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Tag archives for jj

Festivals Festivals!

4 comments

Hello there,

Time has come for this blog to get a little well-earned holiday. To go fishing, camping, swimming. Eat pickled herring, drink snaps, hang out at Ingmar Bergman’s Fårö. Dance around naked singing the Wicker Man theme.
You know, Swede stuff.

But before that, let’s figure out which festivals to attend! I’m playing live at some and DJing at others, but really I think I’d go either way because in recent years Swedish festivals have really stepped up their game.
There are more of them and they aim a lot higher. They are bigger (or smaller) and better. (And sometimes faster and harder but I don’t go to those).

Just take Gothenburg’s Way Out West for example. It was recently chosen by Time Out Magazine as one of the five hottest festivals in Europe. And with Prince, Kanye West and Robyn topping the bill, who can blame them?

Aside from Way Out West, here are a few other ones you shouldn’t miss – and some (Swedish) reasons as to why not:

Peace And Love
28 June – 2 july, Borlänge

Go there for:
Oskar Linnros, Lykke Li, Those Dancing Days

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJaFgeLTYgY
Oskar Linnros Från Och Med Du

(And if you want it translated, go here for a recent cover of that very song, in English by Magnus Carlsson and The Moon Quartet. And them you can see live at Hultsfred, below).

Non Swede-bonus: Oh, and Bob Dylan is coming….

Putte i Parken
6-9 Juli, Karlskoga

Go there for: Syket, Veronica Maggio, Peter Bjorn And John

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCZtSnXwcd4
Syket Let It Heal


Arvikafestivalen
14-16 July, Arvika

Go there for:
First Aid Kit, Museum of Bellas Artes, The Concretes (yes that’s me)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8jIb74ldpg
First Aid Kit Hard Believer


Hultsfredfestivalen
14 – 16 July, Hultsfred

Go there for:
The Tallest Man On Earth, The Sound Of Arrows, This Is Head

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG2ccH8jlCA
The Tallest Man On Earth Where Do My Bluebird Fly

Also, listen to a brand new and very pretty song by Kristian Matsson (TTMOE) here. Judging by the lyrics the song may be called There Is No Leaving Now (but There Is No Way Of Knowing That For Sure).

 

Emmaboda
27-30 July
Emmaboda

This remains the indie festival to end all indie festivals.
It’s a lovely little thing and usually a great place to catch bands early.

Go there for:

jj, Daniel Adams-Ray, This Is Head

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71PrWLvO7Z8
Daniel Adams-Ray Gubben i Lådan

 

Storsjöyran
28-30 July, Östersund

Go there for:
Veronica Maggio, Niki & The Dove, Håkan Hellström

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjZwz3yxS9I
Veronica Maggio Jag Kommer

Also, you can donload Niki & The Doves The Fox for free here.

 

Popagandafestivalen
26-27 August, Eriksdalsbadet Stockholm

This is one of my favourites. We played last year and it’s just so nice and civilized and always a brilliant lineup. Not to mention it’s in my home town!

Go there for:
(More bands to be announced but Swedes confirmed so far are) Lykke Li and Those Dancing Days.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94Hz2TEWW18
Lykke Li I Follow Rivers


That’s all for now. So long folks, I might see you in a Swedish forest soon but until then I’ll leave you with this and my wishes for a wonderful summer for each and all!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCwHku2_WJ0

Lisa Milberg

June 1, 2011

Showtime

18 comments

I realize a majority of you are not based in Stockholm, but I’m hoping some of you are stopping by in the near future, and below are some shows I think you should go see if in town in May.
And if there is no Sweden on your horizon, consider these a few very good reasons to change that.
(And please help yourself to some music). 

May 19 Me and My Army, Annexet (supporting Glasvegas)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV8XeU-LBA0&feature=player_embedded#at=131
Me and My Army (here with The Only One) is the latest project of Andreas Kleerup (who is better know as solo artist and as the producer/writer behind Robyn’s With Every Heartbeat)

or

May 19 Elias Krantz, Etablissemanget (free entry)
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/22246476[/vimeo]
Elias Krantz – Tody Motmot (click here to download song) from the upcoming album Night Ice, out May 23.

May 20, Säkert!, Gröna Lund

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmu018b6QAU&feature=related
Får jag by Säkert! (or Annika Norlin as she is called, or Hello Saferide which is her moniker when she does music in English) writes clever (in a good way) lyrics in Swedish but I hope and think the music comes across even without the words. She pronounces them nicely, no?


May 21 Nottee, Debaser Slussen (with Das Pop)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djBYLPgQBlE&feature=player_embedded
Nottee – Don’t Waste Your Light On Me (get it here)

And daytime Saturday you should also swing by Gärdet where there is a tiny little festival (don’t tell your friends because I shouldn’t be telling you) with a big bunch of bands playing…


Sibille Attar aka Little Red Corvette and also known from [ingenting] that I wrote about here.

…including Little Red Corvette (<– video) and Mackaper (download one of their songs + a Michael Rother cover).


May 26 Serenades, Södra Teatern

Seremades is the new project from Shout Out Louds Adam Olenius and Markus Krunegård.
Get their first single Birds for free here

 

May 27, jj, Trädgården Under bron

If you didn’t the other day, download jj’s new single No One Can Touch Us Tonight for free here

 

xx

Lisa Milberg

May 18, 2011

The Week That Was III

53 comments

Whoa, time flies. As becomes extra obvious when it’s time (all the time!) for another episode of this little series.
This is what the third Week That Was was:


jj’s ‘no one can touch us tonight‘

Gothenburg duo jj pushed back the release of their new album, jj no4, but gave us two two brand new songs to ease the wait. You can download them from the Sincerely Yours site for free or you can order one of the 10 CD copies they have made, each with a unique sleeve handmade by the band and Malin Bernalt.
The physical release will set you back though, €100 / 1000 SEK to be precise.


Team Rockit 7″
The same label also put out a 7″ by new signing Team Rockit. Team Rockit is produced by the male half of above-mentioned jj and I can’t decide if it’s despite of or because it is rap in Swedish on top of a euro beat that it sounds so very Sincerely Yours… Download the songs for free here.

 

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/23731205[/vimeo]
Loney Dear shared this very pretty “liveish version from forthcoming album summer/fall 2011″.

 

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/23403268[/vimeo]
Check out this beautiful video for Stockholm duo I Break Horses song Hearts. The video is directed by Alex Southam, the band is signed to Bella Union and to quote the band, their album is coming out “sometime around summer”…

 

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/23120149[/vimeo]
On the subject of videos, Picture “works as a truck operator in a liquor store” and this video, by Sebastian Rozenberg, is for the song Heaven 7. You can get the mp3 here.

 

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/22417670[/vimeo]
Sebastian Rozenberg also did the above video for Testbild’s song Kattsand which is taken from the new, their sixth, album, Barrikad, which comes out on May 28 on Kalligrammofon.

Get to know fine Swedish record label Hybris – home of Korallreven, Juvelen, Jonathan Johansson, Familjen and many more, over at svenskmusik.org where they have been chosen Label Of The Month.

 

Amanda Mair, the latest, and probably youngest, signing to Labrador (whom I mentioned here) did TV4 Nyhetsmorgon today. It sounded and looked like this (can’t embed, sorry).

In case you missed the last paragraph in my previous post, here comes the last in this one:
Another fine Swedish label, Häpna, has just put out the first album by Ohayo, a band that consists of some of Sweden’s finest musicians (in my humble opinion). Order it from their site (and read more about them) or have a listen to The State We’re In on Spotify.

xx

Lisa Milberg

May 16, 2011

Watching sunbeams grow from dead

61 comments

A new version of Museum Of Bellas Artes lovely ‘Days Ahead‘ (a song first released last year on an EP by the same name) came out on Monday and with it this brand new video:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82znvkgZfOk

Not only is it a splendid little song, I also borrowed its opening line to sum up today’s theme of mine.
Which is spring, summer, sun.
Or things that make me think of.

Because to be honest it is all I can think of.

I realize you have heard this before but it is true: there is nothing like Swedish summer.

Nothing.

And on that note:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QkYK9nHBns
Let Go by jj from jj no 3, 2010

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3wcNi-3I30&feature=related
A Sweet Summer’s Night On Hammer Hill by Jens Lekman, 2005

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTPO6XM_IxM
Air France built their whole sound on summer really but I chose No Excuses (2009) because the video is so pretty. (Directed by Marcus Söderlund who also did the jj video above)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi4_yoxn8W0&NR=1
Minnen Av Aprilhimlen – Håkan Hellström, 2002
(Yes, I’ll keep posting Håkan songs because one day you’ll get him and then you’ll thank me!)
Trivia: Lyrics borrowed from Pavement’s Gold Soundz. They are drunk in August in that song and in this one it’s April but the line “you’re the kind of girl i like, because you’re empty and I’m empty” is identical, only it’s in Swedish here.


El Perro Del Mar by Johanna Hedblom
No video for this but hear it on Spotify: Into The Sunshine by El Perro Del Mar

…and yet more from Gothenburg (makes sense, they’ve always been our balearic capital): Holiday by The Tough Alliance, 2004…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCVna3a0X58
…and one half of them, CEO with his rendition of Den Blomstertid Nu Kommer, 2010...

which is the hymn we sing in church on the last day of school before summer.
It doesn’t get much more summer-y than that.
(Min Stora Sorg recently gave that same hymn a go, with her interpretation, Blomstertid)

And since we (well you) are already lost in translation, some bonus tracks:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4McfPMcKsE
Bonus#1 Lill-Babs – Gröna Granna Sköna Sanna Sommar (and if not for the tune then for the awesome photos of her! God she was hot).

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WKoEzxd9zQ
Bonus#2 I can’t think of many things more Swedish than this. It is the opening of Släpp Fångarne Loss Det Är Vår, a comedy from 1975, directed by Swedish 70′s comedy superstar Tage Danielsson, and a political comment on the then much debated liberalisation of Sweden’s correctional treatment. The title of the film (as well as the chorus) translates as “Let the prisoners go, spring is here!“)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHbBqjPl-PM&feature=related
Bonus#3 ABBA Summer Night City, 1978. Maybe not their finest musical moment but still, what a stylist!
That literally foxy dress Frida is wearing…

Lisa Milberg

May 11, 2011

The Week That Was II

16 comments

Stockholm looks so stunning outside my window today. All the buds on all the trees just exploded at once, and the brand new leaves are so impossibly green you couldn’t have made it up if you tried. Too pretty for words.

So I am gonna stop trying and recap this last week in music instead.


Masquer

Indie-duo Masquer put out their official debut single Happiness this week.
Get it for free here and get The Field‘s remix while you’re at it.
Their debut album comes out in the fall and is produced by Per Egland.

Speaking of Happiness, the Stockholm band by that very name played their last show at Nalen the other day. The will return later this spring with a new name and a cassette with new songs..

The two brothers that make up Det Vackra Livet (and who also play in The Mary Onettes) put out their self-titled debut album (available through Labrador) this week

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMyx6lG-QKM
This is the video for the first single Viljan and you can download (Studio’s) Dan Lissvik’s lovely remix of it here.


Ison & Fille. Photo by Andreas Lönngren and Jonas Husbom

Svenskmusik.org has attempted The history of Swedish hip hop.
It comes accomplanied by a spotifylist too, so you can let your ears be the judge(s).

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4D3u7pg3bg&feature=player_embedded
This jj video just in! (via NMB)

Ane Brun (you’re right, she is Norwegian, but she lives in Stockholm so I am gonna let it slide) has put out a teaser for her upcoming single Do You Remember.
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/22904235[/vimeo]

Friska viljor’s latest album The Beginning of the Beginning of the End is now available on Spotify…

…as is Discover The Sound Of Sweden, Playground Music’s best of current Swedish music.

Last but not least, it was announced on May 3 that the Swedish Polar Music Prize this year goes to Patti Smith and Kronos Quartet. The gala ceremony takes place in Stockholm on Aug 30 and the laureates will each receive 1 million SEK.

I don’t know about you but I am going outside now.

xx

Lisa Milberg

May 9, 2011