After I’ve been listening to polished rock and pop productions, it feels rather liberating sometimes to listen to someone who has put the polishing cloth away, that just plugs in the instruments and goes for it. The Nature could work well here.

Their punkish garage rock in Swedish, or garage punk if you prefer, feels like such an outlet. The members Zeta, Robban and André comes from the bands Alouatta, Makabert Fynd and Östermalm and started The Nature first as an experiment, without any decided direction.

Recently they released a split 7″ together with Ignatius, which is available also on Spotify, and they are now recording new material.

Listen more on their Myspace page. Hera are two songs:

Din Medicin
Hård

Mokadas, a duo consisting of Jonas Lindér and Peder Andersson, released their debut album this autumn (Hjördisc Records). I listened to them quickly a while ago, but I didn’t get it, so I put it aside for awhile. A month ago I gave it a new chance, this time with a little more attention and yes, now i got it. Like a teasel I can’t get rid of and want to listen to over and over again.

They have a unique sound, where I think anyone can find their own references, depending on where you come from musically. Someone described them as an updated The Doors, which is a good description. For me it’s like a garage punk-new wave meets powerpop, Bowie and Psychadelic Furs spiced up with some Talking Heads.

Listen for yourself in a couple of songs here. If you’d like to discover some more of them I suggest you visit Mokadas on Myspace and on Hjördisc Records.

Love Hate
Kickon Jesus

Read: CDBaby on Mokadas

Lately hip hop has branched and formed new varieties. One of these is called “Grime“. Often the explanations become rather diffusse when you try to explain what Grime is and how it sounds. You could say that it’s more dirty, heavier, more techno/electronica and a little darker than traditional rap. One of two grimers in Sweden, Kid Colt (to my knowledge, the other one is Max Peezay), was recently a much cheered guest on Contrahesive’s new album “Reflection is Relative” in the song “Gutter Music” and he has also released an mp3 together with Machete Productions.

Kid spits like he’s walked the streets of the London suburbs all his life. The Grime he produces is really hard, the flow heavy and the lyrics is high-octane. One can think about that if  Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer appeared geekish when the gangsta rap started, the gangsta rap now appears geekish as the Grime and Kid Colt comes out in the light, or darkness (!?).

Instead of me talking more about Kid Colt’s heavy style, I’ll let Kid Colt present himself and his Grime.

I asked Kid Colt on how his time in London has influenced him and how he discovered the grime:

It’s correct that I have lived in London, 6 years in two periods of time. Musically I only played drums in a harcore band, ha ha. Not that much hip hop then. But I did have a lot of friends that did hip hop and then there was a lot of grime-mc’s in my school. I obeserved the scene closely during my London years, but it wasn’t until I moved back to Sweden that I picked up the microphone and started rapping.

I also asked what he thinks about Dizzee Rascal and Max Peezay and if he could se himself in them:

I listened a lot to Dizzee’s first two records and he was one of my favourite MC’s for a long time. Today, though, I don’t know if he’s about grime at all. He doesn’t say that much nowadays, which is a pity. When I heard Discokommitéen for the first time I was really struck by it. I remember that I thought it was so damn’ big and it was partly because of that album that I wanted to do grime. Musically I don’t I recognise myself in any of these artists, but I have probably been more inflenced by Max Peezay since I do Swedish grime and my lyrics relate more to Sweden and my surroundings here.

Kid Colt – Flush out the crap (Machete Prod)

Kid Colt – Statement (Grime)

Kid Colt on Myspace

A couple of months ago The Plastic Pals released their debut album “Good Karma Café”. A solid, exciting rock and powerpop album with a collection of strong tracks with The Plastic Pals’ own special sound. It feels like great retro mixture molded into something new. I get so many associations to this that I find it hard to tell them apart into some kind of description.

Sixties pop, psychadelia, Blue Öyster Cult, Television, and yes it feels clean and rough at the same time. I really love the vocals from Håkan Soold, which adds a lot of soul to the music and keeps everything together. A really good album that grows each time I listen to it.

Below you’ll find a couple of tracks from Good Karma Café plus a video. Visit The Plastic Pals on Myspace to listen and read more.

She’s Going Back:

Here Comes the Sun
Long and Lovely

Fascinating is just the first name when it comes to Square. My legs start moving and I wish I was transferred to a party scene at a festival somewhere so I could enjoy it fully. And I don’t even like to dance.

I could start some kind of description of their music by calling it high-speed ska. But it’s ska like you’ve never heard it before. Rock, punk and a lot of other influences perfect this to a mixture I have never heard before. Brass players that have to work real hard, a great rhythm section, nice guitars and a singer that gives so much that I can hear the sweat pouring.

They have released two albums before and a third album is being released the 21st of November. Here you can listen to some tracks from the album.

L-l-l-let Us Into Mama’s House!:

Mr P and His Pushy Machine
HC Bad

Read more about Square on their site and blog
and listen more on their Myspace page