Give you love in America

Twitter-worthy newsbites, some of which actually have appeared on Twitter:

EDITED! Clips Full versions (I'm listening to them as I write this) of several Le Kid songs previously unheard by everyone outside of a select few--"Escape," "America," and "We Are The Drums"--are streaming here full versions here (as well as one full new song, "Seventeen"). The poppy technicolor Swedish group's upcoming debut album is one to watch out for in a big way this year. These new songs are...dreamier than I expected, but in a good way. My guess is these are still demos, but they could very well be the final versions. In other Le Kid news, it looks like "Mercy Mercy" was at some point set for a release late this past December but then canceled--pushed back, I presume. Embedded below are the lovely clips of "Escape" and "America," which I cannot wait to buy and hear in their full versions (edit: you can stream the full versions here, as I said above); in terms of music tone, they kind of remind me of Gwen Stefani's "Cool" and the restrained disco princess side of Kylie, mixed with the best parts of the radio edit of MissMatch's "Breathe In Breathe Out" (which members of the group wrote). Edit: I couldn't help myself--I'm also embedding the clip of the somewhat spunkier "We Are The Drums." The verses kind of have a RedOne-meets-the-Ting-Tings feel, but the song is much better than that makes it sound. Could summer get here quickly, please?

"Escape" (it sounds like this cuts out just before the song fully takes off)



"America"



"We Are The Drums"


(If you haven't listened to swooshy, harder-hitting dance-pop "Telephone" or summery "Mercy Mercy" yet, this is definitely the time to do so.)

Via the latest issue of QX (via in turn Schlagerprofilerna), Linda Bengtzing's upcoming single "Victorious" is a Melodifestival reject and features Velvet. To be honest, as "oh my gosh, Swedish pop princesses colliding!" as that news is, I'd kind of prefer an all-Linda single, but that's just being picky.

As covered by Planet Salem, Chart Rigger, and Scandipop, I'm enjoying Staygold's new single "Backseat Love." The Prince-reminiscent song mainly features vocals from future Melodifestival contestant Salem al Fakir (disguised and under the alias Damien Adore), but in the live performance at the P3 Guld Awards, Robyn stepped in to provide the female vocals usually done by Lady Tigra.



We've finally heard a couple of songs from the reformed-and-featuring-in-a-reality-TV-series Swedish girl group Play. Modern sounding pop, insistent single "Famous" and its sparkly b-side "Girls" have caught my ear, although we'll see if they have lasting power; the problem with much of the output of Janet Leon (one of the artists featured in last year's season of said show) was that, though it took its leads from where pop is at now, many of the songs sounded anonymous over the long run.

In belated news, I've only just noticed that "DESTROY! DESTROY!", just possibly Swedish group DYNO's best song from what we've heard so far, is streaming in a quality better than what you can hear at MySpace over on their Facebook page, accessible whether or not you have an account. Synthy pop-rock that is very much worth your time on every level. Go over the #1 Hits From Another Planet to hear "Above & Beyond."

Speaking of synths, Xenomania-backed British singer Alex Gardner debuted the soulful singer-songwriter over synths sound via the full version of his debut single "I'm Not Mad" getting played on the radio recently; check out Xenomania News for instructions on listening to it or here for a clip. I've been a bit nervous about this project living up to this potential and now find myself in the strange situation of feeling unsure that "I'm Not Mad" is all I wanted it to be while simultaneously playing it much more than I expected. I've been wondering recently if Xenomania's output in the past year or so has always succeeded as matching up a great instrumental to a great vocal part (with, in general, the instrumentals exceeding the vocal melody, but at least not really fitting together), and "I'm Not Mad" kind of enhances the differentiation even more. Still, the song has gone straight into frequent rotation on my iPod, so I must really like it.

There's a low quality recording of Nanne performing her new single "I Natt Är Jag Din" here. The song sounds to have the production style you'd expect from Nanne (flirting with electro-rock), but I'm still not totally convinced. Sanna Nielsen's mid-tempo Celine Dion-like "Devotion," meanwhile, is proving with time to be more enjoyable than my original "OK" rating would indicate. It could still use a better ending, though.

Anything she wants

One of the best things to happen recently for those of us who love Swedish music is Cutting Room's decision to open a blog documenting all the work they're doing, mainly on the technical production side of music (like mastering). They've been the first place to go to read about new singles from Nanne (a cover of Tomas Ledin's "I nätt ar jag din"), Linda Bengtzing ("Victorious"--so it's in English?!), Brolle ("Anything She Wants"), and many others. If you're not checking the site regularly, I recommend starting to do so now (though I've also been tweeting some of the highlights).

No way, not in this world I'm gonna fall for someone cheesy like yourself, find somebody else

Swedish music update:

Jessica mentioned Darin doing a cover of Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" a few days ago and linked to a trailer for Idols which featured it (you may have to wait for an ad to play first). In typical Darin style, it sounds great; I imagine I'll like it more than the original. In all likelihood it was produced by Johan "Kermit" Bobäck. Apparently said cover, which puts an electronic beat beneath the song, will be released on Friday and is a new single.



In further Darin single news, Scandipop announced that "Breathing Your Love" will be released in the UK in November. Still a fantastic song (it took the #6 spot on my Favorite Singles of 2008 countdown).



Kim-Lian (a Dutch singer best known for the great "Teenage Superstar") and Linda Bengtzing (who like Scandipop I have to say is my Swedish diva of choice) have released the video for their much-anticipated (well, by maybe a couple dozen people online) collaboration "Not That Kinda Girl." It's way more poppy than I anticipated given Kim-Lian's move towards a somewhat harder pop-rock sound and comes across to my ears like a mix of Pink's "So What" and Lady Gaga with a big helping pure pop thrown in (though in retrospect I have to agree with a commentor who pointed out an "If U Seek Amy" similarity in the beat in the verses and with EurovisionEssex who called it "Katy Perry schlager"). We're not talking something that's going to get taken to the US or UK here, but if you love your Swedish pop (which I think we can at least partially count this as, given the Linda connection--though it's the lead single from Kim-Lian's upcoming album--and its songwriters), you'll probably enjoy this. It may not be schlager, but hey, at least it's got those schlagery "ah-hah"s and, if Linda still loves rock, she could do worse than to release songs in this vein. Plus: Linda in English! Not that she's ever needed it to make the amazingness of her songs apparent, but it's a nice treat.

(Before you say anything, yes, we all know the outfits are ridiculous.)



I really like Sweden's entry to this year's Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Sure, it probably won't do well, but to my ears, "Du," written by thirteen year old performer Mimmi Sandén (yes, another of the Sandén sisters) and co-written and produced by Alexander Kronlund and Ali Payami, does an admirable job of taking a pinch of relevant-to-contemporary-R&B-pop-radio production and mixing it with Swedish pure pop. I've had "ah oh ah" stuck in my head since the Melodimen wrote about it.

Oldish news: Basic Element's next single "Baby Baby" features work from Empire Music (Alcazar's "Burning," West End Girls, Star Pilots). They've previously collaborated on "Out Of This World" from their album Empire Strikes Back.

#15 Linda Bengtzing, "Hur Svårt Kan Det Va?"

Se mig!
Hör mig!
Rör mig!
Hur svårt kan det va?

Linda Bengtzing returned to the world of schlager in her typical full-bore style. The Mika-styled verses of "Hur svårt kan det va?" might have taken a few listens to get used to, so obvious was the backing music's inspiration, but with time they've revealed themselves to be a perfect showcase for Linda and her always-trouble-with-the-boys subject matter. Here, though, she gets to be the aggressor, demanding attention in that indefatigable way only energy-filled Linda can as she simultaneously berates, flirts with, and pursues a boy who just doesn't seem to be getting what an opportunity he's being presented with. The sparkling schlager verses are as good as those of any of Linda's other schlager classics and yes, of course, we get a key change. A great key change, too, only lacking in comparison to her live performed version.

Who'd have known we'd be able to say that? But all the practice obviously paid off, with Linda nailing her semifinal performance in Melodifestivalen and even managing to get a whole extra section out of the key change. Her happiness after that key change at having pulled it off was adorable, with her looking like she was going to bounce right out of her skin, fact which only enhanced her woman-next-door sort of appeal. The Swedish music scene just wouldn't be the same without her. Congratulations on the pregnancy, Linda, but I sign off on this petition 100%.

Find it on: Vild & Galen

Always keep me in your mind

Doesn't Christer Björkman think he's getting all interesting and innovative with the way he's revealing contestants this year...

The man in charge of Melodifestivalen showed up on TV show Dansbandskampen, a reality show competition among dansbands, to offer "Jag tror på oss" (one of the 28 tracks already announced as being in 2009's Melodifestival) to Scotts (lead singer Henrik pictured above), a group that, as Europe Crazy pointed out, is one of the big favorites on the show (though there's some rules drama going on). "Jag tror på oss" had been sung (or reported as being sung) by Linda Bengtzing on the demo (in 2006, she sang "Jag ljuger så bra," written by the same people as "Jag tror på oss"), but there was some buzz that she might not be doing it in the contest and apparently that's turned out to be right.

Scotts have covered several great schlager songs while on the show--"Det gör ont," "Cara Mia"--but in dansband style, of course; it remains to be seen what "Jag tror på oss," originally described as fast Swedish guitar-pop with a sharp chorus, will sound like in their hands, if they do it.

(Hat-tip to Schlagerprofilerna.)