I wrote about Knut Svanholm and his brother’s trio Fleet of Clay a couple of weeks ago. His main project, though, is the rock band LOBST where he sings, plays the guitar and writes songs. In the beginning of the Autumn they released their new album “The Angry Kid”, the second one since the start in 2009.

On the album they create their own rock hybrid where I hear British hard rock from  Mötorhead to Saxon as well as grunge and post grunge from the nineties. It’s a dense, guitar riff loaded and raw sound which goes hand in hand with Knut’s almost punky vocals. An album full of adrenaline and guitar candy which grows with each time I listen. Listen for yourself in a couple of tracks here below.

LOBST on Facebook – on Spotify

Downward Slope
The Watcher

The Grand New Wrong, who I wrote about in Spring, have released a new single, “Hands of Time”. Two songs with smoking grunge-inspired rock, which I think take the band to a new level, both when it comes to the songs themselves but also when it comes to the production, which now is considerably sharper and breathes of determination and rock energy.

It deserves to be mentioned that all income from the single goes to  Made for Music, a local project in Alingsås, Sweden, which aims to help kids who can’t afford music school or buy their first instrument.

The Grand New Wrong’s site - on Facebook – on Spotify

No Name

The main influence for The Grand New Wrong is the grunge era with the prominent figures Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam et al. And this is also evident when you listen to the band’s latest EP “Seconds”, which was released last year. “Seconds” is their second EP, and a new single is also on it’s way; a single you can listen to on their site.

The bass player Björn Granat tells me that the band name had been on his mind even before the band was formed. The Grand New Wrong stands for his view that a lot of things that before were part of the standard values like solidarity, compassion, real music and more, nowadays is considered to be taboo, wrong and abnormal.

You can listen to their music on Spotify and follow them on their site or on Facebook. Here is the first track on “Seconds”

Trails

“Soundgarden goes psychedelic folk-prog” somebody said about Kokong‘s album “Science Loves Pudding”. The band describe the music as a mix of sex and sudoku and that they had the ambition to create music without any fixed boundaries. The band, or the duo, consists of Niclas Peterson and Tom Lindström.

I think that the quote above is a good reference point from where it all starts, somewhere in the nineties’ grunge-post-grunge, but then it takes of in various directions and I get all sorts of associations in the songs. Like for example in “Knife Attack” below, where it almost seems like Tom Waits was  around when they recorded the song.

Exciting and interesting album to listen to, which you can do on Spotify or on Ge.tt. You can also find the band on Facebook.

Pre-amp
Knife Attack

This single caught my attention, a nice intro and the music is a bit heavy with a touch of grunge. The vocals are very nice and have a lot of melody. The A-side of this single is the better one of the 2 songs there is, which you can listen to here below.

Stone Carpet has released an EP before but with a different line-up. This time they say it’s a fresh start and there’s nothing holding them back, just full steam ahead. This single is worth a shot if you happen to like rock with melody.

Stone Carpet’s site can be found here, and their single on Spotify can be found here.

The Sound of a Thousand

As you have noticed, we have been away for a week here at Meadowmusic. So I thought that it was an excellent occasion today to start anew by wishing you all a happy new year, with music.

Thanks to everyone who read the blog and thank you for all support, all mail discussions and comments. I am looking forward to a new fantastic year in 2009, with a lot of new music, some of it to be presented here.

As an inspiration for the new year I thought that Icke Lika Med would be a perfect choice. Icke Lika Med, with front man Olle Torpman, is a band I really love; for the music, but also for being who they are. And something that I think we all could learn from Icke Lika Med is that they go their own way. In the middle of all the crisis and among herd-running finance sharks, I think it’s even more important to do that, to go your own way. Not somebody elses way, just your own.

And that is what Icke Lika Med does. By playing grunge in swedish, in their own way, and by trying to make this world a better place.

Besides the great music you can listen to here in this post, you can also visit Icke Lika Med’s site to listen more and download more songs.

Happy new year!

Det var jag (It was I):

Bättre (Better):

Det var jag
Party!
Banding & Shisha
18

Two years ago Stereolith had the honour to open for Europe on their Nordic tour. Two bands from two different generations of hard rock. Europe sailed through the eighties mostly under the term “melodic hard rock” (strange term btw, as if other types of hard rock didn’t have melodies) and they were quite successful at that. Almost two decades separate the bands, but they fit together quite well, as Stereolith may be viewed as a 20th century counterpart in style. That is, with the hard rock and metal of today as the base, catchy melodies and a strong front figure and songwriter in Oscar Ammer. I do hope though, that they skip the modern version of “Carrie” ;-)

Be Alone:

Nickelback is close by to compare with, but I think that Stereolith feels heavier and less polished (nice). The grunge has also a significant influence, which is quite obvious in some songs.
Listen to and download a couple of tracks from Stereolith’s debut album:

Still Strong
Be Alone

Besök Stereoliths hemsida och deras Myspace-sida

William S. Burroughs wrote the novel “Port of Saints” in 1973. The story consists of several interwoven substories while the main theme is about a bunch of wild boys that try to change history by travelling through time to different places.

Maybe they are not rewriting history, but the description of the book feels right on target when it comes to the band Port of Saints. They sample from different eras of rock history and get influences from many directions like Soundgarden, Queens of the Stone Age, Black Sabbath older psychadelia rock and others. Many threads that may lead to different areas but they blend it beautifully down to a heavy driven rock that is fun to listen to.

I really recommend a visit to their Myspace page or their Facebook page, so you can hear more sides of this interesting rock band.

Listen to and download three songs:

The Martyr
Monster
Dead End

No matter how nice it is with really great massive guitars that cover your body, that feeling still intensifies when the songs are based on a guitar melody. The band Kaross performs this beautifully! There’s a drive throughout the songs that carries them all the way and offers great music. Combine that with a great, hoarse rock’n'roll voice and you get magic.

Kaross have played together since 2000 and in 2005 they won a local rock contest, Partillerocken, and got the record deal that was the first prize. The album was released in 2007 through the company Eastground records.

You can listen to and download two great rock-and-rolling songs. On their Myspace page, you can listen to a pretty cool tune, “Old Vinyl”, that draws your mind towards the Brian Setzer Orchestra. Unfortunately without the rockabilly guitar.

Meat Me
Bong Song

Visit the band:
Kaross on Myspace
Bandets official site

Keep cool,
Jeppe

Although bordering genres that are almost overloaded these days, with a lot of skilful bands that resembles eachother a little bit too much, In Bloom has definitely found their own way.
A grunge feeling is mixed with nice melodic refrains, but what makes them unique is the sound. The guitar base is lightly disted acoustic guitars, performed by the singer and songwriter of the band, Pär Eriksson, which renders a certain nearness. This feeling is also enhanced by sensitive arrangements and good lyrics.

The band released their debut album, “With Faded Lights” in July on Blue Topaz Recordings , and I’m proud to be able to present two songs from the album below, “Somewhere” and “Succeed”.

The video for “Somewhere” (and yes, according to sources, it took quite som effort to sing and run at the same time ;-))

Somewhere
Succeed

In Bloom’s home page

In Bloom on Myspace