Posts Tagged ‘Sweden’

MOUNT SONG – ” Here It Goes “

Posted: June 21, 2017 in MUSIC
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With influences that range from the psychedelia of The Flaming Lips and MGMT to the more sombre likes of Jose Gonzalez, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and Jeff Buckley, Swedish singer-songwriter Jacob Johansson aka Mount Song has shared the second single from his new self-titled album.

Together with his band (Karl Vento, Knut Källgren, Lovisa Samuelsson) and co-producer Filip Leyman (Anna Von Hausswolff, Albert af Ekenstam, Det Stora Monstret), Jacob performs songs on the new self-titled album that describe and question the world we live in with an intensity, sincerity and an urgency so strong, they force you to stop and listen. His songs are poetic, political and have been described by some as relevant on a global, as well as common, existential plane.

Brought up on grunge, plus his rich influences this debut offers more than a glimpse into life, love, death and fear also seep into the subject matter and make for an emotional listen at times, however always giving way to an ultimate message of hope.

On the album’s subject matter, Jacob says: “I write about that which feels urgent to me, the things that knock me out; my encounters with life’s monsters. That which feels most urgent for me in the moment becomes the content of the songs. While incorporating an absorbing mix of traditional folk-indie tropes with tentative descents into psychedelia and more prog-inspired sounds, Jacob and his band have created an elusive, cinematic and pleasingly philosophical album that is bound to stay with you longer after you finish listening.

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Listen to the lovely, melancholy sweetness of Halo by Swedish singer-songwriter, Mount Song, that takes its inspiration from the likes of Elliott Smith, Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Jose Gonzalez. The track is about the sadness that accompanies dealing with life’s demons.

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Mount Song – Here It Goes

Jacob Johansson – Vocals and Electric guitar
Filip Leyman – Drums and synthesizers
Karl Vento – Electric guitar and organ
Knut Källgren – Bass

Words and Music by Jacob Johansson
Recorded by Filip Leyman in Studio Underlandet

HATER – ” Coming Down “

Posted: June 11, 2017 in MUSIC
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Malmö, Sweden indie pop quartet Hater is back with new single ‘Coming Down’, which premiered last night on Gorilla vs. Bear.

‘Coming Down’ was recorded during the sessions for the debut LP You Tried, which was released earlier this year, and was previously only available as a bonus track in Japan. Hater’s playing the Den bästa sommaren festival in Stockholm on June 23rd-24th and then Roskilde festival in Denmark the week after.

The band’s also set to release a new EP after the summer

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New single from Hater, taken from the You Tried sessions and previously only available as a Japanese bonus track.

JOSEFIN ÖHRN + The LIBERATION – ” Mirage “

Posted: May 15, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Taking their moniker from the notion of ‘Liberation Upon Hearing In The Between’ from the Tibetan Book Of The Dead, Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation’ took little time to make their mark on the wider world, brandishing a radiant sound that stands effortlessly apart from the increasingly staid and often paradoxically predictable world of modern psychedelia.

Having already been nominated for a Swedish Grammy with their debut EP, Diamond Waves, their full-length 2015 debut on Rocket Recordings, Horse Dance marked out a territory in which beguiling repetition could sashay with sweet pop suss, melodic flourishes with experimental intensity, and it was summarily rapturously received on arrival, making new fans like 6 Music’s Lauren Laverne and earning them appearances at Roskilde Festival and Eindhoven Psych Lab.

Yet clearly this was only the beginning of a journey of discovery ,and few would have guessed how the band’s sound would quickly evolve into still more enchanting and enlightening strains. Their second effort Mirage, which follows a mere year after its predecessor, sees the band sculpting sprawling, hypnotic jams into elegant nocturnal serenades with such serendipity that their actual creation remains a little hazy even to themselves. “We agree on not remembering very much about how these tracks came about, that all of them were written on the road and that most of them came fully formed” note the band. “Most were really long to begin with, but we found it relieving to break away a bit from the mandatory psych jams a little bit. We also just realised that none of them were written in daylight, which might be why memory is so elusive.”

Indeed, this hypnagogic approach seems to fit well with the primary inspiration for the five-piece, which centred on ‘the state where dreams, visions and the present are entwined’ – the domain of surrealists and mystics, not to mention cinematic epiphanies such as Morgiana, Daisies and Tarkovsky’s Solaris.

True to form, Mirage see the band taking a chic tradition of avant-pop that extends all the way from Serge Gainsbourg and Françoise Hardy to Broadcast and Saint Etienne, and warping it mercilessly to their own darker ends.

Whilst the brooding yet sultry ‘Sister Green Eyes’ is no less than a sharp slice of velveteen motorik-pop and ‘Looking For You’ reinvents three-chord garage-rock attack with mighty finesse, The Liberation are just as comfortable dealing out the heavy-lidded and electronically-driven ‘In Madrid’ or the dive in the hallucinatory deep end of ‘Circular Motion’, on which they’re aided and abetted by Lay Llamas’ Nicola Guinta.

Fresh excitement for the band lies in wait, courtesy of a UK tour with Goat and an appearance at Liverpool International Festival Of Psychedelia, yet amidst the psychic forces responsible for this kaleidoscopic effort who can say what will follow. “Horse Dance was very much about conjuring the strength needed to cut ties” the band elucidate. “Mirage may be about having left but having no clue what’s next – the power in being completely lost and thriving on it” Yet the seductive splendour of these ten songs åmake manifest a parallel world of disorientation and deliverance in which one would be a fool not to want to languish adrift.

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ROME IS NOT A TOWN – ” Stupid “

Posted: May 7, 2017 in MUSIC
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They’re a young band of women playing boisterous indie rock outfit from Gothenburg, Sweden. and I heard about them recently. It’s sorta post-Riot grrrl, post-No Wave, experimental music and completely engaging from beginning to end.”,  just listen to the track  ‘Stupid’

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HATER – ” You Tried “

Posted: March 28, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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It’s been a quick rise for Swedish indie pop quartet Hater. Formed last year by friends in Malmö, the band released an EP in July with PNKSLM Recordings (the label responsible for keeping Sweden weird, learning them comparisons ranging from The Pretenders to Alvvays. They now return to PNKSLM for their full length debut, proclaimed by many blogs, to be their favorite album of 2017 so far, citing frontwoman Caroline Landahl’s “gorgeous, achingly bittersweet vocals, perpetually swaying between comforting and devastating.” An assured and consistent record, “You Tried” blends jangle with grit.
Hater was formed this spring by Caroline Landahl, Måns Leonartsson, Adam Agace and Lukas Thomasson, all musicians based in Sweden’s third biggest city Malmö, just across the strait from Copenhagen, who’d all had their share of experience in other local acts before deciding to strike out as Hater. They quickly set to recording what would become their debut EP Radius, working with Joakim Lindberg, and soon signed with PNKSLM Recordings who released the EP in early July. Taking their musical cues from the likes of Alvvays, The Pretenders, Neil Young and The Radio Dept, all led by Landahl’s gorgeous vocals, Hater soon drew a lot of attention, including praise from international music publications.

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Among those to declare themselves fans were the band’s heroes in The Radio Dept. who asked them to open for them on their first Scandinavian tour in five years. After spending the summer and early fall recording “You Tried” while touring around Sweden and making their UK debut show in London, Hater will be touring with The Radio Dept. later this year ahead of a full UK and EU tour around the album release this spring. With You Tried Hater easily establishes themselves as Sweden’s most exciting new indie act, offering up a sound that’s both instantly accessible and grows with every listen.

MANY VOICES SPEAK – ” Video Child “

Posted: March 9, 2017 in MUSIC
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Already among some of our favourite new music of the year, Sweden’s Many Voices Speak takes another huge leap forward today with an alluring new video for “Video Child“, one of many stirring highlights from her exquisite debut EP, Away For All Time, which is out now via Hit City U.S.A. (North America) & Strangers Candy (Rest of the World).

Starring dancer/choreographer Emelie Markgren who interpreted her own routine for the song, and the new film clip, was made by Malin Norberg, who said: “When I heard Video Child for the first time, I instantly saw the environments I wanted the video to take place in. It got me a strong sense of both happiness and sadness, which was the feeling I wanted to convey.”

That balance between light and dark is a key characteristic of Matilda Mård’s work, her balletic voice drifting with a weightless sense of magic and then seemingly sagging under the poignancy of it all. Beautifully crafted, with a sumptuous production that adds extra layers of captivation to her work, Video Child is indicative of Mård’s tender skill – and you can watch the striking new video below right now.

JOSEFIN ÖHRN + The LIBERATION – ” The State (Im In) / Rushing Through My Mind (Al Lover Remix) “

Posted: February 23, 2017 in MUSIC
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‘The State (I’m In)’ is Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation’s second single from their new album ‘Mirage’.

After an amazing 2016 which saw the release of the bands 2nd album ‘Mirage’, the seductive splendour of these ten songs were jubilantly received across UK Radio’s BBC6 Music, climaxing in a Lauren Laverne BBC6 Live session and a full tour support with fellow Swedes ‘Goat’.

The State (I’m In) has a sense of disorientation that marries a kaleidoscopic aesthetic with a panoramic sensibility, it’s overdriven organ motif radiance is offset by hypnotic rhythmic drive that steadily pulsates throughout.

The track encircles as if the The Doors were jettisoned in a floatian tank with Spacemen 3/ Suicide, Josefin’s luscious vocals fluctuating like an enchanted mantra until every single atom has fallen into perfect alignment and formed perfect shape.

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The B side features a Remix by Al Lover of the bands classic ‘Rushing Through My Mind’, this time forging the ethereal sound of the original layered with strings and some really funky Kraut-Disco basslined grooves.

‘Mirage’ is currently available worldwide & the single ‘The State (I’m In) / Rushing Through My Mind (Al Lover Remix)’ is released digitally on 16th December, both are released via Rocket Recordings.

Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation will be embarking on a UK tour throughout March 2017.

HATER – ” Cry Later “

Posted: February 16, 2017 in NOTTINGHAM CITY VENUES
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Talk to anyone about Hater and you’ll soon realised how special they are. The Malmö four-piece (Caroline Landahl, Måns Leonartsson, Adam Agace and Lukas Thomasson) only released their debut EP, “Radius”, last summer, but it was clear to anyone who heard those three songs of sharp, crystalline indie that they’d captured something precious in them.

We have already mentioned the band before but its great to premiere another track from the Indie band Sweden’s Hater  , taken from the group’s wonderful forthcoming LP “You Tried”, its due out next monthon the Stockholm label PNKSLM Recordings. Like the previous singles from the new record  “Mental Haven” “Had It All” and now “Cry Later” is a very good lovelorn indie-pop song that’s elevated to greatness by Caroline Landahl‘s gorgeous, pining vocals, which radiate with a warmth and fragile strength that destroys all of the feels every time. “You Tried” is out 10th March.

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BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – ” Sweden Broadcast Olympic Stadium 1988 “

Posted: February 9, 2017 in MUSIC
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DYNAMIC LATE 1980S BROADCAST FROM THE TUNNEL OF LOVE TOUR For Bruce Springsteen, the 1980s were as turbulent as they were rewarding and accomplished. The release of 84 s Born In The U.S.A. and the quintuple live LP collection Live/1975-85 were met with the kind of success very few music artists ever achieve. Selling in excess of 50 million copies combined (and counting), their respective triumphs and the subsequent media frenzy pushed Springsteen onto rock s top table, and between 15th June and 10th August 1985, every one of his seven studio albums featured on the UK Albums Chart, the first time in history that an artist s entire catalogue had charted simultaneously. His 1980s output concluded on a surprisingly sombre note however, with the release of Tunnel Of Love in 1987, an album on which Springsteen recorded most of the instruments himself with only occasional appearances from members of the E Street Band. The tone was more subdued than his mid-decade output, reflecting on his failing marriage to Julianne Phillips through slower, reflective ballads. But, while nowhere near as successful as Born… or Live…, the record still garnered a respectable four million sales worldwide. In 1988, Springsteen and the E Street Band embarked on the Tunnel Of Love Express Tour, which further bemused his faithful audience. In comparison to the Born In The U.S.A. Tour, each show began more theatrically with the band entering to the sound of a five piece horn section. The band s usual positions on the stage were switched, and backing vocalist Patti Scialfa – whose relationship with Springsteen would be made public during the European leg of the tour – took centre stage. Spontaneous onstage antics were also kept to a minimum. Many of Springsteen’s most popular live numbers were dropped completely from his now shorter sets, replaced by a selection of B-sides, previously unreleased tunes and covers. In spite of this though, the shows were warmly received by critics and fans alike, with Springsteen s Rocking The Wall performance in East Germany on 19th July, before an audience of 300,000, becoming recognised as one of the most historically important concerts of the era. The gig included on this CD was recorded on 3rd July 88 at Stockholm s Olympic Stadium. Simultaneously broadcast across FM radio in exceptional audio quality, Springsteen mixes some older numbers – The River , Adam Raised A Cain , Born In The U.S.A. – with a selection from Tunnel Of Love, as well as playing covers from the likes of John Lee Hooker and Edwin Starr. The result, which thanks to this release can now be heard by all, is a truly dynamic, albeit unconventional, live performance by Bruce and the E Street-ers.

JOSEFIN OHRN and the LIBERATION – ” Sister Green Eyes “

Posted: January 27, 2017 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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To coincide with their upcoming tour (see dates below), Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation will be releasing a gorgeous, reworked version of their sultry album track, Sister Green Eyes, this will be the band’s third single from last year’s excellent album Mirage.

Sister Green Eyes sensuously throbs to a more Eastern drive, with an sedated Velvet’s droned melody, and a fluctuating groove straight out of the CAN little black book.

Part tribal, part gothic groove and richly hypnotic, the track was inspired by the Japanese word “Shinrinyoku” which is sometimes translated and often described as “Forest Bathing”, where submersing oneself so deeply into the atmosphere of the forest or in the band’s case, the Swedish ‘Ocean and Mountains’, that the experience is rejuvenating and restorative so showing you a way that can often seem lost or out of reach and Josefin’s breathless, broken vocals encapsulate that.

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The single will be released on Rocket Recordings on 24th February (digital only).

Tour Dates 

24 Feb / Nottingham / Nottingham Contemporary
25 Feb / Liverpool / Liverpool Central Library
26 Feb / Newcastle / The Cluny
28 Feb / Glasgow / Broadcast
1 March / Manchester / The Soup Kitchen
2 March / Leeds / The Brudenell Social Club
3 March / Bristol / Louisiana
4 March / London / Moth Club
5 March / Brighton / Haunt
6 March / Oxford / The Bullingdon
7 March / Birmingham / Hare & Hounds

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