Last month the duo Manfred Kidd released their excellent debut single “Lights“. Tomorrow they launch the follow-up “Scatterwind”, which has an early premiere here on Meadowmusic today.
“Scatterwind makes us think about those late summer nights that are not that far away”, they write. This time they show us a rather naked arrangement, minimalistic, in an indie pop with laidback vocals and soul vibes floating on a hard driving beat. Both singles are taken from their upcoming EP “Where were you when you were us”. I think that the band so far feels unpredictable in an interesting way, experimenting with different genres, and I’m looking forward to listening to the EP later on.
Here’s the third single, “The Ocean”, from the band Kinetics, hailing from Växjö. It’s a dramatic and grand-sounding tune which makes med think of american country-influenced rock. The band is currently working with songs for their debut album.
The trio Nonono will release their debut album “We Are Only What We Feel” on Monday. The single “Hungry Eyes” is a taste of what is to come, a quite catchy, grand pop track with a great vibe from heavy percussions.
The band Delorian are showing us a postapocalyptic Sundsvall in the video to their debut single “Hide and Seek”. The video is a homage to these TV series with low-budget scifi which was produced in the eighties. The song itself, a great song, can also be seen as a celebration of the eighties I guess. You’ll find plenty of references to pop from that decade, in the melodies, in the synth sounds and of course the saxophones.
Wuthering Height is a band that consist of Marta Pettersson, Simon Häger, Boel Mogensen and Simon Andersson. They released their debut album “Dropped Minds” in January. I haven’t had the time to listen to the entire album yet, but I can show you a taste in the shape of the single “Two Steps”, a joyful and uplifting indie pop with an interesting voice from Marta Pettersson.
The duo Old Amica have been our guests several times before here on Meadowmusic. Now they are preparing to launch a new album, “Fabula”, on the 26th of March. “Old Oaken Pond” is the first glimpse of the album and beside their own special indie-sound there is a nostalgic vibe in this song, as the song title implies. A bit like if Hotennany Singers made a comeback and started playing folk indie.
Other People is an alias for the composer Jakob Lindhagen and his solo project. His new album is called “Somewhere Far Away”, an instrumental album focusing on Jakob’s minimalistic piano playing. Every tone seems carefully devised in these melancholic melodies, which sometimes are accompanied by a gentle cello or an ambient pad. The ambience and the melodies make me think of Björn J:son Lindhs “Bilder från en ö” and of music from some of the Swedish TV-drama series.
Up The Hill is a four man strong band, who so far have released an EP with six tracks. I can’t come up with a band to compare them with as they sound so special. Both in the way they mix their influences and in the way they build the songs. The soulful vocals is a strong characteristic of the songs, but in the end I feel that the songs still have a strong focus on the instrumental parts, where I hear progressive seventies’ vibes, Dire Straits-guitars, blues and folk indie. Quite dynamic songs which build up a strong groove sometimes. Here are two of them:
When the songwriter Jonas Lindsköld told me about the band On the Cinnamon’s debut single “Indecency”, he also wrote that they sound like their band name. I scratched my head and started wondering if he was referring to “Cinnamon Girl”, because there are certain Neil Young-vibes in the song: the simple sound, the guitars and the touch of Americana. But no, I found the explanation further down in the mail; the bandname was a direct translation of the Swedish expression “(att vara) på kanelen” (an old Swedish expression saying that someone is a bit drunk). I’m not quite sure how I should interpret this either as the song is a charming, warm and close pop song with a certain sheen of unpolished indie. And it fits quite well with the sunny, early-Spring weather we have here now.
Hurula is releasing another single from his upcoming album ”Vi är människorna våra föräldrar varnade oss för”. It’s called “22”, a punkish pop-melodic track with a great rough sound. I really like the chorus, and it’s the best song I’ve heard from Hurula so far.
Tom Levin is releasing his second single from his new album,“Pull Yourself Together”, together with a fun video. I took the opportunity to listen to the entire album “Them Feet” also, which was quite an interesting experience. With the roots in Americana he blends this with various genre influences in rather different, inspiring and often stripped-down arrangements. Recommended. I also added another song from the album here below, the fascinating “Company Man”.
Weaver, or Johan Weber which is his real name, is releasing his debut EP on the 16th of March. As a first taste he’s showing us the Americana and country-vibing “From Different Trees”, together with this animated video:
And here’s another song from an upcoming EP. It’s the duo Manfred Kidd, hailing from Göteborg, who have released their debut single “Lights”, with catchy, uplifting and playful indie. A strong debut.
Stars In Coma, based in Malmö, will release their sixth album on the 30th of April. The new single “Tricks”,taken from the album, is a song that breathes of seventies’ pop, with a chorus that almost feels like a schlager hit from that decade. The front man André Brorsson writes that the album will be characterized by music from the seventies and the eighties, which also the earlier released song, the disco-inspired “By the Mechanical Urn”, suggests.
I’ve written before about William Hamparsomian and his solo project Dream Curtain. Yesterday he finally released the excellent debut album “Unknown Ends”. And it feels good with an entire album from William, where we get to explore more of his dreamy, hypnotic soundscape, which we recognize some of before. Here it’s also mixed with quite a dose of analogue electro pop with nice melodies, at least in a more obvious way than before. You can listen to and dowload the album on his Bandcamp page.
Faråker har just released a new single, “Sista fajten”. It’s pop in his characteristic dialect from Blekinge, but angrier and rawer than ever before. The strongest track I’ve heard so far from Faråker.
Lilla Milo is a band that started out in Malmö, but where some of the members are living in Stockholm today. Since they began in 2010 they have released threes singles, a couple of videos and toured around Sweden on clubs and festivals. When I listen I get a lot of soul vibes, a lot of them coming from the singer Cosima Lamberth’s wonderful soulful voice. Here are two of the singles and also a great live recording of the song “Du sa”, a song that hasn’t been released yet.
I’d like to add that the drummer Jonnie Holmberg, from the band, has started a blog about the music scene in Malmö which is worth reading. Recommended if you’re intrested in this, and know how to read Swedish.
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