MML: Sweder's Digest

Ok... the subject line here might just be a silly play on words, but the music and links to the artists involved will probably more than make up for our ridiculousness. The last time we catalogued bands that had previously been featured on MML, our focus was directed to a specific style of dreamy guitar rock [original shoegaze extravaganza + downloads.] This time we are doing things a bit differently in highlighting some of our favorite artists from a country we have come to rely on for a constant supply of outstanding music. Yes that country is Sweden. With the exception of a few individual musicians who are a part of some of these projects, all are from Sweden with a handful now residing in other countries. In several cases, the bands contacted us in a variety of ways but, for the most part, discovering this music was a product of our MySpace and music blog (big favorite) travels over the past couple of years. Hopefully we will have another major list/post for you this time next year. For now, there are 40-something different artists featured so if you can't find anything to fall in love with this time, we have no idea what to tell you. Please make sure to visit the links listed below to support the musicians and purchase the music you are fond of... You can contact plenty of the artists directly in order to do so.

Have fun with this one, search our blog for more good stuff and please let us know when there is new music from Sweden to explore.

Aerial

Website & MySpace
MP3: Time Is On Fire

Anna Leong

Website & MySpace
MP3: They Will Know Us

Antennas

Website & MySpace
MP3: Adapt!

Ass

MySpace
MP3: Don't You Tell A Word

Backslick

Website & MySpace
MP3: Down The Streets Of Paris

Bedroom Eyes

Website & MySpace
MP3: Blueprint For Departure
MP3: Hand-In-Hand Grenade
MP3: (Here's One For You) Underdog

Big Strong Union

Website & MySpace
MP3: Internet Poker Ruined My Life

Bobby Baby

Website & MySpace
MP3: Lads Are Fun

Boy Omega

Website & MySpace
MP3: Burn This Flag
MP3: By Midnight We'll Give It a Go
MP3: Papa Was a Rodeo (Magnetic Fields cover)

Bring Me The Fucking Riot... Man

Website & MySpace
MP3: In Love With The Riot

Buckaneers

MySpace
MP3: Cold Morning

Pelle Carlberg

Website & MySpace
MP3: I Love You, You Imbecile

Detektivbyrån

Website & MySpace
MP3: Nattöppet

Diktendo

Website & MySpace
MP3: The Tune I Call November

The Fine Arts Showcase

Website & MySpace
MP3: Chemical Girl
MP3: Dance With Your Shadow

Florence Valentin

Website & MySpace
MP3: Vårby Gård

The Happy People

Website & MySpace
MP3: Shake Along, Son

Hello Saferide

Website & MySpace
MP3: Highschool Stalker

Henry Morgans Solokarriär

Website & MySpace
MP3: Keeping Me Warm
MP3: One Day, Any Day

Honeymoon Over!

MySpace
MP3: Järntorget
MP3: Sophistication

IKONS

Website & MySpace
MP3: Do It Right (link expired)

[ingenting]

Website & MySpace
MP3: Släpp In Solen

It's A Musical!

Website & MySpace
MP3: Pain Song
MP3: Take Off Your T-Shirt

Jens Lekman

Website & MySpace
MP3: Black Cab

The Kid

Website & MySpace
MP3: Kit Club Hotel

Komon

MySpace
MP3: Are We Friends

Liechtenstein

MySpace
MP3: Stalking Skills

Like Honey

Website & MySpace
MP3: November

The Lovekevins

Website & MySpace
MP3: Private Life Of A Cat
MP3: Tamagotchi Freestyle

Marching Band

Website & MySpace
MP3: Home Alone VI

Paddington Distortion Combo

Website & MySpace
MP3: Clean Sound Suckers

Pluxus

MySpace
MP3: Bootstrap

Punch And Judy

Website & MySpace
MP3: You Better Know It's Coming Back

Salty Pirates

Website & MySpace
MP3: Common Sense
MP3: Survivalist Guide
MP3: The Couple On The Bus

Sharif

Website & MySpace
MP3: You Don't Know

The State of Samuel

Website & MySpace
MP3: Square Roots
MP3: The Residents of Gloom

Strip Squad

Website & MySpace
MP3: Pervert Expert
MP3: Unreliable Narrator

Karin Ström

Website & MySpace
MP3: Betydelsen Av Rum

Surplus People

Website & MySpace
MP3: He's Got a Penis On His Head

Torpedo

Website & MySpace
MP3: Hang Me High

AK Von Malmborg

MySpace
MP3: Rosenblad

Square Root of Margaret

It was this time last year when we first discovered and posted the music of Square Root Of Margaret from Chatham, Ontario, Canada [2006 review + download]. The track featured then was an excellent listen and the band couldn't have been nicer. Since that time they have been working on, and have completed a brand new full length album titled Teragram Photeur. With this new release, Square Root Of Margaret once again provide a delightful glimpse into the world of Bleen they've fashioned over the years. Somewhere between the lighter side of indie rock and the psychedelic underpinnings of decades past, exists a comfortable but effective sound for the band that seems to improve upon itself with each new turn. The two songs featured below will give you a good idea of the music range that can be expected within the 13 tracks of Teragram Photeur.

MP3: Memories Of Things To Come
MP3: Hollywood Will Find A Way

For an extensive history of the band including a detailed discography, and to purchase the new self-issued CD Teragram Photeur, pay a visit to the Square Root Of Margaret website. There is also a Square Root Of Margaret MySpace page for more music. The CD release party will be held tonight night with a follow up show taking place tomorrow evening both at local Chatham venue The Elephant's Nest Pub (amusing reviews). September will be a busy month for SROM as they travel through western Canada and back for numerous live performance dates. If you get the chance and are close to any of the following cities, check them out

Sept. 05 / Toronto, ON. / The Horseshoe
Sept. 06 / Sault Ste. Marie, ON. / Eargasm Records
Sept. 07 / Thunder Bay, ON. / The Apollo
Sept. 08 / Winnipeg, MB. / The Cavern
Sept. 10 / Calgary, AB. / Broken City
Sept. 12 / Penticton, BC. / The Can
Sept. 13 / Canmore, AB. / The Canmore Hotel
Sept. 15 / Fernie, BC. / Taste of Fernie Festival
Sept. 16 / Victoria, BC. / Logan's Pub
Sept. 17 / Duncan, BC. / Duncan Garage Showroom
Sept. 19 / Vancouver, BC / The Railway Club
Sept. 22 / Calgary, AB / Ship & Anchor
Sept. 23 / Edmonton, AB / The Black Spot
Sept. 24 / Lethbridge, AB / The Slice
Sept. 26 / Winnipeg, MB / The Acadamy Bar
Sept. 27 / Thunder Bay, ON / The Apollo
Sept. 28 / Sault Ste. Marie, ON / Loplops Lounge & Gallery

Black Kites

What would you think if we told you there was a good shoegaze band from Southern California you should check out? Ok, let's raise the stakes a bit. What would come to mind if we informed you of a great shoegaze band located in Los Angeles that played the Viper Room this past weekend? If you have that northeastern mindset, similar to my own, you might shrug it off with a sigh or at least a distant sneer... but not so fast. Somewhere between the first whisper of All Wrong and the final echoed goodbye of the track Sadie, we found ourselves falling for a lovely dialogue of male and female vocals accented by a measured approach to the early 90s sound we adore. Black Kites are an impressive quartet consisting of members Alan Petherick (guitar,vocals), Evelyn Reyes (keyboard, vocals), Nicki Nevlin (bass) and Marcel Feldmar (drums). For more tracks that might bring to mind classic post-shoegazers Ride as well as more recent indie rock bands such as Low, stop in for a visit to the Black Kites MySpace page. There is additional information and links on the Black Kites website and you can download the balance of music from the new All Wrong EP at the band's label Filthy Angels (Filthy Angels MySpace). Enjoy!

MP3: All Wrong
MP3: Sadie

Honeymoon Over!

It's been a while since we featured music from Sweden so I figured it a compulsory measure to post a band with extremely catchy, low key pop songs that have inhabited our computer desktop for far too long. Honeymoon Over! is the duo of Fredrik Ståhl and Kalle Lekholm from Gothenburg,Sweden. The new self titled 5 song EP was released in May and is available free for download through the band's temporary net-label Frukt Records. Check out the Honeymoon Over! MySpace page for a little more information and to hear additional new tracks. Besides the two songs we have featured here and beyond the music you can find on the above listed links, there is also the solo music of Fredrik Ståhl to take in if you enjoy what you are listening to here. Very nice.

MP3: Sophistication
MP3: Järntorget

Terrene

The much anticipated, while delayed due to a printing error, release date is finally here for a brand new 13 track album from a band we originally featured over a year ago [original 2006 review + download]. Actually, I've had the promo copy on heavy rotation in my car for the past couple of months, waiting for just the right time to post this beauty on the blog. The new album from Terrene, titled The Indifferent Universe, was released today through the band's Seattle/New York based label Wax Orchard. After spending some time absorbing these new songs, it easily becomes evident that Terrene has been busy evolving their sound into a blend of unique new horizons while preserving a hint of the classic artists they mention as being an influence. The Indifferent Universe keeps this excellent balance throughout its entirety and, without a single weak moment in the mix, is probably one of the more solid releases we've heard so far this year. Fifty One is the lead track and the following is a YouTube version of the video for it.



Terrene is the indie rock trio of John Dylan (guitar, vocals), Ramsey Saleem (bass, vocals) and Jimmy Gilbertson (drums, laptop) from Seattle, Washington. John created the band in 2003 after years as an accomplished solo artist. As mentioned above, The Indifferent Universe full length CD is available today and is very much worth looking into. Another major plus to this album is that Phil Ek ... oh yes that Phil Ek (Built To Spill, The Shins etc) had his hand in production duties. To listen to more of the new music and find additional information, you will need to visit the Terrene MySpace page since the Terrene website is currently undergoing a redesign. There are two of the new tracks below for your review. The second is Unwelcome, which is the quirky one of the bunch, but give it some time and you get a highly addictive rock song. Big thanks to Janelle from Green Light Go for the disc. Great stuff.

MP3: Fixed Up
MP3: Unwelcome

Sophie Zeyl

Earlier this year, we featured the music of four female vocalists we were listening to on a very regular basis [February 2007 review + download.] One of those artists was Sophie Zeyl from Amsterdam, Netherlands. After that post we received a nice message from Sophie and responded with an interest to feature her music further. With all of our recent traveling, relocation and other such endeavors, we unfortunately lost track of things. Now we have the chance to share a brand new single in the form of a video. A fantastic video that is one of, if not, the best we've seen so far this year. I'm sure there will be a variety of reactions to this and, for those like ourselves who do not follow these things closely, just might be the reason music videos survived the MTV era backlash ...so take a look and listen to the following single I'm Not Like That and let us know what you think.



If you enjoyed the youtube version as much as we did, check into the Sophie Zeyl MySpace page for music that might be a complete departure from the video in showcasing Sophie's guitar as well as her strong and exceptionally warm vocals. All of the music is presented under her own Amsterdam/London based label i-rain Records (i-rain MySpace) and can be found there for purchase. The following song was part of our original post and is the lead track of twelve that comprise the most recent release Two Ways Of Running which can also be found on i-rain Records. Lovely.

MP3: You Could Have Run Away

Monarch

It might surprise some of you to learn, as little as we are currently posting here on MML, that quite a few messages end up on our MySpace page from new and upcoming bands. In the case of today's featured artist, there was a sense of new found priority to "give up the goods" at the earliest moment we could possibly manage. This time, the music we were fortunate enough to wrap our ears around involved a humble presentation of guitar, drums and warm female vocals inside a wonderfully dreamy package we couldn't wait to share with you. The first track we singled out was Warning, which brought to the surface borderline (but thankfully not) traditional shoegaze. After quite a few listens, it was decided to stay for more with the song Obituary which had us wondering how many musicians were involved in this project? As it turns out, Monarch is only a two piece consisting of multi-instrumentalist co-founders Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner from Baltimore, Maryland. The two songs featured today belong to the newly released 11 track debut If Children which has just been made available through Baltimore based Morphius Records (Morphius MySpace). For more downloadable music, take a moment or three to visit the Monarch website. There is also a Monarch MySpace page for more information and to add as an online friend... they will love you for it. Oh, before I forget, the following YouTube video is a live version of the low key number Family Glue from May 2007, and is one you must watch. Enjoy!



In order to take in the next live performance, you only need to show up (with pocket change) to local Baltimore venue Metro Gallery next week on August 17 for an evening with Monarch and The Sky Drops who are an incredible act we have featured both here (2006) and here (2007)... This will be an excellent show.

MP3: Warning
MP3: Obituary

The Loyal Trooper

When we receive a friend request from a band on MySpace, paying attention and listening is almost always a welcome obligation. In the case of today's featured artist, we first had a listen a week or so ago. The music was entirely catchy and had us scrambling (in our own lazy way) to download for a post on MML. It was only the other day that we noticed mention of this band on Indie MP3 and Just Gimme Indie Rock and since both are music websites we visit frequently, it was decided to join in the fun. For the most part, when spoken-through vocals are involved in alternative pop/rock music the end result is usually a laborious listen. Fortunately, with The Loyal Trooper, we were treated to a different energy. All of the tracks we heard were simple and effective pop songs that deserve much of the attention they are definitely going to get.


























The Loyal Trooper is primarily the music project of Andy Walker who is originally from the northern English city of Sheffield. He now resides in London and enlists the assistance of various friends to complete the full band lineup. The debut EP 4 Quid With Flyer will be available through This Is Fake DIY Records (Fake DIY MySpace) this Monday, August 6th. To listen to more of these songs and add as a compulsory friend, you can visit The Loyal Trooper MySpace page. For additional information, Andy's blog and a free music download, also stop by The Loyal Trooper Website. It's all very good stuff....

MP3: Nothing To Say

As an added bonus that might be a bit off the map for some of you, we present an almost completely non-related artist also from Sheffield, UK. I had to ask my British wife where the town was located and she jokingly replied "Sex City?... oh that's just a Pulp song". By half coincidence, The Loyal Trooper lists Pulp as a top influence... so here is the song Michelle was joking about.

MP3: Pulp - Sheffield: Sex City (1992)