Take a part of Electric Light Orchestra from the seventies, some of the playfulness of 10cc, a bit of  Queens’ drama, something from Squeeze and Madness, and mix this once or twice with disco, a lot of power pop and some indie rock, then you might get a notion of what Nom de Guerre’s new album “Love Thy Neighbour” sounds like.

The vibes from all this comes in different songs in different mixes on this excellent album. When you think you got a clue about where they come from, they surprise you again with a new twist in a new song. From, for example, a wilder Madness-inspired and indie rockish “Murder On Demand” over to a disco pop driven “Drama Queen” with a hint of 80’s synth and a couple of tracks later, the soft “Ballad of Harry” with a close, classic ELO sound.

But it all fit together. With a sound that goes through the entire album, including a characteristic fuzz bass, with the drama and an excellent pop melody songwriting.

I hope you like this, and if you do, you can listen more on Nom de Guerre’s Myspace page.

Here’s two songs from “Love Thy Neighbour”:

Everybody Knows
Murder On Demand

Taxi Taxi! is the name of a duo I first heard about this summer. Obviously there was a hype around these twin sisters a couple of years ago, but I have to confess my ignorance about that.

I any case I think that they create soulful music that deserves to be listened to. They have now released their first full-length album “Still Standing at Your Back Door”, and it sounds great. It’s often naked and acoustic with a roomy, somewhat lofi atmosphere.

It’s playful and personal, with a nice sense of melodies, and at the same time fragile, tender and honest.

Here you can listen to “More Childish Than In a Long Time”:

More Childish Than In a Long Time

If you want to discover more of their music, you can go and visit Taxi Taxi!’s Myspace page.

Icons On Television, which I told you about last year, have earlier this year released some new tracks. They continue to produce good songs in the same style as before. A dark alternative rock with a trace of the eighties, is the theme in these tracks too, even if the sound has developed into something that sounds closer and a little less eighties.

Here you can listen to “Young Blood”, and if you want to listen to the other songs, you can visit Icons On Television on Myspace.

Young Blood

Hello Confusion, which I presented last year, has come out with some new material this autumn; the EP “Wastelands”, which was released in August. If you liked them before, I’m sure you won’t get disappointed with the new songs. They continue to deliver a catchy rock with good melodies; direct songs that are easy to absorb.

There are four good tracks on the EP, with a nice variation; from the dance-rock-tune “Everyone Is a Dancer” to the more grand “Shooting Star”, which grows into something which reminds me of Manic Street Preachers.

Here’s two tracks you can listen to. If you’d like to hear the entire EP “Wastelands”, you can visit Hello Confusion on Myspace.

Everyone Is a Dancer
Shooting Star

Ballistic, Ebbot and Mollgan together with the singer Cecilia Dumbuya form the hip hop group Middlesex. This summer they released the singel “Integritet” (“Integrity”) where they present a soulful hip hop and where Cecilia’s soft voice sits nice in the hooky choruses. There’s a good variation from the straight beats in “Integritet” to the backbeat in “Mistah Mistah” to “Det är vackrast när det skymmer”, which kan described as a beautiful hip hop ballad.

The song “Integritet” is a comment from Middlesex on the debate around personal integrity which started last year in Sweden with the FRA law. Mistah Mistah is also critical about society but the band states that they have no direct ambition to be political, but that they have strong opinions and that they can just as well write about love, if that comes to mind.

Here below is the video to “Integritet”, and “Mistah Mistah” to listen to and download. As a bonus they also give us the track “Fotografier” where they are joined by Peter and Annelie.

Visit Middlesex and listen more on their site and on Myspace.

Integritet:

Mistah Mistah
Fotografier (ft Peter och Annelie)