Heart-Sick Groans

Heart-Sick Groans – “Black Hair Typography” -EP

I didn’t quite realize how much I missed receiving new music from Heart-Sick Groans until I listened to their new four-track EP “Black Hair Typography”. Cause it’s been a couple of years since I heard from them, and the singer Johan Brännström explains: “We had to find out if there’s more to life than music. There isn’t.”
It’s an EP where I feel at home, but at the same time they sound more unique than ever before in their special blend of sunny folk-indiepop. There are four songs, each one with it’s own character, and my favourite varies every time I listen. It’s like a lovely spring pastry, sweet and tasty, but which tastes a bit different depending on from which side you start to eat. Here are two songs:

Björns vänner – “Märker ni ingenting alls?” – EP

Björns vänner, hailing from Malmö, had a short but colourful career between 2002 and 2005. Yesterday they made a comeback with a brand new EP, which is also a first taste of a new album coming out in the Autumn. The band wasn’t part of my own musical menu back in those days, but I can understand the passion among their fanbase for the band’s uncromising rock sound and Rickard Schickes lyrics when I listen to these new songs.

Erik Christoffer – “Spanish Orange Trees”

And now a debut release. We like debuts here on Meadowmusic, as you may have noticed. It’s Erik Christoffer who has released the song “Spanish Orange Trees”, a bittersweet piano driven ballad about a Spanish adventure.

The Spiny Normans

I receive more great music than ever, so I’ll kickstart this week with six releases:

The Spiny Normans – “Waiting For the Storm” – EP

The Spiny Normans are based in Stockholm but have some of their roots in Åland. They released the debut EP in the Autumn, which will be available on Spotify and other services in a couple of weeks. I’d say it’s about folk inspired pop with a certain sense of drama. Here are two songs:

Lejonsläktet – “In och ut” – EP

The duo Lejonsläktet, whom I talked about last month, have released their debut EP now, full of great psychadelia with a vibe of Jämtland. Here’s the starting track “Ett svagt hopp om” from the EP:

The Tarantula Waltz – “Scandinavian Minds”

The Tarantula Waltz has released this Americana-sounding single from the new album “Tinder Stick Neck”, his third album which is being released this week.

Iris & Hedvig – “The Watcher & The Mind”

Here’s a new interesting young pop duo, Iris & Hedvig, with the debut single “The Watcher & The Mind”.  The song was produced by Christina Wehage, whom we’ve met before in her own project Be The Bear.

Rökmorsa

Rökmorsa is one of the projects the trio Pontus Björlin, Anders Åkesson and August Sörensons have been working on. They have collected 12 songs they recorded already in 2008 on the album “Forever’s Gonna Start Tonight”. It’s instrumental, experimental and a blend of influences from now and then. Here are two tracks:

Manor Rungs

The producer deadbeat has written songs and produced music for other artists before, for example electronica artist Compute and The Girl & The Robot. Now he’s grabbed the microphone himself and released seven songs under the name Manor Rungs. It’s a quite special blend of electronica and rock in Swedish, with some instrumental breaks. Listen for yourself:

Albert

Albert – “Albert” – album

When I listen to the Malmö band Albert’s debut album it’s hard to believe that the band has only existed for a year or so, and that they recorded everything in just four days. It feels so well produced, so well thought out and with a mature sound and great song writing, seemingly coming from a band with a longer history, who have found just the right way to express themselves. Now I know also that some of the band members have played together for a longer time than that, for example in the band Since Our First Guitar which I’ve written about before. Nevertheless it’s a great album, indie rock, with a relaxed vibe, a bit in the outskirts of what The National is doing. Here are three songs from the album:

Audio Fauna

Johanna Kalén and Mari Kronlund form Audio Fauna, a duo they started last summer. They have two tracks out, two great songs with folk inspired pop that have a nice tension and sort of sneak up on you.

The Mary Onettes – “Naive Dream”

A little more than a week ago The Mary Onettes released their new album “Portico” and took the opportunity also to present the new music video to “Naive Dream” from the album. I can just note that the band has had a fantastic and a productive music year with two new albums and loads of excellent songs. Just lean back, dream away and enjoy.

No Coda – “Heretic”

No Coda continue their row of fine singles, here with the new song “Heretic”:

Felix Wickman

Tired Tape Machine – “Sisyphus”

Petter Lindhagen and his Tired Tape Machine is underway with his third album, “Not Here”. “Sisyphus” is the first taste of the record, a song you can listen to below in two versions.

Pizzaboys – “day”

Frederick from the electronica duo Sameblod is working on a solo project also , a project he calls Pizzaboys. “day” is his first creation, an instrumental tune; indie pop with vibes of new wave from the eighties.

Felix Wickman – “I Recommend Swimming”

Felix Wickman will release his third album, “I recommend swimming”, on the 15th of May. The single “Grown Ups/Ballerina” is a fine presentation to this album’s special sound; Felix’ fragile voice in a live atmosphere with a shimmering patina swept over the entire production. A great song and an album that’s just as great.

Solen – “Förlorare”

Solen, hailing from Gävle, released the single “Förlorare” (“Losers”) a week ago. It’s pop with a wonderful raw sound and my thoughts go also to Hurula, an artist they will be the opening act to in Stockholm April 25th and in Göteborg May 9th.

The Shy Lips

Dream Lake

Dreamlake, hailing from Stockholm, is a duo formed by Isabella Swärdstam och Niklas Willar Lidholm. In the Autumn they released their debut EP with five tracks, and a couple of weeks ago the video to “In The Lights” from the EP. They call their music dream pop, which is a suitable description to these beautiful, grand-sounding and soft pop songs. Here are a couple of songs from the EP, the video I mentioned above and also a new disco-influenced remix signed Ludvig Thunberg.

Leppen – “Iställetförattprata”

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Leppen’s single “Sova“. Today he shows us another song from the upcoming EP “Iställetförattprata” (April 28th), namely the title track. There’s a video to the last single “Sova” too, which I missed the last time..

The Gloria Story – “Born to Lose” – video

A couple of days ago the hard rock band The Gloria Story released the second single from last year’s album “Born to Lose“. They’ve chosen to present the song in this well-cut tour video:

The Shy Lips – “She Was Born In Bahia”

I’m glad that The Shy Lips from Göteborg is back here in the blog with the new single “She Was Born In Bahia”. I find it difficult to defend myself against this, just like with songs I wrote about last year. “Indie rock at it’s best” it says in the promo mail, and I’m inclined to agree with that.