Manifestgalan 2012

Recently, The nominees for he awards at Manifestgalan were revealed. At Manifestgalan prizes are handed out to acts who are signed to independent labels.

The categories are divided into different genres, but one is also called "unsigned", which contains the best acts that have not yet been signed to any label. One of those nominees is the band Farsta, named after a suburb south of Stockholm.

The awards are to held February 3rd at Nalen in Stockholm. Click on the top link in this blog post to see all the nominees and listen to their music.

/ 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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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