Hanging on the wall in my living room are six album covers and the one closest to my leather rocking chair – where I write the majority of the items I post on FensePost – is Starlet‘s Stay On My Side from 1999. Songs like “At Least In My Heart” and “In The Disco” were the soundtrack to my summer of 2006, along with the title track off When The Sun Falls On My Feet, their 2002 follow-up. The latest news is that the Starlet crew is back …

Longtime fans of Sweden’s pop music scene will recognize the Club 8 name as belonging to one of Labrador Record‘s most appreciated artists. The duo of Johan Angergård and Karolina Komstedt have been making music under the moniker since the mid 90s, and have released six full-length LPs. What sets this new album apart, however, is that Angergård will not produce it — and that’s a first for the band. Instead, Jari Haapalainen (Peter Bjorn & John, Camera Obscura, The Concretes) will be the producer.

Shortly after giving us Dare, a brief three-song single, The Mary Onettes continue their reign of dark, heavily 80s-influenced pop with a new LP dubbed Islands. “Puzzles” is the first single and it’s adorned with thick melancholy vocals and a sound that is instantly reminiscent of 80s greats like The Church and Echo And The Bunnymen.

Of the seemingly countless Swedish artists/groups I follow, rarely does one surface that sings in the native tongue. They instead tend to favor English. [ingenting] is one of the rarities and their new track “Halleluja” is packed with beautiful pop melodies and a title even the English-only speaking individuals on this side of the Western world can understand. Whether you can comprehend the rest of the words, however, is of little significance — the melodies are enough to carry the listener away, and there are more than enough …

On his fourth album under the guise The Legends, Johan Angergård surprises yet again. After three albums that each take the group in a different direction, it has become standard to expect no less from the next release, and thus it was on Over And Over. The first two singles demonstrated this aptly, drowning the listener in an all-encompassing guitar distortion that makes debut Up Against The Legends sound clean. While “Always The Same” and “Seconds Away” feature mind-numbing distortion in the guitar, the vocals are, for the …

As I’ve noted countless times in my reviews, I am a firm believer that the sweetest and best of indie-pop from around the world comes from Sweden. While The Legends kicked off this phase, my attention was not focused on that country until I discovered label mates Acid House Kings. With the success of their cherished Sing Along With The Acid House Kings (2005, Labrador) comes the smash hit single “Do What You Wanna Do” in a Single/EP of the same name, this time on the Florida label TwentySeven Records …

Over And Over by The Legends came out recently on Labrador Records, but when I attempted to order it from the local record shop they noted it wouldn’t be out for another few weeks. While this is likely due to an alternate US release date, or whatever, I was happy to hear The Legends, one of Johan Angergård’s many quality Swedish groups, gave us a little teaser to pass the time.

The intro leading into the opening vocals in “David” is a bit surprising; featuring a highly melodic and downtempo key part similar to the sounds that enveloped Pet Grief but backed by a clean, relaxed bassline and relaxed percussion initially gives the listener a startle. This isn’t The Radio Dept. we’re used to, you might think. But in actuality, it is. The vocals enter and as the song progresses, it dawns on you — it’s all merely progress.

Two weeks, that’s how long we must wait for The Hateful Eye, the debut EP by Little Big Adventure (MySpace). LBA is Labrador Records‘ latest signing, and the second song to hit the net is the oddly titled “Happiest Times”; after all, Little Big Adventure writes pop songs about hate.

The following excerpt was taken from The American Heritage Dictionary: Fourth Edition (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001):
Legend: 1) An unverified popular story, especially one believed to be historical. 2) One of great fame or popular renown. 3) An inscription on an object. 4) An explanatory caption.
There is no telling which definition Johan Angergård chose when he named this group The Legends or even if he had a definition in mind, but he himself can be considered “one of great fame or popular renown” in the world of indie-pop. Also a member …