Even though I’m an old farm boy, she took my country virginity and gave me…a pair of Durango boots!

I wasn’t ready mentally yet but, physically more than ready that day, in april 2007, when she hi-jacked my ears. Allears.se was the name of the site, “Off You Go” was the name of the song and this is what my review looked like then:

“Angelica R “off you go” 9 READY!
The intro! MASH 4077…wonderful, borrowed/stolen*
Voice and presence!!! Verse 1 + 2 sneak, tickle and move me!
Then, in chor.#2: the darkest piano I’ve heard in a long time…It sets a subtle, fateful & mellow but, in the context, an appropriate tone of the song. Chor: Not a vivid major lift! But then exactly what fits song/lyrics. The voice, as always, close and genuine! Prod: Can’t find any errors! Lyrics: Note made up in any case! Good! I am foremost curious about the continuation of the success story! /Janne”
Listen and download yourself now:

Off You Go

The title alone could have been (mis)understood as a revulsion directed at me, but my rock tinnitus only understood that it was a genre crossing ballad, a classic!
Already then I threw praises and cyber hugs at Angelica, because of her way of, both vocally and lyrically, managing/interpreting the feeling of abandonment that everyone/many try to describe but few succeeds in…
Now, I was stuck in the mud…
Step #2 became:

Walk Me Home

which is a more trad. country, sort of balladish, but with a Swedish southern slow groove. And just when I had learned my lesson on repeat, Angelica released her first song in Swedish “Ensam kvar” (“Left Alone”) which you hear at Angelica’s Myspace page

Angelica’s site
Angelica on Myspace

The name of the band was Tabasco Stockholm when they started in 2006. But after receiving a couple of rather less joyful letters from the legal representatives of a certain sauce brand, they decided to change the name to Basko Stockholm.

The original name came from that the association of the spicyness of their music. And spicy it is. And playful, lively and with a lot of musical joy. And this joy they have shared with the people in Stockholm in quite a few appreciated gigs for a couple of years.

Here you’ll find a nice blend of pop, rock, a lot of back beat and a real dose of latino feeling. I have to mention the brilliant guitar play, which doesn’t hesitate to break in with great sounding solos.

On their site you can listen to and download all their recorded music. You can also read their story and watch their videos. And on their Myspace page you can listen more and talk to the band.
JRight now they are recording a new EP with seven tracks., and you can follow their work, track by track on their home page.

Listen to three great songs:

Love and Caffeine
Cashflow
Good Luck Charm

No this is not a travelling agency I’m writing about today, it’s an interesting band that started out 2006 in Sandviken. They deliver a really nice indie pop and rock with a good sense of melodies and special vocals.

So far they have produced two EP:s: “Youth and Student Travel” and “Copy Me, Copy You”. Two records with quite different characters. The first one more wild, spontaneous and unpolished and the second one softer, thoughtful and with an ambience that reminds a little of the later Velvet Underground.

Here you’ll find three songs from the latest EP “Copy Me, Copy You”, an EP I think is brilliant and promises a lot for the future of the band. But don’t miss the other EP too, it’s really good and you can download both collections through their Myspace page.

Listen and download:

A New Love Found
Celebrity News
Copy Me, Copy You

According to Wikipedia Pachanga is a cuban dance, nowadays only popular in Cali, Colombia. It’s also the name of a character in the movie “Carlito’s Way”. But there is also a third explanation for the term: a spanish word for party.

And when you listen to Pachanga, there can be no doubt what their name means. Because party it is. I can imagine a spontaneous street party, maybe on Möllevången in Malmö, where Pachanga spread their joy to wild dancing in the streets to their wonderful mixture of rock, pop and soul. And yes, it’s still party when Niklas Svensson shouts “I’m an idiot” in “Buffalo Bill”.

There is a nice mess as the 9 men and women in Pachanga starts playing. Of course there are guitars, drums and bass, but also Rhodes, melodica, percussion, trombone and saxophones.

Here you listen to and download two tracks:

Buffalo Bill
110an

Visit Pachanga on Myspace

It would have been easy for me to compare Mårten Lärka to a swedish Bob Dylan. Not so much because of the music but more for the lyrics, where the story of modern society is described with both humour and a sharp edge.

And musically the comparison is not just about the image of a man alone with his guitar, but also about songs like “Hemgång utgång” where Mårten feels like a bluesy Dylan from the seventies. Well, in the end it’s not that simple.

Mårten shows more variation than that, from a troubadour-feeling to something that can be described as Swedish ballad pop for example in the song “Livstidsvicket” to some kind of eighties-Kent in “Fri Luft” (listen to this great track on his Myspace page), to blues and to other styles.

And I feel rather comfortable not to classify an artist like this, but yet sense a whole in Mårten’s vocals and his concern that he has something to tell us.

Video for “Innan natten har gjort kväll” (2005)

The 14th of October Mårten Lärka will release a new album. Listen to two tracks from the new album:

Livstidsvicket
Ettor och Nollor

Visit Mårten Lärka on Myspace