For this week’s Artist Playlist, we made a curator of Emelie Alatalo, the vocalist with Swedish indie rock darlings Agent blå.

The self-described “deathpop” band produce dreamy post-punk music, intertwining moody aesthetics and bullish lyricism with more wistful, gazey moments, managing to both embody the spirit of punk and the rousing emotion of jangle pop.

The Gothenburg group have become one of our favourite bands from the Swedish scene, and by performing predominantly in English they’ve also won over plenty of admirers abroad, securing a U.S. record deal with Kanine Records in addition to their contract at home with Luxury.

Emelie is joined in Agent blå by Josefine Täck, Lucas Gustavsson, Felix Skörvald, Arvid Christensen and Tobias Bauer. Their debut album, as a five-piece, was released in the summer of last year, followed up by a four-track EP, Medium Rare, this June.

 
The Artist Playlist is our way of giving musicians, usually the curated, the opportunity to curate a playlist of their own, harnessing their passion for music to receive great recommendations, learn about the music they love, and get closer to their own influences and tastes.

We’re asking a new musician to take part each week, giving them free reign to select ten tracks and tell us all about them, as well as one favourite from their own past output.

In the first edition last week, we learnt all about the personal tastes and influences of Dead Naked Hippies’ Lucy Jowett. In this week’s entry, Emelie delves deep into her childhood loves plus the music she adores today, picking out Swedish pop and punk and more worldly rock and riot grrrl.

On her music taste, Emelie told us that her first favourite band was Green Day: “I adored them, and finally got to see them live in Gothenburg, for the first and last time in 2010. Shortly after I realized that being 13 years old and wearing my own weight in eyeliner, I had to listen to something heavier. So I started to listen to My Chemical Romance and Marilyn Manson, Slipknot and Rammstein.

“I’ve always been someone that finds a band and gets too involved. I had a period where I listened exclusively to Håkan Hellström, Broder Daniel and Kent, and every wall in my room was covered with their faces.

“Somewhere around that time, when I was maybe 15 or 16, I started listening to more Swedish music, more indie pop, and fell in love with those bands. You could say that the sheer existence of those bands is the foundation which Agent blå grew on, since we all met through our shared love for them.”

An audio fanatic, Emelie admits to listening to music all of the time, except shortly before going on stage. She’s also big on vinyl, despite lacking a turntable: “I think I like the authenticity of being able to own and hold a vinyl, and getting up in the middle of the record to flip sides. I’m also aware that’s a really pretentious thing to say, haha!”

Read on for Emelie’s picks, or head straight for the music and check out all of the tracks she selected on the Spotify playlist here.

Broder Daniel
When We Were Winning

 
Emelie says: “I just had to include Broder Daniel on this list. They might be the band we’re getting compared to the most, and I think that it always gets a little tiresome being compared to the same band over and over again, like it doesn’t matter what your own music sounds like anymore.

“But, they’re also the band I spent many years obsessing over when I was younger, so I can’t be too cranky about the comparison. If you want to make a whole club full of youngsters, including me, both cheer and weep at the same time, this is the song to play!”

Taken from: Cruel Town, September 2003
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Le Tigre
Deceptacon

 
Emelie says: “I love to listen to this song whenever things just feel hopeless. It makes me think of the whole riot grrrl movement, and it just makes me feel so fucking grateful.

“I especially find Kathleen Hanna so fascinating, and I wish that I could sit down with her for a conversation, even just for a few minutes.”

Taken from: Le Tigre, October 1999
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Amason
Yellow Moon

 
Emelie says: “This record is one of the best records I own. It’s just such a winner all the way through, and I think that this was the first song I heard from it.

“Amanda Bergman’s voice has always been like a gentle pat on the back for me, or the one tucking you in when you just don’t want to do anything but lay in bed listening to the same record over and over again. It just makes me feel calm.”

Taken from: Sky City, January 2015
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Marilyn Manson
Dried Up, Tied and Dead To The World

 
Emelie says: “This song is the black sheep of this playlist, but I didn’t have the heart to scrap it. Marilyn Manson is the soundtrack to my early teens, when nothing mattered more than quirky clip-ons, my then girlfriend’s Marilyn Manson t-shirt, and who had the biggest rips in their stockings.

“I think this period of my life was when I really started to care about music in a way I hadn’t done before. It became more than just something to listen to, it became my entire personality. Whenever I listen to him I get thrown back to that time, and there’s something weirdly soothing about that.

“I will never forget the look on my boyfriend’s face when we found out about our shared love for him. It was like a buried guilty pleasure had just resurfaced and was suddenly okay for us to openly like. Nowadays this is my go-to song whenever I’m going out, to get in the right ‘fuck you’ mood!”

Taken from: Antichrist Superstar, October 1996
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Den svenska björnstammen
Som vanligt

 
Emelie says: “This is by far my favourite band to watch live. They have a ridiculous amount of energy on stage, which is impossible not to absorb when you’re standing in the crowd.

“One of my top memories with this band is from maybe one year ago when I went to a gig with one of my best friends. The venue was overflowing with people, so you couldn’t stand still, but nobody wanted to anyway. It felt like the whole audience was one giant family, celebrating together.”

Taken from: I förhållande till, April 2014
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Kent
Stoppa mig juni (lilla ego)

 
Emelie says: “Kent is, just like Broder Daniel, a band that opened me up to the Swedish pop scene. I had Jocke Berg’s lyrics written across the walls of my childhood room, and I can’t count the times I’ve cried thinking that this is the only band in the world that knows how it feels to be me.

“Even though I’m not sixteen anymore, I still love this band just as much. They were definitely a big motivation to start playing music in the first place.”

Taken from: Hagnesta Hill, December 1999
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KSMB
Polsk Zchlager

 
Emelie says: “I love this really iconic band, and especially this song, much for its childish seriousness. It’s full of irritation, but dealt with by seemingly not giving a damn. I usually find myself listening to it in the mornings while on my way to school, to lose a bit of morning temper. It’s somehow a little refreshing.”

Taken from: Rika barn leka bäst, August 1981
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Parenthetical Girls
The Four Platitudes (A Bridge Song)

 
Emelie says: “Parenthetical Girls have, hands down, been my absolute favourite band since the day I found out about them. There’s something about how their songs are bursting with both arrogance and humility at the same time, both in their lyrics and instrumentally. It never fails to amaze me.

“If I ever run into a genie in a bottle my one wish would be to get to collaborate with Zac Pennington, or to cut his brain open and marvel over the wonders going on inside.”

Taken from: Safe as Houses, June 2006
Follow Parenthetical Girls: Spotify

Makthaverskan
Comfort

 
Emelie says: “When we started Agent blå, we were all really big fans of Makthaverskan, and wished there would come a time that we might even be signed to the same record label [Luxury Records] as them. Flash forward a couple of months, and we were, and still are!

“They have definitely been a big influence on our music, and since everyone on Luxury is like a little family, they’ve also become great friends to us all. They’re all really talented, and really great people!”

Taken from: Ill, October 2017
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Cocteau Twins
Cherry-coloured Funk

 
Emelie says: “This song is the root of one of my favourite tour memories. We were driving home from a gig in Uppsala, and I was sitting in the front seat when this song came on.

“There had been this amazing sunset happening before us for some time, but when this was playing the sky had just become dark and starry. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen, and this song captured it so well, and tied the whole weekend together.”

Taken from: Heaven or Las Vegas, September 1990
Follow Cocteau Twins: Spotify

Agent blå
Another Reason to Cut Off An Ear

 
Emelie says: “This song is a really fun one to play live! It usually fires up the audience, which is such a fun thing to watch from the stage.

“It’s a pretty upbeat and happy sounding song, but at the same time, I really think it’s one of our sadder songs lyrically. I was in a really weird place in my life while writing these lyrics, and I was telling myself that if I acted like everything was fine, I would eventually feel fine.

“Looking back at this song now, I realise that the lyrics that seemed kind of happy then are really quite sad and out of place. I was writing about some kind of fear, but it was already happening. But that also gives the song another push, and makes it even more fun to perform.”

Taken from: Medium Rare EP, June 2018
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Agent blå’s Medium Rare EP is out now, available digitally and on 12″ via Luxury Records in Sweden, Kanine Records in the US and Through Love Records in Germany, and on CD via 2670 Records.

For the first ever Artist Playlist we invited one of our favourite new women in music, Lucy Jowett, to pick out ten tracks that mean something to her.

Lucy is the fiery frontwoman of Dead Naked Hippies, a stormy post-punk trio that have been making waves of late with a stream of gutsy singles and live shows.

Described in our Women on Vox feature earlier this year as “Leeds scene prospects that clamour and barb with unabashed in-your-face style”, their music is all about sharp riffs and Lucy’s jagged vocals, little abrasive touches and ferocious melodies.

Their self-titled debut EP dropped in September last year, with a new single – Young Male Rage – released on Friday and out now on a 7″ split and digital platforms.

 
The Artist Playlist is our way of giving musicians, usually the curated, the opportunity to curate a playlist of their own, harnessing their passion for music to receive great recommendations, learn about the music they love, and get closer to their own influences and tastes.

We’ll be asking a new musician to take part each week, giving them free reign to select ten tracks and tell us all about them, as well as one favourite from their own past output.

We’ll also be chatting to each musician about their own music taste, finding out exactly what made them the artist they are today. In Lucy’s case, it all started with pop-punk.

“I was definitely a rock and metal kid throughout my teens,” she told us, citing Green Day’s American Idiot as her first favourite album. “I was 11 or 12 when it first came out, and that set me up to develop a taste for guitar music.”

Later on, she discovered classic bands like Sonic Youth, Portishead and Massive Attack through a college tutor, but Radiohead proved to perhaps be the main revelation. “I listened to OK Computer first, and then delved into everything that came before and after. Their development is fascinating, and I hugely respect how they have constantly pushed and reinvented themselves over the years.

“PJ Harvey is another like that. She’s also constantly reinvented herself, and her music has always felt very primal. Discovering her was really exciting for me as a young woman.”

Nowadays, Lucy cares deeply for artistic integrity, noting: “Music and message is a big thing for me. I’m definitely more inclined to listen to a band or artist if I know that their art is coming from a place of integrity and if they have something to say.”

Her playlist choices – packed with powerful women and important messages – reflect her inclinations, and include old favourites, new releases, and a couple of the bands that she’s shared the stage with along the way.

Read on for Lucy’s picks, or head straight for the music and check out all of the tracks she selected on the Spotify playlist here.

Savages
Hit Me

 
Lucy says: “I recently listened to an interview where Jehnny Beth discussed the lyrics of this song, and I found it really thought provoking.

“They’re centred around the idea that pleasure can come from different places, and the similarities between pleasure and pain. Focusing on the idea that a typically negative signal, for example crying, is seen as a sign of weakness, when perhaps it could be seen as a positive, releasing emotion vital to a specific time in your life to become stronger.

“I think it’s a really interesting perspective that can challenge the norms we’ve put in place, especially the idea that men and young boys can’t cry because it will make them appear weak. It’s a terrible pile of BS and is very damaging. I like to think that outwardly crying is a sign of strength and a willingness to share emotion.”

Taken from: Silence Yourself, May 2013
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Anna Calvi
As a Man

 
Lucy says: “I really respect how Anna is challenging perceptions of gender. This track in particular focuses on the idea of both genders moving to the middle of the spectrum, furthering gender equality. I’m understandably passionate about gender equality, and as far as we’ve come there’s still a long way to go, so I find this song really powerful and empowering.”

Taken from: Hunter, August 2018
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Dream Wife
Somebody

 
Lucy says: “We’ve had the luxury of playing with these brilliant women twice over the past two years. The first time we played with them was actually only the third Dead Naked Hippies gig, and we got asked to jump in the night before as another band had to drop out due to illness.

“We were inspired by the sense of togetherness they encourage at their shows, and how welcome they made us feel as a support band. It definitely made us consider how we wanted to be at our own shows.”

Taken from: Dream Wife, January 2018
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Fever Ray
Mustn’t Hurry

 
Lucy says: “This song makes me feel a sense of calm when I start to feel impatient about the things I really want to achieve but have no control over. I’m a serial perfectionist, I’m always ambitious, and I’m never satisfied, especially when it comes to creativity. This song serves as a reminder that it’s important to not rush and to let myself breathe too.”

Taken from: Plunge, October 2017
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Björk
Enjoy

 
Lucy says: “To me, this song is about being able to go out and experience the world. To enjoy learning about life, to feel emotion and be fearless about it.”

Taken from: Post, June 1995
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imi
Born For What?

 
Lucy says: “imi is a Leeds lady too, and a good friend. This track in particular is very emotive and beautiful. It provokes me to think about the human condition and purpose. I think practising self-awareness is extremely important in the modern world because there are so many distractions.”

Taken from: Born For What? (single), December 2017
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Karen O
Rapt

 
Lucy says: “Karen O is massively inspiring to me as a frontwoman, in the way that she doesn’t put herself on any kind of pedestal because of her gender. She doesn’t give a fuck, and seeing that has been really important for me when feeling my way around being a frontperson.

“Women definitely need to be championed in music and encouraged from a young age, but should never feel that their gender is in any way a token, that it has to be highlighted or that they have to live up to what is deemed acceptable, typical or ‘normal’ as a woman.”

Taken from: Crush Songs, September 2014
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Queen Zee
I Hate Your New Boyfriend

 
Lucy says: “Queen Zee are another band we got asked to jump on a couple of shows with because our friends had to drop out. We’re glad we did. They’re pushing boundaries and extremely important messages around trans power, self-acceptance and looking after your mental health. Their live shows are insane too.”

Taken from: Eat My Sass EP, September 2017
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PJ Harvey
My Beautiful Leah

 
Lucy says: “PJ Harvey is another woman that I find hugely inspiring, as she’s never fit into anyone else’s mould and has constantly reinvented herself. My Beautiful Leah is one of my favourite tracks from my favourite album of hers.”

Taken from: Is This Desire?, September 1998
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Sit Down
Bloodlust

 
Lucy says: “We played with Sit Down in Brighton earlier this year and they knocked my socks off. That doesn’t happen very often! Lovely people too. Their visual style is just as in your face as their music, think noisy AF, matching power suits and a ton of attitude.”

Taken from: Cheap Luxe EP, March 2018
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Dead Naked Hippies
Rare

 
Lucy says: “We wrote Rare at a time when I was feeling pretty much not myself. I was suffering with a really bad bout of anxiety.

“The idea of Rare was to flip that around and turn all of the negative, bad energy that I had into something positive and unapologetic. We humans are often very good at being hard on ourselves when we’re down, which ends up causing us to spiral out of control.

“Rare enabled me to find a way to be compassionate towards myself, and embrace my anxiety rather than demonise it. It might sound odd to some, but it made me feel a lot better.”

Taken from: Rare (single), August 2018
Follow Dead Naked Hippies: Facebook • Twitter • Instagram • Spotify

Dead Naked Hippies’ new single Young Male Rage is out now. They’re set to play lots of live dates this autumn, including HERfest Sheffield and 2Q Festival Lincoln on 3 Nov.

Women On Vox is our series highlighting talented ladies in music by tipping over 100 brilliant bands where women take centre stage.

With female artists still underrepresented on major platforms, radio and festival stages, especially those performing in alternative genres, there’s so much boundlessly great music that isn’t given the same chance to be heard and loved.

That’s one reason why, more so than ever, we’ve been celebrating female flair.

We’ve profiled no less than 125 artists in total – mostly bands, with a few solo selections thrown in – that represent a diverse range of styles, from alt-pop to vicious punk.

Originally published across five installments from 12-16 March, each edition of Women On Vox highlights 25 essential artists around a specific genre or mood:

• Part 1 – A guitar-drawn opening 25, starring a mixture of styles, some of our favourite talents of the moment and a few big tips for the future;

• Part 2 – A sugarier selection, featuring electropop and alternative pop picks and the band we most expect to achieve colossal success in the future;

• Part 3 – A heavier showcase of brilliant punk, rock, grunge and riot grrl bands, from the highly political to the ridiculously bizarre;

• Part 4 – Music of a more melancholy nature, including dream pop, darker pop and shoegaze, three of which you won’t find on Spotify;

• Part 5 – An overflow assortment of the artists we had to include but couldn’t fit elsewhere, including some of the biggest hitters.

As explained on the first day, the final picks were made from a shortlist of close to 400, constructed with the help of a tip or two from friends around the UK music scene.

We set a few criteria for inclusion. We decided to not feature the obvious bands we’re sure everyone has heard of, omitting the likes of CHVRCHES, Daughter and HAIM despite being big fans of all of them.

Likewise, we opted to only include acts that made their recorded debut this decade, the vast majority very recently, ruling out long-runners like Tamaryn. We lastly skipped a number of groups in which women only provide some vocals and not as the only lead, making just three exceptions along the way.

As for the name? Women On Vox reflects that, while we’re promoting women in music here, band lineups often include men and non-binary people too. (If you’re interested, 70.7% of band members on our list are women.) We’re strong believers that “female vocalists” is not a genre.

Each installment features profiles of every artist from FEISTY editor and Women On Vox assembler Katy. We’ve also included vital statistics plus the key discography you’d need to collect to gather everyone’s entire essential output.

Overviews of each part, including the full list of artists featured in Women On Vox, follows below. We’ve also put together a Spotify playlist of all of our picks, minus three (all from Part 4) that aren’t currently available on streaming services, that’s ideal for diving straight into the music:

(Not on Spotify? There’s also a sampler of 50 free-to-stream tracks on SoundCloud.)

Finally, like what you hear? Make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to discover yet more great music by women and keep in the know about our upcoming features with some of the artists we’ve included. Thanks for listening!

Part 1

Published: Monday 12 March 2018

Synopsis: A guitar-drawn opening 25, starring a mixture of styles, some of our favourite talents of the moment and a few big tips for the future.

Featuring:
Dream Wife, Calva Louise, Anteros, Yonaka, Black Honey, Nova Twins, Bang Bang Romeo, ZZ Tiger, BLOXX, Our Girl, Thyla, Frøkedal, Pink Kink, Harlea, The Van T’s, L.A. Witch, Honeyblood, Girl Ray, whenyoung, Yassassin, Family Friends, Tokyo Tea Room, Baby in Vain, Dead Naked Hippies and Pink Milk

Read Part 1 of Women On Vox

Part 2

Published: Tuesday 13 March 2018

Synopsis: A sugarier selection, featuring electropop and alternative pop picks and the band we most expect to achieve colossal success in the future.

Featuring:
Pale Waves, Anna of the North, Kitten, Fickle Friends, Skott, Wild Ones, Kristin Kontrol, Nelson Can, Gothic Tropic, Ardyn, CRONICLE, HALIE, Pixey, Peaness, Charly Bliss, Miss World, The Regrettes, Thea and the Wild, ASTR, La Lusid, The Marías, Cajsa Siik, Sheila and the Kit, Let’s Eat Grandma and GIRLI

Read Part 2 of Women On Vox

Part 3

Published: Wednesday 14 March 2018

Synopsis: A heavier showcase of brilliant punk, rock, grunge and riot grrl bands, from the highly political to the ridiculously bizarre.

Featuring:
Deap Vally, Estrons, Hey Charlie, False Advertising, BERRIES, Babe Punch, Shit Girlfriend, Petrol Girls, Skinny Girl Diet, Dream Nails, Dronningen, Dilly Dally, Kamikaze Girls, Destroy Boys, Bitch Falcon, The Franklys, Goat Girl, Angelic Milk, ShitKid, TEAR, Bethlehem Steel, Sœur, VUKOVI, Sløtface and Have You Ever Seen The Jane Fonda Aerobic VHS?

Read Part 3 of Women On Vox

Part 4

Published: Thursday 15 March 2018

Synopsis: Music of a more melancholy nature, including dream pop, darker pop and shoegaze, three of which you won’t find on Spotify.

Featuring:
Amber Arcades, Pale Honey, Chastity Belt, Misty Coast, Dama Scout, School ’94, Seapony, Agent blå, Yumi and the Weather, Pumarosa, The Machiavellis, Dream Rimmy, Sin Kitty, Blushing, Strange Hellos, Saltwater Sun, Steve Buscemi’s Dreamy Eyes, San Mei, St. South, Overcoats, Fiordmoss, The Hanged Man, Vök, Raindear and La Rissa

Read Part 4 of Women On Vox

Part 5

Published: Friday 16 March 2018

Synopsis: An overflow assortment of the artists we had to include but couldn’t fit elsewhere, including some of the biggest hitters.

Featuring:
The Big Moon, Desperate Journalist, Hinds, The Beaches, The Courtneys, Alvvays, INHEAVEN, Gurr, Diet Cig, Ørmstons, PINS, Zuzu, The Seamonsters, Dear Rouge, Leggy, Dolores Haze, Kindling, Anti Pony, Soccer Mommy, Bruiser Queen, Thunderpussy, Sheer Mag, Bonander, Pixx and Wolf Alice

Read Part 5 of Women On Vox