Swedish showcase festival Wheres the music? delivers 14 new additions to the 2015 lineup just in time for the weekend. Acts announced today include celebrated young artist Tove Styrke, electro/rap sensations Maskinen and rising stars XOV, Min Stora Sorg and Jonathan Johansson. These new additions join Beatrice Eli, Baba Stiltz, Alice Boman and another 150 artists performing at the Inaugural event from the 12th – 14th of Febin Norrköping.
About the artists:
Maskinen
Maskinen are the regents of the dance floors with an irresistible mix of rap, rave, electro, baile funk and pop. With tracks like ”Alla som inte dansar” and ”Segertåget” they’ve already created modern dance classics.
The debut album ”Boys II Men”, 2007, and the sequel ”Framgång och efterfrågan”, 2012, both got great reviews. Hit single ”Krossa alla fönster” from the last album went platinum and was a great success. Behind the name Maskinen we find Frej Larsson and Herbert Munkhammar, both previously active in bands like Afasi & Filthy and Slagsmålsklubben.
Tove Styrke
You’ve probably heard the new single from Tove Styrke “Borderline” on the radio or at the dance floor. In the well-received single the energy runs high and the aggression towards the patriarchy is undeniable. Borderline is the evidence that one of our most promising young artists is back for good.
Her debut from 2010 was the starting point of both her career as well as a hectic launching period. After taking a break to find her drive and desire to make music, Tove returned to Stockholm to start recording her new songs. With an ambition to make the album more personal, playful and without compromises Tove decided to only work with people that she genuinely liked. Among them are some of Swedens most successful songwriters and producers.
Amason
Gustaf Ejstes (Dungen), Amanda Bergman (Idiot Wind), Nils Törnqvist (Little Majorette), Petter Winnberg (Little Majorette) and Pontus Winnberg (Miike Snow) simply decided to make music together in 2012. The multi-talented, musically minded group of friends formed a band with the name Amason. A name that was chosen spontaneously by Pontus Winnberg. Even though the security and strength offered in Amanda Bergman’s (Idiot Wind) vocals is reminiscent of a warrior.
The first song to hit the Swedish airwaves, “Margins,” was soon followed by a selfentitled EP released in August 2013 on Stockholm-based INGRID, complete with single ”Went to War.” In February 2014, Amason released “Ålen” (The Eel), and in October 2014 will release their single “Duvan” (The Dove) worldwide on Fairfax Recordings and INGRID. Their debut album, Sky City, is due for worldwide release in early 2015.
Bam Spacey
After the demise of his former bands Magnus Johansson began creating music under the Bam Spacey guise in 2007. Bam Spacey productions are a means for Johansson to take an explorative focus on many music types including microhouse, ambient dub, and his beloved minimal techno. Even so, Johansson is very much a producer still searching for new sounds. What broke through is a vocal driven approach to minimal electronic music. Bam Spacey leans towards a sonic approach — one focused on optimism, movement, and color.
The forthcoming debut release, 1998, is the most self-assured and fully realized music to date across the nine-song tracklist, including collaborations with vocalist Vanja Hultberg, who is now also a full member of Bam Spacey. The return is with grasping lead single “Upplyst”. Following last summer’s much adored single release “River”, and 2012′s debut Land EP, the project showcases it’s most sophisticated material to date.
Beldina
Over the last decade, Beldina Malaika has carved out a name for herself, becoming one of Sweden’s most celebrated soul vocalists, with a voice that no one can quite touch. In addition to collaborating with groundbreaking stars from her native country (including Timbuktu and Rasmus Faber), Beldina has worked with a wealth of varied artists across oceans and generations, including Stevie Wonder, Mando Diao, Axwell, Billy Paul, The Cataracs and Childish Gambino to name a few.
With a lifetime of performing and singing, it’s little wonder Beldina’s live shows have taken her around the world, from LA to Tokyo. With her “pop angel pipes,” in the words of MTV Iggy, Beldina’s voice carries over any beat, delicately and flawlessly soaring with a powerful range. She’s been running her independent label – If I Were A Bell – on her own since 2010, getting love on MTV and around the blogosphere along the way. Beldina’s ‘Here We Go’video (released in April 2011) hit well over 100k views, and her video for ‘What Can I Say’(released in March 2013) was directed by Raul Sanchez and co directed by Beldina herself.
Beldina is also the producer of a YouTube project called Coverstories, intimate live videos of her pop song interpretations. Her versions of songs such as ‘Hang With Me’ by Robyn, ‘Cupid Boy’ by Kylie Minouge and ‘Fireworks’ by Katy Perry have received many kudos from both fans and the original artists themselves. With many plans tucked tightly up Beldina’s sleeves, this is only the beginning – stay tuned.
Colossuss
True to their name, this powerful trio performs a headstrong, burly metal with roots deep in the impenetrable mire of the stoner/doom/sludge tradition nuansed with streaks of progressive rock and psychadelica. A wide blend of influences are entwined and results in an accomplished and coherent music that is as direct and powerful as it is multi layered and meandering. Names that are commonly mentioned in relation to Colossus are Mastodon, Neurosis, Kyuss and Tool to name a few.
The band recently released their debut full length Wake, follow up to the very well received EP Spiritual Myiasis from 2011. Wake was recorded at Top Floor Studio and is a massively heavy and multidimensional album. Powermetal.de calls the album “One of the most memorable, intense and compelling works of the current heavy rock decade”.
Dagny
Dagny is an artist from a little town in Northern Norway. During the last couple of years she has established herself as one of the most promising acts from her part of the country. With a selection of her own songs, she’s been touring extensively in both Norway and the rest of Scandinavia. Her music describes her well as a person – from playful pop filled with eternal optimism to the more questioning, dark and melancholic expression.
In March 2012 Dagny supported Sir Elton John in front of 10,000 people at a Festival in Norway. Her concert got very good reviews. The same spring she was picked out as the jury’s favourite in a demo song competition, and therefore played the biggest festival in Norway, Øyafestivalen. From Spring 2012 Dagny lives in London, where she spends her time writing with various songwriters, performing, making demos for her debut album and hopefully founding a long and fertile career in the music business.
Dirtytwo
The two veteran producers from Norrköping, Fredrik Bjuvander and Aders Grentzelius also join the WTM programme. They began their project Dirtytwo back in 2011 and has a number of acclaimed releases on the Swedish deep house label Local Talk. Last year they did magical remixed of HNNY’s “For the Very First Time” and in February they release their first album.
HOG
HOG is a metal band from Stockholm with Swedish and Danish members. In 2012, the band assumed a stable line-up, established their style of metal and began assembling a full, coherent setlist.The band plays a juggernaut style of metal that combines bone-crunching but intricate riffs with guttural growls, but also incorporates melodic parts and clean vocals. Fans of great acts such as Pantera, Nevermore and Meshuggah should not miss this opportunity for a sonic bludgeoning!
Jonathan Johansson
Jonathan Johansson big breakthrough came with the album “En hand i himlen” in 2009. The album got both Grammy and P3 Guld nominations. He’s been praised for his innovative sound with honest and melancholic pop melodies. The poetic Swedish texts are mesmerizing but still catchy. His current single “Ny/Snö” is a sample of the new, highly anticipated, album due to be released early next year. We can’t wait.
Everything Jonathan touches turns to gold. The sequel to his debut album ”Klagomuren” received multiple Grammy nominations and when the follow up single was released, it quickly became the most shared track at Spotify.
Kid Astray
As any fool will tell you, the majority of the planet’s best pop acts hail from Scandinavia.Latest Scandinavian pop mavericks certain to take up a place in your heart are six piece Norwegian indie pop band, Kid Astray. They are all in their late teens and early twenties, who knock out day-glo, indie-tinged dance-pop with the effortless ease of musicians with pure pop running through their veins.
Benjamin Giørtz, Elizabeth Wu, Alex Meek, Even Steine, Håkon Carlin and Jakob Bechmann – for it is they – may have only just finished school, but their musical studies have already earned them massive summer festival slots back home, critical plaudits from the likes of Rolling Stone and Radio 1 and a premiere of their brilliant “Taking You With Me” on Noisey. With sky-scraping hooks and earworm melodies, Kid Astray are here to make you fall in love with expertly-crafted music all over again.
Min Stora Sorg
Min Stora Sorg is something extraordinary live. Something that we’re not used to at the Swedish live scene. With dancing, whirling fans, grand costumes, great intensity and waywardness she Anso Lundin creates her own universe. A world were we all get more beautiful and much stronger together than in real life. With her debut EP she entered the Swedish music scene as a new unique force to be reckoned with.
After touring intensively she started working on her debut album. The first single from ”Mvh Anso, M$$”, the outstanding ”Jag står kvar”, immediately got picked up by the Swedish radio station P3 and got great reviews on the major music blogs. Next year the sequel to the acclaimed debut ”Mvh Anso, M$$” will be released and we think that 2015 will be Anso´s year.
Vigiland
House duo Vigiland consists of Claes Remmered Persson and Otto Pettersson from the small Swedish community Västervik. Their first single Bouncer quickly became very popular on Spotify when it was released in late 2013. When they released the UFO this year – it was obvious that Vigiland offered something that the crowd was missing. The song was an instant hit and quickly climbed the charts, after two weeks it had already climbed in to the top 10 on Spotify’s list of the most played songs. Vigiland primarily focus on Melbourne Bounce, a slightly rapper and sharper variant of house music.
See the full line up here: www.wheresthemusic.se/en/music/
Published by FestPop Staff Writer Karli Jaenike Send Comments to: Press@FestPop.com