sweden
Say Psych: Playlist 19/2016
Reviewing a couple of Swedish-related albums over the last week (Drakkar Nowhere and Centralstödet) reminded me of how many great bands have come from that country in the past. Here are fifteen that I thought of off the top of my head, with apologies to the many more great ones that I could have included. Enjoy! …
Say Psych: Album Review, Hjärndimma by Centralstödet
Centralstödet is yet another band that is new to me, and yet another band from Sweden that has just blown me away as soon as I heard it. Hailing from Gothenburg it is a four-piece, comprising Ulrik Lindblom and Daniel Johansson (guitar), Joni Huttunen (bass), and Jonas Fredlund, (drums). I think its fair to say that, as much …
Track: I am Karate – Swayze
Here at Backseat Mafia we’re not the sort of people to be duped by what’s supposedly cutting edge and fashionable right now – you know, the sort of icy, cool synth pop made by icy, cool people, so we viewed the new single Swayze by Swedish duo I am Karate with a certain amount of …
See: Goat release new video for I sing in silence – plus new European tour dates
Mysterious Swedish psych rockers Goat have released a new video for their forthcoming single, I sing in Silence, which is out via Rocket Recordings on May 27th. Turning away from their trademark riffs, the band have stripped things down, and rid I sing in Silence of pretty much any electric sounds, save for one twangy …
Say Psych: Meet, Flowers Must Die
It is almost a standard opening paragraph about how strong the Swedish ‘psych’ music scene is at the moment, but when you have a list of bands that includes Hills, Goat, Les Big Byrd, The Janitors, Yuri Gagarin, and numerous groups on labels such as PNKSLM it is not something that can really be ignored. …
Say Psych: Album Review, ‘Horse Stories’ by Josefin Ohrn + The Liberation
The vast majority music that I listen to is, for want of a better word, dirty. It usually has lots of fuzzed up guitar and other effects: sonics that are foggy and dense. Every so often though a record comes along that is clean and clear that I just really take to my heart. Such …
Track: Sudakistan – Concrete Djungle
We’re big fans of Stockholm-based latin psych rockers Sudakistan here Backseat Mafia, and so we’re eagerly anticipating the bands forthcoming debut album Caballo Negro, which drops on November 20th via PNKSLM Recordings. From the album the band are streaming a new song, Concrete Djungle. In keeping with their latin roots (all the members have a …
Meet Tove Styrke
Tove Styrke may only be 22 years old but the Swedish electropop sensation has managed to release two albums and a whole heap of singles, tour across Europe and the United States and oh yes, finished third in the 2009 series of Swedish Idol! I chat to her ahead of her slot supporting British electronic …
Say Psych: Live, Lucern Raze, Liverpool PsychFest, 25/09/15
The Swedish PNKSLM label made a big impression on me at last year’s Liverpool PsychFest, with a number of acts wowing audiences and Sudakistan in particular causing quite a stir. Lucerne Raze is the moniker of PNKSLM founder Luke Reilly whose debut album, Stockholm One, came out to some critical acclaim earlier this year. Combining …
Say Psych: Album Review, Frid by Hills
Hills are one of my favourite bands, and the 2011 album ‘Master Sleeps’ is one of my most played. I love the coming together of dance rhythms with drone and a healthy dose of reverb, a heady mixture that I find myself lost in again and again. However, on first playing the new album ‘Frid’ …