In September I wrote about Sleazy Romance, and they were really appreciated by visitors here on Meadowmusic. I mentioned then that they were planning a new album, and now, finally, it’s on it’s way. Nowadays they call themselves Light in Your Life.

From this week you can listen to the entire album on their Myspace page, and the album is officially released on the 19th of June. It’s a really nice listen, and it feels like a solid album. Reflecting, soft and beautiful indie rock.

Here’s a taste of the record with the two first singel tracks from “Light in Your Life”:

Geldof
Smile That Smile

The 30th of March The 80/20 Rule release their new album “Northeast” (Dither). The band started in 2007 and in the autumn the same year they released the EP “Solve the Problem”. It was followed by a tour around Sweden where they, among others, fronted Miss Li and Oh Laura.

But the band has very little in common with these artists. Here it’s about a grand alternative rock, melodic and intense. Their sound is created with the help of massive guitars and echoing guitar licks together with an hard working and driven drummer. Jimmy Jönsson’s vocals have an interesting depth and expression that emphasizes a mellow feeling in the music.

The 7th of March they will have a release party for the album “Northeast”, at Klubb Tupelo in Gävle, where they will play live and are also accompanied by the band Mother and Sun. They welcome everyone to come and listen, and if you can’t make you have another chance on the 19th of March in Stockholm. Read more about this and listen to more tracks from the album on The 80/20 Rule’s Myspace page.

Here is a track from “Northeast”:

Song For a Future Car Commercial

The first rock riffs cut like a sharp razorblade through all veils of distance that was present before I started to listen. And so I enter Lars Clevemans new album “Voices In My Head”, a record that was released yesterday.

And Lars deserves the attention he gets as I continue to listen. It’s a real album, twisting and turning, surprising, going inwards and outwards. And yet it forms a whole with Lars Cleveman’s special voice. And special it is. First I come to think of Iggy Pop and his special expression in the seventies albums, but here with a different voice. Lars’ former partner in Dom Dummaste, Håkan Soold, is backing him with his Plastic Pals in the first half of the album, where the crescendo comes in “Not Your Friend”, a catching, direct track where my Iggy Pop-vibes are in a way confirmed.

In the second half of the album another colleague from Dom Dummaste joins in: Lars Clevemans special companion Martin Rössl. And the direct becomes more subtle and thoughtful, and shifting. More contrasts where electronica is mixed with rock, darkness with light.

Lars Cleveman is, interestingly, also a celebrated opera tenor with a long row of successful performances during the years, both in Sweden and in other countries. With this knowledge, with this album and with his background in Dom Dummaste and many other projects, I can’t help being fascinated by Lars Cleveman. What is it that makes him move across old barriers so effortlessly?

Jonas Almqvist, from The Leather Nun, has said about this abum that “This may well be the most important Swedish record of 2009.” Maybe he will be right, I don’t know, but you can listen for yourself here in a couple of tracks. If you’d like to listen to more tracks from the album, you can visit Lars Cleveman on Polythene Records.
You can also meet him on Lars Myspace page and on Polythene’s Myspace page.

Not Your Friend
Friends

One Two One Two’s consists of Daniel Bärjed, Mikael Läht and My Larsson. They say that they have a desire for experimentation and want to try many styles. And that really shows! It’s wonderfully surprising to go from track to track and discover what they are up to next.

Even if I find a common atmosphere in their music, a dreamy, mellow feeling, sometimes theatrical, I find it hard to describe them. Maybe something of the vibes from Bowie’s alternative tracks from the early seventies, mixed with psychadelia and grand pop. But it’s still isn’t enough, so I hope you listen for yourself in the tracks below. I think this is a really interesting band. Please tell me what you think in the comments.

Listen to more music on One Two One Two’s Myspace page.

The Wheel
Last Waltz
Cigarettes On My Mind
Enemy to Society

When I saw Sugarcoin live this autumn I got really surprised. The thing is that my already high expectations was surpassed. Simply put it was fantastic. I had listened to a lot of songs from him before, and I had liked them all. But live it was even better!

The main character behind these beautiful compositions is Andreas Nerström. I think that his own description of his sound is rather spot-on:

“The music is written primarily on the guitar. Often it builds upon a single idea which forms some kind of core in a song, an inner soul. It can be some small detail or a strand. Sometimes no more than a rhythm or a string of tones. In extreme cases nothing more than the grating of a dirty steel string. My motivation is to conserve and package that small idea, that original feeling of simplicity and clarity, wherever it comes from. Like if it, in spite of it’s banality, carries the answer to some  big mystery”

To me, Sugarcoin delivers a really beautiful and fragile music loaded with emotions. And with the voice of Andreas on top of this…well, can it be any better? Right now, the second album is out, “A Great Wall of Antagonism”. I don’t know what to say. I have bought about 20 CD:s in my entire life (and it’s not because of downloading or copying of my friends’ records), and Sugarcoin’s second album is one of these. And doesn’t that say it all?

Fortunately you can download here a few of the pearls from the second album, for free. And I’m very happy about that. Because this music should be spread to a lot of people, everywhere! You can listen to more tracks on Sugarcoin’s Myspace page, and on Sugarcoin’s site you can also listen to and download tracks from his first album “A Moment of Weakness”.

Pinnacle
Acidly
I Can’t Stop
Brutal