Pop 'n Cherries reviews the new album "Madeleine Street" from Cocoanut Groove: http://popncherries.skynetblogs.be/post/5994858/cocoanut-groove--madeleine-street
Listen to BBC Jazz on 3 pay tribute to Esbjörn Svensson: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazzon3/pip/sprrn/
The man was a titan of modern jazz and he will be sorely missed.
The Silent Ballet reviews the new Pg.Lost album "It's not you, it's me": http://thesilentballet.com/dnn/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/384/ItemID/1562/Default.aspx
IAT favorite Tobias Hellkvist has a new website: http://www.tobiashellkvist.com/
He personally handed me copies of his brand new album "Sides" while in Malmö last week, so expect copies to be posted for sale really really soon.
Kira (ex-Kira and the Kindred Spirits) will release her debut solo album on September 1. Expect the first single "Riders of the freeway" to begin airing soon.
Here is the It's a Trap! Last.fm listening group top 10 artists of the week:
01. Sigur Rós
02. Coldplay
03. Radiohead
04. Death Cab for Cutie
05. MGMT
06. Belle and Sebastian
07. The Radio Dept.
08. Kent
09. Håkan Hellström
10. The Cure
Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/
Buffetlibre are offering up the Cloetta Paris cover of "Cry just a little bit" by Shakin' Stevens as a free download from their new 80s cover project "Rewind": http://www.proyectobatidora.net/cryjustalittlebit.mp3
Swedish pre-fab pop/techno trioPay TV (produced by Håkan Lidbo) has now posted their new video for "Fashion report" at YouTube: http://youtube.com/watch?v=FQl1OfB1nqc
Download a hi-rez version of the clip along with mp3s and remixes at their website: http://www.paytv.se/
Danish rockers The Breakers have signed with US-based Wicked Cool Records, the label of Steven Van Zandt (Bruce Springsteen E-Street Band, also "Little Steven's Underground Garage"). Expect a release in early 2009, but hear some tracks at their website in the meantime: http://www.thebreakers.dk/
IAT.MP3 artists The Giant's Dream have a couple new, previously unreleased tracks on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thegiantsdream
Finnish bitpoppers and "Reader's companion" alums Desert Planet have now added the song "Three apples high" to the promo site for their new record "Moonrocks": http://desertplanetcom.virtual27.nebula.fi/moonrocks_promosite/kuuntelu.htm
MP3: I Are Droid - Blood & ether
Back home safe and (relatively) sound. Huge thanks to Kristofer Kebbon at STIM for making the trip a reality, Craig Bonnell of Swedesplease for being a great festival companion, Jonas and Sofia for putting me up in Malmö, Johan, Ludwig, Stina, Elin and Linda for being great hosts in Umeå, and of course, everyone else I met along the way for being kind and generous and tolerant of my awful Swedish skills. Also: huge congrats once again to Magnus and Karin (and Ossian)! We'll have to do it again sometime, okay?
This week's mp3 posts will cover a small selection of the various records I picked up on my trip, but no, I won't be posting anything from the new Division of Laura Lee yet. The time for that will come soon enough, so be patient! Instead first up I bring you I Am Droid, one of Razzia Records' most recent signing. Their take on the whole dark, urban rock thing ala Interpol isn't the most original thing in the world, but they do it really well, especially on a few songs such as "Blood & ether". I love the droning tap-tap-tap of the piano that persists throughout the entire track, that old rock'n'roll trick that never gets old. It's about creating a mood, something I realized when I heard it playing in a record store in Malmö -- I thought yes, this sounds good right now.
I Are Droid - Blood & ether
Kleerup's next single will be "3am" which features Marit Bergman. Stream it at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/maritbergman
MP3: Shiloh - The ship
I didn't actually get a chance to talk to Shiloh while at Hultsfred, but I did conduct a short interview with them before I left for Sweden for this week's entry in our ongoing Göteborg Spotlight Series. Read on...
How long have you lived in Gbg? What brought you there and why do you stick around?
Myself and Markus Tiljander (guitar) have lived here for nearly two years now. Jesper (drums) and Staffan (bass) have lived here their whole lives. Me and Markus wanted to get a fresh start somewhere and we ended up in Gbg. We moved from Karlstad, Värmland to find some new interesting people to make music with. Personally, I found Gbg a quite mellow and easy living city. The summertime is great but the winters sucks, the rain just keeps pouring down. But you got to have black to have white, Yin & Yang etc.
What makes Gbg such an artist-friendly city?
Is it? No but actually Gbg is a cool city with loads of great bands/artists.
I think that since there is a great tradition of good music and fascinating artists, people are always hungry for
new good music. It is interesting that the music buisness just goes worse and worse, but still people are making more
music than ever and some of it are really good too. But there isn't any "one for all - all for one" feeling here, it becomes
what you make of it, but so far most people we've meet have been extremely friendly.
If you could change 1 thing about Gbg, what would it be?
Nothing really, the weather during wintertime maybe, but that is a hard nut to crack.
Shiloh's sound isn't immediately comparable to Gbg bands of yore - how do you fit in the current local indie scene? Is it hard finding acceptance?
We just want to make music that we like and are satisfied with ourselves. If others like it we become very happy. But we don't seek any acceptance, who will accept us? Promoters, bands, ordinary people? We just want to do our thing and if others like it we get very happy as said before.
Since you moved to Gbg from elsewhere, how would you say the city has influenced or changed you? Is it reflected in your music?
I would say that the city has influenced us for sure. Personally I have met loads of cool people with great taste in music and life that I really wasn't aware of before. It's a great thing to move somewhere, then you leave the shit behind you and open your eyes more.
Of course it has influenced the writing and feeling of the music.
Finally, got a song you want to share? Tell me about it.
The name of the song is "The ship". It is a song that we wrote about two years ago, we still like it a lot. It is quite dreamy and saga-like with powerful contrasts.
Shiloh - The ship