celebrate New Zealand music month.

NORWAY: Eardrums
4 Maribel – Flesh & Blood
Oslo-based Maribel released their long-awaited and brilliant debut Aesthetics only a few days ago, and the Norwegian critics gave them full scores in the reviews. The band play dreamy, noise-drenched, multi-layered shoegaze with almost psychedelic elements. There are obvious references in their sound to bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Spacemen 3, Pale Saints and even The Velvet Underground, but Maribel definitely do their own thing and they do it their own way. Maribel and Aesthetics is highly recommended, and will be this Norwegian blogger’s soundtrack to the spring of 2009.

PERU: SoTB
4 Diablos Azules – Porno Music
It is time for a classic night: trumpets, breaks, ska and contagious melodies that immerse people in the most insane of their intentions. It is perhaps no surprise the band are called Diablos Azules (“Blue Devils”). Porno Music is the best legacy of their existence – an old song which is still fresh and gets revived every time someone goes to a party in Lima.

PORTUGAL: Posso Ouvir Um Disco?
4 The TiMaria – Pretty Girls Are Pretty High
Last year, a man was organizing a gig with a three-band bill but had just two booked. When he was creating the poster, he made up the name TiMaria and included this fictitious group as the third act of the night. (Un)fortunately, he didn’t erase the name before the posters went to press and ended up with a stock of paper to throw away. However, he persuaded his friends, André Moinho and Nuno Rancho, who live in small villages around the city of Leiria, to form a band in 15 days so that he could use the posters and save the planet. And so, with the addition of Nuno’s younger brother, Luis Jerónimo, The TiMaria (“Aunt Maria”) was born. Their debut record will be released in September or October.

ROMANIA: Babylon Noise
4 Semiosis – Recovery
Semiosis is the post-rock/ambient/electronic project of Seidiu Alexandru and Serban Ilicevici, two young guys from Craiova. They have just released their debut album, Pictural, and it has received a lot of positive feedback. Pictural is considered the first Romanian post-rock album and is available for free download here – it’s a must if you enjoy listening to this preview.

SCOTLAND: The Pop Cop
4 Boycotts – Beat On The Dancefloor
Boycotts have been in existence for barely a year but it’s still no surprise they’ve got people in Scotland very excited indeed. The Glasgow-based quartet’s edgy guitar-pop pushes all the right buttons, but the ace in the pack is their enchanting frontlady, Stina Twee, all youthful exhuberance and ‘don’t screw with me’ lyrics.

SINGAPORE: I’m Waking Up To…
4 The Fire Fight – Fires At Night
The Fire Fight are an indie-rock band that have set the local scene on fire with their firebranded musicality and heartfelt lyrics. Fires At Night is the first track from their demo, The Green EP. Brandishing straight-up indie guitar rock that combines the intensity of Bloc Party and the poetic ebb and flow of The One AM Radio, Fires At Night draws the listener into its warmth and, like a slow burning furnace, purifies the experience. Perhaps the best thing about The Fire Fight is their lyrical optimism in a world spiraling into nihilism, as singer Josh Tan pleads that music is for “the hope that burns in your eyes”.

SOUTH KOREA: Indieful ROK
4 Stretching Journey – 060
Post-punk band Stretching Journey put out a self-titled album on its own last month. The band is not afraid to blend a plethora of genres into their music and as a consequence of the lo-fi production, several of their songs ended up with a slight psychedelic edge. The album opens with 060, which has a progression and a beat influenced by Los Bunkers, whereas the style of the chorus is inspired by Korean dance-pop act Koyote.

SPAIN: La Página De La Nadadora
4 Sundae – Arte y Ensayo
The Field Mice, My Bloody Valentine, The Radio Dept. and The Cure are four good references for this band who have even been namechecked by the famous label Shelflife with their second demo. Sundae are like the best shoegaze pop inherited from Sarah Records, but this time from Seville.

SWEDEN: Swedesplease
4 Robert Svensson – I Was Summer, You Were
I can’t tell you one quaint biographical detail about Robert Svensson – he’s a mystery to me. But I am now an instant fan on the strength of “I Was Summer, You Were”. The song exists to share these two sets of lyrics: “I was summer and you were November” and “I was architecture and you were the wrecking ball”.

To download all 25 songs in one file click here.

Another great batch of songs from the blogger of MAP. There’s some amazing songs below – chenk `em out.

AMERICA: I Guess I’m Floating
4 Thing One – Mop Yards
New Jersey’s Thing One have been on my radar since last year when I first heard a few tracks from their debut album You’ll Be Fine. Mop Yards brings traces of The Smiths and ELO into the new millennium with strange electronic warbles and dancey synth patches. Singer Joey Palestina creates a veritable summer anthem with the repeated line, “The heat is non-stop, hide the women in cop cars”. Whatever that means, Joey, I feel ya.

ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
4 Chau Fan – Boletos De Tren
Chau Fan is a boy-girl indie folk (or anti-folk?) duo from Buenos Aires, starring Micaela Quinteros and Marcelo Lares. They both sing and play acoustic guitar, and in this particular song Micaela does a charming harmonica solo. Boletos De Tren will be part of Zonaindie’s new compilation which features five songs from artists who have never had the chance to record in a professional studio (we invited them to the studio and helped them record). So consider this a MAP exclusive premiere.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
4 Lisa Mitchell – Coin Laundry
So, yeah, this could easily be an iPod Nano commercial, but catchy accessibility is hardly a terrible quality for a song to have. Who really expected a former Australian Idol finalist to produce anything of worth? This is a lovely song and I hope it gets overplayed.

BRAZIL:Meio Desligado
4 Hurtmold – Música Política Para Maradona Cantar
There is no other band like Hurtmold. You have to listen and feel it. It’s more than music, it’s an experience.

CANADA:I(Heart)Music
4 Dinosaur Bones – NYE
Dinosaur Bones are currently attracting all sorts of interest on the back of their debut EP, and this song makes it easy to see why. They blend together The National’s world-weariness and a very English-sounding pop sensibility, with the end result something that’s entirely their own.

CHILE: Super 45
4 The Same Sky – We Sleep Under The Same Sky
The Same Sky is the music project of Joseph Simon, a 15-year-old Chilean who was born in Canada. It is precisely this biographic fact that can define his music – warm guitar sounds of slow rhythm alongside a smooth voice heavily influenced by bands such as Beirut, Arcade Fire and The National. The recent release of his first album (Two Hearts / Apart Under The Same Sky) supports this feeling of songs as a perfect soundtrack for winter days spent at home, enjoying the natural melancholy.

DENMARK: All Scandinavian
4 Ruhan Daisy – We Know You
There’s quite a bit of post-rock going on in Scandinavia these days, one brilliant act being this Danish quintet. It’s grandiose, funky with bits of (acid) jazz thrown into the mix and sports an equilibristic sense of detail. Ruhan Daisy’s crowning achievement, however, is their catchy pop sensibility driving the complex compositions out of nerd-country into the mainstream. At least that’s how it should be.

ENGLAND: The Daily Growl
4 Alessi’s Ark – The Horse
Alessi’s Ark is west London teenage sensation Alessi Laurent-Marke and here is the single version of The Horse from the Mike Mogis-produced new album, out next month.

FINLAND: Glue
4 Palma – Ride Around
After a couple of years in the making, Helsinki band Palma recently released their debut album Be Bold And Mighty Forces Will Come To Your Aid. Palma refers to an old soda drink in Finland and the band, indeed, produce some refreshing indie-pop songs, rooted in the classic sounds of the 70s, and with a danceable groove. It’s retro and modern. For fans of The Soundtrack Of Our Lives and Supergrass.

FRANCE: SoundNation
4 Sundogs – So Close
Sundogs are a French band who live in London but play in both England and France. The group is made up of two guys – bassist Jeff (“le petit blond”) and Pierre on guitar. The other musicians are French or English guests, depending on where they are playing.

GERMANY: Blogpartei
4 Lali Puna – Nin-Com-Pop
Lali Puna is another band from the great Weilheim circle led by Valerie Trebeljahr. Established in 1998, I consider them to have a higher creative potential than recently featured The Notwist, where her boyfriend and Lali Puna fellow Markus Acher is playing. Nin-Com-Pop is a song from their second album Scary World Theory. A new record will be released later this year.

ICELAND: I Love Icelandic Music
4 Lay Low – Last Time Around
Lovísa Elísabet Sigrúnardóttir is a 26-year-old half-Sri Lankan, half-Icelandic singer, born in London. She sings under the name Lay Low and her music is a combination of blues, folk and country. This year, Lovísa has already supported Emiliana Torrini on tour and signed a record deal with Nettwerk. Last Time Around is on her third solo album, Farewell Good Night’s Sleep.

IRELAND: Nialler9
4 202s – Ease My Mind
There was a general air of being caught unaware in the Irish media and bloggers when this duo’s debut landed on their desks. Without any gigs and already signed to French label Le Son Du Maquis, their charming Primal Scream and Broadcast-indebted indie-pop has skipped a few hurdles without skipping on the tunes.

ITALY: Polaroid
4 Gazebo Penguins – Wallabees
A punk band that quotes Alfred Korzybski? Yes, please. The Name Is Not The Named is the title of Gazebo Penguins’ new album and it’s full of powerful hardcore in the style of At The Drive-In, with a nod to Motorpsycho. Sharp guitars, heavy rhythms, driving choruses and smart attitude.

MEXICO: Club Fonograma
4 Mexican Institute Of Sound – Reventon
Mexican Institute of Sound is a solo project by the multi-talented Camilo Lara. He just released his third album Soy Sauce, another celebration of Mexico’s traditional music fused with funky tunes, electronica and the genre that’s getting ready to shake the world again, cumbia. MIS is an explosive adventurous musical ride of our rich culture. They are preparing to perform at this year’s Coachella festival and with songs like Reventon, it is sure to get the fiesta up in wild spirit.

NEW ZEALAND: Counting The Beat
4 Three Legged Horse – Red
Red is the opening track on Down, the debut album of Three Legged Horse, a trio from Waiheke Island, around 20km offshore from Auckland. The band bring together the grungy dark introspection of lyricist/vocalist Bede Taylor, the smooth powerful vocals of Gina Higham and the musicality of Aaron Carpenter into a combination much greater than the sum of its parts. Red is a good intro to an extraordinary album that melds acoustic country blues with dirty guitar and vocal grit and growls.

NORWAY: Eardrums
4 Dylan Mondegreen – Animal (Hiawata! cover)
For this month’s MAP I will present not one Norwegian act, but two. The performing artist here is Dylan Mondegreen, one of my absolute favourites in Norway. He is currently working on his second album, which should be released later this year. The song he sings is written by another favourite of mine, an indie-pop band from Oslo called Hiawata!. Mondegreen’s cover of their song Animal was a b-side on Valley Boys, the first single from their second album, These Boys And This Band Is All I Know, due out soon on SellOut! Music.

PERU: SoTB
4 Autobus – Volver
Autobus formed in Lima in 2006 and released their debut album last year. Although they have a clear rock essence, they have electronic influences and a pop touch which sets them apart from their peers, so much so that many people are surprised by where they come from. They have made a good impression abroad, achieving their aim of drawing attention to the local scene.

PORTUGAL: Posso Ouvir Um Disco?
4 The Clits – Lay Low
If there was a such a genre as electro-psychic-punk-rock-pop, The Clits would be the kings. It all started in 2006 when Carlos (guitars, keyboards and backing vocals) invited Ana Leorne (vocals) to form an electro-punk project, influenced by the riot grrrl movement and some of their favourite artists such as Joy Division, Bauhaus, Nina Hagen and Suspicious (another Portuguese electro-punk project). Their first record, The World Is A Mess But My Hair Is Perfect EP, was released in December 2007.

ROMANIA: Babylon Noise
4 Persona – Momentary Lack Of Passion
Inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s movie Persona, this band belongs to the new generation of Romanian musicians that bloomed after the anti-communist revolution of December 1989. The group’s members have been involved in the music scene since then, playing in several acts before forming Persona. Their music is, indeed, one of British influence but cannot be strictly labelled – the musical background and influences of each of the members, refined by experience and artistic maturity, blend together in the Persona genre.

SCOTLAND: The Pop Cop
4 There Will Be Fireworks – Foreign Thoughts
Bands of the calibre of There Will Be Fireworks are far too rare, but that’s not a bad thing because you’ll end up appreciating them all the more. Although TWBF seem like the perfect new students in Scotland’s renowned post-rock school, their take on the genre is far more moving and lyrically impassioned than anything that has gone before them. Foreign Thoughts, taken from the Glaswegians’ forthcoming eponymous debut album, has the beautiful intensity of a Band Of Horses classic and will stay with you long after its three-and-a-half minutes are up.

SINGAPORE: I’m Waking Up To…
4 Astreal – Snowflake
Some may say that when you’re in love, the stars align. For Astreal, love is more of a cosmic collision course between stars and planetary bodies. In the unassumingly titled Snowflake, there lies so much destructive potential in a love so intense that, yes, even “the stars, they burn for you”. Taken from their second album Fragments Of The Same Dead Star, the song combines the melodic infatuations of shoegaze with the aural impudence of noise-rock for a blistering and haunting love song that almost borders on maniacal obsession. Is this love? That’s for you to decide.

SOUTH KOREA: Indieful ROK
4 Toxicbiasfleurivy – Parallel Assembly
GDM duo Toxicbiasfleurivy might not be the obvious choice for MAP but their latest album, Particles, provided an interesting exception from my usual listening when it was released late March. Electronic, experimental and pretty much the opposite of easy listening, the listener is advised to enjoy astral emotions while digesting this music inspired by quantum physics.

SPAIN: El Blog De La Nadadora
4 Anntona – Nunca Es Tarde
Apart from his membership in the band Los Punsetes, Manu has a solo project called Anntona, in which he makes the best pop songs imaginable. He has just released his second album, En La Cama Con Anntona (“In Bed With Anntona”) which contains 10 fizzy and addictive pop pearls such as opening track Nunca Es Tarde.

SWEDEN: Swedesplease
4 The Late Call – Linnea
The Late Call is really just one guy (and friends) from Stockholm named Johannes Maye. His debut album, Leaving Notes, 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. Linnea is a perfect example of the gorgeous pop you can expect from The Late Call.

To download all 25 songs in one file click here.