“Citizen K was born on August 4, 1966. The bastard son of a beautiful go-go-dancer, and a famous rock’n’roll star.”

That’s how the story about Citizen K starts, and without reading any further I would have guessed that the father was someone from Crosby, Stills & Nash or from Pink Floyd or maybe George Harrison himself. That would have been my guess after listening to the 16-track album “Meet Citizen K”. 16 tracks full of excellent pop songwriting with folk influences.

This feels like a really solid album, which grows each time I listen to it, and it wasn’t easy to pick two favourite tracks to present in this post. I dillied back and forth until I stayed with the two songs you can listen to here below.

Listen to more songs and read the story about Citizen K on Citizen K’s Myspace page.

She Says
Sometime In September

That I Am You We Are is different from most bands I’ve heard, is clear to me already after a minute or so in the first song “Love Song For the Mob”, from their EP “Masquerade”. An oriental-inspired melody played by transverse flute and accordion turns into something more folkish and  Phoenix and Anahitas voices give the song a somwhat different character.

The five songs on “Masquerade” are quite different from each other, where they vary the instrument set from song to song. They experiment with flutes, piano, accordion, guitars, djembe, trumpet and no set seem to be the same as the other. I can’t help thinking about that I’m listening to a mini musical, where the scene changes from song to song.

It’s different and interesting. You can listen for yourself below to the track “Love Song For the Mob”. On their Myspace page you can find more songs from “Masquerade”.

Love Song For the Mob

The last thing you could say about Sol Skugga, is that she’s predictable. After her album from last year, “Gardenia”, you could maybe expect that she would continue to explore a world of grand electronica, mystique and dark spaces. But no. She enters new musical domains in her third album “Fairytales and Lullabies”.

The folk music is still here in a few tracks, but in more acoustic arrangements. But besides that it’s more about rock, to let loose. From beautiful ballads, to more straight rock tracks to songs where she tests some boundaries. The rough edges are still there, everything is not smoothed down, and it feels mpre personal and intimate.

Listen more on Sol Skugga’s site or on her Myspace page.

Here are two songs from “Fairytales and Lullabies”:

Say It
So Strange

Lars Wallin, whom Jesper wrote about last year, has released a new album this autumn, “Act Now!”. And just like the album name indicates, it is with clenched fists that Lars Wallin and The Tribe takes the stage, and send out their message with attitude and energy.

Folk punk I could call it, with a rough, tight acoustic sound, which includes flute, a hard working bass, but foremost the didgeridoo. This instrument is a little like Lars’ trademark and is used in most tracks.

You can hear more from “Act Now!” on Lars Wallin & the Tribe’s Myspace page or on  Lars Wallin’s site.

Here’s two songs from “Act Now!”:

Silent Sea
Beautiful People

To me, one of the best pop albums last year, was Jon Rinneby’s “I’m In a Sideshow”. A collection of irrestistable pop songs with a nice indie touch to them. With these songs in his luggage Jon traveled on and created the band Sweet Water Pirates, continuing his pop odyssée.

Even if they haven’t released a full album yet, there is a collection of tracks to listen to on Sweet Water Pirate’s site and on their Myspace page. And if I compare with the earlier recordings, it feels a little bit different here.

The unmistakingly good feeling for nice pop melodies is there, but it sounds less indie and more retro. I find influences from folk, country, Beatles and more. Quite some variation, and it’ll be very interesting to see what they will come up with next.

I Have No Place to Go
Little Box of Stars

If you missed the album “I’m In a Sideshow” from last year, you can listen and download the songs on Sweet Water Pirate’s site.