#alternativepop

NMR Indie Playlist

Introducing.... Frida Blomberg with debut single 'Closer'

Andy Wors

Mar 3, 2020
2 min

Introducing.... Frida Blomberg with debut single 'Closer'

Maybe I'm imagining it, but the wealth of Nordic talent emerging as Music Producers is really noticeable at the moment, and young Norwegian producer and songwriter Frida Blomberg really makes an impression with her debut track 'Closer'. Chosen at the start of the year to participate in the GramArt Norwegian mentor program for emerging talent, with renowned composer / musician / producer Kåre Vestrheim ('Highasakite', Propeller Records) as her mentor, she had previously studie

'YOHIO' - 'Oh My.... Polkadot Politics' (single)

Andy Wors

Feb 27, 2020
1 min

'YOHIO' - 'Oh My.... Polkadot Politics' (single)

Back in the 'old days' it was traditional for an artist to release 2 or 3 singles (at most) before the release of an album, but clearly the musical world is changing, and we're delighted to update you on the latest release from Swedish sensation 'YOHIO' with, wait for it, the 6th single from his forthcoming album - which is to be entitled 'Neon Light Orchestra'. Of course we don't really mind at all, because each one has been a highly entertaining fusion of pop and progressiv

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 -

Andy Wors

Feb 19, 2020
1 min

'Lilla Parasit' - 'Eirik' (single)

We introduced 'Lilla Parasit' back in December when they released the track ;'Feather Soul', which had already been premiered by our friends at 'For the Rabbits', and ahead of a mini-album which is due for release in March they've now released an additional track, entitled 'Eirik', which I must admit has slightly blown me away - mainly because I wasn't quite expecting the intensity of sound they've managed to produce. So, for those of you who missed the original feature, 'Lil

Andy Wors

Feb 5, 2020
2 min

'Remington super 60' - 'New EP' (EP)

I had to double check that 'Remington Super 60' had actually named their new EP with the title 'New EP', and it's a release we've been really looking forward to hearing at Nordic Music Review. We featured them back in November when they released the gorgeous 'Fake Crush', and also enjoyed adding their historic Christmas songs to our home festive playlist. Now they've released the full EP of 6 songs, and it's a lovely set of laid back 60's inspired alternative pop tracks. So j

'Linebug' - 'White Nights' (video / single)

Andy Wors

Feb 5, 2020
2 min

'Linebug' - 'White Nights' (video / single)

We've written about Ida Wenoe's new single and forthcoming UK tour, and we'll stay in Denmark to feature the collaborative project between Line Bogh and digital visual artist Christian Gundtoft. We have of course written about Line Bogh previously, with 2 highly regarded albums to her name, most recently through 'Like Fire Like Fire', which was released back in 2017 and included tracks such as 'Yellow Moon' and the lovely 'Airplanes'. Her collaboration with Gundtoft started

Andy Wors

Jan 28, 2020
1 min

'Big Fox' - 'Beast' (single)

The list of high quality Nordic album releases expected in the next couple of months is pretty extraordinary, and we'll add 'Big Fox', who will release her 3rd album, 'See How the Light Falls' in March. Behind 'Big Fox' is the singer songwriter Charlotta Perers, and it's fairly remiss of us not to have featured before, as although her last album was released back in 2013 she has received widespread attention for some excellent single releases in the last couple of years - inc

'Lillith' - 'Beautiful Dreamers' (single)

Andy Wors

Jan 23, 2020
2 min

'Lillith' - 'Beautiful Dreamers' (single)

We've featured a few bands last year who were returning after a long hiatus (I guess Treemer' from Finland were one of those), and Norwegian band 'Lillith' are another band who have been away for a long time, after releasing a really well received album back in 2010, and finally re-emerging from the shadows in the last week with a new single entitled 'Beautiful Dreamers'. They describe themselves as a 'noir pop rock band', which given the growth in Scandinavian noir culture i

'happydieyoung' - one day i'll buy you the world (EP)

Andy Wors

Jan 16, 2020
2 min

'happydieyoung' - one day i'll buy you the world (EP)

So we've started the year with a thumpingly good release and a welcome return from 'Major Parkinson', but inevitably we ran out of time in December before Christmas closed in on us and there are a few things we need to catch up on from last year. Appropriately we'll start again in Bergen with 'happydieyoung', an alternative pop band who I like because their music is slightly different and offbeat from the norm, but at the heart of it are still lovely melodies and thoughtfully

Andy Wors

Jan 3, 2020
2 min

'Major Parkinson' - 'Jonah' (single)

There are, of course, 2 ways to consider the release of new single 'Jonah' by Norwegian alternative rock colossus 'Major Parkinson' so early on in January, depending on whether your post New Year glass is still half full, or now half empty. The first possibility is that this a welcome sign that 2020 is going to be a fabulous year of new releases, and that we're heading for 12 months of musical treats. The other perspective is that, quite frankly, a 'Major Parkinson' single i

Andy Wors

Nov 29, 2019
1 min

'YOHIO' - new single 'Defeating a Devil a Day'

We've already featured the new(ish) 'CeaseTone' track, and we can't deny that another 'favourite' of ours is the incomparable 'YOHIO' - the Swedish audio / visual artist who we wrote about previously when he released his singles 'My Nocturnal Serenade' and 'Merry Go Around'. His latest single is, somewhat preposterously, the 5th from his forthcoming album 'Neon Light Orchestra', entitled 'Defeating a Devil a Day', and as expected it's big, bold and totally brilliant. 'Defeati

In Short: 'Highasakite' - 'Can I Be Forgiven' (from 'The Bare Romantic, Pt. 1)

Andy Wors

Oct 31, 2019
1 min

In Short: 'Highasakite' - 'Can I Be Forgiven' (from 'The Bare Romantic, Pt. 1)

We're working on another music initiative this week, so just offering some quick updates on new releases we've missed in recent weeks. 'Highasakite' are obviously one of the highest profile Norwegian names, and we featured their excellent 'Uraniam Heart' album release not many months ago. But after the completion of that album they still had more songs they wanted to record, and they're doing that via a 2 part release of another album entitled 'The Bare Romantic', part 1 of w

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-

Introducing... 'STINAKO' with track 'Kun Viimein Saavuit'

Andy Wors

Sep 27, 2019
2 min

Introducing... 'STINAKO' with track 'Kun Viimein Saavuit'

We just have so many new releases and interesting artists to write about today, and we probably won't get through all 10 on the list, but we'll just start writing and see how far we can get. A couple of weeks back we introduced you to new Finnish band 'Pink Chameleons', and it's great to see another release on the same excellent Soliti label, this time 'STINAKO', with her debut release 'Kun Viimein Saavuit'. Behind the name 'STINAKO' is the songwriter 'Stina Koistinen', who

Andy Wors

Jun 12, 2019
1 min

'The Sleeplings' - 'Four Hens Down' (single / video)

So a couple of years back we wrote a glowing review of Danish band 'The Sleeplings' debut album, which was entitled 'Elusive Lights of the Long-Forgotten' and therefore gave it away as the type of curious prog-influenced album that we like at Nordic Music Review. It even made it on to our Albums of the Year list I believe, and fully deserved that was too. Anyway they're back, and their new single and video is rather brilliant. Entitled 'Four Hens Down', it's a thumping song

'Ocelot' - 'Mä voin ottaa sun ikävän pois' (EP)

Andy Wors

Apr 12, 2019
2 min

'Ocelot' - 'Mä voin ottaa sun ikävän pois' (EP)

We're covering a fair amount of musical ground today, and we're delighted to introduce you to 'Ocelot', a Finnish trio who've released their debut EP today, 12th April, and it's entitled 'Mä voin ottaa sun ikävän pois', which possibly translates to 'What Can I Take Away', but maybe don't take our word for it. I'll describe it as unconventional alternative pop, based around piano and some fairly extraordinary vocals, and whilst at first I thought I might only be able to handl

Andy Wors

Mar 15, 2019
2 min

'Vilnes' - 'Play With Me' (single)

I've been looking forward all week to writing an update on 'Vilnes', simply because it gives me an excuse to listen to his new track 'Play With Me' just a few more times - not that I needed much of an excuse, given I've had it on rotation from the moment I first heard it. It's another really good song from the songwriter, and everybody I've 'made' listen to it seems to agree with me. So we have written about 'Vilnes' (the musician Eivind Vilnes) before, but in case you msise

'The Remaining Part' - 'The Remaining Part' (EP)

Andy Wors

Feb 15, 2019
2 min

'The Remaining Part' - 'The Remaining Part' (EP)

We've covered a good range of newly released Albums in the last few weeks, but we're slightly behind on an EP that came out at the beginning of the month, and it is a great contrast to the full on Indie guitar anthems of Finnish band 'Pastis' that we featured earlier today. 'The Remaining Part' consist of 3 members between Denmark and Germany, producer Maxi Menot, and then 2 vocalists - Shary and a name more familiar to us, Line Bogh, who released her excellent 'Like Fire Lik

Andy Wors

Feb 11, 2019
2 min

'Highasakite' - 'Uranium Heart' (album)

So the general rule is that for 'higher profile' releases we write less because everyone can read far more informed and detailed reviews elsewhere, and I've certainly spotted coverage of the new 'Highasakite' album 'Uranium Heart' in national UK publications such as the Independent. Having said that, it also almost doesn't seem fair to skip through an album which clearly has had so much energy, emotion and passion poured into it - hopefully I can succinctly get into the detai

Andy Wors

Nov 29, 2018
1 min

'YOHIO' with new track 'Merry Go Round'

After our Elsa Åborg feature we'll go straight to the opposite extreme now, as this next track does have a big Commercial bias to it, but it is undeniably a hugely entertaining song. The artist is Swedish/Japanese visual pop sensation 'YOHIO', who came to prominence a few years ago when he participated in Melodifestivalen (which is used to select the Eurovision Song Contest representative) both in 2013 and 2014, making it to the final on both occasions, and coming in second