Welcome to The Archives where all the best new Nordic music gets stacked up each week. Some weeks are more "stacked" than others. You will also find new titles on this page that didn't make the front page, so check back often. Do I feel compelled to mention that almost all of these are import CDs and are available at extremely decent if not decadent domestic prices? I do. Click on the cover scan for more details about each release and purchasing options. Bold links in quotes within the descriptions are windows media sound samples, try before you buy.

Advance tracks from upcoming releases:

Norma "Waste" (radio edit) from Book Of Norma
Park Hotel "Dead Ringers" from Free For Friends
The Tallest Man On Earth "Pistol Dreams" from Shallow Grave
Antennas "Lies" from the upcoming album, TBA, currently available as a single.

Second album from Blood Music, AKA former First Floor Power dude Karl-Jonas Winqvist, the follow-up to Sing A Song Fighter!, his charming fizz-pop debut. Don Quite, named for a childhood misspelling, is a more melancholy affair, written after his grandfather’s passing last year. Still, it’s lilting, languid pop led by voice and piano, for fans of the croony, orchestral-pop sounds of Jens Lekman and Sufjan Stevens. Karl-Jonas sings in a voice imbued with child-like wonder and wild-eyed naiveté, backed by sweet harmonies, all of which are cavorting baroquely with saucy synths, strings and ebullient rhythms, the electric sound of joy, indeed. Get inside K-J's "Lovely Love", discover "Eagles In the Water", and as a reward for those of you digging deeper, experience "Moontalk". Don Quite features guest appearances by James Huggins (Of Montreal), Lars Skoglund (Laakso), Sara Wilson (First Floor Power), Andreas Söderström (ASS), Leo Svensson (The Tiny) and Simone Rubi (The Rubies).

Cathartic proto-folk/cave-soul/meta-jazz with freak appeal, Wildbirds & Peacedrums are a betrothed duo from Gothenburg, Sweden who ply the audible frequencies with cyclic rhythms and (in)delicate female vocals, and little else, outside of infrequent bouts of glockenspiel and zither! Their debut, Heartcore, recently re-issued worldwide by The Leaf Label, has much too offer in the way of challenges and rewards. Most accessible is the lovely "I Can't Tell In His Eyes", while "Doubt/Hope" gives you a taste of the wild song-scenarios you'll encounter. Like a body reduced to a pounding heart, two heaving lungs, and a stack of clattering vertebrae; perhaps it’s what’s missing that makes what’s here so visceral (minus the viscera)… Fans of Bjork, PJ Harvey, Majessic Dreams, Kate Bush, Diamanda Galas, Montys Loco, and Fiery Furnaces chanteuse Eleanor’s oddest moments will find wild-eyed salvation in W&P’s revelatory art-rock minimalism. Impress your friends...

Since their humble beginnings in the mid-80s Finnish cult act 22 Pistepirkko have bestowed upon an unsuspecting planet's populace a dozen full-length albums (including The Others), an essential double-album retrospective, a DVD, and a slew of singles. With (Well, You Know) Stuff Is Like We Yeah!, like 2006’s Drops & Kicks before it, this quirky, veteran trio employ their awesome super-powers on behalf of song and songcraft, keeping things simple, but as always, skewed in the most compelling ways. With deep, thirsty roots in psychedelia, garage, pop, surf, folk and electronica 22-PP’s musical boundaries are elastic to say the very least, and here, with the songs distilled to their most primal essences, they have created their most profound and most beguiling album yet, and oddly, enough produced by Kramer. Check out the first single, "Suburban Ladyland" and the woozy-sweet "Zombie".

Norwegian psych-rock juggernaut Motorpsycho follow-up the Indie Rock Valhalla that was 2006’s Black Hole/Blank Canvas double-album with the band’s 13th full-length, Little Lucid Moments, their most hypnotic and heroic work to date, and the heaviest prog-rock action they've explored since the late-90s. Four immense, proggy tracks, includes a prerequisite 'suite' of songs (shades of "Starship Trooper" by Yes, harmonies included). Motorpsycho seed their proto-stoner supernova jams with Steve Reich-ian interludes, mind-expanding Deadheadsian guitar-weaving and galaxy-wide jazz odysseys; spooling up monstro riff-mongering and seismic traktorbass™ that evoke both Sonic Youth and Swervedriver; all simultaneously anchored and propelled by the jazz-motorik stylings of new drummer Kenneth Kapstad (former member of Gåte), who totally shreds time & space, amen. Four molten, mesmerizing tracks strung out over nearly 60 minutes, recorded roughshod in late 2007, this is MP in epic, zoomrock mode. Here's part of the second passage from the 21-minute salutatory suite, "Little Lucid Moments", and another open-throttle edit from the monumental "She Left On the Sun Ship".

Things get a little more ornate and orchestrated when Boy Omega Man Martin Henrik Gustafsson trades in the electronic backing of recent efforts for a bevy of strings, horns and pianos on his latest effort, Hope On the Horizon. The songs start simply but soon immerse the listener in grander-than-usual dynamics and epic arrangements, like on "A Quest For Fire" and a chiming sweetness that belies the subject matter on "Suffocation Street". While his desperate vocals still recall earnest troubadours like Conor Oberst and Elliot Smith, this time out Martin's waltzy folksongs are awash in a rootsy Sufjan Stevens-esque grandeur unheard on previous efforts...

With Montys Loco's last album, Man Overboard, still in regular rotation we welcome with open arms these Swedish electro-pop mavens' new recordings. Farewell Mr. Happy is yet another beautiful and bizarre collection of uncompromising looped and sampled dark-dreamery, comparable to The Knife and Bjork, and retaining that sinister Phil Spector girl-group-gone-bad vibe. Their sonic habitat remains a sleepy, hyper-sensual sonic otherworld, but the edges here aren't softened at all, in fact the opposite is true. The new songs are dangerously serrated and sprinkled with oldchool industrial flourishes, but of course it's Anja Bigrell and Marie Eklund's woozy and winsome vocal aerobatics that stir the spirits and tug purposefully at the heartstrings. Explore the first two singles: "Farewell Mr. Happy" and "Heavy".

With a sound that has matured from adorable to drop-dead gorgeous in the space of time between releases, The Second Band's new album, The Definite Form, is more epic, more rapturous and more assured than ever, an orchestral-pop gem that will be in my Top 10 for 2008. The Örebro, Sweden combo’s soulful brass-driven ecstasy is still evident, but this time out, older and wiser, shadowed with a feeling of heartbreak and melancholy that is undeniably Scandinavian. Fans of The Beautiful South (arrangements), Headlights (sweetness), Bright Eyes (earnestness), Okkervil River (rustic charm) and Shout Out Louds (a manic melancholia) will find plenty to swoon to here. Get dizzy with "The Piano Machine" and "Funeral At Sea".

An Object is the debut album from Swedish motorik-punk troika Paper, featuring Calle Olsson from The Bear Quartet and Paddington DC along with members of Audionom. They've been around for almost a decade, dropping the occasional download or compilation track, but this is their first official release, and on the esteemed Novoton label to boot! Paper's sound is based around the frustration of punk, the delicacy of pop melody and the hypnotic power of repetition. Think early Wire meets early Wire, simple, single-minded, powerful; with contrails of Neu!, Silverbullit/Citizen Bird and Joy Division. Fans of The Bear Quartet’s recent electronic eccentricities, Audionom’s hypnotic avant-punk, and Paddington DC’s zoom-pop will be spellbound, if you don’t mind a bit of krautrockin’ cochlea-knocking. While seemingly greater than the sum of its parts, check out these highlights: the 12XU-ish "Out Of It Into It" and the album's first single "To Her".

On their new, self-titled album Norway's reigning rock royalty Madrugada’s ferocious, impassioned blues-rock is even more charged and heartbreaking than ever after the untimely death of guitarist (and My Midnight Creeps frontman) Robert Burås last year. Taking the songs that Robert had completed, and recruiting guitarists like Kid Congo Powers (The Bad Seeds, The Cramps, The Gun Club) and Emil Nicolaisen (Serena Maneesh) to flesh things out, the remaining members of Madrugada offer this album as testament to their lost brother, a true rock-n-roll dude. Have an earful of the ominous and portentious first single: "Look Away Lucifer". Could this be the band's swan song? Hard to say. I imagine it would be hard to move forward after such a loss, but we'll see...

Recently nominated for a Swedish Grammy Nouvelle D'Amour is the ambitious new album from our favorite Swedish/Ugandan soul siren Jaqee (Jaqueline Nakiri). For this new platter this songbird's partnered with Swedish rock icon Mattias Hellberg (Nymphet Noodlers, Hederos & Hellberg, esteemed solo-singer-songwriter) who voodoos up some killer songs and crafty arrangements as well as some truly rambunctious and rootsy psych-country-dub-ragga-folk-blues grooves, in a soulful sub-Sahara stylee. There's hints of Massive Attack's hazy dubscapes and proto-folky Devendra Banhart's Smokey Monuntain-esque genre-splicing; throw in the kitchen sink (and a banjo!) and you're golden. Check out the first single "Sugar", the smoky "Zion", and the plucky "Banjo Lullaby".

At long last, one of 2007’s best Swedish albums, from one of our fave artists, finally arrives here at HQ in early 2008…sorry it took so long! The Fine Arts Showcase, led by post-modern popsmith Gustaf Kjellvander (Christian's little brother and member of Songs Of Soil), makes mecurial, melodic rock music. When covering an album's worth of Rough Bunnies tunes Gustaf continues to shine as a vocalist and arranger. Cute, girly Rough Bunnies ditties become grand, expensive, stentoroian-voiced epics; he's creating polished art-rock baubles from the cult-cultivating Rough Bunnies’ melancholic lo-fi uncut gemmage. Dive into the album's first single, "Modern Love" and the multi-referential "Rough Bunnies Saved My Life"

Happens every year, a spectacular late addition, in fact it's not even here yet... Mattias Barjed, glowering guitarist for The Soundtrack of Our Lives, created and curated this double-album soundtrack for a hip new Swedish miniseries (about twenty-something rockers in early-70s Gothenburg) that plays out like a gritty retro-rock opera! Features contributions from Barjed's TSOOL bandmates, plus members of Elope, Hipwhips, Jan Martens Frustration and many more. Also includes a new, unreleased song by The Tallest Man On Earth. Check out guest stars like Hipwhip's Markus Lindmark on "Set Us Free", series female lead Fanny Risberg on a cover of The Hipwhip's "Stay With Me Forever" , and an awesome guest vocal by TSOOL frontman Ebbot Lundberg on "Coming Down Cold". I'm calling this my Album Of The Year and just in time to take the top spot on my list of fave Nordic albums of 2007.

Award-winning Swedish songstress Anna Ternheim's domestic debut is here, in EP teaser form, highly recommended for Cat Power, Frida Hyvönen and Imogen Heap fans. Six mostly-acoustic songs include the 'Naked Version' of her recent single “Lovers Dream”, a cover of David Bowie & Iggy Pop's "China Girl", plus a live video of her righteous Broder Daniel cover, “Shoreline”, a piano and vocal version of this classic Swedish rock track so compelling I’m posting her studio piano version and BD’s bombastic original just for kicks. U.S. Tour May 2008.

Back in stock soon! Fans are still mourning the passing of Madrugada/My Midnight Creeps guitarist Robert Burås on July 12th. Since that sad day we've belatedly and finally come across a supply of Madrugada’s haunting 2005 live album, Live At Tralfamadore, at a bearable import price. An album released just 12 days after the astonishing gig at the Olso Spektrum in December 2005, documented here in glorious stereo. Feel it: "Hard To Come Back". Extras include songs from the 2005 Oya Festival and a couple other venues. Features special guest appearance by Kid Congo Powers, one of Robert’s guitar heroes.

Currently unavailable, sorry... I'm a fan of the EP format to begin with and this highly recommended debut EP from shoegazing Swedish trio Norma just cements my fanaticism! Parlaying a monumental brand of tripped-out hypno-electro-rock majesty driven by motorik beats Norma creates gloomy, zoomy, post-rock symphonies comparable in their epic scope, dynamics, and totally cosmic bombast to fellow Scandinavians Eskju Divine, Serena Maneesh, The Lionheart Brothers and Moonbabies. So many adjectives, so few songs! Four epics, two of them clocking in over 8 minutes, including "The Storm". 180 proof shoegaze rock, invoking the corporeal spirits of klassic krautrock, Spacemen 3 and Spiritualized, M83, Mogwai, Sigur Ros, etc. Norma is a great new band and the Novoton label (home to Black Belt, Antennas, Existensminimum) continues to impress!

A domestic release for Swedish retro-psych-prog act Black Bonzo's second album! With their debut album, Self-Titled AKA Lady of the Light (which I'm trying to restock at a decent price), Black Bonzo made fans of many Parasol staffers, pals, and customers, so it’s extra cool to have their new album readily available Stateside. This new album finds the band exploring even more glorious 60s and 70s progressive rock trajectories, stupendous stadium rock, the soundtrack to a hazy, hairy, heavenly bygone era. Led by Magnus Lindgren prog-perfect vocals and Nicklas Åhlund’s magnificent organ Black Bonzo resurrects Queen, Uriah Heap, Yes, Pink Floyd, Gentle Giant, even a hint of Kansas. From the Hammond-o-riffic "Thorns Upon A Crown", to the meaty, beaty, big and bouncy "The Well", to the five man acoustic jam "Ten Feet Away" it becomes apparently that Black Bonzo has become even more adept at crinkling the time/space continuum. The band says "It's more adventurous, original and mysterious then you ever can imagine!" and knowing what we know about their flamboyant and freaky debut we've got two words for you: "WHOA!" Yes these classic rock chameleons are back, and in fine "prog-was-punk-before-punk-was-punk” form.

First off, I LOVE grandiose boy/girl duets by Swedish twins. You put that combo together and I’ll love it and gosh bless 'em upstart Swedish guitar-pop duo Tupelo Honeys have done just that! Even if you take the twins out of the equation I’ll love it like I love David Fridlund and Sara Culler, Vega (especially), and our own Moonbabies; and I’ll harken back to The Delgados, The Go-Betweens, and OK, I'll admit it, The Dream Academy. Three fine examples include “Boy, You’re All Right”, “Andy, Are You Sure?”, and “Without My Princess”. We’re talking popsongs here, so lyrically it’s pretty much about feeling good, feeling very good, and feeling bad, but only occasionally. Joel’s songs trend towards epicry and grandeur (think Arcade Fire and even Johnossi), while Linn’s sweeter sunnier fare has twee and classic Swedish pop (think Club 8, The Tiny and Concretes) dominating the graph. It’s when their voices come together that the goosebumps go off, bigtime, and when the twins do that amazingly effective shouty gang vocal call and response thing I hear a very romantic and winsome Love Is All. Anyone else? Now available as Japanese import with two bonus tracks.

Rock trio Elope’s 9 Distilled Dreams and their previous effort, 3WD, were recorded during the same marathon sessions, but released over two albums, songs split between rockin' and mello'. 3WD made no bones about rocking out Crazy Horse style, while long-awaited and chiefly acoustic companion piece, 9DD, explores Elope’s dreamy side, their hazy mellowosity, and as it happens could be the best album of their career. "Black Eyed Citizen" is one of the strongest songs of their career and the blown-glass beauty of "No Don't" is a sound to behold. Whereas their 2004 debut, The No Name Record, stirred Cream, Badfinger, and The Beatles into their steamrolling stoner melodicism; and 2005's 3WD offered throwback, electrified prog(gier)-rock majesties; here within the misty-eyed classic rock escapism and meandering psychedelia of 9 Distilled Dreams you'll find straight-up references to Big Star, Pink Floyd, Neil Young, and even CSNY... Dreamy.

Shoegaze guitar-pop action from Swedish outfit Park Hotell (two Ls) led by Christian Ramirez and featuring members of Mattias Alkberg BD. Gauzy pop that can rock when called for, harkens back to quality fuzz-guitar bands like The Weddoes, Joy Division, The Bear Quartet (an obvious influence), Razorcuts, and yes, The Close Lobsters...sigh! EP #1 has a real propulsive Weddoesing Present vibe, with fuzzy guitar lines like comets tails ("Size Of Spain"). EP #2 sounds a bit like fellow New Order-lovin' countrymen The Embassy ("Low On Resistance"), complete with Peter Hook-esque grinding basslines. We've also restocked Park Hotell's only other available CD release (as far as I know), a fuzzy-wuzzy 2-song single from 2003, featuring "Hearts".

Helsinki's The Hypnomen parlay a peculiar brand of pan-euro psychedelia that is as effortlessly flambouyant as it is accomplished, focused on the interplay between guitarist Pekka's slippery leads and tinkler Sami's droning Hammond. The Hypnomen have been at their dirigible psych-prog for more than a decade (starting out as a surfy freakbeat combo) and it shows in their ability to seamlessly incorporate corporeal jazz, megalithic riff bombast, Santana-styled afro-beat grooves, freaky exotica and West Coast harmonies, baroque macro-instrumental jams, even a freakin' drum solo. Check out The Seeker and Sacred Mountain Revisited. The band themselves work their mellowosity instrumentally, enlisting guest vocalists from the Finnish indie scene, and the end result is 100-proof Summer in a bottle, surreal and serene. Fans of Motorpsycho, ? and the Mysterians, Sleepyard (another pure Summer record from Scandinavia), Spiritualized... SHINDIG MAGAZINE: "Scandanavian psychedelia: think Soundtrack Of Our Lives with a touch of Spiritualized." We’ve also stocked The Hypnomen's available CD catalog, all highly recommended. Need more proof? Listen... "Autumn" from Seasons of the Mind EP
"Asleep" from Crystal Skies w/vocalist Jonna Tervomaa
"Oblivion" from Andomeda Airport w/vocalist Markus Nordenstreng

You've probably figured out I am a sucker for Scandinavian retro-rockers (Hipwhips, Elope, The Works), those artists influenced mightily by the 60s and early 70s, but Mainliners really open the throttle…racing back up the pyramid, with a ferocity and intensity that take modern garage-rock to a new (old) level. With loads of guitars, ample organs, and an off-the-charts vocal gusto this album positively swaggers, and vocalist Robert Billing truly does channel The Animals’ Eric Burdon and young furball era Mick Jagger. For fans of classic garage rock and fellow Scandi rockers My Midnight Creeps, Wired For Mono, Ricochets, Antennas, and even The Hives. Check out "Olivia" and "Bourbon & Ice" and "Northern Soul".

We’ve also restocked the Crusher label’s Dead Man - Self-Titled CD from 2006: Dead Man mine the birth of stoner rock, from the Grateful Dead to Iron Butterfly...fans of Black Bonzo will find much to appreciate here, just as historical but less hysterical. Trippy I tell you: "Mumbo Gumbo"

Second album of megalithic garage-rock from Oslo, Norway supergroup My Midnight Creeps, featuring guitarists Bobby Cagehill, AKA Robert Burås (R.I.P.) from Madrugada, and Alex Kloster-Jensen from Ricochets, the follow up to their celebrated self-titled debut. Possessed by the vengeful specter of 50+ years of heroin blues, sinister psychedelia, and gargantuan garage rock. Check out the epic "Don't Let Them Bring You Down", the seedy "Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O (Everything's Gone Wrong)", and the heartbroken "Love Is Gone". On this voyage one encounters Willie Dixon, 13th Floor Elevators, The Animals, The Rolling Stones, The Stooges, The Sonics, Spacemen 3, The Gun Club, The Cramps, Union Carbide Productions, Nick Cave, along with a bluesier take on modern psych marvels like BRMC and Black Angels. Not so very surprisingly Histamin occasionally harkens back to The Soundtrack Of Our Lives’ mid-90s psych-rock Vikings era, encompassed by the early EPs and the first two TSOOL albums, lotsa sitars and castanets…and blazing saxophones…and howling Hammond organs.

When I learnt that key members of two of my fave Norwegian rock acts, Madrugada guitarist Robert Burås (R.I.P.) and Ricochets guitarist Alex Kloster-Jensen, had formed a new garage-rock, psych-blues supergroup called My Midnight Creeps I certainly expected big things. Yet I was unprepared for the blistering, buzzing, guitar-organ-and-black-leather-fueled bombast that these Norwegian’s powered their late-2005 debut with… Namely the high-speed-energy, Union Carbide Productions-esque “Die For A Ride”, and the groovy Spacemen 3 spasm of “Nightmare, Nightmare”. Later on it’s tracks like the boogie-stomping single “I Fell Into A Hole” and the growling garage monster that is “A Perfect Kind Of Fall”, my fave of the bunch. Also includes a slithering, soul-piercing cover of Willie Dixon’s “Spoonful”, which gives you an idea of where they’re coming from (or heading to). More no-lie namedropping: Stooges, Sonics, Gun Club, BRMC, and 13th Floor Elevators.

This lovely import piece is out of stock at the moment. It will likely re-appear as a domestic release on Galaxy Gramophone in expanded form late 2007 or early 2008. If you can't wait email us, we'll see what we can do...

Me and The Chrysler? We're not trying to confuse you, promise… But by the time I have a Chrysler album scheduled for U.S. release on our Scandi-only Galaxy Gramophone label it’s a good bet they’ve gone and released another album in Sweden. So back in 2005 when we released Failures And Sparks here in North America The Chryslermen promptly delivered their second album Cold War Classic in Scandinavia. Now it’s 2007, I’ve got an expanded version of Cold War Classic rolling out to the Stateside masses this month and The Chrysler’s brand new masterpiece, The Benelux Years, arrives! Like clockwork I tell you! Not like I'm going to wait for me to put it out here, and neither should you... Housed in a handsome matte digipak, here are the latest chapters of The Chryslernovella: more (and more magical) mysterioso pop ("I Keep My Eye On You Sparrow"), subliminal psychedelia ("Precious Darkness"), and crackling bonfire-folk conflagrations ("Who Do You Think Can Save Me?"). Truly rich in melancholy, harmonies, and pastoral dynamics. So new that I’ve only heard it a couple times…enough to know that The Chrysler remains one of my most cherished bands on the planet.

Speaking of Madrugada... One of modern Norwegian rock royalty’s most beloved and compelling vocalists, Madrugada frontman Sivert Høyem renders his solo albums within a shadowy rock noir. With Exiles he calls upon his “Arctic cowboy music and North Star blues” muse and his backing band The Volunteers, more Leonard Cohen than Nick Cave, extra-large arrangements with more folksy elements shaded in… The seedy underbelly’s still there, but it’s less about day job Madrugada’s desolate blues bombast and more about pop’s purple mountain majesties. Heroic rock epics through and through, with an astounding sense of intimacy, perhaps it’s all the minor key magic? Check out the dreamy first single “Into The Sea”, the mellowondrous "January 3rd", and the truly epic (8-minute) title track, “Exiles”.

Late 60s Swedish psychrock outfit born of orgiastic all-night jams, had their debut released in Finland, and it remains a psych vinyl fetishist's wet dream to this day. Not only did Baby Grandmothers tour with Hendrix in 1969 but upon their dissolution they morphed into the lengednary Mecki Mark Men. Don't take my word for it, check out the liner notes by Dungen guitarist Reine Fiske! CD re-issue features the rare single ("Somebody Keeps Calling My Name" b/w "Being Is More Than Life") plus some cosmically-inclined live tracks. Heavy duty jams! They're also featured on the Psychedelic Phinland DCD collection, which is equally essential for fans of obscure psych...

Moonbabies' upcoming new album, Moonbabies At The Ballroom, will be released by our own Hidden Agenda label in May, but we've got a stack of their import three-song single from their mega new Swedish label Startracks to whet your appetite. Includes "War On Sound", the edit version of "Weekend A-Go-Go", and exclusive b-side "Painless".

Highly recommended debut album from Gothenburg, Sweden duo Hearts of Black Science, the latest in a long line of Scandinavian phenoms. Fans of 80s electro-poppers Depeche Mode and OMD ("Empty City Lights") will find plenty to appreciate here although there's a darker edge ("Revolvers") to this with some seriously epic synth-rock arrangements ("Snowfall"). Comparable to the aforementioned 80s icons, anything from Factory Records' heyday, Vitesse, Mew, Doves, M83...

Now that Kemado has released this perhaps my hype is more believable? Nine-member Swedish collective Audionom caught our ear and then Kemado's ear with their high-velocity strobe-rock and dark motorik magick. Retrospectiv is a collection of the their mind-numbing guitar-mantras and mesmerizing drone-rock, all propelled by cosmically intense rhythms. Imagine Silverbullit (aka Citizen Bird) prone to punishing krautrock extremes, Neu! bouncing around inside Hawkwind’s “Silver Machine”, and Stereolab on steroids prescribed by PIL… Best enjoyed as one album-length guitar juggernaut, highlights include the growling, cathartic You Said I Was The Only One, and a trio of bludgeoning zoom-rockers: Kristall, DC2, and Spindlar. Also available as an import, same tracks.

Sweden's Black Belt traffic in gritty garage-rock heaviosity and dirigible psychedelia, it's noisy stonerrock with plenty of muscle and a righteous late-60s-early-70s vibe, plus frontman Joen Carlstedt sports one of the most majestic afros in Rock! Their second album, Two Minutes To Midnight, will find favor with fans of fellow Scandinavians Elope, Motorpsycho, and The Soundtrack of Our Lives, and those bands' shared passions for channeling rock gods of other eras. Deluxe R-rated packaging holds songs as mighty as "Road Crew" and Turnpike, while the free bonus single included with initial orders features "Hold On" and "Noose", neither of which appear on the album.

An impressive, intriguing new import-only release from Swedish songstress Frida Hyvönen, entitled Frida Hyvönen Gives You: Music from the Dance Performance 'Pudel'. Here she and her piano are backed by a small orchestra and the occasional choir for ten all new original songs, including "Fall Is My Lover", "Came A Storm", and "This Night I Recall You". The results are spellbinding and swoon-worthy, with Frida in fine voice and arrangements bordering on sumptuous. Fans of Cat Power and Julie Doiron's latest need this! If you haven’t, for whatever reason, picked up her debut album, Until Death Comes, recently released by Secretly Canadian in the States, wait no longer…

My gift to you: Free downloads of 19 songs by 4 amazing/mysterious artists courtesy of soon-to-be-legendary net label Go Jukebox!, a web-only imprint that might be the coolest label on the planet at the moment. Yes it is all Swedish…and no, I have no intentions of taking the blinders off! As much as I adore the stacks of Scandinavian music I’ve hyped all year Go Jukebox offers four of the most compelling artists in recent memory, and variety! Go Jukebox flagship Reverend Big O has an older album and a covers EP available on esteemed Swedish label A West Side Fabrication (home to The Bear Quartet), but truly it's these digital-only EPs where the band's slowcore majesty has really closed the circuit. Meanwhile You Are My Everything (the art-rocking up-tempo alter-ego of Reverend Big O) turns the epic-emo/drone-rock knob to 11 and has one of my favorite songs of the year in "I Was A Punk", so early-millennial-Bear Quartet-b-side that it breaks my heart. Garmisch Partenkirchen is a wickedly mesmerizing cross between The Knife and The Kid, sultry and psychosexual, just the way we like 'em. When Pitchfork hears GP they'll have orgasmic seizures, mark my words. Lastly, Baby Blonde & The Downs do the haunting indie-pop duet as well as my all-time-favorite haunting indie-pop dueters Vega, but with a much more homespun, organic, folksy fuzzywuzziness; less gloss, more moss…automatically I'm in love. Here's THE BEST PART: It's all free, it's all available in high-quality mp3s (and streaming m3u), and like I said the bands and tunes are the far side of excellent. So, go download, go worship, Go Jukebox!

Friend Of A Friend is the long-awaited second album from Goteborg, Sweden piano-pop melancholists Leopold. The follow-up finds the band matching if not surpassing the aching promise of their brilliant debut, Dreaming Is For Anyone, which is one of the best-selling Swedish import titles we've ever carried at Parasol. Heartbreaking orchestral pop that recalls Biff Bang Pow, The Triffids, Belle & Sebastian, Mojave 3, Go-Betweens... Check out the balancing act of hope and heartbreak on these three songs: Work • Johnny • These Are The Things

Cheap Deluxe is the debut album from Sweden's Samuraj Cities, a mysterious duo creating compelling electro-dance-folk with some trippy drones, mantric vocals and plush melodies swaddled in effervescing lo-fi fortitude. Likened to Bright Eyes' Digital Ash in a Digital Urn meets Broken Social Scene's Bee Hives, The Arcade Fire, The Firebird Band, The Faint... Low-key, yet magnificent, and featuring one of my fave songs ever, "All Along the Shoreline", plus ditties as desirable as "Hard Rain" and "So Sorry, So Sorry, So Sorry".

Wouldn't you know it...I get my list of the Best Scandinavian Albums of 2006 together and an 11th hour challenger, Consequences, comes along to shake things up! Within their self-titled debut you'll find a band comparable to Shout Out Louds (vocal idiosyncraticness, new waviness: "Parasite"), Peter Bjorn And John (songwriting smartness, melancholiness: "Release Me From Love"), and The Soundtrack of Our Lives (psych-moodiness, guitar-slingingness: "Pieces"), then please welcome Consequences' debut... I'm falling harder for it with each listen!

The debut from a new Gravitation label signing The Tallest Man On Earth. This self-titled five-track EP is stacked with raw, rootsy, ragged bonfire-folk-blues bleaknesses, hypnotic in it's simplicity. TTMOE is a Swede named Kristian, with a Bunyan-esque voice (OK, really it's more Dylan- & Guthrie-esque) strumming his similarly-oversized acoustic guitar. I imagine him striding through the Nordic forests playing songs like "It Will Follow The Rain" and "Over The Hills". Influences include Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Son House, Charley Patton, Van Morrison, Nick Drake, O’ Brother Where Art Thou? The Gravitation label is home to Bjorn Olsson, Elope, and Diamonds In The Rough (among others), hands down one of Sweden's finest rock imprints.

Ditt hjärta är en stjärna (your heart is a star) is the new album from Mattias Alkberg BD, led by frontman for The Bear Quartet. A magnificent pop album, harkening back to The Bear Quartet's "pop gods" heyday, with plenty of nifty orchestration, organs, acoustic guitars, the occasional beautiful ballad and still a healthy dose of bristling punk attitude. Still sung in Swedish at any rate! Check out the horn-laden "Stockholm", the first single "Reevolution" and the rippin' "Kom Kom".

The last, and I mean final release from dreamscaping pop-etherealists Elodie, a five-song farewell entitled At The End Of The Line. Elodie have a hushed, haunting sound which matches the sentiment, a bit more elemental than their well-received album, It's Too Bad You're Leaving, but perhaps the spooky twilight atmospheres have always been there? This recalls Husky Rescue and some Labrador gear, with a bit of a supernatural bent… Check out the maudlin "At The End Of The Line", and the morose "Overload", bookends to the story of Elodie's demise.

Swedish songsmith Bjorn Norestig got high marks for his debut EP, Come Take Shine, and while his brand new album, Hello Inside, revisits a couple tracks, Bjorn expounds upon them in a plusher, more epic baroque-pop fashion, big songs rendered wider-screen and more cinematic, recalling Scandi-friendly artists like Ed Harcourt (Strangers) and Nicolai Dunger (This Cloud Is Learning). Explore Bjorn's yearning voice and songwriting skillset on songs like the title track "Hello Inside", a revamped "Come Take A Shine", and "Little Oak".

New album from esteemed Swedish pop outfit, David & The Citizens, a Parasol fave led by Parasol fave David Fridlund. This is The Citizens in overdrive, a harder-edge, darker album, maybe a bit more epic than previously, with plenty of David’s piano, and maybe a tad less acoustic guitar. The lads have obviously plugged in for this one, so the album starts out as a barnstormer ("Out Of My Hands"), gets meticulous and melancholy in the middle ("48h"), sneaks in the first single ("Are You In My Blood") and ballady near the end ("1000 Questions For You"). Among other guest stars The Citizens are again joined by David’s longtime paramour Sara Culler, who contributes vocals to several tracks. Sara was a big part of David’s solo album, Amaterasu, released by Hidden Agenda last year.

Hellsongs is an co-ed trio from Gothenburg, Sweden covering classic metal songs in acoustic “lounge” fashion, led by a haunting female vocal. You get dreamy, strummy covers of Metallica’s “Seek & Destroy”, Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”, Judas Priest’s “Breaking The Law”, Iron Maiden’s “Run To The Hills” (magically spooked-out), Van Halen’s “Jump” (where Hellsongs out-feys Aztec Camera), and Motorhead’s “Orgasmatron”.

Madrugada's 1998 full-length debut, Industrial Silence, is one of the very best Scandinavian albums of the past decade. An epic, melodic monster. And where words won’t do this album justice, sound samples will, check out “Vocal” and “Shine”. AMG: "Industrial Silence is unusually strong and even for a debut album. This, of course, has to do with the fact that they already had been playing together for six years before its release."

With their second record, released in 2001, the band eschews the epic bombast of their debut, and instead finds discomfort in the bleakness and despair that is The Nightly Disease. AMG: "The lyrics are more poetic, the songs are much more diverse, and the production is wonderfully dirty, giving the record a rather dangerous aura." Check out "Hands Up - I Love You", "Black Mambo" and "Nightly Disease Part II".

After the harrowing yet hypnotic depths of The Nightly Disease Madrugada set out to prove how hard they could rock once again. On Grit, released in 2002, the band channels The Stooges and some of Scandinavia's most aggressive garage bands. AMG: "Sure, Madrugada's previous album, the dark The Nightly Disease, had its rockier moments, but nothing as in-your-face as this...". Strap in for "Blood Shot Adult Commitment", "Ready" and "Majesty".

And finally 2005's The Deep End finds Madrugada harkening back to their debut, offering luminous atmospheres, epic arrangements, and some of the most accessible songs of their career. AMG: "A majestic beast of a record, even by Madrugada's not-too-humble standards." Witness "The Kids Are On High Street", "Stories From the Streets" and "The Lost Gospel". Since then the band has released a well-received live album (I'm looking for good price) and has began work on a new album which will be released in 2007.

Fans are still mourning the passing of Madrugada/My Midnight Creeps guitarist Robert Burås on July 12th. Since that sad day we've belatedly and finally come across a supply of Madrugada’s haunting 2005 live album, Live At Tralfamadore, at a bearable import price. An album released just 12 days after the astonishing gig at the Olso Spektrum in December 2005, documented here in glorious stereo. Feel it: "Hard To Come Back". Extras include songs from the 2005 Oya Festival and a couple other venues. Features special guest appearance by Kid Congo Powers, one of Robert’s guitar heroes.

They say a picture is worth 1000 words and it’s this picture of the Deltahead duo that (oddly enough) sums up their sound better than I’m about to… Cathartic scuzz-punk-blues-noir performed on hollow-body slide guitar and stand-up bass, both gents a-hollerin' and kicking the crap out of two enormous bass drums. Sounds piped through ancient, fluted amplification devices, an unholy racket, in the very best way. Brutal blues riffs, swinging washboard, screaming slide guitar and rockabilly upright bass, buried in filthy blankets of noise and queasy vibrations… “Don’t Move To Finland!” is their finest showing, has the least amount of foul language, and expresses a snide Scandinavian sentiment. Love it or leave it.

Finnish outfit Shogun Kunitoki does mind-altering instrumental throwback-krautrock epicery leavened with nifty postrock strategies. A cosmic, karmic, mantric, melodic, tribal, tidal froth that is akin to fellow Scandinavian instrumentalists Bjorn Olsson and Sagor & Swing, yet a bit more beholden to Neu!, Eno, and even Spiritualized than their peers (in a good way). Electronic music that’s lush and organic, with elements of 60s psychdelia and minimalism, 70s communal experimentalism, and 90s revivalism… Triumphant, orgasmic drone-rock that sounds better the louder it is and the more altered you are, from the simplest Kraftwerkian micro-circuit minimalismo to rapturous, frothy, epic electro-bombast, all within the same song! Check out the blindingly incandescent "Montezuma" and the equally tripped-out "Daniel". Pitchfork says: "Finnish electro-instrumentalist quartet breezily mix the minimalist repetitions of Terry Riley with the analog shimmer of Broadcast." Jim says "Pass the pipe, they're right!"

Nine-member Swedish “supergroup” Audionom does improvised, layered, skyscraping riffs and spelunking drones infused with a dark mechanized magic, sleekly chromed. Retrospectiv is a collection of the amorphous act’s mind-numbing guitar-mantras and mesmerizing drone-rock, all propelled by cosmically intense rhythms. Imagine Silverbullit prone to punishing krautrock extremes, Neu! bouncing around inside Hawkwind’s “Silver Machine”, Stereolab on steroids prescribed by Public Image Ltd., Joy Division ramped up to Bailter Space decibel levels… A few examples of Audionom’s total godhead high-velocity strobe-rock action: “And You Said I Was The Only One”, “Kristall”, “Dc2”, and “Spindlar”. This album will be released by the esteemed Kemado label (Dungen, Elefant, The Sword) in the U.S. later this year, apparently.

The Others is the garage-rocking cover-band alter-ego of veteran Finnish trio 22 Pistepirkko. Unsurprisingly there are other bands called The Others so this band’s official moniker is The Others AKA 22PP. Really rolls off the tongue, don’t it? So here’s where the 22-Pistepirkko gents get to apply their freak-pop/garage-weirdness to some of their most beloved influences… So what you get is a handful of wraparound Link Wray covers, a fistful of rockabilly legend Jody Reynold’s tip-toppers, a Kinks cover ("This Strange Effect”), a couple Troggs tributes (including “Girl In Black”), a Buddy Holly song...and my fave of the whole bunch: a genuine, gentle rendering of The Everly Brothers’ “Love Hurts”, which ranks right up there with classic versions of the same song by Gram & Emmylou and Nazareth in my book!

The Tiny are a trio, purveyors of a minimalist jazzy lushness led by the exquisite voice of Ellekari Larsson who’s backed by multi-instrumentalists Leo Svensson and Johan Berthling. Ellekari has previously lent her often-otherworldly, jazz-worthy, ethereal, Joanna Newsom-esque warble to albums by Vega and Heikki and even made a special appearance on Ed Harcourt’s last album. Ed returns the favor here and sings a duet with Ellekari on “Sorry”, one of the album’s many truly magical moments, along with the first single “Dirty Frames”. Play the name game for each song: will Ellekari channel Kate Bush, Bjork, or Billie Holiday…or all three at once?

Highly recommended solo-debut from Diamonds In The Rough AKA Ian Person, IFK Goteborg hooligan and guitarist-stage-left for The Soundtrack of Our Lives (and the legendary Union Carbide Productions before them). Not surprisingly Ian offers excellent songs, peerless guitar-wrangling, and a rapturous Beatlesque vibe… The surprise is the wondrous West Coast pop sound strewn among these diamonds. Achingly beautiful "Lone Summer Dream" popsongs, and of course Ian's TSOOL comrades are all over this effort. Check out "Spiders", the tripsy instrumental "C'Mon In", the Dylan-esque "Miss Elusive", and Ian as string-plucking folksy balladeer on "Make You Mine". Yet another incredible release by the Gravitation label, home to Bjorn Olsson's seafood series, Elope, Spring In Paris, etc.

The Lancaster Orchestra is a Malmo folkrock act led by melancholy-maestro Calle Mathson, whose songs are gilded and embroidered by some of Scandinavia's finest alt-country session men and even members of the Malmo Philharmonic Orchestra. Overcast, sepia-toned, harmony-laden folkrock that recalls The Band, The Byrds, fellow countryman Nicolai Dunger, Gram Parsons, The Jayhawks, and anything/everything by the Oldham/Palace posse. The stormy "Bad Horse" was featured on the Fargo label's acclaimed Cowboys In Scandinavia compilation released earlier this year, but it's the album's single and lead off track, "Newfound Friends", and Calle's even-more-heartbroken-than-the-original cover of The Smith's "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" (overwrought with despairing vocal, plaintive piano) that have set their hooks into me.

Dark and delirious debut from Denmark’s Skywriter, one of the strongest debuts in recent memory and likely to end up in my Top Ten for the year! Led by vocalist Jakob Dahn, he of the Leonard Cohen/Nick Cave/Morrissey-esque pipes and otherwise ruthless charms. Urban-noir as rendered by flaring guitars and ridiculously retro-cool epic-rock arrangements, as monumental as Madrugada, as demented as Nick Cave, and reveling in the genre-splicing echoing arch-coolness that makes new-wavers from several decades, like The Stranglers and Interpol, so appealing. Immerse yourself in "For Heaven's Sake", "Passengers", and "New York", and see if what compelled me compels you.

The new album from The Bear Quartet has caused even more consternation than their last album, Saturday Night, which ended up being quite a charmer, especially in retrospect! Eternity Now features discombobulating electronica, ghostly harmonies, and noise. Songs created entirely on electronic instruments, by one of the planet’s finest guitar bands. Go figure! Special guest vocalist: Mats Levin from Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force. Should’ve guessed! The first single is "The Repairing Of The Red Sea", but both "Faces" and "Broken Heart" certainly are...um...shorter! Check out this amazing and current interview with BQ frontman Mattias Alkberg, in English and French. He speaks about Eternity Now, the band’s history (and future) and his own punk band: Mattias Alkberg BD.

1999 is one of those contrail-spewing zoom-rock juggernauts that Sweden is becoming more and more famous for, like Silverbullit/Citizen Bird, Franke, Svenson… Colossal jetstream riffs, mechanized krautrock rhythms, serrated punk noise, and a crazy-ass vocalist/keyboardist/manchild, who also graces the album cover. Riff-mongering like "Beauty Is The Winner", the single "Legends", and the dangerously simple-minded "Hated People" are all the wrong things wrapped up thw right way. Think early-Wire and, oddly enough, recent Wire. Think The Stooges, early-Cure, Kim Gordon's Sonic Youth, Big Black, entire rosters from Homestead/Am Rep/Touch & Go/SST Records heyday, and your cult-heroic, all-time-favorite local band from wherever you were in 1989.

Long-awaited full-length album from Stockholm garage-glory rockers Wired For Mono, who follow-up their fairly awesome debut EP with a whirling storm of classic rock resurrection. Like their (pretty obvious) idols The Soundtrack of Our Lives (TSOOL’s Ebbot Lundberg is a big WFM fan) and Union Carbide Productions before them (and UCP disciples like Mazarine Street), the band clarifies retro-riffs to absolutely stunning effect on combustible open-throttle rockers like "All Set Up" and "No Straight Story" and their epic garage manifesto "Calling Down A Hard Rain". Wired For Mono tread a similar path to TSOOL, absorbing the soundtracks of their lives and straining it through a millennial filter that allows Mick Jagger to strut alongside The Charlatans, and The Saints.

One of this year's most beautiful and bizarre albums! Man Overboard from Swedish female duo Montys Loco starts out spectral and crystalline but in no time the hip-swinging girl-group smile-pop of "Give Me More" draws you in. But it's the fact that "Give Me More" is about addiction in its myriad forms and the edgy darkness and sultry spite of title track "Man Overboard" and the incendiary "Accident" that keep this from being your basic Swede-pop romp or Concretes-clone or Bjork-wannabe. It's not any of these. It is outlandish and enamoring, it is produced by the studio-genius Bjorn Yttling (Peter Bjorn And John) and it does come across like some sleepy, hyper-sensual sonic otherworld.

The sounds of Swedish septet Dexter’s Moon have been haunting me for many months, so it’s nice to finally make this available. Songs like the title track “Come Rain” and “Voodoo Girl" have been in heavy rotation in my lair for whenever a good mellowing was needed. Their debut album Come Rain is all about filmic folk-pop, with melodica and accordions droning away. Elemental music for stars in the spinning wheel of the sky, music for nightflowers and mushrooms that appear miraculously between dusk and dawn, and for the moon waxing between them. Likened to Low, Cat Power, Folksongs For The Afterlife, Mazzy Star, Kathleen Edwards…

Melancholy pop-spiritualism and dreamy harmonies coalesce o the new album, Easy Tensions, by Norwegian orch-drone-pop outfit Sleepyard. Equal parts straight-up orch-pop and tripsy, droning, schoing noddingness. Can it be mostly sun-dappled instrumentals but still loaded with luscious moonlit harmonies? Yes, it can. Check out “My Lush Friend” and “Memories of a Moondog”. Euphoric ethereal art-pop, dreamsicle choruses that don’t need verses, chanted mantras that sooth any troubled soul. Likened to XTC and The Byrds, Mellow and The High Llamas, with plenty of Beach Boys harmonic convergence.

Monumental garagerock from Swedish duo Johnossi. John sings in a Jeff Buckley-esque range and plays acoustic guitar through half-a-dozen effects pedals and several amplifiers, while brother-in-arms Ossi provides Bonham-esque drums. Listen to “The Show Tonight” and “The Lottery” and "Glory Days To Come" from their swaggering self-titled debut and you’ll know why I’m putting this album in my Top 3 for 2006, right between The Fine Arts Showcase and Hell On Wheels… Domestic release now available.

Gothic dance-rock in the pale hands of The Kid gets all passionate and hallucinogenic, two female voices detailing erotic hauntings with raven-winged musical accompaniment. Check out the incredible first single "Kit Club Hotel" and lead-off track "The Noble Art of Jealousy". Think New Order/Joy Division meets The Knife meets The Cure meets Love Is All. In addition to the full-length La Societe Nouvelle we also have limited stock of The Kid's self-releasd debut EP, entitled Pas De Chance and featuring "Bluebird".

Eight new songs from Orebo Sweden septet The Second Band! Like their last EP, What’s Up Tigerlilly, the spark and fire of Your Dark Side Is On The Phone still recalls a bubbly Bright Eyes or an apoplectic Ed Harcourt, and the band's West Coast 60s pop stylings continue to be rendered in a folksy heartwarming fashion, as joyfully and soulfully as possible! Check out "Wild Is The Wind" where something-in-the-water Swedish melancholy is traded in for high-spirited righteousness and a wholesome exuberance!

Searing guitar rock, soulful pop, nimble prog, and acid-drizzled psychedelic from Norwegian prog-pop-rock act Motorpsycho. Yet another totally amazing Scandinavian band who have been around for more than a decade and release an album every year or so. As if to make up for far too many years without a new album (their last was way back in 2002), Black Hole/Blank Canvas is 19-track DCD! A huge, sprawling, epic and stormy rock masterwork that the Norwegian music press is calling the best album of their storied career. Check in two standout tracks: Hyena and In Our Tree. Check out Limited edition book version here.

Hell On Wheels are pretty much my new favorite Swedish artist and it's always nice to "discover" a band who's been putting out records for a decade or so! Oh My God, What Have I Done? came out in 2003, and among the many highlights, tracks as powerful as "She Was A Milkmaid , And I Was A Gentleman" and "It's Wrong Being A Boy" stand out. But then there's the sugary viciousness of "Our Sweetness Has Become A Problem" in all its ballady effing goodness. Amazing record, 9 astounding noise-pop songs, highly recommend! Also, their new album (also see below), their 2001 debut album as well as their collection of EPs, singles and extras.

Debut full-length from Firefox AK (Andrea Kellerman, wife of Tiger Lou frontman Rasmus Kellerman). Heady and euphoric dance-pop not far removed from Annie, ABBA, and your fave bpm-friendly aerobics tunage! Madame, Madame! is sugar-coated electro-pop-invention of thee highest order. Check out Andrea's cover of Assid's "Habibi" and her own "What's That Sound". There are also two recent EPs as well, worth checking into!

Rusty Flores is a band hailing from far Northern Sweden, and like fellow Arctic Circlers The Perishers, Kristoffer Astrom, and Isolation Years they are often the sum of their meteorological and climactic influences. Sonic dramas drawn from the darkness, melancholy, elemental folk-rock rendered with exquisite charm and an undeniable handsomeness. Check out "Waiting Room" and "Bomb The Cabaret" and make room for Rusty Flores around the bonfire.

Sweden's Antennas (fomerly known as Novak) retrofit dirigible British soul pop with existential electronics and the effect is headswimming, minboggling pop with Buckley-esque vox. Music For Robots calls it "Totally off the hook, pure-pop genius...gorgeous melodies, big swells of orchestration, and Björkman's high, lilting vocals." Lend an ear to the album's two singles: "Always On My Mind" and "Adapt".

Hell on Wheels is one of Sweden's best kept musical secrets, until now. Influenced by the American/British indie scene from the late 80s and 90s, comparisons to The Pixies (a name I don't drop lightly!) are well-founded, in the very best way. Listen to the first single "Alexandr" from new album The Odd Church, plus "Heard You On The Radio", and "Stealing Notes from the Devil's Notebook". Catalog available too.

The Black Tango is the new album from Gothenburg Sweden’s Boy Omega. A 20-track opus, a collection of velvety folk-pop songs and hallucinatory interludes, where the Bright Eyes-esque blend of electronic and acoustic is (as expected) wonderful, and a nice contrast to his previous work. Have a listen to "Blocks" and "By Midnight We'll Give It A Go" and "Explode". Also available: Boy Omega's previous album and recent EP.

Isolation is the third album from Norway's Ricochets. A big classic rock sound bolstered with Hammond B3 organ and led by an even bigger voice. Includes the sultry, heartbroken “No Good”, one of very best woman-done-me-wrong-songs EVER WRITTEN. Meanwhile the single “Little Bit Of More” shows off the band’s roar (guitars, vocals, that organ again, all roaring) to fine effect. A truly great Scandinavian rock record.

On their second album, The Ghost Of Our Love, Ricochets' dirty Norwegian bohemian blues and crooner rock-n-roll recall The Doors and The Animals alot (Hammond organ, Fender guitar), although fans of Nick Cave, The Gun Club and The Afghan Whigs will find plenty to love here... Check out the title track, "The Ghost of Our Love", and "I Know You're Gonna Leave Me". Glitterhouse's DCD version includes the band’s entire debut album Slo-Mo Suicide as a bonus disc!

Norway's Cadillac is likened to At The Drive In, Queens of Stone Age, and fellow rock vikings The Hellacopters... All I know is that lead off single “Locomotive” is some of the best behemoth indieguitar heaviosity I’ve heard in years, total strobe light/fog machine rock. Magnetic City is chockfulla rock like this, including their cover of Siouxsie's “Arabian Knights”, yet another study in control and menace…

Monkeystrikes is band featuring former members of The Souls, most importantly vocalist Cecilia Nordlund, who's thermonuclear vocal range along with some truly gnarly guitar action are the highlights here. Check out "You Hate My Beautiful Love" from their new full length album of the same name and a sweetly sinister cover of Echo & The Bunnymen's classic "Killing Moon". Their previous EP was killer as well!

Britta Persson writes songs that are somewhat understated for someone with a voice as compelling as her's. On her debut EP entitled Found At Home songs like "Defrag My Heart" add a bit more zing, but either way the songs are luminous. Britta has been pairedup with labelmate Kristofer Astrom before and Kristofer produced this EP. Think Gemma Hayes, Rosie Thomas, and even Hem. Subtle, shadowy, beautiful songs.
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Laakso is one of those critically acclaimed and beloved Swedish (and partially Finnish) acts that might present a challenge to American ears, but with their new album My Gods the band has married their folksy guitar catharsis with a glossier popsense. Markus Krunegard's vocals still propel the songs in grand fashion on the first single "High Drama", and even get a bit Psychedelic Fur-ry on album opener "Once Again Late At Night". Laakso's previous albums and two EPs are equally genius.

El Perro Del Mar is a gal named Sarah who hangs out with Jens Lekman (they had a split 7" released by Secretly Canadian a ways back) and this new International Version of her recent full-length EPs collection El Perro Del Mar sounds like a long lost Phil Spector reel. Check out "Candy" and "I Can't Talk About It" and "God Knows (You Gotta Give To Get)" and you'll see what I mean. Her brand new You've Gotta Give To Get EP features three new songs...

Montt Mardie (pronouced mont mard-ee-ay) is the new Swedish pop hope, chasing the Acid House Kings' and Moneybrother's coattails but inflecting the soulful pop numbers which adorn his debut album Drama with snatches of classic stuff like The Stule Council, The Colourfield, and, um...Wham! In addition to the single "Highschool Drama" and the Colourfield-esque "How To Kill A Mockingbird" and 9 other originals there's a strangely unrecognizable cover of "Come On Eileen".
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Switching gears entirely we expect the lascivious and bawdy over-the-top garage rock sounds created by swishy Stockholm duo The High Heeled Honeys to convert and pervert anyone in earshot. Check out “Ride My K’Ruh” from their new Self-Titled EP. Many thanks to Brass Button (home to The Hip Whips and The Jan Martens Frustration) for getting me a stack of this Swedish rock action.

As if Bjorn Yttling’s work with spectacular guitar pop band Peter Bjorn And John wasn’t enough to place him on his own special pantheon, he turns to Yttling Jazz. Check out "Tokyo Hyatt" and "Mr. Sophistication At The Losers Club". I'll admit I'm no jazzhound and I love this because it’s Bjorn Yttling, but by all accounts from those who know their jazz this is a remarkable achievement in any realm, with a great sweeping bow to his influences: Mingus, The White Noise, Ennio Morricone, and Joe Meek.

This Is Where Our Hearts Collide is the debut from Northern Sweden outfit Amandine, a collection of lush, atmospheric country and moonlight dappled soft rock meandering. Songs that becomes more and more elegant with each passing track. Check out the luminous new single "Halo" and the heartrending "Blood And Marrow". Fans of Leopold and fellow Umea residents Isolation Years will find much to love here, while reviewers are dropping names like Oldham, Songs:Ohia, Crosby Still Nash & Young, Iron & Wine, and The Band.