It's taken me over two months, but I've finally got a new streaming playlist for you. Check it out over in the article section on the right. Come to think of it, that was probably the last time I spent the day brewing beer, too. But I digress - selections this time around include new tracks from David Fridlund, Logh, Kristofer Åström and Convoj as well as demo stuff from Britta Persson and Plain Fade along with a bunch of other choice cuts from stuff I've been listening to. I admit it's not very lovey-dovey, but consider it my Valentine's day gift to you anyway.

Streaming Playlist: Now playing

Britta Persson will release her debut EP "Found at home" on March 16 via Startracks. Here's the tracklist:

01. A dad for you
02. Defrag my heart
03. When you leave
04. The past is not for real
05. Stockholm-Amsterdam

The En Ljummen i Gräset festival website has posted a bunch of live tracks from last year's show, including stuff from Richard Reagh, Britta Persson, Loney, Dear, Plod, Ef, Fire Fox and more: http://www.ljummen.com/index.php?page=tidigare

Top 10s for 2004: It's a trap!

Britta Persson has confirmed that she recorded a new EP together with Kristofer Åström and Micke Herrström for release in February/March via Startracks.

Top 10s for 2004: Jason Christie

Surburban Kids with Biblical Names and Britta Persson flipped their van just outside Skellefteå on Saturday. Luckily, no one was hurt, but they were definitely shaken up and decided to cancel their remaining tourdates. Scary stuff.

Rumor has it that hyped singer/songwriter Britta Persson will be doing an EP for Startracks early next year after a turmulous bidding war between quite a few labels. I'd naturally assume that Kristofer Åström will produce (remember, she guested on "Loupita"), but I doubt anything's been confirmed yet. Still no word on a full-length, but it seems like shes taking the patient route to success. Wait and see.

Well, it's December so that means it's time for a new album of the month. Kristofer Åström's "Loupita" is easily one of my top picks for the year, so it's quite the fitting choice for my end of the year spotlight. I'm sure mostly everyone is sick to death of me raving on and on about how good this is, but seriously, if you haven't given it a chance yet, do yourself a favor and check it out. I promise you won't be disappointed. I contemplated posting a new mp3 from the record, but instead decided to go with something a bit more special: a live recording of Kristofer singing the album highlight and lead single "The wild" with Britta Persson from Startracksdagen in Stockholm. Amazing. Can't wait to hear the new full-band album "So much for staying alive" when it comes out next March.

I don't know how exactly I got roped into this, but I'm the media sponsor for a Sunday afternoon club event in Stockholm called 'For the Record' at the downstairs lounge in Café String. Obviously, I don't get a chance to attend in person, but there's quite a cool lineup of artists booked:

07/18 - Britta Persson, Thomas Denver Jonsson
07/25 - Dialog Cet
08/08 - Edson, Emil Jensen
08/15 - The Virtues
08/22 - Labrador Records day
08/29 - Filled

Should be fun I hope. Check out a flyer here: http://www.itsatrap.com/pix/ftr.jpg

The full line-up and schedule for the En ljummen i gräset Festival at Vintervikens trädgård has been announced:

07/24: Differnet, Loney, Dear, K (Krister Linder/Dive), The Fine Arts Showcase, EF, The Sorayas, Deltahead, Cirera, Walter Sound System
07/28: Jens Lekman, Britta Persson, Natasha Lea Jones (UK)
07/31: Popundret, richard reagh&wwnb2, QOPH, Namur, I Love You Baby, The Bright And Shiny, Thomas Denver Jonsson, Tony Clifton, Walter Sound System
08/07: The Deportees, Paatos, Montys Loco, Empire Dogs, The Tiny, Plod, Dexter's Moon, Walter Sound System
08/11: Heikki, Hip Whips
08/14: First Floor Power, Ane Brun, Rundfunk, Tobias Fröberg, Fire fox, The Sunshine, Le Muhr, Un Rodo Cora

More info: http://www.ljummen.com/

Top ten: First half 2004

Kristofer Åström - There For / Loupita (Startracks)
Two new acoustic-based releases from the Fireside frontman. The "There For" EP is a mostly bare-bones affair with just a bit of string augmentation and not much more. Good stuff, but probably just for people who are already fans. Now "Loupita" is a different story. It's all acoustic as well, but it's much more fleshed out and features plenty of guest vocals from Britta Persson (see her demo review below) and beautiful slide guitar work from producer Mattias Friberg of Logh. The obvious point of reference is Iron & Wine for the style and instrumentation, but the recording quality is not nearly as quaint. Well, except for the one home-recorded instrumental track "Loupita #2". At first I was thinking this was going to end up more as a teaser for the upcoming full band album due out later this year, but it is more than capable of standing on its own. As always, the songs are great. There's no question about that, but it's the vibe that takes it to the next level. The atmosphere is so relaxed and comfortable that Kristofer breaks a string on the song "Devil" and they left it on the final CD version. That sort of touch brings an extra sense of humanity and intimacy to the music which is something that can't be manufactured with rack units, mixing consoles or the like. And unlike a lot of stuff I've been hearing lately, the CD gets better the deeper you get into it. The second half (including the Friberg-penned track "I collect knives") is absolutely sublime, right through the end with the closer "Just another lovesong". Highly recommended.

Britta Persson - 4-song demo CDR
If you've heard anything off of Kristofer Åström's new album "Loupita", you already know that Britta possesses an excellent voice. Kristofer's vote of confidence should make that go without saying. I was quite curious to hear what caught Kristofer's attention, so I was very excited to get this demo for my own listening pleasure. I was not let down - Britta is obviously a young lady of much talent and these four songs show a lot of potential. The singing is great - we already know that, but the songs are pretty strong as well and there's definitely some good ideas at work. My sole complaint is that her English is less than stellar and her lyrics suffer accordingly. Maybe I'm too old or something, but lines like "What I need is a program to defrag my heart" make me cringe. Still, she's young and this is only a demo, so I'm not sweating it. I look forward to hearing her in the future, as I don't doubt she'll be getting better and better.