The trio DNKL did really well with their debut EP “Wolfhour” last year, and was featured on many music blogs around the world. Now they’re back with more dreamy electro pop on the new single “Otherside”, a song shrouded in a romantic shimmer of the eighties.

DNKL on Facebook – on Spotify – on Apple Music – on Soundcloud

Last year I hosted a premiere here on the blog with the cool noise rockers Lindblom & Lindblom, as they released their album “Sturm und Drang”. Their ambition is to release all songs as individual singles as well, and then accompanied by other song versions. Here the experimental electronica artist Sonds (also member of Ravga, Them Teeth) show his interpretation of “Strom”, together with a video reflecting what’s going on in the track. You can also listen to the original track here below. Robert from the band adds:

… another thing that’s familiar from the original song is the drum beat which lies embedded in the track, torned apart, but recognizable, and a guide for me to where we are in the song. I can imagine that someone whos relation to the song is not as strong as mine, get a more bewildered experience of what’s going on. I must say that it took a while for me to “get it”, but after a few spins I saw the structure and understood how the parts connect. Rather catchy actually. The video is almost entirely about reflecting what’s happening with the sound in the track and can serve as a hand rail for new listeners to embrace the noise.

Lindblom & Lindblom on Facebook – on Spotify – on Apple Music – on Bandcamp

Dubious Quip, aka Daniel Rosenholm, makes a splendid comeback with the new album “The Fear”, his first release in 6 years. He is bringing 6 dub-inspired tracks which breathes of laidback grooves and a calm thoughtfulness. There’s a wonderful mix of retro influences, sound experimentation and acoustic tones. He moves effortlessly across various genres from for example the John Lee Hooker-beckoning “Boom Boom Boom”, to the soul vibing “Sunny Weather”, which makes me think of Bill Withers, to the R&B-inspired “Tears of Happiness”.

The title track “The Fear” is the last song and is a piano ballad about the fear of strangers that lurks behind many doors in our society. It’s a sad and painfully beautiful song, but there’s no resignation here, rather a calm decisiveness and a humble peace.
He has declared that all revenue from the record goes to the organisation Save The Children and their work for helping the Syrian refugees. The official release is on Friday but the entire album is available now on Bandcamp.

Dubious Quip’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Apple Music – on Bandcamp

Dödens Dal, that is the duo Henrik von Euler and Rickard Jäverling, will release a follow-up to their two earlier albums in the Autumn. The trilogy, which was described as a mourning process from the start, will now come to a conclusion with the record “På Natten, Ovan Molnen”. This week they gave us a first taste, the song “Det som följer”, which may send us a hint of where they are heading with the new album.

We arrive in a grand soundscape with slowly pumping, dark synths. There is some other vibe to it now, though, like if we’re walking with determined steps out of sadness towards something different. This feeling is confirmed in the end of the song when the clouds suddenly disperse, the sunlight cuts through and the major scales beautifully lights up our way. This is accompanied by a faint breeze of nostalgia, like a calm reflection of what’s been, as we’re making our way toward brighter days.

Dödens dal on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp

Aeld is a duo consisting of the artist Anna Lindvall and the mathematician and engineer Lars Mats. Last month they released their debut EP “Snygga Ögon”, a different, fascinating record which spans over catchy, melodic synth pop tunes to experimental electronica with analogue-sounding, dark, muffled synths. They write that it’s primarily a collaboration over distance where for example the title track was written while one of them was in Japan and the other one on Öland in Sweden. Taste two of the songs here below.

Aeld on Spotify – on Apple Music – on Bandcamp