Daniel Ögren – “Mountains”

December 10, 2015 at 3:32 pm

Daniel Ögren

Daniel Ögren has been a part of many different projects and he has accompanied a number of artists, among them Anna von Hausswolff, Anna Järvinen, Daniel Johnston and Nils Berg. He also keeps a solo career running, where he has released four previous albums and has just released the fifth one, “Mountain”.

“Mountain” is the most unconventionally fascinating album I’ve heard this year. It’s all instrumental and draws inspiration from a wide register of genres, from indierock to jazz and classical film music, although I can often sense a base in progressive rock or jazz rock. Here the raw, brutally sweet coexist with the breathtakingly beautiful as he plays guitars that remind me of everything from an unpolished Reeves Gabrels to Schaffer’s airy spaces. Here are three tracks that give a hint of the album’s range and beauty.

Daniel Ögren on Facebookon Spotifyon Apple Music

powerdrunk – “Hindu Lunchbox”

November 11, 2015 at 7:19 pm

powerdrunk

I thought I’d make an excursion to Turkey and the band powerdrunk now. The band are releasing their EP “Hindu Lunchbox” this Autumn, an EP which is not easy to describe in a few words. Their rock sound feels like a warm Mediterranean breeze sweeping over us, heated by progressive rock, funk, jazz, classic guitar pop and a hint of psychadelia in their own special mix. It’s a tight trio who lean on bass, guitars and drums, but who often include string sections, brass or synth figures for that extra spice to the ambience of the songs. Here are two songs to taste from the EP:

powerdrunk’s site – on Facebook

Catholic Radio – “Rain Is Done”

October 16, 2015 at 4:04 pm

Catholic Radio

Here’s an excellent single from the Oakland band Catholic Radio. They fool us a bit with the band name, since the music has very little to do with religion. Recently they released the single “Rain Is Done”, which is taken from the album “The Last Summer, Vol. 2”, launched earlier this year. They start out with a laidback, dreamy indie rock which lands in a “Dark Side of the Moon”-sounding chorus and then opens up in an atmospheric soundscape with shimmering layers of guitars. Beautiful, different and with a quite pleasant sound full of retro vibes. If you like dreamy, melodic indie rock with progressive tendencies I recommend you to check out both of their “The Last Summer”-albums they released this year.

Catholic Radio on Facebookon Spotifyon Bandcamp

Låtsaspoeten – “På riktigt”

April 13, 2015 at 4:13 pm

Låtsaspoeten

Last Saturday Låtsaspoeten, alias Jon Rinneby, released the debut album “På riktigt”. If you have followed the blog you have met him in several disguises before, first of all as a singer and songwriter in Turn Off Your Television, and in the Autumn I made an interview with him about this new project. As Låtsaspoeten he has started writing lyrics in Swedish for the first time, and also tried to find his way back to a simpler and more direct way of creating music. He decided early on to work according to a principle where he gave himself one day to write and record a song and another day to mix and finalize the production.

The thirteen songs on the album form quite a varied journey that balances between simple fun and seriousness, and between the close, personal and his critical eyes on society. The Swedish folk song tradition and the progressive movement from the seventies form a base in many tracks, but he doesn’t stop there and often moves the songs on to indie pop and Americana of today, and I’m sure that Turn Off Your Television-fans will feel at home once in a while. Not least because of all the sticky melodies Jon has a notorious habit of creating. Listen to three of the tracks here below:

Låtsaspoeten on Facebook – on Spotify

Lerin/Hystad – “Ametarasu”

March 6, 2015 at 2:29 pm

Lerin/Hystad

Last year I wrote about the Norwegian/Swedish duo Lerin/Hystad and their album “Mount Buzhou“. There they combined their instrumental music with traditional chinese music, including field recordings from a large music summit in China. On the new album they have crossed the water and gone to Japan to get their inspiration.

Like before they have sampled field recordings in the tracks, but this time taken from arcade halls and subway stations in Tokyo and Osaka. This is mixed with vibes of traditional japanese music, jazz, electronica, progressive and experimental rock. It all becomes a fascinating melting pot where the past meets the present, east meets west, the finetuned organic meets the hard, machinelike. It can coexist at one time and in the next moment the other aspect takes over. Well, it is a bit like I can imagine what Japan is like with it’s deep roots in their own traditions living side by side with the modern society and the influence from the western world. An album with an amazing creativity, abundance of details and a large span of music. Here are two songs:

Lerin/Hystad on Facebookon Spotifyon Bandcamp

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