After an intense rehearsal with Martin Berglund & Stödorkestern a couple of members stayed behind afterwards to clean up the rehearsal room. Far into a corner, behind a half-empty bottle of beer, they found to their surprise a collection of guitar riffs scattered about on the floor. They were some quite dirty riffs, but they picked them up anyway and gave them a closer look. “Mm, they smell punk and grunge, but god damn’ how sweet they look. We can’t just throw them away, and Martin will never let us play them. What are we going to do?”

They grabbed the riffs and headed home, walking along the streets in the middle of the night, quiet and deep in thought. Just when they turned around a street corner they bumped into some members from Grand Minnows. The riffs fell out of their pockets and landed hard on the dark asphalt of the pavement. There in the glow of the street lamps the riffs glittered stronger than ever. They all looked at each other, puzzled and hesitating, until one of them said: “Let’s start a band and conquer the world!” Soon they were all smiling in agreement. “But what about the band name?” “Well, it should be something that directly tells something about our music, why not Horses Without Makeup?” Spot-on!” the others concurred.

Here below you can listen to the result of their endeavor, in the shape of a couple of tracks from Horses Without Makeup’s debut EP, “Just Like Home”, which was released in the end of October:

Horses Without Makeup on Facebook – on Spotify – on Apple Music

Astro Tan, a trio hailing from Portland, Oregon, recently released this fascinating single, “Whiskey + Water”. They write that they have experimented with the recordings in various ways to achieve the right blend of darkness and exotica. They have for example recorded themselves in large, cavernous spaces and mixed this with isolated instrument tracks. They have in any case produced a special atmosphere; dark without being intimidating, mysterious but still with a laidback warmth in the bottom. It’s psychadelia with a relaxed, exotic vibe that makes me think of David Sylvain and his Japan. If you’d like to listen to more from the band I can recommend their album “Soma” they released last year.

Astro Tan on Facebook – on Spotify – on Apple Music – on Bandcamp

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

I’m staying a little bit longer in the garage today, now in the company of Sudakistan, latino rhythms and psychadelia. Their awaited album “Caballo Negro”, produced by Joakim Åhlund and Luke Reilly, will be released on the 20th of November, and during the Autumn they have served us a couple of tracks to taste from the record:

Sudakistan on Facebook – on Spotify – on Apple Music

The duo The Red Fuze serves a sweet, wild mix of bluesrock, garage, psychadelia and alternative. The garage is rather big-sized and is covered with a distorted blanket, creating a unique sound in which they experiment with a row of rock influences. This Autumn they released their second EP “Bazooka Circus”, from where I have taken these two delicacies .

The Red Fuze on Facebook – on Spotify – on Apple Music