If you’ve listened to the band YAST then you have heard Marcus Norberg sing before. As an outlet for songs that doesn’t fit into his other projects he has now also launched his own solo project, even though he’s backed up by band members from YAST, Nightmen and Mixtapes & Cellmates. Here he almost digs down into the dark tones of Nick Cave in a country-vibing ballad, which is brightened, though, by the shimmering ambience we recognize from YAST. I hardly wants him to quit his other projects but this definitely made me wish for more.
It’s been a really slow start this year in the blog. I haven’t quit in any way, it’s just that other things have gotten in the way. Well, here’s a new post for you, and then we’ll see.
Half a year ago I wrote about Jonas Carping’s single “The Last Approval”, a single that was a first taste of this album, “Cocktails & Gasoline”. The single track starts the album, and is definitely one of the highlights of the record. This single track showed a larger and heavier rock sound than he has revealed before, and this is a trait that runs through on more songs on the album. Here’s a big span, though, all the way down to the naked folk song, where he’s all alone with the acoustic guitar. No matter the environment he is a something of a rebel, like the rock poet from the street who has jumped up on the Americana stage and shares his life experience with drama and passion, glowing in the darkness. And here he does it better than ever before. Here are three tracks from the album:
Behind The Echo Field we find the two friends Tomas Hellberg and Niklas Mellberg, who on their debut EP in the Autumn also got help from Billy Cervin (Side Effects) on guitar and Oskar Nylén on bass. The four songs radiate a happy, melodic powerpop with a strong breath of the sixties. I hear a lot of analogue warmth, characteristic chords and vocal harmonies that remind me of that era. I wouldn’t say it’s completely a retro album, though, as they have a fresh touch of their own in the sound and there are a plenty of other references with music from the seventies up to today which shines through. A debut album which promises a lot for future releases.
Roadside Member and the Crouch – “Somehow Psychadelic” EP
Here’s another excellent EP that was released in the Autumn. It’s Roadside and the Crouch’s third EP, where they present a wonderful mix of folkrock, Americana and pop. The melodies are contagious and Billy Lantz supply some great vocals.
Micael Matias is a singer/songwriter from Jönköping who so far has released a string of singles, where this one, “Stockholm Syndrome” came out a couple of months ago. He has a great baryton voice I like, which he gives some space in a folk inspired rock with good melodies. I also take the opportunite to add one of his earlie singles, “When the Winter Turns Into Summer”.
The band Mind, hailing from Malmö, have made their debut with this cool song and video, “Song of Circles”. Ola Salo and Jens Andersson have produced the song and the video was directed by Lena Shkoda in Kiev, Ukraine.
I believe many are looking forward to Postiljonen’s second album, “Reverie”. It’s scheduled to be released on the 19th of February next year, and here they are with another taste from the album.
Maria Hazell made her debut last year with the single “Say It Like You Mean It”, a song that has been spun more one and a half million times on Spotify and also gave her a nomination as “Rookie Artist of the Year” on The Dennis Pop Awards. Recently she released the single “Golden Boy” along with this video.
Navelin has taken the song “Daydream from their new EP “Side One” and supplied it with an animated music video. The video was created by Michael Zauner, who earlier has worked with artists like Arctic Monkeys and Tame Impala among others.
The London duo Honey Ants has released the single “Lies” with an accompanying music video. It’s a great video with a story to their Americana-vibing song, taken from their debut EP “EP1”.
Bird has released the album “Figments of Our Imagination”, an album produced by the Rolling Stones producer Chris Kimsey and where Bird plays all the instruments on the album. “Thrill Me” is one of the songs from the record that has been accompanied by a music video, a song with a nice tension in a lo-fi-sounding verse which bursts open in a sweet pop chorus.
The rapper Nomad, hailing from Lund is underway with his debut EP and has released the single “Fakka Me Mej” as a first taste. It’s an ambitious video which almost feels like an action movie trailer, an outburst from a song with a style he calls punk trap.
Here’s a band that directly made a big impression on me when I heard their music the first time last week. With a 4-piece line-up that includes both double bass and accordion they create a grand, epic ambience which sends shiver of pleasure down my spine when the songs peak. They play Americana, with a fateful and sometimes dramatic vibe where the singer Daniel Renström has both the strength and the right blackness in his voice to carry this home. So far they have released a single with two tracks, which you can listen to here below. If you’re in Stockholm on the 23rd of October you can go and see them perform at Pet Sounds Bar.
Meadowmusic presents new music from many corners and edges of the world, but with a strong focus on Swedish music. Listen, read, watch, comment and share the music. All songs you find here on this page have been approved for publication by the artists and labels.
Go to the contact page if you want to suggest music or if you have anything else to discuss.
