Things have been happening fast for The High Fives. They started out 2006 in Katrineholm, Sweden, in 2007 they toured all over Sweden and played at Hultsfredsfestivalen, they drank black absinth and turned a hostel upside down, and now in November 2008 they release their debut album “Work of Art” (Show Me the Money/Wonderland Records).

And their music runs pretty fast too. It’s indie pop/rock with a lot of energy with nice melodic hooks, and the latest addition to the band with two brass players emphasizes this even more. (extra pluses for saxophone solos). A party atmosphere I would say, positive and happy, and with this as a starting point I’m sure they will continue to get a lot of attention on their concerts and gather faithful crowds.

The third of November the album “Work of Art” is released, but you can get a taste of it here by listening to two great tracks from the record:

241
Duracell

Visit The High Fives on Myspace

I got a tip the other day about Jonas Tunander. Earlier this year he released the EP “You Took a Piece of My Heart”, which is available on på sin hemsida free for download.

He serves a pop/rock-mix where other influences can be sensed in the verses which erupts in nice catchy choruses. What catches me most in the end is Jonas’ vocals; he sings in a straightforward and open way that feels quite different.
I did recognise the way of singing somehow, but it wasn’t until I heard an electronica remix by Mars TV of the song “Get Your Feet Back On the Ground”, that I finally landed in the synth pop from the eighties and the vocals heard there.

You can listen to two tracks from “You Took a Piece of My Heart” below. The excellent remix, mentioned above, can be heard on Jonas Tunander’s site.
You can also visit him and the band on their Myspace page.

“Get Your Feet Back On the Ground”

Self-Pity Is All You Need
Get Your Feet Back On the Ground

The People is one of the best sounding rock bands I’ve heard this year. They have such an energy, spontaneity, joy and fantasy that the “must-see-them-live”-feeling comes readily. Yes, it really feels like a live band, but maybe I should turn it around and be fascinated about the fact that they can convey this feeling in the recordings.

There is a lot of retro feeling in their music. Here you’ll meet the sixties in various influences from jam bands like MC5 to music with nice choruses and harmonies, the seventies with the early Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and others, hooky guitar licks and riffs, with everything mixed down to their own wild blend of rock.

There are four skilled musicians in this band and I’m convinced that Ron Aiden, the singer, could have entered any rock band from the sixties, with his strong expression.

Listen to three tracks from The People. “The Misantrooper” about how you can feel after too many trips on the subway, “He’s Just One of a Kind” about people that refuse to leave you alone and “Revelation (the Gospel of Joseph)” where the father of the holy hippie tries to explain the obscurities about virgin birth.

The Misantrooper
He’s Just One of a Kind
Revelation (the Gospel of Joseph)

Listen to more songs on The People’s Myspace page

This is the hundredth post on this blog. It means that we so far have presented ninetynine artists, songwriters and producers. We thought of celebrating this by having a mini cavalcade with songs from some of the artists we have reviewed. Many of these songs are exclusive for download only here on Meadowmusic, and I hope that they are shared with people all over the world if you as a visitor like the songs.

We, here on Meadowmusic, are overwhelmed by all the support we have received since we started in the beginning of July. We started this because it felt like we were carrying around a secret that we just had to share with the world. And the secret was that there’s so much fantastic Swedish music, that seldom is played on the radio or other mainstream channels. And that this music is just as good, well, in fact much better than what is heard there. Well, it’s not a secret anymore, is it?

First we would like to thank you as a visitor, because you come here and listen to the music. Every visit, every time you listen, every recommendation to a friend, every mention of what you hear contributes to the promotion of the artists and their music, and to the support of this blog.
Thank you for all mail and tips and also for the communication with the artists.

We also would like to thank all the artists that support us. And I don’t mean only the artists that we have presented here, but also all of you that have contacted us, telling us that what we do is important and great. Thank you!

Below you’ll find some extra songs with artists from earlier posts. (Click on the artist’s name to go to the post about the artist.)

Pär Edwardson in a fantastic song about a girl with huge hair
The Girl With the Huge Hair

Aurgunn, the poet, on bliss
Saligheten

Lasse Söhr has produced Isak Strand in this song
The Lie

Maini Sorri sings about Goose-Liisa
Hanhi-Liisa

Angelica wishes that you let her enter
Let Me In

Chris Michols wants to go home
I Wanna Go Home

Listen to Jamin Pirnia in a collaboration with Nihad Tule
Are You Happy Now?

Andreas Lundgren is so cool
Sunset-lover

Some Kind of Rubus sings about Goula, “no one could fool’er”
Goula

Rock with Bodies
Loser

And 100 % energy with The Rumble
The Long Run

Martin Bentancourt, whom, together with David Silva, gave the FRA debate some groove this summer, with his hit “Första generationens svenne”
Första generationens svenne

Last but not least the cool Zed Is Dead
Soul Pollution

If there’s any artist that I would confess to having been a fan to, and then in the sense of being slightly fanatic, then it would be David Bowie. It was worst in junior high school, when the walls of my room was covered with photos and attempts were made trying to look like the idol. In high school the fanatic part of it all vanished, but Bowie was there to mark my identity. Others were hard rockers or devoted to synth pop; I was a Bowie fan.

My admiration for this fantastic artist is still there and has always been there. As an admirer I have always been sceptical of artists trying to cover his work, maybe not so unusual with that attitude; the original rules. So far I can’t really come up with anyone that has succeeded in making something really good. Bauhaus made a decent cover of “Ziggy Stardust” in the eighties though. Maybe you know of someone else?

Up until now! I heard a few songs from Max Lorentz’ “Kiss You In the Rain – Max Lorentz Sings David Bowie”, my initial scepticism was completely swept aside after a while, and in the end I was completely caught. Now that I’ve heard the entire album I feel childishly entranced by how damn’ great this is. If I was to choose only one album out of all the albums I’ve listened to this year, and I’ve heard quite a few, I would choose this one without hesitation.

Max has chosen one song from every studio album Bowie made between 1967 and 1980 (except Pinups), and the choices are not the most obvious ones (which is great), at least not for the wider audience. But what great songs they are, and how Max emphasises this in his interpretations!

Carefully he undresses the songs to rebuild them again, trying to catch the essence of the songs. Completely acoustic and with the help of fantastic jazz musicians like Patrik Boman, Wojtek Goral, Karl-Martin Almqvist, Per “Texas” Johansson and André Ferrari with the addition of Bebe Risenfors, Anna Sise and his sons Kevin and Loi.

The original is always there, respectfully regarded with love, and influences the songs to various degrees. Sometimes it means more naked acoustic versions like in “Five Years” below, and sometimes he creates new pieces of musical art like in “All the Madmen” and “Blackout”, which you can listen to here. Other songs come alive in a way that they never have done before like for example “Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me”, “When I Live My Dream” and “Can You Hear Me”.

Well, I have to mention Max Lorentz’ voice here, a voice with an incredibly nice depth, which touches Bowie’s own in the lower registers. That cool, relaxed voice that many of us love. Many times he follows Bowie faithfully in the phrasings but when a song permits it, he makes his own case.

Do you have to be a Bowie fan to appreciate this? No, definitely not. This stands for itself as a piece of innovative art with a great feeling, and the songs in themselves belong to the classics of pop and rock history , but luckily haven’t been played too many times on radio, and still have a lot to give.
Now to the sad part. The album is not out yet and I have no exact information on when this will happen. I suggest that you go to Max Lorentz’ Myspace page and urges him on a little.
For Bowie fans it could be interesting with a list of all the tracks: “Station to Station pt1”, “Five Years”, “All the Madmen”, “Be My Wife”, “Drive-In Saturday”, “Blackout”, “When I Live My Dream”, “Scream Like a Baby”, “Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me”, “Quicksand”, “Yassassin”, “Cygnet Committee”, “Can You Hear Me”, “Station to Station pt2”

Listen and download:

Five Years
All the Madmen
Blackout

Listen some more by visiting Max Lorentz on Myspace.

Max has also released four solo albums, which all have their own page, where you can listen and tell him what you think:

Lovely – 1994
Bravo – 1996
12 Songs – 2000
The World Is Watching – 2004