You're gonna find this heart of mind will stand the test of time

Swedish music news update!

Diva extraordinaire (in the best possible way) Lena Philipsson releases her duet with Orup, "Nu när du gått," digitally September 22. Oswalds Popcorn has the review (lukewarm at best) and the single cover. Sigh. Why can't you just give us another amazing solo album, Lena? The album of duets, called Dubbel, comes out November 12.

Speaking of songs released digitally on September 22, Sebastian (Karlsson) releases his new single, "My Getaway," then, with an album, The Most Beautiful Lie, following on November 5; he says it's "more personal" than his previous albums. "Words & Violence," the lead single for his last album, remains an amazing track, so I'm really hoping he'll give us something that good again.

Agnes's new album, Dance Love Pop, comes out October 29. They played about half of another song from it on the radio a few weeks back; I've forgotten most everything about it by now (it was something about love or kissing or something, I think), but it sounded OK--it'd make sense on the same album as the electro-disco-pop "On And On."

Sonja Aldén has a new single called "Du får inte" out. I don't own it (yet), but should you want to buy it, you can do so here, as well as preview the whole track piece-by-piece.

I'm not sure if this is worth mentioning, but since we've got so many other Idol graduates in this post...Daniel Lindström's got a new single called "Saturday Night" out--listen to the semi-disco sounds of it here, if you're interested. Possibly of more interest is that one-half of the Attic, Michael Feiner, has remixed the track--listen to the remix at the same place. Now that's something I may end up buying... Speaking of the Attic, are we ever getting a real version of "Flash In The Night," one that's not a six minute long remix?

Rachel of Work Your Magic might be interested to know (if she doesn't already) that Brandur released another single, "Lifelong Lovesong."

Sophia Somajo released her debut album, The Laptop Diaries. From the preview clips, I don't really think it's going to be the sort of album for me--most of it might be too "out there"--but "Warm Blooded Murder" (embedded below) remains great (time's actually been much more friendly to it than I would have expected) and it sounds like there might be some real keepers amongst the left-field electronically created pop there too. Then again, it's a nineteen track album (if bought via iTunes), so that's a lot of songs to sort through--both an opportunity for lots of filler and more chances to get it right. Would it interest people more if I mentioned there's a track featuring Juvelen?

Honey, I just wanna do you right

A day spent mostly reveling in Charlotte's victory at Melodifestivalen last night (more on which later, probably)...and yet, would you believe it, the music world continues to go about its business and release non-Melodifestivalen songs. A few random Swedish songs out and about that weren't in competition to be in last night's final:

Juvelen and his falsetto singing are back with another '80's-sounding electropop single. I don't think I've ever mentioned him here, which is really wrong (though if you read Nick's blog you're already well-acquainted with his work); at any rate, you can hear "Don't Mess" here. His MySpace is also playing two of his earlier songs, "Hanna" and "Watch Your Step," which are worth checking out if you like your squiggly electronic backings or artists likely to get compared to Prince (you can listen to "Don't Mess" there as well, but you're better off listening to it--and most of his music, to be honest--in good quality); it also has links to where to digitally buy his music. "Don't Mess" is a little fuller-sounding than either of those songs, and--maybe because of that--feels more...exuberant (musically). After seemingly ages, apparently the album, 1, will be out in April (April 3, if the information Nick posted is still right).

Arash is back with a Shaggy-featuring single "Donya;" you can listen to it on his MySpace. I have to admit that I only know him from some of his singles, so I'm not the best person to evaluate "Donya," but if you've missed out on his Iranian-flavored music (I say this knowing pretty much nothing about Iranian music short of Iranian-Swedish exports like Arash and Cameron Cartio, so forgive me if it's actually in another style) in the past, you'd do well to check out songs like "Temptation" (with and originally by Rebecca; a catchy poppy gem) and "Boro Boro." Or, if you're just looking for "what?!" value, there's always his cover (with Aneela) of Canadian artist Snow's "Informer," which is made all the more bizarrely "what is going on?!" fascinating by its mini-action movie of a music video.



Man Meadow, the Swedish duo who entered Poland's national final for Eurovision, have a new single out--if you know the Thomas G:son-penned "Viva La Musica" (which ended up third in said final), though, you may be in for a shock when you hear "Radical": gone is the electronic dance-pop and in its place is pop-rock that kind of feels like it's going for that light rock anthemic quality. That said, I really like it and would gladly buy an album from them, but you've been warned about the drastic change in style (though "Radical" has been in existence since before the Polish final took place, I believe); if you can't stand guitars, steer clear. Oddly, their MySpace isn't streaming the song, but you can listen to a clip on eMusic.