Swedish~ Stereo~

Amazing! Finally you have a chance to stream whole Erik Hassle's "Taken EP" online. Erik never keeps his music away from fans and it's 374th reason why we love him so much. The only new track I haven't presented you before is "Last Rider" written along with "Taken (Still In My Blood)" by Dyno who will also release new 10 tracks EP very soon. Can this collaboration be disappointing? No way! Just like "If it takes all night" it's quite dark atmospherical track, Erik's singing with more relaxed and a bit tired intonation pushing all his magic charming personality into music.
From the rest of tracks you probably didn't hear original version of "Taken (Still In My Blood)" - more light, live and calm version of this track and 2010 mix of "Standing Where You Left Me" - electronic version with The Ark-smelling choir and loads of synth-sounds.
Don't forget to check two new performances of tracks "Try A Little Tenderness" and "Suspicious Mind" in studio from EP "The Hassle Sessions: Volume One".

Erik Hassle's EP "Taken" is released and I really recommend you to check it as any piece of Erik's music worth your attention if you like his voice and melody masterpieces he usually provides. First leaked new track of it is "If It Takes All Night" - dark atmospherical song, not so sharply emotional like Taken but still quite magic. Another track included into this EP is cover for "Family Affair" by Sly & The Family Stone. It was earlier released on Erik's covers EP "The Hassle Sessions: Volume One" that I ocassionaly have missed out, it was released on Brittish iTunes and contains next tracklist.

Coming back to Taken EP, you can find there 2 previously released singles "Standing Where You Left Me" (with new 2010 mix that you can listen here) and "Taken (Still In My Blood)" (with original version) and another original track "Last Rider" that I'll demonstrate to you a bit later.

Today Erik visited Nyhetsmorgon on TV4 and shared great news about his plans to release EP with 4 new songs already in the end of September and hope to release next album already next year. So we can expect earlier presented "Taken (Still In My Blood)" to be on this EP along with other 3 tracks which can't be anything but brilliant. After touring a lot in Europe and hard promotion in UK he's currently coming back to home country and this Autumn he will make a lot of gigs in Sweden. Also Erik has presented his latest single "Standing where you left me" and Sam Cooke's cover "Nothing can change this love" in acoustic.

Erik is well-known for his amazing acoustic covers and recently I've discovered few of his nice covers which I'd like to share with you, first is for Ola's "Feel Good" that Erik made for Rockbjörnen 2008 and second is for Rihanna's "Russian Roulette" for Radio 1 Live Lounge.

Erik Hassle's creative activity has no limits and as usual no matter if it's acoustic covers or completely new studio tracks it turns to be a brilliant pop-stuff, guy has a perfect taste that you can rely on.
Erik presented brand new track "Taken (Still In My Blood)" on his site (thanx for the tips to our reader Kevin) and if you like previous Erik's stuff you're gonna love it! Song starts from a dark synth and depressive verses with a deep pulsing beat finally blasting in expressive emotional chorus that you could expect from Erik. Stuff undoubtfully deserves to be single-material but as the last Erik's single "Standing Where You Left Me" last week peaked at #32 of Swedish chart probably there's still a lot of work till we'll get a new one. So let's enjoy with what we've got!

Also don't forget to check bootleg cover that Erik recently has made for Stromae's "Alors on danse" (thanx for the tips to scandipop), instrumental of original track was completely kept, just with Erik's vocals and English lyrics. Very interesting experiment though I have big doubts about its future.

There are no limits for perfection and even most brilliant albums can be a little bit more brilliant when artist adds some bonus-tracks so one of absolutely best albums of 2009 - "Pieces" by Erik Hassle has got deluxe re-edition. Actually it was released already in February on British iTunes together with original UK edition. I've missed it and if you've missed it also here are added bonus-tracks.
If I Could Build My Whole World Around You (featuring Agnes) - cover by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell that was performed back in 2009 on P3 Live Session when Agnes hasn't yet blast Europe with "Release Me" and was included in UK edition of Agnes album as well.
Nothing Else Matters (Metallica cover) - one of numerous brilliant Erik's covers which you can find on youtube.
I Probably Want You Now (new song) - new little more positive song than you could expect from Erik but very well however.
Who's Gonna Walk You Home (featuring Malin Dahlström) - another nice duet with less popular but sweet singer.

But what stays the greatest diamond of British edition to my opinion is "Standing Where You Left Me" - powerful energetic pop-rock song with catchy synth lines, great tune and Erik's unique voice. First time I saw the name Kronlund in credits I thought that Alexander Kronlund worked on this track but later I've found that it's another Kronlund with first name starting on L due to some sites. Another recent revelation for me was that Max Martin worked on another track "Love Me To Pieces", that guy feels really talented people to connect with!