The Hanged Man

The Hanged Man

Rebecka Rolfart, whom we have met earlier in Those Dancing Days and Vulkano, is now devoting herself to her new band The Hanged Man. This week they released the debut single, “First Time Dreaming”, a dark psychadelic pop described as “a head-trip through space, down a careening oceanic trench and into the dark woods, illuminated only by the stars. ”

Last Days of April – “Someone For Everyone”

From the darkness to the sunshine. Last Days Of April is back with new catchy country pop in the new single “Someone For Anyone”, a song for us that have heard the old Eagles songs too many times and need something fresh and new.

June, You Lie – “Car Park”

Here’s a new quartet that call themselves June, You Lie. “Car Park” is their first creation, a sweet, melodic indie pop song full of young energy.

The Screamer – “Freak Out

Here’s a cool track from the band The Screamer with a punky electronica in their own special blend. “Freak Out”!:

Tom Levin

Tom Levin – “Pull Yourself Together”

Tom Levin is releasing his second single from his new album, “Pull Yourself Together”, together with a fun video. I took the opportunity to listen to the entire album “Them Feet” also, which was quite an interesting experience. With the roots in Americana he blends this with various genre influences in rather different, inspiring and often stripped-down arrangements. Recommended. I also added another song from the album here below, the fascinating “Company Man”.

Weaver – “From Different Trees”

Weaver, or Johan Weber which is his real name, is releasing his debut EP on the 16th of March. As a first taste he’s showing us the Americana and country-vibing “From Different Trees”, together with this animated video:

Manfred Kidd – “Lights”

And here’s another song from an upcoming EP. It’s the duo Manfred Kidd, hailing from Göteborg, who have released their debut single “Lights”, with catchy, uplifting and playful indie. A strong debut.

Stars In Coma – “Tricks”

Stars In Coma, based in Malmö, will release their sixth album on the 30th of April. The new single “Tricks”,taken from the album, is a song that breathes of seventies’ pop, with a chorus that almost feels like a schlager hit from that decade. The front man André Brorsson writes that the album will be characterized by music from the seventies and the eighties, which also the earlier released song, the disco-inspired “By the Mechanical Urn”, suggests.

In October The Chrysler released the album “Hands Across the Sea”, which is their fourth album and their first one in six year, though it is the first album I hear with them. The band was started in 2001 by Pelle Lindroth and Anders Rudström, who today form a sextet toghether with the other members Nya Sampan, Martin Sörbom, Peppe Rudström and the productive, especially this year, Henrik von Euler. The record is quite a pleasant acqaintance with a sound that comes with both a retro flavour as well as an indie-roughness from today. Americana and country inspired pop with overall strong, melodic songs is my closest description, and with a variation where I’m reminded of the melancholic sixties as well as Dylan in the seventies. Here are two songs.

The Chrysler on Spotify – on Wimp – on Rara

I’m starting the day here with an uplifting country rock song from the band Eastwick. The song is called “Up For the Ride”, and is also the first single from the band’s next album, the second one since the debut “A Moment From Now” in 2010.

Eastwick’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp

Up For the Ride

Mikael Persson has played in different bands during thirty years, but it took until 2011 before he released his solo debut album “Moving With Mrs. Carter”. After a couple of  EP:s he’s now out with the follow-up album “Marks & Bleeds”, an album where he has invited guests as songwriters and musicians like Greg Copeland, Janni Littlepage, Luisa Jordan-Killoran, Citizen K among others.

It’s a rather varied record which revolves around country rock and Americana and Mikael’s dark, laidback and expressive vocals. There’s quite a few excursions with other influences too; I can hear Irish folk vibes, nice power pop-like choruses, the Dire Straits-sounding “St. James’ Park” and a beautiful cover of Yazoo’s “Only You” to name a few. There’s plenty of guitar candy on the album as well as a great sense of sticky melodies, which you have two good examples of here below. The album is available on Spotify and on Wimp.

Some 50 Roads
Man With Hound By His Cottage