Helena Arlock recently released her debut album “Old Dirty Hound” (Red Olive). And she has succeeded in creating a very special mix of styles here, with catchy pop interwoven with jazzy blues, electronica with acoustic. Like if the experimental side of Lykke Li would meet the soft emotional side of Nina Persson.

It’s dreamy, varied and somewhat minimalistic, a really pleasant album which you can listen to more on her Myspace page. You can also visit Helenas Arlock’s site where you can listen, read her blog and more.

Listen to and download the first two tracks of “Old Dirty Hound”:

Fragile Me Fragile You
Misery

I was a little surprised as I listened to the latest track from The Upallnights, “The Morning After”. Their music before this points in many directions, but can maybe be described (sometimes) as pop with a punk attitude. But this was quite a different animal: Uplifting pop with brass, a direct song that hooks me.

I have no problems with these genre variations The Upallnights shows us, on the contrary, especially if they do it so well as they do. Here you can listen to the latest track, and if you’d like to listen to more songs and download, you should visit The Upallnights’ site or their Myspace page.

The Morning After

Others on The Upallnights: 3Hive, Absolut Noise, Fred Perry Subculture

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

Now it’s time again! The energy shooting indie pop phantoms from Norrtälje, Shotgun Crackers, have an EP they would like to share with us, “Visual Randomization”. I know that many of you readers have become fascinated by their music, here on Meadowmusic, which makes it an easy decision to continue to serve you these musical titbits.

If it seems like you recognise some tracks from before, you’re right. “Welcome To Junior Thomas” is a new recording of their song “Blood, Tears and Dreams” and it’s the same with “Runner Runner” from the last EP “Khpptsch”, which they released  here on Meadowmusic. “Trevor” also is a new version of the same song from the last EP.

Listen to and enjoy “Visual Randomization” with Shotgun Crackers:

1. Runner Runner
2. Miss Conspiracy
3. Magic Man On Fire
4. Welcome to Junior Thomas
5. Trevor

If you’ve missed our posts before about Shotgun Crackers you can read and listen more here and here.

You’ll find Shotgun Crackers on Myspace.

The Västerås band Shallow Sense plays a mellow grand pop with some indie feeling. Like if  Coldplay and The Killers started playing together. And Shallow Sense does a really job at this.

You can listen to this on their 4-track EP, which they recently released. It’s an even and strong record, where I find the dramatic “Weak” the strongest track. You can listen to the song here below. I think that they have created an impressive base here, that shows that Shallow Sense really should be taken seriously.

You can download the entire EP for free on Shallow Sense’s site and on their Myspace page.

Listen to and download two songs:

Goldbrick
Weak