Nicke Andersson and his Imperial State Electric are back with a new single, and later this year, probably in August, a new album. The song, “All Over My Head”, is a wonderful, uplifting track that breathes of “Take It Easy”-vibes, 70s-rock, power pop and The Byrds. 

Imperial State Electric’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify

We’ve met Jonas Linngård before on Meadowmusic, both as a part of the duo Kids and in his solo project Kontroll. Now he’s launched a new solo adventure which he calls ÆRHEART. The first single is out, “Haunt Me Tonight”, with a dreamy indie rock that sends me some vibes of The Mary Onettes’ music.

ÆRHEART på Facebook – på Spotify

This week I’m starting with a tip about the band RA, hailing from Malmö, and their debut album “Scandinavia”, which was released in March. RA is exploring the darkest corners of post punk with massive guitars and an ominous atmosphere. This is for those who are not afraid of screaming guitars that jump out of the speakers threatening with chaos and doom. Here are two songs from the album:

RA’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp

Tomorrow The Leather Nun are releasing the anticipated album “Whatever”, the first album in 24 years. In the eighites the band was the coolest thing you could see on a stage, where they performed a dark, pumping, punk-inspired rock, at least the way I remember them. The first single “Just Like a Dream” from February, was a great track and contained both heavy rock and dreamy parts with strings, so I was quite curious which way the the album would take us.

Whatever starts out, though, with a heavy, raw rock’n’roll, massive guitars and a dark ambience which makes me understand that Jonas Almqvist and company are not going to compromise for a second. Various references pass through my mind as the songs pull off in different directions, like the spririt of both Tom Waits and New Orleans in “Red Hot Gwen”, David Bowies “Beauty and the Beast”-album in “Outside My Window” and Lou Reed’s seventies-rock in for example “Star”. Everything cooked over an open fire together with post punk vibes and hard, dark, rough rock. My favourite song is probably the fifth track “Godtherapy”, which manages to trigger the tempo even more, serving us the most interesting arrangement on the album and a sense of glammy hard rock. On the three finishing tracks they slow things down from the Lou Reed-tinged ballad “For the Love of Your Eyes” to the beautiful but a bit ominous “Another Rainy Day” to the ending track “Candyass” which ties it all together with a guitar explosion as the album’s final comment.

It’s an excellent album which arrives at a good time as the interest in dark rock, post punk, noise rock seems to be on the rise these days. This is not just a one-time stunt according to Jonas Almqvist; you’ll be able to see then band on stage soon, and the next album is already being planned. And yes, I do want to hear more from them. Here’s “Outside My Window”:

The Leather Nun on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp

Honeymilk is an interesting band to follow. They keep moving with their music all the time and have varied between britpop songs and more unpolished indie rock tracks. On the latest EP “Sanguine Skies”, which was released in February, I get to hear a rougher, larger indie rock sound, while I still recognise their playful, relaxed attitude from before. Here are two of the four songs:

Honeymilks hemsida – på Facebook – på Spotify – på Wimp