Californiaman, or Joel Igor Hammad Magnusson which he calls himself when he plays the bass in Me and My Army, is on his way to release his solo album “Golden State of Mind”. It is said that the album will be out in Spring and the focus of the music is on what he calls blue eyed soul: music inspired by soul pop from the late seventies/the early eighties headed by artists like Steely Dan, Robert Palmer, Doobie Brothers, Phil Collins, Don Henley among others.
He has already uploaded a number of songs on his Soundcloud page, and it’s a beautiful collection of tracks, like a warm, laidback californian breeze sweeping into my room in this cold Swedish early Spring. The retro vibes are indeed there, like the the mashup of the mentioned influences he claims it to be, and so wonderfully untrendy that it perfectly slips in between all indie, Americana and electronica. Put on your sun glasses and listen to a couple of songs here below.
Saturday, Monday follows up on the soul-experimental cool excursion “Headshake” in the Autumn with the the four-track EP “The Ocean”, released today. Listen to the title track here below, where you also this time can hear Julia Spada contributing with her vocals.
The artist collective Caligola, where members from Mando Diao participate, released the EP “Back to Earth: Resurrection” in December. The first single from the the EP is the anti-racist “Smash Dem Brains In”, which is a cover of Linton Kwesi Johnson’s song “Fite Dem Back”. The EP was a great listening experience and feels like a patchwork of styles from now and then, in the same spirit of exploring as the debut album “Back to Earth” from last year. I just had to add the soul-vibing “Forgive Forget” from “Back to Earth” also here below.
I’m starting this week with some dreamy, longing electro soul from Silverarken with the song “Dancing to the Thought of You”. This northern band is now recording their first full length album, which is scheduled for release this spring.
Here’s a soul pop song with a nice groove from Temu in collaboration with the rapper Peacefull James and the producer Mighty Beats, a Swedish-American-Danish-Ugandian collaboration you could call it. Temu is a singer and a dancer born in the US but who moved to Malmö in the south of Sweden. He found his two partners right across the channel in Denmark.
Victoria Moralez is a new acquaintance for me. She has released the albums “Days and Seasons” and “Translucent” before and as a build-up for the next album she has released two EP:s, the latest one the four-track EP “Game of Fear”.
She moves effortlessly between styles from song to song and mixes influences within the songs, and it’s hard to catch her with a few words. The EP has a retro feeling with seventies-guitars, soul and funk, which she blends with jazz vibes and a sensation of what you could call world music. The last mentioned is especially obvious in the last song “Divide Me In Two”, a spoken word-song accompanied with a banjo in a language I can’t understand. Multifaceted, personal, interesting and if you add the earlier R’nB-fragrant EP “For Eternity” I can imagine that the upcoming album will show us more hues of Victoria.
Last year I wrote about Antonia Vai and told you about that she was working on her debut album. Now that work is done and she has released not only one but two albums at the same time, collecting 25 of her songs. The first album “Lovers and Prophet” is more consistent in the sound and themes, while the second one, “Dirt From When the Earth Was Flat” is a collection of home recordings and varies more in style and sound, and which shows some of her creative span.
I think it’s just as enjoyable to listen to both albums, to discover where she’s heading with her musical ideas from one track to another. Even if it’s difficult to characterise her music in general terms I think that soul vibes is something that runs through most of her production together with doses of folk music, but expect excursions to jazz, pop and other influences in a sound that often takes off from the acoustic with a rhythmic guitar as the prefered instrument. Listen here below to the soul jazz vibing “Macho Woman”.
In the infancy of this blog in 2008 I wrote about Victoria Lagerström’s debut album “Heaven Sent”. Now she’s released her second solo album “Dancing With the Sun”, an album where I recognise her from before, but it feels even lighter and softer than before. It’s really soft soft singer/songwriter-pop with lots of soul vibes and beautiful melodies, often accompanied by pleasant guitars and a gentle piano. Listen for yourself in two songs here below.
Here’s a song with great soul vibes, “Headshake” from Saturday, Monday in collaboration with singer Julia Spada. Here’s from the release text about Saturday, Monday:
Saturday, Monday is the instrumental autobiography of young Swedish uk-bass-dj / club promoter Ludvig Parment. This is the second taste we get from his debut album The Road and The Ocean and The End planned for early 2013 release. The new single is called Headshake and features the singer Julia Spada who’s previous work with the band O’Spada received praise from the likes of Annie Mac, Mark Ronson and The Guardian.
Klara Kazmi released this song, “Sunshine and Butterflies”, during Summer, which the title clearly suggests. She continues to experiment and here she’s created her own mix of Americana and R’n'B, where she dances across the meadow enjoying everything she sees, with a big smile on her lips. Almost like it was taken from a an old musical movie from the fifties, with bright colours and where the sun was always shining.
Summer song or not, I can tell you that it works wonders now as well, as the Autumn’s darkness is sneaking upon us. It makes me feel good, simply put.
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