It’s fascinating how someone who’s born 10 to 15 years later, can catch the spirit of passed times and recreate it in his own music. Well, it’s exactly what the 18th year old Gusten does in the band Gusten & the Demens, even though he’s backed by a gang of older, excellent musicians. Among the demented you’ll find names like Peter Simonsbacka (lead guitar), Jan Lidström (bass) and Mita (backing vocals).

Gusten, the songwriter and band leader, is exploring the domains of the softer rock of the seventies, where a few parts of Jackson Browne is mixed with some part of Eagles, some showtime Rolling Stones a little bit of Springsteen and something from Jimi Hendrix. He is heading this with a voice that sounds surprisingly mature and that sits perfectly with the music.

The Someones

Visit Gusten on Myspace

Close Quarters is the band from Vadstena that, without any management or label, has lined up one gig after the other, been in the studio with the well-known producer Thomas Skogsberg (Entombed, Hellacopters mfl), performed at club gigs in England and lately fronted both Takida and Backyard Babies. Completely on their own.

In other words there is an exceptional driving force in this gang, stronger than any you’ll find among many other aspiring artists. If you combine that with quite a bunch of fantastic songs, it’s only a matter of time before Close Quarters will explode up in the rock heaven.

This is a real band that plays real rock’n’roll the way that real rock’n’roll should be played. And I love every second of it! The guitar riffs shred like razor wire, the rhythm section comes booming in like a freight train and the singer’s voice bleeds like an open wound. Heart and soul all the way!

Close Quarters surely has a great future, but they will hardly stand still waiting for it.

They want it all…now!!

So listen to and download the songs below and visit the band for more:

Close Quarters on Myspace

Only In It For the Chicks
Go Away
Stand Up Fightem

The song Time from the gig with Takida and Backyard Babies:

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

Malte X is a Swedish punk rock band that really lives the rock’n’roll myth. Or what can you say about getting signed by Sony and then get kicked out because of too much partying? A comparison that comes to my mind is when Sex Pistols got a deal with A&M and then got thrown out, after a channel concert on the Thames, after only a week!

Their style is punk rock, and by that I don’t mean only the music, but also the attitude and the lyrics, which for me is why punk rock is punk rock. Just like Ebba Grön, Malte X writes lyrics with social criticism and sometimes very provoking. And when it’s incorporated into this hot rock’n’roll the result is great.

Malte X has released two albums, where “Försent” (“Too Late”, Hornvalley Records) is the latest release.
For their second single “Varning” (“Warning”), they made a video together with the illegal street race gang “Get Away” in Stockholm. Therefore the video was banned on TV…but here on Meadow Music you can watch it of course ;-)

Rock to Malte X:
Försent
Du är i bild
Dött lopp

Visit the band:
Malte X on Myspace

Keep cool
Jeppe

Juka Soma has a very special voice. A voice I know I’ll be able to recognise among thousands of other voices. And he uses it in a way that reminds me of old heroes like John Hiatt, Van Morrison, Willy de Ville and Curtis Mayfield. He doesn’t follow some kind of template, he just let the song and the feeling of the song pass through his voice. It’s human and warm.

Musically I find myself in the States, where the influences from the mentioned heroes is recognised in the songs to various degrees. The lyrics have a personal feeling and it feels very close. It’s beautiful, with nice melodies that lead into refrains that hook me up the first time I hear them.
This is feelgood rock with a big touch of soul, a type of soul that the masters from before delivered.
It makes me happy to listen to Juka Soma. I hope you will feel the same.

Richest Man Alive
Stay In the Circus

Visit Juka Soma:

Juka Soma on Myspace