Designer Leif Podhajsky uses kaleidoscoped, super-imposed, and fragmented images to alter source images into compelling and almost tactile textures and psychedelic patterns. His images have graced album covers by Tame Impala and Lykke Li, as well as merch, T-shirts, and posters for dozens of other musicians and artists.

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I can get down with this video from Swedish singer Lykke Li for the track I Know Places off her new album Wounded Rhymes.

A nice little mash-up between the lovely Lykke Li and the ever-talented Bon Iver. The original is deeply intimate, whereas this rendition takes the song to the great outdoors and injects vibrant percussion, accompanied by the funky moves of Sweden’s finest export since Bjorn Borg’s mullet.

Alan Watts said: ‘be as spontaneous and unfettered as life itself’. Lykke Li comes to this place exuding such an unbridled enthusiasm. It’s so simple and pure, the fluent rhythm of the guitar matched with her pixie pitch and sultry movements. Delightful!

Now, this will be fun. Swedish-Japanese singer Maia Hirasawa’s album, Though, I’m Just Me, is set for release on February 17 on Thrive Records. She gets a lot of comparisons to Regina Spektor and Lykke Li, and Bust recently compared her to Feist and a ‘less-angsty Bjork’. And, watching the video for her single, And I Found This Boy, it’s not hard to see why.

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We featured singer-songwriter Susanne Sundfør on Lost At E Minor last week. We followed up with her to get the secret on her wonderful singing voice: ‘Thank you! I’ve always loved to sing. When I was a little girl I would imitate big divas such as Mariah Carey and Celine Dion. At some point in my early teens, I became interested in classical singing, and began practicing professionally, singing arias. Similarly, I became fascinated with 70s pop and folk music, ranging from Neil Young to Carole King, Fleetwood Mac, and Lynyrd Skynyrd. So I combined the style of these genres with the classical influences’. [hear also the music of Lykke Li]

Lykke Li is Swedish, 21 years-old, and has 2008 written all over her. There’s a huge bidding war underway for her now, not surprising given that her sound is a cross between Concretes, Robyn, Royksopp and a dash of M.I.A — all done with a lo-fi girly pop electronic twist. Her debut album — Youth Novels — will be released at the end of this month. [more about Lykke Li]

It’s been a great year for music. Trends came and went; genres collided; and Britney went bezerk. The most delightful resurgence in music has been the whole ethnocentric New York movement, with bands like Vampire Weekend, Gang Gang Dance [pictured above] and Yeasayer, and also the amount of quality minimal tech coming out from artists like Nathan Fake, Pantha du Prince and The Field. These are the standout album releases in my opinion for the year: The Silver Seas’ High Society — amazing harmonies, tight melodies and beautiful songs; Tord Gustavson’s Being There — melancholic and touching jazz; Para One’s Naissance des Pieuvres — if Air and Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark remade Virgin Suicides right now, it would sound like this; Pantha Du Prince’s Asha — quasi-cinematic. Blonde Redhead’s 23 — melody is everywhere; The Field’s From Here We Go Sublime — electronica at its finest; Division Day’s Beatrap Island and Yeasayer’s All Hour Cymbals — one band comes from LA, the other New York. Both are beautiful and inventive rock albums. Artists to watch in 2008: The Black Kids; Ipso Facto; Lykke li; These New Puritans; Esser Road Movie; Hotsprings; Sara Bareilles; Polly Scattergood.

Listen to White Rabbits’ March of the Camels.