Voyage: Sweden

Sweden, I adore you.

Peter Bjorn And John - Norrlands Riviera

The Swedish language makes me feel so at peace. Listening to this track makes me instantly relax. It's as though it transports me to a tiny coffee shop, down a poky street, somewhere in Sweden. It's freezing cold and I sip hot drinks all day long. These fellows Peter Bjorn and John are kind of like the essential listening of the Swedish music world, and so I couldn't bear to leave them out.

Vera Vinter – Drömde Om Dig

This is a lovely song by a relatively unknown artist, a lady named Vera Vinter. She comes from a tiny town in Northern Sweden, and this song features some beautiful guitar and wonderful vocals. However, keep in mind that this is an amateur recorded, live clip, and so quality of sound is not excellent.

The Tallest Man On Earth – Where Do My Bluebird Fly

A beautiful live recording of singer-songwriter Kristian Mattson performing live for a Seattle radio station. Becoming more well-known on an international level, The Tallest Man On Earth has released two studio albums and two EP’s over the last four or five years. Mattson has been an opening act for UK band Mumford & Sons, and shares a similar sound. He has also been compared to Bob Dylan, and is a skilled multi-instrumentalist.

 

Fever Ray – When I Grow Up

I love this song’s film clip, and its sound and lyrics. Karin Dreijer Andersson, otherwise known as Fever Ray, seems like such a peaceful and gentle person in this song. She is also the lead vocalist for Swedish brother-sister duo The Knife, whose song Heartbeats was covered by fellow Swede José González, both of which are fantastic.

Lykke Li - I Know Places

A Live performance ‘From the Moon’, Lykke Li releases yet another beautiful song. She always sings with such raw emotion, yet her voice sounds so strong and powerful. I can’t say much else about this incredible musician, except for that I love her.

Fanny Whale - Tim and His Love

Lastly, an unsigned artist, who I so hope makes it big. She's got such a lovely voice, kind of reminiscent of Soko, and some awfully cute lyrics. Also, she plays the ukulele, and that's pretty great. This is such a lovely little song!

Voyage: Australia

Since Blogger's been really mean to me over the last couple of days, and not let me log in, I've had plenty of time to think of new ideas for things I can post for you guys. One of these, was a sort of a musical tour around the world, which I shall call Voyage. I'm pretty excited about it, because it means I get to find new music from every country around the world! Woohoo!

Since I already post a fair bit of music, I'm just going to make this a fortnightly thing; one country every 2 weeks. One a week was too many, and one a month would've taken me forever!

My Voyage starts in Australia, which is pretty logical, since that's where I'm from... So here we go!

AUSTRALIA

I realise how hard it is to define one country's music in just a few songs, but that's not really what I'm trying to do. What I'm doing is bringing you any music from whichever country I choose. So for Australia, I've chosen 5 songs from very different bands and artists.They're all great for different reasons, and I'll explain those as I go through the music.

The 5 Australian artists I've chosen are: Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, The Temper Trap, Powderfinger, John Butler, and Augie March.

Geoffrey Gurumul Yunupingu is an amazing musician. I chose this song, 'History (I Was Born Blind)' because it has a great story, and his voice is just incredible. It's one of his best songs, and it's one that can be listened to over and over again.

This song by The Temper Trap, 'Fader', represents travelling around Australia, and it represents friendship. It's a driving song, or it makes a good one anyway; perfect for a roadtrip with your friends. Whether you're travelling west, or along the coast, it's such a feel good song, and it's a must have when you're travelling around Australia.

This is a fantastic song by Powderfinger, calles 'Sunsets'. They're a Brisbane band, who've been around for ages, but recently, after many years of success, Powderfinger have called the quits and gone their seperate ways. This is a live recording from from their last Sunsets Tour, at the Riverstage in Brisbane, Queensland. I chose this video, because I was there, and I'm telling you, it was an awesome night. These guys are incredible live, and it was great to be at one of their last shows.

This is John Butler solo, playing 'Ocean'. It's such an impressive and beautiful piece of music, and it's pretty cool that just one guy can do so much with one guitar.

This song 'One Crowded Hour', by Augie March is just great. That's about all I have to say about it. Just a great show of talent.