The Holidays are Here!

For all of you Swedophiles who feel tired of the traditional Celine Dion Christmas songs i have something for you. Oh, no its Christmas! was released by Razzia Records last year and feature many of our favorite artists and their versions of Christmas songs.

Just to name a few: Hello Saferide, Kristofer Åström, The Soundrtack Of Our Lives, Maia Hirasawa, Laakso, Firefox AK, Tiger Lou among others.

Go check it out!

A Night at Storan

Earlier this year Hello Saferide released her second album, produced by indie pop icon Andreas Mattson. I looked forward to it a great deal and was somewhat disappointed when it showed up. It didn't give me that immediate feeling of pleasure in the backbone like i had last time. I have been listening to it, but felt that it was a little bit too slick, a bit over produced maybe. I had heard this before but hoped that the articles was wrong.

So came the night when my friends and me went to see her live at Storan. My expectations were probably kind of low at first, but after a couple of songs i realized that her new songs are great! They just needed a bit of the rough live feeling, the in-between talks, the audience and Annikas energy pouring off the stage into us. And even though the audience was young and loud (in a not always nice way) the love was in the air. Both Andreas Mattson and Andrea Kellerman [Firefox AK] joined her on stage, which gave the songs Long Lost Penpal and Overall an extra dimension.

I understand the pressure she must feel, releasing another album after the first one. Can she be successful once again? I understand why she did something different, but still the same. Its still Modern Short Stories made the Annika-way :)

----
Check out Hello Saferides website for more information, also here is a review of the album in Gothenburgs local newspaper.
----

Tiger Lou

Tiger Lou is one of those indie bands that no one understand is Swedish. They are not very well known, at least in the public eye, but has a rather large fan base (just look at the scrobbles on last.fm). Their presence in the Tv series O.C could be an explanation why. They play easy, atmospheric indie-rock that is easy to return to. Its easy to fit them on a nice compilation CD :)

Rasmus Kellerman (married to Andrea Kellerman aka Firefox AK) started the group that seems to alternate between being a solo project and a band. He is a talented man who plays most instruments on his own and also finds time to be a member in a few other bands on the side. Rasmus is also a Graphic Designer which shows in all their high quality press and merchandise goods.

Two albums and a couple of EPs has been released. My favorite album is still "Is My Head Still On?" from 2004, with songs like "Oh, Horatio", "Sellout", "The Sound Of Crickets" and "Like You Said". Take some time and get to know them, i think you might like it!

Press picture: Luger
---
Read more on the Luger site
---