- The words "self-destructiiiiive" shouted all over and over again by Paper at the end of their song "Don't go out with him". The perfect soundtrack of the current worldwide economic crisis.

- When the guitars of Riddarna eventually start at 0'54 in their song "Glömma allt". Best rock n' roll band in Sweden (also because they are the only ones who make proper rock'n'roll in Sweden!)

- Anytime Mattias Alkberg's voice gets high pitched in his brilliant record "Anarkist". How this guy manages to reinvent himself every year remains a mystery to me.

- When Nina Kinert claps her hand before to start "Play the world" live. Because seing Nina live made me rediscover her 2010 record "Red leader dream" wich grew on me more in 2011 than in 2010.

- The Iranian "whooo whoooo whooo" at 2'08 in the totally addictive Compadre's "Golden Trumpet". My favourite Swedish song of the year.

- The violins of The Culture in Memoriam's "Run Emelie". One of the few moment this year when a song surprised me.

- The ending of Du Pacque's debut album "Erotique Du Pacque" and its line "my eyes are perfectly still." My favourite ending of a record this year.

- Katharina Nuttall singing "Let me see you stripped down to the bone" in her cover of Depeche Mode's "Stripped". It gives me the creeps.

- Listening to the band No Sleep and realize that it is a new project from Samuraj Cities. Most underappreciated Swedish band.

- Patrik Backlund's chorus in his song "Seesaw", "I see everything." My Swedish pop idol.

- The sound of Billie's voice (i.e. Promise and the Monster). She is a witch.

---------------------------
Absolut Noise is a France-based audioblog dedicated to Swedish music. It was launched in February 2006.
http://www.absolutnoise.com/

This year's SPOT Festival (May 27-28, 2011 in Aarhus, Denmark) was another successful industry showcase for Danish and Scandinavian music.

After a sun-baked SPOT last year, skies were gloomy for the 17th annual SPOT festival, but a splattering of rain didn't dampen the mood of the international delegates and local crowds. This is primarily an indoor festival anyway, spread across a handful of Aarhus' cultural venues and some additional tented stages.

(Speaking of Aarhus' skies, on the Saturday a rainbow-inspired installation by the artist Olafur Eliasson, whose works play with the idea of manufacturing the weather, opened on the roof of the Aros contemporary gallery. The permanent work is called "Your Rainbow Panorama", and from now on anyone who comes here for the SPOT Festival can also walk inside it to experience colourful 360 degree views of Aarhus below. For more info on that, see www.aros.dk)

Among the most talked about new bands at SPOT this year was Just A Number 05272011, with a sound garnering comparisons to Fever Ray and The Knife. The band played their first ever public gig here, having previously only been heard online.

Ahead of the show the act was shrouded in mystery, with some people believing Just A Number to be a male solo artist from the Isle of Man, as mischievously implied on their SoundCloud site. Some journalists told me they had sought interview, and been turned down.

The show didn't feature any Knife-style masks or disguises though, and revealed them to be a mixed-gender band, fronted by a female singer. I'm told by someone who works with them that they are Danes, despite one of the two festival programs listing them as Swedes. They played a great, innovative set, realising dance music through live instrumentation. If you want to check them out, here's a link: http://soundcloud.com/just-a-number-05272011

Female performers seemed to dominate this year's most packed-out SPOT shows, in the shape of acts like Denmark's Our Broken Garden a vehicle for the beautifully spooky vocals of Anna Bronsted. She and her band played an intimate show in the city's cathedral the night before the festival, and on the Friday night were the final act to play the main Musikhuset venue.

Two very different sirens of Danish pop/rock, Fallulah and Oh Land, each drew big crowds and kept them dancing. Oh Land's strength and vigour as a live performer allowed her show to transcend its wilfully dippy lyrics about dream and rainbows.

Less full, but brilliant, was a show by Norwegian indie rockers Harrys Gym. Fun fact: singer Anne Lise Frøkedal is apparently the sister of The Megaphonic Thrift's bassist Linn Frøkedal.

Sweden's Jenny Wilson is a woman who has transformed her music and herself since her time fronting the band First Floor Power, finding inspiration in R&B and funk. She played her SPOT show on Friday night in the main Musikhuset, with the Tensta Gospel Choir. Nina Kinert, a cult Swedish indie star in her own right, added flute and saxophone. Wilson seemed to be on a Grace Jones tip in a daring black cat suit and 'statement' hat, and fans were out in force to cheer her on.

SPOT wasn't all about the girls, though. Vinnie Who returned for a show that was packed out in seconds, and the festival would have felt incomplete without Treefight For Sunlight, Danes who now have an increasingly international fanbase thanks to support from the label Bella Union.

It was also a special festival for Alcoholic Faith Mission, who were upgraded this year to playing the main Store Sal hall of the Musikhuset venue, and whose pre-stage jitters (their manager says they were very nervous) were rewarded by a standing ovation at the end of their set.

For those who came looking for Icelandic sounds, there were shows by Dad Rocks!, the solo project of expat Snævar Njáll Albertsson from Mimas; 'Icelandic Elvis' Mugison; and the bands Ham and Dikta. Dikta's single "Thank you" recently became the most-played song in the history of Icelandic radio, for what that's worth.

Acts who seemed to win new fans included chirpy Danish sisters Pil and Liv and, gaining a lot of attention, the rather lovely and eccentric Danish band Raised Among Wolves.

To check out the full list of musicians who played SPOT this year and hear their music, visit www.spotfestival.dk

- Sophy Grimshaw

01. www.kvalität.com is online

02. Songs:
Uphill – Korea Campfire
Marken låg stilla – Dungen
Meet a bear – Britta Persson
Måne över Fårösund – Pascal
Whan we go to war – Tobias Fröberg
Play the world – Nina Kinert
David – The Radio Dept.

03. Albums:
0001 – This is Head
Singing from the grave – Anna von Hausswolff
Shallow grave – The Tallest Man on Earth
Clinging to a scheme – The Radio Dept.
Bigfield – Harald Björk
Glöm allt, Släpp allt EP - Riddarna

04. Videos:

05. Newcomers of the year:
Ruset – www.myspace.com/ruset
Hjärtat - www.myspace.com/makemefeelnothing
Riddarna - www.myspace.com/riddarna

06. Kvalität hope 2011 will bring:
Albums from Sonjagon, Ruset, Sibling Sense, Hjärtat, Existensminimum, Pascal and Dr. Alban.

---------------------------
Kvalität is a live music video site based in Sweden.
http://www.kvalitat.com/

01. NEI - City of gold
02. TALK 1
03. Brothers of End - Why
04. Johndoe - Kvikkleire
05. Viola - Sea curtain
06. TALK 2
07. Marit Bergman - Höstvisa
08. Bad Hands - Bad hands (feat. Nina Kinert)
09. Aerial - I am TV
10. Tape - Brakes
11. TALK 3
12. Tsukimono - Mimilalanono
13. Superfamily - The songs of the weak will die
14. Unter den Linden - Motstånd i läder
15. TALK 4
16. The Bear Quartet - Carry your weight
17. Björn Kleinhenz - Show me love
18. Pets - Don't say your heart is broken (we know it's not)
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.

Black and white - Linnea Jönsson (Those Dancing Days)
Bad hands - Nina Kinert
Northern lights - Britta Persson & Karl Larsson (Last Days of April)
Kick you out - Nicke Andersson (The Hellacopters) & Howlin' Pelle (The Hives)
Andra relationen - Subbah
Close enough - Choir of Kiemi
We love blood - Henric de la Cour (Strip Music)
Cartoon wolf - David Sandström
I can do it - Therese Johansson (Lowood)
Sillodill - Britta Persson

01. Lowood - It's a mess (feat. Kristofer Åström)
02. TALK 1
03. Murmansk - Sweet trio
04. Øresund Space Collective - My heel has a beard
05. Nutid - Pianoflikkan
06. TALK 2
07. Montt Mardié - Bang, bang (Echo in Warsaw)
08. Rupesh Cartel - Oh no oh no!
09. Bellman - Sleep forever
10. Pixie Carnation - Little sister
11. TALK 3
12. Fever Ray - Concrete walls
13. Jesper Norda - We have the guts
14. Bad Hands - Bad hands (feat. Nina Kinert)
15. TALK 4
16. Turboweekend - Up with the smoke - Down with the ash

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.

04/27 - Mascotte, Zurich (CH)
04/28 - Südpol, Luzern (CH)
04/29 - B72, Vienna (AUS)
04/30 - ISC, Bern (CH)
05/02 - Atomic Café, Munich (GER)
05/03 - Brotfabrik, Frankfurt (GER)
05/04 - Studio, Cologne (GER)
05/05 - Quasimodo, Berlin (GER)
05/07 - Knust, Hamburg (GER)

The "whhooooopp" in Samuraj Cities' song "Washed up"

The chorus of the demo version of Holana's song "Dance man, you're a modern man"

The piano part of Anna Ternheim's "What have I done" acoustic version

The drums with a sound of coconut in Convoj song "Knives and riptides"

The Division of Laura Lee line "it makes sense to die young, back where I come from, violence is timeless" in their song "Violence is timeless"

Du Pacque's line "my eyes are perfectly still" repeated all over again in their song "The great reveal"

When Hajen starts to sing in her song "Sharks"

The drums in Johnossi's "Party with my pain"

The robotic voice of Lykke Li at the very beginning of "I'm good, I'm gone"

Nina Kinert singing "and the mother of his child, oh, I had to" in her song "I shot my man"

The beginning of Paddington DC's record "Love is leukemia", the song "White cells" and its "resistor... transistor"...

Palpitation's voice in "Can I blame you"

The scream at 1'05 in Paper's "Hit the floor"

When Sonjagon's voice goes in the clouds at 4'30 in their song "Buckybell w.t.a.i"

---------------------------
Absolut Noise is a French blog on Swedish music.
absolutnoise.blogspot.com

01. Desert Planet - Riot sector 68
02. TALK 1
03. Grande - We did it all
04. Sara Berg - Crawl back from under
05. Dialog Cet - Buckfighter
06. TALK 2
07. Doktor Kosmos - Doktor Kosmos släpper en skiva
08. Halph - Weight
09. Bright Oak - The undertow
10. TALK 3
11. Juvelen - They don't love you
12. Frivolvol - Take it from the beginning
13. Little Jimmy Reeves - Sidetracked
14. TALK 4
15. Keith Canisius - Omorose
16. The Kid - Mayhem troopers
17. Lognhalsmottagningen - Bodybuilder
18. Markus Krunegård - Rocken spelar ingen roll längre
19. TALK 5
20. Firefox AK - Techno tears
21. Biker Boy - April song (Mr Bananas remix)
22. Thomas Denver Jonsson - Saved by the bell
23. TALK 6
24. Nina Kinert - Pets & friends
25. Familjen - Hög luft
26. Brainbombs - Down in the gutter
27. TALK 7
28. Anders Persson och Carl Smith - Morgonsol i April
29. Abduktio - Uutisia rintamalta
30. Nordvargr - Rektal B
31. Karin Holmberg + hab - Who we are
32. TALK 8
33. Lapko - Killer whales
34. Madrugada - Lift me
35. Kristofer Åström & Hidden Truck - What I came here for
36. TALK 9
37. Sambassadeur - Subtle changes
38. Dreamboy - What have I done
39. The Tough Alliance - Lucky
40. TALK 10
41. Logh - Saturday nightmares

01. Britta Persson - Cliffhanger
02. TALK 1
03. Death By Kite - Sweet M
04. KVLR - Traitors and thieves
05. Anna Ternheim - Today is a good day
06. TALK 2
07. Don Juan Dracula - Take me home (Johan Angebjörn remix feat. Sally Shapiro)
08. Amorphis - Weaving the incantation
09. Thomas Denver Jonsson - Dreams at the film club (feat. Nina Kinert)
10. TALK 3
11. Don't Be A Stranger - Lonely together
12. Madrugada - Tonight I have no words for you
13. Majessic Dreams - Have to go
14. TALK 4
15. Pavan - The bird
16. Bröderna Lindgren - Om en guldfisk (feat. Kristofer Åström)
17. The Tarantula Waltz - Where I end and you begin
18. Adam Tensta - They wanna know
19. TALK 5
20. Commando M Pigg - Mot stjärnorna
21. Gravy - Rock scientists
22. Jonas Game - ADHD
23. TALK 6
24. Linus Larsson & John Roger Olsson - In the shadow
25. Idiot Kid - Go to sleep
26. Mats Öberg - Cool water - på Den Gyldene Freden
27. TALK 7
28. Pascal - Längtar efter dig
29. The Bear Quartet - I would be poor
30. Peloton - Aranburu
31. Royal Downfall - Lightning strikes twice
32. TALK 8
33. Made In Sweden - Winter's a bummer
34. Erik Enocksson - The state the sea left me in
35. Asha Ali - Coward heart
36. TALK 9
37. A-ha - Celice

02/07 - Rival, Stockholm (SWE)
02/17 - Rockerfeller, Oslo (NOR)]]> Wed, 06 Dec 2006 00:00:00 -0500 news http://www.itsatrap.com/n/5304 http://www.itsatrap.com/n/5304 http://www.itsatrap.com/n/5304#comments New international tourdates for Norwegian singer/songwriter Ane Brun:

07/03 - La Maroquinerie, Paris (FRA) w/Teitur
07/06 - Vestfoldspillene, Åsgårdsstrand (NOR) w/DMF String Quartet
07/18 - Rex Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA w/Xavier Rudd
07/19 - Theatre of the Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA w/Xavier Rudd
07/20 - Bowery Ballroom, New York w/Xavier Rudd
07/22 - Dream Away Lodge, Becket, MA
07/25 - St. Andrews Hall, Detroit, MI w/Xavier Rudd
07/26 - House of Blues, Cleveland, OH w/Xavier Rudd
07/27 - Southgate House, Newport, KY w/Xavier Rudd
07/28 - Park West, Chicago, IL w/Xavier Rudd
07/29 - Cabooze On West Bank, Minneapolis, MN w/Xavier Rudd
07/31 - Fox Theatre, Boulder, CO w/Xavier Rudd
08/03 - Troubadour, West Hollywood, CA w/Xavier Rudd
08/04 - Fillmore, San Francisco, CA w/Xavier Rudd
08/10 - The Triple Door, Seattle, WA
08/14 - Joe's Pub, NYC
08/25 - Lerkendal, Trondheim (NOR) w/A-ha
08/26 - Color Line Stadion, Ålesund (NOR) w/A-ha
09/08 - Logen, Bergen (NOR) w/DMF String Quartet, Nina Kinert
09/10 - Stavangeren, Stavanger (NOR) w/DMF String Quartet, Nina Kinert
09/11 - Gamle Logen, Oslo (NOR) w/DMF String Quartet, Nina Kinert
09/14 - Björnsonhuset, Molde (NOR) w/DMF String Quartet, Nina Kinert
09/15 - Studentersamfundet, Trondheim (NOR) w/DMF String Quartet, Nina Kinert
09/17 - Kulturhuset Banken, Lillehammer (NOR) w/DMF String Quartet, Nina Kinert
09/20 - Södra Teatern, Stockholm (SWE) w/DMF String Quartet, Nina Kinert
09/21 - Trägårn, Göteborg (SWE) w/DMF String Quartet, Nina Kinert]]> Tue, 27 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400 news http://www.itsatrap.com/n/5499 http://www.itsatrap.com/n/5499 http://www.itsatrap.com/n/5499#comments Absolut Noise interviews Nina Kinert: http://absolutnoise.blogspot.com/2006/06/interview-nina-kinert.html]]> Thu, 08 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0400 news http://www.itsatrap.com/n/8972 http://www.itsatrap.com/n/8972 http://www.itsatrap.com/n/8972#comments Download some new tracks from Swedish singer/songwriter Thomas Denver Jonsson:

01. Dreams at the film club (ft. Nina Kinert)
02. Silverboy (ft. Ned Oldham)

Thomas' new album "Barely touching it" has been delayed slightly, but will be officially released on October 28. Good stuff.]]> Thu, 22 Sep 2005 00:00:00 -0400 news http://www.itsatrap.com/n/10335 http://www.itsatrap.com/n/10335 http://www.itsatrap.com/n/10335#comments Kite Recordings has announced that the title for the new Tomas Denver Jonsson album will be "Barely touching it". The record features twelve new songs produced by Carl Edlom and features Tomas' regular backing band The September Sunrise alongside guest appearances from Ned Oldham (Anomoanon/Palace Music) and Nina Kinert. Look for it around September.]]> Mon, 30 May 2005 00:00:00 -0400 news http://www.itsatrap.com/n/25441-top-10s-for-2004-thomas-denver-jonsson http://www.itsatrap.com/n/25441-top-10s-for-2004-thomas-denver-jonsson http://www.itsatrap.com/n/25441-top-10s-for-2004-thomas-denver-jonsson#comments Top 10 discoveries of 2004:

01. Nina Kinert - Heartbreaktown (album)

02. Ebay (website)

03. SXSW (festival I´m playing on next year)

04. Sushi (Food)

05. France Gall's 7"s from the 60´s (masterpieces)

06. Lilla torgs seriemagasin (record store in Malmö)

07. Holland (country)

08. DVD (video format)

09. Martin (guitar brand)

10. Cognac (spirit)


---------------------------

Thomas is a singer/songwriter from Sweden. 2005 promises to be his best year yet, as he will be touring Scandinavia as support for The Anomoanon (Ned Oldham) in late January and then heading over to the US for the renown SXSW Festival in March.
www.thomasdenver.com

]]> Fri, 24 Dec 2004 00:00:00 -0500 articles top10s