Swedish ambient/postrock act Hearts No Static has gone through a bit of a personnel shuffle recently -- drummer Jens Pettersson has left the band, so John Roger Olsson (also in The Grand Opening) has put down his six-string and picked up the sticks and brought in his friend Mikko Singh (Haleiwa) as their new guitarist. The new lineup is now working on basic tracks for the band's sophomore album and hopes to have it out by the end of the year.
So I busted out The End Will Be Kick's 2005 self-titled debut not too long ago after letting it collect dust on my shelf for way too long and was glad to discover that age had not dwindled its greatness, not even in the slightest. Real talk: Guitarist Niklas Quintana's career with the acts Him Kerosene and Breach would have been more than enough to seal his legacy; his work with the supremely underappreciated TEWBK was the victory lap you didn't know you needed (you do). As far as I'm concerned, dude can now rest on his laurels and enjoy being a dad and a regular citizen without recording another note because, even if far few people listen to his records, his body of work still towers over the rest of the Swedish indie scene now and forevermore.
The End Will Be Kicks - Exit ramps
Look, while I may sometimes give off the vibe of someone that typically only listens to brutal hardcore and harsh industrial noise, I will never, ever deny the appeal of a quality pop record. My favorite so far in 2012: Donkeyboy's "Silver moon". The first single didn't wow me initially, probably mostly due to the weak video, but I've since come around and have had the entire album on semi-steady rotation for some time now. I also can't deny that their name is terrible and the lyrical content even worse, but just listen to all those hooks they borrowed from Quincy Jones! I doubt these kids were even alive when he was at the top of his game, but whatever -- this is pop music, not rocket science.
Donkeyboy - Out of control
My impression of Peter Conradi's regular material is not very positive, but this Materikaa remix does a good job of turning it into a solid house track instead of his usual neo-soul/R&B blather.
Uppsala indierockers We are the Storm have started work on their sophomore album, recording at an old theater in their hometown with Kristofer Jönson of Jeniferever producing.
PSL is streaming the new Alpaca Sports video "She'll come back for Indian Summer": http://blogg.svt.se/psl/2012/06/19/premiar-alpaca-sports-shell-come-back-for-indian-summer/
Listen to Swedish artist Melpo Mene covering Zola Jesus: http://soundcloud.com/melpomenemusic/melpo-mene-zola-jesus/s-tIB29
Can't deny it, I always enjoy bombastic, flamboyant pop like this. (via)
PopMatters does 20 questions with Swedish pop duo We Are Serenades: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/159809-20-questions-we-are-serenades/
The new Timo Räisänen album, as promised in early June, is now officially confirmed for release on September 19 via and will be called "Endeavor".
The Washington Post Express offers up a quick preview of the excellent Nordic Jazz Fest taking place in Washington DC this weekend: http://www.expressnightout.com/2012/06/nordic-noise/
Though I know it's not possible to attend for many of us, it is worth noting that a number of the artists appearing will be doing other US dates while they are over here so check local listings.
This here is Westkust's brand new single "Touch", officially out on June 20 via . A bit more straight-up indiepop/C86-sounding than their great labelmates Makthaverskan, but still possessing a strong postpunk undercurrent. Definitely check this out and keep a lookout for the band's debut EP "Junk" which will be released on July 9.
"The drifter" is the latest video from Swedish Americana act Fox Machine.
Umeå synth duo Gidge has a new video, but this older clip is far more interesting and new to me.