A 1-minute preview of the upcoming Familjen album "Allt på rött", officially due out on September 12 in Sweden, slightly later elsewhere in Scandinavia. I would've liked to link you to the video for the lead single too, but the geniuses at Cosmos Music have it blocked in the US.

The brand new Familjen single "Vi va dom", just released today via his new label home Cosmos Music.

"Jona" is the new Familjen-produced single from Edda Magnason. To round out the release, label Adrian Recordings asked fellow Malmö resident Vidderna to do a remix and the result can be seen/heard at PSL right now. Then they had Niva remix the remix without having ever heard the original. And then Justus Köhncke contributed by remixing the remix of the remix. There's also some sort of demo version/remix/mashup from Simian Ghost too, but it all starts to get quite confusing. Anyhow, expect them all to be online shortly?

The new Emil Jensen/Familjen collaboration single "Nyår" now has a video.

This Is Head cover Familjen, the video. Not sure if it's just my computer or what, but it looks like something got seriously garbled from my vantage. Anyhow, here's the direct link: http://vimeo.com/22351812

01. Anna Järvinen
02. Lykke Li
03. Bob Hund
04. The Bear Quartet
05. Familjen
06. Syket
07. Me and My Army
08. Those Dancing Days
09. Håkan Hellström
10. Iron & Wine

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01. Håkan Hellström
02. Familjen
03. Bright Eyes
04. Veronica Maggio
05. Those Dancing Days
06. The Radio Dept.
07. Cut Copy
08. Säkert!
09. James Blake
10. Broder Daniel

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I have been following P3 Guld/P3 Gold, Sveriges Radio/Swedish Radio's annual awards ceremony, for a long time now, almost as long as the event has existed. Which also happens to be about as long as I've been seriously following Swedish/Scandinavian music and running this site. There's no doubt that SR has been a huge part of my Swedish musical education over these years, both due to their outstanding website and online streaming offerings, but also because of their devotion to quality programming and the promotion of domestic acts. Of course, Sweden's outstanding music scene makes the latter a no-brainer, but you know that if someone's gonna mess it up, it's gonna be a state-run institution. Anyhow, I usually try to listen in to the show's audio broadcast every year (Swedish Television/SVT's live stream is blocked for international users), but never in my life did I ever expect the opportunity to attend in-person. The idea never even occurred to me. So as soon as I received an email asking me if I wanted to go, I immediately jumped at it. Who wouldn't? Even with a scarce one-week notice, I would be a fool to pass up the offer.

So off I went, spirited halfway 'round the world in some sort of fever-dream, all for a gala previously thought unaccessible. But before we get into my personal experience of the event, let us first take a history lesson.

P3 Guld was started by Swedish Radio nine years ago, evolving out of and superceding the then-current Popstad (Pop City) live music event. "So we have Grammy awards in Sweden as well and this was a year that there was some controversy surrounding them," says SR's Pia Kalischer, the official "mother" of P3 Guld, "They said they would no longer have anything to do with quality, they would only be based on sales and we thought that was kind of dumb so I saw a gap in market and I figured, well we should do something that's an event that will have to do with new music and also live music, as we broadcast a lot of concerts [see P3 Live for example]. So I figured it would be fun if we could do something that was open to an audience with live music and let's throw in a few awards to have a reason to throw this thing."

"Today I'm the Commissioner of Music and Events at Sveriges Radio, before that I was Head of Music for P3 for ten years. I was also a program manager and before that I was a producer and I've always had my heart in the music and for as long as I was working as Head of Music, I was continuously working with the P3 brands musically so that it would be connected to new Swedish music. That was the whole idea that people would associate P3 with new Swedish music."

And so P3 Guld came to be. The first year was small and humble, taking place at a tiny theater in Växjö (home of The Ark, Melody Club and uh, Birdflesh) before relocating permanently to its current home in Göteborg, Sweden's second city. Pia explains: "The city of Gothenburg came to us and said, "Please, come over, we'll help you. We have a very strong music scene in this city and all kinds of genres as well." It's the home of Swedish heavy metal and also lots of indiepop and also hip-hop, it's got everything basically. And a good organization within the city that helped us to get connected with the venues, the arenas, the people... so we grew from a small theater to a little bit of a bigger theater which seated 900 people, to [another] which seated maybe 1000 and then suddenly our partners said "Let's do this big" so we went to Scandinavium which is a huge arena that usually has hockey games. So went from 900 to 3000 people in a couple years. And we did that for 2 years in Scandinavium and that was huge." This year, however, the event has been scaled back and moved to the slightly smaller Lisebergshallen at the Liseberg amusement park. Seating approximately 2,500 with the complex, multi-tiered stage setup to allow for quick set changes, this is the first time the event was slated to include a standing audience. As to whether it was a fully conscious choice or rather the result of Scandinavium being booked for the European handball championships, nobody seemed too daunted or disappointed by the switch. "I personally feel that it was wonderful and it was fun and it just suddenly exploded, but for me," says Pia, "I've always wanted the P3 Guld to be sort of intimate. I want it to have a club feel so that audience gets closer to the bands and the bands get close to the audience. When the bands and audience connect that's when you get that certain electrical feel that really makes for good radio and good television. When it's real. That sounds so trite, but I really mean it."

All the same by me, as a newcomer to the P3 Guld live experience. I'm more than happy to play the part of the humble guest, letting myself get shuffled here and there for whatever pre-arranged activities my hosts have in mind. Well, except for the P3 Live-sponsored pre-pre-party on Friday night -- I really don't need to see some (ex?) cokehead pop-music producer's feeble attempt at playing in a rock band, so I opted out for a quality evening with my local friends, exploring the exciting, burgeoning world of Swedish craft beer. So then on Saturday, after a slow day of recovery and light window-shopping around Haga, we're spirited away to the official pre-party at the Brew House, a swirling mess of tabloid photographers snapping shots of the various pop artists who decide to make an appearance, mixed in among far greater numbers of industry reps and hanger-ons. I say hellos to the few folks I recognize and am introduced to many more, including a project manager from Music Export Norway down from Oslo to check things out (Øyvind, I'm ready to come over anytime!). Then there's also Watain, lurking on the fringes, looking seriously bummed and out of place. And intimidating -- no way am I going to attempt to introduce myself though a picture with the band would've surely been awesome. My fellow guest DJ Grace and I do a short interview on the air for the pre-show (I manage to be coherent enough to give props to the year's current best single, "Coming from you" by Paper) and we're off again, following a trail of torch-wielding sentries on our way to the venue.

As for the show itself, the live broadcast (on both P3 and SVT) demands a strict schedule. Pia has prepared us: "Some other award shows like the Swedish Grammis they have 21 prizes to give out. So you have to sit there for what? 3 hours? And they can only fit in 4 or 5 musical acts. So we do it in 90 minutes, 9 prizes and I think we have 10 bands this year. So it's very fast-paced. And there are always some of the big acts [who] really like to debut new songs... we don't only do the big hits of last year, we want them to play new music." Once things start moving, they stay moving and there is no downtime whatsoever.

The actual array of categories at P3 Guld is an interesting sidenote. Unlike every other music award, there are very few niches. "P3 Guld is really just a segment of the Swedish music business because we felt that we wanted to do something that reflects the music format of P3," Pia tells me, "The Grammis also gives out awards for, y'know, new children's music, classical music, jazz, every genre... which I really personally think is great. I think they should concentrate on being a very grand prize. And we basically do a rock show. [laughs] So it's pop, rock, some soul and hip-hop, some heavier stuff, but it's one piece of the cake of the whole musical landscape. So there's no jazz award, there's no opera award." And more importantly, there's also no longer an award based on gender. "We used to have two prizes for the best female artist of the year and the best male and we changed that two years ago," Pia informs me, a decision that apparently did not come without unintended consequences. "Last year we got lots of criticism because [P3 Guld] didn't feature enough females. Now it's hard for us to change the recording business where men seem to have an easier time than women, but we really tried to think about that this year. We really worked very hard to change and we also decided to joke around a bit with it." As we would later discover. Furthermore: "Part of the reason I'm afraid that we didn't have enough women solo artists last year, because not a lot of women released records. Or rather there were so many men last year who released records that were really good, that it was hard. But this year there are more females that have had a stronger... that have put their foot down I suppose."

"Is that just on stage or behind the scenes as well?" I ask.

"Well the thing is with P3 Guld is that behind the scenes, it's 98% women. I think that's due to me actually. Without thinking about it I appointed a female producer, we have female bookers and one of the TV producers is a woman and so in the production team, as it comes to the people who make the decisions, 70% are women."

"So do you think that's reflected in other parts of Sweden or do you think that this is a special thing you've created?"

"I don't know, I just know that... of course I'm a feminist. Yes I am. But I'm maybe not the most conventional one, I don't always count heads. I think that there's different ways of gaining equality, but I do think it was a good thing we were criticized last year and I do think we've really shaped up. There's a big discussion and I think the discussion in itself makes for change. What's been interesting is that you've seen all these women who've gone solo, women in the indie bands like Jenny Wilson, Sophia Somayo. They've decided to do everything by themselves as a way of being empowered and I think that's interesting. So that's kind of specific to the Swedish scene -- lots of women working and doing everything every step of the way, writing the songs, into the production, and gaining full control of the final product. Which I think is amazing."

Not to mention artists such as Marit Bergman and Robyn, I might add. The intersection of gender and music is an ever-evolving, fascinating subject, so it's especially interesting to see a prominent event such as P3 Guld tackle the issue head-on.

Which doesn't mean I could necessarily follow the discussion every step of the way during the actual show. I could understand when Howlin' Pelle of The Hives awarded Robyn the Guldmicken for Sweden's "2nd best" live act, I could understand host Kitty Jutbring's recurring references to Ace of Base thanks to the musical cue, but as far as gender-relations go, I could only really pick up on Kitty's vagina dress and her coinciding use of the word "fitta", which apparently is totally acceptable for broadcast. Not that I wasn't fully entertained. Like I said above, the show was action-packed and unrelenting and my language barrier did little to interfere.

Local fave Håkan Hellström kicked things off in style with "River en vacker dröm".

Säkert! performed an exceptional take on the song "Influensa".

Those Dancing Days killed it with "Reaching forward", as previously mentioned.

Awards were given, speeches were made. There were also a few surprises, a rarity for such a highly-scripted, high profile event. The biggest and most obvious: This Is Head winning Best Pop over Robyn. Another: Skudge winning Best Dance over the far more popular Swedish House Mafia, though it must be reiterated, P3 Guld is not necessarily a popularity contest. While some categories are decided by audience votes, the specialist genres are done by jury. Once again, Pia gladly fills in the details: "We have one jury that takes out the nominees for the audience to vote for and those are made up of the music editors that work within P3 and a couple of people from outside; we have one person from SVT [Per Sinding Larsen], so he's with us to do the five open categories. And then when it comes to specialist juries, there's a head of jury who's always that person who has that type of specialist program [at P3] and the brief to them was to select people that are experts in their field. So it's either very senior music editors and music journalists or very genre-specific experts [so we] have quality before the quantity or sales, which is not a parameter in this at all. But of course sometimes those things sort of match." As is the case with Robyn, who has deservedly won almost every award she's been nominated for this year.

Another highlight: the unexpected collaborations. Hello Saferide and Detektivbyrån from 2009 is a definite standout in my memory, Pia cites Anna Ternheim's collaboration with Max Peezay as hers. She says, "I like all the stuff that really goes under your skin and becomes exclusive for this event, things that touch people." As for 2011's best song medley by Orup and Spiderdogs, well, it was certainly nothing I expected, though I'm not so sure it will go down in history. What was far better however, was Tove Styrke doing "Million pieces" together with Familjen:

See, now that's the kind of perfect collaboration I'm talking about.

As with all major events, P3 Guld comes in three stages. We had the pre-party, the party itself and then of course, what remains at last is the after-party. Once Robyn brought the house down with her 3-song medley/finale (thankfully, rumors of a surprise Roxette appearance did not come to pass), we gathered our coats and made our way back through the cold to the Hotel Elite where, as with most large gatherings in Sweden, I felt like a fish out of water and about a foot shorter than everyone else, a feeling most easily remedied by the consumption of alcohol. Which is exactly the point -- the post-show party is when everyone finally starts to relax and feel comfortable enough to simply hang out and enjoy themselves. Free from expectations, they were all smiles and I was excited to reacquaint myself with numerous people I have met on previous trips over the years, or merely communicated with via email. And rub elbows with bonafide Swedish popstars: somehow I ended up getting my picture taken with a member of Kent, no fooling. Not at all what I expected, but more than welcome. Beyond that, what goes on at the after-party is off the record as far as I'm concerned, though it's not as if anything scandalous went down in my presence (besides the telling of tales from previous years). Perhaps everyone was holding out for the after-after-party, but with me scheduled for an early flight home only hours away, that was not even a remote possibility. The bar shut down, I went to bed, I was happy. Even if I never get a chance for a repeat visit, I'm more than content with my experience.

Pop: Anna von Hausswolff - Singing from the grave
Dance: Cloud - Hökarängen Space Program
Synth: Code 64 - Trialogue
Hardrock: Ghost - Opus eponymous
Danceband: Shake - Request vol 1
Rythym: Million Stylez - Everyday
Jazz: Lekverk - Everyday
Punk: Antipati - Frågor som rör det allmänna
Hip-Hop: Zacke - Visst är det vackert
Best live: Robyn
Unsigned: Katakomb
Rock: The Bear Quartet - Monty Python
Folk/Visa: OK Star Orchestra - Sound classique
Experimental: New Tango Orquesta - Vesper
Singer/Songwriter: The Tallest Man On Earth - Wild hunt
Best lyricist: Johan T Karlsson (Familjen)
Best composer: Britta Persson

More here: http://www.manifestgalan.se/

01. Säkert!
02. The Radio Dept.
03. Familjen
04. The Bear Quartet
05. Loney, dear
06. Håkan Hellström
07. Johnossi
08. Logh
09. The Concretes
10. Jens Lekman

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Best album: Robyn - Body Talk
Best artist: Robyn
Best song: Robyn - Dancing On my Own
Best group: Johnossi - Mavericks
Best folk/visa: Blandade Artister - Sonja Åkesson Tolkad Av
Best hardrock/metal: Watain - Lawless Darkness
Best jazz: Dan Berglunds Tonbruket - Tonbruket
Best songwriter: Klas Åhlund & Robyn - Body Talk
Best female artist: Robyn - Body Talk
Best male artist: Håkan Hellström - 2 Steg Från Paradise
Best newcomer Oskar Linnros - Vilja Bli
Best producer: Red One
Best international success: Red One
Best lyrics: Håkan Hellström - 2 Steg Från Paradise
Best urban/dance: Familjen - Mänskligheten
Best Innovator: Iamamiwhoami

01. Håkan Hellström
02. Säkert!
03. The Radio Dept.
04. Hello Saferide
05. Familjen
06. Jens Lekman
07. Robyn
08. Laakso
09. Kent
10. Masshysteri

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

01. Håkan Hellström
02. Familjen
03. The Radio Dept.
04. Robyn
05. CEO
06. The Concretes
07. Wild Nothing
08. The Soundtrack of Our Lives
09. Belle and Sebastian
10. This is Head

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Best album:
Håkan Hellström - 2 Steg Från Paradise
Oskar Linnros - Vilja Bli
Robyn - Body Talk
Säkert! - Facit
The Radio Dept. - Clinging To a Scheme

Best artist:
Håkan Hellström
Johnossi
Oskar Linnros
Petter
Robyn

Best song:
Anna Bergendahl - This Is My Life
Daniel Adams-Ray - Gubben I Lådan
Eric Saade - Manboy
Erik Grönwall - Higher
Johnossi - What's The Point
Mohombi - Bumpy Ride
Oskar Linnros - Från Och Med Du
Robyn - Dancing On my Own
Salem Al Fakir - Keep On Walking
Swedish House Mafia – One

Best group:
Dungen - Skit I Allt
Hästpojken - Från Där Jag Ropar
Johnossi - Mavericks
Kent - En Plats I Solen
The Radio Dept. - Clinging To A Scheme

Best folk/visa:
Blandade Artister - Sonja Åkesson Tolkad Av
First Aid Kit - The Big Black & The Blue
Jonas Knutsson - Blåslåtar
Ola Magnell - Rolös
Toni Holgersson - Ibland Kallar Jag Det Kärlek

Best hardrock/metal:
Ghost - Opus Eponymous
Khoma - A Final Storm
Pascal - Orkanen Närmar Sig
Sabaton - Coat Of Arms
Watain - Lawless Darkness

Best jazz:
Dan Berglunds Tonbruket - Tonbruket
Goran Kajfes - X/Y
Magnus Carlson & The Moon Ray Quintet - Echoes
Oddjob - Clint
Peter Asplund Quartet - Asplund Meets Bernstein

Best songwriter:
Annika Norlin & Henrik Oja - Facit
Håkan Hellström - 2 Steg Från Paradise
Klas Åhlund & Robyn - Body Talk
Oskar Linnros - Vilja Bli
Pernilla Andersson - Ö

Best female artist:
Anna Von Hausswolff - Singing FromThe Grave
Britta Persson - Current Affair Medium Rare
Pernilla Andersson - Ö
Robyn - Body Talk
Säkert! - Facit

Best male artist:
Daniel Adams-Ray - Svart Vitt Och Allt Däremellan
Håkan Hellström - 2 Steg Från Paradise
Oskar Linnros - Vilja Bli
Salem Al Fakir - Ignore This
The Tallest Man On Earth - The Wild Hunt

Best newcomer:
Anna Von Hausswolff - Singing From The Grave
Ceo - White Magic
First Aid Kit - The Big Black & The Blue
Oskar Linnros - Vilja Bli
Swedish House Mafia - Until One

Best producer:
Adrian Lux
Joakim Åhlund & Håkan Hellström
Klas Åhlund
Max Martin
Red One

Best international success:
Dungen
Max Martin
Red One
Robyn
Swedish House Mafia

Best lyrics:
Annika Norlin - Facit
Håkan Hellström - 2 Steg Från Paradise
Ola Magnell - Rolös
Oskar Linnros - Vilja Bli
Plura Jonsson - Kärlekens Väg - En Mässa

Best urban/dance:
Boeoes Kaelstigen - Tanum Teleport
Familjen - Mänskligheten
Petter - En Räddare I Nöden
PH3 - PH3 Löser Ett Fall
Swedish House Mafia - Until One

Best Innovator:
Johnossi
Robyn
Nomy
Magnus Weideskog
Iamamiwhoami

Winners will be announced at a ceremony at Kungliga Operan in Stockholm on January 17.

Best newcomer:
First Aid Kit
Anna von Hausswolff
Jasmine Kara
Royal Republic
Tove Styrke

Best song:
Daniel Adams-Ray - Gubben i lådan
Salem Al Fakir - Keep On Walking
Johnossi - What's The Point
Oskar Linnros - Från och med du
Robyn - Dancing On My Own
Swedish House Mafia feat. Pharrell - One (Your Name)

Best group:
Hästpojken - Från där jag ropar
Johnossi - Mavericks
Kent - En plats i solen
The Radio Dept. - Clinging To A Scheme
Swedish House Mafia - Until One

Best artist:
Daniel Adams-Ray - Svart vitt och allt däremellan
Håkan Hellström - 2 steg från Paradise
Oskar Linnros - Vilja bli
Robyn - Body Talk Pt 1
Säkert! - Facit

Guldmicken (best live act):
Familjen
Håkan Hellström
Hoffmaestro
Melissa Horn
Robyn

More here: http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=3964&artikel=4220806

01. Håkan Hellström
02. The Bear Quartet
03. The Radio Dept.
04. The Concretes
05. Säkert!
06. Familjen
07. Britta Persson
08. Christian Kjellvander
09. Jens Lekman
10. Junip

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

01. Håkan Hellström
03. The Bear Quartet
03. The Radio Dept.
04. Säkert!
03. Familjen
03. Kent
03. The Concretes
03. Lykke Li
03. The Soundtrack of Our Lives
03. Robyn

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01. Håkan Hellström
02. The Concretes
03. The Bear Quartet
04. Kent
05. Säkert!
06. Familjen
07. Junip
08. MF/MB/
09. Efterklang
10. Robyn

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01. Håkan Hellström
02. Junip
03. The Bear Quartet
04. Säkert!
05. Glasser
06. First Aid Kit
07. Familjen
08. Bob Hund
09. Jens Lekman
10. Robyn

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

01. The Bear Quartet
02. Säkert!
03. The Radio Dept.
04. Håkan Hellström
05. Junip
06. Robyn
07. Kent
08. Familjen
09. Blonde Redhead
10. The National

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

01. Säkert!
02. The Bear Quartet
03. Håkan Hellström
04. Robyn
05. Junip
06. The Concretes
07. The Radio Dept.
08. Familjen
09. Jonathan Johansson
10. Britta Persson

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

Composer:
Salem Al Fakir (Pompadore Publishing/EMI Music Publishing Scandinavia)
Nadir "RedOne" Khayat (Sony/ATV Music Publishing Scandinavia)
Martin "Max Martin" Sandberg/Johan "Shellback" Schuster (Maratone/Kobalt Music Scandinavia)
Oskar Linnros (Universal Music Publishing)
Lyrics:
Johan "Familjen" Karlsson (Hybris/Air Chrysalis Scandinavia)
Markus Krunegård (Peermusic)
Melissa Horn (Manus)
Oskar Linnros (Universal Music Publishing)
Song:
"What's the point?" - John Engelbert (Johnossi) (Manus)
"Keep on walking" - Salem Al Fakir (Pompadore Publishing/EMI Music Publishing Scandinavia)
"Bad romance" - Nadir "RedOne" Khayat/Stefani "Lady Gaga" Germanotta (Sony/ATV Music Publishing Scandinavia)
"Från och med du" - Oskar Linnros/Christian Olsson (Universal Music Publishing)
Newcomer:
Johan Moraeus (Air Chrysalis Scandinavia)
Johanna Söderberg/Klara Söderberg (First Aid Kit) (Warner/Chappell Music Scandinavia)
Anna von Hausswolff (Manus)
Andreas "Grega" Östeman (Astmabeat Publishing/EMI Music Publishing Scandinavia)

Full details and all categories: http://www.smff.se/?id=8&cid=3197

01. Loney Dear
02. Kent
03. Familjen
04. Robyn
05. Håkan Hellström
06. The Bear Quartet
07. Britta Persson
08. Jonathan Johansson
09. Junip
10. The Radio Dept.

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01. Familjen
02. The Bear Quartet
03. CEO
04. Robyn
05. Kent
06. Shout Out Louds
07. Andreas Söderlund
08. Junip
09. Oskar Linnros
10. The Concretes

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

01. TALK 1
02. Mindy Misty - Slippies
03. Fatboy - Bad news from pretty red lips
04. Viola - Puppies in the rain
05. Kite - Jonny boy
06. TALK 2
07. Code 64 - Progenitor
08. Familjen - Det var jag (This Is Head version)
09. Ved - Question for L Ron
10. TALK 3
11. Hope I Die Virgin - At crude garbage falls
12. Vidderna - Utanför
13. Ljudbilden & Piloten - Domedeijla mosse
14. TALK 4
15. Roll the Dice - Into the ground
16. Muxika77 - The mountain
17. Den Svenska Tystnaden - Afasi
18. Elmo - Young love
19. TALK 5
20. Bedroom Eyes - (Here's one for you) Underdog

Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.

01. Familjen
02. Robyn
03. Säkert!
04. Håkan Hellström
05. Moneybrother
06. First Aid Kit
07. Kent
08. The Tough Alliance
09. Efterklang
10. Broder Daniel

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

01. Särkyneet - Huono nainen
02. TALK 1
03. Masshysteri - Masshysteri del två
04. Interment - Eternal darkness
05. Cut City - The sound and the sore
06. Fireside - Lovecar
07. TALK 2
08. Moto Boy - Early grave
09. V. Sjöberg New Jazz Ensemble - Start at the finish
10. The Goner - Lost summer
11. TALK 3
12. The World - Roybgiv
13. Familjen - Det var jag
14. STYGG - Sleep
15. TALK 4
16. EL-SD - Hille
17. Menfolk - Column 79
18. Camouflage - La la la
19. Grande Roses - The astronaut
20. TALK 5
21. Donkeyboy - Ambitions

Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.

At last, here is the video for Familjen's latest single "Det var jag", my favorite track off his latest album "Mänskligheten". Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aChNySMPpoI

01. Håkan Hellström
02. Jens Lekman
03. Kent
04. Familjen
05. The Radio Dept.
06. Beach House
07. Oskar Linnros
08. Robyn
09. The Soundtrack of Our Lives
10. CEO

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Teaser videos are a bumout, but it does provide extra content with the news that Familjen's next single "Det var jag", due in late August, will be released in two separate digital editions as well as on 12" vinyl. And with a full-length video too.

01. Jens Lekman
02. Kent
03. The Bear Quartet
04. The Radio Dept.
05. Håkan Hellström
06. Familjen
07. The Concretes
08. Robyn
09. Anna Ternheim
10. Tiger Lou

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01. Familjen
02. Kent
03. Håkan Hellström
04. The Concretes
05. CEO
06. Robyn
07. Jens Lekman
08. Jonathan Johansson
09. The Soundtrack of Our Lives
10. The Radio Dept.

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01. Kent
02. CEO
03. Robyn
04. Bob Hund
05. Familjen
06. Håkan Hellström
07. The Radio Dept.
08. Laakso
09. Shout Out Louds
10. The National

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01. Kent
02. Håkan Hellström
03. CEO
04. Robyn
05. The National
06. Familjen
07. Shout Out Louds
08. Bob Hund
09. Jens Lekman
10. Au Revoir Simone

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01. CEO
02. Kent
03. Robyn
04. Familjen
05. Oskar Linnros
06. Håkan Hellström
07. Sambassadeur
08. Markus Krunegård
09. The National
10. Teenage Fanclub

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01. Kent
02. Robyn
03. Familjen
04. Håkan Hellström
05. The National
06. The Radio Dept.
07. Jens Lekman
08. Acid House Kings
09. The Bear Quartet
10. Teenage Fanclub

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01. Robyn
02. Kent
03. The Radio Dept.
04. The Drums
05. Familjen
06. Ratatat
07. Jens Lekman
08. Wild Nothing
09. LCD Soundsystem
10. Bob Hund

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01. Baby Alice - Piña colada boy
02. TALK 1
03. CEO - Come with me
04. Faster Katt - The girl and the crow
05. EL-SD - Walking sideways
06. Masshysteri - Dom kan inte höra musiken
07. TALK 2
08. Champagne Riot - The champagne anthem
09. Khoma - In it for fighting
10. Dear Euphoria - Rescue
11. Haust - Anti-reproductive
12. TALK 3
13. This Is Head - 0011
14. Familjen - Det var jag
15. Mikkel Meyer - Tunge (feat. Non)
16. TALK 4
17. Rasmus Kellerman - The greatness & me
18. Grande Roses - The astronaut
19. We Live In Trenches - White knuckles
20. The Amazing - And it looks like today
21. TALK 5

Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.

01. Robyn
02. Familjen
03. Oskar Linnros
04. The Drums
05. Jens Lekman
06. Efterklang
07. The National
08. Shout Out Louds
09. Dungen
10. Bob Hund

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01. Rasmus Kellerman
02. The Bear Quartet
03. Familjen
04. Robyn
05. The Radio Dept.
06. Beach House
07. Shout Out Louds
08. Teenage Fanclub
09. The National
10. Jens Lekman

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01. The Radio Dept.
02. The National
03. Familjen
04. Shout Out Louds
05. Håkan Hellström
06. Kent
07. Jonathan Johansson
08. LCD Soundsystem
09. The Bear Quartet
10. Robyn

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01. Kopfer Kat - UberVolt
02. TALK 1
03. Pan Sonic - Radio Qurghonteppa
04. Johannes Heldén - Vortex count
05. Dear Euphoria - No more time to weep
06. TALK 2
07. The Bear Quartet - We're not gonna make it
08. The Shock! - In silence
09. MF/MB/ - The big machine
10. TALK 3
11. Familjen - När planeterna stannat
12. Kausal - The conquistador
13. The Nature - Din medicin
14. TALK 4
15. Ignatius - Så jävla religiös
16. Okkultokrati - Tomb City rockers - Pungent stench
17. Haust - Anti-Reproductive
18. TALK 5
19. Carolina Wallin Pérez - Utan dina andetag

Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.

01. Band of Horses
02. Familjen
03. Håkan Hellström
04. The Radio Dept.
05. The National
06. Shout Out Louds
07. jj
08. The Bear Quartet
09. Jonathan Johansson
10. Robyn

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01. Timoteij - Längtan
02. Titanix - Drömmar får liv
03. Scotts - Vi gör det igen
04. The Ark - In full regalia
05. Salem al Fakir - Ignore this
06. Anna von Hausswolff - Singing from the grave
07. Anna Bergendahl - Yours sincerely
08. Melissa Horn - Säg ingenting till mig
09. H.E.A.T - Freedom rock
10. Pain of Salvation - Road salt one
11. Mikael Wiehe - Ta det tillbaka!
12. Johnossi - Mavericks
13. Rolandz - Jajamen
14. Mojje - Att leka i finrummet
15. Cookies n Beans - Beg, borrow and steal
16. The Radio Dept. - Clinging to a scheme
17. John Norum - Play yard blues
18. Familjen - Mänskligheten
19. Dan Berglund - Tonbruket
20. Björn Skifs - Da capo

01. Familjen
02. The Radio Dept.
03. The National
04. Jens Lekman
05. Håkan Hellström
06. Anna von Hausswolff
07. The Bear Quartet
08. Robyn
09. Band of Horses
10. Shout Out Louds

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01. Enforcer - High roller
02. TALK 1
03. Robyn - Dancing on my own
04. The Amazing - And it looks like today
05. Årabrot - End of first chant: II
06. TALK 2
07. The Bombettes - Cherry shot
08. Underachiever - No rain (arson)
09. Lapko - Kiss 'n' cry
10. TALK 3
11. The Howard Way - Runaway
12. Familjen - Socker
13. Deathchain - The crawling chaos
14. Lågkonjunkturen - Den här låten handlar om...
15. TALK 4
16. Anna von Hausswolff - Track of time
17. Marit Bergman - Free falling
18. Jennie Abrahamson - I lost my heart
19. TALK 5
20. Menfolk - Rubato (con song)

Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.

01. Timoteij - Längtan
02. The Ark - In full regalia
03. Anna von Hausswolff - Singing from the grave
04. Scotts - Vi gör det igen
05. Salem al Fakir - Ignore this
06. Anna Bergendahl - Yours sincerely
07. Mikael Wiehe - Ta det tillbaka!
08. Melissa Horn - Säg ingenting till mig
09. Johnossi - Mavericks
10. Ola Magnell - Rolös
11. Familjen - Mänskligheten
12. Rolandz - Jajamen
13. The Playtones - Rock'n roll dance party
14. Play - Under my skin
15. Jill Johnson - Music row II
16. Brutus - Brutus
17. The Radio Dept. - Clinging to a scheme
18. Amanda Jenssen - Happyland
19. Mojje - Att leka i finrummet
20. Crashdïet - Generation wild

01. Familjen
02. The National
03. Jonathan Johansson
04. The Radio Dept.
05. The Concretes
06. Beach House
07. Anna von Hausswolff
08. Robyn
09. Johnossi
10. Kent

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01. Okkultokrati - Ragnarokian
02. TALK 1
03. Menfolk - Matador
04. Newkid - Gör det för
05. Rasmus Kellerman - Five years from now
06. TALK 2
07. The Tarantula Waltz - Synthetic sun (feat. Ebba Forsberg)
08. Kommun - Death of a CEO
09. Far from Tellus - Far from Tellus
10. TALK 3
11. Moddi - Stuck in the waltz
12. Faster Katt - Death song
13. Blowback - Fool
14. TALK 4
15. Nils Bech - Don't worry
16. Familjen - När planeterna stannat
17. Banjo - You and the sun
18. NEI - A wonderful day
19. TALK 5
20. Junip - Rope and summit

Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.

01. The Mary Onettes
02. The Radio Dept.
03. Familjen
04. Håkan Hellström
05. Jens Lekman
06. Hello Saferide
07. Bob Hund
08. Jonathan Johansson
09. Kent
10. Jónsi

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01. Laakso - Worst case scenario
02. TALK 1
03. Du Pacque - Walk straight
04. Pascal - Tutti frutti
05. Nirvana 2002 - The awakening of...
06. Lapko - I shot the sheriff
07. TALK 2
08. The Floor is Made of Lava - The bigger picture
09. No Balls - Guilt blocker
10. Obliteration - Styxerian path (into darkness)
11. Next Life - Anti matter
12. TALK 3
13. Ikons - Imperiet
14. The Skull Defekts - Habit
15. Familjen - När planeterna stannat
16. TALK 4
17. Meleeh - Sun and moon
18. Kite - I give you the morning
19. Ef - 401 Lwa
20. TALK 5

Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.

01. TALK 1
02. Familjen - När planeterna stannat
03. Elephant9 - Fugi fønix
04. Yosei - The raven
05. TALK 2
06. The Tarantula Waltz - Bacchus
07. Hortlax Cobra - Smoke
08. Sonic Ritual - Early graves
09. Meleeh - Vowbreaker
10. TALK 3
11. Khoma - From the hands of sinners
12. The Ark - Echo chamber
13. Darkthrone - Those treasures will never befall you
14. Fun - Slonko
15. TALK 4
16. Degrees - Can't walk thru this alone
17. jj - Let go
18. Bruket - Polisen lägger pussel
19. Dreamboy - Pay attention
20. TALK 5
21. Moto Boy - IF you your bed could cry

Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.

Elias & the Wizzkids – Just do it! (March 1)
Monty – 2010 (March 7)
Familjen – tba (spring)
Far & son - Ett hjärta av brons (fall)
Hell On Wheels – tba (fall)

Unexpected discoveries are always the best, aren't they? Finding that diamond in the rough always results in an affinity with that diamond that lasts a lifetime. I had one such experience a couple of years ago, when, sailing from Stockholm to Helsinki and ecstatic at the prospect of seeing my all-time favourite guitarist (Meshuggah's Fredrik Thordendal) play material from his "Sol Niger within" album with Mats/Morgan Band, I caught a few wonderful shows by Swedish folk/indie wonder Cecilia Klingspor. With a debut album now doing the rounds and a plethora of other projects at various stages of completion, she takes a break from her ever-hectic schedule to talk to It's a Trap! about bands, being and bicycles.

What got you started in playing music?

I was inspired when I was a child by films like "Bugsy Malone" and "Sound of Music" where kids were performing. I have been going to music school since I was eleven and I've been working in small units with friends in music as a way to socialize with people, but in a more organized way where one gets result and a creating process together -- playing and creating music is a great platform to have fun and do good things with people. I played music with Sara (from the group Loulou) from the age of seventeen and we had that as a way to meet people. We played in the streets and it was an adventurous feeling as well communicating and creating through music.

It can be a comfort to make songs of things like unhappy love; perhaps lift what was beautiful in it -- a possibility to catch the essence in song lines that you can sing to yourself and others -- make art out of difficulties or conflicts and also to catch moments of happiness in a melody or a text. Taking photos of your life and the people and things we meet and making something out of it.

Who or what has influenced your work and inspired you over the years?

Benny Andersson, from ABBA said that melancholy and sadness was one of his companions in his musicmaking. That's one of my inspirations too -- I collect the moments of bittersweet taste and also the reminders of that we're mortal -- that inspires me to write and make melodies. I listen to music nonstop when I'm home. I'm a big fan of songwriters like Townes van Zandt, Joni Mitchell, John Lennon, Mark Olson and Gary Louris in The Jayhawks. I also love strong melodies and hit songs, so I have a wild mix in my playlists in my computers -- from Justin Timberlake to Emily Loizeau (French singer).

Is there a general theme running through the songs on "Ovanför molnen"?

Me and Emma wrote down words as inspiration for the album (also as a way to choose among the songs that fitted into the feeling or say no to songs that didn't fit in): springtime, Stockholm, lightness, acoustic, melancholy, musical box, times long past, bicycling. We started taking pictures for the album cover when I was bicycling in Stockholm in springtime. After we had recorded some of the songs, a more ghostlike feeling came into the record, perhaps with the song "Gammelfarmor" which means Greatgrandmother, so then we took some pictures when we were dressed in black and white as if we were ghosts from the past. Perhaps the theme of the album has been a mix of these two different energies -- ghosts and a more down-to-earth feeling and Stockholm.

Is there any particular song that you feel most proud of?

I like the details created together in the process of the recording, for example the instrumental and humming parts in the songs "Normal", "Ovanför molnen" and "Gammelfarmor". The song "Kärleksbarn" has a way to reach people, a song about the love for a child in a divorce. I'm also proud of the song "Ångermanland", a mix of lightness and sadness.

How did the deal with Vesper come about?

Oscar from Vesper liked the songs, I think that my music has aspects in common with Emma Nordenstam's music (also on Vesper) and also the quiet feeling of my album has things in common with Oscar's records. It's a bohemian record deal with not one written paper anywhere.

Why did you choose Johan T. Karlsson (Familjen) to produce?

Johan has been a great complement and all-in-one producer/technician in making the record. A minimalist that dares to let the production be 'naked' and not overloaded as well as sometimes let things bloom and just inventing in a playful way. He's also open and not afraid of darkness. Both Johan and Emma are also more strict and determined in what they like. It's been good for me to have them as a complement to myself. I'm open to a million impressions at the same time. It's been a luxury to have these two sensitive artists as a help in recording these songs as well as making the cover of the album (which Emma made).

You and Emma have a very solid musical relationship. How did this start and develop?

Emma has a sharp and original creativity and she can come out with ideas that I would not have thought of, like the idea to bicycle in the sky over Stockholm. I learn a lot from her sharp ears and eyes and it's also great to have someone to give you feedback and someone who contributes with ideas and complement my own personality. We met in Musikhögskolan in Stockholm and we have been up a week every summer for the last six years in a house up north of Sweden having a little course with us two and some other friends, writing, reflecting and composing. That's also the house where we recorded "Ovanför molnen" -- it was a good thing to be in the countryside. It was also recorded in a little wooden church at night time in Stockholm. We have been performing together, singing and playing on each other's songs. A minimalistic concept which is handy and down-to-earth. We also make songs for children, for Swedish radio, which have just been released in a book.

You're a very prolific musician, with various different projects on the go. How do you find time to fit everything in?

I like working hard, I'm a compulsive about saying yes to things -- not only in music -- and that creates a lot, but it also makes it difficult for me to focus on what is the most important thing. But I think it can be a fruitful combination to be both interested in entertaining as well as songwriting for different audiences. Using the soil in different ways.

What's going on with Hildegards and Loulou right now?

Loulou have been working on a record produced by Johnny Essing from the bands Bob Hund and Bergman Rock. We have also recorded our own translations of the French singer Olivia Ruiz and we have been playing in France and Italy. We do both events as well as concerts. Hildegards do concerts and partyshows in both medieval and Viking styles which can be great fun. It's an interactive concept with firespitting, folkmusic, improvisation and time-travel.

What effect do you feel that writing and singing in Swedish has on audiences outside of Scandinavia?

I don't know really. I haven't thought about it much. I do songs in English as well and that is because it's a way to communicate through words. But perhaps there are unknown and nice aspects when it's a foreign language.

What has been the high-point of your musical career so far?

It's been nice to complete the record and to get a response, play in radio programs and in festivals. I'm appreciative to get some grants from the Swedish state for my music, also collaborate with Emma and the radio producer Tove Jonstoij, to be asked to make songs about a certain subject and feel that it works to find inspiration and complete things with deadlines. I also appreciate to be part of this book / CD for children and a nice experience to see the songs illustrated in the book.

The future for Cecilia Klingspor?

We will have more concerts to promote the book. We are planning a CD for children, me, Emma and Tove. Loulou will hopefully soon have their CD ready and we have possible projects in Paris and in Italy. Loulou also have a club in Södra Teatern in Stockholm. I would like to make a new record. I have many songs -- in English or in Swedish, haven't decided, really. I will go to south of Spain in late December for a couple of weeks where the composers association have a flat and hopefully I can do some small recordings or plans there.

Interview by John Norby. Photo by Torbjörn Boström.

01. Elmo - Blind heart
02. TALK 1
03. Moritz von Oswald Trio - Pattern 3
04. Carpet People - All that ails must pass
05. Fronda - Andas
06. TALK 2
07. Siena Root - Time will tell
08. Cortex - No connections
09. Kornstad - Oslo
10. TALK 3
11. The Silent Section - In snow forever
12. Familjen - Huvudet i sanden
13. Band in Box - B33
14. TALK 4
15. The Bear Quartet - Northern

Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.

The 2009 Emmaboda Festival is bigger than ever, more bands, more spectators, more camp sites. It offers a broader selection of music than ever and it is one of few Swedish festivals with a positive growth rate. Yet it is still the smallest and coziest festival I have been to. The festival that used to be all about indiepop is nowadays all about variation and this years program contains everything from electropop to Springsteen influenced rock and ultra-commercial metal. Major foreign artists include 2 Many Djs, The Wombats, Metronony and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, among others, but I will keep my focus on the Swedish bands.

The site of the festival is the small town of Emmaboda; a sleepy industrial city in the middle of the Småland forests in south-eastern Sweden that is brutally awakened by thousands of partying, concert-going teens and twenty-somethings once a year. The festival area itself consists of one big forest-covered field that contains everything: stages, camping, bars, food facilities and port-a-potties. This also means that you can camp more or less right next to a stage and, if you wish, bring your own drinks to concerts.

There are two stages (they are actually more like barns-turned-stages) at the festival: one called "the forest" located in, well, the forest and one called "the meadow" located on the open field in the middle of the festival area.

Thursday

The first thing I do as I enter the festival area is to hurry over to the forest stage where Stockholm pop sensation Jonathan Johansson is performing. He is telling anecdotes from the cool elitist nightclubs of the Swedish capital and plays drum machine powered pop, reminiscent of early Swedish 90's pop. If the Smashing Pumpkins had formed in a Swedish suburb instead of Chicago, it would have sounded like this. However, it is a little too slow to wake up the sleepy audience and it is only the finishing Bruce Springsteen cover "Dancing in the dark" that really stand out.

Next up is Skansros, a Göteborg-based pop ensemble with a Håkan Hellström hangup. Their set includes everything from funky pop pieces to a little too pretentious out-of-tune ballads, but most of it is just plain excellent pop music.

Dead By April, Sweden's hottest commercial metal act and this year's least expected booking at the festival take their time to sound check and enter the stage a good half hour after set time. Their music combines growling and delicate singing with sweet melodies and heavy riffs. Their act of trying to look hard and sensitive at the same time fails miserably, and they end up looking like Sweden's version of Crazy Town or Evanescence.

Thursday's headliner are Skåne's legendary Bob Hund. They perform a super tight set as always. Top-notch both when it comes to song selection (a good mix of new songs and old hits like "Hörlurar" and "Min lilla planet") and crazy antiques from singer Thomas Öberg, today wearing a black mask instead of the usual white one. A perfect synthesis between madness, genious and rock music.

Detektivbyrån start off playing their harpsichord-powered folk pop just after dusk and perform a beautiful, almost meditative set. However, their attempt to make us listen closer by playing at a lower volume fails totally, plenty of times throughout the set their songs are overpowered by a screaming audience. But that is all forgotten when they finish the concert with two covers: "Lambada" and Klaus Wunderlich's classic "Popcorn". Pure genius.

Friday

Friday starts off with a mild breeze, blue skies and a cozy breakfast gig by Miss Li. Her naive, yet clever songs and piano hammering is a perfect combination and makes the audience forget their hangovers right away. It is a charming and relaxed show, at times perhaps a bit too relaxed when she repeatedly forgets lyrics and talks at length with her band mates about Ulf Lundell.

A few hours later Joel Alme gives us a solid rock show from the forest stage. There are strings, brass, warm melodies and heartfelt lyrics that never becomes too pompous or pretentious. Plenty of new songs show there is still a lot more to come and modern classics like "Always on my mind" and "Queens corner" draw down massive cheers. Perfect pop hits from the Swedish West Coast. Joel is Emmaboda's own Bruce Springsteen.

I have never seen The Baboon Show perform their chaos rock live before. Today's great show is sadly wasted on way too sparse an audience but frontwoman Cecilia Boström is never the less all over the stage from the second the band enters. Hits like "Faster faster harder harder" stick out in a set that is exemplary short. Like The Hives with a female lead singer.

Florence Valentin's performance on the Meadow stage proves that they have grown into a tight live music machine. The show kicks off with the bands most recent single "Spring Ricco" and from then on it is a full-frontal, left-wing pop attack. Lead singer and agitator Love Antell is cocky as ever, one second he talks about bringing down the government and the next he dedicates "Uppå sociala", a song about spending your welfare money on alcohol, to all the recent high school graduates in the audience. If you can stand the super obvious Clash influences, this is a really great show.

Legendary raw punks Moderat Likvidation made their first gig since the 80's last year and have been touring off and on since then. At Emmaboda they mix classic songs like "Köttahuve" with new ones from their most recent album "Mammutation". It is punk with d-beat, death and hardcore vibes. The old songs has the crusties moshing and the audience cheering and singing along while the new songs mostly leave people waiting for another oldie... But it is, all in all, a very good performance, appreciated both by the punk-dads and the new generation punks in the audience.

Laakso singer Markus Krunegård has had a massive success with his solo career. If it is the timely release of the vampire themed single "Jag är en vampyr" or just the winning concept of great pop melodies, I don't know, but when he enters the Meadow stage one thing is clear: he is a superstar. There is a huge audience, teenage girls scream at the top of their lungs and sing along to every song. The show is remarkably average though, it lacks structure (perhaps due to things repeatedly being thrown onto the stage) and is not very engaging if you're not already a big fan.

Saturday

Saturday offers yet another perfect festival morning with sunny, not too warm weather. My first show for the day is mp3 blog hyped electropop dude Nordpolen. His show starts off with a sample of Swedish opera classic "O helga natt" that turns into a loop and builds up to the first song. The band mixes electronic pop harmonies with a steady beat and bare chested lead singer Pelle Hellström looks like a young Dave Gahan in his leopard jacket. A decent set, but it is only hit single "Skimret" that really stands out.

Göteborg rockers Franke enter the main stage wearing corpse paint and start off their set without uttering a word. As usual. Today, their angst powered reverb heavy brand of rock is lost in poor sound and distortion, perhaps by accident, perhaps on purpose. Their distaste for their audience is as apparent as ever. After 30 minutes singer Niklas Franke whispers "We are Franke" into the microphone, that is the only words they speak other than their barely audible lyrics throughout the whole set. The few older songs they play are great, but otherwise it is just remarkably dull. Old hits such as "Aldrig förstå" are sorely missed.

The Haunted perform their death metal without compromise and deliver a excellent set despite poor sound conditions and when they encourage us to "open your hearts to Lucifer" at the end of the show, I think we are all ready to do just that. Most memorable is however singer Peter Dolving who between songs tells stories of obscure Norwegian Nazi porn, repeatedly tells us to take good care of each other and, at the end of the set, strips butt naked before he walks off stage.

The closing act at the Meadow stage are electro pop duo Familjen. A massive crowd has gathered and after two seconds of the first song they all start dancing. The dancing continues throughout the set and then out through camp sites and to the out door dancefloor/stage Trädgården where Den Svenska Björnstammen and Adrian Lux keep the dancing going on all night or at least until I leave the premises for this year. Good night Emmaboda, see you next year.

Words and pictures by Kalle Landin

01. Gocart System - Always been the same
02. TALK 1
03. [ingenting] - Halleluja
04. The Kid - Transient dance
05. Thåström - Kort biografi med litet testamente
06. TALK 2
07. Small - Sunshine lover
08. Heroin and Your Veins - The trigger
09. Kongh - Tank pa doden
10. Villebråd - Vaknar aldrig
11. TALK 3
12. Anna Leong - Guillotine
13. Ison & Fille - Jag skrattar idag
14. Dyno - Burning blood
15. TALK 4
16. The Bear Quartet - Sweet beef
17. Entombed - State of emergency
18. Skatan - Top of the mountain
19. Familjen - Mine øyne de ska se
20. TALK 5
21. Suzy Thunder - Big

Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.

01. The Bear Quartet - Sweet beef
02. TALK 1
03. Fever Ray - Triangle walks
04. Antifilm - Mado
05. Pistol Disco - Organ and drum
06. TALK 2
07. Håkan Lidbo - Born in the USA
08. Pan Sonic - Kahalaus
09. Agent Side Grinder - The screams
10. Existensminimum - 1993
11. TALK 3
12. Familjen - Det lilla livet
13. Tiger Lou - Crushed by a crowd (Mikael Jonasson remix)
14. Boeoes Kaelstigen - Flir
15. TALK 4
16. Universal Poplab - I could say I'm sorry
17. Marybell Katastrophy - Hey Frank
18. Dear Euphoria - Pop pills
19. TALK 5

Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.

In 2009, the radio show Ström gave an assignment to Swedish artists that make electronic music.; to make an interpretation of a song that they really do not like, sometimes even hate. The purpose was some sort of musical regression therapy. By making a cover of a song they dislike and make it into their own, the artists could get in touch with their musical origin, the place in their soul where the creativitiy is coming from. And by doing so, get a deeper understanding of themselves as humans - and as artists. The influential songs are easy to point out, and easy to cover, but the hated ones can be shameful and hard to confront. Sometimes those can partly explain why the artist sound the way he or she does.

The result: "Musiken vi hatar", due out June 10. Tracklist:

01. Fever Ray - Here Before (Vashti Bunyan)
02. Roos - Polly (Nirvana)
03. Andreas Tilliander - Dub that she wants/All That She Wants (Ace Of Base)
04. Familjen - Mine Øyne De Ska Se (Lis Sørensen)
05. Little Jinder - Femme Fatale (Velvet Underground)
06. Cilihili & DaBook - Orinoco Flow (Enya)
07. Ebb - Trash (Suede)
08. Trig - Ice Ice Baby (Vanilla Ice)
09. Lisa Nordström - LIke To Get To Know You Well (Howard Jones)
10. Håkan Lidbo - Born In The USA (Bruce Springsteen)
11. Alf Tumble - Klubbland (Håkan Hellström)
12. Vaerelsen - Diska!/Washing Up (Tomas Andersson)
13. Den Finska Nikotintanten - 122 Hours Of Fear (The Screamers)
14. Roll the Dice - Motorcycle Emptiness (Manic Street Preachers)

See the comments area for a track-by-track breakdown of why each artist chose the song they did.

01. TALK 1
02. Small - Highway child
03. Seance - Invocation
04. Halph - New money
05. TALK 2
06. Anna Frank - Directions
07. Kristofer Åström - Me and the snakes
08. The Scrags - Mad passion
09. TALK 3
10. Randy - Who's side are you on?
11. Division of Laura Lee - Violence is timeless
12. Existensminimum - 1993
13. Familjen - Socker
14. TALK 4
15. The Fine Arts Showcase - Lovesick
16. Viola - Cute destroyer
17. Nitad - Nervvrak
18. Penny Century - Just because
19. TALK 5
20. Marions - Another hour
21. BJ Nielsen - Tummen upp
22. Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - Facelessness erases every trace of humanity

Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.

01. Frida Hyvönen
02. A Camp
03. Hello Saferide
04. Morrissey
05. Familjen
06. The Fine Arts Showcase
07. Jens Lekman
08. The Soundtrack of Our Lives
09. Montt Mardié
10. Jonathan Johansson

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

04/24 - Magnet Club, Berlin
04/25 - Projekt 7, Magdeburg

01. Familjen - Nu händer det igen
02. TALK 1
03. Murmansk - Pale
04. KTMK - Valaistu risti
05. Lapko - Hugging the phone
06. Hebosagil - Big sun
07. TALK 2
08. Samuraj Cities - Washed up!
09. Sad Day for Puppets - Marble gods
10. Logh - An alliance of hearts
11. Epidemics - Never grow up
12. TALK 3
13. Simon Says No! - Shiver
14. Kornstad - Turkey, Texas
15. Spirits of the Dead - White lady/Black rave
16. TALK 4
17. Laakso - Hang me in the Christmas tree

Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XM U. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and in my house, channel 831 on DirecTV.

Buy the "Commuting colour" 12" EP: [click here]

01. Hello Saferide
02. Glasvegas
03. Laakso
04. The Radio Dept.
05. Those Dancing Days
06. Familjen
07. Håkan Hellström
08. The Embassy
09. Kent
10. Tiger Lou

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

01. Theresa Andersson - Birds fly away
02. TALK 1
03. Nitad - Pengaproblem
04. Parken - Jar har varit vilsen, Lisa
05. Hello Saferide - Anna
06. Alouatta - Animal
07. TALK 2
08. Bloodbath - At the behest of their death
09. Anders Teglund - I whisper, he lives
10. Familjen - Huvudet i sanden (ft. Adam Tensta)
11. TALK 3
12. Mikko Singh - Laodi majra
13. They Live - My favorite color is gold
14. Massgrav - Vuxenliv
15. Snøras - Lucid river
16. TALK 4
17. Lassus - Tummen upp
18. BJ Nielsen - Tummen upp
19. Ass - Tummen upp
20. The LK - Tummen upp
21. TALK 5
22. Quagmire - I've got a gun and I'm... afraid to use it

Reminder: My show on Sirius Left of Center (channel 26) airs Sundays at 11pm ET with repeats on Monday at the same time.

Boeoes Kaelstigen - Communting colour (12" EP)
Emil Jensen - s/t (CD)
Familjen - Huvudet i sanden (CDEP)

It should go without saying, but yes, this is all killer stuff well worth your hard-earned cash.

01. Hello Saferide
02. Frida Hyvönen
03. Håkan Hellström
04. Detektivbyrån
05. Familjen
06. Vapnet
07. Christian Kjellvander
08. David & the Citizens
09. Parken
10. Jens Lekman

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

01. Familjen - Det snurrar i min skalle
02. TALK 1
03. QGMR - Pre-emptive retaliation
04. Theresa Andersson - God's highway (ft. Tobias Fröberg)
05. Mental Overdrive - Europa
06. TALK 2
07. Siena Root - Time will tell
08. Marybell Katastrophy - Lost ship
09. José González - Crosses
10. TALK 3
11. Peter Bjorn and John - Inland empire
12. Kompjotr Eplektrika - Skeleton gong
13. Sonores - 16th of June
14. TALK 4
15. Reeperbahn - Havet ligger blankt
16. Joachim Willumsen - Turning 24
17. Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - Heaven is the notion that all this will end
18. TALK 5
19. Promoe - Det ljusnande FRAmtid

Reminder: My show on Sirius Left of Center (channel 26) airs Sundays at 11pm ET with repeats on Monday at the same time.

01. Hello Saferide
02. Tiger Lou
03. Håkan Hellström
04. Fleet Foxes
05. Familjen
06. Christian Kjellvander
07. Sambassadeur
08. Broder Daniel
09. The Radio Dept.
10. Pelle Carlberg

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

09/27 - Parklife Festival, Adelaide
09/28 - Parklife Festival, Melbourne
09/29 - Metro, Sydney w/Ladytron
09/30 - Metro, Sydney w/Ladytron