Top 100 of 2010!

I have decided to gather my favourite 100 songs of 2010, by 100 different artists! They are all gathered in this Spotify play list without rating order. For those of you who don´t have Spotify, I have also listed my top twenty of 2010, this time in rating order. And which are the Swedish albums you should not have missed this year?

Happy new music year of 2011!

1. Gorillaz – On melancholy hill
2. Teenage fanclub – Baby lee
3. Kendall Johanson – Blue moon
4. Beach House - Zebra
5. The Drums – Let´s go surfing
6. This is head - 0003
7. Anna von Hausswolff – Track of time
8. Ariel Pink´s haunted graffiti – Bright lit blue skies
9. Peter Morén - Ett land som inte är
10. MF/MB – The grand chase
11.Field music – Let´s write a book
12.Radio dept – Heaven´s on fire
13.Yeasayer – O.N.E.
14. Tracey Thorn – Why does the wind?
15.Beach fossils – Sometimes
16.CEO – Come with me
17.School of seven bells – Windstorm
18.Real estate – Younger than yesterday
19.Best coast – Boyfriend
20.The Concretes – All day

Swedish albums you should have listened to 2011:
Peter Morén – I spåren av tåren
This is head - 0001
Anna von Hausswolff – Singing from the grave
Love is all - Two thousand and then injuries

/ The Drumming Cat

Celebrate an indie Christmas on Facebook!

Cant wait for Christmas. Or do you just want to gain some knowledge of the greatest acts of 2010? Swedish web radio station Gimmeindie will let one band/artist each day in December until Christmas Eve present their favourite acts of 2010. The event takes place on their Facebook web page.

Enjoy!

/The Drumming Cat

Two concerts that never were and two longed for albums

The blog hasn´t been as active as usual. This is due to lack of time, but I have still had time to listen to music. The music aspect of my life has had two negative aspects in November and two positive ones.

I missed out on two concerts at Debaser in Stockholm because of certain circumstances. These were Beach House and Field music Both have released great albums this year, so of course it was a disappointment...:(

The month was saved by the release of Orange Juice´s box "Coals to Newcastle" containing their entire discography with extra material. I ordered it through Delcious Goldfish Records to make sure I got as soon as it was released. A brilliant box considering most albums are really hard to get hold of, at least in Sweden. And I love the cover of Al Green´s song Love (see video below)...

The other positive aspect was buying the new album from Edwyn Collins called "Losing sleep". A good album, but the best thing is to hear Edwyn has started to recover well.

/ The Drumming Cat

Interview with Suburban kids with biblical names

Found this month old interview with Suburban kids with biblical names. The Swedish group released their fourth album earlier this year and are already working on tehir next creation.

/ The Drumming Cat

John Lennon covers

A week ago John Lennon should have turned 70. In order to highlight this, Swedish music magazine Sonic created a Spotify playlist with a lot of great covers of John Lennon and Beatles songs. Enjoy!

A personal favourite is Al Green´s version of I want to hold your hand.

If you look to the left on Sonic´s website, they have a lot of good Spotify playlists on different themes.

/ The Drumming Cat

Swedish music for the autumn part 5 (final part)

Yes, now we have come to the final part of my Swedish recommendations for the autumn.

And what a treat we are in for this month. The band MFMB are releasing their debut album, what on their myspace site sounds awesome, teriffic, supermagnificent! If you like both kraut and pop, this is something for you!

Earlier this autumn the brilliant Britta Persson released her new album. The single "Meet a bear" has been a hugh success in Sweden.

National icon Håkan Hellström´s new album has been very well received among Swedish critics.

Tribute to Solomon Burke

Since great soul singer Solomon Burke recently passed away, I decided to put together a tribute to him. I searched youtube for different versions of his most famous song "Everybody needs somebody to love".

/ The Drumming Cat

Swedish music for the autumn part 4

One of the most interresting new Swedish acts for a long time, De Montevert is highly recommended to everyone! To electronic music she mixes intelligent lyrics in both English and Swedish.

/ The Drumming Cat

A quick lesson in Swedish music

Just getting into Swedish music? Perhaps you found my blog by searching for Swedish indie blogs on Google? Then you have come to the right place!

Some time ago I sent a playlist of some of my favourite songs by Swedish artists from the last 3-4 years to a friend in Germany. She published them on her blog and i thougt I could hightlight this blog post again. All to give you a quick lesson!:)

/ The Drumming Cat

Interview with Radio dept.

Found this interview with critically acclaimed Swedish group The Radio dept.

/ The Drumming Cat

Swedish music for the autumn part 3

Two more recommendations - at the end of August experimental musicians VED released another album callde "Gesrhvins pipe". Really recommend it.

Annika Norlin has released a new album in Swedish under the name "Säkert". The album is called "Facit".

/The Drumming Cat

How to play drums on a hi-hat

The Drumming Cat wish he could play drums like that...

/ The Drumming Cat

A music weekend to be remembered

I had a great ending to last week. On thursday I walked into the Mosebacke record store and bought two albums, one with Swamp Dogg (with what must be one of the all time weirdest covers) and one with Au pairs.

On Saturday a friend of mine played records at the club "Indieland" in the location "Knast" in Stockholm. She played records at a club for the first time. Although she was nervous, everything went fine. The theme for the evening was songs with present-day national icon Håkan Hellström.

I love my home-town Stockholm! It´s obvious...

/ The Drumming Cat

Swedish music for the autumn part 2

There is more this autumn. I will for the next two weeks from time to time present new Swedish recommendations.

Parken is out with a new album. The last album Länge leve Parken was a success in Sweden with songs like "Åt helvete med himlen" and "Jag har varit vilsen, Lisa". "Annas sång" is the first single from the new album called "Framtiden var här".

Action Biker is finally back with a new album. New beautiful experimental electronica is expected!:)

/ The Drumming Cat

Swedish music for the autumn

The Swedish autumn for music looks really promising! Here are some artists I highly recommend for the new season.

Korallreven is releasing a new album. The song "Honey mine" featuring Victoria Bergsman from Taken by trees is already a favourite.

The Concretes is also releasing a new album. "All Day" and "Good evening" are already hits in the Swedish public service radio.

Niki and the Dove is one of the most hyped artists in Sweden right now.

I´ll be back with more Swedish recommendations soon!

/The Drumming Cat

Marriage music

My brother got married this weekend so i attended a beatiful wedding in Stockholm with a great party afterwards. I thougt their choice of music was so brilliant it was well worth to share it on my blog with this spotify playlist.

in the church they had a duo who played two songs and then Beach boys "God only knows" as they walked out of the church.

For the party in the evening they had brought in a live band that made some really cool versions of different songs. A few are also listed in the track list. If youré getting married soon, hopefully this can inspire you.

Songs in the church
John Legend - Stay with you
The Ordinary boys - I Luv U
The Beach Boys - God only knows

Selected songs at the party
Al Green - Lets stay together (the song the wedding couple danced their first dance to, very suiting)
The Coral - Dreaming of you
MGMT - Kids
Bob Dylan - Like a rolling stone
Oskar Linnros - Från och med du


/ The Drumming Cat

Song list against racism

With the recent events following the Swedish election, i decided to create a Spotify playlist against racism. Two suiting songs from Billy paul followed by two songs from every continent in the world.

Track list
1. Billy Paul - Am I Black Enough For You?
2. Billy Paul - Let E´m In
Asia
3. Sheila Chandra - All you want is more (India)
4. Shugo Tokumaru - Button (Japan)
Africa
5. Amadou & Miriam - Sabali (Mali)
6. The Sahara All Stars Of Jos - Take Your Soul (Nigeria)
Oceania
7. The Sugargliders - Aprahan (Australia)
8. Cut Copy - Lights & music (Australia)
America
9. Os Mutantes - Baby (Brazil)
10. Lord Kitchener -London Is The Place For Me (Trinidad & Tobago)
Europe
11. The Whitest Boy Alive - 1517 (Norway/Germany)
12. Tahiti 80 - 1000 times (France)

/The Drumming Cat

If Swedish music was the government...

Soon it´s election time in Sweden. A new government will be formed based on the results from September 19th. But what if the government was all about music, Who would be the people most suitable to be placed in government? These are my choices.

Prime minister: Jens Lekman.
Why? Clearly the best Swedish artist of the 2000s. Great both on record and live. In short, Jens Lekman rules!

Foreign minister: Victoria Bergsman (Taken by trees).
Why? She has already proved her competence abroad. Last year her great album ”East of Eden” was recorded with local musicians in Pakistan. Used to travelling and interacting with other people in foreign countries, of course this ministerial post is perfect for her!

Finance minister: Anders Wedin (Moneybrother).
Why? The name speaks for itself.

Justice minister: All band members of Love is all.
Why? If every person was filled with what this band name stands for all crimes would soon come to an end...

Defence minister: Jenny Wilson.
Why? Used to go around on stage with a rifle while she played songs from her latest album “Hardships” in 2009. Seems suitable for this post...

Education minister: Andres Lokko.
Why? Swedish music journalist Andres Lokko knows everything that is worth knowing about music. He claims the post in hard competition with fellow journalist Fredrik Strage, but the former´s love for Orange Juice is decisive.

Environment minister: Sarah Assbring (El Perro Del Mar).
Why? What a wonderful planet we would have if it was as beautiful as Sarah´s meolodies. Listen to both “From the valley to the stars” and “Love is not pop” and you will know what I mean.

Commerce minister: Johan Angergård (The Legends, Club 8, Acid House Kings, Labrador Records).
Why? Runs the record label Labrador records and is playing with several other bands. This ministerial post is of course reserved for a person this full of energy.

Integration- and gender equality minister: Annika Norlin (Hello Saferide and Säkert!).
Why? Has written brilliant songs about gender equality in both Swedish and English. Her language skills, intelligent lyrics and background as a journalist also wants me to appoint her as the government´s spokesperson.

Culture minister: Magnus Carlson (lead singer Weeping Willows).
Why? Rules night life in Stockholm. His after this summer defunct Sing-along club at Debaser and his club Bangers N´Mash are two vert good examples. In the latter he mixes the latest indie goodies with classic soul, Madchester, indie classics and a lot of other good stuff to dance to.

/ The Drumming Cat

Report from Popaganda

So, another edition of Popaganda has come to an end. And overall, I must say it was not as good as I expected it to be. I don´t want to say it was bad festival, it never is, but this year it did not reach the high expectations. This due to a few disappointments regarding certain acts.

A few selected concert reviews (grades on a scale from 1-5)

First Aid Kit 3+

A country-inspred girl-duo from Stockholm brought us a great concert with songs that made me think a lot of New York-based group The Essex Green. A few unexpected and creative thougt out covers, including "When I grow up" by fever Ray gives the group the plus sign.

This is head 3-

Swedish group This is head has a lot of cool songs and great energy on stage, but it feels like they could have done more with their material. it fet as if they didn´t change their songs a lot from the original recordings, and a concert with no surprises is nothing that gives an extra point in my book.

Jonathan Johansson 2+

I watched him earlier this year and that concert was much better than this one. A plus side to Jonathan Johansson is his sense of humour which I think some people interpret as him bragging and being nonchalant. But I do believe that is a misunderstanding.

Belle and Sebastian 2-

The hugh disappointment of the festival. The concert never really took off and with their brilliant material they could have done much more with the songs. But they failed and it became on the verge of a boring experience. It felt as if they just had decided to play their songs as a duty and sound exactly like on their records. No, this was certainly not one of the more positive concert experiences of my life.

Shout out louds 4

The by far best concert I attended (I didn´t watch all so i can´t speak for every act). Great energy on stage, an enthusiastic crowd topped with singer Adam Olenius really charactaristic and energetic voice. Trully a brilliant concert!

Magic numbers 4-

A couple of songs which it´s hard not to dance to with lead singer Romeo Stodart always communicating and makesa sure the crowd tags along with their songs, making the crowd feel like a part of the concert. Really good concert!

I also watched the first half of the Hot Chip concert which ended the festival and it seemed promising. I felt tired though and went home, but that had nothing to do with Hot Chip.

Sweden celebrates Postcard records!

To my liking, probably the best episode ever of Swedish radio show P3pop was aired yesterday. The show celebrated it was thirty years ago since the foundation of legendary Scottish label Postcard records and the release of Orange Juice´s single "Falling and laughing". The indie label who is one of the, if not the most, influential ever was discussed with a panel of Swedish Postcard lovers. Music from the label wa splayed during the show and also today´s music the panel thougt was influenced by the label. And a fresh interview with Edwyn Collins!

Of course its hard to understand Swedish, but for a real music lesson you can of course listen to the songs.
Listen to the episode here for the best music discovery of your life. Click on the microphone at the top of the site.

Some songs that were played:
Orange Juice - Simply, thrilled honey
Orange Juice - Falling and laughing
Orange Juice - Holliday hymn
Orange Juice - Blue boy
Josef K - Radio drill time
Aztec camera - We could send letters.
Some songs from Edwyn Collins new album.
Chic - Everybody dance
Four tops - Sugarpie (Honeybunch)

/ The Drumming Cat

Great birthday weekend

I had my birthday this weekend so I am now one year older and I can´t believe how much wiser I feel.

It was a great birthday, though, even if it was sad to experience my last ever "sing-along" at Debaser with Weeping Willows playing classic indie songs to a chorus from a loud and enthusiastic crowd.

The secret guest, lead singer Ebbot from Swedish veteran band The Soundtrack our lives performed "Instant repeater 99" and Weeping Willows band leader Magnus Carlsson promised this was going to be the best Sing-along ever. That was not far from the truth. Blur´s "Park life", Charlatans "The only one I know" and Band of Horses "Is there a ghost" were all part of a great track list.

It is one more chance left to attend the club, this coming Friday at Debaser in Stockholm. But I can´t be there, I will be at the popaganda festival.

/The Drumming Cat

Morrisseys all-time favourites

Found this website where Morrissey recently listed his top-13 all-time favourite albums.

And here are his favourites summed up in a Spotify playlist.

/ The Drumming Cat

A step and a magpie

I couldn´t attend this year´s Way Out West festival in Gothenburg. News reached me that this band called Steget (The Step) performed a beautiful concert in the Annedal church during the festival.

Way Out West have been known for their church concerts and last year I watched both Hajen and El Perro Del mar perform magnificent concerts there with the wondeful acoustic in there creating the perfect atmosphere.

Speaking of Gothenburg, this band called Skatan (The Magpie) is in my opinion one of the most promising bands from both that city and Sweden.

/ The Drumming Cat

Best concert ever

The best concert experience of my life was when I last weekend watched jensa Lekman in Stockholm. This weelend he will perform in Gothenburg at the excellent Way out west festival. If you get the chance to see him, don´t hesitate to go there. As far as I know, this is the end of his current tour, but I hope for your sake - if you havent seen him - he tours again.

I also recommend to listen to The Blow who opened for Lekman.

/The Drumming Cat

Very good day indeed

A couple of days ago I went into one of my favorite record shops, Delicious goldfish records, located in the Stockholm suburb Solna.

And I walked out with some really good music in my hands. First a compilation with all of St Christophers recordings from their time at the legendary label Sarah records.

And also the latest brilliant album from Swedish group Love is all. An finally a brilliant compilation from 2003, with mixed and obscure songs from Rough trade, including calypso and an excellent cover of A certain ratios classic song "Shack up". If you are in Stockholm, take a trip to this lovely shop!

/The Drumming Cat

An apple compilation a day

Well not that many. In fact, it hos now been announced EMI will release the first ever Apple records compilation. The Beatles founded Apple records lasted from the late 60s to the early 70s, but never before have a compilation of the label´s other artists been released. Really looking forward to it. October 25th is the scheduled release date.

It is really a fruitful way of putting together artists from Apple...

/ The Drumming Cat

Is there a Swedish ghost?

Just viewed this wonderful version of Band of Horses song "is there a ghost". It is Swedish group Shout out louds that calls it "Spöken" (Ghosts).

Enjoy!

/The Spooky Cat

Popaganda with Belle and Sebastian

Just recently got my ticket in the mail-box for this year´s Popaganda festival in Stockholm. This year will feature legendary Belle and Sebastian (which I of course especially look forward to), Hot Chip, Shout out louds, Jonathan Johansson, The Concretes and many moore. It will be held at the 27th to 28th August, at Eriksdalsbadet, an area normally reserved for swimmers, so there are a few pools just next to the concerts.



/ The Drumming Cat

The best of 2010 so far part 2

bJust thougt a couple of songs would also deserve a place on my best of 2010 so far. So here is part 2 with another Spotify playlist.

Track listing:
1. Tanlines - Real life
2. Beach fossils - Sometimes
3. Washed out - New theory
4. Javelin - Vibrationz
5. The Sound of Arrows - Into the clouds (Fear of tigers remix)
6. Ratatat - Grape juice city
7. CEO - Come with me
8. Gorillaz - On melancholy hill
9. The Golden filter - Solid gold
10. The Art museums - Sculpture gardens
11. Real estate - Younger than yesterday
12. Stornoway - Fuel up

Enjoy!

/The Drumming Cat

There is a light that... goes out?

Sadly, this is the last time. A couple of days in August will be the last chance to go to "Sing-along at Debaser" ("Allsång på Debaser") in Stockholm. Magnus Carlsson, the singer from Weeping Willows, has during the 2000s entertained Stockholm where the crowd sings along as he performs covers of indie classics such as Pulp´s "Common people", Joy Divisions "Love will tear us apart". Especially I will miss his cover of The Smiths "There is a light that never goes out" which always begins and ends the shows. If you are in Stockholm in August, you MUST go there. It is an experience out of the ordinary and you simply have to go if you haven´t been there. TRUST ME.

"First of the gang to die" from the Sing along 2006



/The Drumming Cat

Work out to indie music in Stockholm!

Are you tired of that crappy music they play at the gym? Wouldn´t it be all better if you could work out to Blurs "Girls and Boys", Vampire Weekends "A-Punk" or The Drums "Lets go surfing"? This is a reality in Stockholm! For the third year in a row a couple of enthusiats are arranging indie work out outdoors for the low cost of 30 Swedish kr! Here are the dates if youre passing by Stockholm.

Here is also a Spotify-playlist created by those arranging the work out, which I take the liberty to pass through to you.

/The Athletic Cat

Warm heart of Africa

With the first World cup ever on African soil soon to its end with the final game tonight, I put together a Spotify playlist with only African artists.

Enjoy!

The Very Best featuring Ezra Koenig from Vampire weekend live in New York City.



/ The Drumming Cat

Best of 2010 so far...

Six months has passed, that is half the year of 2010 is completed. These are my favorites from this year (from those I know is available on Spotify).

Track list for you that dont have Spotify:
1. Suburban kids with biblical names - Funeral face
2. Ariel Pink´s haunted graffiti - Bright lit blue skies
3. This is head - 0003
4. School of seven bells - Windstorm
5. The Radio Dept - Heaven´s on fire
6. Caribou - Odessa
7. The Drums - Let´s go surfing
8. Yeasayer - O.N.E.
9. Peter Morén - Esther
10. Beach House - Zebra
11. Hot Chip - One life Stand
12. Matthew Herbert - Dublin
13. LCD Soundsystem - Drunk girls
14. Tracey Thorn - Why does the wind?
15. Vampire Weekend - Diplomat´s son
16. Field music - Lets write a book
17. Seabear - Ill build you a fire
18. Kendal Johansson - Blue moon
19. Anna Von Hausswolff - Track of time

Best covers:
20. Tracey Thorn - Taxi cab
21. Anna Von Hausswolff - Gloomy Sunday

The revenge of the Vuvuzela

Vuvuzela, an instrument not so appreciated in the western world. The instrument have been heard - with its monotone charactaeristic - throughout the entire World cup in South Africa. Now Swedish musician Håkan Lidbo tries to give the instrument a betetr reputation - by making a song based on the instrument. The song can be heard sometimes during this interview with him in Swedish. So if you want to get a glimpse of how it sounds, click on the white speaker found in the black link on the page and the interview will be heard.

This is what Håkan Lidbo himself says about the instrument to Sveriges Radio (my translation):

- I think the sound from the World cup sounds very inspiring, he says. Just imagine how grand it is that so many people are playing music together at once.

- I can imagine there are few africans that get angry at the Vuvuzela. In English and in the western world you say you "play" music. We see music as a composition and a live performance. In most African music traditions music is more seen as a way of spending time together.

- I heard an interview with an African pop star that said he couldn´t stand listening to western classical music. The tones never come back, the melody just changes all the time was his thoughts. His definition of good music was when everyone played the same tones over and over until everyone could handle playing them. That was good music in his mind.

/The Drumming Cat

Northern soul documentary

Found this wonderful documentary about Northern Soul and the Wigan casino in northern England in the late 1960´s. DJ:s re-discovered forgotten beautiful soul melodies from lesser known american artists and started palying them at different clubs. Wigan casino was one of the most famous ones.



Enjoy!

/The Drumming Cat with soul in his soul

Music is the best reward

I congratulated myself for all the hard work I have had put down during the last six months with buying two LP albums a couple of weeks ago, being accepted to both a journalistic education and with two months at a journalistic internship I felt I had the right to enjoy some new music. I walked into a record store in Stockholm (Mosebacke records I think it was called, it looks small, but is really big if you just take a closer look...) which was all new to me, but with a really large collection of LP:s! Really recommend to go there if your´e passing by Stockholm! So i decided to buy Laurie Andersons classic album "Big Science" and The Triffids "Black swan". Both were really good. It was a perfect reward.

Rip it up and start the blog again

Yes, now Im back! After a couple of hectic months with studying, a journalistic internship, work etc. I now have some time off to write on the blog!:)And this time Im back stronger than ever... I have now also started to write on a blog with political (neutral) theme. Please read it and tell me what you think. thecatgoespolitical.blogspot is the address.

Anyhow, I thought it would be good to start with a good book recommendation, something for you to enjoy in your hammock during Summer. This book is called "Rip it up and start again" by Simon Reynolds which I read during spring. Although I didn´t write on the blog, of course I took some time to engage in my biggest interrest.

The book is about the Post Punk era 1978 and 1984. Reynolds guides us through the history of post punk, how it emerged, the reasons to the development of the genre and how this creative era finally stopped in the mid-80s. Reynolds gives us brilliant details and each chapter is divided after record labels and bands. This is truly a brilliant book due to the fact that, as far as I know, no such comprehensive book has ever been written on this neglected but great and meaningful era in music history. Everything from Joy Division to Orange Juice can be found in this wonderful book.



Enjoy!

/The Drumming Cat

Hip hop + Indie = True

My favourite radio show P3Pop was last Monday about the influence of Hip Hop, Soul and modern Rnb on indie in recent years, Swedish indie in particular, including Peter Morén and the brilliant Jenny Wilson. Even if you cant speak Swedish, listen to the music and read the songs listing, available if you click on "musiken i programmet". Scroll down to find the show from last Monday.



/ The Drumming Cat

Using the gift

Following a wonderful gig by Sambassadeur this Friday (where I turned up early and snatched one of the few chairs available) where I enjoyed their beautiful tunes with sipping some red wine, this music week continued in best possible for me personally.

Two christmases ago I got an LP-player (to my surprise, but it was a happy surprise). So far I had only listened to my parents old records and bought one new for myself (the brilliant Swede in Cocoanut groove). Yesterday when I was in Stockholm returning borrowed books to the librabry and doing some other stuff I made an unplanned visit to a record store andbought four LP:s which makes my own collection five times bigger than it was before...

These included one with Curtis Mayfield and the best from his Impressions years, one old album with Charlatans and two with indie bands which are new to me, but which I am looking forward to listen to.



/The Drumming Cat

Love is all you need

Swedish indie band Love Is All is coming out with a new album and will perform in various cities in North America, amongst others in New York at the end of this month.

Go see them!




/ The Drumming Cat

The bird is the word!

Apparently Debaser in Stockholm have heard that the bird is the word. If you like me are a fan of Family Guy one couldn´t help but smiling at this event. Despite being a drumming cat, I know that the bird is the word!



/The Drumming Cat

Sambassadeur is back!

Gothenburg-based Sambassadeur is back with a new album and will play live at Debaser Slussen in Stockholm this Friday, a concert I will of course attend. So if your´e passing by Stockholm this weekend, dont miss them!

From their recent show at Debaser in Malmö (another rock club in the Debaser "chain".



/ The Drumming Cat

Update on Edwyn Collins

A couple of weeks ago I recommended the beautiful documentary about Edwyn Collins recovery from a stroke he suffered in 2005. Now it´s 2010 and his progress is still ongoing with steps in the right direction. His wife Grace Maxwell has written the book "Falling and laughing" about Edwyn´s way back to the music scene. Hear Edwyn and Grace talk about the recovery and the book on BBC Radio Scotland. About 26 minutes into the show starts the interview with Edwyn and Grace.

/The Drumming Cat

Beautiful Swedish music

Finally Im back after more than a week with a new blog post, but this time stronger than ever (or something like that...).

Just wanted to recommend a few Swedish artists with beautiful tunes on their resume.
Those are Holy Madre and Black Holy, both releasing new albums this spring. As a bonus I recommend you to check out this video with Jonathan Johansson.

/The Drumming Cat

Peter Morén in Swedish

Peter Morén from Peter Bjorn and John will soon release his new album "I spåren av tåren" (probably referring to the classic soul song "The tracks of my tears")which is the first time Peter tries his luck with using his mother tongue Swedish! As hinted by the name of the album soul is one of many influences on this album and the song "Ett land som inte är" is already a personal favourite.

Here is a video from "bibliotekspop" a couple of years ago with Peter Morén performing live at the Stockholm city library (!).

/The Drumming Cat

Love will tear us apart?

The day after Valentines day maybe love will tear us apart? Anyhow, watch this Joy Division documentary while thinking about that.

/The Drumming Cat

Valentines day

Thougt it was appropriate to put together a Spotify list of love songs in honour of this day.

Happy Valentines day!

/The Cat In Love

Edwyn Collins is home again

Found this wonderful documentary on Youtube. It is about legendary Edwyn Collins who began his career with 80s band Orange Juice (my favourite)and has since then had a solo career with for example the hugh hit "A girl like you" in the mid 90´s. In 2005 he suffered a stroke and has since then fought to recover with learning how to walk, learning the words to his songs again and also trying to fight his way back to the stage. In 2007 he finally was back on stage and this documentary follows his road back to a "usual" life again. This is part one, but there are four parts in total available on Youtube. Really glad you are back Edwyn!

/The Drumming Cat

Music Blogs shut down

Google shut down several music blogs yesterday since Google thougt they were breaking the copyright law. The sites on the other hand claims they were getting their material straight from the artists and record labels. Should I interpret this as I can never post a free song here (even If I have never did that) although it has been given to me legally by a label or an artist?

To be continued (?)

/The Worried Cat

Nick Hornby is everywhere

Just finished reading Nick Hornby´s great and latest book Juliet naked. The story takes place mostly in Gooleness, a small English town by the seaside. Annie and Duncan is a middleaged couple whose greatest thing in common is their shared fandom of Tucker Crowe, an obscure half forgotten 80s singer/songwriter, and especially the album "Juliet". When a new version of the album is released, Tuckers first release for over twenty years, called "Juliet, naked", they disagree about the quality of the album, which have consequences for their relationship and even their lives. At the same time we get to follow Tucker Crowe, whose American and lives in America, and his struggle in being a father and dealng with all sorts of ex-wives. The two stoires are then of course coming together as one eventually, but telling how would be to reveal too much information before reading it.

I recommend the book to everyone, both to those who are music nerds and those who are not, because on a deeper level its really about pre-conditions for different outcomes of a person´s life and the complicated relations people might have with different persons in different ways. But of course, if you love music, all the both comical and more serious observations Hornby´s makes on being a music fan gives the book some extra spice. Im talking for example about the relationship between an artist and his fans, how you can be so obssesive to cross the Atlantic to watch a toilet in a bar connected to Crowe or sit and talk via intenret with only a few of the other Crowe fans around the world, called crowologists. I really love this book and recommend it to everyone!

Worth noting is also that Oscar nominated movie An Education with manuscript written by Nick Hornby just have had premiere in Sweden. Nick Hornby is trully everywhere at the moment, at least today.

/The Drumming Cat

A sad week for music

Oh god, this week has not been a good one for music. At least not in Sweden. Once again the qualification rounds for who will represent Sweden at the Eurovision song contest has begun and the media will be full of this all winter and spring... You can´t hide from it no matter how hard you try to avoid it. In Sweden Eurovision is hugh (unfortunately) and I envy you who live in a country where this is not such a big deal. And it is even worse than before. Previous years there was only one competition but recent years this has been extended to four or five televised qualification rounds.

The bad music week continued on Tuesday while studying at a café in Stockholm (studying music and media). I am not exaggerrating, I must have heard a Lady Gaga song sort of two times every hour. This resulted in that those irritating words got stuck in my mind for the rest of the day and the following day: "Ga-ga olala"... It is one of those artists where it seems like they have intentionally repeated the same words in a song for about 2000 times so that people will remember it and buy it. An almost amazing stereotype of a pure product.

As if this was not enough Warner music announced they will break their deal with Spotify with free streaming of their music catalogue. Fortunately this proved to be a misunderstanding as Warner meant that it wasn´t profitable doing this kind of buissness at the moment, but that Warner will continue to corporate with Spotify. According to Swedish paper Svenska Dagbladet there are also plans on launching Spotify in the Us.

/The Drumming Cat

Beach House

Looking forward to buy and listen to this album, the new one from Beach House, which Pitchfork describes as the most "listenable" of them all, which I assume is suppose to be a positive judgement, but a strange choice of word, of course you can listen to their other albums as well...

/The Drumming Cat

I Felt this was perfect pop

My latest new music crush is on this wonderful indiepop band called The Afternoon Naps with influences from, according to themselves, Felt and Shop Assistans. And sure, one can´t argue about those similarities. Anyhow, this is perfect pop, just like Felt.Is "Rain of Crystal Spires" one of the best songs of the 80´s?

Felt have also influenced my earlier recommendation Cats on Fire, which besides the way they use organ in their music, can be discovered in their song title "I am the White Mantled King" most likely referring to the Felt song "Dismantled King is off the throne".

/The Drumming Cat

Is it Summer already?

We are right now experiencing a Winter revival in Sweden, since there is so much snow on the ground and it must have been years and years ago we had a Winter like this. With much snow, grey dull days and the feeling that the evening begins just shortly after you have eaten lunch (sort of, the days are very short right now), it is good to find something that makes you forget about the cold Swedish Winter and fool the brain to believe it is Summertime and the livin´s easy. That thing is a new album from a very hyped band.

A couple of days ago I bought the new Vampire Weekend album "Contra". The last album was in my mind perhaps album of the year and "Contra" certainly does not make me less of a fan. More on the contrary, this album really has the potential to on the critics "best of 2010"-lists at the end of the year. The influences of classical music and afropop and world music are still there, but in my mind there are a lot mote energetic songs this time and the quality of the songs have also grown.

This is an album where no track really can be considered to be weak and the energy in this album combined with the quality makes me wana pose two questions: 1. Is it Summer already? 2. Has the album of the year already been released?

/The Drumming Cat

The Swedish tongue

Swedish pop has raised much attention outside the countrie´s borders for some time now, but these songs are of course most often sung in English. Infact there is also a lot of great music with Swedish lyrics. No news to Swedes, but maybe for residents outside Sweden, are these artists which I have collected in a Spotify-playlist. All the songs are performed by artists who uses their Swedish mother tongue to create great music. Maybe its impossible for a foreigner to listen to these wonderful tunes and appreciate it the same way as I do. For example, one time when I was visiting Italy and i asked someone how it sounded for that person when I spoke Swedish, the answer was not that flathering: "Like drugdealers" was the answer. Hopefully the rest of the world dont share that view and instead think that it sounds that Scandinavianpeople sing (which I have also heard), which would suit the purpose of this blog post a lot better...

For those of you that dont have Spotify,I must specifically recommend these artists: Jonathan Johansson , Markus Krunegård, Anna Järvinen and (Ingenting).

Perhaps the most spectacular is the group Movits!. Listen and understand for yourself why...

here you can also watch Movits talking to Stephen Colbert and perform live on his show: Colbert talking to Movits, Movits performing .

Hoppas ni uppskattar detta! (Hope you appreciate this!)

/The Drumming Cat

Germany, Sweden and USA

Some new good stuff from acts Lali Puna of Germany, Ved of Sweden and new band Happy Birthday from USA with their only song "Girls FM" available so far. Hopefully there is more to come.

/The Drumming Cat

The Swedish model

These two clips may be a bit old old, but they are still relevant: Part 1, part 2. And very funny. As Barack Obama tries to push for reforms in the Us, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart makes fun of the ridiciliuos arguments from critics claiming USA is turning into a "Socialist Sweden"...

Historically the Swedish system has been referred to as "The Swedish model", which is also the name of this great organisation consisting of six Swedish independent record labels. Their aim is to create a reasonable debate about the future for music and the music industry, for example considering file-sharing. I get the feeling they want to close the gap between producers and consumers and reach an understanding between them. The answer is not to sue people who download music illegally, but try to figure out how industry and consumers can adjust to the new times that is already a fact. Visit The Swedish model web site and embrace their ideas and download some of their music for free: Perfectly legal!

/The Drumming Cat

Architecture in Helsinki

No, the headline doesn´t talk about the Australian band. This time Im talking about the "architecture" in Finnish music, where the indie scene has got more established in recent years. Since my mother is from Finland, I thougt it was suiting for me to put together a list of some of my favourite songs from Finland in recent years. Notable acts include Regina, Montevideo and of course Cats on Fire.

The latter band have gained most international fame (rightly so) of all the Finnish bands. The Drumming Cat certainly does not hope he is one of the cats on fire...Mjouch that would hurt!

/The Drumming Cat

El Perro Del Mar worthy winner

At yesterday´s annual Manifestgala, organized by independent record companies in Sweden, one of my personal favourites El perro del Mar won the award for best pop. In my mind a worthy and I consider her album "Love Is not pop" the best Swedish album of 2009. Listening to that album you almost feel like you are floating in the sky (and this time its a wonderful experience, despite my fear of heights). Another favourite, Jenny Wilson was nominated for best live act, but Fever Ray won it. Jenny Wilson´s album "Hardships" is also worth mentioning.

Both of them were the two best concert experiences for me last summer and both of them are on tour: El perro Del Mar will soon appear in several cities in North America while Jenny Wilson stays at home in Europe.

/The Drumming Cat

Am I black enough for you?

In my mind this is one of the absolute best music documentaries in recent years. Swedish filmer Göran Olsson describes the life of legendary soul singer Billy Paul. The documentary discusses everything from his contribution to the movement of the rights for African-Americans in the U.S. to what the song "Am I black enough for you" meant for his career and what impact Philadelphia have had on music in history. The documentary includes interviews with Questlove from the Roots, Kenny Gamble and Billy Paul himself. If you haven´t discovered Billy Paul yet, I suggest you do it now.

/The Drumming Cat

A blog post about Post

A couple of days I got a recommendation to listen to the Swedish indie band Post. I felt thrilled when I listened to their music and felt I had to recommend them to other music lovers as well. Their music can be said to be a combination of classic 80´s indie bands combined with sometimes electronic melodies.

/The Drumming Cat

Ian Brown vs. Joan As Police Woman

Last night I attended a concert with Ian Brown at Göta Källare in Stockholm. The former Stone Roses singer´s psychadelic songs created the perfect concert atmosphere and those of you haven´t seen him live, I really recommend it!

At the same time, just a bloc away at Debaser, Joan as police woman also performed live. Her beautiful songs often referred to as "Punk rock r`nb" gave me a great concert experience at the Way Out West festival 2008 in Gothenburg. Of course I wasn´t able to attend her concert since I watched Ian Brown the same evening, but I hope Joan touched every person´s soul just as I experienced it that time in Gothenburg. On the other hand i hope the audience yesterday were able to enjoy the concert without constant interuption from some man with strange questions like "Joan, will you marry me?", as the case was in Gothenburg...

Anyhow, if you want a good concert experience, watch Ian Brown or Joan as police woman when they visit your town. You won´t be disappointed.

/The Drumming Cat