'Cold Hand' – Sad Day For Puppets (from 'Come Closer' LP)
'Something More' - Makthaverskan (from Makthaverskan II' LP)

Consider my hand raised sheepishly in the air. Yes, I am still a sucker for Scandinavian ([Strawberry] Blonde)* sounds and yes I am still a sucker for guitars that collide in the forested bleakness of wintering hearts. Or, to put it another way, yeah, that shoe-gazey kinda noise-melody kinda schtick still sticks it to me even though part of me says I am far too old for this kind of malarky and that it really is best left well alone. In this category then it was Stockholm’s Sad Day For Puppets who appealed to me most this year and their ‘Come Closer’ set ended up as one of my most played collections. That said, Gothenburg’s moody looking Makthaverskan’s  “Makthaverskan II” pushed it mighty close with its Pauline Murray meets Curve cacophony, so consider this the first of a few entries this year where I simply couldn’t resist giving you an extra treat.

http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=70149319/size=medium/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/t=1/transparent=true/ 
http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3940941200/size=medium/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/t=4/transparent=true/ 
*Congratulations those who spotted the Frida Hyvönen reference without the need for this footnote. You may want to re-acquaint yourself with the climax to the (first) Unpopular advent of 2008. I did so myself recently and found myself falling head over heels all over again.