Mailorder news: re-stocks of Hello Saferide, Firefox AK and Maia Hirasawa should be arriving today along with new records from Thunder Express and They Live By Night. Check back soon! New CDs from Kristofer Åström and Laakso are ordered and supposedly on the way along with all the latest from Hybris - Montt Mardié, Vapnet, etc.

The tracklist for Montt Mardié's forthcoming double album "Clocks/Pretender":

Clocks:
01. In which we meet the clocks and a song is reveled (Too many songs unwritten)
02. Set sail tomorrow
03. Birthday boy (drama)
04. I will write a book
05. Let's get away from it all
06. 1969
07. Travelers
08. The windmill turns all the same
09. How I won the war
10. In which a sailor returns and we say good-bye for now (Set sail tomorrow)

Pretender:
01. Surprised (with Andreas Mattsson)
02. Metropolis (with Fredrik Hellström of Le Sport)
03. Once I was so in love that I followed (with Bobby Baby)
04. Castle in the sky (with Jens Lekman)
05. Hurry home (with The Legends)
06. Daughters (with Peder Stenberg of Deportees)
07. Hacienda (with Christian Zellinger)
08. När vi gett dom våld ska vi ge er kärlek (with Vapnet)
09. Grand Prix finals (with Mr Suitcase)
10. Pretenders (with Hello Saferide)

As mentioned before, it comes out April 18 via Hybris. Buy the first single "The windmill turns all the same" and download a free track here: http://tinyurl.com/yoo7nl

Säkert!
s/t
Razzia Records

As you might already know, this is Annika (Hello Saferide) Norlin's new project sung entirely in Swedish. I've listened to it quite a lot, and I must say I hold pure unconditional love for this album. It's quite odd, since I'm not the biggest Hello Saferide fan. The songs here are extremely peppy, and Annika's vocal delivery and lyrics are quite often undoubtedly inspired by Jakob Hellman (e.g. the "Jag vill inte gå på återträff och återträffa dig" line in "Sanningsdan"), which is fine since there's nothing wrong with sounding like the man who released the best ever album sung in the Swedish language, is there? The best song on the album is actually (as previously posted by Avi) "Sanningsdan" - a duet with Martin Hanberg from Vapnet (there's also another fine duet with Markus from Laakso). The rest of the songs are also fantastic, even the slow songs are great. I never expected I'd like this album this much, but I do! I do!
- Simon Tagestam

Pitchfork on the new Vapnet single with Jens Lekman: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/forkcast/41690

There's a brand new Vapnet song on myspace featuring guest vocals from Jens Lekman: http://www.myspace.com/vapnet
The track will appear on the forthcoming MCD "Något nytt dåligt har hänt" to be released on April 4 via Hybris.

MP3: Säkert! - Sanningsdan

It was never a matter of if I was going to post something from Säkert!, the Swedish-language project of Annika Norlin aka Hello Saferide, only a matter of when. Naturally, I am predisposed to enjoy the record - how could I not? I'm obviously a big enough fan of Hello Saferide that I decided it was worth a couple thousand dollars to press her debut album on vinyl and promote it in the US. Factor in that Annika is backed on the record by some of Umeå's best musicians and I'm sold before I've heard a note. It's no secret that I hold Norrland's capital city near and dear to my heart - my label's first release was from KVLR, another band from that same city. So what do you get when you have Henrik Oja from The Spacious Mind plus Mats Hammarström and Daniel Berglund from Isolation Years all making music together? Hopefully you've heard the brilliant debut single "Vi kommer att dö samtidigt" already; if not please recitify that right away. Um, can you say pop hit of the year? It's good enough that it's already inspired an English cover version from The Animal Five. I'm a bit torn on which track is the runner-up - it was either "Allt som är ditt" or today's mp3 post "Sanningsdan". The former is a fantastic song, but it's also a bit more downbeat (it reminds me a lot of something from Johndoe's "Dødvinkel", one of my favorite albums from 2006), so I've gone with the latter. It's a duet with Martin Hanberg of Vapnet and it practically stands up and demands a video treatment. It also demands repeat plays with the way it stops, restarts and fades out. So infectious! I wish I could tell you what it's about, but I can't so I won't. Just enjoy the song.
Buy the self-titled album: [click here]

Säkert! - Sanningsdan (ft. Martin Hanberg)

Read a report from last night's Tack!Tack!Tack! show featuring Vapnet and Cat5: [click here]
For another take on the evening, go here: http://hotstufffiles.com/2007/01/23/unshielded-twisted-cables-cat-5-tack-tack-tack
For yet another report, go here: http://acediscovery.blogspot.com/2007/01/cat5.html

Live report: Cat5 + Vapnet @ the Social, London UK 01/22/07

As you may have already noticed, Vapnet will be heading to the UK next week to play Tack!Tack!Tack!. Well, they've also added a few extra dates to the journey:

01/22 - The Social, London w/Cat5 (Tack!Tack!Tack!)
01/23 - The Cellar, Oxford w/Borderville, Jack Harris
01/24 - Nice n' Sleazy, Glasgow (Sounds of Sweden)

The nominees for the 2007 Manifest Awards, Sweden's alternative to the Grammy:

Hip-hop/R&B/Soul:
Up Hygh! - Venus - The Album (Raw Fusion/Border)
Ison & Fille - Stolthet (Hemmalaget/V2/BAM)
Supersci - Pinetrees On The Pavement (Flyphonic/Lights Out/Border)
Lazee - It Is What It Is (Skrilla Music)
Promoe - The White Mans Burden (Burning Heart/BAM)
Electronica/Post-rock/Synth:
Covenant - Skyshaper (Subspace Communications/Playground Music)
Ebb - Loona (Gaymonkey Records/Border)
FAP - Malekasino Dondolo (Stupid Dream Records/Musicspot)
System - Sample And Hold (Progress Productions/Border)
The Idealist - I Am The Fire (AA/Nosordo/dotshop.se)
Pop/Rock:
The Radio Dept. - Pet grief (Labrador/Border)
Nicolas Makelberge - Dying in Africa (*Rico/Border)
Fibes, Oh Fibes! - Emotional (Pluxemburg/Playground Music)
The Concretes - In Colour (Licking Fingers/Playground Music)
Ebba Forsberg - Ebba Forsberg (EBOTH Production/BAM)
Jazz:
My Engström Renman - Abdominous (Footprint Records/CDA)
Jonas Kullhammar Quartet - Son of a Drummer (Moserobie/BAM)
Oddjob – Luma (Amigo/BAM)
Oskar Schönning - Happy Jazz, Please (Amigo/BAM)
Lennart Åberg with Peter Erskine - Free Spirit (Amigo/BAM)
Singer/Songwriter:
Andreas Mattsson - The Lawlessness Of The Ruling Classes (Hybris/Playground Music)
Britta Persson - Top Quality Bones And A Little Terrorist (Amigo/BAM)
The Lancaster Orchestra - Never Cried Once When I Could Have (Rootsy.nu/Border)
Loney, Dear - Sologne (Dear John Recordings/Dotshop.se)
Nina Ramsby & Martin Hederos - Jazzen (Amigo/BAM)
Dance/House/Techno:
The Knife - Silent Shout (Rabid Records/Border)
Unai - A Love Moderne (Force Tracks/Intergroove)
Dibaba - samlad produktion 2006 (Plong!/Kompakt mfl)
Pluxus - Solid State (Pluxemburg/Playground Music)
The Studio - West Coast (Information/Border)
Hard-rock/Punk:
In Flames - Come Clarity (Nuclear Blast/Sound Pollution)
Fingerspitzengefühl - Happy Doomsday (Kooljunk Communications/CDA)
Asta Kask - En För Alla Ingen För Nån (Burning Heart/BAM)
Wolverine - Still (Candlelight Records/Sound Pollution)
Memfis - The Wind-Up (Dental Records/TMC Nordic)
Folk/World/Reggae
Bosse Skoglund – Groovesopor (Rub-a-dub Records/Border)
Göran Månsson - Mon (Nordic Tunes/CDA)
Bebo Valdés – Bebo (Calle 54/BMG Dist)
Lena Willemark - Älvdalens elektriska (Amigo/BAM)
Ranarim - Morgonstjärna (Drone/CDA)
Best live act:
The Radio Dept.
Mapei
The Knife
The Je Ne Sais Quoi
Slagsmålsklubben
Best newcomer:
Vapnet - Jag Vet Hur Man Väntar (Hybris/Playground)
Britta Persson - Top Quality Bones And A Little Terrorist (Amigo/BAM)
The Kid - La Société Nouvelle (Hybris/Playground)
Loney, Dear - Sologne (Dear John Recordings/Dotshop.se)
Lo-Fi-Fnk - Boylife (La Vida Locash/dotshop.se)
Best unsigned act (Digfi Prize):
The Wonderful Guinea Pigs (Linköping)
Denver Mod (Jönköping)
The Open Up And Bleeds (Stockholm)
Trucker Cleavage (Stockholm)
Ikons (Göteborg)

Top 10s for 2006: Staff picks

Henry Morgan's Solokarriär
Untitled
self-released

Henry Morgan's Solokarriär is an untitled 4-track CDr, one of 20 sent to fanzines and alike. "One day, one day" is the opener, a two part: frenetic machined drums with largess lyrical delivery which brings the song to dreamy places. Unforced, Morgan is almost staccato in conveying the emotion in each song. There's that same nervous excitement about the songs heard throughout Vapnet's "Thoméegränd" track. Take a torrid hometown melancholy on "Face from my hometown", "It's not my heart that speaks, but the quivering of an old wound" he sings. "Keeping Me Warm" is the least accomplished of four otherwise decent tracks, including a cute cover of Bright Eyes' "An attempt to tip the scale". If you are one of the 19 others to get a copy of this disc - let's start an old fashioned fan club because, as it stands Henry Morgan's Solokarriär, is one of the best of 2006.
- Jason Christie

MP3: The Sweptaways - Let my shoes lead me forward

Let's talk about Sweden's other 20+ member indie choir The Sweptaways. The group's standard repertoire is a capella group versions of pop hits and their debut album "Ooh ahh" is chock-full. It features indie-hits by fellow Swedes Vapnet, El Perro Del Mar, The Embassy and Jenny Wilson (today's featured track) as well as songs from the likes of Kiss, Black Sabbath, Pet Shop Boys and Kate Bush ("Wuthering heights", the first single). Sometimes the formula works, sometimes not. Their take on Sabbath's classic ballad "Changes" is disappointing and a few other song selections were never that good to begin with and are not improved by The Sweptaways vocal treatment. There are many highlights, but I can't help feeling that they are better appreciated as a live act with their fanciful costumes and choreography. A studio recording is a poor substitute. Still, they manage to narrowly avoid status, so that's got to mean something. Oh, and their version of "Silver bells" together with Magnus Carlson and the Gray Brigade (listen here) is fantastic.

The Sweptaways - Let my shoes lead me forward

Hybris has posted the new Vapnet single "Färjemansleden" as a free download: http://hybrism.blogspot.com/2006/10/vapnet-new-single-frjemansleden.html

I can't believe I spaced on mentioning it yesterday, but look to the right for a brand new interview with Martin Abrahamsson of Vapnet: [click here]