Riff Knives is back with a new EP, “Ape Flip”. And their own mix of  funk, rock and hip hop continues to impress me. It feels like an obvious step forward; like a wine that’s maturing into something exquisite.

To point out something specific that has happened, I feel that the harder gangsta-vibes has been replaced with more rock- and funk warmth, which I think is positive; it feels closer and more “us” than “you”.

They have a special ability of coming up with efficient hooks in guitar riffs, bridges and chorus melodies and to make it all work together with a really nice drive. From that perspective “Put Me On the Ride” is a pleasure to listen to; the song has everything and they even find space for blues harmonicas and a funky guitar solo. “I Miss You (Honestly?)”, which you can listen to here below is another brilliant example.

You can listen to their music on Spotify, Deezer or Grooveshark. You can also find them on their site.

I Miss You (Honestly?)

Sidewalk sounds like if someone crossbreeded a The Doors-flower with a hiphop-tree and created a new species. Music with the feeling from both worlds, glued together so well that it feels completely natural.

Sidewalk, which consists of Pitz (rap), the Sun (vocals and guitars) and DJ Lastword (bass and prod), recorded, during three days in late December, the EP “Wonderland Sessions”. Nice, laidback, cool music which you can enjoy on Spotify or on their site.

“Wonderland Sessions” is a first taste of the upcoming album “Touching the Sky” and if you’d like to follow the band, you can do so on their blog and on Facebook.

Wonderland (Wonderland 1)

It varies quite a bit in style when Poja produces his music, even if the common denominator is hip hop, which you can hear in two tracks here below. 22 years old from Gävle, Poja has achieved a lot in a few years time, among  this collaborations with Promoe from Looptroop and Bully from The Lox. Today he working in his own studio with the aim om reaching out to even more listeners.

Now he wants to push his new song “Tiden försvann” which you can listen to on Spotify also. To follow Poja, you can visit his Myspace page or the Youtube page. Here are two songs:

Tiden försvann
Mitt rätta jag

Even if we’ve learned to listen to hip hop from Malmö, most of the time I associate hip hop with the Stockholm suburbs, at least in my hip hop novice perspective. It’s interesting then to listen to Noss who comes from the deep forests in Småland, from Vetlanda, and raps in his dialect.

Noss has been releasing albums since 2006 and the latest one from the end of last year, is called “Traskar i träsket med trasiga träskor” (“Trailing in the swamp with broken clogs”), which you can listen to on Noss’ Youtube channel. Noss also has pages on Myspace and on Facebook.

Ge mig mer (feat Felix)
Går loss

The masked rapper Follow Him to the End of the Desert is here with the 21-track mixtape, “Jacksonian March Mixtape”. And there’s quite some material here.

With the help of a number of guests like for example Prop Dylan, Stiko Per Larsson and K-Element, he present a coherent album with a lot of variation. Funk, soul, jazz, rock is mixed into the agressive rap but at the same time there’s a lot of self-distance and humour. Really good this, and I’ll make it this summer’s hip hop favourite.

If you’d like to grab the entire album, it’s available for download, completely free. You can find Follow Him to the End of the Desert on Myspace and on Spotify. Here are two tracks and a video:

Sea Lion (feat Stiko Per Larsson)
Lord Knows (feat Prop Dylan)

Jacksonian March feat Prop Dylan: