It feels liberating to listen to Apoteket Apan. Even with lyrics somtimes loaded with anxiety (or maybe because of that?), that is how I feel. Musically liberating, where they seem to be able to take on anything with ease, and still maintain a feeling for what this band is about. Maybe it’s Jonas Furberg’s characteristic, intense vocals or the brilliant lyrics or the attitude that does it.

It’s often indie pop with a punk attitude, sometimes dance inspiring, often fascinating and with a nice drive and they have that great sense of creating the musical and lyrical hooks that stick in my mind. They use guitars, synths, brass, choirs and whatever the songs seem to demand. Musical fantasy at it’s best, fun, liberating.

Apoteket Apan has a great site (in Swedish) where you can listen to and download all their music. If you like the band you should also follow their blog (also in Swedish) , where they present new tracks, new videos and tell you what is going on.

Two of the songs below, “Processen, Livet, Byråkratin” and “Ska det vara så svårt då?”, come from their latest EP “Det är något med den där ödsligheten”, while “En annan plats” is a singel that was released last summer.

Zinkensdamm (from “Det är något med den där ödsligheten”)

Processen, Livet, Byråkratin
Ska, det vara så svårt då?
En annan plats

To me, Slow Motion Club from Lund is indie pop when indiepop is at it’s best. Good, catchy, playful melodies, personal vocals and a basic, guitar based nice sound. And first of all, songs that stick in my mind and want to be played over and over again.

When I listen to Slow Motion Club I’m reminded of another favourite band of mine: Manic Street Preachers. If I peel of the grand sound of these, I find a similar songwriting with the same mellow feeling and melodies that find new ways, to be interwoven again in a nice way.

Enjoy three tracks by Slow Motion Club. To listen more you should visit Slow Motion Club on Myspace.

The Gun In God’s Hand
The Salt
Parliament Square

After listening to Best-of Christmas albums too many times, too many Christmases, I thought it would be nice to find some new favourites. And why not start looking among all the artists we have presented here at Meadowmusic?

So, here’s a collection of new christmas songs, and I hope that you too will find some songs that gives you that extra Christmas atmosphere.

Merry Christmas!

ad dios, the masters of ambience have created their own version of an old Christmas carol. On their site you can also download the wav-file of the song and a cover, so that you create your own Christmas gift.
Once In Royal David’s City

The Deer Tracks
Christmas Fire

Twiggy Frostbite
Lanterns & Stars

Mikael Herrström (with his own version of Hanoi Rocks’ song. Mikael will be presented in an upcoming post.)
Dead By X-mas

Maini Sorri, buy her Christmas EP here.
Our River Runs On Christmas Night

Strangers In Wonderland
Flickan i fönstret

Christian Björklund and Chuck Dread
O, helga natt (Chuck Dread remix)

Pär Enqvist Band
Blir det nån jul i år?

SvenStures Poporkester, the children’s pop band, world famous in Skåne, Sweden, also gives away their new album for free download. If you’d like to listen to the songs you can visit their site. (in Swedish)
Nissarnas A-lagskapten

Years ago when I lived in a student room, I had a neighbour down the corridor who always started his partying nights by playing Joy Division. He was always an extremely happy and outgoing person, so I was struck by the contrast as the tones from this mellow music was heard around five pm in the afternoon. As he was very hospitable and generous with all kind of drinks, his closest friends also discovered it was a good idea to start the party in our student corridor. Usually they were around 10 people, and they were called “The ants” by the other neighbours.

When the ants arrived the music was mixed with songs from Echo and the Bunnymen, The Cure, Waterboys and Sisters of Mercy, and the party moved out to the kitchen we had in common. The music listening was solved in the way that the door to the neighbour’s room was kept open with the loudspeakers on full volume. You could call it corridor radio, or streaming corridor audio. The most popular drink was Irish Coffee, which was rather obvious the day after, when around ten abandoned creamish, brownish glasses could be seen in various places in the kitchen, together with the remains of the party food of pickled herring, eggs, chips and cheeze doodles. And considering that my friend partied approximately five times a week during the semester, I never quite felt the need to buy the records of these artists, even if I did like the music. At least I like it nowadays.

Party atmosphere or not, it is in this musical region that I find Icons On Television, at least with the two bands mentioned first. Somewhere between Joy Division and Echo and the Bunnymen, if you could draw a line between these bands. And they do this really good. Listen for yourself in the songs below.

If you want to listen more on the net you can visit the band on Icons On Television’s Myspace page. If you want to see them live you can visit the club Mental Nights in Solna the 3rd of January.

Disharmony
Simple End

Last month Emerald Park released their second studio album “For Tomorrow”. The album is produced by Ola Frick from Moonbabies. You can listen and download two tracks from the album below.

And it is a strong album they have created. Dreamy, grand pop, but without the big poses is combined with an indie sound. A sound where I hear an ambition to create their own sound, without the polished edges which make music boring. And the fact that the album contains a number of great pop songs with direct, but yet interesting melodies doesn’t make it any worse.

If you’d like to listen more to Emerald Park and “For Tomorrow” you should visit their page on Last.fm or their Myspace page.

Värnhem:

Lights of Sunday
For Tomorrow