Hello Confusion, which I presented last year, has come out with some new material this autumn; the EP “Wastelands”, which was released in August. If you liked them before, I’m sure you won’t get disappointed with the new songs. They continue to deliver a catchy rock with good melodies; direct songs that are easy to absorb.

There are four good tracks on the EP, with a nice variation; from the dance-rock-tune “Everyone Is a Dancer” to the more grand “Shooting Star”, which grows into something which reminds me of Manic Street Preachers.

Here’s two tracks you can listen to. If you’d like to hear the entire EP “Wastelands”, you can visit Hello Confusion on Myspace.

Everyone Is a Dancer
Shooting Star

In December last year I reviewed The Argument’s “Summer/Winter Nights”; a very interesting album, indie pop, experimental and with a special feeling. This summer this was followed by “Everything Depends”, a 7-track album.

Even if the two albums have some things in common, I think that “Everyhing Depends” feels very different from “Summer/Winter Nights”. This record feels more open and accessible, with more focus on the indie pop part than the experimental parts. I recognise the sound, but it feels dynamic, acoustic than lo-fi. It’s a more uniform album and just like its predecessor the songs are strong with great melodies.

Like before, the entire album is available for free at The Argument’s Bandcamp page. You can also meet the band on Myspace. Here are a couple of tracks from “Everything Depends”:

Nothing Remains
Yet There Is Hope

Hammarström and Mark have followed their first singel, which Pär Berglund reviewed earlier this year, with a video and with the new song ”Time is the killer”. The video is a joy to watch. First of all because it’s great to see a unestablished band produce such a well-made video. The video, which is masculine barren and contains few colours, has a pure style and focus on the band’s charismatic singer Mark Österdahl.

Mark, whose voice we’ve heard before but not seen in person, really lives upp to what his voice promises. It feels like he’s done nothing else but being in front of a camera. His band mates, the brothers Niclas and Joacim Hammarström, are also seen in the video, although sparingly, but just enough so I want to see some more…

The new song ”Time is the killer” is a well produced and well written song, that never really peaks, but a great track for the fans. It relates a little to ”Reach out” in that the words ”reach out” is repeated in the song, a little theme in the band’s discography that makes me react and think it’s fun. I really like the lyrics and Marc’s voice which is at it’s best. It will be very interesting to see if they can continue to produce such great tracks in the time to come!

Reach Out:

Time Is the Killer

Johannes Vidén & Bluebird Association have released a 4-track EP, “Days of Defeat”, to give us a taste of their upcoming album.  And it turns into a nostalgic trip back in time, where my thoughts first of all go to The Band, but also to Springsteen and to the passionate sixties.

Four tracks of somewhat different character, but with the same nice, roomy retro ambience. Three of the songs are in English and one in Swedish. I really like the English ones, but my favourite one is the song in Swedish, “Den sista färden”, which contains lyrics inspired by Harry Martinsson’s “Vägen till Klockrike” (“The Road”).

Johannes has a fervor and a glow in his voice that really lifts the songs. Sometimes he reminds me of Levon Helm, but more often of Magnus Carlsson in Weeping Willows, and when he sings in Swedish I can feel a touch of the warmth from Plura Jonsson in Eldkvarn.

You can listen to the entire EP “Days of Defeat” on their Myspace page, and here below you can explore and download two of the tracks:

Time That You Love Me
Den sista färden

Behind the band name Death Ends Here we find Simon Lussi, a singer/songwriter that walks his own path. He tells us that he started out with acoustic singer/songwriter music, was inspired by metal core and hip hop and tried to combine all this in his own way.

And this resulted in his own mix of acoustic softness, aggressive songlines and a darker metal atmosphere. Armed with only an acoustic guitar and smooth vocals he does a really good job here.

Last spring he finished the EP “Abandon All”, which is available, both for listening and downloading, on Death Ends Here’s Myspace page. Here are a couple of tracks from the EP:

Burden On Me
Combined