Moa-Lina Croall, author and former singer in Cargo and Jormahuset, calls herself Croall & Sons as a solo artist. Live she performs solo with a loopstation and a range of instruments, but on the songs here below she’s been joined by members from Jormahuset.

It’s interesting that she presents her songs as remixes of her own earlier productions. And if I listen these older versions the new ones feel like natural upgrades where she pumps in more energy in these excellent pop songs. Especially “And I Stood” caught my interest, a song where the melody and the rest of the music sort of rolls on top the bass figures and the song changes between drama and a light pop feeling without being “quirky”.

You can find Croall & Sons on Myspace.

And I Stood (remix)
From Where You Are (remix)

I was going to write about Artymoves EP “One of These Days”, which they released earlier this spring. But since then they have also released the single “Love Me”, which has managed to climb lists here and there lately.

“One of These Days” is anyhow a really good EP which caught my attention immediately. Compared to Artymove’s earlier albums I’d say that the soul thermometer has gone up with quite a few degrees in these new songs, into a warm club soul with a really nice, cool electronica background and hooky frases which put themselves like a sweet bell pepper on a cheese sandwhich making it perfect.

You can listen to all this, and their earlier albums, on Spotify and on Soundcloud. Follow Artymove on their site.

One of These Days
I Can’t Believe You’re Gone

One of These Days – live:

The True is a duo from Malmö consisting of Christian Hagman och Jonas Hofvander. So far they’ve released four songs and here below you can listen to “Monster”. It’s beautiful, naked and warm and with great vocals from Christian Hagman.

The first single “Leadership” has been released on Spotify. If you’d like to listen more you can visit The True on Facebook and on their blog you can download the tracks.

Monster

Today it’s about Vacancy Labour, a band hailing from Linköping, which I think can give rise to quite different associations when you listen to their music. I’m thinking of dance-friendly rock from the end of the eighties/the early nineties and also a little about Alan Parsons Project from the early eighties.

You can find three songs to listen to on Reverbnation. Follow the band on their blog (in Swedish) or on their Facebook page.

What These Times Show

I’m going to finish this week with a couple of tracks from Acid House Kings’ latest album “Music Sounds Better With You”. This is pop so light, so light, it feels like running up in the clouds. It’s indie pop with vibes from the sixties with light, lush arrangements.

They have an almost diabolic ability to creat chorus melodies that stick between the hammer and the incus right after listening to them once. And beside these choruses they fill the songs with wellcrafted riffs, instrument lines and oh-oh-choir-melodies. How many melody hooks can a brain take in after listening to an album with ten songs? Well, try it for yourself.

You can listen on Spotify and on Soundcloud you’ll find some more tracks. You can find Acid House Kings on Facebook.

Are We Lovers or Are We Friends?
Would You Say Stop?