Of Johan AngergÃ¥rd’s three bands, only Acid House Kings stays fixed within its prior works’ roots. This band has always created lovable pop music and that hasn’t changed one bit in their first single in five to six years, “Are We Lovers Or Are We Friends?”
Tag: labrador records
Club 8: Closer Now [mp3]
I am at a loss for words. The People’s Record, the latest by Swedish pop group Club 8, defies explanation. The band has always fit the pop mold, often flirting between dreamy electro-pop and indie pop sensibilities, but this new stuff has islands-ish percussion, playful guitars, and obscure keys. It’s as if their traditional Swedish…
Sambassadeur: I Can Try [Video]
This is the new Sambassadeur video, filmed by label mate Philip Ekström of The Mary Onettes and staring Ekström’s eight-year-old nephew Mattis. “I Can Try” is your standard Sambassadeur tune; the band consistently produces great Swedish pop music in the vein of their prior work, each new single slightly better than the last. And each…
Club 8: Western Hospitality [Video]
OK, I love this. True to recent videos by The Legends, a band fronted by Johan AngergÃ¥rd who also appears in Club 8, the video for “Western Hospitality” features dancing in a manner you wouldn’t typically expect. First, the mystic and masterful electro tune “Lucky Star” off Public Radio, then again briefly on “Always The…
Pallers: The Kiss [mp3]
Sweden’s Pallers gave us the critically acclaimed “Humdrum” a year or two ago, and backed the single with a few remixes of the song. Time has passed, and they’ve finally blessed us with a new tune, this one dubbed “The Kiss”. The song flirts with the same chill, DJ-inspired electronica of “Humdrum” but there seems…
The Mary Onettes: The Night Before The Funeral [mp3]
Listening to much of The Mary Onettes growing breadth of work, one gets the impression they are surrounded 80s LPs, and that this is where they draw influence. From Echo to The Church, Go Betweens to The Smiths, this band pulls all the right elements to create one of the freshest sounds around today. The…
Club 8: Western Hospitality [mp3]
It’s long been my opinion that anything Johan AngergÃ¥rd touches magically turns to gold. This belief has stood strong with all his projects, from The Legends to Acid House Kings. Club 8 has consistently come third on that list, but with “Western Hospitality” from the forthcoming The People’s Record, everything is about to change. It’s…
Sambassadeur: Stranded [mp3]
My first impression of the first track off Sambassadeur‘s new LP, European, is that the song is easily their finest yet. With an emotive piano intro and outro, orchestral pop sensibilities, and schizophrenic percussion, “Stranded” seems to be a turning point for the band. Sambassadeur has always been a group to flaunt instrumentation, but here…
The Radio Dept: Heaven’s On Fire [mp3]
Beginning with a sample (bonus points if you can pinpoint that voice) and leading into The Radio Dept.‘s now signature eletro-pop meets fuzzed out, jangle-worthy synth lines, “Heaven’s On Fire” promises great things for the band’s forthcoming record Clinging To A Scheme. It carries on precisely where the band headed post the release of their…
[ingenting] – Dina händer är fulla av blommor [Video]
Oh I’m loving this! It’s the new video by (what seems like) Sweden’s only native-tongue-singing band [ingenting]. The song is “Dina händer är fulla av blommor” and it’s one of their catchiest yet, easily matching prior favorites like “Syster dyster”, “Har kommer solen” and “Slapp Inb Solen”. A loose, very poor translation (no thanks to…
