Swedish Stereo

Darin premieres "Nobody Knows" live

2012-02-10T13:05:00.000-08:00

Earlier today I told you about Darin's new single "Nobody Knows" and it's already #5 on iTunes!
Hope it will be one of the biggest summer hits in Sweden and now we've got Darin's performance of this song on recent Gaygalan where the artist has brought loads of Melodifestivalen dancers with "In The Club" style choreography, absolutely awesome comeback!

Gravitonas - Call Your Name

2012-02-10T10:05:00.000-08:00

New Gravitonas year is not going to be any less active as previous one, Alexander Bard has announced that new EP will be out in March and will possibly include 2 or 3 brand new singles.
Not sure if it will be one of them but fresh Gravitonas' track "Call Your Name" has arrived on Russian radio and as "Lucky Star" it's something absolutely unexpected. It's a dance track clearly inspired by Romanian-club sound but still Swedish enough, probably something you can compare with SOJO style but still different in a common concept. Exciting and absolutely enjoyable premiere that you can find here!

Darin - Nobody Knows

2012-02-10T01:27:00.001-08:00

After the year of active work with the most different songwriters on new solo-stuff and music for other artists Darin is finally back with a big dance premiere "Nobody Knows".
It's probably the most clubby record we've heard so far from Darin but still absolutely poppy starting with growing piano boyband intro and bursting in absolutely euphoric (word of this season?) dance-chorus. Darin is one of the most successful Idol-artists and the question is if Melodifestivalen hasn't affected his career negative way. I hope not as it's a gorgeous pop-track Sweden absolutely should accept. Single is out today, so we'll be able to watch its success in iTunes-chart very soon.

Lyssna: Lyssna på dagens låt i FLIPP eller FLOPP!

Cazzi Opeia - My Heart In 2 (video)

2012-02-09T13:32:00.001-08:00

Latest Cazzi Opeia's single "My Heart In 2" we were so positive about is getting a video treatment.
I'm still sure it was one of the most catchy dance tunes of 2011 and it absolutely should be heard by fans of Swedish dance-pop. Cazzi Opeia mostly presents her traditional (if we can say so) image - aggressively special but utterly sweet and creative in this video. Wondering if Sweden can even realize this artist sometimes was Idol-Moa?

Elodie - Miss Vamberly

2012-02-09T13:14:00.001-08:00

First we've met Elodie when we've found her name in credits on Play's Emelie Norenberg solo-track "Strong", then Elodie was working on some solo-stuff we were interested to dig into and here's her new dance single "Miss Vamberly".
It's an artistic, crazy in a good sense dance-music you can't directly categorize but it seems like it doesn't really want to be categorized going it's own weird way we're glad to follow.
If you like this song you should also check another Elodie's single "Go Away" - it's much more dreamier aesthetic electronic discopop but not miles away from "Miss Vamberly".

Songs of the second MF-2012 semifinal

2012-02-09T12:47:00.001-08:00

Vdeo snippets from rehearsals of the second semifinal are out and here's what we get.
Ulrik Munther has presented new radio-hit sounding in my ears like JoJo going pop-rock. I don't think it's going to get MF-winner buzz but it's very well done and should be adored by fans on summer pop-fests.
Top Cats are Playtones without Kempe (read as without extra-something), rockabilly-stuff, not "The King" level in my ears.
Sonja Aldén comes back with a new Bobby Ljunggren schlager-ballad and Bassflow production, it's nice and should sound touching with its lyrics about passed away close person but after all flops of schlager-ballads can it have really huge success on MF?
I didn't imagine Andreas Lundstedt can surprise me singing dance-music I never heard from him but he has managed, it's a sweet melodic electro-dance pop with schlager-touch, probably what Shirley should sing in 2012 but it's lacking Shirley's drive unfortunately.
Timoteij have beautifully developed tune with energetic folk-schlager sound, I wish loads of luck to girls but I've got a feeling it won't be as big fans favorite as "Kom" was.
Nice to see Tony Nilsson persenting something fresh for David Lindgren, modern dance-song that would be a good album track for Darin or Ola but is it going to work on MF?
Mimi Oh has presented very nice electropop mix of what Linda Sundblad and Le Kid were about last year, you will hardly find from her 80s-vibes here but it's catchy, stylish and I really like production, her best single so far.
I was initially sceptic to Di Leva, I rarely put his stuff in my player but I think his arena-oriented positive pop will work good on MF. And here I've changed my mind right like I did when I've heard Thorsten Flick.

Wednesday morning with Sebastian

2012-02-08T02:38:00.000-08:00

Last summer Sebastian has visited Nyhetsmorgon with some pieces of his new music which were presented in acoustic so it was hard to judge what we should expect. But finally those tracks were released on new Sebastian's album "No Red Line" and Sebastian's back again but this time to present new songs - latest single "Sunday Morning" and "No Red Line" with full live band.

Niki & The Dove - The Fox

2012-02-08T00:45:00.000-08:00

New international breakthrough from Sweden - Niki & The Dove present animated video for the one of earlier presented tracks "The Fox" almost in a year after release like it was with "DJ, Ease My Mind".
I've already said a lot of words of encouragement to this band but honestly "The Fox" wasn't that song I've accepted directly. Before I've watched this video that has made me pay a proper attention to this tune which is actually pretty awesome building really special haunting atmosphere with Niki & The Dove's electronic sound.

Miike Snow - Paddling Out (video)

2012-02-07T06:03:00.001-08:00

Not that we've got loads of video-premieres this year but I can already say that from what I've seen Miike Snow have delivered absolutely the best video for "Paddling Out" reminding me of the end of 90s/beginning of 00s when electronic artists like Fatboy Slim was making some amazing videos with plots, investing proper budget and earning loads of attention from pop-audience that would never start listening to this sort of music. It's a good track and awesome video that you absolutely should check.

Amanda Jenssen - Dry My Soul

2012-02-07T05:13:00.000-08:00

Amanda Jenssen is one of those Idol-wonders who has started erasing her Idol-label right after the show breaking up with any hint on commercial mainstream pop and unleashing her jazz-passion that has resulted in two Top-3 albums and loads of respect Sweden like to grace some independent original artists with.
Last year Amanda was touring in Germany getting positive response and trying to establish career there. During that tour she has performed new track "Dry My Soul" that is going to be her new single and you can already check teaser of video and live-version in quite good quality to realize what sort of wild 60s party it's going to be.
New Amanda's album is promised to be released already this spring and Sweden gets its official premiere of the single on Grammis-2012 show that will be held on February 14th.

Velvet - Love Struck (video)

2012-02-07T04:19:00.000-08:00

Slowly coming back with some music pieces we missed last week I start with the most valuable one.
Velvet have presented video for her latest single "Love Struck" - with a pretty big delay after release but still watching Jenny always warms up Swedish pop-fan's soul with her cool attitude. "Love Struck" has become one of the most underestimated pop-singles of 2011 in Sweden so maybe it's time to push it abroad to remind Europe about Swedish disco-queen?

MF-2012: Loreen and Dead By April win first semifinal

2012-02-04T16:13:00.001-08:00

First semifinal of Melodifestivalen was finished by victory of Loreen and Dead By April - the most worthy couple of winners I can directly remember. Dead By April has passed all goosebumps-passing expression of their dramatic rock-song and Loreen looked so much better and different than the rest of participants with vocals bigger than VIDA Arena. Sean Banan's show has really deserved ticket to Andra Chansen. I haven't really understood Thorsten Flinck in what we've seen in the final pack but I realize it has its audience in Sweden.
I'll be missing Marie Serneholt (6th) a lot, she has given as much of charizma and vocal as she could and even more, she was interested to look at and to listen to. Afro-dite (5th) have delivered nice disco-party and The Moniker (8th) did the best of him. We're really sorry about Abalone Dots (7th) too, it's a better band than the song they performed. You can watch videos of all non-qualifiers below.

Abalone Dots - På Väg
The Moniker - I Want To Be Chris Isaak
Afro-dite - The Boy Can Dance

MF-2012: full songs of the first semifinal

2012-02-04T06:41:00.000-08:00

Seems like I really underestimated Sean Banan, it's just too catchy and after winning public poll on yesterday's rehearsal I easily can imagine it winning semifinal. Abalone Dots get lost among more dynamic entries which is really pity. Dead By April's in full length are much easier to catch for pop-ears and their fans still should be satisfied. Marie's song is very stylish, verses are as good as choruses we heard before and this song has really deserved its spot in the final that it won't get. I've caught the problem Schlagerprofilerna mentioned regarding Afro-dite's song, it's starts in a wild disco-rhythm but there's no place for it to grow and it the end you get tired of this party but the song is still good. Thorsten Flinck is too monotonous in full length, it doesn't seem to be "Snälla Snälla"/"Road Salt" league to fight for the final. The Moniker has pretty cool song that I hope will get a future on the radio but Andra Chansen? Don't think so.
Loreen is absolutely incredible, as she promised this song is crawling under your skin. It's not a song, it's a tangle of feelings, it's international level club anthem performed by one of the best Swedish pop-vocalists. My first reaction to Loreen's comeback was - no, she's too good to make it again, now I think - how wonderful she has done it as the song is her perfect comeback no matter how far it will go. Loads of luck to you tonight, Loreen!
And you don't miss semifinal here tonight at 20.00 by local time.

Abalone Dots - På väg
The Moniker - I Want To Be Chris Isaak
Afro-Dite - The Boy Can Dance
Thorsten Flinck och Revolutionsorkestern - Jag reser mig igen

Songs of the first MF-2012 semifinal

2012-02-02T12:26:00.001-08:00

Sorry for a little blogging break that I absolutely will compensate with everything interesting I've missed during last week, just give me a little time.
Awesome day for all melofans as we've got 8 first Melodifestivalen-entries. To be more exact, 1-minute snippets of the first participants and here they are. Get ready for studio-version on Saturday at 14.00 of local time

Sean Banan has become famous with sommarplåga (summer plague - incredibly infectious track that loads are going to hate fast but it doesn't leave dancefloors and the radio till the end of summer) "Skaka Rumpa" last year and he has tried to deliver another one with "Sean Den Förste Banan". Problem that I see here is really messy verse, chorus sticks from the first listen though and I can imagine Sean's colourful show qualifying to Andra Chansen with his fans' support.

Abalone Dots sing country-ballad "På väg", pretty dark moody country-ballad with beatiful instrumental part but not as American sounding track as "Solo" and too complicated to go Pernilla Andersson's road I guess.

The Moniker turns from utterly positive "Oh My God!" show to his calmer music side he has represented on the debut album, not too calm, I'd say "I Want To Be Chris Isaak (This Is Just the Beginning)" to "I'll Drag You Up" is what "I'll Drag You Up" was to "Oh My God!" and this progress puts The Moniker on a really risky path. If Melody Club and Sebastian haven't qualified last year can The Moniker do?

Afro-dite make glittery disco-comeback with "The Boy Can Dance", it's melodic warm old good retro-disco that worked so good for them back in the past. Will it work still? Well. Last year we had Sanna and Linda winning semifinals and Shirley getting to AC - all with their classic sound. So I don't see a problem for them to get their ticket at least to Andra Chansen. Girls have prepared a big show, they're huge professionals and perform after two calm songs so they have a chance.

As Dead By April promised the sound of "Mystery" isn't too different from their last album. It's half-growling verses moving into a big expressive pop-tune of chorus that they're really skillful in. I think we haven't got the best snippet to judge but due to response from Växjö it's a really strong entry.

Marie Serneholt is almost as light, sweet and dancey in her "Salt & Pepper" as she was in 2009 with "Disconnect Me", as Schlagerprofilerna mentioned the chorus sounds VERY "The Boy Does Nothing", melodic girly swing-pop which is hard to believe in as in strong MF competitor though.

Initially I was pretty sceptical towards Thorsten Flinck's entry, it sounds theatrical and hm...weird with a dark combination of electronic organ and castanets in "Jag reser mig igen" but that electronic organ and Thorsten's theatricality makes me thinking about Caroline af Ugglas and Lykke Li. You can find it weird, but can't you imagine this song performed by them? It's a big question if this entry has a future but I believe it can surprise.

And finally Loreen expected by many Swedish pop-fans. Loreen is back with dramatical emotional dance-pop "Euphoria" and this time she moves forward anthemic club sound with Avicii's taste but the vocal is the key that makes it all so much bigger than just modern club-hit. This girl sings her soul out and if she won't qualify it will be even bigger injustice than whole Andra Chansen-2011.

Lucas Nord vs. Urban Cone - Let Us Stay Young

2012-01-25T12:42:00.001-08:00

Fresh blood in Swedish music! Recently you could notice name of Lucas Nord in mixes packs of Urban Cone and Rasmus Faber and now Urban Cone guys provide their vocals for Lucas' debut single "Let Us Stay Young" and even take part in his music video.
"Let Us Stay Young" is dark electronic dance-track in a vein of Adrian Lux's tracks crawling with Urban Cone's mystic vocals to dynamic blossoming choruses following fresh trend of Swedish club-music.

Schlager QX-2012 is out!

2012-01-25T05:16:00.001-08:00

QX's schlager-issue is one of the most exciting warming up Melodifestivalen events gathering participants of upcoming season in some absolutely amazing photo shootings every year. It's Schlagerprofilerna Ken Olausson and Ronny Larsson who are responsible for this great celebration with photographer Christian Hagward and they tried to tease us completely unbearably this year what has turned to the series of traditionally awesome images and unexpected transformations.
So today you can download this fantastic set with loads of interesting interviews here but what is even more amazing for non-Swedish speaking schlager-fans now you can read it in English! Schlagerfiasko has translated schlager-part of magazine and now you don't need to spend hours with Google Translate like I used to few years ago.
So if you want to know:
- If Charlotte Perrelli finds "Hero" or "The Girl" her stronger entry.
- If Timoteij are going to use instruments again.
- What was Danny fighting for with SVT negotiating about performance.
- What sort of family relations Afro-dite and Loreen have.
- How Eric Saade hasn't let Sean Banan watch Melodifestivalen last year.
- And some news about upcoming albums of Timoteij and Sonja.
...go and read it in Swedish and in English. Full set photos is featuring Danny, Ulrik Munther, Mattias Andreassen, Loreen, Molly Sandén, Charlotte Perrelli, Afro-dite, Sonja Aldén, Andreas Lundstedt, Marie Serneholt, Dead By April, Youngblood, Andreas Johnson, Timoteij, Sean Banan, Love Generation and Mimi Oh. You can see some of pics below.

Broken Door - Time For Changes

2012-01-24T04:00:00.000-08:00

Broken Door are back with a bunch of great news - band's debut album will be released on April 2nd which is not that far already and fresh single "Time For Changes" from upcoming album is out and sounds awesome!
I'd say it's the most happy, anthemic and actually the strongest Broken Door's track ever in my opinion, if you want what it's like I'd say it sounds like an amazing band's entry for Melodifestivalen, heavy beats of chorus feel like Bassflow-produced (though acording to press-release it was recorded in collaboration with producers of Bell Studio who worked before with artists like The Darkness, Backstreet Boys and Westlife). Beautiful piano intro grows through melodically slightly Star Pilotesque verse (put the beat louder and we'd call it dancey) spiced up with strings and exploses in a big beautiful chorus.
Swedish radio accepted Broken Door very well from the beginning so I can easily imagine this track as another band's big radio-hit.

20 years of Bingolotto

2012-01-24T03:11:00.000-08:00

Bingolotto celebrates 20 years anniversary so we've got nice music gift from TV4 gathering recent Christmas tour colleagues Elisabeth Andreassen and Marie Serneholt, Idol Robin Stjernberg with one of covers from his compilation "My Versions", Christer Sjögren with Eurovision-classic "Djingis Khan" and Håkan "Nordman" Hemlin with new solo single "När Stockholm somnar in". Nice selection for the most different tastes.

Markoolio - Borta bra men hemma bäst

2012-01-20T01:52:00.000-08:00

Markoolio's absence after his MF-schalger "Kärlekssång från mig" and waiting for new songs was badly carried by his fans, it has almost caused mass hysteria in Stockholm.

But the wait is over. Markoolio's back with new Magnus Uggla-breathing single "Borta bra men hemma bäst" and party video filled with Markoolio's typical irony. You can even see Andreas Lundstedt as a featuring guest of the video. It's all about fun but really enjoyable and as I know Markoolio currently keeps working on new songs with one really good songwriter.
Also don't miss performance of new single in Nyhetsmorgon and "Värsta schlagern" with Jessica Marberger.

Miike Snow - Paddling Out

2012-01-19T12:48:00.001-08:00

Today Miike Snow guys unleash brand new single "Paddling Out" from their upcoming album "Happy To You" which is going to be released on March 26th.
We've already got the first sneak peek with the track "Devil’s Work" in the end of 2011 and comparing with it "Paddling Out" is quite more upbeat track, I'd say it's a disco in a way how you'd imagine disco being reborn by Miike Snow. However style of a new album gets some clear line and it's promising to be pretty delicious electronic work.

Mary N'diaye - Lions Of Teranga

2012-01-19T12:09:00.000-08:00

Wonderful Mary N'diaye is back! After that colourful pop-explosion girl has arranged in 2010 with single "Dumb Dumb" and still looking awesome video Mary was rolling in music world of Sweden (for example she was featuring singer on the latest Monty's album) but didn't present new solo-works at all.
While we expect Mary to appear in The Voice Sverige and keep our fingers crossed for her Mary premieres new song "Lions Of Teranga" which is the result of her collaboration with producers Christoffer Wikberg and Fredrik Sonefors who lately worked with artists like ELY and Coco (Love Generation's Mikaela).
"Lions Of Teranga" sounds like a big summerish sport anthem in "Waka Waka" mood covered with RedOnesque dance-sound, track has become a dedication to Mary's Senegalese fans and national football team Lions Of Teranga. Amazing gift and lovely "making of" video.

Säkert! - Isarna/The Lakes We Skate On

2012-01-19T11:00:00.000-08:00

If you remember I told you about Säkert! who has decided to release her Swedish tracks in English last year. As it was planned album "Säkert! På Engelska" was released in the last day of August and "The Lakes We Skate On" ("Isarna" in the past) - utterly pleasant indie-pop song in recognizable style of Säkert! was chosen as another track to promote compilation.
Video was shot last Autumn for a week and is presented now in both languages.

OPA! - Himmelskt

2012-01-19T05:43:00.000-08:00

Schlager-debutants keep delivering presentations of their latest material and this time it's OPA! - band that will perform song "Allting blir bra igen" written by vocalist Michael Sideridis in the 4th Melodifestivalen semifinal on 25 February in Malmö.
But here's the first sneak peek of their upcoming album - single "Himmelskt", I'm not professional in this genre to judge how high concentration of pure Greek pop we have here but I can say one thing - you're not gonna get any Sofia's Swedish pop compromises even though they sing in Swedish. It's folk, atmospheric, melodic and pleasant folk. How successful can it be in Melodifestivalen? If guys are ready give proper amount of joy like Andra generationen they have a chance. have a listen right below..

New SoFo Records project: Rob & Nino

2012-01-18T03:15:00.000-08:00

Alex Saidac, Gravitonas, Brandur, Martin Rolinski. Line-up of fresh pop-representatives of Alexander Bard's label constantly brings excitement and high expectations so when SoFo Records has signed new duo Rob & Nino with pretty qualitative debut "Rewind" released last year we've put them under a special attention and guys didn't linger with new music.
Upcoming Rob & Nino's single "Freak" featuring Lazee is on the way and here we get the first sneek peak which is utterly catchy combination of club-music with slight Avicii-feeling and Nino's r'n'b vocals. Snippet is already quite promising so let's wait and see what will come out of it.

NEO - Fighting The Dark

2012-01-18T00:16:00.000-08:00

NEO's brand new album "Reborn" is finally out, it has taken 2 years since the album "Human Frontier" has become artist's big presentation in Sweden right after his performance at Melodifestivalen.
"Reborn" feels like natural progression of NEO's concept including previously released "Underground" and "Toxicated Love", it's dark, theatrical collection of pop with worthy dance follow-ups of "Human Frontier" ("Let Go", "Atomic", "So Touchable") fans undoubtedly will be pleased by and some big heavily electrified ballads like almost Hurts-sounding "Move On" and "Swan Song".
New single "Fighting The Dark" co-written by Gravitonas' Andreas Öhrn is something closer to the second category, it's a big electro-ballad, lacking drama but very spiritual and containing beautiful middle-eight with epic drums and choirs.
You can listen to the full version and buy "Fighting The Dark" here and to do the same with all tracks of "Reborn" here.

Magnus Uggla feat. Carola - Jag Vill Ha Dig Baby (Niclas Kings Remix)

2012-01-17T08:50:00.000-08:00

For all of you who has started to think Carola is over with schlager and has completely moved to rock'n'roll-covers area we have brilliant proof she still can do schlager as good as she used to!
Another The Voice jury member Magnus Uggla has provided track "Jag Vill Ha Dig Baby" from his latest album "Innan filmen tagit slut..." produced by Peter Kvint for Niclas Kings to make remix and Carola to replace Edith Backlund's vocal part. Song has turned from pop-rock schlager in typical Magnus's manner to a light dance-schlager, Niclas can work with schlagers (Hera Björk "Je Ne Sais Quoi", Euroband "This Is My Life", Kate Ryan "Je T'Adore") and though musically it's not in style of his Eurovision works this mix pushes all the right buttons to bring up the tune to its dancey radio-friendly shelf where it belongs.
Below you can listen to both versions of this song as both are really worthy.

Lyssna: Jag Vill Ha Dig Baby

Mimi Oh - Säkerhetsnål (SoundFactory Remix)

2012-01-17T07:19:00.000-08:00

Mimi Oh keeps delivering new goodies related to her newest single "Säkerhetsnål" which besides fresh video presented few days ago has got new mixes and here's one of them made by club-veteran SoundFactory and though schlager-dancefloor is probably the first thing coming to your mind when you hear this name mix has turned quite electro which fits concept of original track very well, it's cold, elegant but still very dynamic. Enjoy!

Idrottsgalan-2012

2012-01-17T00:14:00.000-08:00

Annual Idrottsgalan is back with a bunch of some top-artist who were with us during last year and seems like are going to be next year too.
We've got big voice trio of Sonja Aldén, Linda Pritchard and Anna Sahlene with "Higher & Higher", Lisa Miskovsky who sounded...hm, pretty unusual in Sting's "Fields of Gold" (but it was pretty emotional performance in memory of some Swedish sportsmen who died in 2011), Markoolio with his own song "In med bollen" and company of Lili and Susie, Hammerfall with Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law" (they're doing pretty loads of TV lately, are we gonna get them on MF soon?), Louise Hoffsten with her own old song "Let the best man win" and The Clash's "London Calling" performed by Nicke Borg who has become much more actively interacting with audience since last spring. Thanks for the tip about event to Schlagerfiasko that you absolutely must follow when ESC-season is at full speed.

Le Kid - Human Behaviour (full version)

2012-01-14T08:36:00.000-08:00

Le Kid's single "Human Behaviour" that we've got a tasty sneak peek of not so long ago is finally released on Danish iTunes and available online in full length.
As we've already heard from a snippet Le Kid turns to more tough and dynamic sound pulsing in cold neon lights and coming out on 80s dancefloor to shine in all Le Kid- fabulousness. Another cool music piece from our pop-sweethearts and I hope we'll get more later this year.

Avicii & Nervo - You’re Gonna Love Again

2012-01-13T20:20:00.000-08:00

Brand new hit of Avicii is collaboration with Australian twin sisters Nervo, it's called "You’re Gonna Love Again" and it's already unleashed.
Twin sisters Nervo get songwriting fame quite fast lately, they've managed to work with artists like Kylie, David Guetta, Kesha, Nicole Scherzinger, Pixie Lott and has even taken part in work on the latest Agnes' single "Don't Go Breaking My Heart". Time has come to collaborate with Swedish club-wonder Avicii and new song has become wonderful follow-up of his anthemic works with loud trendy dance-synths and massive hit-potential.

Robert Pettersson feat. Helena Josefsson - My Own Worst Enemy (video)

2012-01-13T20:15:00.000-08:00

New soundtrack-hit from Takida's Robert Pettersson and Helena Josefsson "My Own Worst Enemy" has even got a video partly (as it happens) made of movie's cut and partly of Robert and Helena singing for each other, not the most expensive looking video (both Takida and Helena had more interesting ones) but okayish and we didn't expect video at all, right? Positive thing about video is that Helena gets bigger spotlight than in vocals sharing, she deserves it.
"My Own Worst Enemy" was written by rock-artist and songwriter Måns Tristan Sohlman and produced by RamPac (Swingfly, Crashdiet).

Straight Frank - Monster

2012-01-13T11:04:00.001-08:00

We didn't hear a lot from Straight Frank for ages since their intriguing debut few years ago, instead Kasper Lindgren has presented new project Nordic Shine and we've started to think Straight Frank is over when they've announced release of their eponymous debut album in Germany on January 27th (which surprisingly doesn't have amazing "Mary" in tracklisting).
Work with Swedish audience still keeps going and guys has delivered new single "Monster" to popular local alternative Bandit radio and it's much more direct hit-feeling explosive post-grunge track with not that much left from Audioslave moody vibes, it's dramatic, it's expressive, it's a MONSTER!

Mimi Oh - Säkerhetsnål (video)

2012-01-13T10:24:00.000-08:00

New season of Melodifestivalen has turned mostly about well-recognizable faces of Swedish pop giving just a small quota to fresh artists and among them we've got Mimi Oh supported by Anton Hård Af Segerstad and Niclas Lundin who constantly keep working on new music for Mimi.
Great to see Mimi is one of those participants who tries to deliver some schlager pre-excitement with a sneak peek of her new music. Single "Säkerhetsnål" was released on iTunes this week and video is premiered today on SVT site. Full track has become a nice bridge between latest electropop-direction of Linda Sundblad (who has co-written this track) and Mimi's love to 80s synth-sound with very catchy and light choruses. Video is very colourful but not as Lili & Susie-feeling as "Kom Hit Och Dansa", girl goes modern but doesn't close the door for glorious 80s music past.

Julia Alvgard - Keep On Walking

2012-01-13T09:09:00.000-08:00

We do love when schlager-artists make covers of each others songs and when beautiful voices meet beautiful songs it makes the whole thing even more precious.
Webjoker Julia Alvgard that we still really like (and have started to like even more after listening to her lovely chill-out album "Strong Enough" of 2006) recently has performed cover of Salem Al Fakir's "Keep On Walking" in the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and it has turned to be so goosebumps-giving with her emotional vocal. There's no video but sound quality is very well, enjoy!

Firefox AK - Color The Trees

2012-01-12T10:33:00.000-08:00

Firefox AK who has released her wonderful album last summer and has become supportive atrist in tour with Hurts premieres second video for another track "Color The Trees" - beautiful dark song in a vein of her electropop-melancholy with slight Lykke Li mood this time.
When it comes to videos Firefox Ak usually shows the best of her, abstract images and stylish ideas implementation. This is really worthy video and really worthy track, don't miss it! Thanks for the tip to E&P blog.

Caroline Costa & Ulrik Munther - Je t'ai menti (video)

2012-01-12T04:28:00.000-08:00

Music video made for bilingual collaboration of Caroline Costa and Ulrik Munther "Je t'ai menti" (which is actually half-French cover of Ulrik's "Kill For Lies" I told about before) is finally premiered and it's a sweet and simple love story without over-tragic episodes which is natural and good for this small teen love story. And as I said before I really like how Caroline sounds in this track.
Ulrik currently prepares for Melodifestivalen-2012, he will perform song "Soldiers" in 2nd semifinal and he's one of the biggest bookies favorites to win whole contest.

The Girl

2012-01-11T09:54:00.000-08:00

Charlotte looks just smoking hot these days! The girl is definitely ready for her fabulous return to Melodifestivalen and if you've missed this fact - her song "The Girl" is written by team behind Andreas Wijk's "Like My Style" (Fredrik Kempe and Alexander Jonsson) that I still adore. I've missed mentioning her summer performance at Lotta på Liseberg so if you've missed too, here it is.

Robert Pettersson feat. Helena Josefsson - My Own Worst Enemy

2012-01-10T23:18:00.000-08:00

Sweden gets loud movie premiere of Jan Guillou's adaptation of the novel "I nationens intresse" with Mikael Persbrandt in a leading role this week. Soundtrack of the movie was delivered by not less than Takida's front man Robert Pettersson and Helena Josefsson who you absolutely should know by collaborations with Arash and Per Gessle.
"My Own Worst Enemy" is almost classic Takida-sounding track, it's dramatic, powerful, melodic and rocky without getting too underground (Takida-guys are professionals in compromises with mainstream sound that easily builds bridges between their new relesaes and radio stations). Helena's solo-part is not that big but singing with Robert she makes a proper softening of the track with her gender high vocal.

Lyssna: Musikguiden i P3: My Own Worst Enemy - Robert Pettersson-Helena Josefsson

Meloupdates-2012: the beginning

2012-01-10T12:02:00.001-08:00

We've got 3 weeks left before melotour will start and we'll keep following all news of Melodifestivalen rehearsals and presentations like we did last year.

First of all SVT has announced rules changes:
1) After the first round of voting we'll get 5 qualifying participants without revealed semifinal winner. In a second round (where all five participants will keep votes earned in the first round and new votes added) we'll get two finalists and two participants of Second Chance (without a winner announced again).
2) Second Chance duels won't be pre-defined (like 3rd place of 2nd semifinal against 4th place of 4th semifinal) but defined by draw. Still possibility of the same semifinal participants fighting in Second Chance will be excluded.
Though I don't really care about 2nd change, 1st one is what I was missing as last two years we had 4 real candidates for the win and the rest. That was decreasing excitement twice.

Second important news are official order of performances that you can see below.
Danny gets the most respectable last spot from which Carola, Malena and Charlotte won. Other opening/closing spots usually given to favorites have gone to Loreen, Youngblood, Ulrik Munther, Charlotte Perrelli and Thomas Di Leva. Sean Banan is responsible for a funny MF-starting performance and Björn Ranelid should work for statistics "finishing semifinal doesn't mean you should qualify somewhere".

Semifinal 1: Växjö (February 4th)
1. Sean Den Förste Banan - Sean Banan
2. På väg - Abalone Dots
3. I Want To Be Chris Isaak (This Is Just The Beginning) - The Moniker
4. The Boy Can Dance - Afro-Dite
5. Mystery - Dead by April
6. Salt & Pepper - Marie Serneholt
7. Jag reser mig igen - Thorsten Flinck och Revolutionsorkestern
8. Euphoria - Loreen

Semifinal 2: Göteborg (February 11th)
1. Soldiers - Ulrik Munther
2. Baby Doll - Top Cats
3. I din himmel - Sonja Aldén
4. Aldrig aldrig - Andreas Lundstedt
5. Stormande hav - Timoteij
6. Shout It Out - David Lindgren
7. Det går för långsamt - Mimi Oh
8. Ge aldrig upp - Thomas Di Leva

Semifinal 3: Leksand (February 18th)
1. Youngblood - Youngblood
2. I mina drömmar - Maria BenHajji
3. Förlåt mig - Mattias Andréasson
4. Just A Little Bit - Love Generation
5. Sanningen - Carolina Wallin Pérez
6. Lovelight - Andreas Johnson
7. Why Am I Crying - Molly Sandén
8. Mirakel - Björn Ranelid feat. Sara Li

Semifinal 4: Malmö (February 25th)
1. The Girl - Charlotte Perrelli
2. Allting blir bra igen - OPA!
3. Land of Broken Dreams - Dynazty
4. Don?t Let Me Down - Lotta Engberg och Christer Sjögren
5. Goosebumps - Hanna Lindblad
6. Kyss mig - Axel Algmark
7. Why Start A Fire - Lisa Miskovsky
8. Amazing - Danny Saucedo

In other news Molly Sandén and Eric Saade are not together anymore so Molly's MF-song gets real fresh story.

Mimi Oh keeps teasing with behind the scenes clips of her "Säkerhetsnål" video (part 1, part 2).

Talking about preparations - many participants already rehearses their performances and you can already see that Timoteij will use the same dance gang as in 2010 (except Fredrik Olofsson)...

...Afro-dite are working with choreographer Damon Frost and seems like they won't use other dancers (but it's not clear yet!)...

...Andreas Lundstedt puts on a show with performance choreographed by Jennie Widegren ("Deja Vu", "Lucky You")...

...and Molly gets tips from Rennie Mirro about her ballad performance.

And finally check who's becoming the biggest bookies favorites (according to unibet.se in this case).

Pavlov - Du Kommer Aldrig

2012-01-10T03:10:00.001-08:00

Oskar Linnros-sound has become a big trend of last two years in Swedish music and it's still very popular and beloved. As a proof we've got new Linnros-smelling tune "Du Kommer Aldrig" from new project Pavlov - duo consisting of Anders Bergman and Thomas Törnheden.
"Du Kommer Aldrig" is Pavlov's debut single, refreshing light mix of strings, wild positive tempo and Swedish soul-pop vocal manner. Song has already got to the spot of iTunes audience and Swedish radio so it feels like we've got a new hit.

Vanbot - Numb

2012-01-10T01:50:00.000-08:00

Vanbot premieres new video for another track from debut album "Vanbot" - "Numb".
Song is quite well presentation of Vanbot's fragile electronic sound and soft melodics and the video looks quite artistic and atmospheric so Vanbot keeps bringing some beautiful goodies in 2012 and we're absolutely delighted by it.

The Voice of Melodifestivalen

2012-01-08T12:12:00.000-08:00

This week Sweden has got three snippets of The Voice Sverige auditions and whole 3 ex-Melodifestivalen participants that was quite interesting remembering that 3 of 4 jury members participated in Melodifestivalen and two have even won it.
First we saw Rasmus Viberg from MF-2011 singing Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" and Emma Lewin from Caracola/Sheelah (MF-2008) with Wilson Phillips's "Hold On", both has qualified and entered Petter's camp. The one who had a less luck was Brandur (MF-2008) who hasn't managed to convince jury with Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars".
Talking about other recognizable faces - we've got ELY who hasn't qualified to The Voice and Idol Linda Varg's boyfriend who has managed. Below you can watch performances of all ex-MF artists.

Andremo ft Coco - Music is turning me on

2012-01-08T05:22:00.001-08:00

Love Generation's Mikaela leaves her band, changes hair colour and dance music is the only bridge from redhead LG girl to the new solo-artist Coco.
Singer has started solo-career few months ago (becoming already a second girl to leave LG after Roshana Hoss) and it hasn't taken too long to come up with fresh release.
"Music is turning me on" has become the first sneak peak of Coco's music recorded in collaboration with Andremo and it has become a big eurodance-tune wearing 90s screaming vocals and "You Make Me Feel" vibes following one of 2011 dance-trends.
You can find another Coco's acoustic track "Break My Heart" here.

Nyhetsmorgon with Pandora in Russian

2012-01-08T03:30:00.001-08:00

It's not really often when you can listen to singing in Russian in this show, however Pandora has apeared on TV4 today with Stacy to perform their collaboration "Why" and another solo-track "Until the hurt is gone" from the latest Pandora's album. It's pity this mini-gig was lacking some dance track but we've got nice acoustic medley of Pandora's ols hits.

Jonas Hedqvist + Afro-Dite = I Am What I Am

2012-01-07T11:53:00.001-08:00

Seems like Afro-dite's comeback has started few months earlier than we've got rumours about their participation in Melodifestivalen with disco-track "The Boy Can Dance" which is one of mutiple songs we have pretty high hopes on.
Jonas Hedqvist who has become responsible for official Pride anthem "I Am What I Am" back in 2001 has decided to celebrate 10-years anniversary of his debut re-releasing it with Melodifestivalen-winning trio and track not losing its big musical feeling has got a bunch of disco-energy and refreshed production.
B-side "Discover The Night" featuring Britta Bergström has become pretty different, dark dancey track which could become a great option of this year's anthem getting nice catchy tune and lovely electronic arrangement.
You can check stream of "I Am What I Am" on Jonas's site and "Discover The Night" below.

Ace of Base - (Sunset In) Southern California

2012-01-07T06:40:00.000-08:00

Well-well-well! So my personal fave from Ace Of Base's latest album "The Golden Ratio" - "Southern California" was initially recorded with original band's singers.
Around week ago Jonas Berggren has presented old demo of the track that he has recorded and produced with Tommy Ekman (Christer Sandelin's colleague by Style). Due to what I've found here track was planned to appear on post-"Da Capo" never released album (even though it sounds pretty 90s Ace Of Base to me) and finally has got a new life. You can check both versions below.

Jasmine Kara - Ain't No More Room

2012-01-06T04:41:00.001-08:00

After a big debut in Sweden in 2010 young singer Jasmine Kara was busy all this year breaking through in UK and she was making some definite success as her songs were played on BBC radio and appearing in top of local iTunes blues chart.
Today Jasmine premieres video for her latest single "Ain't No More Room" released year ago, it's not about highest budget but Jasmine is always utterly sweet to watch and track though not being as catchy as "Try My Love Again" is sweet and melodic after all.

Carola, Magnus Uggla, Ola Salo & Petter - Genom Eld

2012-01-06T01:09:00.001-08:00

Swedish version of The Voice has started this week and it's another show blocked by TV4 for foreigners this year so if you don't live in Sweden you can only fish pieces of it on youtube and other sites.
Jury of the show has become really outstanding - two Melodifestivalen winners, schlager-rock veteran and probably the biggest hip-hop favorite of Sweden lately. Logically we've got this glorious gang opening show and they've chosen Oskar Linnros' "Genom Eld" to perform together, you can watch below what has come out of this.

Nanne - Nag (video)

2012-01-05T11:19:00.000-08:00

Nanne's latest album "My Rock Favourites" has become her third #4 in a row and 5th Top-10 album (out of 6), there are not so many schlager-artists who can succeed without Melodifestivalen quite long and Nanne sitting on her schlager-diet since 2007 is definitely one of them. As it usually happens Nanne goes theatrical and over-expressive in new video "Nag" but looks not a wrinkle older since her participation in MF-2007 saving obviously the best of her for the next time (by rumours she's eager to get back with One More Time). Don't miss two latest Nanns's TV-performances of "Nag" and "If the Kids Are United".

Adrian Lux feat. The Good Natured – Alive (Basto Remix)

2012-01-05T07:05:00.000-08:00

Adrian Lux awesome single "Alive" has got a pack of mixes from Albin Myers, Mysto & Pizzi and new Belgian club-wonder Basto with proper dance version not breaking original tune but giving it fresh trancey feeling and uplifting beat.

Le Kid - Human Behaviour

2012-01-03T10:59:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, dear readers! This is my first post this year and I'm still not in a full working mode catching inspiration to come back to blogging and entertaining you with some new music and news.
Isn't it great to start the year with some fresh music from one of the most exciting Swedish pop-bands lately?
Glorious Le Kid releases new single "Human Behaviour" in Denmark and it's gonna be a theme for local Paradise Hotel (Big Brother-like) show. Song feels like a darker sister of "Bigger Than Jesus" and "America" with a tougher production that gives a new level to a whole Le Kid-concept. Awesome single choise! Check exclusive premiere on Ken's blog.

Amanda Fondell - All This Way (Benji Of Sweden Bootleg Remix)

2011-12-29T23:26:00.001-08:00

First remix of this year's Idol winning song "All This Way" from Amanda Fondell is ready and it's made by Benji Of Sweden responsible for loads of recognizable pop-mixes I told about before. New mix has become quite radio-frienly and laidback, proper dance-version for a track which has become #1 in Sweden last week. Don't miss also Amanda's post-Idol peformance at Musikhjälpen below.

Jonas Oakland - Where Were You Last Night

2011-12-29T10:59:00.001-08:00

Swedish hardcore pop-fans should know Jonas Oakland, this new artist have come up with series of really nice electropop-goodies few years ago, he was also sending one of his previous tracks - BWO-breathing "Beat of My Heart" to Melodifestivalen but it wasn't accepted.
Right now Jonas releases his new single - cover of huge 80s hit - Ankie Bagger's "Where Were You Last Night" written by Tim Norell, Ola Håkansson and Alexander Bard (!!!) and it's becoming an amazing step from purely schlager-oriented stuff to modern dance-music with really tough production, no need to talk about melody as it's classics which just can't be a bad base for covers. To make video Jonas has got two hot dancers and Janssen Herr, director behind videos of Tingsek and Calaisa, now you can check the result right below.

Kate Ryan - I Follow Rivers

2011-12-29T10:23:00.001-08:00

One of our non-Swedish favorite artists - Kate Ryan who has become international star with help of 2N Productions - Niclas Kings and Niklas Bergwall makes come back this year. Her summer single "Love Life" was produced by Anders Hansson and Le Kid and Kate's romance with Swedish music is definitely not over.
Recently Kate has become a guest of De Grote Peter Van de Veire Ochtendshow (guesting something with such a long title can already be significant career highlight by default, no?) - radio-show where she was singing mix of Chase & Status' "Time", Adele "Someone Like You" but the most surprising and unusual - she has made cover of Lykke Li's "I Follow Rivers"! Yes, it's has turned possible and quite nice, now you can also download this record for free on Kate's soundcloud channel so don't hesitate.

Hurricane Love - Serial Liar

2011-12-27T07:03:00.000-08:00

New name on our blog and in Swedish music in common. Band Hurricane Love from Malmö has recently presented their debut single "Serial Liar" and has got to the spot of Swedish audience.
We don't have a lot to tell about the band so it's all about the song which has got a really nice pop-melody even though common Hurricane Love's concept seems quite pop-rock with emphasizing of live-band's sound and big expressive choruses. Keyboard-player Johanna has easily found a way to our heart with her September-looking hairstyle.

Rabih - Leave The World Behind

2011-12-26T22:16:00.000-08:00

Rebound's Rabih Jaber is coming back with already second solo-single "Leave The World Behind" written by him with Andreas Auzern and produced by Andreas with Powerkings.
When the first single "Millionaire" was purest dance-pop (with bigger emphasis of pop-component), "Leave The World Behind" feels like summarizing of dance music in 2011 with gentle synth keys and Rabih's velvet vocal leading to anthemic Swedish House Mafia-smelling choruses.
Though this dance direction fits Rabih perfectly singer doesn't seem to get stuck to any definite direction and this is actually even more exciting while waiting for his further tracks.

Lena Philipsson - Live Tomorrow

2011-12-26T11:24:00.000-08:00

New season of Så Mycket Bättre has become another success, show has got a series of scandals around TV4 team exploiting artists too tough and forcing them to make revelations and to talk about memories they'd never open on ordinary shows. Sweden hasn't found new "Mikrofonkåt" but has re-discovered Laleh and every weeekend after a new episode when fresh bunch of studio-covers was out on iTunes, her tracks were reaching iTunes-top immediately. It's quite rightfully, Laleh is amazing artist and she has appeared right in that moment when demand for some fresh and original indie-pop artists in Sweden is really huge.
However our favorite cover of the season was made not by Laleh but Lena Philipsson who has turned Laleh's biggest hit "Live Tomorrow" to absolutely incredible schlager, something that she couldn't leave this show without. Original melody was almost not changed so in common track can be felt like remix but it's not as clubby. While verses have got heavy "Popular"-esque electro-treatment choruses open in euphoric schlager-explosion, something Lena would be very welcome and undoubtedly very successful with on Melodifestivalen stage.

Straight Up! - XXXmas At The Disco

2011-12-26T10:43:00.000-08:00

Though Christmas weekend has gone we keep catching all Christmas/New Year celebrating music highlights and here we get a release from duo discovered for Swedish audience outside of blogosphere during last Stockholm Pride.
If you remember Straight Up! has become responsible for Pride's official anthem "Show The World Tonight" and few weeks ago they've released nice Christmas tune "XXXmas At The Disco" presented online already year ago.
Already from the title it's disco-oriented track but not in classic disco-way, it's much more electropop but still very festive and containing utterly catchy chorus getting stuck in your head from the first listen.

Håkan Hemlin - Skenande Tåg

2011-12-26T10:29:00.000-08:00

Håkan "Nordman" Hemlin who's getting back to solo-stage of his career this year has appeared in Nyhetsmorgon to perform recently released single "När Stockholm Somnar In" we told about not so long ago. Another performed tracks were pop-rock ballad "Skenande Tåg" from upcoming album which is also not as folky as you could expect from Nordman's vocalist but automatically turning pretty special with Håkan's voice and "Hålla Dig Hårt" - supposedly to appear on a record too. Singer's throat was obviously not in its healthiest state but Håkan tried to do the best. He has already mentioned in interview that his colleague by Nordman - Mats Wester also works on this album.

Christmas weekend on Swedish TV (part 2)

2011-12-25T02:07:00.001-08:00

Swedish TV-channels keep presenting some nice music surprises and we've got pretty...unusual combination of artists from TV4. Shirley Clamp and Thomas Di Leva. Seems like this company was missing Dead By April to make idea of this concert even more weird but as Di Leva has become a new schlager-star and undoubtedly on the way to deliver new "Min Kärlek" we can see a point. TV4 has blocked whole concert from foreigners again so we can't watch everything Shirley has performed but still here are some videos appearing on youtube.

Kalle Moraeus is responsible for Christmas mood on SVT and he has got three incredible guests in a series of small acoustic performances you can watch online as well - Malena Ernman, Sarah Dawn Finer and Måns Zelmerlöw. We already start loving TV-Sarah and now absolutely sure she can be amazing host.

Christmas weekend on Swedish TV

2011-12-24T10:38:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, dear readers! Swedish TV presents a nice set of Christmas concerts with wonderful bunch of Swedish pop artists and we're gonna check what you've probably missed but still can watch online.

TV3's Julkonsert was visited by Thomas Di Leva with new single "Julens Stjärna" (5.15), Takida performing their latest promoted track "You Learn" (11.50), Jill Johnson expectedly singing "I väntan på julen" (16.07) and "Away in a manger" (33.12), Erik Hassle and (seems like really new track, I still can't find any info) "Stay" (24.30) and wonderful Loreen making acoustic version of "My Heart Is Refusing Me" (28.40) with One Voice featuring Caroline Jönsson, Britta Bergström and Simon Hassle.

Last snippet of JulLotta included performances of Magnus Carlsson with new Christmas single "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" (7.35) and "O Helga Natt" (38.30), Elisa's "Jag Säger Som Det Är" (10.55) and they've even made folk-and-artists-karaoke "White Christmas" in duo (26.40) and "Vi Äro Musikanter" (35.40).

Yesterday we've got special Bingolotto show with premiere of "Last Christmas" from Youngblood I already wrote about, guys have come back once again to perform "All I Want For Christmas Is You" with their future schlager-rival Molly Sandén (1.57.15), you could also watch Robert Wells with Vocalettes (00.40, 2.50.08) and Sofia Källgren singing recently released Christmas duo "I Julens Tid" (2.14.00), Jill Johnson making "Christmas With You" solo (54.34) and singing "En julsaga" in duo with Niklas Hjulström (1.44.50). Idol-2011 runner-up Robin Stjernberg was performing cover of Beyonce's "Halo" (1.09.50).

And finally a small acoustic piece of Christmas-Måns who should've appeared on any/every of these concerts but has just performed newest single "Kära Vinter" at #AdamLive.

Youngblood - Last Christmas

2011-12-23T12:55:00.000-08:00

Long-awaited premiere from the biggest bookies favorites among newcomers of Melodifestivalen-2012 - Youngblood guys have appeared in Christmas Bingolotto to perform live and here's what we've got.

Eric Amarillo - Trolleri Trallala

2011-12-23T10:55:00.000-08:00

Wanna know how Kicki Danielsson meeting Daft Punk sound like in Eric Amarillo's opinion?
Here's Eric's new demo-track with I guess demo-lyrics but it sounds pretty good to pretend on entering his next album, isn't it?
Lately I've become especially addicted to everything new produced by Eric, this guy has a hit-feeling and hope next year he'll also be producing some other pop-artists, he can create loads of hits for many.
You should also check new club edit of "Halleluja" and another new demo-track which is already worthy in this phone camera quality.

Christmas with Dinner For Dinosaurs

2011-12-23T03:47:00.000-08:00

Not so long ago I told you about new Rasmus Viberg's project Dinner For Dinosaurs, band has recently released EP "Jurassic Funk" and celebrates this Christmas presenting piano cover of track "Lets Get It On" from EP as creative music gift for their listeners. Acoustic version has become a nice improvisation with really high funky notes and Rasmus has got a cool Christmas beard so don't miss this performance.

Mimi Oh - Säkerhetsnål

2011-12-23T03:10:00.000-08:00

Melodifestivalen artists start promoting their new stuff before the contest and one of schlager-debutants Mimi Oh presents piece of her new single "Säkerhetsnål" to be out on January 11th written by Anton Hård Af Segerstad, Niclas Lundin (who stand behind MF-entry "Det går för långsamt") and Linda Sundblad (who has written this year's entry for Hanna Lindblad).
Song feels like electropop-mix of Veronica Maggios-smelling verses (getting quite trendy in Sweden this year) and choruses getting big but it's nothing like what you could expect from Le Kid's Anton or Linda, nothing like previously 80s inspired Mimi Oh's stuff and not directly schlageristic but quite original and stylish track. We also really like new Mimi Oh's images explored through photoshooting and on a single cover.

Robin Stjernberg - My Versions

2011-12-23T02:18:00.000-08:00

Winner of the last Idol season Amanda Fondell has become #1 this week with final song "All This Way" she's got her victory in Globen with and her compilation of Idol covers enters album chart at #6 today.
Runnner-up of this season Robin Stjernberg isn't forgotten though, Robin being signed by Lionheart is releasing his own Idol-compilation "My Versions" on January 4th and the first single from it will be Beyonce's cover "Halo" - track that we'd absolutely choose if we had to before listening to sampler or Jessie J's "Who You are", both are huge emotional modern ballads showing full range of Robin's voice. But now when we get sampler I think Jason Derulo's "In My Head" could be a better choice to sell in Robin's performance, really fresh and not promoted enough to be directly felt like Idol-cover, "You Raise Me Up" has a nice spiritual atmosphere nicely lightened with Robin's pop-vocal, "Love Is Gone" sounds like a version that I could easily imagine released by David Guetta without help of Chris Willis. Here I should come back to thoughts about Alexander Bard's note regarding Robin's potential to get a huge demand among world DJs, this guy has amazing vocal for club-records and we're really interested if this will be his after-Idol path. Right after "My Versions" release Robin will be working on his non-cover album whole spring.

Rebecca & Fiona - Dance

2011-12-22T02:22:00.001-08:00

Rebecca & Fiona's album "I Love You Man" is finally released and has entered Top-40, girls definitely have higher expectations on their highly promoted album and prepares new track for presentation to wider audience.
Here we get a teaser of new music video for "Dance" - another album track much darker and harder than previous singles.

Magnus Carlsson - Arrival

2011-12-21T04:39:00.001-08:00

There's probably no other artist taking Christmas as seriously as Magnus Carlsson does. Lately it seems completely incredible if Magnus wouldn't deliver new releases in the end of the year and this time he celebrates new Christmas-season with "Arrival EP".
Visitors of Magnus' concerts should've already noticed artist performing ABBA's originally instrumental track "Arrival" with lyrics written by Björn Ulvaeus back in 1999 and previously released on Sarah Brightman's album. Response was good enough to enter studio and record cover for a new festive release. Track has got massive production and tons of Christmas atmosphere. Magnus has also included three more tracks - "När vi närmar oss jul", "It’s the most wonderful time of the year" and "Den lilla trumslagarpojken" which you could alrealy find on his label's recent Christmas compilation or previous Mr. Carlsson's albums. Now you can listen to "Arrival" skipping at 12.25 below.

Lyssna: 12.30 - 13.00 tisdag 20 dec 2011

Erik Segerstedt - Angel

2011-12-19T09:05:00.001-08:00

Though Swedish Christmas-releases have started to appear lately we still miss Christmas-excitement a bit and gonna keep hungrily catching any bits from all of our faves who'll finally decide to present or share something like Erik Segerstedt who has recorded cover of Sarah McLachlan's "Angel" (he previously released it in Swedish on E.M.D. Christmas album) and has made a video on his iPhone. Look what has come out of this!

Cervello - Cause I Am

2011-12-19T08:43:00.000-08:00

When it comes to collaboration with local Swedish artists world top-producer Max Martin seems to prefer working on anything but commercial pop. This year he was noticed on releases of Those Dancing Days and SOL/Stat & Orchestra Live and now it's Stockholm rock band Cervello that has managed to work with Max on one of their debut self-titled album tracks "Cause I Am".
Back in the beginning of 00s Max has shown he's able to make a brilliant alternative rock-music (Bon Jovi, Prime STH, Lambretta) which still sounds nowadays much more fresh than what he did in pop then and now he's back on a same track. "Cause I Am" is melodic alternative-ballad with expressive vocals, light feeling of American radio-rock and awesome guitar solo in middle-eight, world-level track that you can imagine appearing on for example Daughtry's album. By the way Cervello's album in common sounds like a crossover between Nickelback and Daughtry, very qualitative work produced by Henrik Edenhed (Dead By April, Robyn, Teddybears sthm, Fibes oh Fibes, Oh Laura) and I would recommend you to check another track "First Time" that was recorded with another star guest - John 5 (guitarist of Marilyn Manson).
Thanks for this tip to Jules.

Swedish House Mafia vs. Knife Party - Antidote

2011-12-19T02:51:00.000-08:00

New video for the next Swedish House Mafia's single is out and it feels like an episode of bloody and realistic 3d shooter which looks quite weird after previous sentimental "Save The World" but makes this track more interesting than I've initially found and however the world seems to fall for this new single.

Hoffmaestro ft. Sverige - Your Ways

2011-12-18T06:21:00.000-08:00

It's all about charity in Sweden these days and we should mention another track created for noble purposes in collaboration with Musikhjälpen, Hoffmaestro have come up with idea of recording song with everyone who wanted to get to their site and bring some vocal or instrumental contribution. As a result loads of well-known artists like Adam Tensta, Niklas Strömstedt, Sarah Dawn Finer, Linnea Henriksson, Armand Mirpour and many others have taken part in recording the song "Your Ways".
Hoffmaestro have finally presented "Your Ways" live in Musikhjälpen and it's exactly that special mix of raggae and ska with poppy tune and festive mood you could expect from them, loads of fun is attached as always when Hoffmaestro is in da house. You can check studio-version here.

Mohombi - Lego House

2011-12-18T05:49:00.000-08:00

Mohombi says hello to his fans sending lovely acoustic cover of Ed Sheeran's "Lego House" which has got slightly Michael Jackson's vibes, cover was recorded during Mohombi's recent visit to UK.

Håkan Hemlin - När Stockholm Somnar In

2011-12-18T00:48:00.001-08:00

Nordman's vocalist Håkan Hemlin's goes solo and the first single from his upcoming album to be released next spring is "När Stockholm Somnar In" which is already out digitally.
It was rumoured before that Håkan sent entry to Melodifestivalen but it wasn't accepted and before radio-premiere on P4 it was announced that "När Stockholm Somnar In" is that rejected track written by "I Lågornas Sken" songwriters Lina and Mårten Eriksson. It's a charity single aimed to help homeless people.
Talking about the song "När Stockholm Somnar In" has pretty recognizable style for previous Nordman's stuff, it's a Scandinavian dramatic folk-pop ballad with Håkan's utterly special vocal and beautiful melody. Single is already noticed by audience reaching iTunes Top-40 directly after release and serves as fine presentation of Håkan's new album.
You should skip at 25.30 to listen to "När Stockholm Somnar In" in its full length.

Lyssna: 11.30 - 12.00 onsdag 14 dec 2011

Christoffer Hiding on the way to debut album

2011-12-17T10:47:00.000-08:00

Christoffer Hiding who has become a really outstanding discovery of Idol-2007 with his utterly special soul-vocal and amazing cover of Nelly Furtado's "Say It Right" which is still one of our most beloved Idol-covers has come back to the spotlights earlier this year sharing stage with Swingfly at Melodifestivalen-2011. Team has qualified to the final and the song "Me And My Drum" has become commercially one of the most successful entries of Melodifestivalen-2011.
Currently Christoffer is back to solo-career and having no sponsorship to record album but eagerly wanting to make his old dream come true he has come up with the project to raise money for his debut album to be recorded in the studio with a team of professionals.
If you'll help him he's gonna pay back with albums, exclusive concerts and even ability to sing with Christoffer on the album, project has already gathered around 15.000 kronas and in common it requires 60.000 so if you've decided to help this album to come out you can make it here.
All these years after Idol Christoffer wasn't left completely outside of music making though, below you can check my favorite Christoffer's song "Sunshine" from 2008, on his Soundcloud-channel you can find other previously recorded pop-soul tracks and it's really worthy stuff.

Erik Hassle - This Christmas

2011-12-17T09:35:00.000-08:00

Erik Hassle makes music present to his fans recording cover of classic "This Christmas" in a funky festive mood with lovely video cut from his childhood.
Today Erik has also visited Musikhjälpen to perform this track (and another one "Stay" - I can't directly say if it's a cover or new one) live, you can watch it below.

Dada Life - Kick Out The Epic Motherf**ker

2011-12-17T00:38:00.001-08:00

Weekend starts cheerfully with new single and video "Kick Out The Epic Motherf**ker" from Dada Life.
What is Dada Life actually? Champagne, bananas and complete club madness all the way, so here you get a full pack.

Sonja Aldén - Närmre

2011-12-15T06:40:00.000-08:00

Sonja Aldén is one of the biggest and the most long-awaited names coming back to Melodifestivalen this year. After she has taken part in 2007 with ballad "För att du finns" singer has become a huge Sweden's sweetheart making some big hits on local radio and releasing two successful albums (4 top-10 albums if we count her Christmas compilations with Sanna Nielsen and Shirley Clamp).
After giving birth to her first child and letting her friends Sanna and Shirley take previous season of Melodifestivalen with schlager-storm Sonja has started working on her new album and has got an entry in the next season, on February 11th she'll perform "I Din Himmel" written by Bobby Ljunggren and Peter Boström in the second semifinal.
Right now artist presents brand new single "Närmre" co-written with Bobby Ljunggren and Henrik Wikström which already has got premiere on the radio and it's not calm thoughtful ballad if you expected it by her latest singles, surprisingly it's very summerish (rather than directly Christmas-smelling) light song with all Sonja's vocal sensuality and fragility and life-asserting tempo of half-acoustic arrangement being constant part of artist's common concept.
You can listen to "Närmre" below skipping at 3.21.

Lyssna: 11.00 - 11.30 onsdag 14 dec 2011

Latest releases of J-Son

2011-12-15T03:46:00.000-08:00

After a summer hit-duo "Hearts In The Air" with Eric Saade and latest single "Destination Sky" J-Son has filled this autumn with new releases, let's take a look at some.
The one we've loved the most is single "Stop Me" - collaboration with EllyEve not miles away from "Destination Sky" by common concept of dark rapping verses decorated with beautiful dramatic choruses but what we love especially about "Stop Me" is that EllyEve's emotional vocal brings a bit of "Love The Way You Lie" atmosphere.
Another new song "Simple Man" featuring J-Son was recorded by Dutch DJ Mischa Daniels and Swedish Sandro Monte who's come up with a massive club banger with big euphoric choruses and international sound.
You should also check J-Son's collaborations with Norwegian X Factor band Shackles "Overtime" and Rob & Nino - "U Got It" but the most loud one is his new single "Remedy" featuring Salem al Fakir - in common song sounds as classic Salem except the fact that verses go in J-Son's rap so it feels like a 50/50 compromise between completely different music universes, you can already give it a listen on J-Son's site.

New music winter of Måns Zelmerlöw

2011-12-15T01:52:00.001-08:00

New album of Måns Zelmerlöw "Kära Vinter" has turned not that new as we expected being just new edition of last year's "Christmas With Friends" containing two new tracks - "Kära Vinter" and classic cover "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", both songs were performed today in Nyhetsmorgon. Måns always delivers a lot of charm and warm friendly atmosphere in his live-performances and this one wasn't exception.

Ms Trez - Louder

2011-12-14T10:23:00.001-08:00

Sweden has got a fresh girlband Ms Trez and as girlbands singing modern dance music and having such a fabulous attitude are pretty rare in Sweden you shouldn't miss them, another reason for this mentioning is girls' new single "Louder" which is pretty confident and catchy track bringing trio on the way to achieving Swedish The Saturdays status.
Ms Trez were formed of girls professionally backing some big local stars in the past and this year they've finally got a huge premiere performing their track "Y.E.A.H." at Stockholm Pride (you can watch performance here). And while band works on promotion of their stuff in US we've got band's awesome single "Louder" presented online and already released digitally.
"Louder" is seductive electro-track starting in dynamic heartbeat on the run tempo exploding with a huge dance-chorus containg epic drums section and trendy Kesha-smelling repetitive "lo-o-ouder", girls have great and passionate vocals and it should bring them far if they'll keep working as hard. Song is provided by international team - Swedish songwriter and producer Thomas Karlsson, British songwriter Adam Robinson and we expect guys to come up with some new cool pop-stuff soon.

Malena Ernman & Sarah Dawn Finer - Sankta Lucia (Strålande Helgonfé)

2011-12-14T02:25:00.000-08:00

Two grand non-schlager ladies of schlager-land and just old good friends Malena Ernman and Sarah Dawn Finer have come up with a cover of classic "Sankta Lucia (Strålande Helgonfé)" on their new compilation "En Riktigt God Jul" where they've gathered their best previously released Christmas songs and logically have made a duo.
If you're wondering how opera-singer and soul-artist can fit each other - after listening to it you're gonna be wondering why it is the only duo of Malena and Sarah as the song sounds like two music worlds united by two powerful voices and magic, soulful atmosphere of Christmas.
You can listen to this track streaming online in wonderful Schlagerfiasko advent calendar (clicking at December 9th) where you're also gonna get some other Christmas goodies (like for example Swedish Stereo's song of this Christmas at December 3rd).

Musikhjälpen: Linda Sundblad

2011-12-13T22:06:00.000-08:00

Our yesterday's highlight of Musikhjälpen was loveliest Linda Sundbad.
We saw Linda with acoustic performances pretty a lot on TV this year (the fact that we're really happy about actually) but this performances has got a nice feature - cover of Maroon 5's "Moves Like Jagger" which has turned to be pretty entertaining as on paper we would find it hard to imagine how Linda would sound with it but she did it great singing also the latest single "Trasig".

Christmas-Jill on Swedish TV

2011-12-13T03:28:00.000-08:00

Jill Johnson is one busy lady this Christmas promoting new charity album "Välkommen jul" and visiting some big TV-show to perform her fresh stuff.
Last week she has appeared in JulLotta to perform "Flirting With Disaster", "I Väntan På Julen" and "O Holy Night" (by the way you can watch Timoteij singing Swedish version of "Hallelujah" at 25.35 here). And today she participated in SVT's traditional Lucia concert singing "Away In a Manger" and "I Väntan På Julen" again. You can watch it below.
By the way look what I've found - Darin joining Jill on the stage to make cover of "Need You Now" during Christmas concert, Jill has completely oushined him unfortunately but still it was great idea.

Jill Johnson - Away in a manger (Lucia)
Jill Johnson - I Väntan På Julen (JulLotta)

Niki & The Dove - DJ Ease My Mind

2011-12-13T02:37:00.000-08:00

Niki & The Dove has got some great surprises in the end of the year, almost at the same time project was nominated as Best newcomer at P3 Guld 2012 and (what the most incredible and pleasant) has got to the list BBC Sound Of 2012 - well-known music critics poll chasing for some new talents previously won by Jessie J, Adele, Mika and Keane.
Today band premieres new wonderful video for their epic track "DJ Ease My Mind" (much deeper and darker The Knifesque song than "The Drummer") they've presented year ago and this time visually it leaves slight impression of authentic Kesha, really smart solution to start promoting this song again as when the band has just started it hasn't got attention it deserved.

Linnea Henriksson in Musikhjälpen

2011-12-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

Annual radio-marathon Musikhjälpen has started so till the very end of the week Kodjo Akolor, Gina Dirawi and Timbuktu will be receiving orders to play songs (which will be payed by people and all money will go for charity).
Like it happens every year we get loads of celebrities coming with live performance and later you're gonna see Eric Saade, Linda Sundblad, Takida, Ulrik Munther, Fibes, Oh Fibes!, Amanda Fondell, Amy Diamond, Erik Hassle and many others.
Today wonderful Linnea Henriksson has visited studio to perform single "Väldigt kär/Obegripligt ensam" and Damien Rice's "The Blower's Daughter", if you've been touched by her "Crazy In Love" and "Hope there's someone" you should realize how beautiful Linnea was singing this cover.

Robyn in Saturday Night Live

2011-12-11T04:03:00.001-08:00

Robyn has marked some biggest American shows with her appearance this year and this weekend she was invited to Saturday Night Live hosted by her partner by tour - Katy Perry.
It's not the most exciting news in Robyn's life lately. With Avicii and Swedish House Mafia she's got to Grammy-2011 nomination Best Dance Recording with "Call Your Girlfriend" and though it's gonna be a real tough fight to get there is already a big win that this artist has really deserved.

The Storm - My Crown

2011-12-09T04:45:00.000-08:00

It's quite rare thing when I write here about releases of non-Swedish artists but if I do it means I'm really in love with them and have a strong Swedish-related reason. This time I've got two.
The first - Kent's musicians Jocke Berg and Martin Sköld have co-written new track for Danish band The Storm and the second - it sounds really Abbaesque not even being directly pop.
I quite liked previous band's album "Black Luck" though it sounded much heavier than both singles from new album "Rebel Against Yourself" - "Lost in the Fire" and new one "My Crown". Band doesn't hide Abba influences and they're pretty clear in this song.
Thanks for the tip to Popdrömmen and Being Blogged.

SOJO - Jumping Jam (full version)

2011-12-09T04:17:00.001-08:00

Finally we've got probably the best Jonas von der Burg produced track since Gathania's singles in 2009 - fresh SOJO's single "Jumping Jam" in its full version online and officially released.
I've already mentioned it before and complete version has turned expectedly great, synths exploding in the end of chorus is still the most adorable part of track.
Jonas and Victoria Ekeberg (manager of artists like September, Gathania, SOJO) has started their own label 4 On The Floor so soon we expect some new Jonas' hits to come.

Louise Hoffsten - I'll Get By

2011-12-09T03:52:00.000-08:00

Louise Hoffsten has a long history in Swedish music exploring loads of different genres and with huge discography, singer seems like always was concentrating on her music rather than going pop and mainstream.
In the middle of 90s Louise has got a heavy neurological disease - multiple sclerosis but she never stopped to work with music and message of new single Jill Johnson-smelling melodic country-pop "I'll Get By" is about no need to worry about her, fight with life's disasters is a natural thing.
New Louise Hoffsten's album "Looking for Mr. God" is produced by Stefan Örn (who has written Eurovision-2011 winning song "Running Scared") and will be out on January 18th.

Eric Saade feat. Dev – Hotter Than Fire (video)

2011-12-07T12:40:00.000-08:00

Eric Saade premieres new video for his latest single "Hotter Than Fire" featuring Dev and presenting his just released album "Saade Vol.2".
Video was shot in UK and Spain though surprisingly it's not about beautiful local views but about Eric dancing from one room to another in abandoned house in one-take shooting feeling a bit like follow-up of "Popular".

The sound of Melodifestivalen-2012

2011-12-07T03:29:00.001-08:00

You probably have already managed to read about official line-up of Melodifestivalen-2012 on some ESC or Swedish music related sites. I wasn't in a hurry as all of these artists but one were quessed before and you could read about them here. Anna Järvinen has refused to participate in the last moment so she was replaced by David Lindgren. Danny has also changed his song for more proper for MF right before official announcement.
I've collected some descriptions of tracks from SVT, QX, Schlagerprofilerna, Scandipop and Schlagerzoot so you could realize in common what should we expect from MF this time.
Pictures are taken from expressen.se and svd.se.

Semifinal 1: Växjö

Loreen "Euphoria"
(Thomas G:son, Peter Boström)
- dynamic, mystic and dramatic song with "Cry Me A River"-feeling and ambient-sound crawling under your skin.

The Moniker "I Want To Be Chris Isaak (This Is Just the Beginning)"
(Daniel Karlsson (The Moniker))
- track having nothing common with "Oh My God", it's more green than golden, not attached to any genre, more rhythmic and oriental.

Thorsten Flinck & Revolutionsorkestern "Jag reser mig igen"
(Thomas G:son, Ted Ström)
- heavy melodic track in classic schlager-tradition with at the same time personal and common lyrics.

Dead by April "Mystery"
(Pontus Hjelm)
- epic (not a ballad) pop-metall in-your-face track with a strong chorus not written especially for MF sounding in a vein of the latest band's album, the hardest MF entry ever.

Abalone Dots "På väg"
(Rebecka Hjukström, Sophia Hogman, Louise Holmer, Viktor Källgren)
- melancholic love ballad with banjo in a minor and nyckelharpa typical for Abalone Dots style.

Marie Serneholt "Salt & Pepper"
(Lina Eriksson, Mårten Eriksson, Figge Boström)
- swinging and spicy uptempo-track.

Sean Banan "Sean Den Förste Banan"
(Sean Simadi (Sean Banan), Joakim Larsson, Hans Blomberg, Mårten Andersson)
- typical Sean Banan's entertaining track without any calm moment and with a message that everybody can be a king in their own ways.

Afro-Dite "The Boy Can Dance"
(Figge Boström, Catrine Loqvist, Johan Lindman)
- 70s inspired happy disco track with a modern sound.

Semifinal 2: Göteborg

Andreas Lundstedt "Aldrig Aldrig"
(Niclas Lundin, Maria Marcus, Randy Goodrum)
- melancholic uptempo song about breaking up, not a disco but this is the song you can dance and cry listening to.

Top Cats "Baby Doll"
(Mårten Eriksson, Lina Eriksson, Susie Päivärinta)
- positive energetic rock'n'roll track in a full tempo.

Mimi Oh "Det går för långsamt"
(Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad, Niclas Lundin)
- slightly 80s inspired honest and straight bombastic pop-track with catchy choruses and modern sound.

Thomas Di Leva "Ge aldrig upp"
(Thomas Di Leva)
- uplifting energetic song with a certain message.

Sonja Aldén "I din himmel"
(Sonja Aldén, Bobby Ljunggren, Peter Boström)
- recognizable follow-up of "För att du finns", calm but strong and pulsating.

David Lindgren "Shout It Out"
(Fernando Fuentes, Tony Nilsson)
- positive dance-track requiring big dance-performance.

Ulrik Munther "Soldiers"
(Ulrik Munther, Johan Åberg, Linnea Deb, Joy Deb, David Jackson)
- fresh pop-rock song about relationships and forgiveness with millitary feeling not going too far from Ulrik's debut album sound and closer to his "The Box".

Timoteij "Stormande hav"
(Kristian Lagerström, Johan Fjellström, Stina Engelbrecht, Jens Engelbrecht)
- energetic pop-folk uptempo schlager with Irish influences and heavier than their previous stuff though in a same vein.

Semifinal 3: Leksand

Mattias Andréasson "Förlåt mig"
(Mattias Andréasson)
- fresh Swedish pop with American influences (earlier described as r'n'b in Swedish sounding in Oskar Linnros' style).

Maria BenHajji "I mina drömmar"
(Nanna Sveinsdóttir, Thomas Cars)
- webjoker - classic schlager-ballad from "För att du finns" and "Med hjärtat fyllt av ljus" family.

Love Generation "Just A Little Bit"
(Nadir Khayat (RedOne), John Mamann, Jean-Claude Sindres, Teddy Sky, Yohanne Simon, Bilal "The Chef" Hajji)
- explosive pop-track with attitude, power and happiness.

Andreas Johnson "Lovelight"
(Andreas Johnson, Peter Kvint)
- Faces go partying with T Rex, Blur and Robbie Williams, positive track with gospel-touch closer to a style of Andreas' first MF-entries "Sing For Me", "A Little Bit Of Love".

Björn Ranelid feat. Sara Li "Mirakel"
(Fredrik Andersson, Björn Ranelid)
- clubby track with happy chorus and poetic lyrics.

Carolina Wallin Pérez "Sanningen"
(Michael Clauss, Martin Bjelke, Carolina Wallin Pérez, F Dread)
- drum cavalcade melancholic synth-pop crossing borders and flirting with rock.

Molly Sandén "Why Am I Crying"
(Molly Sandén, Aleena Gibson, Windy Wagner)
- modern pop-ballad with honest lyrics about broken heart that many are gonna take as personal.

Youngblood "Youngblood"
(Fredrik Kempe, David Krüger)
- uptempo feelgood sing-a-long track with modern sound and recognizable Fredrik Kempe's style.

Semifinal 4: Malmö

OPA "Allting blir bra igen"
(Michael Sideridis)
- swinging, catchy, Greek folk-pop.

Danny Saucedo "Amazing"
(Danny Saucedo, Peter Boström, Figge Boström)
- uptempo track from "In The Club" team, more positive and arena-oriented.

Lotta Engberg & Christer Sjögren "Don't Let Me Down"
(Lasse Holm, Lars "Dille" Diedricson)
- mature euroschlager with modern sound and adrenaline rush.

Hanna Lindblad "Goosebumps"
(Hanna Lindblad, Linda Sundblad, Tony Nilsson)
- 80s inspired song with loads of energy and love.

Axel Algmark "Kyss mig"
(Axel Algmark, Mattias Frändå, Jonathan Magnussen)
- happy pill with party feeling.

Dynazty "Land Of Broken Dreams"
(Thomas G:son, Thomas "Plec" Johansson)
- 90s hardrock song hitting you like a punch.

Charlotte Perrelli "The Girl"
(Fredrik Kempe, Alexander Johnsson)
- fresh clubby uptempo sing-along track with electro-sound and schlager-glitter.

Lisa Miskovsky "Why Start A Fire"
(Lisa Miskovsky, Aleksander With, Bernt Rune Stray, Berent Philip Moe)
- forest minstrel in love with Prince and Kate Bush.

Miike Snow - Devil’s Work

2011-12-07T02:43:00.000-08:00

Swedish band Miike Snow which has got pretty recognizable name abroad for the latest few years is on the way to the second album to be released in 2012.
Miike Snow present first track "Devil’s Work" from upcoming album - hypnotizing piece of indie-pop backed up with beautiful piano-based instrumental and anxious melody which gets minimalistic video shot by Andreas Nilsson.
"Devil’s Work" is not gonna be a single though, band will start releasing official singles only in January.

Bosson - Guardian Angel

2011-12-06T15:12:00.001-08:00

Right when we've started to think that we've lost Bosson for good (his latest album was released 4 years ago and since then we didn't see any sign or hope for the next one) Swedish star has premiered brand new single "Guardian Angel" on a local radio.
New single is co-written by Bosson with Tomas Skyldeberg and Claes Funke and it's right that classic Bosson you've been missing without any huge step aside showing the best of 00s Swedish pop and I don't know if this sort of pop is working in Sweden these days but I can easily imagine very warm response to this track in Eastern Europe (though Eastern Europe is going to get another single - "Loveshock"). Finally "Guardian Angel" is right that sort combination of catchy rhythmic verses growing to beautiful dreamy choruses and high pitched notes which have won a huge Bosson's fanbase in times of "You Opened My Eyes", "I Believe" and "Efharisto".
You can check single below skipping at 16.30.

Lyssna: 11.00 - 11.30 onsdag 07 dec 2011