May 23, 2013
Maya Jane Coles - Everything feat. Karin Park

The statuesque Norwegian Karin Park certainly has an extensive resumé to her career - actress, singer even runway model and most recently a taxidermist as far as British-Japanese DJ Maya Jane Coles’ newest video is concerned. Featuring on the track “Everything”, Karin Park carefully dissects a crow, removing flesh and bone using the bird’s body to transform her appearance. Slow progressive house beats simmer over Karin’s gentle coos and shaky vocals as Park slowly becomes “Everything” like the woman in the picture she’s trying to be.

Check out the video below:

May 23, 2013
Loreen - We Got the Power

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Hate it or love it Eurovision 2013 is well and done with Norway taking this year’s crown. However if you’re still reeling from 2012’s winner Sweden, then Lorine Zineb Nora Talhaoui, the Swede of Moroccan ancestry better known by her stylized name Loreen has something for you. Her latest track titled “We Got the Power”, is a forceful single, its Euro-pop sound echoed through her perfectly pop ballad voice and the military-styled drumrolls. Accompanying the video are enigmatic shots of ice and snow, while Loreen rocks a Roman galea standing over flickering lights and showing off her best dance moves. Fun stuff.

Check it out below:

Loreen - We Got the Power (mp3)

May 23, 2013
Azure Blue - Willows and Pines

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“Willows and Pines” is the latest single from modern Swedish romantic Tobias Isaksson of Azure Blue. With the soft forest feel of a name like “Willows and Pines”, the track echoes of Isaksson’s calm while the hand claps and curious undertones of vintage synths creep into to the mix. A combination between sounds from his previous album to his more recent musical loves “Willows and Pines” is the marriage of old and new as Tobias explains to us:

“‘Willows and Pines’ is more similar to the first album’s sound than the first single ‘The Road I Know’ from the new album. I think the summer sounds are in my genes but it moves towards modern beats in the likes of Dev Hynes who is currently my favorite producer.”

Like all good TV shows, movies or what not, “Willows and Pines” is only the second in a trilogy that will be unveiled when the album drops later this fall. We’re not exactly sure what that means right now but until then check out the single below also available on iTunes and Spotify:

May 16, 2013
Masquer - Bills, Bills, Bills (Destiny’s Child cover)

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With Beyoncé’s career in full force, and Destiny’s Child done and gone besides the odd Superbowl performance that happened this year it’s unlikely that we’ll receive any new material from the trio. Fortunately for us, Swedish shoegazing duo Masquer were quick to fill in the void left behind by the Houston, Texas R&B group. Heavy guitar drones, synthesized drum kicks and spacious reverb glaze over the bubbly pop hooks of Destiny’s Child’s “Bills, Bills, Bills” in this dramatic cover of the late 90s pop smash. Featuring vocalist Kicki Hamros as your quintessential glittery pop princess, fellow band member Pelle Lundqvist with a flaming guitar and guest appearance from Maja Westin of Caviare Days, the video is decked out with halter tops, glitter hats and all the blood, sweat, and tears that are involved when someone doesn’t pay their “AUTOMO’BILLS”.

Check out the video below:

May 15, 2013
MØ - Waste of Time

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Not sure is with these ironically-named songs, because MØ’s newest track “Waste of Time” is certainly one of the most worthwhile things to hit the net as of late. While there are often frequent comparisons to Grimes or Lana del Rey, sonically, the combination of producer Ronni Vindahl’s soulful guitar slides and vocalist Karen Marie Ørsted’s slick and sultry vocals spliced with hand claps and holler on “Waste of Time” are proof that the only relation to the aforementioned artists are nothing but a visual aesthetic. With its soul-grinding vocal delivery yet terribly infectious pop hooks the video like many of MØ’s previous few enlist the sound synchronized found-footage work of Anne Sofie Skaaring. Featuring MØ herself, the video features fresh-faced Danish damsel screams her lungs out while appearing awkwardly cool laying atop her bed.

Check it out below:

May 10, 2013
Disaster in the Universe - Recovering

“Recovering” is the latest single from Norwegian collective Disaster in the Universe. Combining trippy rock sounds to electronic synthesizer scaling, “Recovering” is a bit ironic in its titling as the single a little bit chaotic to say the least - slowing maddening as the song progresses with its cymbal kicks and randomly inserted soundclips. It’s a colorful track, not surprising for the Norwegian band which uses its diversity in sound as its selling point.

Check out the single below

May 8, 2013
Big Fox - Girls (Swede + Sour Premiere)

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I don’t know about Music Mondays, but so far Wednesday has been more than kind to us by giving us the first single from Big Fox’s sophomore debut titled “Girls”. After all, its been awhile since we’ve heard new material from Big Fox’s Charlotta Perers who first stole our hearts and topped our favorite album of 2011. Starting off with its Bossa Nova flavored elevator chime, Charlotta’s wispy whimpers swing and jive along to bells and hippie organ, while Perers laments of her innocence and naivete when it comes to being one of the cool girls with all those stories about falling in love. Despite the soft and dreamy overtures of “Girls”, the song’s rich instrumentation and interweaving melodies never fall into to trap of sluggishly carrying itself along - a nod to the coy and playfulness of Perers’ music.

Check out the single on Spotify and Soundcloud below:

May 8, 2013
Rebecca & Fiona - Union

“Union” is the latest single from Swedish DJ duo Rebecca & Fiona, the club world’s most “intentionally” kitschy act. While the platform shoes may have been abandoned for vintage glam and geisha chic, the video is still decidedly camp with their outlandish style and futile and bloody struggles against a robot. Yes, you heard it a robot! It’s a pretty violent struggle too as the robot strangles Rebecca until she shoos him a way George W. Bush style - with a shoe. Anyway, as far as the track is concerned, “Union” which appears on Rebecca & Fiona’s yet-to-be-titled album features all the hallmarks of the “Swedish house” sound as Rebecca and Fiona’s flat drone glosses over a heavily acidic sound and repetitive synth scaling. 

Check out the video below:

May 8, 2013
MØ - Glass (ELOQ Remix)

After some trouble with Soundcloud not giving Copenhagen’s ELOQ to upload his own material, August Fenger puts out his remix to MØ’s hit single “Glass”. Calling the remix “joytrap”, Fenger’s gleeful twist on hip hop’s trap scene, the remix is filled with festive yet tropical mood, with its chopped-up beats and heavy loops feeling like something out Donkey Kong Country. The remix is ELOQ’s second rendition of “Glass” considering that he co-produced the original with MØ’s Ronni Vindahl. Check out the track below:

May 8, 2013
Lisa Alma - Outbalance (Swede + Sour Premiere)

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Making its official re-release is Lisa Alma’s latest single “Outbalance”. Slow and solemn, yet filled with a spacious reverb, the single feels warm and cozy with Alma’s soothing voice gently kindling over the grandeur of the prominent piano chords on the track. About those nice things such as tulips, champagne, love letters, long nights and kisses, the song is Alma’s flowery tribute to love. Accompanying Lisa’s fluttery romantics is a dreamy Italo-disco rendition of the track with Copenhagen DJ Mai Schaarup behind the remix and appears on our first official mixtape “Dance, Dansk, Dance”. A video will follow next week but until then if you live in the Copenhagen/Malmö area, Lisa Alma will be playing live at the St. Johannes Church, Malmö during the Øresundsfestival on May 11th. Click here for more details.

Stream “Outbalance” and the Schaarup remix on Spotify and on Soundcloud below:

May 8, 2013
LCMDF - Mental Health Pt. II (Album Review)



May 7th, 2013

Words: Peter Quincy Ng

As time passes, comes the slow yet eventual realization that everyone grows up. Even the Finnish sister duo, LCMDF, which famously named their band Le Corps Mince de Françoise after their friend and former member Malin Nyqvist’s starving cat. Well not really to be exact, but sort of. While the childish name calling doesn’t exactly stop on their latest installment of “Mental Health Pt. 2” where the titles “Douche Bag” and “Loser Song” make their debut, acceptance and attitude seems to be the theme of the album. Like the cult-movie “Ghost World” (2001) starring Thora Birch and the then up-and-coming actress Scarlett Johansson, the sisters Emma (24) and Mia (22) dabble in the traumas of troubled relationships and not-so-distant pop culture nostalgia.

Opening track “Douche Bag” is silly yet edgy, kind of like calling someone a douche bag on the chorus that goes “You’re a douche bag baby! / I’m just saying: the city ain’t yours anymore” but digs deeper when a line references older sister Emma’s quarter-life crisis stating, “I was just a kid, who cares what people think / now I’m 23, it was time for me / it’s time for me / it’s my own responsibility / now get this together girl”. Following LCMDF’s cheeky opener “Douche Bag”, is a collaboration with Berlin-based indie pop/rock trio and labelmates Ballet School on track “Rationality”.  Another “letting go” anthem, “Rationality” is defined by its warm guitar feel and intermittent raps which split the vocal harmonies in this grow-up, smarten-up “call to senses” type of track.

While “Douche Bag” may be quick out to lash out at the loser types, “Loser Song” seems to be on the other end of the spectrum. This self-deprecating track is ironically the biggest winner on the album. With its gentle guitar skip and nostalgic 90s pop sound, the track is perhaps most interesting in the demonstration of LCMDF’s vocal performance. Sweet and sassy, LCDMF’s vocal performance which unfortunately is not often complimented enough, perfectly alludes to the second place finish of “Loser Song” - never being the coolest kid around and being “just friends” with all the boys. Closing track “Trippin’”, changes the theme a bit and is less about fitting in and boy trouble, but more of a teenage/young adult freakout track. An homage to all things LCMDF, the track like the duo itself is difficult to generalize which its genre-bending ways. Grungy, 90s-era rap verses and acid synths pulse through “Trippin’”in a sudden and abrupt end to the second installment of “Mental Health”.

While it may seem silly to call “Mental Health Pt. 2” the duo’s most evolved effort, in many ways it is exactly what pop music needs today. It’s the proof that growing up while not necessarily comfortable is something not to be taken too seriously and can be laughed at. You live, you learn, you forget and move on. Like today’s youth which reject conformality, LCMDF’s latest EP defies generalization, as it’s an album not exactly this or that – a perfect blend of sounds from the past, present and future. Its an album that doesn’t aim to be misleadingly cool, and that in itself is a sign of maturity.

May 8, 2013
Butterclock - Holograms

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“Holograms” is the second single from Butterclock’s sold out EP “First Prom”. The video directed by Black Cracker features multiple exposures of the transplanted Parisian Laura Clock which now resides in Berlin, and like her last video for “Don’t” is another night time adventure eerily glowing in its neon aura. Solemn piano melodies and Clock’s soft, child-like R&B vocals are spliced through Kraut-like synthesizer arpeggios, while heavenly bridges piece together Clock’s lyrical despair.

Check it out below:

May 3, 2013
Yung Lean - Oreo Milkshake

Hate him or love him, everyone has an opinion on Sweden’s greatest mystery Yung Lean. The fresh faced 16-year-old youngster residing in Stockholm’s hipster-riddled Sodermalm often seen touting a bucket hat and a windbreaker, and drops some of the most foulest, most vulgar lyrics in the rap game. The latest from this troublemaker is “Oreo Milkshake”, Yung Lean’s allusion of “milkshakes with them crushed-up oreos” to “getting it on”. We don’t know if he’s serious or not with his actual lifestyle, but he claims he’s about as stacked as Hillary (Clinton) and pops Ecstasy like pimples while drinking Arizona (iced tea). 

Check it out below:

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Filed under: yung lean swedish pop 
May 3, 2013
Team Rockit - Aura

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It wasn’t long ago since we wrote on Team Rockit, the mysterious Swedish duo who for the first time make their video debut with their latest single “Aura”. Hardcore rap verses, soft dreamy female vocals by their possibly third member and prominent acid synths pump over the Balearic haze of “Aura”. Their video which features the duo and their female counterpart is accompanied by knights, horses, medieval armor and of course a spontaneously appearing rave out of nowhere, and as always with every Sincerely Yours release is another vague statement from the label.

“My ‘act’ has ended by becoming an integral part of my nature, I told myself. Misere mei deus för vi gör vad fan vi vill (lit. “Forgive me God, for we do whatever the fuck we want”). It’s no longer an act.

Hearts break and fall and roll and rise and rule. YOU know what I’m saying? Nothing to lose now. aaaaahahahahah aaaaahahahahahhahahahah..”

- Sincerely Yours

Check out the video below:

YOURS0193 aura from sincerely yours on Vimeo.

May 3, 2013
Milano Sun - Scandinavia

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The Gothenberg trio Milano’s newest single “Scandinavia” moves away from the dreamy shoegaze and more into sleepwalking territory. Distant cries of the word “Scandinavia” constantly hover the Muddled and sleepy vocals of the single, while the night twinkle of the band’s nocturnal adventure plays out. The track “Scandinavia” can be found on the band’s EP of the same name and is available for a free download below.

Grab a free copy of the single here and stream the entire EP below on soundcloud:

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Filed under: Milano Sun swedish pop 
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