Now I get to use the word irresistable again, because that’s what I think that The Bland Band’s music is. So much that it’s impossible to sit still when I listen to their folk pop witch has a wonderful swing to it and beautiful melodies. Listen to “Bigger Than Your Hometown” here below, and you’ll know what I mean.

It’s easy to guess that The Band is a big inspiration, and that was also the origin of their band name as they made a little fun of their predecessors name (blandband = mixtape), even before they were a band. Later when they understood what their name meant in English, the name had already set itself among them and they continued to proudly stick with it.

The four members met when they were traveling, playing music out in the streets. They decided to move together and continue to create music together, and this has now resulted in their debut EP. The track below is the first song on the EP.

The Bland Band’s site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Soundcloud

Bigger Than Your Hometown

“The Essential” ususally means that someone collects the best songs from earlier album releases. This is not the case with this album, which in fact is Fleet of Clay’s debut album, but fits in the sense that they have collected the best they have recorded during a few years an made an album out of it. And it also fits with respect to the quality of the songs, because it’s an impressive collection of songs.

The album contains 25 songs with music which first of all has it’s roots in the sixties and the beginning of the seventies. Pop, country, folk with vibes from bands like Buffalo Springfield, CSN&Y, Beatles, Kinks and others. It’s a classic production with few overdubs except the main instruments, the vocals and the choirs, and there’s plenty of pleasant guitars and good vocals. It’s a pearl of an album, and the song quality lasts all 25 tracks through, where they varies from classic sixties’ pop to cheeky country to fine-tuned folk pop without losing neither themselves nor the listener. There’s a kind of playful self-convidence on the album, that you would expect from a band that has released three or four albums already.

The men behind Fleet of Clay are the three brothers Knut, Erik and Karl Svanholm. Unfortunately they don’t seem to be that active with the band any longer; Knut is working with his band Lobst and their new album, and that’s as much as I know now. There is a Facebook page, though, and on Spotify you can listen to all songs. Here are two tracks:

Everyone Now
The Mist

Here’s a video that put a big smile on my face when I watched it. It ‘s the duo Third Brother who perform the song “Harmless Gun” strolling through Stockholm’s streets and subway. What makes it feel so good is that the music is taken directly from the recording of the video, where the city accompanies with it’s own sounds and adds it’s own reverb depending on where they are. That, and also the artists joy of playing and their warmth.

Third Brothers site – on Facebook – on Spotify – on Bandcamp

Turn Off Your Television, one of my favourite bands from the blog, whom I have written about before, is on their way to release a new album with their special indie folk-pop. October 8th is the release day and I will get back to the album in a post later on. Here I’d like to show you a couple of songs they have uploaded as a taste of what’s coming. Today they released the video for the song “Coal Miners” and since before the single “Blanket of Shame” is out, two songs that promise a lot before the album release. Listen for yourself:

Turn Off Your Television’s site – on Facebook – on Bandcamp – on Spotify

I’ve written before about Jonas Carping as the singer in The Glade. Now he’s also released music in his own name; first the EP “Underground” during summer and yesterday the single “The Sting”. In the end of the month the album “All the Time In the World” will also be released, which I will feature in a post later on.

Genrewise it’s similar to what we’ve heard from The Glade in the latest releases; a warm, country inspired music with Jonas’ voice in the front that gets so close to us. There is a sympathetic, quiet peacefulness in Jonas’ vocals that catches my attention and stops me from rushing on to the next task. It’s like that friend that sits and litsens while the rest of us are fighting to get our points heard by interrupting each other. And who, when the crescendo of voices stops for moment, starts telling his story in his own calm pace. The intense discussion comes to a halt and everyone is listening.

You can listen to Jonas Carping on Spotify and on Bandcamp. Follow him on his site and on Facebook.

Underground
The Sting