Fredrik Jonasson has activated his side project Silencio Stampa again and a couple of days ago he released “The Red Album”.

It’s about instrumental electronica and first of all I get retro vibes from the analogue synths and drum machines of the eighties and sometimes even from further back from  Vangelis and his friends during the seventies. Maybe then not so much from the bombastic varieties, but rather from the ambience building kind, with sweeping, beautiful melodies and figures that catch the listener.

A beautifully built album you can listen to by checking out Silencio Stampa’s site. Here’s the opener “The Red Pony”:

The Red Pony

Here’s a new single from Chris Michols, whom you may remember from last Fall when he released his album Scar Trek. You can follow Chris on his site.

If

I wrote about Daniel Hedin and his solo project Le Days a couple of years ago. Now he’s finally released his debut album “Dead People On Tape”.

The Cd’s booklet doesn’t contain the lyrics to the 16 songs. Instead we see photos of unknowns, mug shots seemingly from the beginning of the last century. It’s through the eyes of these people Daniel looks when he creates this music, picturing how the world may have looked for these, I imagine, tragic life stories.

With a voice and an expression that reminds a little of Conor Oberst, he paints a dark, tragic, dreary world. It becomes very strong and emotional and surprisingly dynamic in this minimalistic production. An impressive and credible album.

You can listen to “Dead People on Tape” on Bandcamp and on his site he shows the images of these dead people. You can also find Le Days on Facebook.

As Long As You Win

Today, This Year’s Model release their new album “We Walk Like Ghosts”, their second full length album since the start in 2005.

You could call it indie pop, but not of the slick, light-hearted kind, rather with a more basic, close sound, sometimes reminding of the Cure, sometimes with some vibes from The Go Betweens, but also with a whole lot more in the mix. Great melodies, an interesting voice from Niklas Gustafsson and an album that grows in strength each time I listen.

To find out more about where the album will be available you can visit the band’s site or their Facebook page.

No Miracles

A couple of years ago Johan (singing and dancing), Erik (guitars), Stefan (drums) and Erik (bass) realized that music wasn’t fun anymore. So they started The Fix.

I may sound a little backwards, but I guess it was about getting back to the very reason they started playing music: to have fun with music, no more no less. And maybe about not taking oneself too seriously.

And sure it feels like they’re having fun, both in their online adventures and in their music, now represented with the EP “The Great Epic Tease”, a predecessor to the upcoming album to be released in Fall.

It’s party rock with energy, some Red Hot Chile Peppers, a pinch of Foo Fighters, catchy choruses with drive and good melodies. If you’d like to continue to consider the question “Do You Need The Fix?” after this post, you can visit their site, Facebook page, and listen on Spotify or on Youtube.

DCAL
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