#alternativeindie

NMR Indie Playlist

Andy Wors

Mar 4, 2020
2 min

'Yune' - 'Odd One Out' (single)

We featured Danish band 'Yune' back in November, when they released their single 'Ørkensangen', and we're delighted to welcome them back with a new offering entitled 'Odd One Out', another track centred around the 'Desert' theme which we encountered when we previously wrote about them. There's something slightly curious and alluring about 'Yune' which draws me to their music, and the single (which was released a couple of weeks ago, so apologies for being behind on this one)

'Pale Honey' - 'Treat You Good' (single)

Andy Wors

Feb 26, 2020
2 min

'Pale Honey' - 'Treat You Good' (single)

We first wrote about Swedish duo 'Pale Honey' way back in 2015 when they released their self-titled debut album (and I've really enjoyed listening to that again), so it's great to follow their progress through into a new decade with a brand new release ahead of a third album, which is due in September. It has been a while since their last release, and that seems to reflect the challenges of the creative process behind their new songs, but it's been worth the wait, because wh

Andy Wors

Feb 21, 2020
2 min

'Janos' - 'Sicky / Sticky' (single)

Although we still haven't covered as much as we would like this week, we're pretty pleased by the wide variety of styles and genres, as well as the quality of the releases featured - from the wonderfully offbeat 'Gypsy Chicken' to the refined songwriting of 'Signe'. And the new track from Swedish songwriter 'Janos' seems like the best way to end the week, as his brand new single 'Sicky / Sticky' (released today) is an irresistible blend of so many different styles of music -

'Martin Månsson Sjöstrand Trio' - 'Universum Faller' (album)

Andy Wors

Feb 11, 2020
3 min

'Martin Månsson Sjöstrand Trio' - 'Universum Faller' (album)

I was in Oslo recently and came across 2 lovely Norwegian guys who claimed (ok, they actually were, but 'claimed' sounds more intriguing) to once have been in a 'Cardiacs' tribute band called 'Piffol'. No record of 'Piffol' seems to exist online, but a few of you out there will understand the respect due to these guys for doing such an extraordinary 'laudatory' thing. Multi-talented Swedish musician Martin Månsson Sjöstrand, the founder of his trio creatively called, erm, 'M

Introducing... 'Guds Pengar' with single 'Borttappad'

Andy Wors

Dec 19, 2019
1 min

Introducing... 'Guds Pengar' with single 'Borttappad'

After the quiet but beautiful strains of 'Temilia', we switch direction with an introduction to a band we're genuinely really excited about. 'Guds Pengar' are again from Sweden, they've recently signed to the always excellent 'Rama Lama Records', who's current artist roster includes the likes of 'Steve Buscemi's Dreamy Eyes', the brilliant 'Melby', Julia Rakel and Delso Beach Club - all of whom who've been fortune / unfortunate enough (delete as appropriate) to be featured in

Introducing... 'Detox Mañana' and debut track 'FA$T FOOD EXPERIENCE'

Andy Wors

Nov 30, 2019
1 min

Introducing... 'Detox Mañana' and debut track 'FA$T FOOD EXPERIENCE'

We wrote way too much about 'Treemer', even if they are our new favourite band, but there's so much more to cover, so we'll try to keep our next write up brief. 'Detox Mañana' are from Sweden, and they feature 3 friends who started writing and recording music earlier this year, ending up somewhat inevitably in a small lodge deep in the Swedish forests, probably populated only by other musicians doing exactly the same thing. Even more inevitably the resultant album will be rel

Andy Wors

Nov 29, 2019
1 min

'CeaseTone' - new single 'Egotopia'

So it's our official 5th birthday today, and it's therefore pretty appropriate that we start with one of our favourite bands, a huge welcome back to the amazing 'CeaseTone', a project we first wrote back in our first few months of existence when we came across some 2014 experimentation by the bands founder Hafsteinn Þráinsson. Since then the band has received widespread praise for the exceptional 'Two Strangers' album, still an absolute favourite of ours, had nice words writ

Andy Wors

Nov 6, 2019
1 min

'Yune' - 'Ørkensangen' (single)

Moving on to Denmark next and another band we haven't covered before, 'Yune', who have just released the lead track from their forthcoming album, and that single is called 'Ørkensangen', which translates to 'The Desert Song', - and yes I have double checked and unfortunately it's not dessert. Anyway 'Yune' are a 5 piece band from Aarhus, and they've been around for about 3 years, mainly playing gigs and festivals in Denmark (alongside the likes of 'Lowly' and 'Sleep Party Peo

NMR Interview: 'Alba' from Ålesund chats about the band and their plans for new releases...!

Andy Wors

Oct 25, 2019
5 min

NMR Interview: 'Alba' from Ålesund chats about the band and their plans for new releases...!

We first came across Bristol band 'Ålesund' just over a year ago, and featured them this time last year when they released their single 'Shift and Flux'. We caught up with singer 'Alba' during a noisy soundcheck gig in Manchester, where we chatted about the bands roots, their connections to 'Extinction Rebellion' and forthcoming single: NMR: So firstly I have to ask, where did the name come from and can you give us the correct pronunciation? Alba: ''So it's pronounced 'Aw-le-

Andy Wors

Sep 21, 2019
1 min

'The Pool' - 'Woow' (single)

So here’s something slightly different for a Saturday night – in fact it could be suggested that this is the perfect track for the coolest of backstreet nightclubs, where genres are thrown out the window (not that it has windows obviously...) to be replaced by swirling mists of industrial ambient shoegaze pop. Anyway ‘The Pool’ are a Danish band that we somewhat carelessly don’t seem to have come across before, releasing a 6 track EP in 2010 followed by an album in 2015 call

Andy Wors

Jul 2, 2019
1 min

In Brief: 'Why Sun' - 'Frugte' (EP)

After the charms of 'I See Rivers' yesterday, we switch direction with a band that play the most laid back 'noise rock' you can imagine. 'Why Sun' are a trio from Denmark and 'Frugte' is their debut EP, and whilst I really don't like making comparisons to other musicians from past or present - think of a gothic atmosphere created by bands such as 'Jesus and Mary Chain' or even 'Fields of the Nephilim', but then vocals somewhere between Ian Curtis and Matt Berninger - there'

Andy Wors

Jun 18, 2019
1 min

'Baula' - new EP 'Drought' (In Brief)

So what else have we missed? Well we've featured 'Baula' a couple of times, firstly in May 2016 when they released a delicious single entitled 'Don't Bother', and then a follow up song called 'Nova' which we really liked too. Anyway the good news is that there is now an entire EP of releases from the Swedish / Icelandic duo consisting of Ísak Ásgeirsson and Karolina Thunberg. It's entitled 'Drought', and its a great mix of indie rock and subtle electronica, with 'Thunberg'

Andy Wors

May 10, 2019
3 min

Album of the Week: 'Fródi' - 'Hola'

This was originally meant to be an 'In Short' review, but the Faroese musician Fródi has released an album which has grown on me so much that I felt I should cover it in more depth. His new album is entitled 'Hola' (translated to 'A Hole') and it's a powerful, unusual release, which maintains a sustained vigour through use of minimalist inspired rhythms (and maybe there's some progressive influences in his music too), and when it opens up there's a lovely melodic ambitions as

'Introducing... 'Frydstads Markiser' with track 'Skinny Kids'

Andy Wors

Apr 16, 2019
2 min

'Introducing... 'Frydstads Markiser' with track 'Skinny Kids'

We had a bumper edition of new releases on Friday, and today there are 2 more official releases, unusual for a Monday these days, but still welcomed. The first comes from a really interesting musician from Tromsø, and who writes under the name of Frydstads Markiser - behind this name is the producer and songwriter Jørgen Frydstad. His new track 'Skinny Kids' was sent though on a particularly busy day of submissions a couple of weeks ago, and it just stood out immediately. It

Album of the Week: 'Insaunas' - 'We Brought Some Days Back'

Andy Wors

Apr 12, 2019
3 min

Album of the Week: 'Insaunas' - 'We Brought Some Days Back'

We have so much to cover this might only be a shortish review of 'Insaunas', but I definitely wanted to feature them, because 'We Brought Some Days Back' is the type of Indie album that we really appreciate at Nordic Music Review, and it's clearly been a labour of love over many years - and I know all albums are like that, but there's something unusual about this album that appeals to me, and makes it stand out from the norm. So 'Insaunas' are from Sweden, and they consist of

'M. Rexen' - 'United Kingdoms Part II - Animals of the Frozen Clouds' (album)

Andy Wors

Mar 27, 2019
2 min

'M. Rexen' - 'United Kingdoms Part II - Animals of the Frozen Clouds' (album)

If 'M. Rexen's' album 'United Kingdoms Part II - Animals of the Frozen Clouds' sounds to you like a musical curiosity that could take you months to fully comprehend and get to grips with, well you'd be absolutely right. So I won't try, instead offering a few short humble paragraphs to try and explain more about the artist and album, before letting you explore for yourself. I make no guarantee to you will like it, but to me there are some really beautiful moments in amongst an

'You Could Be A Cop' - ' Against the Bleeding Skyline' (single)

Andy Wors

Mar 26, 2019
1 min

'You Could Be A Cop' - ' Against the Bleeding Skyline' (single)

We have 2 short album reviews pending, hopefully they'll see the light of day late tonight, but in the meantime we'll keep the momentum going with an excellent slow building track from the Norwegian project 'You Could Be A Cop'. Against the Bleeding Skyline' somehow builds from a cute indie pop track into something resembling post rock, and it's strangely mesmerizing. So 'You Could Be a Cop' are from Trondheim, who for previous releases featured British singer Natalie Evans,

Andy Wors

Mar 25, 2019
1 min

'The Oceans' - 'High on You' (single)

We've featured a few new names to Nordic Music Review in the last couple of weeks, but 'The Oceans' should be far more familiar as we wrote about them 3 times last year, and after a stream of single releases through Autumn and Winter. They're based around 2 Danish multi-instrumentalists Dan Joe and Linus Valdemar, and they've always appealed to us with their melodic indie guitar writing, which has nods back toewards bands like The Cure and even Joy Divsiosn. Anyway they're b

Album of the Week: 'Pom Poko' - 'Birthday'

Andy Wors

Mar 13, 2019
3 min

Album of the Week: 'Pom Poko' - 'Birthday'

If truth be told, then I have no idea what I'm going to say about the 'Pom Poko' album 'Birthday'. In some ways I feel I should just demand nicely that you all go and listen immediately, and allow yourself to be blown away by its energy, complexity and hugely entertaining array of sounds, but I guess I have to try and say something, even if I do feel so 'in awe' of their debut release that I've struggled to know what to say since its release a couple of weeks ago. I guess I s

The Oneflower Tribe - 'Instantly Outmoded' (album)

Andy Wors

Feb 12, 2019
3 min

The Oneflower Tribe - 'Instantly Outmoded' (album)

We have mused previously that we haven't featured enough music from the beautiful Åland Islands (the Finnish archipelago between Finland and Sweden), although we did briefly visit there for a couple of features including an introduction to 'Merrigan'. 'The Oneflower Tribe' don't live permanently on the islands anymore, as they're now Stockholm based, but that's where they originate - I definitely need to spend an hour or two researching other musicians who are still based th