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

Riff Knives play music in a genre that’s normally not exactly my thing, but nevertheless I was caught by their music. It’s a mix of hip hop, funk and rock with a lot of attitude and cool hooks. They get their inspiration foremost from N*E*R*D but also also from bands like Looptroop, Jurassic 5 and Infinite Mass.

They have released their debut EP, “Rattle For Fame”, which you can listen to on Spotify or on their Myspace page. Here are a couple of tracks:

Rattle For Fame
Porn Scar

I got a mail from The Faux Noise that they had produced a new song, “We All Know That Someday We Will Die”. Apparently it’s a cover of a song from a Taiwanese band called Come On! BayBay!. It’s hard to find any pages about them but a Google search showed me a nice pop/singer-songwriter band on Youtube.

But in the hands of The Faux Noise it becomes something completely different. This time a 7 minutes somewhat epic work in the same ambience as before. Fantasy stimulating, dynamic and grand. I can imagine a large conceptual work from these guys in the future, where they really make a journey, or whatetever they will come up with next.

We All Know That Someday We Will Die

Erik Zettervall doesn’t hold back, it’s Swedish pop with full speed ahead and passion. A good drive, horns, strings that envelopes the music in drama and at the same time it’s melodic pop in Swedish that also feels very Swedish. A little like a Jakob Hellman with adrenaline injections.

The album “Kärlek på liv och död” has been recorded and are to be released during 2010. Here are two tracks from the record:

Kärlek på liv och död
Undergång

You can find Erik on Myspace where you can listen some more.

And finally The Deer Tracks produced a follow-up to the album debut “Aurora”. They did this with the EP:n “Eggegrund” which was released during spring, although only in 1000 hand numbered records.

Eggegrund is a small island outside Gävle, Sweden, which was the place where they recorded the four tracks on the EP, inside a lighthouse on the island. You will recognize The Deer Tracks on the EP, but at the same time they enter new paths, where each track has it’s own direction and character.
Here below you can listen to two of the tracks, where one of them, the tale of the polarbear cat, “Isbjörnskatten,” is the first song they sing in Swedish.

Bless the Waves
Isbjörnskatten

Visit The Deer Tracks on Myspace