I can't think of any notable ska/rocksteady coming out of Sweden in recent years except maybe Club Killers, but this new Jasmine Kara single, the 2nd off her forthcoming record "Blues ain't nothing but a good woman gone bad" (due out July 28, the day after she appears on "Allsång På Skansen"), mops the floor with 'em. Most of her tunes are on more of a retro Sharon Jones/Motown-revival tip, but this one brings the island flavor and does it amazingly well. Seems kinda like an odd stylistic choice considering her obvious mainstream pop aspirations, though it's not as if I'm complaining, I'm just hoping she can pull it off. And with her autobiography ("Hälsa henne att hon ska dö") coming out in August as well, we'll just have to wait and see how it all plays out. Best of luck!
Direct video link: http://vimeo.com/12060510
Kinda weird to see Bob Lefsetz hyped about these guys, but hey, this track is way hot, so hot that apparently David Guetta straight ripped it off. As for me, I'm more into the instrumental take than the video version with Pharrell's vocals since I think the hook is strong enough to stand as an instrumental. Guess the big name recognition can't hurt though, so good for them if they can capitalize on it.
Torture Division's brand new EP "Evighetens dårar III" is now finished and posted for free download: http://www.torturedivision.net/news/evighetens-darar-iii-now-released
Generally speaking, I'm not a fan of most modern death metal, but these dudes do it right. If this new EP is anything like the last 2, it's well worth checking out.
Enforcer wisely ditched the kitsch and the cracker-jack clothes for their sophomore album "Diamonds", a fine example of classic quality Heavy Metal done right. Which is not to say they excised all of the corny glamness, but the bit that remains is played for fun, not ironic laughs. When I first came across these dudes I was worried they were less than full devotees, however, the more I listen, the more I'm convinced that they're doing it right. They'll never regress to blue-collar denim-clad street toughs and you can still pick out copycat riffs all over the place, but I doubt they care -- they're definitely going for a Tokyo Blade kind of thing, complete with Japanese fascination as evidenced by songs like "Running in menace" (chorus: "See you in Tokyo / Out in the city") and today's mp3 pick, "Katana". This is the centerpiece of the album for me; not only is it the longest, most epic track, it's also way catchy and features a ton of great guitar breaks during the long instrumental mid-section. Great backing vocals too, a definite plus and an under-utilized genre hallmark. It's not quite cool enough to recommend shelling out for the lame picture disc on , but should you come across the UK version on white from for a decent price, I say jump on it. Picture discs are lame anyhow, classic metal like this is not. Do not mix.
"Zuzuvela", the Håkan Lidbo-composed piece for vuvuzela commissioned by Swedish radio, is now available as a free download: http://hakanlidbo.com/archives/1483
Y'know, just in case you didn't get enough of that sound during the World Cup.
Whatever happened to Swedish modesty? Grab "Bästa låten ever" ("Best song ever") from all-stars Supergruppen over at Discobelle: http://www.discobelle.net/2010/07/09/basta-laten-ever/
Pretty weak track for such a boast IMO, especially with that corny auto-tuned chorus.
is putting out a Swedish hip-hop collection called "Evolutions", charting the local history of the genre from the 90s though present day, including skweee. The comp was curated by Gaffa journalist Ametist Azordegan along with The Salazar Brothers and should be available in late summer.
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU:
01. Håkan Hellström - Kann ingen sorg för mig Göteborg
02. TALK 1
03. Enforcer - Katana
04. Existensminimum - 1993
05. Ludwig Bell - Kärlek slutar alltid med bråk
06. TALK 2
07. Karla-Therese Kjellvander & The Rockridge Brothers - New season
08. Lapko - Summer nights
09. CEO - No mercy
10. Night Minutes - Lord I can never be your mirror
11. TALK 3
12. Dungen - Marken låg stille
13. My Brother the Wind - Electric universe
14. Rigas den Andre - W.A.S.P. (R2 remix)
15. TALK 4
16. Waklevören - Oslo spy
17. Okkultokrati - Tail of the snakewind
18. Haust - Vomiting
19. TALK 5
Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.
Hur Högt, the Swedish all-star hip-hop/crossover project featuring Näääk, Nimo, Thomas Rusiak and Adiam Dymott have a new video for their eponymous single, the first official release off their upcoming album: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB5Bf14NDJI
Things start to get a little ridiculous towards the end, but it's a good summer jam.
01. Kent - En plats i solen
02. Robyn - Body talk pt.1
03. Lasse Stefanz - Texas
04. Håkan Hellström - Samlade singlar 2000-2010
05. Kent - Kent box 1991-2008
06. Lisa Nilsson - 20 - En jubileumssamling
07. Brolle - Best of
08. Kalle Mmoraeus - Underbart
09. Meduza Eddie - Rockabilly rebel
10. Oskar Linnros - Vilja bli
11. The Playtones - Rock'n roll dance party
12. The Ark - In full regalia
13. Eric Saade - Masquerade
14. Timoteij - Längtan
15. Melissa Horn - Säg ingenting till mig
16. Lars Winnerbäck - Tänk om jag ångrar mig och sen ångrar mig igen
17. Sabaton - Coat of arms
18. Salem al Fakir - Ignore this
19. Kent - Röd
20. Johnossi - Mavericks