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.