It’s been almost two years since I wrote about The Faux Noise, and apparently they haven’t released any new music since then. It’s good to know then that they are back now with a new single, “Leave Her to Heaven”, which they have released together with three remixes of the song.

It’s a suggestive, dreamy song with vibes from the eighties, where they, like before, tame a sound chaos into beautiful soundscapes. You can listen to their music on their Soundcloud page and the single is also available on Spotify. You can follow the band on their site and on Facebook.

Leave Her to Heaven

Some music needs some time before you can enjoy it. And sometimes you need som kind of door opener before you can experience it “for real”. This happened to me with the Swedish-American band Susurrus Station’s latest album ”Antinomie”. The first time I listened I couldn’t really get it so I let it go for some time. A month later they sent me the video they made for the song “Alluvia”, which sort of unlocked the doors to “Antinomie” for me.

This is their fourth album, but I haven’t heard any of the former ones, so I can’t really compare. I can tell you, though, that this is an interesting, varied, unpredictable and dreamy genre mix of an album. Listen more on Spotify or on Wimp. You can find the band on their site.

Keep Up Your Spirits
Play the Fool

This spring Tim Schmidt released his third album, “Dog”, and it feels like he’s carved out his own americana niche. It’s an inspired album where he with a few tools pushes the borders by not “only” showing us beautiful finger picking, but experiments more with the backing and colours of the songs also with more instruments, overdubs and variations. It’s still stripped and naked and with his special, somewhat nasal Nick Drake-like vocals, but feels more spontaneous.

You can listen more on his Bandcamp page or on Spotify. Follow Tim on Facebook.

Arrows

Last year I wrote about Frida Selander’s excellent debut album “Try Again Baby”. Now she’s back with her great rock voice in the new single “Mountains Define You”. She’s recently toured the inland of the north of Sweden and as a bonus we get a video from this journey with the song “Geography”.

Follow Frida on her site and on Facebook.

Mountains Define You
Geography

A little more than a month ago Emerald Park released the album “Absolute Zero”, the third one since they started in 2002. It’s been four years since the last time and one would expect some changes in the music. And there is, quite a few, which they signalled with their single “Reality Bites” last year.

It’s more naked, happier, more tounge-in-cheek, more romantic and nostalgic and the entire production feels more spontaneous. They show their love for good pop melodies, which isn’t anything new to them, but it feels, well, more relaxed. I notice the americana influences in some songs and more than once I’m reminded of Magnetic Fields and also Jens Lekman.

Overall I think it’s a great album, varied and fun to discover, and an album that grows each time I listen. You can listen for yourself on Spotify or on Wimp. Follow the band on Facebook.

Here are two songs from the album, a replay of “Reality Bites” from last year, and the new song “Someone to Love”.

Reality Bites
Someone to Love

No year is quite complete here on this blog without som soulful, energic rock from The Rumble. Therefore I’m happy to present a new single from the band, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Is the Medicine”, a great blues rock track you can listen to here below.

If you want more excellent rock from The Rumble, you can listen to more on Spotify or on Wimp. Follow the band on Facebook.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Is the Medicine

About a year and a half ago I wrote about Olof Svenblad’s music project Teleskop. Now he’s working under the name Fallen Timbers instead, and this year he’s presented a rich material in two albums on his Soundcloud page. I think it’s a collection of great electronica based songs which grows the more I listen.

The name Fallen Timbers comes from a poem by Sylvia Plath and Olof says that the image of a forest after a storm appealed to him, with the logs on the ground like spillikin and the clear-cut areas.

Listen to the two starting tracks from the album “Our South Suburban Skies” here below. Follow Fallen Timbers on Soundcloud and on Facebook.

Wuss
Faster Than Any Light 

Here’s a song from Mikai Birch, or Joakim Björkholm, which is his real name. He’s been producing music since 2008 and is now focusing on nu disco and indie dance, and you can hear an example in the song below.

You can follow him on Soundcloud, where you can also find a new song he released a couple of days ago.

Yesterday Was Fine

If there was a reward for the longest take-off run, I’m sure the band Tennis Bafra would be nominated. They started the band in the mid-nineties and during fifteen years they  neither played live nor made any recordings. They were satisfied with playing together and having a good time in the rehearsal room. A couple of years ago the bass player Thomas Gjerdingen entered the band and took the role of the prince before the Sleeping Beauty-like band as he suggested that they should record something. Things took off and resulted in gigs, a label deal with Nomethod Records and now, in the beginning of the year, the debut album “Abulia Jubilee”.

They call it slacker noise and say that they got stuck in the nineties’ rock era with Sonic Youth and similar bands. I don’t argue with that, but they got stuck in their own special way and it works great for me as I listen now in 2012. They have a comfortable, relaxed, although rough, attitude on the album, more indie rock than noise I’d say, but I might add here that the last song is a 20 minutes long instrumental piece that feels like a journey with a creaking container ship in space.

They don’t have a clear explanation for the somewhat peculiar band name. They recall that they consciously wanted to do the opposite in some way. All the youth around them were all into either sports or music, so obviously they went for something that signalled sports in the name. Hockey didn’t sound to good but Tennis did. About Bafra they can only tell us that it was added shortly after Tennis, but noone remembers how and why.

You can listen more to Tennis Bafra on their site, on Spotify or on Wimp. You can also follow them on Facebook.

Halal Haircut

After four years as the singer in the death metal act Science of Demise August Vinberg switched genre and joined the electro pop band Storbritannien instead, a band I’ve written about before. Writing songs for the band has also resulted in a pile of songs that haven’t been an exact match with Storbritannien and August decided to release some of them on an EP in the solo project Höstmarschen. You can listen to the first song “Gaia” here below.

About the name Höstmarschen (Autumn march) he says that it partly comes from that the project was started last Autumn and partly because the Autumn feels special for him, as it’s the season when he is most creative.
You can listen to the other songs on Spotify and follow Höstmarschen on Facebook.

Gaia

Today the band Daymare released a song for free from their new EP “Friend Fighter”. It’s the instrumental starting track “Neu Horror” which you can listen to and download below. They call the music indie-goth, which doesn’t really give me any clear associations as I listen, but why not define your own genre if you want to? There are obvious indie vibes and it’s different and interesting, and you should listen to the other songs on Soundcloud. You can also find Daymare on Facebook.

Neu Horror

The trio Carousel says that they are inspired by the sixties and bands like The Jam. And I can clearly hear that in the four songs on the EP “Count Me In” they released a little while ago. They have a basic garage rock sound backing pop songs with hooks that you catch pretty fast when you listen. You can listen more on Spotify and on their site. They also have a Facebook page. Here’s the title track from the EP:

Count Me In

The Glorias is a young, 5 women strong band from Boden in the north of Sweden. With a clear, natural attitude they play indie rock with obvious vibes from the eigthies. You can listen to the latest EP “Stupid Situation” on Spotify, on Wimp and on Soundcloud. Fresh, energetic and good songs. You can follow the band on Facebook.

Shut Up

“Klä av mig” (“Undress me”) is Temilia’s third EP since 2009. And it feels rather undressed and personal too. Much because of Temilia’s eager, charged voice and the naked, intimate arrangements with a sound that feels a lot like the seventies to me; somewhere in the vicinity of  Neil Young and Patti Smith. Together with a bunch of good songs and melodies and a pleasant variation, Temilia and her new EP has become an enjoyable new discovery.

You can follow Temilia on her site and the music is available on Spotify and on Wimp.

Klä av mig

The ray of sunshine Klara Kazmi is back with a new song, “Nice”. This is soul and what she describes as: “Baby making music”. A little like a modern, female Barry White you could say, although vocally Macy Gray is a better comparison. Wonderful playful vocal harmonies and my kinda soul.

You can find Klara on her site and on Facebook. Listen more on Bandcamp or on Spotify.

Nice

Lovisa Lindström, whom I wrote about last year, released a new single on International Women’s Day on the 8th of March. The song, “The Time That Should Be Mine” was produced by Chris Snyder and is a quite a pleasant piece of pop. Listen for yourself here below.

You can follow Lovisa on her Facebook page and listen more on Spotify or on Wimp.

The  Time That Should Be Mine

In December I told you about The Pale Corners’ single “Fireflies”. Now they’re back with a new song, “REM”. I think that the song is as good as the last one, with dreamy eighties’ vibes,  The Cure-guitars and New Order-vocals. Listen for yourself here below. You can follow The Pale Corners on Facebook.

REM

This Vision are releasing their second album on May 11th. As an appetizer they have released the excellent single “20th Century” and yesterday also the video for the opening track, “Ashes”. Judging from “20th Century” the sound is no longer only about pure electronica with vibes from the eighties, but the development of the sound makes me feel even more of eighties’ retro, especially since I grew up during that decade. Maybe more New Order now than Pet Shop Boys I’d say, even if the band themselves say that they are more inspired by the Cure from those days.

You can follow This Vision on their site and on Facebook. Listen more on Spotify and on Wimp.

20th Century

A little more than a year ago I wrote about the duo The Loveable Tulips and their collaboration with producer Jari Haapalainen. Now they’ve released a new three-track EP, “Streets”, this time with Johan Eckerblad as the producer. And there is a different vibe to these songs, where they have changed the big rooms for a more intimate atmosphere and more from the sixties than from the eighties.

Follow theom on their site or on Facebook. Listen more on Spotify. Here’s the title song:

Streets

The indie pop duo The Sweet Serenades are back with a hint of how their upcoming album will sound like. Here’s the first single “Moving On”.

You can find Sweet Serenades on their site and on Facebook. Listen on Spotify.

Moving On