Oh Alright, the debut album from Sweden's Le Kid, jumps back and forth between lush, swoony mid-tempos, cheeky '60s kitsch, and day-glo '80s pop. As you'd expect from from a group whose "background" members are three of Sweden's best up-and-coming songwriters, the highlights are stunning. The jubilantly bouncy "We Should Go Home Together" updates Stock-Aitken-Waterman with a wink but also with so much joy that the group reveals a real affection for that sound, as well as an understanding of what made its best examples work. "Mercy Mercy," the group's debut single, is a cheery, summer-ready improvement on Girls Aloud's "Can't Speak French." Perhaps Le Kid's greatest work yet, though, is their fourth single. "America" takes the cosmic ice princess disco longing in Kylie Minogue's "The One" and melts it into something just as beautiful and sparkly but also warm-blooded, making its underlying plea for love all the more powerful in the process.
If outside the context of the album the retro pastiches "Oh My God," "Kiss Me," and "Seventeen" at first seemed a little juvenile or not quite up to par with the swooshy pop-dance of "Telephone" or the Gwen-Stefani's-"Cool"-meets-orchestral-strings of "Escape," their quality somehow becomes more apparent when they crop up in the midst of Oh Alright. Their demanded-replay-value still suffers in comparison to the rest of the album, but their charms, particularly those of "Oh My God," pop a bit more, too.
Elsewhere, "Bigger Than Jesus" is another soaring disco reverie, with a chugging electronic beat outpacing the restrained coos of singers Johanna and Helena. A bonus track version of the Killers' "Mr. Brightside" works surprisingly well both on its on terms and in creating a desire for more Le Kid covers. Still, it's "We Are The Drums," another of the group's consistently great songs even if not the acme of their work, that sums up Le Kid's potential: "we are the chords and the lyrics and the melodies," they sing in their mini-anthem, practically daring you to disagree with the affirmation that they're the beat you run your life to. If they can keep making material that so effectively sums up the joys of pop music, they really will be.
Le Kid's debut album, Oh Alright, comes out August 17 in Sweden. Preorder it here.
When a clip of Kate Ryan's new single "LoveLife" was posted to her SoundCloud page, I began to worry the album era responsible for uniting the two great pop forces of Kate and Le Kid's Felix and Marta was going to underwhelm...
...I'm sorry, Kate. How could I ever have doubted you?
"LoveLife" is pop Kate, not full-on trance Kate. Neither of those is necessarily better than the other, but I do love that such a light-hearted topline and sample is backed by more bass than I expected.
Kate Ryan's new single "LoveLife" is released on April 11 in Belgium. You should be able to buy a digital copy here as of that date. The album it precedes, Electroshock, will have a long way to go to equal her last real studio album, 2008's Free. With her usual producers 2N broken up, perhaps going back to them wasn't an option. If that's the case, it's difficult to imagine a more theoretically exciting choice than Felix Persson and Marta Grauers. It's still a nerve-wracking transition, though. Hopefully the end result is as good as you'd imagine and not a replay of what happened when Petra Nielsen worked with the former other half of September, VDB Productions, for no more than three songs on the latest September album (though to be fair, her previous, all Von der Burg-produced album Dancing Shoes showed some signs that the partnership was no longer as consistently great as it used to be).
Melodifestivalen may have finished introducing new songs for the year, but there's still one thing we fans have to look forward to (besides Andra Chansen and the final): Melodifestival-related albums.
I'm not just talking about this year's Melodifestival album (and its exciting demos). We also have a number of artists who competed in this year's contest who are releasing albums. All except the last of the albums listed below is out already or will be released in the next few weeks. International customers should be able to buy any of the CDs listed below from Bengans or Megastore.
Melody Club have already released Human Harbour. You can listen to previews here.
Previews of In The Club, the new album from Danny, can be listened to here. It's only eight tracks, with one repeated from Set Your Body Free and including his earlier unnecessary cover of "In Your Eyes", but otherwise they almost all sound pretty great. Thanks to Swedish Stereo and Scandipop for the tip!
Making up for Danny's dearth of songs is Anniela's Electric, which, at fifteen tracks, includes the English version of her entry "Elektrisk" (and, somewhat bafflingly, a cover of September's "Sin Of My Own") and is out March 14. The quality ratio probably won't be quite as high, but I imagine will get some fun tracks out of it. Preview clips are here.
Swingfly is repackaging his debut album with his Melodifestival entry and a new song with Pauline. It's out March 4 and is titled Awesomeness: An Introduction To Swingfly. Yes, really. That's going straight in this year's "Best Brilliantly Ridiculous Pop Words" contenders.
Linda Bengtzing gives us one new track, "Män i uniform," on her greatest hits album. Preview it here.
Sanna Nielsen has a new album out. Unfortunately, the previews have left me underwhelmed, especially considering the nice surprise of her Celine Dion-like last album, but maybe the songs sound better in full. Thanks to Schlagerfiasko for the preview link and to Scandipop who earlier debuted clips.
Anders Fernette's years-in-the-making album Run comes out March 11. His record label uploaded a few new songs from it to SoundCloud and they pretty much sound like I expected they would--if he's never been to your taste before, they won't win you over, but they work for me (in, admittedly, a not incredibly long term way).
We don't have any new preview for Le Kid's album, but we do have a title--and, predictably for this group, it's amazing: Oh, Alright! Yes, still one of my most anticipated albums of the past few years, even if "Oh My God" did underwhelm me.
Drop what you're doing--the music video for Le Kid's new single "We Should Go Home Together," the most joy-inducing song since Alphabeat's "Fascination," has arrived. Please, please, please watch it--or at least listen.
One of the best songs of the year, no doubt about it. It's amazing how they make "we should go home together" and "oh oh oh oh" sound like the most anthemic things you've heard all month.
According to Oswalds Popcorn, the single will be available for purchase September 27.
We should be getting the music video for Swedish band Le Kid's amazing second single, "We Should Go Home Together," any day now. A few weeks ago, the group provided this picture from the video shoot:
Everything they do just makes them more lovable. They know exactly what music they want to make and what image they want to go with it.
If you've forgotten what "We Should Go Home Together" sounds like--kicky pure pop joy, basically--here's the live-performance-with-supplemented-studio-audio video again.
If you've ever wanted to hear a low quality recording of amazing Swedish pop group Le Kid covering the Killers' also amazing "Mr. Brightside"...
...there you go. The original is one of my favorite songs of the past decade, but it makes total sense in their '80s pop version. Everything they do is so incredibly joyful or joy-inducing and it takes real intelligence to be as good as they are at composing (or arranging) music.
I love this group with my whole heart. If they're not successful, I don't know what I'm going to do. Their taste in music--impeccable. The music they make--fantastic. Their obvious love for what they do--the icing on the cake.
Eric Saade was also at the same event (singing "Break Of Dawn" and a cover of Linkin Park's "Leave Out All The Rest"), if you feel like watching more fuzzy quality live videos.
Fantastic Swedish pop group Le Kid's summery single "Mercy Mercy" is available for purchase now in Swedish digital music stores. Though "Mercy Mercy" has been available for several months in Denmark, it's the group finding success in their home country that I'm most worried about--like many countries, Sweden doesn't always have the best record of supporting its up-and-coming pop acts that don't have the benefit of some prior publicity to get them off to a good start--so I highly recommend buying "Mercy Mercy" here, from a Swedish site you can use regardless of your country of residence. I do understand, though, that most people will be turned off by the one-two punch of 1.) a website in Swedish (though Google Translate is always helpful and if you've ever used a credit card online you can pretty much guess what all the blanks are for) and 2.) a protected WMA file, not an mp3 (which you can work around by burning the file to a CD, preferably a rewritable one, and then ripping it back). Hopefully, though, when the song is released in a more international-friendly way, you'll buy it if you like it.
In the meantime, enjoy "We Should Go Home Together," probably the most dance-friendly, joy-filled Le Kid song we've heard yet. Though the video is of a live performance, I think the audio track has been supplemented with a post-performance addition of the studio version of the song. It sounds a little like the S/A/W sound updated for today and comes complete with crowd-friendly, generation-rousing "ooo ooo ooo"s in the middle 8.
The beginning of post below this one is quickly degenerating into an excitement-filled mess, so, yes, I am dedicating ANOTHER one to these Le Kid songs. The yearlong wait was worth it if these four new (once again, new beyond certain circles, not fresh out of the studio) songs are any indication. Stream all of the songs mentioned below here.
"America" (streaming below) might just be my favorite. Pop that makes me think of Gwen Stefani's "Cool" and Kylie's restrained, beautiful, uptempo moments, less because it sounds like them and more because it's similarly swoonworthy, it's grown-up but accessible, sweet without being too precious, Swede-appropriately and unselfconsciously poppy while also more international than many of my beloved Swedish artists usually are. Like being gently swept up in a gorgeous glittery pop whirlwind.
"Escape" is similarly dreamy. The vocal melody is sugary sweet enough to have been sung by a '90s girl group or '80s teen pop starlet, but the instrumentation's electronic sounds are enhanced by dipping and soaring strings that are embedded deep in the background but which give the song a subdued keening emotional edge it might not otherwise had.
"We Are The Drums" has verses with a "Ting Tings produced by RedOne" sound, though they're prettier, less deliberately abrasive than the Swedish-Moroccan musician's verses usually are (maybe partly because of the vocals--can we talk about the singing throughout all these songs for a moment? All female, it's coo-y without being overly coquettish, instantly appealing and accessible, often full of a youthful joie de vivre but capable of turning up or down the naïvety...basically a perfect match for these songs), while the chorus is much more expansive than you'd expect from what precedes it, with hints of a chanted group affirmation.
"Seventeen" is probably the closest to being an outlier out of the set, with a production style that is more guitar-using stop-start than electronically filling in all gaps in sound. It also sets aside the grown-up swoony style for cheekier music and lyrics, with the singers, frustrated at the thought that the guy they've got their eyes on might pass them up for being out of their teenage years ("I can be cute/I can be dumb/and I'm not even illegally young").
The excellent "Telephone" and "Mercy Mercy" are also streaming there, but I've written about them before.
There's something about their melody work that makes me think of the '80s, but not in an obvious way already being done by many others; it's really just work that is informed by pop's past but modern, made by people whose love of great music, especially great pop, comes across with each note.
No music is available for purchase yet, but their debut album will be coming out on Roxy Recordings this year. In the meantime, follow Le Kid on MySpace and Blogger.
Twitter-worthy newsbites, some of which actually have appeared on Twitter:
EDITED!ClipsFull versions (I'm listening to them as I write this) of several Le Kid songs previously unheard by everyone outside of a select few--"Escape," "America," and "We Are The Drums"--are streaming herefull versions here(as well as one full new song, "Seventeen"). The poppy technicolor Swedish group's upcoming debut album is one to watch out for in a big way this year. These new songs are...dreamier than I expected, but in a good way. My guess is these are still demos, but they could very well be the final versions. In other Le Kid news, it looks like "Mercy Mercy" was at some point set for a release late this past December but then canceled--pushed back, I presume. Embedded below are the lovely clips of "Escape" and "America," which I cannot wait to buy and hear in their full versions (edit: you can stream the full versions here, as I said above); in terms of music tone, they kind of remind me of Gwen Stefani's "Cool" and the restrained disco princess side of Kylie, mixed with the best parts of the radio edit of MissMatch's "Breathe In Breathe Out" (which members of the group wrote). Edit: I couldn't help myself--I'm also embedding the clip of the somewhat spunkier "We Are The Drums." The verses kind of have a RedOne-meets-the-Ting-Tings feel, but the song is much better than that makes it sound. Could summer get here quickly, please?
"Escape" (it sounds like this cuts out just before the song fully takes off)
"America"
"We Are The Drums"
(If you haven't listened to swooshy, harder-hitting dance-pop "Telephone" or summery "Mercy Mercy" yet, this is definitely the time to do so.)
Via the latest issue of QX (via in turn Schlagerprofilerna), Linda Bengtzing's upcoming single "Victorious" is a Melodifestival reject and features Velvet. To be honest, as "oh my gosh, Swedish pop princesses colliding!" as that news is, I'd kind of prefer an all-Linda single, but that's just being picky.
As covered by Planet Salem, Chart Rigger, and Scandipop, I'm enjoying Staygold's new single "Backseat Love." The Prince-reminiscent song mainly features vocals from future Melodifestival contestant Salem al Fakir (disguised and under the alias Damien Adore), but in the live performance at the P3 Guld Awards, Robyn stepped in to provide the female vocals usually done by Lady Tigra.
We've finally heard a couple of songs from the reformed-and-featuring-in-a-reality-TV-series Swedish girl group Play. Modern sounding pop, insistent single "Famous" and its sparkly b-side "Girls" have caught my ear, although we'll see if they have lasting power; the problem with much of the output of Janet Leon (one of the artists featured in last year's season of said show) was that, though it took its leads from where pop is at now, many of the songs sounded anonymous over the long run.
In belated news, I've only just noticed that "DESTROY! DESTROY!", just possibly Swedish group DYNO's best song from what we've heard so far, is streaming in a quality better than what you can hear at MySpace over on their Facebook page, accessible whether or not you have an account. Synthy pop-rock that is very much worth your time on every level. Go over the #1 Hits From Another Planet to hear "Above & Beyond."
Speaking of synths, Xenomania-backed British singer Alex Gardner debuted the soulful singer-songwriter over synths sound via the full version of his debut single "I'm Not Mad" getting played on the radio recently; check out Xenomania News for instructions on listening to it or here for a clip. I've been a bit nervous about this project living up to this potential and now find myself in the strange situation of feeling unsure that "I'm Not Mad" is all I wanted it to be while simultaneously playing it much more than I expected. I've been wondering recently if Xenomania's output in the past year or so has always succeeded as matching up a great instrumental to a great vocal part (with, in general, the instrumentals exceeding the vocal melody, but at least not really fitting together), and "I'm Not Mad" kind of enhances the differentiation even more. Still, the song has gone straight into frequent rotation on my iPod, so I must really like it.
There's a low quality recording of Nanne performing her new single "I Natt Är Jag Din" here. The song sounds to have the production style you'd expect from Nanne (flirting with electro-rock), but I'm still not totally convinced. Sanna Nielsen's mid-tempo Celine Dion-like "Devotion," meanwhile, is proving with time to be more enjoyable than my original "OK" rating would indicate. It could still use a better ending, though.
I've realized in the time since I did my first list of newcomers I'm looking forward to hearing albums from in 2010 that I left out some acts who I'm just as excited about as those that made the first list. Plus, just to make this post a little longer--because that's what it really needed, more words--let's cover the couple of artists who I felt fell somewhere in between having a "proper" release before the end of 2009 and not. Consider this part two in an ongoing series--the Marinas, the Ellies, the Mini Vivas, and the more established artists will be in a future post (or several).
Le Kid Remember Le Kid? Sure you do--the swooshy dance-pop of "Telephone"? The bouncey summery feel of "Mercy, Mercy"? The four person Swedish pop group has yet to actually release a proper single, but even if they hadn't, their pop credentials alone would have me drooling: they're backed by Sharon Vaughn and Anders Hansson, '80s producer and band member whose great work has continued right up to the this decade with Alcazar, BWO, Lena Philipsson, Rachel Stevens, and Agnes's third album. The group's own music-making members are no slouches either, with Märta Grauers, Felix Persson, and Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad having contributed songs for BWO, Agnes, Alcazar, Magnus Carlsson, and Velvet, amongst others. The last two members of the quintet are Helena and Johanna, singers equally capable of perk and attitude. Altogether, they seem to love bold, bright colors, which is a perfect reflection of what we've heard of their music so far.
Speaking of which, in regards to what Le Kid will sound like, well, we've only got a months-old description from Oswalds Popcorn about the sound of the demos--to paraphrase/translate, thorougly commercial "Kylie-pop" meets the type of indie-electro they do so well in Norway--and the aforementioned two songs to base our expectations off of. "Telephone," which mixes bits of Kylie vocals, an "I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)" pre-chorus, and a refrain which feels like '80s pop-rock totally remade as modern dance-pop, and "Mercy Mercy," which has a beat which has drawn numerous comparisons to Girls Aloud's "Can't Speak French" but is much more sunny beachside fun (and much better) than that song, are both instantly appealing pop songs, enough so that when the group finally does come out of that studio they've been holed up in I'm expecting the pop joy to come raining down. The music seems to be there and the group comes across as nothing less than totally endearing in the video for "Mercy Mercy" and on their blog, even when explaining why they're not releasing music yet. A group of people who love pop music, are brilliant at making it, have a good image going, and seem like genuinely great, fun people--what more could you ask for?
Listen: "Telephone"
Find them on: MySpace Buy: nothing yet. The album was supposed to be out this fall, but you get the feeling the group and their backers want to do this right. Other people writing about them: Oswalds Popcorn, Don't Stop The Pop, Popjustice, Karinski
Sky Ferreira Young American singer Sky, who was sneaking into clubs before she could legally drive, has sort of a mainstreamed hipster style, but it's the songwriters working with her that have caught pop fans' attention more than her image: Bloodshy & Avant (Britney Spears' "Toxic," Rachel Stevens' "Sweet Dreams My LA Ex," Miike Snow), Greg Kurstin (the Bird and the Bee, Lily Allen's It's Not Me, It's You, and, like Bloodshy & Avant, much amazingness), Lindy Robbins (Backstreet Boys' "Incomplete," Nick Lachey's "What's Left Of Me"), Paul Epworth (Florence + the Machine's "Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)," the new songs on Annie's "Don't Stop"), Nicole Morier (Electrocute, Britney Spears's "Heaven On Earth" and "Rock Me In"), and Dallas Austin (Madonna's "Secret," Pink's "Just Like A Pill," Sugababes' "Push The Button," Gwen Stefani's "Cool"). On paper, that should mean there's no way we won't end up with some top-class pop songs.
The reality of what we've heard so far has been disappointing--far less electronic than I would have hoped for, much more fuzzy indie-pop-rock influenced, and even beyond that, nothing that screams "hit" (Lolita, written with Nicole Morier, has a certain cutesy catchiness and the Greg Kurstin-penned "Femme Fatale" isn't without appeal, but I guess when the buzz about Sky started I got my hopes up for some sort of fierce young pop starlet who'd have her own "Toxic" as well as gorgeous synth-decorated mid-tempo songs like "I Could Say" and "Cool")--but maybe her people are just holding back all the big guns for her proper debut? It could be that Sky has chosen to pursue a musical style that isn't one near and dear to my heart, but I can't give up the thought that she surely must have at least one fantastic song for us.
Listen: I'd rather post "Lolita" or "Femme Fatale," but her record label is being pretty restrictive even with videos streaming audio, so here's her covering Miike Snow's "Animal"
Visitor Two guy (yes, two, but I don't have the tech skills to edit together a picture of the two of them) act Visitor--Australian in origin, British in base--mixes electronic and rock sounds--well, I can't put it any better than Popjustice, which has surely heard more songs by them at this point anyway: "a sort of pop-hungry, high drama missing link between The Killers and the Pet Shop Boys." Calling card "Los Feeling," produced by Diamond Cut, could easily fit in amongst, say, the output of all the amazing slightly indie electronic groups coming out of Australia, and I say that as the highest sort of compliment. They've also worked with fellow Australians Van She. Without a record deal yet, they're one of those groups we can't technically count on getting out a formal release in 2010, but with the interest, I'm hopeful.
I wrote about Le Kid, the new Swedish pop group composed of Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad, Cocktail Studios' Märta Grauers and Felix Persson, and two other members last March. In the time since then, my enthusiasm for "Telephone," swooshy modern pure pop with elements of both disco and '80s electro-pop-rock but an ultimately fresh feeling, has dimmed not one iota--if you love Swedish pop, go listen to it now (the band's members frequently work with Anders Hansson, if that will get you interested, and fans of Velvet's "Sound Of Music," BWO's "Right Here Right Now," and Agnes's Dance Love Pop should love "Telephone")--but no further word about the group had been forthcoming.
I was thrilled, then, to see Oswalds Popcorn mention a new song of theirs, "Mercy, Mercy." A quick Google search reveals that a music video (made by the creator[s] of the videos for BWO's "Right Here Right Now" and Teron Beal's "Dance At My Funeral" [a song which I haven't properly written about here yet but is by the people behind Swingfly's "Singing That Melody," though it's more subdued and less full of singalong-inducing joie de vivre than Swingfly's song]) is currently being made for it, so I presume "Mercy, Mercy" will be their debut single. If it's even better than "Telephone," we're all in for a treat.
I know barely anything about Swedish group Le Kid. What I do know, though, is that their song "Telephone" is fantastic. Disco-pop meets the '80s and packed full of hooks, "Telephone" has the sort of production I live for, that swooshy dance-pop sound, but differentiates itself with a vocal melody and delivery almost appropriate for '80s pop-rock.
Songwriter and apparent group member Anton Malmberg Hård af Segerstad, who I'm assuming is at least partially behind this song, is at this rate headed for a quick induction into my songwriter pantheon. For sparkling dance-pop productions, is anyone more reliably great? Magnus Carlsson's "Walking In My Shoes," Velvet's "Sound Of Music," Luigi Masi's "Strangers Again," Lutricia McNeal's "Same Same Same"...here's hoping "Jump Straight Into The Fire," the song of his on Alcazar's new album, is just as great. "Poptastic" has never been more appropriate than it is for his work.
We absolutely have to give credit to Cocktail Studios, too, though. Felix Persson frequently collaborates with Anton and the duo that makes up the studios, Felix and Märta Grauers (who are also in the group, I believe), co-produced Agnes's latest album with Anders Hansson and did MissMatch's album, the highlight of which for me isn't even actually on the album: the radio edit of "Breathe In/Breathe Out." They apparently also worked on the upcoming BWO album, presumably continuing their collaboration with Anders Hansson.
There is as of yet nowhere to purchase Le Kid's "Telephone," which I think is getting a single release, but visit their MySpace here.
Your problems don't exist when music feels like this.
Songs are posted only for promotional purposes (I love them and want others to know about them, too)--if you like them, please "go out and buy the record"! If you are an artist, represent one, or are a songwriter/producer and would like your songs removed, I'll gladly do so (just let me know).
Oh Alright, the debut album from Sweden's Le Kid, jumps back and forth between lush, swoony mid-tempos, cheeky '60s kitsch, and day-glo '80s pop. As you'd expect from from a group whose "background" members are three of Sweden's best up-and-coming songwriters, the highlights are stunning. The jubilantly bouncy "We Should Go Home Together" updates Stock-Aitken-Waterman with a wink but also with so much joy that the group reveals a real affection for that sound, as well as an understanding of what made its best examples work. "Mercy Mercy," the group's debut single, is a cheery, summer-ready improvement on Girls Aloud's "Can't Speak French." Perhaps Le Kid's greatest work yet, though, is their fourth single. "America" takes the cosmic ice princess disco longing in Kylie Minogue's "The One" and melts it into something just as beautiful and sparkly but also warm-blooded, making its underlying plea for love all the more powerful in the process.
.
