Love is All!

Love is All is just what i need to start off my day and get some things done today! The group is based in Gothenburg based, but because of extensive touring in the US, they are already loved by indie-kids "over there".

You cant stay neutral to Josephines voice or the cacophony of sounds coming at you when you put it on. And you know how i love a special voice! Unfortunately i haven't seen them live, but Im pretty sure it would be great :) With a great band name, and energetic songs they remind me of The Hives in the beginning of their career.

Kick off your day with some love too! Check out their great video below!

Ageing Had Never Been His Friend


Front-cover picture from the new album A Hundred Things To Keep Me Up At Night

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To find out more, check out their official website LoveIsAll.se. Also, check out this interview from Pitchfork.
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Interview: Stina Nordenstam

Enjoy one of the few interviews with Stina, for the early days of her career.

Saturdays with Stina Nordenstam

Its a sunny Saturday and all the energy i would hope to have this weekend is nowhere to be found. I listen to Stina Nordenstam, who has been a part of my musical library since the mid-90ties when i was introduced to her. Memories Of a Color still has a magic i cant shake from a time when i was growing up...

Over the years Stina has released a series of album, from sweet delicate songs with jazz influences, to the more darker ones with electronica influenced beats. She even made covers of songs like Love Hurts & Purple Rain and made it to something of her own. Stina has been compared to Björk because of her special voice, strong and delicate at the same time. I don't know much about her since she is very a very private person who doesnt like to talk to the press. She has not been seen or heard from in the public light for a long time. Her last album The World is Saved was released in 2004.

It would be a dream come true to be able to see her live, but its very unlikely that i ever will. Her music is meant for magical, sleepy Saturdays like this one...

Little Star


Everyone Else in The World


Trainsurfing


So Lee


Dynamite


Front cover picture from The World is Saved

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Official website: StinaNordenstam.com and a more unofficial one: StinaNordenstam.net
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Disappointments of a dinosaur

A month with Spotify and the joy of something new and inspiring has worn off a bit. The possibilities are so endless that it feels a bit soulless after a while. At times i felt a bit forced trying to find what i have always missed, music wise, other times im disappointed for not being able to find some of the somewhat underground artist's that i like. No surprise there, its mostly big labels that have connected themselves to the database.

The news surrounding Spotify this week is regarding the fact that the big labels now wants to limit the use of songs and artists depending on where you live etc. What was from the start a great idea will now be limited and slowly fade away. Because we all know that if the customer feels limited and cant find what they are looking for, they will probably go back to illegal downloads again.

With nostalgia i remember the old hunt for cheap records (and im not the only one feeling that way) and im not even one of those people who bought a lot of LP's back in the day. I still love the smell of a great printed cover, like mini pieces of art to bright up my day. These days my record shopping is limited to buying them at gigs, directly from the artist with the memory of a great live experience connected to the little piece of plastic. I know im a relic, a dinosaur, a dying breed, but i still love CD's.

Spotify Press Picture

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Read more about the news at Spotify.com
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... help!

Hi everyone! Seems like the layout for my blog isn't wide enough to fit Youtube's widescreen videos. I'm not blessed with a talent to edit HTML code, so im asking if any of you, the readers, knows how to do this?

Im very grateful for any help i can get!

The Art of Making a Great Cover [part II]

Another great example where the cover turned out great is Maia Hirasawa's version of The Ark's song The Worrying Kind. In 2007 The Ark, with their energetic glam-rock competed with this song in the Swedish verison of the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2008 Maia performed this great cover and over night she got her breakthrough here in Sweden and went from independent singer-song writer to being at the top of the charts and "Maia" with the whole Swedish people. Watch both of the versions below.

Maia Hirasawa - The Worrying Kind [2008]


The Ark - The Worrying Kind [2007]

The Art of Making a Great Cover [part I]

I came to think about the art of making a great cover when i heard Carola on the TV. She made a song called Evighet (Eternity) for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 and won in Sweden. Im not a fan of Carola, but the year after Tomas Andersson Wij performed a great cover of this song... and suddenly the song made sense! This is an example when the cover is so much better than the original. Watch them both below.

-- Which one is your favorite cover? --

Evighet - Tomas Andersson Wij [2007]


Evighet - Carola [2006]