Mikael Lind - Thoork

Swedish Iceland-based artist Mikael Lind is working on a new piece that shows him heading in a more organic direction and is offering an unfinished preview at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/mikaellind

MP3: Mikael Lind - Upprisa

I expressed interest in Mikael Lind after checking his recent mini-album download so the artist was kind enough to send over a copy of his CD "Alltihop" for perusal. Now that I've dug a little deeper, I realize I've actually heard him before through the very excellent "Postawakeningsound" download comp. If you dig skittery, dreamlike electronica, that's a must-have; as for "Alltihop", it's much more composed and demanding... to a point. Lind is not one for whom words such as "loud" or "brash" would ever fit, his music always lies on the mellower end of the spectrum. "Upprisa" is a good example: despite the bass-heavy Rhodes-style keys taking the lead, the drums are squelched into static and the melodic counterpoint is taken on with light strings and soft pads. There are elements of pop in the structure too, but in the end it seems that Lind lets his classical-influenced tendencies lead the piece in a straight line rather than through circles. Ideally, I think this would sound best on live acoustic instruments, but until he gets himself an ensemble, this is still quite nice.

Mikael Lind - Upprisa

Mikael Lind offers free piano improvisations

Swedish-born/Icelandic-living artist Mikael Lind recently recorded a mini-album of piano improvisations and is offering the collection as a free download: http://mikaellind.blogspot.com/2009/06/piano-improvisations-free-mp3-album.html
I haven't had a chance to listen yet myself, but the songs he has streaming in the sidebar sound quite good (though a bit more fleshed-out).

Phonophani, the solo project of Espen Sommer Eide from Alog, has a new track posted as part of the "Postawakeningsound" mp3 comp: http://www.skyapnea.com/postawakeningsound/
Other Scandinavian contributors include Prugelknaben (NOR) and Mikael Lind (SWE).