Bibabidi weighs in on the new Out of Clouds band Alibi Tom: http://www.bibabidi.com/2008/04/alibi-tom.html
Miss Li is offering guestlist spots for any LA residents interested in checking her out at her Musexpo showcase on April 28 at House of Blues: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=77660425&blogID=382059341
Here is the It's a Trap! Last.fm listening group top 10 artists of the week:
01. Håkan Hellström
02. Death Cab for Cutie
03. Radiohead
04. M83
05. Lykke Li
06. Jens Lekman
07. Bob Dylan
08. Kent
09. Belle and Sebastian
10. Bloc Party
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/
Marit Bergman's video for her latest single "Out on the piers" is now online: http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=31249918
If you've been following our weekly Göteborg spotlight feature, no doubt you picked up on the news that Fang Bomb is putting out a new compilation entitled "Gothenburg 08". I'll have detailed information about the collection on Saturday, assuming my interview with label head Petter Ottosson goes as planned, but I can confirm the tracklist for you now:
01. Viktor Sjöberg & Jonas Lindgren - "Guldheden"
02. Anders Dahl - "Strätta, Flockblomstriga 4"
03. Porn Sword Tobacco - "Feminin Arkitektur"
04. Sewer Election - "Mot Döden"
05. Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - "Facelessness Erases Every Trace Of Humanity"
06. Jasper TX - "And I Closed My Eyes"
07. The Skull Defekts - "Invocation Of Brother Rune Lindblad"
08. Tsukimono - "Moan Jar"
09. Joel Brindefalk - "Monitoring My Own Death"
10. Porn Sword Tobacco - "Ett Jaläger Och Ett Nejläger"
I don't have a confirmed release date yet, but it has been sent off to be pressed, so copies should hopefully be available soon. I for one am very excited -- it's a stellar lineup.
Markus Krunegård
Markusevangeliet
V2/Universal
Every issue I had with Laakso's "Mother, am I good looking?" is beautifully absent from frontman Markus Krunegård's debut solo effort. The closest "Markusevangeliet" comes to disappointing is in its occasional similarity to Laakso, but, with Krunegård's band being one of the most original voices to come out of Sweden in years, there is little chance of this spoiling the record. Sadly, for those who do not speak Swedish, Krunegård's decision to sing in this Scandinavian tongue may somewhat blight the album as much of its anthemic power becomes lyrically indecipherable and the ability to sing along is removed. I truly hope this facet of "Markusevangeliet" can be surmounted by non-Swedes, and the strength of Krunegård's songwriting is impressive enough alone to help one overlook the language barrier, but it's worth listening to some of the tracks on his Myspace page to make sure you don't purchase a record that you are too distanced from. Songs like "Samma nätter väntar alla" and "Ibland gör man rätt, ibland gör man fel" are as fascinating in their songwriting and instrumentation as they are defined by Krunegård's dour, lacerating lyrics, and one can hardly fail to notice his unique timbre and delivery as almost an instrument of its own. "Se på mig nu, vad tycker du?" and "Den som dör får se/Markus kyrkogård" are two of the best compositions that Krunegård has ever done, especially when the latter enters into its final section with Krunegård singing: "Om du är rädd sluta med det. Om du är bränd och rädd lägg av med det..."
Despite all of the warnings that Laakso's impressive catalog sent out, "Markusevangeliet" affected me in a way that few records have ever been able to. Markus Krunegård may very well have crafted the best album of 2008.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
MP3: Vapnet - Skorpan
Back home after a week in SF doing dayjob-related stuff and it's snowing?! In mid-April? C'mon now, that ain't right. Oh, and then there's the cold I caught my very first day in the office which I happened to bring home as well. So yeah, back, but not what I'd call well rested. Thankfully, contributor Arnulf Koehncke has come through with today's mp3 post in my stead:
I was completely amazed when I first listened to "Skorpan" from Vapnet's new album "Doda fallet". For the first time, the band dares to not contrast their lyrical darkness with uplifting melodies, jangly guitars and schlager-inspired key-changes. Not that I'd ever disapprove of that. Instead, it's just a slow ballad carried by a piano, a few guitars and plugged trumpet. It's sad, maybe slightly cynical, but definitely not ironic, which just adds to the strength of the song. And best of all (though I'm not a native speaker, so you'll never know), the chorus finally reveals that it's inspired by one of my favorite children's books, "The Brothers Lionheart" by Astrid Lindgren. So maybe it's ironic then after all...
Vapnet - Skorpan
Here's this week's radio show playlist:
01. Desert Planet - Riot sector 68
02. TALK 1
03. Grande - We did it all
04. Sara Berg - Crawl back from under
05. Dialog Cet - Buckfighter
06. TALK 2
07. Doktor Kosmos - Doktor Kosmos släpper en skiva
08. Halph - Weight
09. Bright Oak - The undertow
10. TALK 3
11. Juvelen - They don't love you
12. Frivolvol - Take it from the beginning
13. Little Jimmy Reeves - Sidetracked
14. TALK 4
15. Keith Canisius - Omorose
16. The Kid - Mayhem troopers
17. Lognhalsmottagningen - Bodybuilder
18. Markus Krunegård - Rocken spelar ingen roll längre
19. TALK 5
20. Firefox AK - Techno tears
21. Biker Boy - April song (Mr Bananas remix)
22. Thomas Denver Jonsson - Saved by the bell
23. TALK 6
24. Nina Kinert - Pets & friends
25. Familjen - Hög luft
26. Brainbombs - Down in the gutter
27. TALK 7
28. Anders Persson och Carl Smith - Morgonsol i April
29. Abduktio - Uutisia rintamalta
30. Nordvargr - Rektal B
31. Karin Holmberg + hab - Who we are
32. TALK 8
33. Lapko - Killer whales
34. Madrugada - Lift me
35. Kristofer Åström & Hidden Truck - What I came here for
36. TALK 9
37. Sambassadeur - Subtle changes
38. Dreamboy - What have I done
39. The Tough Alliance - Lucky
40. TALK 10
41. Logh - Saturday nightmares
MP3: Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - This room seems empty without you
I was just about to check out of my hotel room and head to the airport when the answers to this week's Göteborg feature showed up in my inbox. This week's guest: Matthias Andersson from Release the Bats, one of Sweden's preeminent underground labels.
How long have you lived in Gbg? What brought you there and what keeps you hanging around?
I moved here in summer 2003 so I have been living in GBG for close to 5 years now. I used to live in a small village in middle of the dark forests of the region Småland, later moved on to the nearest city and then spent one year in Jönköping. I guess I was longing for something more, something else, and eventually decided to go for GBG. In many ways there are only 3 options for young people in Sweden that want to escape the small town boredom: GBG, Stockholm and Malmö. Stockholm was never really an option for me for various reasons and Malmö always seemed a bit too small and boring. Since I already had friends and so on in GBG there wasn't really anywhere else to go at that point. 5 years later I have no intentions on leaving anytime soon, I love this city and for the moment I wouldn't trade it for anything.
I know you work with a lot of int'l acts, but you also seem to always have something going on w/the local scene. Do you see yourself as a regional label at all? How important do you think regional labels are in this day and age?
I actually really didn't release anything GBG-based until last year with the The Skull Defekts album ["Skkull"]. Ok, Tar... Feathers was kind of based in GBG for a while, but has to me always been more of a Stockholm-thing. I never really had the need to cover the music in this town before since other local labels like iDEAL and Kning Disk already did a very good job with that. But recently there has been sooo many amazing things happening here that it has been kind of impossible to not participate in one way or another! So yeah, RTB will definitely be exploring the current activities here a little bit more in the future than in the past with upcoming releases from Tsukimono, Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, The Skull Defekts etc. Is it important with regional labels? Honestly I don't think labels are that important at all nowdays. Still I can see a purpose with regional labels, acting like some kind of centre of the scene with lots of things going on besides just releasing local acts (iDEAL being a way better example than RTB on that with club nights, festivals and so on).
Do you think there's a particular Gbg sound or attitude? Also, how do Gbg artists differ from those in other cities within Sweden?
GBG is known for having a very distinct sound when it comes to both Death Metal and Pop music for an example, but when it comes to the kind of music that RTB is releasing (whatever you want to call it, it's not like I even have a "typical" sound for the label...) I would say no. In that sense that I don't think anyone would be able to "hear" that a certain artist is from GBG when listening to it, just based on the actual sound. Attitude... I don't think this city differs from other Swedish towns really, but I know that outsiders tends to think that people in GBG are very open minded and easy to be around for some reason? If you should compare GBG to other Swedish towns when it comes to music and related activities, I think it's safe to say that no other town is even close to what's currently happening here! So many shows, new projects, new awesome releases and so on all the time! I also think musicians in GBG are usually a bit ahead of other places in Sweden, it seems like new impressions and ways to do things hits GBG first most of the time.
How's the health of the Gbg scene right now? Any particular artists that you're exciting about? What releases do you have planned? Also, anyone else you want to work with/wish you had signed?
Truly amazing things are happening here right now, I haven't been this excited about the local scene since I moved here, that's for sure. I don't know where to start... One of the best and most promising new acts is definitely the 3-piece Leafes. I put out a tape with them in December 2006 when they still lived in Jönköping and only had been a band for a few weeks. Then they put out a CD-R last year which is really, really good, moved to GBG and now they have just finished their debut album "Seedland" which will be put out on tape only! Kind of folky pretty song-based free jams for most of the time, usually arranged around acoustic instruments with a sparse use of electronics... In the vein of Sunburned Hand Of The Man and the likes, but with more melancholy. I really recommend everyone to check them out, and you will be hearing way more about them in the future for sure! Everything Dan of Sewer Election is doing is golden. Put out a Sewer Election/Altar Of Flies LP on RTB a few months ago. Another amazing project from Dan is White. Filthy lo-fi basement dwellings, disturbing shit. Modorra is great underground metal with my neighbour Jon on drums, haven't heard that much yet but it sure seems promising! Prostitute Finger is another new project, members from a few "famous" GBG acts. Rough feedback-mayhem, beautiful stuff. Relic was probably the most promising new band this town had seen in years but unfortunately it seems like they've just broke up? A damn shame if you ask me, the rehearsal tapes was some scary out there stuff and I could only imagine what this beast would have become in the future. Then there is the more well-known acts that is always doing brilliant stuff no matter what: Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, Tsukimono, Viktor Sjöberg, Gloomy Sunday, The Skull Defekts and so on. Plus the whole DJ/club-scene with Studio, Tiedye etc. Current favorite local labels: Harsh Head Rituals and Pillowscars. Upcoming GBG-related releases on RTB this year: Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - Lost in reflections LP + 7" (split release with iDEAL, Fang Bomb and When Skies Are Grey, a minor masterpiece!), The Skull Defekts - The drone drug CD (natural follow up to last years "Skkull", minamalistic and nasty drone-filth with an industrial edge, grim sounding stuff!) and the vinyl version of Tsukimono's stunning "Time Canvas" (originally released as a limited CD-R on Kning Disk last year). All these 3 releases will hopefully be ready early summer. Kind of happy with the current RTB release schedule I must say, but it would definitely be fun to do something more with Leafes in the future. While I'm at it, the label Fang Bomb is putting out a Gothenburg 2008 compilation soon with the The Skull Defekts, Anders Dahl, Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, Sewer Election, Viktor Sjöberg, Jasper TX etc...
Got a song to share to rep Gbg? Tell us about it.
It has to be "This room seems empty without you", the opening track from "Lost in reflections", the upcoming Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words album! A bit different from the rest of the album, and also a bit different from the previous DLSODW sound. Still one of the most underrated GBG-acts in my opinion, why last year's amazing "Fall, fall, falling" (Kalligrammofon) didn't get more attention is a mystery to me.
It's a mystery to me too, especially since I count it as one of my favorite albums of 2007. And now, listening to this, it looks like there's a strong chance of a repeat. Amazing stuff, to be sure...
Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - This room seems empty without you
There's now a myspace page for the upcoming 5CD, 80-track Norwegian Prince tribute, due out later this year: http://www.myspace.com/shockadelicanorway
Check the blog for a full tracklist, a virtual who's who of Norwegian music.
Check out Norwegian act Pirate Love and the new video for "A kiss hello": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLbxXGIDuT0
Lasse Lindh's new single "Kom kampsång", a duet with fellow Swede Timo Räisänen, will be out on May 21 and will include the b-side exclusive "Hur lätt du är att älska" plus a cover of Timo's "Mr Saturday". Want to contribute to the video? Check this out: http://www.grooverrecordings.com/?page_id=10