Already after a few beats in the first song, I’m caught by Nina Christensens emotional vocals. She gives a full expression to the music, strongly, playfully and stretches the melodies to new forms.

It’s difficult to describe Skilla’s music. I can’t find any direct references to use here. Well, you can’t deny that there is a lot of folk music influences here and besides the melodies the violin makes this even more obvious. Mix that with pop, drama, dreams and playful melodies and you’ll come somewhere close to a description.

Best, though, is if you listen for yourself and feel their music, because this is music you really feel:

Tragic Song:

Summer In December
Sun In the End of Today
Tragic Song

The songs come from Skilla’s debut album, which was released earlier this year. If you want to listen more and know more about Skilla, then you should visit their Myspace page and Skilla’s site.

There’s been too little reggae in this blog, no doubt about it. Hopefully we will have new writers in the future to write about great swedish reggae artists. Even if I don’t listen that much to reggae myself, I couldn’t help to fall for Kultiration. I at least haven’t heard this mix of reggae, folk and jazz before.

Violins and accordion paint beautiful mellow folk music melodies to the backbeat, Marcus Bergs vulnerable, naked voice conveys soul, thoughts and social criticism and the brass lifts it all with nice arrangements. It may be melancholic but it nevertheless feels elevating. Maybe it’s the backbeat in itself, maybe it’s the feet that start moving when I listen.

Kultiration is now working on their fourth album, which will be released in April next year. Here you can listen to two tracks from their album “Döden föder” (I-Ration Records) and watch a video from a TV4 performance.

“En timme kvar att leva” (“An hour left to live” from TV4 Nyhetsmorgon):

Glömd e jorden
Rikemansghetto

If you want to listen some more you can visit Kultiration’s site, their Myspace page and Kultiration on Last.fm

Last month Emerald Park released their second studio album “For Tomorrow”. The album is produced by Ola Frick from Moonbabies. You can listen and download two tracks from the album below.

And it is a strong album they have created. Dreamy, grand pop, but without the big poses is combined with an indie sound. A sound where I hear an ambition to create their own sound, without the polished edges which make music boring. And the fact that the album contains a number of great pop songs with direct, but yet interesting melodies doesn’t make it any worse.

If you’d like to listen more to Emerald Park and “For Tomorrow” you should visit their page on Last.fm or their Myspace page.

Värnhem:

Lights of Sunday
For Tomorrow

“The band name itself reflects the twisted, fast moving world of the 21st century, often cold and harsh but then again so beautiful at times; intimidating but still fascinating.” That’s how the band Hello Confusion describes their name.

The band started out in the beginning of 2008 and has already produced an EP, “Into the daze and round the bend”, from which you can listen to two tracks below. They offer a modern rock with a nice drive and good melodies, and it sounds really promising for the future.

Everywhere I Go
Carry On

If you want to listen more, you can visit Hello Confusion on Myspace

It’s a day of contrasts today. At six a’clock pm I’m going to church to listen to the Lucia performance. Traditional, beautiful and extra emotional since my little daughter is singing in the choir. And I’m sitting here, preparing myself by listening to something completely different. From the fully predictable to the total opposite. But, of course, there is also beauty in The Argument’s new album “Summer/Winter Nights”, so it’s not completely the opposite in all aspects.

This feels very fun to listen to. As I said, it feels unpredictable in this lo-fi indie-pop/rock from The Argument. You’ll find great pop gems mixed with considerably more experimental tracks. In one track I feel the vibes from Talking Heads and in another I hear Bright Eyes, but it’s far away from some kind of description of the music overall. Basically it feels quite unique.

The Argument are generous enough to offer their entire album free for download, track by track or the album in one zip-file. You can access this on The Argument’s page on Bandcamp. (excellent service Bandcamp, btw)
You can also visit The Argument on Myspace and also their blog.

Listen to three tracks from “Summer/Winter Nights”:

Forget About the Politics
What I Like
The Boat