I finished the year with This Heel, the prolific Swedish outfit led by Martin Månsson Sjöstrand, and it turns out Manchester-based Tigers & Flies operate in a remarkably similar musical universe - one where sharp, shout-along Pop Punk tunes are balanced with deliberate, organised chaos. They’ve recently released an album entitled ' Expanded Play' , which helpfully does exactly what it suggests by combining a couple of EPs from the last few years. The result is a hugely enjoya

There are few things I appreciate more at NMR than a band whose ambition wildly exceeds any reasonable scale, so naturally I was delighted to see that This Heel have returned with a new EP boldly titled ‘ Rock the World’ , which to me sounds like a 90s charity stadium concert. But who needs the likes of Live Aid, really, when a determined Swede with a basement full of pedals can do the job in nine minutes flat? Freddie Mercury had Wembley; Martin Månsson Sjöstrand has a pract

We find our music in all kinds of strange places: email submissions, online searches, friends at labels — and occasionally from contacts who apparently only ended up at a gig because their girlfriend needed the bathroom. SlightlyCubic is one of those magical bathroom-break discoveries, and ‘ Facades Departure ’ makes the whole chain of events feel entirely worthwhile. It’s an entertaining, unusual and quietly emotional mix of electronic and ‘classic’ instrumentation that’s k

I doubt whether Björn Yttling does too much sitting around watching the Swedish equivalent of ‘ Homes Under the Hammer’ on his weekday mornings. He is, of course, one-third of the (still touring) Peter Bjorn and John , seemingly produces about half of new Nordic pop releases, and has now re-awakened his Yttling Jazz project for the first time in over a decade — we suspect the man’s concept of “a quiet weekend” involves conducting a small orchestra in his kitchen. His latest