Record Union would like to congratulate Troublemakers, whose album “Made in Sweden” was voted the best punk/hardcore album of 2009 at Manifestgalan over the weekend.  Manifestgalan is a prestigious award, handed out to the best independent releases from a range of Genres in Sweden each year. Made in Sweden is a masterful mix of classic Swedish punk rock and rock´n´roll, with all the trademark power, pace and attitude which makes music within this genre truly great. The band, and Hans Selander (The A&R who recruited them) are obviously extremely happy with the result.

You can listen to “Made in Sweden” on: Spotify, Deezer.

Today we are pleased to announce that Manchester based indie rock outfit The Words release their first UK chart registered single “FAG“. FAG is a very catchy song, incorporating the lively hooks, powerful vocals and quality delivery which are trademark of the The Words sound. Record Union are proud sponsors of this release, and hope it´s success will match the awesome talent and dedication of the band behind it.

The Words draw on a variety of influences ranging from The Strokes, Kings of Leon & Arctic Monkeys through to Elvis, The Beatles, David Bowie and Motown, the band have managed to produce their own unique upbeat, feel good sound which gets people singing along whilst also hitting hard in all the right places.

“FAG” is that kind of song which you will keep coming back to - catchy is doesn’t describe in accurately, morish is a little better, addictive might be going a little far, but not much. Give FAG a listen on the widget below, as well as the second song on the EP “I just wanna Dance”.

“FAG” is available on all major online stores, such as iTunes, TuneTribe and Amazon and. If you are in the UK, you can order the track via SMS here.

We are proud to announce that Swedish folk legend Björn Rosenström has distributed his entire catalog via Record Union. A true troubadour, Björn has been entertaining Swedes for over 10 years with his humorous, witty guitar driven folk pop. Now his music has been thrust into the digital realm and is available right now exlusively on Spotify.

Björn first became renowned for his comical ballads performing in front of friends and at parties. His first album released in 1996 entitled “Låtar som är sådär” (which took only a day and half to record) was a huge success, selling 110,000 copies and reaching number #6 in the Swedish sales chart - without marketing. Since then he has released 6 albums and along with his band performed at venues and festivals across Sweden. All his music is released via his own label Rosenström Musik.

We caught up with Björn and asked him a few questions about going digital. We post the Q&A here for your reading pleasure.

How important is it for you to have your music on services like Spotify etc.?
In general, I think it´s important to make my music available to people. Spotify is one way. Me and my band “Det Jävla Bandet” have a lot of live gigs and if I can make people listen to my music, I might even see them at some of my concerts.

You are one of the most appreciated artists in Sweden, what are your expectations concerning releasing your music digitally?
I expect to make my music available to a larger amount of people. I hope that I will satisfy my old fans and maybe find some new ones. If then some of them would like to pay for my slight contribution to joy and happiness, I would, of course, be more than happy.

Why did you choose Record Union for your digital distribution?
I have heard of Record Union before and I also got a recommendation from a contact at Spotify. My contact at Record Union is easy to deal with, so simply it was not such a big deal.

Will you be gracing the Swedish people by releasing any new material any time soon?
I´ve promised myself to have a new album ready before summer 2010 and I don´t want to end up a liar. Even if I  struggle a bit with my time schedules for the moment, I really think that the album will be released in time.

We are looking forward to it! What are your plans for the weekend? And where can your fans find you playing next?
On friday 6 we have a concert at the turistic metropol Tanumstrand (near the village Grebbestad in Bohuslän). Saturday 7 we make a trip to the city of Nässjö for another concert. Feel free to come and join the pleasure.

Many of us will have heard about the Twitter song, but the SEO song probably draws a blank. The “SEO song” is part of a campaign by the Creare Group to raise awareness about illegitimate and black hat Search Engine Optimisation techniques - and what better way to launch a campaign than with a little musical composition! Record Union is pleased to play our part in combating rogue SEO optimisers by distributing this song a few days ago, which will be available online in the coming weeks. The song is by Charlie & The Martyrs, and is accompanied by a rather fun video, which you can view below.

People are quite clearly nuts about Nomy. In the past few months he has been receiving serious playtime on Spotify, in total achieving over 100,000 listens. His hit “Cocaine” has more plays that Eric Clapton´s song of the same title.

So who is Nomy? some of you may ask. An impossible question to question to answer, clearly. But to give you some idea we can tell you that Nomy is an self producing musician from Sweden who has built his following from the grass roots up. He creates much of his music via his own computer, which gives him the artist freedom and control he requires for his creativity reach its musical potential. The feeling and meaning contained within his music is surely a testament to this. His songs change from moving ballads to awesome thrashing hard rock refrains. Within each one one can feel the underlying genius which one can identify as Nomy.

By his own volition, much of his music can be found on his website and floating the Internet for free. With such an interest in his music the availability on streaming services and music stores has made his music more omnipresent than ever. Keep on rockin, Nomy. The world is ready.

You can stream Nomy´s music here (Spotify, Deezer ) and find his music on iTunes, Amazon Mp3, Tunetribe and most other music stores. Otherwise head over to his official website.

Notorious contrarians, Tin Pot Operation expound their own brand of anti-establishmentarian alternative indie punk madness. As they admit themselves, it is entirely unlikely that their music will ever be used in a mobile phone advert; something which doesn’t bother them in the slightest.

Forging their sound out from the raw materials of life in native Belfast, their music is honest, perceptive and uncompromising. Describing their music, they say that it is “Sort of the abandoned offspring of Punk getting lucky with Indie after a bottle of Absinthe. Veering between XTC, SLF, Talking Heads and Billy Bragg”.

Their latest much anticipated album “Human Resources” definately does not dissapoint. According to NME this “self-released slab of wax is a beautifully battered sonic manifesto and it sums up their hometown better than any empty-headed politician ever could.” Nicely put, NME.

By now, you must be curious what Tin Pot Operation are all about. Luckily, you check em out on the player to the right, else head over to Spotify for a listen. If you get hooked, you can also find “Human Resources” on most online music stores, such as iTunes and Amazon MP3.

The silky smooth popsters Morton Valence initiated their tour of Germany on Saturday with a superb unplugged performance for Balcony TV in Hamburg. Morton Valence received much acclaim for their album “Bob and Veronica Ride again” a fan funded enterprise which created a real humdrum among bloggers, music magazines and the media in general. Check out this beautiful acoustic version of their single “Chandelier”, which was released digitally on Record Union and is now available on music services around the world (including Spotify and Deezer).

Digital explosion is a perfectly suited name for the dance/electronic/trance outfit hailing out of Turku, Finland. Their music is digital, and most definitely explosive! With catchy electronic hooks, rapid beats and soaring fast paced synth, the tunes will be buzzing through your head long after you have ceased listening.

The element of Digital also carries another relevance for the band, who first met their success selling MP3s on MP3.com in 2000. They hope to fuel this success and feed their loyal fanbase with their last 2 releases, one called “Electronic Revolution”, and the other a selection of their previously released material (adequtely entitled “Selection“). Find them on Spotify here.

This really is dance music at its highest quality, and one can only imagine what kind of havoc it reaps when unleashed on the dancefloor. Give them a listen on the player in the sidebar to find out what what we mean. “Summer in Belize” is simply nuts.

Twaang metal is a Swedish experimental metal group led by Roland Billberg, an internationally renowned Swedish music maker and producer working in  variety of genres. Roland won the The Effigy Award for best Electronica in 2008 and was nominated for “Songwriter of the year” in the US.

The direction of the Twaang metal project is an extravagant and violent brand of heavy metal designed to shock and awe. Drawing influences from Dance, ambient and Rock, Twang Metal creates an audio and stage show experience designed to shake the masses. The bands recent international success have enabled them to develop a more impressive, elaborate image and live performance, making them extremely popular at venues across the world. This raw and uncompromising metal sound is expressed in their recently release album “Dark Angel” which will soon be available online.

Check out the video for Deliverance below to hear a sample of what Dark Angel has to offer.

Another face of Roland can be seen in an independent solo project, in which Twaang takes on a slightly different sound - losing some of the violent thrash metal flourishes and embracing a more straightforward dance/ambient sound. Like Twaang Metal, this sound draws on a range of influences, including artist as diverse as Gary Moore, Steve Vai, Mike Oldfield, Enya and AC/DC. This sound exemplified in album “The Third Dimension” which is currently available on most online music stores, and can be streamed on Spotify here. To sample this side of Twaang, check out the video for “Moondance” below.

We thought we would try something new here on the blog today and post a Record Union Spotify playlist. Contained in the list is a selection of tracks from Record Union artists which we think captures the spirit of the weekend! Maybe something to put on before you head out and see you friends? or something to keep the festivities going and the end of the night? Well, you decide! You can find the playlist HERE. Let us know what you think!

Next week, we will post a playlist of music selected by our A&Rs, so watch out for this too. You can find all the playlist created by Record Union and rate them on Share My Playlists. From the all of the Record Union team, have a super weekend!