NEW LONEY DEAR!: loney dear - i was only going out

loney dear - i was only going out

loney dear - epk / airport surroundings

loney, dear - epk


loney, dear - airport surroundings

best of 2007: fave acts so far (1/2 year report)

this has been an amazing music year so far with new stuff coming at me daily (much that i've shared back to you). but amoung the batch, a few acts have filtered through and kept on returning to my personal playlists.

since it feels like such a slow week, i figured now is probably the best time to re-introduce some of the artist highlights of 2007 from january to june (in no particular order):

[for friends and fans of wongie, you probably know the class of 2007 (so far) pretty well. but for the rest of you, hopefully you can discover some gems from the list below. also you may have noticed that wongie faves mika, amy winehouse, gossip and lily allen aren't here (since they were loved in 06, i kind of took them out of the lineup just cause i'm a stickler like that!)]

tracey thorn - raise the roof
siobhan donaghy - ghosts
just jack - i talk to much
loney, dear - saturday waits
peter bjorn & john - young folks
feist - my moon my man (boys noize remix)
rufus wainwright - sansoucci
rihanna - rehab
glen hansard & marketa irglova (ONCE the soundtrack) - falling slowly
lil mama - lip gloss (absorb the lip gloss mash up remix)
kate nash - foundations
mia - boyz
cherry ghost - 4am
sara bareilles - love song
a fine frenzy - almost lover
roisin murphy - overpowered

b-side love: loney dear - i do what i can

loney, dear - i do what i can [link 2] (saturday waits b-side)

[i've been reading a few blog entries by swedish musical prodigy emil svanangen (aka loney, dear) and it seems that he's happy from the expanded attention touring with the loney, noir album, but misses the time to hole up and write music. it must be so weird to be so public after being so musically insular for 4 albums (emil recorded most of his stuff in his parents basement). so i've decided to offer up one of those basement creations in the form of "i do what i can". taken from his independantly released album 'citadel band', when he sings the line 'but it all brings me down' i get the biggset tinge of 'aw'... it's just beautiful!]

loney, dear - saturday waits (world premiere)

loney, dear - saturday waits
[taken off his album loney, noir, one begs to ask the question 'how does one create one of the nicest wistful tunes of the year'? if you're loney, dear apparently it's quite easy. i can't wait to play this on a lazy weekend loop... sigh]

live wongie: tunng / loney, dear @ union hall, brooklyn

it's rare that i go out to park slope in brooklyn. being one of those manhattanites that make a big deal when i go out to williamsburg (that would be one stop out of the island), imagine what 5-6 stops does for my sanity. of course in the real world, loads of cool people live in the slope and because of that, a few new music venues have popped up in the process.

union hall is one of them. a bar/lounge designed like a large library room (with bocce thrown in at the back), the music venue downstairs was intimate and cozily decorated. it was also nice being around a group of music lovers who respected each others floorspace and wasn't under the age of 25 (ok, there was this small lame group of girls who talked loudly about how they did their masters at yale. they were later shushed by the people around them. i smiled.)

anyway, i walked midway into tunng's set that evening. having not been a big fan of their album mothers daughters and other songs, i really didn't make the effort to catch their whole gig.

bad move on my part, turns out tunng shine when performing live. with roots in acoustic folk music, the rest of the band work around the mellow tunes with electronic soundclashes and dynamic beats. it's as if two bands were playing at the same time and somehow managed to find a common ground. the end result is something pretty impressive and unfortunately not reflected as well on their album.

if you ever get the chance to see this surprising revelation, you should definitely give them a listen.

here were two songs that stood out live:
tunng - the pioneers
tunng - jenny again

the real reason why i went to union hall was to check out one of my buzz bands of the season loney, dear. after hyping multi-instrumentalist Emil Svanangen for the past month, i really wanted to see if he was as good as i imagined him to be.

putting together a mesmerizing confident performance, loney dear as a band is extremely polished and surprisingly loud. though emil had a tendency to over sing his highnotes (his screech isn't as nice as his soft falsetto), the mix of melancholic lyrics over sweet choral harmonies made me appreciate his music even more.

now that subpop has picked up on this talent stateside, i'm sure loney's future albums will only get more polished and wonderfully personal.

here are some gems by loney, dear
loney, dear - the city, the airport
loney, dear - the city, the airport (david tross remix)
loney, dear - saturday waits

like what you hear, buy the album!

and here's another track that i shared previously by fellow swedes i'm from barcelona featuring loney, dear.
i'm from barcelona feat loney, dear - this boy

the gift of free music

apologies for being MIA these days, but i've been preoccupied with a few personal things and haven't really had the chance to upload new stuff. so for that reason, may i offer up some lovely legitimate freebies just for you!

from filter mag
kate havnevik - new day
[totally hoping to cash in before the real bjork returns, this is a nice lite-substitute]

from insound
peter bjorn and john - let's call it off
[i came in late with this band, but my current enjoyment makes the tardiness worth the wait. love these guys!]

loney dear - i am john
[i'm actually checking them out later tonight and can't wait!!!!]

i'm from barcelona feat loney, dear - this boy
[sweet song from an equally sweet band. gosh, indie music really is awesome these days]

from forkcast
patrick wolf - the magic position
[a crapload of blogs went haywire for this guy, but i'm still kind of 'eh' about him. cute song though.]

the mary onettes - lost
[can't wait for the full length from these guys. one of fave finds of last year]

from wongie's music world
groove armada - get down
[they're back!!!! i've been walking around town thinking i'm such the sh*t with this song blasting away. it's a sad sight really]

basement jaxx - make me sweat
[HOT!!! if i knew how to pop and lock, this would be the track that i'd show off to. unfortunately i look preposterous in a track suit]

joss stone feat common - tell me what you wanna do
[a surprisingly solid sophomore album by joss stone features some nice collaborations (including one with lauryn hill). i'm leaning toward this track as one of my favorites.]

hear good music: loney, dear

meticulously recorded in his stockholm apartment, the swedish popster loney, dear (aka Emil Svanängen) finally releases his 1st major label debut loney, noir via the influential subpop records.

though emil has single handedly sold thousands of copies of self-recorded cd-r's to his fans back home, the buzz around him is starting to swell into sweet indie world proportions with good press stemming from the uk and now the states. with music that is at once dreamy, exhilarating, melancholic and innocent, on stage, loney dear transforms into a seven man band with each member playing various instruments.

based on a few mp3 listens, i've already purchased my tickets for their march show in nyc! definitely my fave new band of the month!


loney, dear - i am john
[off the debut album loney, noir, this is the song that introduced me to the band. looove it!]


loney, dear - the city, the airport (live performance)(CSS remix)
[taken from his previous album solonge, this is a good idea of what to expect from loney, dear live. is it just me or does everyone travel in a band of like 10 people these days?]


loney, dear - i love you (in with the arms)(live performance)
[he gets all manic a la damien rice, and that's a good thing!]