It's a Trap! Scandinavian music journal

Anna Leong
Terrorarium
White Weekend

Sometimes, going into a record-review without knowing anything about the band can be rewarding - like watching a movie without having seen the usual Don LaFontaine-narrated trailer madness before and then being caught off guard by its strength. My encounter with Umeå-based indiepop-rockers Anna Leong's new album "Terrorarium" was something like that: You'll have to excuse me, but given the bandname, I'd half expected a female singer-songwriter, so Anna Leong's slightly psychedelic indiepop-rock came at some surprise to me. One could surely dig out countless reference points and influences to their seemingly classic sound, their choruses rich with vocal harmonies, and the very "Swedish-indie" voice of singer Jonas Bergsten that gives everything a more modern edge. But what makes the record stand out amidst other retro-ish acts of the moment is its extremely solid songwriting and the sheer amount of catchy melodies and hooks. Somehow though, the album's riches are also its biggest downside. Despite all the accessibility and pop-ness, the eleven songs feel a bit too disparate and make it hard for the listener to get a coherent feel for the album. The band seems to have quite a turbulent record with the music-industry in the past (and now run their own label), and I hope that their situation will allow them to release further albums that focus more on their obvious songwriting-strengths and less on post-psychedelia and sound-variability. Still, a recommendable album with a couple of highly virulent popsongs.
- Arnulf Köhncke

This week's top 20 Norwegian album chart:

01. Kurt Nilsen - Rise To The Occasion
02. Vassendgutane - Xo
03. Maria Haukaas Storeng - Hold On Be Strong
04. Malin - Pang
05. Madrugada - Madrugada
06. Ida Maria - Fortress Round My Heart
07. Hilde Louise Asbjørnsen - Sound Your Horn
08. Ane Brun - Changing Of The Seasons
09. Ingrid Olava - Juliets Wishes
10. Thom Hell - God If I Saw Her Now
11. Diverse artister - Sorgen og gleden: Matte Marit
12. Kaizers Orchestra - Maskineri
13. Eick, Mathias M/Balke/Kleive - The Door
14. Elvira Nikolaisen - Indian Summer
15. Farmers Market - Surfin' Ussr
16. Vidar Johnsen & Peter Nordberg - Ord & Øgonblick
17. The National Bank - Come On Over To The Other Side
18. Hovedøen Social Club - Que Viva Noruega
19. Leif Ove Andsnes - Horizons
20. Bertine Zetlitz - In my mind 1997-2007 Best of

This week's top 20 Swedish album chart:

01. E.M.D. - A state of mind
02. Amanda Jenssen - Killing my darlings
03. Christer Sjögren - Jubileum 40 år med Christer Sjögren
04. Sanna Nielsen - Stronger
05. Brolle - Ett hjärta som glöder som en gång brann
06. Takida - Bury the lies
07. Nordman - Djävul eller gud
08. Suzzie Tapper - Mirakel
09. Gessle - The world according to Gessle
10. Håkan Hellström - För sent för Edelweiss
11. Ebba Grön - Boxen
12. Charlotte Perrelli - Hero
13. Linda Bengtzing - Vild & galen
14. The Hellacopters - Head off
15. Maia Hirasawa - Though, I'm just me (new edition)
16. Peter Lemarc - Lemarc live!
17. Veronica Maggio - Och vinnaren är...
18. Oh Laura - A song inside my head, a demon in my bed
19. Melissa Horn - Långa nätter
20. Monica Zetterlund - Sakta vi gå genom stan - Det bästa med Monica

The Disciplines, the Norwegian band fronted by US artist Ken Stringfellow (The Posies), will release their debut album "Smoking kills" next week on May 26 and you can now preview a few tracks at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/disciplines

Lykke Li and El Perro Del Mar are playing the UK together in June:

06/02 - Night & Day, Manchester
06/03 - Hi-Fi Club, Leeds
06/06 - Albert, Brighton
06/07 - Stealth, Nottingham
06/08 - King Tuts, Glasgow
06/10 - Jericho Tavern, Oxford
06/11 - ICA, London
06/12 - Sugar Club, Dublin

Burst's new album "Lazarus bird" is done being recorded and now the band is working on getting the artwork straightened out.

Check out recordings of Swedish artist Dear Euphoria playing live in Paris from earlier this month: http://prevot.denis.free.fr/Deareuphoria/

PopMatters reviews Bobby & Blumm: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/bobby-and-blumm-everybody-loves/

Finnish weirdo folk/fusion act Alamaailman Vasarat will perform in Canada for the first time at the Mission Folk Music Festival in Mission, BC on July 25-27. More info: http://www.missionfolkmusicfestival.ca/

Fluxblog on Zeigeist: http://www.fluxblog.org/2008/05/swallow-drop-of-freezing-sweat.html

Check out some new artsy videos for The Lionheart Brothers: "Faces" / "Sounds"

OK Star Orchestra, a new act featuring members from Galento, Oh Lucky Star, Yonder and more, have two new songs up on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/okstarorch
Sounds kinda jammy like the Grateful Dead to me, but more acoustic/folksy. Not bad at all.

Danish noiserockers Marvins Revolt report back from their recent trip to Germany: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=36067944&blogID=397612719

Fang Bomb has posted a couple tracks from the "Gothenburg 08" comp for streaming on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/fangbombfang

Jasper TX lists his current top 10 favorite records for Rvng: http://igetrvng.com/rvngi.php?a=top_ten&b=55