There’s been too little reggae in this blog, no doubt about it. Hopefully we will have new writers in the future to write about great swedish reggae artists. Even if I don’t listen that much to reggae myself, I couldn’t help to fall for Kultiration. I at least haven’t heard this mix of reggae, folk and jazz before.

Violins and accordion paint beautiful mellow folk music melodies to the backbeat, Marcus Bergs vulnerable, naked voice conveys soul, thoughts and social criticism and the brass lifts it all with nice arrangements. It may be melancholic but it nevertheless feels elevating. Maybe it’s the backbeat in itself, maybe it’s the feet that start moving when I listen.

Kultiration is now working on their fourth album, which will be released in April next year. Here you can listen to two tracks from their album “Döden föder” (I-Ration Records) and watch a video from a TV4 performance.

“En timme kvar att leva” (“An hour left to live” from TV4 Nyhetsmorgon):

Glömd e jorden
Rikemansghetto

If you want to listen some more you can visit Kultiration’s site, their Myspace page and Kultiration on Last.fm

I thought it was time for some blues again. This time with the blues veteran Brian Kramer, who have recently released the album “Live at Club Stampen” under the name Brian Kramer & the Nights of Blu-topia. Brian invites us to an intimate and soulful performance in the company of great musicians like Mats Qwarfordt, “Iron Hand” Mike Haglund, Marcelo Nunez and Peter Freij.

It’s a wonderful collection of songs that Brian presents here. I find a nice earthy, positive (can I say that?) blues, together with folk music and bluegrass, which makes my feet move, and also nice bluesy singer/songwriter tunes. Good music, of course, always comes from within, but somewhere I feel that the blues lies as close as you can get to the soul. And judging from what I hear it would be real nice to meet a person like Brian Kramer.

Of course you should go to Brian Kramer’s site and his Myspace page to read more about him and to listen more to his music.

Here’s two tracks from Brian Kramer and the Nights of Blutopias’ “Live at Club Stampen”:

I Get It Wrong
Everything Is Headed Somewhere

The Örnsköldsvik citizen and the singer/songwriter Lars Ekengren plays a number of instruments when he creates his beautiful Americana-inspired music. The acoustic guitar is used frequently as well as the piano, but I think his strongest instrument is his voice, that seems to be made for this music. Sligthly rough like from one of the finest sandpapers and a soul-bluesy softness and feeling that makes it sound great. It’s obvious that he’s influenced by American music, and one of the sources of this is of course him living there for more than five years:

“I heard a lot of good music when I lived in the USA (Detroit) and it has probably sculpted me and my music somewhat. A lot of not especially known (in Sweden), but yet really good artists like for example Jeffrey Foucault, Mark Erelli, Richard Buckner, Jeff Black, Peter Mulvey, Patti Griffin, Buddy/Julie Miller, Richard Shindell, John Gorka, Peter Bruntnell, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Lori McKenna, Kathleen Edwards and others…”

“Then of course we have Springsteen, Dylan, John Hiatt, Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, Ryan Adams, Counting Crows, Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo, Emmylou Harris, Mellencamp, Jackson Browne and so on…”

About his songwriting he says:

“I have a love-hate relationship with the songwriting: 10% comes all by itself (a frase, a chord etc), the remaining 90% is pure discipline. If one should write songs only “when inspired”, nothing ever would be done. I think those that tell the contrary are lying. If that is the case, then I really lack inspiration.
The lyrics take time…” (translated from Swedish)

He claims that “I wouldn’t be able to play a barre chord even if my life was at stake”, so besides the ambition to play more concerts in the future and maybe form a band, a goal is to learn barre chords… :-)

Listen to and download three tracks from Lars Ekengren:

Distance
Hope & Faith
Hands

You will find more tracks to enjoy at Lars Ekengrens site, and you can also visit him on Myspace.

Behind this bandname hides Petter Hillström, who released his debut album “Hillström & Billy” on the 10th of November. If you are one of those that have started using your old record player again, then this release is perfect for you since the physical release of the album is on vinyl.

“American roots music and British folk with a light twist of modern pop” Petter describes his music. A good description, although in my ears the pop influence is more than a light twist in many songs. I have no problem with that since these songs are really good pop songs, and also quite varying, with nice melodies and sometimes with a retro feeling. This together with the more folk based tracks makes the album very interesting. Below you can listen to a couple of songs.

If you’re in Stockholm tonight, I can recommend a visit to the live club Bara Unplugged where Hillström & Billy will perform together with Mårten Lärka and Kinski.

If You Don’t Come Home
Hard to Grasp

Visit Hillström & Billy on Myspace

Here’s a voice that will catch your attention. The music reminds me of classic folk singers like Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. . There’s something especially capturing in Hector Projector’s music, that’s hard to describe. Maybe it’s the ambience or his voice, or the combination of them. Well, judge for yourself by listening to the songs below.

Hector Projector is also a brilliant animator, and you can see a sample of it in his video for “It’s Art” here below. You’ll find more films on Hector Projector’s Youtube page.
Last spring Hector Projector released the album “Missing Limbs”. If you wanted a physical copy of the album, then you could send him a drawing, either according to his instructions or freely. A guess of mine is that this will lead to a new animation project, and it will be interesting to follow this.

You can download the interesting album “Missing Limbs” from Hector Projector’s site, and here you can listen to two tracks from this album with the addition of the song “In Retrospect” from the album “Ballpoint Covers”.

Hector Projector also has a Myspace page.

I’m Playing the Strings Tonight
Does It Matter
In Retrospect