The band The Magnettes started out as an acoustic duo with Sanna Kalla and Rebecka Digervall in Pajala, in the north of Sweden. In 2011  the band expanded to 6 members and they started with the recordings of a debut album. The debut single “Paper Cut” was released in October aiming for an album release in the beginning of 2013. And “Paper Cut” promises a lot with it’s sparkling, energetic, slightly cheeky power pop. Great song. Listen for yourself here below.

The Magnettes on Facebook – on Spotify – on Wimp – on Soundcloud

Around New Year The Virtues released the single “Hope”. A really beautiful ballad which you can listen to and download here below.

“Hope” is the finishing song on the band’s latest album “Beautiful Game”, their fourth one since 2003, and was released last year. I haven’t written about it yet, so I took the opportunity to listen to it now. And I like the album, it’s a good rock/pop-album with a lot of vibes from Big Star and Tom Petty and a dose of early New Wave. I love the intimate sound in the songs; retro, airy and full of good-sounding guitars that have plenty of room to ring out their tones. Add then also Per’s nice rock vocals, good melodies and some interesting adventures like in for example the punk vibing “Liquid”.

You can hear the album on Spotify and you’ll find the band on Facebook and on their site.

Hope

Take a part of Electric Light Orchestra from the seventies, some of the playfulness of 10cc, a bit of  Queens’ drama, something from Squeeze and Madness, and mix this once or twice with disco, a lot of power pop and some indie rock, then you might get a notion of what Nom de Guerre’s new album “Love Thy Neighbour” sounds like.

The vibes from all this comes in different songs in different mixes on this excellent album. When you think you got a clue about where they come from, they surprise you again with a new twist in a new song. From, for example, a wilder Madness-inspired and indie rockish “Murder On Demand” over to a disco pop driven “Drama Queen” with a hint of 80’s synth and a couple of tracks later, the soft “Ballad of Harry” with a close, classic ELO sound.

But it all fit together. With a sound that goes through the entire album, including a characteristic fuzz bass, with the drama and an excellent pop melody songwriting.

I hope you like this, and if you do, you can listen more on Nom de Guerre’s Myspace page.

Here’s two songs from “Love Thy Neighbour”:

Everybody Knows
Murder On Demand

I have a cold, and it feels like my head is full of cotton and everything goes slower. Well, it’s time then to listen to  The Carnivales. They have enough energy to share to keep you going and more than that. And that they named the band The Carnivales is no mistake, because this is party, rock party. I can’t see any bad faces as they rock on with intensity and joy of playing.

The recordings have very much a live feeling, like an ordered chaos, and if that’s any indication, I’m sure that it’s hard not to let go at a concert with these guys. You can download and listen to a couple of tracks here from their EP “Five of a Kind”.

If you want to see them live , you’ll have the opportunity tomorrow at Teater Accent in Stockholm.

Visit also The Carnivales’ site and their Myspace page.

Lola
Killer Kid

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