Shout Out Louds are an indie-pop band from Stockholm, Sweden. They have some boys and a girl in the band, and are affiliated with Peter, Bjorn & John (famous for the single most important moment in whistling history since Axl on “That’s Good“. The song builds with a piano line that is equal parts “All My Friends” and Peanuts theme, cutting out sporadically for vocals, which are unfortunately a bit too heavy on the reverb (think Arcade Fire covering Phoenix). The chorus would be fantastic but for the odd choice of guitar line, which is a bit too present in the mix and distracts from the rest of an otherwise driving chorus.

The next track, “Fall Hard,” is the real standout on the record. The guitars, while still a bit overwhelming, do not ultimately disappoint. The song features really interesting chord progressions and technical but still memorable leads. The horns are smooth and pleasant throughout. And while the vocals here are slightly too Robert Smith for comfort, the chorus differentiates Shout Out Louds from their contemporaries and gives the song a welcome uniqueness that is mostly absent on the remainder of the album.

After “Fall Hard” the subsequent songs are somewhat fly-over. These include “Play the Game” and “Walls,” which despite picking up the pace features a pinking piano line that reminds me of a similar, screeching Tegan and Sara song. “Moon” adds a nice violin in the mix that toes the Arcade Fire line (yet again) but is still nice enough.

The album doesn’t really regain its momentum until “Show Me Something New,” which brings the Grammis-award-winning bassist to the forefront with a simple but commanding line. The guitar-play on this track is stellar, I just wish the album had more of it. The chorus lyrics, while a bit simple in the thought department, plant a flag in your brain and won’t let go. It’s a great jam, and Shout Out Louds should have ended the album there. Unfortunately, they add an aptly-named plodder, “Too Late, Too Slow.” Yes, it was too late in the album for a song this slow. The melodies are salvageable, but without any drive, the song is a muted ending to an otherwise respectable album.

Work will be released on February 23rd, 2010.

by Alex Truong – A&SB Contributor

Who says that Sweden only produces crazy metal? Stockholm’s own Robert Vadadi has produced an album that sort of sounds like Coldplay meets Story of The Year at a Bloc Party show where everyone is being pleasant and maybe re-hashing some girl problems.

One question that enters the head when hearing of Robert Vadadi is, “Does this guy have a sweet accent?” The answer: yeah, a little. With a decent pop sensibility driven by a modern rock engine, Vadadi isn’t creating a new genre by any stretch, but certainly isn’t blending into generic obscurity like Kevin Jonas will in ten years. The self-described sound of “emo/shoegazer based rock” is accurate to an extent, with a little bit more emphasis on the second half.

Vadadi is a relative unknown, but has managed to construct an album consisting of safe,  but solid tracks. “Loveless,” the first track, exudes the feel of a pop song with power chords and palm muting, but the best part is the keyboard outro about 15 seconds from the end. It is a completely obvious progression, but there’s something reassuring in its simplicity. The first track’s title denotes a lyrical direction that is consistent throughout the album and is also denoted by track titles like “Heartbeat” and “Forgive Me.”
Did I mention pop sensibility?

Most of the tracks are upbeat and reasonably paced, with “Serenity” being an aptly named track taking more from the emo/shoegazer influence than from modern rock. “Forgive Me” builds well off of “Serenity,” starting as an emphatically emo track with interludes of crunching guitar and epic, 80’s love story drumming.

Vadadi has a clear understanding of track and album formation, and proficiently handles the structuring of his tracks in a complementary way. Each track builds on the foundation of the last, which is a refreshing approach to album progression.

The hardest part of being an artist like Vadadi isn’t breaking the mold, but using his more solid tracks as a backdrop for innovative ones that push the envelope and develop a distinctive style. If Robert Vadadi can continue to produce such a consistent sound while slightly innovating in a positive direction, we should be seeing more of him in the future. Vadadi can be listened to at his last.fm and, of course, on Myspace.

From time to time, we like to take a step back from the relentless chase of the new and pause to whip up some sweet nostalgia. Sit back and take in the rise and fall of Custard, that old standard close to our hearts and lips.

1314: Poding Withe The Yolke Ine

This debut was, at first, treated with all the fanfare an experimental food in the Dark Ages could expect.

The monks said: Is thys somme kinde of yolke? The Lord ne liken yow laffen at his yolkes.

The peasants said: We canne stille putte sausige in it, righte?

But our versatile, even gelatinous, hero proved to be more than a well-produced recipe, as happy in front of the fatted king as the tavern dweller.  The jaundiced confection, in fact, never joked and could pack away even the more questionable of folk meats with ease, and by all accounts filled the halls with sighs of content.

Was this the golden age of Custard (in these days “Crustade,” in an ill-advised attempt to appeal to burgeoning evangelical tart-making set)? It’s hard to say what the dish tasted actually tasted like before mass reproduction, but it’s probably safe to say you can skip this one. Here’s a typical recipe:

A Custarde the coffyn must be fyrste hardened in the oven, and then take a quart seven of creame and fyve or moor yolkes of egges, and beate them well together, and put them into the creame, and yf yow cooken on a Tuesday put in Suger and small Raysyns and Dates sliced, and then put them into the creame, put into the coffyn butter or els marrowe, but on the fyshe daies put in butter. And then yow putte the creame in.

On the plus side, I don’t think there’s any lard in it.

1753: The Swedish Invasion
“You eat, in dreams, the custard of the day.”—Alexander Pope

As it is an undisputed truth that the Puritans were no fun and invented the diet, putting eggs and sugar in one’s pudding was from the beginning in the New World a symbol of European indulgence.

With the chicken feather coat craze came soaring prices for eggs, so the health- and thrift-conscious invented powdered food. Sprinkled on top, custard powder could turn any meal into a wobbling monstrosity, without the need for God’s great white ovular mystery.

These were bad times for the dairy industry. Luckily, this was the year of a great turning point in the Western world. On March 1, Sweden underwent spontaneous evolution and adopted the Gregorian calendar.

Suddenly, Sweden was sweeping the world again, conquering now with disaffection and finely-woven sweaters. But mostly, sweet, sweet rice pudding.

I’ll end this installment with a traditional rice pudding recipe:

Beat half a pound of rice to powder. Set it with three pints of new milk upon the fire, let it boil well, and when it grows almost cold, put to it eight eggs well beaten, and half a pound of suet or butter, half a pound of sugar, and a sufficient quantity of cinnamon, nutmeg, and mace. Half an hour will bake it.

I’ll admit I’m partial to this side project, but that could be the Swede in me talking. You’ll just have to try it yourself. Unless you’re out of mace.

by Tim Williams – A&SB Contributor
One of my many personal embarrassments, sure to be mocked by all ‘round the Gluttony Day table this year, is my complete ignorance of lineage. Despite all evidence to the contrary, I’m half-Swedish. This I proclaim with such pride that people make the mistake of asking a follow-up, which neatly ties my dynastic ambivalence to my staggering inability to place things on a plane, let alone a elliptical sphere. I usually say, “Yeah, you know, from around Stockholm,” and then run to the nearest Wikipedia-enabled terminal to make sure Stockholm is still in Sweden.

So you’d think when the Swindie band Love is All caught my eye, I’d atone by devoting this blog post to their uniquely Scandinavian roots. I can tell you they are from Gothenburg, and I have looked at a dot with that eponymous title on an array of Google Image Search maps. Also, we have Gothenburg metal to thank for Metalocalypse, so it must be alright.

This is the problem with history. That background is profoundly irrelevant to Love is All, which is indie rock through and through. Which is to say, its influences are so diverse and crossbred as to make any namedrop pointless beyond saying they have a predilection for Hendrix-esque guitar solos that overtake all other musical ideas. Indie music is just the eras of rock dismembered and put back together with the legs where the arms should be (As Love is All puts it, “The same song is on repeat/ and inappropriately upbeat”), and thus I, the reviewer, am totally worthless in the postmodern digital age.

The slow Arcade Fire chorus chanting, the runaway acid jazz saxophone skronking, the zeal of The Doors and the zest of The Ramones — I could weave together an improbable backstory, or you could just click away and hear them all roll around your inner ear like shoes in a dryer.

It comes down to this. Is their new album, A Hundred Things Keep Me Up At Night, a winner? Yes, yes it is. Is it Swedish? Hell if I know.

Maybe over Thanksgiving I’ll ask the experts. Grandma will inevitably say, “That’s different.” But let’s pretend that buried behind the tinkling glockenspiel and power punk guitars, she’ll find an indivisible essence, a melody to recall an Old World accordion, pulsing with unironic joy.

Have you heard of Series Two Records? Probably not. Because you’re used to being fed music through large music websites, commercial radio or from what your friend stole after seeing it featured on iTunes. Series Two is authentic bedroom-pop. It’s a CD-R based label that has released some of the finest international pop records here in the US in one of the most unique fashions: word of mouth by the love of music.

Every few weeks I am fortunate enough to receive an e-mail from Chris from Series Two with information and MP3s of their newest releases. This week it was music from Sweden’s Niklas Tafra from his album Why Even Bother and posted below you will find the track “Oh Daniel” off of this release. It will fill your senses with the emotions of Belle and Sebastion and leave you with a pleasant Beirut aftertaste. Promise.

Please don’t forget to check out Series Two Records.If you like what you hear, purchase their records.

Niklas Tafra – Oh Daniel (mp3)

“Saturday Waits” – Loney, Dear (mp3)
“The City, The Airport” – Loney, Dear (mp3)

The brains of Rasmus Kellermen are fascinating. He is the man behind Sweden’s Tiger Lou and is slowly becoming one of my favorite song writers. Their latest effort, The Loyal (released on V2 overseas) is still looking for a home here in the states, but for now you can find many tracks off it such as the title track “The Loyal” as well as the ever-catchy “Patterns” streaming on their home page. For a glimpse into the mind of Kellermen, check out his frequently updated blog about the making of their 3rd studio album.

“Patterns” – Tiger Lou (mp3)