Anna Hamilton offers quite a spectra of music. From a dance-influenced, shrewd electronic pop to dramatic songs alone with a piano. She is quite resourceful with the arrangements and has a sense of melody that makes each song grow into something unique.

But first of all I’m fascinated by her voice, a voice that sometimes sounds with sharpness and clarity and sometimes with a Björkian-Morisetteian frailty that catches the atmosphere in the songs. In one track I can hear her let go of all this and release something that makes me sense a great rock voice.

On Anna’s site, you can listen to her music. For those of you who know Swedish she also presents a really nice blog. A blog where you can follow the development of her music and also get to know her, all in a pleasant mix.

Here are two tracks you can listen to and download, with Anna Hamilton:

Umbrella
Dedication to Mr Sandman

Behind the band name Death Ends Here we find Simon Lussi, a singer/songwriter that walks his own path. He tells us that he started out with acoustic singer/songwriter music, was inspired by metal core and hip hop and tried to combine all this in his own way.

And this resulted in his own mix of acoustic softness, aggressive songlines and a darker metal atmosphere. Armed with only an acoustic guitar and smooth vocals he does a really good job here.

Last spring he finished the EP “Abandon All”, which is available, both for listening and downloading, on Death Ends Here’s Myspace page. Here are a couple of tracks from the EP:

Burden On Me
Combined

I’m listening to Sumie and it’s almost impossible to stop. Her low voice somehow gets inside of me and gets all my attention. So soft, so pleasant and with simple melodies that just feel right. It would have been easy to compare Sumie with contemporary singer/songwriters like for example Sophie Zelmani, but my thoughts and feelings go to artists from the past, and often to a young Joni Mitchell.

I think this is really nice to listen to. Try for yourself by listening to the two tracks below, and download if you like. On Sumie’s Myspace page you’ll find more music. And don’t miss watching the beautiful video to “All the Ugly”, created by Yusuke Nagano.

All the Ugly:

All the Ugly
Brushfire

A couple of months ago, I wrote about Hillnor and his interesting experimental electronica. Now he is back in a very different shape. He calls himself Peace and Concord and he brought just his guitar (and some strings).

In a way this feels timeless, with vibes from the singer/songwriters of the sixties and the seventies, and at the same time a lot of indie. I really like the feeling of these recordings, and I’m surprised how they stick and grow the more I listen.

Meet Peace and Concord on Myspace. Here you can listen to and download three tracks:

Cabdriver
The Ocean to Cross
Wind In the Sails

There is something captivating, authentic about Le Days, aka Daniel Hedin, which I can’t explain. The first track I heard with Le Days was “Hotspot”, which gave me a sensation of Conor Oberst meets Manu Chao, fascinating and rhythmic. But after having listened to more songs, it seemed like that he wouldn’t be so easy to catch.

It runs off in totally different directions, from acoustic ballads to more anxiety-loaded works, psychadelia and other stuff. I like it, to enter Daniel’s world of music, some lo-fi, no rules, to see, as he says himself, where it will lead. It’s he and his guitar (and some other instruments), naked and nothing to hide behind. It seems to me that he doesn’t wait for the “perfect” take, but he knows when he has put in the right feeling and shows it for us.

You can listen more to Le Days on Myspace.

Listen to and download three tracks:

Hot Spot
Blood Red Heart
I’ve Got a Masterplay, Playing In My Mind