If there’s any artist that I would confess to having been a fan to, and then in the sense of being slightly fanatic, then it would be David Bowie. It was worst in junior high school, when the walls of my room was covered with photos and attempts were made trying to look like the idol. In high school the fanatic part of it all vanished, but Bowie was there to mark my identity. Others were hard rockers or devoted to synth pop; I was a Bowie fan.

My admiration for this fantastic artist is still there and has always been there. As an admirer I have always been sceptical of artists trying to cover his work, maybe not so unusual with that attitude; the original rules. So far I can’t really come up with anyone that has succeeded in making something really good. Bauhaus made a decent cover of “Ziggy Stardust” in the eighties though. Maybe you know of someone else?

Up until now! I heard a few songs from Max Lorentz’ “Kiss You In the Rain – Max Lorentz Sings David Bowie”, my initial scepticism was completely swept aside after a while, and in the end I was completely caught. Now that I’ve heard the entire album I feel childishly entranced by how damn’ great this is. If I was to choose only one album out of all the albums I’ve listened to this year, and I’ve heard quite a few, I would choose this one without hesitation.

Max has chosen one song from every studio album Bowie made between 1967 and 1980 (except Pinups), and the choices are not the most obvious ones (which is great), at least not for the wider audience. But what great songs they are, and how Max emphasises this in his interpretations!

Carefully he undresses the songs to rebuild them again, trying to catch the essence of the songs. Completely acoustic and with the help of fantastic jazz musicians like Patrik Boman, Wojtek Goral, Karl-Martin Almqvist, Per “Texas” Johansson and André Ferrari with the addition of Bebe Risenfors, Anna Sise and his sons Kevin and Loi.

The original is always there, respectfully regarded with love, and influences the songs to various degrees. Sometimes it means more naked acoustic versions like in “Five Years” below, and sometimes he creates new pieces of musical art like in “All the Madmen” and “Blackout”, which you can listen to here. Other songs come alive in a way that they never have done before like for example “Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me”, “When I Live My Dream” and “Can You Hear Me”.

Well, I have to mention Max Lorentz’ voice here, a voice with an incredibly nice depth, which touches Bowie’s own in the lower registers. That cool, relaxed voice that many of us love. Many times he follows Bowie faithfully in the phrasings but when a song permits it, he makes his own case.

Do you have to be a Bowie fan to appreciate this? No, definitely not. This stands for itself as a piece of innovative art with a great feeling, and the songs in themselves belong to the classics of pop and rock history , but luckily haven’t been played too many times on radio, and still have a lot to give.
Now to the sad part. The album is not out yet and I have no exact information on when this will happen. I suggest that you go to Max Lorentz’ Myspace page and urges him on a little.
For Bowie fans it could be interesting with a list of all the tracks: “Station to Station pt1”, “Five Years”, “All the Madmen”, “Be My Wife”, “Drive-In Saturday”, “Blackout”, “When I Live My Dream”, “Scream Like a Baby”, “Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me”, “Quicksand”, “Yassassin”, “Cygnet Committee”, “Can You Hear Me”, “Station to Station pt2”

Listen and download:

Five Years
All the Madmen
Blackout

Listen some more by visiting Max Lorentz on Myspace.

Max has also released four solo albums, which all have their own page, where you can listen and tell him what you think:

Lovely – 1994
Bravo – 1996
12 Songs – 2000
The World Is Watching – 2004

With Sarah Nilsson, singer and songwriter in the band Once Upon a Girl, I find one of those special voices that stands out and sticks to my mind. A lot of expression, warm, somewhat dramatic and with a unique tone.

This is simple and straight pop music, with influences from different sources, from classic pop from the sixties, to newer ballad pop and indie pop. There is a nice groove and it feels positive and full of joy.

Sarah tells me what she wants with her music:
“Honestly, in the moment of creation I mostly write just for myself. But the fantastic part comes afterwards, when you happen to touch someone. Therefore I have a small wish to be able to create small musical pills. Pills that goes straight to the heart of my listeners and create all kinds of chemical processes, without any synthetic substances. Happy pills, thrilling, calming and hopefully comforting pills. Quick-working pills that emphasize our sense of being alive.”

The others in the band are Marika Willstedt, piano, Alexander Kronbrink, guitars, Johan Ivansson, bass och Samuel Lindberg, drums. What you can listen to below is the result of a joint process of creation that starts with Sarah:
“The songs are born at home, often from the starting point of a phrase which through lilting evolves into a melody. I hear the harmonies in my head, but what their names are I most often find out afterwards by playing my old piano, which I’ve played (rather badly, I might add) since I was eight. A method of songwriting that works perfectly when your main instrument is your voice.

At this point I present my songs to the band. The lyrics are written on a piece of paper with the chords annotated above the words. I start to sing and they join in and afterwards we marvel over what we have created that day”

“Not Over You” (produced by Peter Wirén)

Listen to four songs with Once Upon a Girl. All lyrics and music by Sarah Nilsson exept for “Paper Doll”, where Alexander Kronbrink helped out with the music.
My own favourite is “Rebecca’s Song, what’s yours?

Oh No Not Again
Not Over You
Paper Doll
Rebecca’s Song

Visit Once Upon a Girl on Myspace

The name of the band was Tabasco Stockholm when they started in 2006. But after receiving a couple of rather less joyful letters from the legal representatives of a certain sauce brand, they decided to change the name to Basko Stockholm.

The original name came from that the association of the spicyness of their music. And spicy it is. And playful, lively and with a lot of musical joy. And this joy they have shared with the people in Stockholm in quite a few appreciated gigs for a couple of years.

Here you’ll find a nice blend of pop, rock, a lot of back beat and a real dose of latino feeling. I have to mention the brilliant guitar play, which doesn’t hesitate to break in with great sounding solos.

On their site you can listen to and download all their recorded music. You can also read their story and watch their videos. And on their Myspace page you can listen more and talk to the band.
JRight now they are recording a new EP with seven tracks., and you can follow their work, track by track on their home page.

Listen to three great songs:

Love and Caffeine
Cashflow
Good Luck Charm

No this is not a travelling agency I’m writing about today, it’s an interesting band that started out 2006 in Sandviken. They deliver a really nice indie pop and rock with a good sense of melodies and special vocals.

So far they have produced two EP:s: “Youth and Student Travel” and “Copy Me, Copy You”. Two records with quite different characters. The first one more wild, spontaneous and unpolished and the second one softer, thoughtful and with an ambience that reminds a little of the later Velvet Underground.

Here you’ll find three songs from the latest EP “Copy Me, Copy You”, an EP I think is brilliant and promises a lot for the future of the band. But don’t miss the other EP too, it’s really good and you can download both collections through their Myspace page.

Listen and download:

A New Love Found
Celebrity News
Copy Me, Copy You

According to Wikipedia Pachanga is a cuban dance, nowadays only popular in Cali, Colombia. It’s also the name of a character in the movie “Carlito’s Way”. But there is also a third explanation for the term: a spanish word for party.

And when you listen to Pachanga, there can be no doubt what their name means. Because party it is. I can imagine a spontaneous street party, maybe on Möllevången in Malmö, where Pachanga spread their joy to wild dancing in the streets to their wonderful mixture of rock, pop and soul. And yes, it’s still party when Niklas Svensson shouts “I’m an idiot” in “Buffalo Bill”.

There is a nice mess as the 9 men and women in Pachanga starts playing. Of course there are guitars, drums and bass, but also Rhodes, melodica, percussion, trombone and saxophones.

Here you listen to and download two tracks:

Buffalo Bill
110an

Visit Pachanga on Myspace