It’s not too often I receive non-electronica instrumental music. It’s nice then to listen to Folkvang’s colourful tones.

The band name comes from nordic mythology and gives us a hint of the music’s ambience. I find their roots in the seventies’ progressive rock, within the softer, ambient and melodic parts of that genre. It’s often enshrouded in a northern Swedish melancholy, which testifies about large unpeopled landscapes, lakes, solitude and the stillness of nature. There is a nordic calmness in the music, which feels pleasant to enter and be inside.

Folkvang released their first album this year, and you can listen to it on Spotify or listen to parts of it on Myspace. You can also meet the band on Facebook. Here is a song from the album:

Ensamhetens Famn

The duo Mackaper consists of the two organ players Markus Hulthén and Per Nyström. In the beginning of February they released their debut album “When All Is Sad and Dawn”.

It’s about instrumental music, where of course the organs are the main attraction, but they are accompanied by strings, drum machines, horns and other instruments. I’m reminded of prog-rock from the seventies but also of minimalistic synth pop, maybe the two strongest influences on the album. But overall it feels quite varied, where elements of jazz and swedish folk melancholy also fit in together with strong melodic themes and a nice atmosphere.

You can find Mackaper on their site or on Myspace. The albumet “When All Is Sad and Dawn” is available on Spotify. Here are a couple of songs from the album:

Spionen
Tale of Tales

Tale of Tales:

Melaina plays an alternative rock that sounds really interesting. Last fall they released their debut album, and you can listen to a track from the record, here below.

It’s an ambient and emotional rock that builds up a nice sound space. A little in the direction of bands like A Perfect Circle, but at the same time with a lot of variation. I can sometimes feel a metal heavyness and also a progressive, experimental feeling that challenges boundaries.

This is music I can listen to for a long time and float along in the almost meditative rock they play. If you’d like to listen some more, you should visit their Myspace page.

Lily

Sol Wikström is Sol Skugga and has just released her new album “Gardenia”. And her name Sol Skugga (Sun Shadow) catches what I feel most strongly about in the music of “Gardenia: the contrasts. Between the beautiful and the disturbing, between the old and the new, between the grand and the low-voiced.

Overall it feels beautifully dark with Sol’s classical voice pouring like a clear trickle through the mellow ambience, whether it’s a folk-inspired piece or a more dense goth-inspired music. The electronica forms the base of the music, but a great interplay with foremost brilliant guitars and violins creates nice contrasts.

You should go and visit Sol Skugga’s site where you can listen to all the tracks of “Gardenia” and read more about her. Sol Skugga is also on Myspace.
Here you have the two first tracks from the album and the video for “Empty Street”.

Intuition
Until Now

Hello there! Are you one of those people that think it’s hard to get into the world of jazz? Well, here’s an excellent opportunity to explore it. I think that Simon Jensen definitely can help you out, using his flute.

Even if he verges on progressive rock at times, and a lot of other genres, I think he concentrates several jazz styles into his own, great love of music in sweet melodies, harmonies and ensemble.

The best way of describing his music is for you to listen to the following songs:

Points
The Aunt
That Blues

For more songs, and to get to know Simon, visit his web site,

or his Myspace page