1st Liberation is from Luleå and plays rock, just like that. I can’t help being caught up in their rock energy, where I feel the vibes from AC/DC, Accept, DAD, Thin Lizzy and sometimes from glam rock. But even though all these rock templates and models exist out there, they manage to convince me that they enter the studio and then just play, straight from heart and soul. Numerous singers have screamed rock’n’roll during the years, but 1st Liberation motivates with ease that it’s motivated once more.

Here you can listen to a couple of tracks from en EP they recorded in autumn. If you’d like to read and listen more you should visit 1st Liberation’s site and their Myspace page.

Rock’n’Roll
I Got the Right to Lose My Mind

Kaka, or Rickard Karlsson which is his real name, started his career in Tambureens as a singer guitarist and songwriter. After this followed a few years in the band The Mo, and after the band’s breakup in 2005 he is now going solo under the name Kaka.

Kaka’s debut album (Despotz Records) was released last year in Sweden and you can get a taste from his energetic pop here below. If you want to listen more you can visit Kaka on Last.fm and on Myspace.

The Hotspurs:

What a Frame

Silver Saddle maybe isn’t that unknown to many of you. 2004 they released their debut album “Four Miles From Here” (Bubba Music / In The Sticks Records), an album that won quite some recognition. Since then they have also released the album “Northern Skyline”.

The music is a calm, warm and mellow americana, which feels so natural and basic that it’s hard to believe that this band originates from the south of Sweden. Listen for yourself in these tracks:

Radio Song
Gone
Don’t Give a Damn

If you’d like to listen more you can visit Silver Saddle’s site or their Myspace page.

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

I’m enwrapped in a very nice sound as I listen to Six Figure Transatlantic. Their americana-tasting pop reminds me of  Neil Young and CSN&Y from the early seventies, and in the close acoustic feeling that’s present I can almost sense the presence of Damien Rice. In some songs the early Radiohead knocks on my shoulder. Soft, pleasant, really good songs, well, really worth listening to.

The songs here give a taste of their forthcoming debut album, which will be released this spring. They have earlier released a couple of EP:s, which you can listen to at their site. The EP “Movers & Shakers” you’re also invited to download for free. You’ll also find Six Figure Transatlantic on Myspace.

Pink Heart
A Storm Is Coming
Isabel