The duo Newgate Fringes consists of Jesper Zakrisson and Johan Hansson and they celebrate 5 years as a band this winter. They have released three albums before and are just about to release their fourth, “Keeping the Score”. I recommend you to visit Newgate Fringes’ site, where you can download and listen to many tracks from their earlier records.

This is singer/songwriter music with a mellow touch, with tight beautiful vocal harmonies and nice guitar arrangements. In their latest album they produced an ambience that made me sometimes think of the early sixties with Everly Brothers and early Simon & Garfunkel, emphasized by the great percussion ideas in some tracks.

With the new songs they have moved on to larger arrangements with more instruments, but still with the same base and feeling in the songs. You can taste this by listening to two tracks here below. “In Her Shoes” is a track originally from the album “Collecting Your Points”, but this newer version is produced by David and Ludwig Franzén at Arrowstreet Recordings in Umeå. The Score is produced by the band.

In Her Shoes
The Score

Visit Newgate Fringes’ site and their Myspace page

Eddie Wheeler is and has been a quite busy man. He has toured extensively, not only in Sweden, but also in England, Australia and in the US. Many recognise him from the Swedish TV show Raggadish, which followed him on an international tour in 2006. Besides the concerts Eddie is also a frequent speaker in schools, conferences and other events.

Sofar he has released a couple of EP:s and is just about to release another one, which will be celebrated with a concert at Pustervik the 20th of November. The EP is a taste of the coming full length album, to be released in spring.

The 2nd of December is the opening night for the Eddie Wheeler Christmas show at Kontiki in Göteborg, Sweden. A live club where independent artists will perform every Tuesday during three weeks in December. Eddie Wheeler himself in the company of Jacques Labouchere will be the first acts.

Here you can get to know Eddie Wheeler’s music in a couple of tracks. I think acoustic rock is a good description of his music. And it is a naked form of rock, with a mellow ambience, gripping and in some kind of way honest. Listen for yourself:

How Far
The First

Visit Eddie Wheeler’s site or his Myspace page to listen some more.

Kim Stranne is a happy angry man. He has picked up the somewhat abandoned Swedish prog rock pen and sharpened it. He doesn’t forget, though, to sometimes pick up a softer brush instead, to celebrate life, people and love.

The music has a lot of variation; from softer ballads, to more dramatic rock to folk music inspired prog rock. Nice melodies, but he doesn’t complicate things, because the main purpose is to bring the message forward in a distinct and interesting way. And I think he succeds in this. The finishing touch is Kim’s voice that has that extra glow that can catch fire if needed and make the song ignite.

The lyrics are carefully written, and there is a poetic vein here that closes in on the subject in a different way than just pressing down opinions down the listener’s throat. And he has a good feeling for those frases and interesting titles that makes you want to listen more, and, if you like, take it with you afterwards.

Last year Kim Stranne & Kollektivet released their first album “Svart på vitt” and they are now in the studio recording the sequel, planned to be released in spring next year.
Here you can listen to and download two songs from “Svart på vitt”, “Aldrig” (“Never”) and “Jag litar inte på folk” (“I don’t trust people”), where the chorus line of the last song very well could serve as a slogan for the current intense Swedish debate over the IPRED law: “Jag litar inte på folk som inte litar på folk” (“I don’t trust people who don’t trust people”).

Aldrig
Jag litar inte på folk

Read more at Kim Stranne & Kollektivet’s site or go  to Myspace to listen more.

Lasse Franck is a skilled word juggler, that with his expressive, rather sensitive voice serves his lines in a pop/rock menu, with nice melodies. From softer pop songs, that remind me of Olle Ljungström, to rock with a drive.

Lasse sings in a way that really emphasizes the lyrics. And I accept the lyrics pretty fast, which can be layered personal reflections delivered with warmth and humour, where the afterthoughts make me smile, or provocations with his tongue in his cheek.

A full length album is being recorded in a collaboration with Pär Edwardson, Jonas Slättung and Kalle Thorslund, and will probably be released in spring 2009.
In the meantime you can get a taste of it by listening to three tracks:

Åka skridskor
Målaren
Inget val

Visit Lasse Franck on Myspace

Then it was time again for music with pleasant-sounding southern swedish accent (from Skåne). Torbjörn Hallberg is the artist, and he presents songs in a singer/songwriter style. Many times somewhat mellow songs with nice acoustic guitar arrangements, sometimes sweetened with trumpet playing.

This week Torbjörn is releasing two singles through Tormo Records, “Sommaren” (“The Summer”) and “Minns du hans namn” (“Do You Remember his Name”) (with the bonus track “Hoppas vi hoppats nog”) and you can download the tracks here below. Later this year he’s also releasing a five track EP “01:45”.

Enjoy!

Sommaren
Minns du än hans namn?
Hoppas vi hoppats nog

Visit Torbjörn Hallberg on Myspace