Earlier this year The Open Up and Bleeds released the singel “Stiv Bators In All of Us”. This was a first step on their way to their debut album which is due soon. And the song just hit me directly in my chest. Straight on, no complications, pure rock’n’roll and raw guitars. Could it get any better?

Other tracks runs off in other directions, even though the core of it all remains the same. Sometimes the synths make their entrance and it becomes more of New Wave with a punkish attitude. There’s a nice raw sound in their music, which is strengthened even more by  Joel Segerstedt’s really cool vocals.

I’m looking forward to their album, and meanwhile we can listen to a bunch of tracks on The Open Up and Bleeds’ Myspace page. The singel, “Stiv Bators In All of Us” together with two bonus tracks, is available for download on Sounds of Zilence’ site.

Here’s the video to “Stiv Bators In All of Us”, and two songs to listen to and download; the singel song and the excellent bonus song “It Takes a Band”:

Stiv Bators In All of Us:

Stiv Bators In All of Us
It Takes a Band

“Pop in 110 mph” my collegue Jesper described the music of Industri Royal, as he presented Industri Royal last summer. The 28th of January Industri Royal will release their notified debut album “Tacky Skills” (Alleycat Records), and after having listened beforehand, I find that there’s no reason to change Jesper’s overall description.

Even if it doesn’t feel retro in the sound, I would like to add the vibes of Ramones, New Wave and sometimes even the Rolling Stones of the seventies (before the disco period) and surf pop to the description. It’s a great album, full of energy, and I’m certain that no one that has heard Industry Royal before will be disappointed.

“Location Location Location” was in our earlier post, and here you get another song from “Tacky Skills”, “The Beat Boy”. Other brilliant songs are “I Can Keep a Secret” and “Lie Lie Lie”. The release party takes place the 23 of January at Scharinska in Umeå. Go there and be part of the nice euphoria in a record release. Read more about it on Industri Royal’s site and on their Myspace page.

The Beat Boy

I get a lot of vibes from the eighties with Dolly Daggers. They have created their own mix of new wave, glam, electro and everything else you want to put in there, a mix that’s hard to neglect. And then the songs! A great feeling for melodies with grand choruses that make it all the way through. With guitar and synth hooks, a good drive and a nice cool attitude, you get a concept that feels solid and songs that I want to hear over and over again.

Below you can enjoy some of their tracks. They are now underway with recording new material, and you can keep track of this by visiting Dolly Daggers’ site and their Myspace page.

Neverending:

People Like You
Numb

Earlier this year The Search released their fourth album “Saturnine Songs”. An album filled with melancholic pop, beautiful melodies embedded in a nice atmosphere with a big sound. There is a lot of vibes from the eighties in this music and earlier they have often been compared with for example the Cure. And sure, in some songs this is clearly obvious especially in some intros and how it may sound, but to me I find them just as much with one foot in the sound of bands from this century, like for example Doves and Travis.

The Search plays live frequently, and often they perform on stages in Germany, where their record label afmusic is based. And I recommend you to visit afmusic’s site if you want to download the album “Saturnine Songs” ” for free, or buy versions with extra tracks or with the highest sound quality. Or to see where you can buy a CD.

The Search is extremely generous with their material, both the newest tracks and the earlier recordings. On Last.fm you’ll find more or less every song they have ever released, both for listening and downloading.
You can also visit them on Myspace.

Rapunzel:

Listen to a couple of songs:

Distant
Swimmer

Others about The Search: Reflections of Darkness, EvilSponge

Industri Royal is a band that has understood that it takes more than producing good music to succeed. Of course it’s the base of it all, but to see the whole package with band members, clothes, and attitude together with good music is a real advantage. And I think that Industri Royal has managed to put this together really well.

It’s somewhat difficult to categorise the music, and therefore I decided to call it pop going 110. That is, really good pop melodies that’s performed in high speed and I instantly hang on. The lyrics are political, anarchistic and about equal opportunities. Industry Royal are feminists and state that they want to open the eyes of young women to make them see that they really can change society.

The band from Västerbotten has earlier released an EP with the cool title You broke my nose, but I broke your heart. You can hear two songs and watch a video from that EP in this post.

This autumn, Industri Royal is releasing their debut album Tacky skills on Alleycat Records! The release parties are scheduled to the 6th of December in Umeå and the 13th of December in Göteborg. You can listen to the first single from the album here, Location location location.

The goal they have are “to become a great fucking band”! And I think that they doing pretty well!

Listen and download:
Location Location Location
Fuck You
Killing Tony

Visit the band:
Industri Royal on Myspace

Keep cool,
Jeppe