Posts Tagged ‘Sweden’

ORACLE NORTH – ” Communion “

Posted: December 5, 2015 in MUSIC
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Oracle North have released their new single ‘Communion’.

The Swedish quartet revealed the track ahead of their debut EP release.

Speaking of their new EP, the band said: “I think our music is touching on subjects like estrangement and existential anxiety, which is expressed through some sort of yearning for a more primitive experience. Aesthetically, we’ve been inspired by equal parts Greek mythology; the Dionysian, Apollonian dichotomy and so forth, and the late 70s, early 80s DIY culture. And Can… and suicide.”

Oracle North is a four piece set-up currently residing in Stockholm, Sweden. They have collaborated on numerous projects before, released material on labels such as Kitsune? and Palms out sounds, and played venues such as La fleche d’or in Paris and Fabric in London. They are no strangers.

HILLS – ” Milarepa “

Posted: December 3, 2015 in MUSIC
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The third album proper by Swedish psych-wizards Hills, or their recent live album “Live At Daemonens Port” for this list. I finally decided on Frid as “Live At…” was mainly made up of older tracks but please do try and hunt down a copy of it as you will not be disappointed. Anyway, back to “Frid”. At first, with opening track “Kollektiv”, it seems as if it’s pretty much business as usual as it effectively carries on where their previous record, the awesome “Master Sleeps”, left off (and thats certainly not a criticism by the way). However the ante is well and truly upped from second track, “National Drone”, onwards. There is a heavy Eastern influence, with sitar and drone-chants to the fore, and tracks build and build before wah-wah guitar kicks in or haunting vocals reverberate in the background. Impressed by “Master Sleeps” that I was concerned that Hills would not be able to deliver a follow up to  I should never have doubted them.

JOSEFIN ÖHRN + The LIBERATION – ” Anything So Bright “

Posted: December 3, 2015 in MUSIC
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‘Diamond Waves EP’ on gonebeyondrecords.com, Josefin Ohrn & The Liberation, a band from Sweden who have graced the stage with the likes of Goat and Les Big Byrd (as well a nomination in the Swedish Grammys). Their album ‘Horse Dance’ has been released by the veritable Rocket Recordings and is a joyous mix of influences both old and new. The intro to opener ‘Dunes‘ smacks of Suicide (the band, not the….well, you know) and evolves into a motorik stomper with some beautiful vocals from Josefin. The rest of the album follows suit, taking cues from the old (the motorik rhythms and of Can and Neu!) and more contemporary artists (the trance inducing guitar drones of Loop). Josefin’s vocals veer from the ethereal to Siouxsie-like stridency. It is a fantastic album, and one that I’m sure has passed underneath some people’s radar, which is a real shame. It is psychedelic, but not in the ‘turn the amps up to 11 and fuzz out’ manner -it has a more refinement and imagination than that; it has an elegance and a fragility that endears it to the listener. ‘Horse Dance’ can be purchased via the Rocket Bandcamp page.

lots of fuzzed up guitar and other effects: sonics that are foggy and dense. Every so often though a record comes along that is clean and clear that I just really take to my heart. Such a record has to be bloody good to drag me away from my fug-filled reverie because why would I want to move away from what I like and know I like.The latest in a very short line of albums to do this is the new release from Josefin Ohrn + The Liberation, yet another innovative ‘psych’ combo from Stockholm. While it is an album that most definitely has psychedelic leanings with its motorik beats and Canesque intensity in places, there is more than that going on here. This is also a pop album, and an album that is as cool as fuck. This is no manufactured X Factor shite, this is the real deal. ‘Horse Stories’ is an album that helps pull me out of my normal listening habits and allows me some perspective. It reminds me that there is more to ‘fuzz’, ‘drone’ and ‘psych’ while including elements of all three. It is an album of great beauty and positivity that deserves a far wider audience

HONEYMILK – ” Psychrocker “

Posted: November 24, 2015 in MUSIC
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Honeymilk are a psychedelic/indie-rock act from Stockholm who have recently been gathering media attention by the likes of Q Magazine, Music Week and KEXP Radio. The band consists of Marcus, Albin, Nikki and Erik and play a blend between The Strokes, Ty Segall, Wilco and Velvets. The Sweden-based quartet are about quality and energy alike.

After having spent countless nights on the sticky dance floors of overpriced bars in Stockholm where posturing musicians polish their image, Honeymilk have had enough! ‘Phychrocker’ started out as a protest song against the superficiality of the Swedish music scene.

Honeymilk wanted to write a song about “people with more arrogance than they merit. People with a bigger idea of themselves, than their talent can live up to,” the band says. When they had finished writing the song, they came to the conclusion – to their greatest disappointment – that they actually wrote it about no other than themselves. “Psychrocker is simply a tribute to Honeymilk.”

The sound of Honeymilk glides across the room in a smoothly flowing wave as the guitar paints colourful rainbows for the ears to enjoy. A firmly anchored bass and percussion gives the output a rolling direction of travel, whilst the vocal calmly brings the elements together as though folding a mousse together.

‘Psychrocker’ features de Montevert, stage moniker for Ellinor Nilsson. It was produced by Mats Björke (Mando Diao, Thorsten Flinck, etc.) and was mastered at Abbey Road Studios in London.

Honeymilk is Nikki Nyberg (Guitar) and Marcus Admund (Vocals), Tomas Hellberg (Bass), Erik Fritz (Drums),

ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF – ” Evocation “

Posted: November 6, 2015 in LEICESTER CITY VENUES, MUSIC
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This is the second single from Anna von Hausswolff´s The Miraculous. Out November 13th, 2015
Pre-Order “The Miraculous” Some seriously heavy vibes from Anna and her organ – pitched somewhere between drone and indie-noise-rock. Sounds intense, which it is, but also amazing. In the year I fell back in love with Spacemen 3, this was the perfect accompaniment.

The cover of Anna von Hausswolff’s forthcoming album The Miraculous features stunning black-and-white photography courtesy of the fantastic Anders Nydam, who ended up working outside of his comfort zone to create the visuals. With a love of Scandinavian Black/Death metal albums, and why he’d join Anna’s army in the event of an interstellar dogfight.


Swedish organist Anna Von Hausswolff released the gorgeously austere Ceremony a couple years back, and she’s prepping a new LP titled The Miraculous, which was recorded on a colossal pipe organ in Northern Sweden. Her forthcoming album’s first takeaway “Come Wander With Me/Deliverance” is a sprawling, 11 minute behemoth that sweeps between gothic ambience and dramatic, heavy metal. “An oath,” her latest single, is a fiery and vociferous 3-minute song that wastes no time to cast you into its flames. Beginning with a simple organ melody, it quickly takes off into a siren of brazen celebration. It’s a confident and carousing song, as if its marking an epic, historical event or leading an army into a storm. Hear the awe-inspiring track below.

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The Miraculous is out on November 13th; Anna von Hausswolff plays London’s Oslo on December 8th. Check out the video for Ny – which was directed by Anna’s sister Maria and shot by Anders Nydam.

HILLS – ” Kollektiv “

Posted: August 29, 2015 in MUSIC
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Friends and label-mates with Swedish psych collective Goat, Gothenburg-based Hills release their third album, Frid at the end of this month.

Taking their cues from a tradition of Swedish psychedelia that found its origins in the late ’60s and early ’70s freakouts and mind melts, Hills have a rich and intoxicating sound that sidesteps the cliches and humdrum stylistic foibles that often plague modern day psych.

 

E GONE – ” Smokediver ” EP

Posted: May 29, 2015 in MUSIC
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released towards the end of last year the excellent album All The Suns Of The Earth by E GONE (the solo project of Daniel Westerlund from the now disbanded Swedish psychedelic Folk Rock group The Goner) has only recently been bought to our attention by the good folk at Sunrise Ocean Bender Records. We have been catching up on an eclectic record mixing psychedelic electric sitar headswirlers, Post Rock synth drones, far out Psych Rock and gentle Acid Folk……trying to tie Daniel Westerlund down to only one genre is somewhat akin to trying to herd cats, once you think you have got this record sussed it then goes hurtling off on another strange tangent. It’s a great record and well worth checking out.

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All The Suns Of The Earth is still available in a limited number of white vinyl pressings from the Sunrise Ocean Bender  Records online store…….the digital download is also available from their Bandcamp page. You can get the CD version from the Deep Water Acres website

While we wait for a new full album from E GONE there is some new music available…….The 3 track Smokediver EP has just been released and is available from the E GONE Bandcamp page. The first track ‘Decapitating A Friend In Varanasi’ is a total psychedelic headswirler full of Eastern promise…….it’s a tune direct from a 60s spy caper movie, where the cool superspy rocks up at a groovy party held at the villains psychedelic ice palace in the Himalayas. The next two tracks are ‘Decapitating A Friend In Varanasi’ reimagined and twisted into strange forms, ‘Smokediver I’ is a modern psychedelia deconstruction of the tune….. Daniel Westerlund unleashes his secret Shaman, the strange magic of hypnotic loops and drones induce a trance like state where Nirvana is just a touch away. The most interesting track is ‘Smokediver II’ which takes the tune in a more Ambient Dub direction……….mixing an Indian vibe and dialogue samples with a dub sensibility and driven by pulsing synths and drums this has a feel of the kind of tunes that Nation Records used to put out in the early 90s (Loop Guru and Transglobal Underground particularly come to mind)…….This is Whirled Music at its best.

This is a great little EP and is available as a “name your price” download from the E GONE Bandcamp page….check it out here https://egone.bandcamp.com/ .

 

MONS MONTIS – ” Swept “

Posted: May 29, 2015 in MUSIC
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Debut single from Mons Montis.  a track by the name of “Swept” from the elusive Mons Montis. You’d be pretty hard pressed to find any info on this group, but the music speaks for itself.  It has a retro 80’s feel to it, all while fitting into the very modern dream pop/chillwave scene like a glove. With ethereal vocals and an infectious groove, this group has a top shelf sound that is definitely worth keeping on your musical radar.We are Mons Montis.

Band members: Herman Båverud Olsson, Viktor Paulsrud and Julia Hjertström. from Uppsala, Sweden

LES BIG BYRD – ” Liquid Sky “

Posted: May 18, 2015 in MUSIC
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Les Big Bird - Photo by Dennis Wernersson

While they may look like aging mods who are letting their coifs go a bit, Les Big Byrd are Swedish garage and dance rock vets (Teddybears, Fireside, Caesars) who’ve come together to conjure up some sly, Kraut-y psych-rock. They’ve just released an EP, Stockholm Death Star, on Anton Newcombe’s A Recordings Ltd imprint.

And today we’re premiering this title track from their next EP, which came out May 13th on Hoga Nord. It’s a cool, grimy, ’60s spy flick instrumental that gets dragged up into the sky to go flying around with a stray analog synth.

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DEATH and VANILLA – ” California Owls “

Posted: May 10, 2015 in MUSIC
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Having released a dreamy album inspired by 60s sci-fi soundtracks, Swedish trio Death and Vanilla were invited to live score cult horror “Vampyr” at a Scandi film festival and their slow, steady, swirling accent continued.

Their new LP “To Where The Wild Things Are” ,is a poppier affair; the warm analogue loops of their vintage instruments crying out for the sweet breathy vocals that Marleen delivers with a calm and enchanting ease. Named after the children’s book, the album celebrates imagination and the ability to delve into the less-explored areas of the mind. Exactly what we need to get us through today, we are pleased to present the premiere of album track, California Owls. Almost hypnotic, this is dream pop at its absolute best.

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Malmö, Sweden’s Death and Vanilla have made a name for themselves in a certain crowd. For many, they’ve continued the story that was started (or at least popularized) by bands like Broadcast and Stereolab, but, since their first release in 2010, the duo  Marleen Nilsson and Anders Hansson  have achieved something all their own too, combining vintage instrumentation  think Moog synths, zithers, and Mellotrons – with an updated brand of dream and psych pop. And then there’s the library music vibes and hauntological underpinnings.

In most places around the internet, the words ‘haunting’ and ‘mysterious’ appear again and again to describe Death and Vanilla’s sound, and those writers are not unwarranted. Other words might be ‘unsettling’ or ‘eerie.’ In 2013, the band even scored a live semi-improvisational soundtrack to Carl Theodor Dreyers’ 1932 horror classic, “Vampyr.” And they did so very well. But there’s a strange beauty to even the harshest of moments; “To Where the Wild Things are…” balances this dynamic well, keeping listeners wary and lulled, which is part of the appeal. Death and Vanilla is an impressive act; this latest from Fire Records is only the most recent installment of proof.

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Eclectic, cinematic, and layered, Death and Vanilla have constructed another ten songs that pull from a large bank of sounds, genres, and time periods – often melding more than one of them. Those fond of dreamy and whimsical psychedelia will find a few tracks with them in mind. Nilsson and Hansson’s voices, in eerie harmony, lilt through the gauze curtains of each song while birds and bells and waves – as well as less bucolic sounds  seep in and out of the tracks. Single, California Owls, which is available for streaming on their Bandcamp page, sets the tone for the remainder of the album. Light percussion and piano – as well as fluttering electronic flourishes – build a lush and dreamy space for listeners, cushioned against formulaic expectations; yet it’s all very listener friendly still. The album proves a fine entry point for new comers and another great release for returning fans’ collections.

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