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Found this when googling myself. A rare occasion when my name is combined with the word genius…

Niklas Gustafsson an old fan of TVP provided a wonderful version of “The Engine Driver Song”. They have also released several amazing albums on Little Teddy and Time For Action labels as well as compiled a TVP tribute on Sweden’s But Is It Art? Label. Niklas continues to record with French chanteuse Friday Bridge for But Is It Art? and under the name This Years Model for Marsh Marigold. He is a musical genius!

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When the world falls apart

Some things stay in place

Levi Stubbs' tears fall down his face

Utter brilliance! Watch it here:

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Everybody say, ”Is he all right?”
And everybody say, ”What’s he like?”
Everybody say, ”He sure look funny.”
That’s Montgomery Clift, honey!

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This Year's Model for the first time in Stockholm. Tuesday the 30th of August, at Södra Bar, Mosebacke. Approx. at 21.30. 

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What a nice surprise! In this mornings Dagens Nyheter (Sweden's biggest daily) we found this review of We Walk Like Ghosts.

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Our new album is out in Sweden today. Swedes can also read an interview with Niklas HERE 

Album is out now in shops (we hope) and via vendors like Ginza and CDON

Trevlig helg!

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Four stars in Rolling Stone! Thanks! And a lot of praise for our melodies and well-crafted pop songs.

Also we have uploaded a bunch of nice reviews. Most of them in German. Click Reviews in the top banner to read more.

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We keep telling about wonderful blogs helping people find out about new music. The latest one we found is The Janglebox – a great source for everything in classic pop music. And by coincidence they also happen to like This Year's Model! If you are skilled in Spanish – read their post here: http://bit.ly/f1LIpP

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Wim Wenders film Der Amerikanische Freund is a favourite of ours. Masterly created with thick atmosphere and fantastic acting from, especially, Bruno Ganz. When playing in Hamburg in mid-Feb we set course for the Alter Elbtunnel. Our goal? To stage the scene where Ganz runs through the tunnel!

Here it is - 4/5 of This Year's Model. All of us being Bruno Ganz playing the role of Jonathan Zimmermann. Enjoy!

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It's a new acquaintance and a nice one, pop podcast Just Like Honey. And No Miracles is featured in its latest episode! 

Listen here »

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Elisabeth Taylor. The most beautiful woman of old Hollywood. 

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It's been quite a lovely Sunday in Stockholm today. But as sun sets, you might feel a tinge of melancholy.

And that's when your evening tea might be best accompanied by the greatest pop lyricist even when it comes to loneliness. Ylva has made this Spotify list, assembling some of the loveliest Lloyd songs on the subject.

Click here: Not Just Lonely, Lloyd Lonely

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Sleepwalking Magazine interviewing Niklas. You can read it here: http://www.sleepwalkingmag.com/2011/03/03/this-years-model-niklas-gustafsson-... Picture shows 'the man' while soundchecking in Hamburg this February.

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Listening to David Bowie's LP 'Station to Station', at the moment. Would make my friend Niclas (with a c) happy.

This is quite a long review of the new album: http://www.plattentests.de/rezi.php?show=8233

Very good also, from what I can make out. Glad the reviewer like it! 

As the reviewer has unveiled us as notorious bookworms – what is a nice reading companion to the album 'Ghosts'? Here's a few reading recommendations as we are speaking:

'Old Crow' by Shena Mackay

'Turn of the Screw' by Henry James

'The Secret History' by Donna Tartt

'Il avait plu tout le dimanche' (I had been raining all Sunday) by Philip Delerm

And, naturally, don't forget Die Leiden des jungen Werthers. 

... and, before you ask: I still believe in love.

- Niklas

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http://indiemp3couk.wordpress.com/2011/02/24/no-miracles-from-this-years-model/

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After a kleines frühstück in a small café in Schanze we headed for the Hafencity. A little bit of sightseeing in the newer parts of Hamburg we had never visited before sounded like a good idea. Henric didn't join us. Instead, he went looking for a new cap.

Hafencity looked both futuristic and dystopian in the harsh February weather. A viennese coffee from the Kleine und Kaiserlich café saved us from a certain death by freezing. Wonderful, and the acronym for this place has a certain ring to Swedes that we appreciated as well. Call us childish, but a café called Cock is fun, no? 

After a couple of uneventful hours, we reunited with Henric and were delighted to see that he had indeed found a new cap. Success, as always with This Year's Model! We had also managed to find a  Szene Hamburg, which reportedly had a good review of We Walk Like Ghosts in it. Unfortunately, our limited German only allowed us small glimpses of its meaning, and what we did make out were phrases like "bottomless depression". Apparently, that's a good thing in Hamburg. 

The soundcheck was, well, incredibly slow. Note cigarette in hand of Fredrik. He only smokes about once every two hours, let's put it that way.

All that pain was quickly forgotten, however, by the ecstasy of playing a gig that was so great and to people who enjoyed it that much. We were deeply touched by you singing along and your mad dancing. Thank you! What an audience. 

And thanks to Big Ideas, for playing together with us. And to Björn and Oliver, for their support. And to Hit the North, for being  a great club. We will indeed be back soon.

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Photo by Maja Downar.

After leaving Stockholm on Wednesday morning the flight to Blankensee was hassle-free, if not luxurious. With Ian McEwan and Lloyd Cole, I was in good company. 

Ryanair was right on time and Björn from Marsh-Marigold kindly picked us up. Only that his small VW Golf couldn't fit us all in, so Fredrik had to take the shuttle to Hamburg. 

We all met up at the hotel in Stresemann Straße. One look at Henric and Fredrik must have convinced the staff they were Rockstar Trouble, as they were given a room on floor two, currently in a state of refurbishment. The rest of the band, however, got more civilized quarters on floor one.

After just a quick stop we headed for Michelle Records. This is absolutely the best record store in Hamburg and their Schaufensterkonzerte (window concerts) are legendary. Being invited there to play mean that we are in the same league as Go-Betweens and Calexico. And why not!

Fredrik ponders over which songs to play.i

Our guide to the German language that we made for the store last time we played still sits proudly in its place.

We were extremely happy that so many had turned up to see us at this intimate place. Christof also helped us out with some brilliant and effective live mixing during O, Heaven Help My Foolish Heart, showing off his new reverb to impressed Hamburgers.

One small mishap: as one of the last songs in our set, we play Age. All except Mattias, who plays Another Girl, Another Planet. "This is what happens when you don't have a proper playlist", he mutters. Oh well. 

After the gig, we're taken care of in a brilliant manner by Jonathan, Kathrin, Carolin, Paloma and Birgit. Over Astras and Alterwassers, we try to impress them with our love of German popular culture by talking about our admiration for the Scorpions. It doesn't work out all that well.

To be continued …

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