Henric is a musician and multi instrumentalist from Sundsvall, Sweden. His part of indie pop darlings Heart-Sick Groans and the mind behind Ghost Lake.
At the moment Henric is at the studio with the band Harry Lynch, mixing songs with Henrik Sunbring (Agent Side Grinder, Marching Band). They'll be released in some time in 2013.
MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE
I didn't see this until this year, it's really from 2009, but I was so happily surprised. Mellow, eery and excellent! By Werner Herzog, with Chloë Sevigny and Star Trek Into Darkness bad guy Michael Shannon.
Also: LOOPER! Apart from Joseph Gordon-Levitt's annoying Bruce Willis forehead/nose, it was a sweet little action piece.
As with CHRONICLE, it also had some cool Akira things going on.
BEST MUSIC SIMIAN GHOST YOUTH
Someone reviewed this somewhere with "it sounds like glass" or something, makes sense. extremely nice production, sweet songs. ANGEL OLSEN HALF WAY HOME Here's an album to make a tidy little incision in your heart and then gently fill it with xenomorph blood. timeless classics! singer-songwriter angel olsen sounds sorta 60's but modernly fresh (the musical dream completed). her vocals are fitting to her christian name, loose, theremin-like and utterly beautiful. check it out, especially this undeniable hit - Angel Olsen – Free! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sekbCD_oFl0 VERONICA FALLSS/T
This album was gentle to me in the beginning of the year, reminded me of how effective simple songwriting can be, at its best! neat little stories in the lyrics too. guitar pop with generous reverb.
This year I've been making comics and writing books mostly! I'll release a single from my pop outfit Ghost Lake early 2013, with B-sides covered by Marcus Kimaro and Jerker Olov Hansson.
There's also a video for that single, with performances by the three great singer-songwriters John Hawks, Johan Brännström and Daniel Rodin, and the venomous dancer Petter Häggström. The vid pitch is David Lynch meets Fist of The North Star in Arkham Asylum dreamy darkness.
I did three music vids 2012 - one animated vid for pop phenomena Heart-Sick Groans, and I did one video for Ghost Lake, with choreographer Marie Herdensjö and photographer Patrik Forsberg...
...and this pizza fest that i did with Jerker Häggström & Johanna Näsholm
Heart-Sick Groans is a trio from Sundsvall, Sweden and for the past 5 years, they've been making super fun indie pop.
Not every band manages to create it's own universe - of course, this is a very, very subjective concept - but the boys from Heart-Sick Groans have one: it's funny, odd, tropical, filled with incredibly catchy melodies. Their short and straightforward songs often present rhythmical twists with whistles, claps, hummings, harmonicas and, guitar, ukelele, several chord instruments and drums...
It's fun and sophisticated pop (in a very cool, informal way), with intricate melodies and witty-mellow lyrics.
They have 4 EPs released so far and you can find them to download on their bandcamp.
As various blogs already said: one of indie pop's best kept secrets.
"HELLLO! We're HEART-SICK GROANS, a happy catchy indie pop band from snowy Sweden ! !
START happy winter month to y'all! Here's our TOP FIVE LIST of the BEAUTIFUL YEAR 2011.
FIRST BEST VIDEO/UPCOMING ARTIST
ULLBASUNENTA AV DIG HATTEN, DET ÄR EN DAM I RUMMET
Henric shot this video with Jerker Häggström to our friend Ullbasunen. Video contents: WTF creepy eery psyched out Chris Cunningham/Aphex Twin invertion epic.
MOTIVATION: "The first time I heard this song I started sweating. The only way to stop the pouring sweat was to listen to it again. So now, in order to have a reasonable life, I'm completely addicted to this song."
MARTIN'S RUNNER UP FAVORITE SONG: BURAKA SOM SISTEMAKALEMBA (WEGUE WEGUE) (link)
MOTIVATION: "I'm already sweaty. I might as well dance."
THIRD GUNNAR AND HENRIC'S FILM CLUB'S FAVORITE FILMS
DRIVE (link)
atmospherically dense and cool with spots of brutal graphic violence, great soundtrack, very clean/cleansing
HESHER (link)
tragic and funny indie flick, stupid in the best of ways
NUMBER FOUR ON OUR LIST
is a tribute to the Trinidad-Tobago artist EDMUNDO ROS, who passed away this fall at the respectable age of 100 pans. Also, Henric's mom and uncle saw him and his 18 man band live at Viskan, Medelpad, back in '71.
A bossanova/salsa/cha cha cha band leader with a beautiful voice and extremely uplifting themes and beats. One of our greatest influences of the last couple of years.
Here's ours and yours favorite soundtrack for every day up till NEW YEAR eve!
A PERSONAL UPDATE OF THIS YEAR THAT ALMOST COMPLETELY HAS BEEN: Martin became a lvl 85 WoW fire mage, Johan dropped out of the dentist school and started digging elder people dumping ditches in Jämtland, Sweden. Henric moved into a room in Gunnar's 50's design palace apartment to become his apprentice in the art of cooking, Marcus started buying the most expensive music studio gear around and showed only a mild interest in digesting the gourmet duo's food.
NEWS FLASH FROM OUR BAND of INTRICATELY WOVEN INDIE/FOLK/SURF-POP: We're currently mixing new songs, Henric just came back from Denmark after shooting a video to the new single "A Bossanova with this Casanova" with a galactic gang of 20 enigmatic artists... Then we'll be releasing these new tracks one by one as the weeks go by… And come spring we hope to release a vinyl with these tracks, and some old goodies! Expect, from our new batch of gems, grandious titles like "If This Canary Stops Singing" and "Black Hair Typography"!
Heart-Sick Groans, a band that gathers some of the most fun indiepopers of Sweden, released this week another cool named ep: 'Look!!! These three Painters of Hits Have Done It Again!'. It's independent and you can get it on their Bandcamp page (go and support them!!!). And even though they are not big - unfair world - they've really done it... more than ever, I'd say.
The EP has a strong 'indiepop-made-for-beach-days' feeling attached to short and straightforward songs with (mostly) fun, happy and irreverent lyrics.
Some of my favourite moments...
'Surfer Friend' starts the EP with what they do best: witty and funny lyrics with infectuous melody, a mixture of surf pop with country-ish guitars. Here, they sing about finding a surfer friend because 'I don't wanna go to the beach alone...' that, of course, is the Heart-Sick Groans way to start a song that talks about loneliness.
In 'Man on the Rocks' what stands out is the beautifully crafted orchestration and the participation of Elsa Sjögren sharing the vocals.
'Seriously, Salinger' is (seriously) great! Probably the best song of the release and perfect for sunsets (specially if you're in Hawaii!). Here they ride more melancholic waves and prepare your mood for the last rays of sun (and for the last track).
'Last Night Out with the Gang' is a slow paced tune, being almost a modern lullaby about, well, the last night out with the gang. Beautiful creation of images and amazing lyrics about memories of good times spent with friends - 'as he stepped out of the boat / a familiar laughter roared / last night out with the gang...'
Take this 6 songs to your little imaginary island... seriously.
today, we're having the heart-sick groans day here at the blog! It's a celebration of three boys in sweden making (always) sweet and (sometimes) funny indie pop with an incredible sense of melody. they're the kind of band that when i listen to, i feel like screaming so the whole world would know about them. i'm very happy to say that we have this megacombo today: all their three releases (that you can also download for free at their bandcamp), their (awesome) videos and an interview with johann. enjoy as much as i do/did!
01. starting from the beginning: when the band started and where does the name come from? the band started in late november 2007, we thought we were just gonna hang out but then we came up with a couple of songs and recorded them just for fun. the band name was made up by Martin, who had and still has a recurring dream where he sees "heart-sick groans"-posters glued on walls an lamp posts. we thought it would help us in some way..
02. you seem to be funny guys. i feel that from either, the songs and blog posts on your myspace. what motivates and influences you? there's a lot of things that influences us, recently we've been listening to a lot of trad jazz and old swedish fiddle tunes. marin has been into a lot of house music. besides from music we read as much as we can, hemingway, miller, anais nin, jan fridegård and sture dahlström.
03. so far you've released two ep's and a single. all of them are available to download for free on your bandcamp (great site!). what's your opinion on music distribution nowadays? blogs are friends or enemies? blogs, magazines and radio stations are good friends of ours! knut on eardrumsmusic is the one who has helped us the most so hats of to knut!
04. melodically, your songs are extremely rich... the first ep has a more romantic feeling while the last is a bit more upbeat and happy. could you talk about the making of your songs? how are they recorded, conceived... we do most of the stuff together, music, lyrics and melodies. we try to make the songs like movie scenes, a vision. something that flashes by and hopefully stays in the mind of the one who hears it. we've got our own little studio with old recording equipment that's hardly holding together. the studio is located out in the country side, in an old barn that is haunted by one of henrics ancestors. but usually his mumbling doesn't get on tape.
05. it is impossible not to talk about your videos too. they are brilliant! do you guys get involved on concept, idea or do you leave that for someone else? 'three day blow' seems to have quite a production behind it (it has a choreography! how awesome is that!?). the idea behind 'streetlight chase' is equally awesome! i mean, a ghost playing ice hockey? could you talk a bit about them? haha the videos. well for 'three-day blow, henric was working for a couple of weeks as a teacher in denmark. so he used that time for shooting the video. street-light chase - who haven't thought of how funny an ice-skating ghost would look. we shot it at henric parents farm in one evening and it was great fun.
now the traditional questions of the blog...
06. do you get to live of music or have another job? we have'nt made a penny on our music, i actually think we're getting even poorer by doing it. i am working as a chimney sweeper, henric is working at a car wash, martin is teaching sky-diving.
07. any song you'd like to cover? yeah something by edmundo ros, lou christie or ante sundin.
08. name the perfect place and time to hear your music. i guess that would be early in the morning, first day of the skiing trip. almost sober, watching the sunrise and feeling the heat. knowing that there's gonna be a party the same night, in the log cabin where the sweetest girls are staying.
09. recommend something you've been listening lately. the tallest man on earth, a good pal of ours! or "if my car could only talk" by lou christie.
10. anything else you feel like saying? i think we've decided to make twenty songs and see where it would lead. so we got a few more songs to record. right now it would be fun to do some touring. we're planning to release a single this spring with two new songs.
now's time to hear some music!
oh, i can do a number of things (08.2008) 01. the season for us 02. i suppose i've shocked you 03. a bell of bronze 04. i pray sir, can you read?
halloween special single (10.2009) 01. hey army of undead, now we're coming for you
gentlemen, if you ain't right, get right! (02.2010) 01. three day blow 02. suddenly molly 03. in a small kitchen song 04. after being awake 05. streetlight chase 06. you look like rain 07. why she wanted to stay at home
MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE 
SIMIAN GHOST YOUTH
Here's an album to make a tidy little incision in your heart and then gently fill it with xenomorph blood. timeless classics! singer-songwriter angel olsen sounds sorta 60's but modernly fresh (the musical dream completed). her vocals are fitting to her christian name, loose, theremin-like and utterly beautiful. check it out, especially this undeniable hit - Angel Olsen – Free!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sekbCD_oFl0
