Just realized that it has been over a month since the last edition of From the Inbox. Anyway, here we go again, presenting videos from Vanity Beach and Jonathan Johansson, tracks from Figurines, Marius, Toggi, Firefly Effect and Mono Stereo plus the new, not-really-Scandinavian-but-hey, This Day In Music iPhone app. Check it out and don’t forget to tell your friends.

MARIUS (FO)
About a year and a half ago we featured the Faroese quintet Marius (rightfully singer and songwriter Hans Marius Weihe Ziska plus band) in our SpaceScan series with the grand ‘Walk The Road’. Recently he released the excellent EP ‘Masses’ with four songs worth of americana ‘n folk rock, which he is streaming in full on MySpace right now. Here’s ‘One In The Masses’.

VANITY BEACH (SF)
We’ve often been talking about Finnish rockers Vanity Beach and actually expected to have a review of their debut full length, ‘A Life Of Vice’, for you a couple of months ago (it was released May 26), but it’s never made its way to us. That, however, shall not prevent us talking about the quintet some more and here’s a (partial) live video for driving ‘Batcave (We Come Out At Night)’.

FIGURINES (DK)
Back in 2007 Figurines excited with their third full length ‘When The Deer Wore Blue’ and according to plan the Danish band (now a trio) will release a fourth effort in September. To soothe the wait, they’ve compiled a five song EP titled ‘Lucky To Love’ including two new songs (title track and ‘Poughkeepsie’, the latter in an alternative version), an oldie that didn’t make it on ‘When The Deer Wore Blue’ (‘Drag The Mood’) plus two cover songs, The Mopeds’ ‘Television Time’ (also on ‘Saluting The Crunchy Frog-a-logue’) and R.E.M.’s ‘New Orleans Instrumental No. 1’.

Download ‘Lucky To Love EP’ via

JONATHAN JOHANSSON (SE)
Could it be that Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ is the most covered song right now? I don’t know (hence the question-mark), but I’m hearing quite a few these years, and here’s a beautiful, stripped down acoustic version by our favorite Jonathan Johansson.

TOGGI (ISL)
In the last From the Inbox feature Icelandic singer/songwriter Toggi treated us to the wonderful (and free) single ‘The Artist’, and here he is again with another nice freebie titled ‘Take Me Dancing’, which is a more rocking effort with the Boys Choir of Breiðholt as backing (“Basically just a bunch of old friends who couldn’t sing on key if their life depended on it. I’m quite fond of them, they make a good crowd sing-along effect,” he says) and with more electric guitars than his usual. As he puts it in his email: “Well, it is summer after all, and summer isn’t quite complete without electric guitars, is it?” I don’t think so…

Download ‘Take Me Dancing’ via medialux.com.

FIREFLY EFFECT (NO) (Photo)
Come September or October Norwegian underdog pop outfit Firefly Effect will release the followup (‘Try Again, Fail Again, Fail Better’) to their 2009 debut ‘Everything Is Beautiful And You Are The Reason’, but already they have the first single out. Titled ‘Heart Of Gold’ it’s another short, slightly psychedelic 60s-tinged pop pleaser, and here it is:

MONO STEREO (SE)
Late last year we were introduced to Swedish rockers Mono Stereo and their mesmerizing 60s psych ‘n 90s shoegaze rock on both their debut EP ‘Space Out’ and a free live EP (which you’ll get if you sign up on their website). August 2 they will release a two track single – ‘Matter Of Confusion’ and ‘On And On’ – on a limited edition 7” vinyl (US only) and digitally (worldwide) to build up to the release of their Kramer produced full length debut, according to plan out in early 2011. Here’s ‘A Matter Of Confusion’ and if you dig it, you can download it here!

THIS DAY IN MUSIC iPHONE APP
We end this edition of From the Inbox on a not-really-Scandinavian note, but it is a great website that any music buff should know. This Day In Music, created and run by Neil Cossar, is the number one music trivia website out there, and recently it was made available as an iPhone application containing more than 5000 facts, exclusive photos and an interactive music quiz with hundreds of questions. Sounds like fun? Then go get the app.