The Danish-Swedish band Afenginn was formed in 2002 and have now released five full length albums, counting the latest “Lux” which was released in the beginning of the year. I think it’s a wonderful album, where I felt just after a few bars that this was going to be a different and special experience.

They have their base in folk music, where maybe the balkan influence is what can be sensed most strongly, but I wouldn’t complain if someone called it classical music or jazz for that matter. It’s a blend of all this into their very own Afenginn brew, seductively beautiful, melancholic and which also gives me a strong filmic sensation as I listen. You can listen to the whole album on their Bandcamp page.

Afenginns site - on Facebook -on Bandcamp

Waldhotel Solitaire
Paxima

Jackson Kelley is an american musician from Utah, whose instrumental project Einstein In a Patent Office was picked up by the Swedish label Mareld Records, to be released from here in Sweden. In March he released the EP “Supernova Sounds” from which you can listen to the track “Nadir” here below. It’s an imaginative, instrumental music, downtempo, where he plays with large spaces and various ambiences and styles.

There’s a pleasant flashback in the sound gallery with analogue pads and string sounds that remind me of Vangelis, while a lot of other sounds and beats draw me away from a pure retro vibe. In “Nadir”, here below, he lets jazz-soft guitar figures guide us through the track’s many  facets, with some passages that could’ve been part of a progressive rock song. Enjoyable and interesting music that works both in the background as well as something to indulge yourself in for a while.

Einstein In a Patent Office on Facebook – on Spotify – on Soundcloud

The duo Dödens Dal released their debut album “Gå ensam förbi horisonten” some weeks ago; an album they have described as a mourning process. It’s beautiful and melancholic, like a moment of resigned lament in front of the inevitable, to find peace, to find a way back. The second single from the album “Bakom Stjärnor, Bakom Tiden” (“Behind stars, behind time”), with it’s wailing, lonely foghorn in the middle of the darkness, gives a taste of the record.

Dödens dal on Spotify - on Wimp

Bakom Stjärnor, Bakom Tiden

We got to know Andreas Österberg and his Det mekaniska undret (“The mechanical wonder”) a couple of years ago, when he composed music for and filmed tram line 11 in Göteborg. Now he’s started a new project which will eventually lead to the album ”Industriromantik”. It’s about old industries in Göteborg, large brick brick buildings, silent today, but where we can divine a long history behind these mighty walls. Like with the majestic Sockerbruket (sugar plant) in the image above, which is the object of the first song in the project.

Det mekaniska undret’s site - on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Soundcloud

Puh call their music fairy tale pop. And even if it’s not for the youngest children, there certainly is a feeling of story-telling in their varied instrumental music. I can hear the Swedish melancholy in folk progressive songs as well as the ambience from pupptries and burlesque journeys with horse and carriage. You can listen to all this on their debut album “Djärv som kärleken” (“Bold as Love”), which was released last month.

The band, hailing from Norrköping, was started in 2010 by the songwriter Jakob Sindahl as a solo project, but grew in size as he added more and more instruments to his compositions. Interestingly they have found a strong fan base in Brooklyn, NY. The organizer of the club Sugarcube in Brooklyn found them on the Internet and invited them to come and play. They grabbed the opportunity, travelled there and made an appreciated performance last year. Beside the appreciation and a bunch of new fans it also resulted in a contract with the  Brooklyn based label The Snake, who now has released their debut.

Puh on Facebook – on Spotify – on Bandcamp

Granris
Ett hastigt farväl

Zeonlight is a music company that focuses on cassette releases, a trend that’s clearly growing, although not as strongly as the vinyl revival. They represent quite a few very interesting artists, and have jumpstarted the year with with a number of releases which I thought I’d give you a taste of here below. It’s about the artists Testbild!, Folkmun (upcoming release), Tidlös and Heat and White, and more cassettes is coming up. When it comes to me, I don’t have any cassette players left, if I don’t count the one in the car, but luckily the albums are also available digitally, on Zeonlight’s Bandcamp page.

It’s been rather quiet here this week, but I’m going to start it all up again. There’s loads of good Swedish music pouring into my inbox this year, and during the five years I’ve been posting here on Meadowmusic, I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m starting today with the excellent new album from Mackaper, ”Mot ljusare tider”.

I wrote about this organ duo, which now has become a quintet, in November, when they tempted us with the song ”Staden vaknar” from the new album. In the end of December the record was released, and it was just as great as I was hoping for. With the new members and where the drum machines have been exchanged for real drums, they feel even closer to their roots in music, to the progressive rock with influences from Swedish folk music from the early seventies. It feels inevitable to think about Bo Hansson as an inspiration while listening, and with their exploration of different ambiences in songs with titles that speak for themselves, I get a certain feeling of listening to a soundtrack, just like in the works of the predecessor. Great folk psych, as they call it themselves. Here below, you’ll find the starting track, “Dimma”.

Mackaper on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp

Dimma

The duo Henrik von Euler and Rickard Jäverling released the single ”Det står skrivet” in December, under the band name Dödens dal (“The Valley of Death”). Instrumental electronica which makes me think about Alan Parsons Project and TV-dramas from the eighties. An album, “Gå ensam förbi horisonten”, will be released on February 20th, an album they describe as a mourning process.

Dödens dal on Spotify – on Wimp

Det står skrivet

Here’s a song and a video from Elias Krantz, “Young Ends”, taken from his album “Night Ice” which was released in 2011. As the album now is available on vinyl he took the opportunity to draw some attention to it by releasing this video, made by the Mexican artist and illustrator Derzu Campos. They found each other when Elias was traveling around Mexico a couple of years ago, and Elias asked Derzu if he would like to make a video to “Young Ends”, a video that later was recorded in the Mexican mountains. A beautiful illustration of Elias’ instrumental, slightly suggestive progressive rock. Elias is also involved in Mackaper’s new album, which was released on December 19th, an album I will get back to in a little while.

Elias Krantz’ site - on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Soundcloud

Mackaper was created by Markus Hulthén and Per Nyström as a side project to their band The Concretes. They sat down at two organs, jamming forth new song ideas, which then was completed and in the end released on the instrumental album “When All Is Sad and Dawn”, which I wrote about a couple of years ago.

Now the project has grown even more, and the duo has become a quintet, where the two brothers Elias and Ville Krantz now handle the bass and the drums respectively, instead of their computer colleague, and furthermore Gustav Nygren has joined the band with his saxophone. You can listen to the result in the song here below, “Staden vaknar” (“The city awakes”). The title describes the atmosphere well, in this new sound with more depth and warmth, with a soft, smooth, saxophone that paints new textures in the soundscape. The song is taken from their upcoming album”Mot ljusare tider”, which will make us stop and catch our breath in the middle of the Christmas stampede on December 19th.

Mackaper on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp