Meadow Music

Grand Roses was, to say the least, an interesting discovery. This spring they released their third EP “Say It to My Fervent Heart”, and it has become a favourite of mine. To make an attempt to describe their music I’d take a part of Glasvegas and mix it with a dose of attitude from Union Carbide Productions and also a sensation of mellow Americana.

Well, it sounds really good with strong tracks and a singer who strikes the right nerve and has a nice darkness in his voice. Listen some more on their Myspace page and on Spotify.

Their second EP, “The Farm”, is also available on Spotify and on their Myspace page. Here are two songs from “Say It to My Fervent Heart”:

A Place to Love
The Astronaut

On today’s schedule is rock, and then with the Malmö band The Marcel Prostitutes. It’s retro, it’s punkish, full speed ahead, sweat and dirty guitars. Maybe like a heavier, punkier, early Blondie. Here below are two songs to listen to. If you want more you should visit The Marcel Prostitutes on Myspace.

The Poise
One Way Communication - A Desperate Observation

Pull A Star Trip. Singer/songwriter with a couple of adreneline injections, or hardcore with acoustic guitars? They have been compared with Dashboard Confessional, which I can agree with to some extent, but here’s an extra intensity and energy which seems endless. And even if it’s not at all the same genre, I can’t help thinking about The Proclaimers and foremost their “I’m gonna be (500 Miles)”, in the energy and the interaction. Maybe somewhere around all this you can find Pull A Star Trip’s music.

In 2009 Pull A Star Trip released their first album “E-Vasion Inn”. Here are two tracks from the album:

Countenance vs. Fingerprints
LA Travel Guide

You can find Pull A Star Trip on Myspace and you can listen to “E-Vasion Inn” on Spotify.

Last summer we wrote about Malte X here on Meadowmusic. And now they’re on the move again with new music.

This Monday their new singel “Kamikaze volontär” (You Wanted the Worst Records) was released. And if you liked them before, I don’t think you’ll be dissappointed with this new track. It’s rock’n'roll and it’s punk rock, high speed and attitude.

You’ll find Malte X on Myspace with more music.

Here you can listen to and download the track:

Kamikaze volontär

Three high school friends took their disgust for school choirs and pretentious jazz students and their frustration over growing up in a small town, as the fuel for starting a band, Pretty Whores.

Does it sound like punk? Yes, and punk rock is exactly what it is. Steaming, energetic punk rock with a garage, old school feeling. Add some Beastie Boys attitude and we’re getting close to their sound.

Pretty Whores have recently released their self titled EP, and you can listen to and download a track from the EP, here below. You’ll find the band on Pretty Whores’ site and on Myspace, where you can listen to the other songs from the EP.

Pistol In My Hand:

Teens of USA

Normally I don’t listen that much to skate punk. Not that I dislike the genre, maybe it’s just that it doesn’t tell me anything, at least for the moment. But the Karlskoga band Same Old Story managed to catch my attention pretty quickly.

I think their music feels really good, with an attitude that feels real, and not something that’s fabricated. They also manage to create something of their own here, with rock flirts, playfulness and a lot of musicality.

The fourth of April they have a release party for their new EP “Waste of Time”. A four track record full of energy. You can listen to two tracks from the EP here below.

If you want to discover more, you can visit Same Old Story on Myspace.

4, 4 Fun
Plastic Boobs Are Oldschool

“Pop in 110 mph” my collegue Jesper described the music of Industri Royal, as he presented Industri Royal last summer. The 28th of January Industri Royal will release their notified debut album “Tacky Skills” (Alleycat Records), and after having listened beforehand, I find that there’s no reason to change Jesper’s overall description.

Even if it doesn’t feel retro in the sound, I would like to add the vibes of Ramones, New Wave and sometimes even the Rolling Stones of the seventies (before the disco period) and surf pop to the description. It’s a great album, full of energy, and I’m certain that no one that has heard Industry Royal before will be disappointed.

“Location Location Location” was in our earlier post, and here you get another song from “Tacky Skills”, “The Beat Boy”. Other brilliant songs are “I Can Keep a Secret” and “Lie Lie Lie”. The release party takes place the 23 of January at Scharinska in Umeå. Go there and be part of the nice euphoria in a record release. Read more about it on Industri Royal’s site and on their Myspace page.

The Beat Boy

It feels liberating to listen to Apoteket Apan. Even with lyrics somtimes loaded with anxiety (or maybe because of that?), that is how I feel. Musically liberating, where they seem to be able to take on anything with ease, and still maintain a feeling for what this band is about. Maybe it’s Jonas Furberg’s characteristic, intense vocals or the brilliant lyrics or the attitude that does it.

It’s often indie pop with a punk attitude, sometimes dance inspiring, often fascinating and with a nice drive and they have that great sense of creating the musical and lyrical hooks that stick in my mind. They use guitars, synths, brass, choirs and whatever the songs seem to demand. Musical fantasy at it’s best, fun, liberating.

Apoteket Apan has a great site (in Swedish) where you can listen to and download all their music. If you like the band you should also follow their blog (also in Swedish) , where they present new tracks, new videos and tell you what is going on.

Two of the songs below, “Processen, Livet, Byråkratin” and “Ska det vara så svårt då?”, come from their latest EP “Det är något med den där ödsligheten”, while “En annan plats” is a singel that was released last summer.

Zinkensdamm (from “Det är något med den där ödsligheten”)

Processen, Livet, Byråkratin
Ska, det vara så svårt då?
En annan plats

Could Skellefteå be the city that produces most bands with quality in Sweden? Well, Skumdum is another one of those. They say themselves that they are too much punk rock to be skaters and to much skaters to be punk rockers. In any case I think that they are perfect for a music lover.

Skumdum succeeds in a great way to combine the punk rock and rock with folk music (yes really), so that the result feels interesting and dynamic. I find influences in everything from Green Day, to Mano Negra. I also have a soft spot for the vocal adds, which makes it feel like singalong in the choruses.

The band sang in Swedish until around 2004-2005, but is now singing in English since they needed new challenges and also because they wanted to reach a bigger audience.

Skumdum has been around for 16 years and released 4 albums, where the latest one, “Two Sides of the Story”, will be released the 28-29 of November in Skellefteå. Below you’ll find a track from this album, “Proud Minority”, along with a couple of tracks from earlier albums.

A big disgrace:

Proud Minority
War Is Money

Skumdum on Myspace
Skumdum on Lastfm

Keep cool,
Jeppe

If you compare bands like for example Monster Magnet, Terrorvision, Rocket from the Crypt and Marilyn Manson with many other hard grinding hard rock bands, you’ll find that the big difference is that the first mentioned bands have melodies that hooks you up instantly. And the band Ninja Dolls from Falun also has this quality. They speed up and hit hard (just listen to the drums in “Don’t Come Too Close”, and they also have a sense for melodies. Combining this with the really cool vocals from the singer Vicky makes it even better!

Ninja Dolls started in 2001, they have released an album “Cheap Tricks and Lies”, played over 100 gigs and have been the band of the month in P3 Rockster (radio show on Swedish national radio). In the beginning of 2009 they will release the EP “HeyHeyHey” (Poison Tree Records) and after that they will tour in Holland and Germany.

I wish that the video for “Don’t Come Too Close” will be made in Manga style…that would have been so cool ;-)

Enjoy a video and two tracks:

Run and Hide:

Don’t Come Too Close
HeyHeyHey

Ninja Dolls’ Official site
Ninja Dolls on Myspace

Keep cool, Jeppe

Fascinating is just the first name when it comes to Square. My legs start moving and I wish I was transferred to a party scene at a festival somewhere so I could enjoy it fully. And I don’t even like to dance.

I could start some kind of description of their music by calling it high-speed ska. But it’s ska like you’ve never heard it before. Rock, punk and a lot of other influences perfect this to a mixture I have never heard before. Brass players that have to work real hard, a great rhythm section, nice guitars and a singer that gives so much that I can hear the sweat pouring.

They have released two albums before and a third album is being released the 21st of November. Here you can listen to some tracks from the album.

L-l-l-let Us Into Mama’s House!:

Mr P and His Pushy Machine
HC Bad

Read more about Square on their site and blog
and listen more on their Myspace page

Here’s a band that I think is simply irresistable. Punk rock, Balkan music, and well yes, other kinds of folk music too, is it possible to mix that? Yes, obviously!

The result, which you can listen to here below, is wild, wonderful, intense musical party. Yes, “Cool Cool Anarchy” as the band say it.

Earlier this year, they released their debut album “Exile Deluxe” (Birdnest Records). Listen more by visiting their site or their Myspace page.

Video to “Exile Deluxe”:

Exile Deluxe
Cool Cool Anarchy

This is the hundredth post on this blog. It means that we so far have presented ninetynine artists, songwriters and producers. We thought of celebrating this by having a mini cavalcade with songs from some of the artists we have reviewed. Many of these songs are exclusive for download only here on Meadowmusic, and I hope that they are shared with people all over the world if you as a visitor like the songs.

We, here on Meadowmusic, are overwhelmed by all the support we have received since we started in the beginning of July. We started this because it felt like we were carrying around a secret that we just had to share with the world. And the secret was that there’s so much fantastic Swedish music, that seldom is played on the radio or other mainstream channels. And that this music is just as good, well, in fact much better than what is heard there. Well, it’s not a secret anymore, is it?

First we would like to thank you as a visitor, because you come here and listen to the music. Every visit, every time you listen, every recommendation to a friend, every mention of what you hear contributes to the promotion of the artists and their music, and to the support of this blog.
Thank you for all mail and tips and also for the communication with the artists.

We also would like to thank all the artists that support us. And I don’t mean only the artists that we have presented here, but also all of you that have contacted us, telling us that what we do is important and great. Thank you!

Below you’ll find some extra songs with artists from earlier posts. (Click on the artist’s name to go to the post about the artist.)

Pär Edwardson in a fantastic song about a girl with huge hair
The Girl With the Huge Hair

Aurgunn, the poet, on bliss
Saligheten

Lasse Söhr has produced Isak Strand in this song
The Lie

Maini Sorri sings about Goose-Liisa
Hanhi-Liisa

Angelica wishes that you let her enter
Let Me In

Chris Michols wants to go home
I Wanna Go Home

Listen to Jamin Pirnia in a collaboration with Nihad Tule
Are You Happy Now?

Andreas Lundgren is so cool
Sunset-lover

Some Kind of Rubus sings about Goula, “no one could fool’er”
Goula

Rock with Bodies
Loser

And 100 % energy with The Rumble
The Long Run

Martin Bentancourt, whom, together with David Silva, gave the FRA debate some groove this summer, with his hit “Första generationens svenne”
Första generationens svenne

Last but not least the cool Zed Is Dead
Soul Pollution

Now I would like to get your attention presenting Alouatta, a really nice rock band with punk influences. They offer a lot of energy and attitude, with a close garage sound that reminds of the first punk rock era.

As I’m a real fan of special voices, I get hooked on the vocals from Karl Buhres. I hear Jimi Hendrix, both in the tone and the phrasing, but with a frenzy and energy that Jimi didn’t offer.

Alouatta was formed in 2007 by members from Coyote, Twopointeight, The Shiv, The Heartattacks and soon thereafter they released the EP “Manos Arriba”. This year they have released the vinyl single “Animal” (Big Bongo Recordings)

What Aloutta really means you can read about here (you won’t be surprised :-))

Download, listen and rock!:

Animal
Friday Night

Alouatta on Myspace

Other bloggers and netzines about Alouatta: Milkmilk-Lemonade, Multinyzine

Industri Royal is a band that has understood that it takes more than producing good music to succeed. Of course it’s the base of it all, but to see the whole package with band members, clothes, and attitude together with good music is a real advantage. And I think that Industri Royal has managed to put this together really well.

It’s somewhat difficult to categorise the music, and therefore I decided to call it pop going 110. That is, really good pop melodies that’s performed in high speed and I instantly hang on. The lyrics are political, anarchistic and about equal opportunities. Industry Royal are feminists and state that they want to open the eyes of young women to make them see that they really can change society.

The band from Västerbotten has earlier released an EP with the cool title You broke my nose, but I broke your heart. You can hear two songs and watch a video from that EP in this post.

This autumn, Industri Royal is releasing their debut album Tacky skills on Alleycat Records! The release parties are scheduled to the 6th of December in Umeå and the 13th of December in Göteborg. You can listen to the first single from the album here, Location location location.

The goal they have are “to become a great fucking band”! And I think that they doing pretty well!

Listen and download:
Location Location Location
Fuck You
Killing Tony

Visit the band:
Industri Royal on Myspace

Keep cool,
Jeppe

Malte X is a Swedish punk rock band that really lives the rock’n'roll myth. Or what can you say about getting signed by Sony and then get kicked out because of too much partying? A comparison that comes to my mind is when Sex Pistols got a deal with A&M and then got thrown out, after a channel concert on the Thames, after only a week!

Their style is punk rock, and by that I don’t mean only the music, but also the attitude and the lyrics, which for me is why punk rock is punk rock. Just like Ebba Grön, Malte X writes lyrics with social criticism and sometimes very provoking. And when it’s incorporated into this hot rock’n'roll the result is great.

Malte X has released two albums, where “Försent” (”Too Late”, Hornvalley Records) is the latest release.
For their second single “Varning” (”Warning”), they made a video together with the illegal street race gang “Get Away” in Stockholm. Therefore the video was banned on TV…but here on Meadow Music you can watch it of course ;-)

Rock to Malte X:
Försent
Du är i bild
Dött lopp

Visit the band:
Malte X on Myspace

Keep cool
Jeppe

Ever since I heard “Didjerama” with Jamiroquai the first time, I’ve been a fan to didgeridoo playing. I made som brave attempts to play myself, but I never really managed the circular breathing…

Lars Wallin and his tribe invites you to great didgeridoo based music. With this chewed out eucalyptus tube, you can produce incredibly cool sounds by blowing, talking, shouting and whatever you like to create music. The songs below shows a lot of different techniques.

It’s a wonderful mix of music that you can listen to here; everything from three chord punk rock to back beat reggae.

Lars Wallin also has a very characteristic voice, that sometimes sounds like a mixture of Dylan and Manu Chao (it’s bound to be unique then;-))

Lars has been on tour frequently and visited most parts of the world. He has also played with Chris Bailey.

Listen and download the songs:
Dopper Day
My Safetypin
Tell Me Why

Visit Lars:
Lars Wallin on Myspace

Keep cool,
Jeppe

Planet Trash is from the left: Wille, Kåre, Myran and Parne.

Planet Trash is a band that always puts me in a good mood. This is oldschool hardcore punk. Their direct lyrics with their very clear way of expressing themselves shoot like arrows into my heart. They are not afraid of criticising the USA and their wars. The guys have been playing together since 1994. A few changes of members, but they have kept the pressure, the pace and the aggressiveness. They sing in both English and Swedish, but personally I prefer the English songs better.

During the years they have recorded quite a few songs and also participated on some collections. One of my favourites is on “Röjarskivan 2 (andra spyan)“: “I’m only here for the booze”.

In the music world of today you’ll seldom find punk rock in the nice rooms. Does it belong there? Well, you can decide for yourself. Planet Trash do belong in my nicest room anyway.
This autumn they’re going into the studio to record some more songs.

Here is a taste of punk rock at it’s best:
Chaos inside
God’s army
Now it’s our turn
Skolan är tråkig

Planet Trash on Myspace

BB

I’m sitting here, the last day at work before the vacations, with a real cold…yes, I usually save them for my vacation. With a heavy head I am going through some tips, sent to us here at Meadowmusic, and finally I land on Highride’s Myspace page. Finally some music that clears up the pipes!

I’m hit by a Rock’n'roll energy that I really feel in my whole body. The singer Peter has a special voice, and sounds almost like he is swallowing the words, or like he is singing from deep inside. Together with grinding power chords from the guitars, this sounds surprisingly unique.

One comparison that strikes me is the one with Danko Jones. Maybe not with the same energy (but who can beat that?), but then again, I haven’t yet seen Highride live.

Listen and download:
Fastlane
Bad Habit
Black

Visit Highride:
On Myspace

Keep cool,
Jeppe

(translated by Pär/Blindmen)

This is three chord rock, this is nostalgia, this is punk rock and this is truly great! The memories from my childhood room with the Swedish punk rock band Ebba Grön on loudest volume possible, charges towards me at high speed. However, this is not Ebba Grön with Thåström at the mic but Ebba with Fjodor screaming “profit” on the recording from an apartment from “Ebba the movie”!

That’s what it feels like to listen to Stefan Lundblad & Hyrda Knektar! I just enjoy it Sooo much and I’m Sooo happy that there are still artists out there creating music like this!

I’ll post three songs for download and listening. I’m afraid that the last creation “För nära kanten” (”Too close to the edge”) is of poor quality, but I’ll include it anyway… anyone who’s heard the bootleg “Where were you at -77″ of the Sex Pistols will consider the song high quality stuff ;-)

Now. Turn up the volume and rock out!!!
Napalm
Det jag ser
För nära kanten

Visit the band:
The band’s web site
The band on Myspace

Keep cool,
Jeppe

(translated by Clint Hell)

I almost got beat up once, way back when, when I thought The Cult sounded glammy…I still think that Ian would be a great glam vocalist;-)…but I do not hesitate to say that Cowboy Prostitutes sound glam. And very wonderfully glam at that! The last time I heard this type of rock, at this accomplished level, was when I listened to Hardcore Superstars debut album.

Cowboy Prostitutes have recently released a new album “Swingin’ At the fences” that will be released in Sweden, Germany, Austria and Switzerland!

Listen and download from the new album:
Dancing On Your Grave
Pirate Town

Visit their web sites:

Myspace
Homepage

Keep cool,
Jeppe

(translated by Clint Hell)

Bodies started out as a tribute band for Sex Pistols and made a “copy” of Never Mind the Bollocks! Nowadays they play their own music and with the influences from Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop, Ramones, Thåström and others, the punk rock still plays an important part for them.
I think you’ll agree with me also that the singer Clint Hell’s sound a bit like Iggy in his voice.

With some almost classical great songs and a whole bunch of new ones on their repertoire, they have now set full speed ahead!
Listen and download three great tracks below, and head on to Bodies’ Myspace page for more downloads:

Bodies on Myspace

Blind Brother
Sweet Pain
Sicken

PUNK ROCK YEAH!!!!! My favourite is Sweet Pain!
Keep cool,
Jeppe

(translated by Pär/Blindmen)