Slim Loris released their second full length album “Future Echoes and Past Replays” in Spring. It’s first of all an Americana-inspired album, but where they pour influences from pop and rock to a varying extent into the mix. In the end it comes out as a shifting, interesting record with everything from earthy, melancholic folk to beautiful country pop to more dramatic pop, most of the time with a basic acoustic vibe to the sound. Here are a couple of songs.

Slim Loris’ site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Bandcamp

Here’s a fine song from the band Kids On the Run, “Lies Beyond”; a song with vibes from folk pop, indie and Beach Boys harmonies. The band hails from Uppsala and has earlier released the EP “Restless Fields”, which is also definitely worth a listen.

Kids On the Run on Facebook – on Spotify – on Soundcloud

I’m going to kick off the Autumn season today by presenting some more artists I discovered at Roskilde, and then continue with loads of new Swedish music. Here’s a beautiful collection of music of various genres and from different parts of the world:

Jake Bugg

Jake Bugg from England serves some brit pop, but first of all folk rock with a luster of the early sixties; the best I’ve heard in the genre lately. Here are two songs from the latest album, which is available on Soundcloud, among other pages.

Felipe Cordeiro

Lovely mix of brasilian traditions and pop. Playful, rhythmical, melodic..

Dead Can Dance

A comeback from a band that’s been quiet for 16 years. Reverb drenched, beautifully melancholic ambience.

Sohn

Smooth, soft soul and electronica from this Englishman.

Dawanggang

A unique blend of chinese traditions and music from our part of the world, from this band with former punk rocker Song Yuzhe in the front.

Devin Townsend Project

Grand arena rock from Canada that doesn’t hold back in any way.

Ásgeir Trausti

Beautiful Icelandic pop.

Rokia Traoré

African traditions, funk and a wonderful soul-earthy voice from Rokia Traoré, hailing from Mali.

My Bubba

Swedish-Icelandish duo which breathes of  folk, blues and Joni Mitchell.

Calexico

Country rock and mexican horns from thus American duo.

Despite the wonderful start of the festival on Thursday, it felt like it started for real on Friday. More artists, a lot more people moving around, the press room full of writers and photographers and overall a more excited and engaged atmosphere. Add to that a fantastic festival weather; sunny with just the right temperature and pleasant, cooling breezes. We tried to keep up with all things we had planned for, but just as I thought our schedule was a little too optimistic, though. Here are a few of those artists we watched:

Jonathan Wilson played at the “folk scene” Odeon, which fit his 60/70’s-influenced folk/blues-rock perfectly. It’s tight, inspired, warm and I get vibes from both a Dylan from the seventies as well as from jammy psychadelia. Here are a few songs from his latest EP “Pity, Trials and Tomorrow’s Child” plus a live video:

About spreading warmth to the audience, the Icelandic band Of Monsters And Men knows exactly how to do it with their lovely folk pop. Catchy melodies with a lot of sing-a-long intentions.

We also checked out the Canadians in the band Suuns. Seductive, experimental and surprising jumps between different ambiences and rhythms, from indie dance to thick guitar driven noise walls to more suggestive works.

It’s been a couple of year since I wrote about Lars Wallin & The Tribe here on the blog. I hear from Lars, though, a little while ago as they are releasing some new singles this year, and I thought I’d present one of them here, “Rue De Mémoire”.

I recognise the somewhat harsh protest singer expression, the punk vibes and of course Lars signature, his didgeridoo. What makes this song even more special is that two famous touareg-musicians join the band in the song, the cajon-drummer Alain Plume and the bass player Zahir Aribi, which altogether  becomes a unique mix of influences from three continents (or four?). Listen here below.

Lars Wallin & the Tribes’ site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Rara – on Soundcloud