The ray of sunshine Klara Kazmi is back with a new song, “Nice”. This is soul and what she describes as: “Baby making music”. A little like a modern, female Barry White you could say, although vocally Macy Gray is a better comparison. Wonderful playful vocal harmonies and my kinda soul.
Ambas is a duo who’s name is formed from two members Amber Watts’ och Jonas Lundqvist’s first names. In the Autumn they released their debut EP, the soul vibing “Places”. There you’ll find four quite enjoyably songs; it’s feels souly, a little jazzy and airy, and at the same time experimental, liberated from many of the clichés from the genres they are walking into. Amber Watts has a nice, soft tone in her vocals, like it was made for this music.
The fact that they have created this as a part of a project on the music highschool Rytmus, where they both attend, makes it even more impressive. They write, though, that it won’t stop there and that they will continue with the band afterwards. If you like what you hear, you can follow them on Facebook, and then you can read their Tumblr blog, where you also can listen to the entire EP and download it. Here’s a song from the album:
Antonia Vai is a singer/songwriter from Stockholm who’s working now on her first full length album. But there are a bunch of songs to listen to already now; songs recorded mainly by herself and which she publish on her pages in a steady stream.
The influences seem to come from a number of sources, but the most obvious vibe is a dramatic feeling in many songs in the direction of Björk, without exactly sounding like Björk. Mix that with a lot of soul vibes, closer to Erykah Badu, as Antonia describes it herself. I also sense inspiration from folk music; from the latin world, from the US, and some song from the Swedish mellow folk tradition.
I was going to write about Artymoves EP “One of These Days”, which they released earlier this spring. But since then they have also released the single “Love Me”, which has managed to climb lists here and there lately.
“One of These Days” is anyhow a really good EP which caught my attention immediately. Compared to Artymove’s earlier albums I’d say that the soul thermometer has gone up with quite a few degrees in these new songs, into a warm club soul with a really nice, cool electronica background and hooky frases which put themselves like a sweet bell pepper on a cheese sandwhich making it perfect.
The title of Slowman‘s new album “I’m Back” is of course a hint of that he’s back with a new record, but first of all he’s announcing that he’s back to his musical roots. And that’s how the new album feels, an exploration of classic blues, blues rock, some contry rock plus soul and funk. The blues is what feels the most, the dist knob are cranked up a bit more, the edges not too polished and his got his hands deep down in classic, fertile timeless soil. I’d say that he’s standing even more secure with this new album.
A little more than a year ago Dubious Quip released his singel “Obedient Minds”, and in the end of last year he finally presented the follow-up album with the same name. And the seven tracks on the album feel like a great continuation of the journey that he started with the song “Obedient Minds”. With mr Quip’s own mix of hip hop, reggae and soul, it’s laidback, cool and nice to listen to.
And it gets even better with the contribution from a personal favourite, Ulf Ljusberg, who visits with his song “Make It Right”, where he also sings. Pitz and R.A.W. also contributes in a couple of tracks with a really cool rap, which fits perfectly with the atmosphere on the album.
You can follow Dubious Quip on his site, where you also can listen to the other tracks. The album is also available on his Bandcamp page.
It just hit me how few of the artists I present here on Meadowmusic that actually sing in Swedish. After all, the purpose of the blog is to present new Swedish music, but I guess that’s more or less how it is on the Swedish music scene today. If that’s good or bad I’ll let you decide for yourself.
But when I listen to the indie-soul, sung in Swedish, from År & Dar, as a Swede, I definitely feel closer to the music. There’s nothing in the way and the words find their way inside me directly. This is not about soul from a glamorous scene, it’s soul with rolled upp sleeves, which walks beside me as I travel under the cold and grey November skies. And it feels a little lighter, a little bit warmer.
Adam Pålsson’s voice is made for this. It’s earthbound, unpolished and soulful, and lifts the music to another level. Listen for yourself here below where you’ll find two videos and the song “Vad blir det av oss” (“What becomes of us?), which you can listen to and download.
As the summer went into hiding for a moment, at least here in Sweden, it’s nice to listen to some music that reminds us of warmer seasons. An Klara Kazmi can really deliver this, along with a lot of joy and inner warmth.
She has a smooth nice voice, reminding a little of Macy Gray. Her soul is often mixed with a backbeat, that shouts out summer. Luckily for us she has an EP out now, “Quest For Klarity”, which is also free for download on her web site. You can also meet Klara Kazmi on Myspace.
I listen to “Blow My Mind” with Susanne Jonsson singing, and it feels like I’m sitting on a soft soul pillow, comfortable and pleasant in every way. The feeling of the seventies’ soul a la Stevie Wonder in a symbiosis with Susanne’s sensitive vocals, like a more souly Carole King with jazz vibes. Perfect. Just listen for yourself in three great soul tracks below.
Here I also have to mention her partner, co-musician and co-producer Stefan Jernståhl, a fantastic musician, whom we find behind the keyboards and many other instruments. For many, Stefan is well known as a musician after his work with a long row of great artists, like for example Eric Gadd, Robyn, Stephen Simmonds, Nils Landgren, Salem al Fakir…well maybe it’s easier to mention those he hasn’t played with.
Visit Susanne at her site, where you can read more about her, listen to more tracks and also download a bunch of great songs. You’ll also find her on Myspace.
There was obviously some problem with the track “Obedient Minds” with Dubious Quip as published two days ago, some people have reported. Therefore we have converted the track into a more common format which you can download in this post:
Listen to new swedish music and download mp3-files. (right-click link to download)
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All songs you find here on this page have been approved for publication by the the artists.