Välkommen till Sound Sunday!

Despite being a relatively small country with roughly 9 million inhabitants, Sweden has produced an impressive amount of world-renown brands, such as IKEA, Volvo, H&M, or Ericsson, and let's not forget the Nobel Prize! Swedes are very creative, which is also reflected in the local music scene. Since ABBA's legendary victory of the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, many famous bands have emerged from Sweden, including Roxette, Ace of Base, The Cardigans, Millencolin, and most recently Mando Diao. This edition of Sound Sunday is dedicated to Sweden and Swedish music.

Did you discover something you like? Please share your thoughts and post your feedback in the comments. I also accept album suggestions and genre requests via email [tina at makeuseof dot com].

Sey Hollo - Growth

Genre: instrumental, post rock

Sey Hollo is a solo project of Sebastian Larsson. Originally born in northern Sweden, Sebastian is now located in Stockholm, Sweden. He describes his music as "instrumental post-rock based on rusty guitars and tramp organs." Sey Hollo's self-titled solo album was released in 2010.

Growth is a free download from MediaFire.

Strangers In Wonderland - Shadows

Genre: pop, rock

From their homepage: "From Stockholm, Sweden comes duo Strangers in Wonderland with music from just this side of the looking-glass.

Since 2006 we have dreamed, written, performed and produced songs about what we call Wonderland. Songs about life and love and how sometimes that world on the other side of the mirror slips through to trip us up. And how sometimes, when we look into that mirror, we want what’s on the other side.

Strangers In Wonderland consists of Åsa Girgensohn, who does all the singing and everything else, and Lasse Thomasson who just does the everything else bit, except for maybe the odd backing vocal or so."

Shadows is a free download from Bandcamp.

tifuos - the basement session

Genre: indie, acoustic, folk, blues, rock

Jansson, Greve, Pirfält, and Zackrisson started tifuos in a reaction against the superficial music where the message is secondary. tifuos aim to make music that means something, music that expresses something, something from the heart.

the basement session is a free download from Bandcamp.

My Lost Youth - I Want To Find You, Thank You & Kill You

Genre: indie, powerpop, emo

This band from Helsingbord / Göteborg, Sweden is not to be confused with the band of the same name from the UK.

I Want To Find You, Thank You & Kill You is a free download from Bandcamp.

Greger - Zero-G Sunrise

Genre: instrumental, ambient, rock, hard rock, psychadelic

The album was recorded in May 2011 using only an electric guitar, a bass guitar, and a hand full of effects. The following month, Lost Days, which also contains some guitar solos and drums, was released.

Zero?-?G Sunrise is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Dead Animal Smell - Dead Animal Smell and the Sunday prog

Genre: pop, rock, dadaism

This album is a re-recording of the band's 2003 debut album Döda Djur Luktar och Söndagsproggen. For the present release they translated the original lyrics from Swedish to English using Google Translate. Consequently, the band's name is Döda Djur Luktar, which in English means Dead Animal Smell. Harmless little nonsense like this probably provides the best insight into Swedish humor.

Dead Animal Smell and the Sunday prog is a free download from Bandcamp.

The Out of Body Experience - Out of Body Instrumentals

Genre: instrumental, beats, electronic, hip hop

Out of Body Instrumentals is a massive album of exactly 100 instrumental electronic beats tracks. Unfortunately, I was not able to track down more information about the artist himself, who is probably also known as LVD Beats.

Out of Body Instrumentals is a free download from Bandcamp.

Interzone Inc - Two Tears

Genre: alternative, ambient, electronic, avantgarde, experimental, noise

From their homepage: "Interzone Inc is an ongoing process whose aim is to explore different sonic and harmonic landscapes, their attributes and the energies within. Interzone has existed in different shapes and formations since 1980. Its output is a combination of experiences drawn from the past years of sonic experimentation and collaboration, and the ambition to explore completely new areas."

Two Tears is a free download from Bandcamp.

Labbed - Labhits 2010

Genre: bitpop, chiptune, electronic, game music

From his Last.fm profile: "Labbed is a hobbyist programmer, artist, game developer and musician from Sweden. He mostly uses MilkyTracker, and samples made in his own sound generation tool LabChirp. He’s the brother of the artist Ozzed."

Labhits 2010 is a name your price download from Bandcamp.

Narkimic & Genius Enis - Jag Och Min Dj

Genre: hip hop, rap

Narkimic & Genius Enis are members of the Chipchoppin Order, a Swedish Hip Hop collective located in Örebro. The album title Jag Och Min Dj translates to Me And My DJ.

Jag Och Min Dj is a free download from Bandcamp.

Black Emperor - Athenaeum

Genre: dark, ambient, black metal

We conclude this edition of Sound Sunday with a rarely seen genre: metal. Unfortunately, this is yet another band that prefers to remain in the dark. I hope the attention they receive here will encourage them to step forward and introduce themselves. Feel free to post the band's Homepage, Facebook, or MySpace link in the comments!

Athenaeum is a free download from Bandcamp.

New to Sound Sunday? Past editions of Sound Sunday are available here.

Feel free to get in touch with me [tina at makeuseof dot com] to share free material, suggestions, and feedback or simply add your comments below.