The Swede Beat #14

Issue #14 of The Swede Beat is now online: http://www.theswedebeat.com/magazine/swedish-101-14/
Featured artists include First Aid Kit, video director Marcus Söderlund and Dag För Dag.

The Tiny to play UK, France

Upcoming international (non-Scandinavian) live dates for The Tiny:

03/04 - Union Chapel, London (UK) w/First Aid Kit
03/24 - Cabaret Electric, Le Havre (FRA)
03/27 - Le Ciel, Grenoble (FRA)
03/31 - La Poudriére, Belfart (FRA)
04/01 - Le Maroquinerie, Paris (FRA)
04/02 - L'Atelier, Cluses (FRA)
05/03 - The Borderline, London (UK)

Full schedule at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thetinythetiny

This week's top 20 Swedish album chart

This week's top 20 Swedish album chart:

01. Torgny Melin - Dansbandsnatt
02. Zekes - En sån natt
03. Erik Grönwall - Erik Grönwall
04. Amanda Jenssen - Happyland
05. Calle Kristiansson - Calle Kristiansson
06. Nordman - Korsväg
07. Freda' - Ett mysterium
08. Kent - Röd
09. Dan Berglund - Tonbruket
10. Willy Clay Band - Blue
11. Thåström - Be-bop-a-lula hela jävla dan (1989-2009)
12. Gentlemen - Awaken me
13. Lars Winnerbäck - Tänk om jag ångrar mig och sen ångrar mig igen
14. Melissa Horn - Säg ingenting till mig
15. Malena Ernman - La voix du nord
16. Date - Här och nu!
17. Nils Landgren Funk Unit - Funk for life
18. First Aid Kit - The big black & the blue
19. Bo Kaspers Orkester - Samling
20. Joel Alme - Waiting for the bells

This week's Last.fm chart

Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week, unique to our group:

01. Shout Out Louds
02. First Aid Kit
03. Jonathan Johansson
04. Håkan Hellström
05. Kent
06. The Magnetic Fields
07. Oh No Ono
08. Beach House
09. Loney, Dear
10. The Radio Dept.

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

Musik med First Aid Kit

Live music at PSL with sister duo First Aid Kit: http://blogg.svt.se/psl/2010/01/25/musik-med-first-aid-kit-3/

First Aid Kit debut album to come in January

First Aid Kit have confirmed that their full-length debut "The big black and the blue" will be released on January 25 via Wichita Recordings.

TLOBF interviews First Aid Kid

The Line of Best Fit interviews Swedish sister duo First Aid Kit: http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/2009/11/tlobf-interview-first-aid-kit/

First Aid Kit - Hard believer (video)

First Aid Kit have a new video for the song "Hard believer": http://vimeo.com/6416192

Festival report: Roskilde 2009

First Aid Kit reviewed at Under the Radar

Under the Radar reviews Swedish sister duo First Aid Kit: http://www.undertheradarmag.com/reviews/drunken_trees_ep/

Ane Brun live DVD preview

Check out a teaser clip from Ane Brun's upcoming live DVD "Ane Brun - Stockholm Concert Hall", due out in September: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5MfQ-Wa584
Members of the backing choir include a number of prominent Swedish artists, including Anna Ternheim, Lisa Ekdahl, First Aid Kit, Tobias Fröberg, Elin Ruth Sigvardsson, Liv Widell (Don't Be a Stranger), Anja Bigrell (Montys Loco) and more.

Sad Day For Puppets
Live @ The Social, London, UK - 02/23/2009

This week is a great week for Swedish music connoisseurs living in London, both Sad Day for Puppets and First Aid Kit are playing here. Yesterday I went to The Social to see Sad Day for Puppets. First up were The Deer Tracks (also from Sweden), who play music I don't get at all – some kind of slow ambient electro drone. There are fans of this genre, I'm pretty certain on that, but I don't associate with them. I watched half their set, then I ordered another beer and sat down as far away from the stage I could.

Sad Day for Puppets are great, their album is very solid and they've got some blinding songs (they sound a bit like a more melodic The Radio Dept. or a more shoegazing Camera Obscura). Yesterday it was all shambles though, mostly due to the sound situation being catastrophic. Over the weekend I went to a festival in Oslo and, despite short changeovers and stressed out musicians, nothing there sounded as bad as yesterday's show. There was feedback throughout the whole set and Anna Ecklund's vocals were barely audible (something that the crowd kept pointing out, alas to no avail). I don't blame the band, they did as best as they could, just a shame that they had to suffer on the behalf of a sound engineer not being able to do his job (The Deer Tracks brought their own engineer who annoyingly ran back and forth all the time to check that the sound was ok, but at least he got the job done). I'm not particularly fussy about how a gig sounds, as long as I can hear the vocals I'm usually ok, so this was a very rare occasion where the quality of the sound actually ruined my whole gig experience. A total waste of £6 and an evening.
- Simon Tagestam

Festival report: by:Larm 2009 - Day 3

Festival report: by:Larm 2009 - Day 2

2009 Manifest Award winners

Here are the winners of the 2009 Manifest Awards, Sweden's alternative Grammy:

Jazz: Bobo Stenson Trio - Cantando (ECM/Naxos)
Punk/Hardcore: Disco Volante - We are forever (Not enough)
Hårdrock/Metal: Grand Magus - Iron Will (Rise above/Border)
Rhythm: Movits - Äppelknyckarjazz (BD Pop/Universal)
Experimental: Anders Dahl - Doorbells (Bombaxbombax)
Hip-hop/RnB/Soul: Chords - Things We Do For Things (Juju/Playground)
Best Live: Robyn (Konichiwa Records)
Folk/Visa: Gunnel Mauritzson Band - Det som sker...(Sandkvie Records/CDA)
Synth: Elegant Machinery - A soft exchange (Out of Line/Sound Pollution)
Singer/Songwriter: First Aid Kit - Drunken Trees (Rabid Records/Border)
Pop: Frida Hyvönen - Silence Is Wild (Licking Fingers/Playground)
Rock: Pascal - Galgberget (Novoton/Bonnier Amigo)
Dance: Style of Eye - Duck cover and hold (Pieces of eight records)
MySpace-prize for best unsigned act: Tim Schmidt
Vice Label Award: Service

Read more here: http://www.manifestgalan.se/125.aspx