Intro to [Deportees] : Islands & Shores

A well known (in Sweden) Swedish band that has won the P3 Gold Award (A national radio award) in 2010 for Best Pop artiste. I only got to know them through Gimme Indie when I just tried out random live concert for fun. And I simply sit through the entire performance that lasts for an hour plus. Their music is of pop genre but contains a trace of indie style that makes it pleasing to my auditory cortex.

Band members include brothers Peder Stenberg (vocals) and Anders Stenberg (guitar), in addition to Thomas Hedlund (drummer) and Mattias Lidström (keyboard). [Credit goes to Wikipedia]

Islands & Shores is their fourth and latest album and my personal favorite. The tune and rhythm are less stronger compared to their very first album in 2004, but leave much more impression on the listener. There are more indie elements replacing the pop’s as their music progress through the years and I’d say I prefer their current style. I especially like two songs, namely “a doctor in me” and “a heart like yours (in a time like this)” in Islands & Shores. Do enjoy.

Deportees’ Offical Site: http://www.deportees.se/
Deportee’s myspace: http://www.myspace.com/deporteesmusic

Intro to [Brazzaville] : 21st century girl / Jetlag poetry

Just as the band’s latest album name, the Jetlag Poetry, suggests, the lyrics of the songs are pretty much prose-like structure with reference to travel and far distant from one’s home and friends and lover. Songs are actually poems with music, with the earliest poems coming from folk songs and the telling and re-telling of epics. The band has done a remarkable work on setting the themes for each “poems” which includes the solitude of traveling and certain natural feelings that can be aroused easily whilst away from one’s closest relations and haven. While I am not in any professional stance to say Brazzaville has written great prose in their musics, the songs and stories portrayed definitely fit its name aptly.

The style of the band does not change much along the years, comparing the music from the 21st century girl and jetlag poetry, but the latter has shown much more maturity in its overall production. Below are some live songs performed by the US band.

Official Website : brazzaville-band.com
Myspace : http://www.myspace.com/brazzaville

Intro to [Blackfield] : Blackfield / Blackfield II / Welcome to my DNA

Blackfield is a very much different attempt for Steven Wilson, hearing the songs by the Porcupine Trees and I would say the music produced turns out equally great if not more. Blackfield is a music project by British singer, Steven Wilson and Israeli singer, Aviv Geffen and the curatorship of which, according to Wilson has been trusted upon the shoulders’ of Geffen in view of the future of the band. I would perceive this normal, as far as a prolific artiste  like Wilson is concerned, where one has to expand his realms of creation and collaboration to have a wide range of feels for music.

The band has from 2004 till now released three full-recording albums, and gone for a plenty of tours around Israel and Europe. Here are a few songs from the first two albums that I’d recommend.

Official Website : http://www.blackfield.org
MySpace : http://www.myspace.com/blackfield

Intro to [BOY] : Mutual Friends

I first saw these two fair ladies on Noir TV on youtube, performing a song called Boris and was immediately attracted by the splendid quality of the vocal. The band is founded in 2007 by Valeska Steiner and Sonja Glass and only released their debut album recently — “Mutual Friends“, which won the 2012 European Border Breakers Award. Overall the album is of good quality and I personally would recommend two songs, namely Boris and Skin. I especially like the live version that are performed on Noir TV show and below are the videos:

MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/listentoboy

ps. I really would like to hear them sing some German songs.