Stylus also tackles the new Sondre Lerche: http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=3912
Billboard reviews the US release of Nicolai Dunger's "Here's my song...": http://billboard.com/bbcom/reviews/album_review_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002236306
This week's top 20 Swedish album chart:
01. Lars Winnerbäck - Efter nattens bränder - 1996-2006
02. Sebastian - Sebastian
03. The Refreshments - 238814
04. Andreas Johnson - Mr johnson, your room is on fire
05. Evergrey - Monday morning apocalypse
06. Magnus Uggla - Ett bedårande barn av sin tid
07. Linda Bengtzing - Ingenting att förlora
08. Christer Sjögren - King creole
09. The Knife - Silent shout
10. The Sounds - Dying to say this to you
11. Petter - P
12. Lotta Engberg - Världens bästa lotta
13. Son of a Plumber - Son of a Plumber
14. Rigmore Gustafsson - On my way to you
15. The Concretes - In colour
16. Ulf Lundell - När jag kysser havet - det bästa 75-84
17. Da Buzz - Last goodbye
18. Ulf Lundell - Venus & jupiter - det bästa 94-05
19. Björn Skifs - Decennier sånger från en annan tid
20. Ulf Lundell - Danielas hus - det bästa 84-93
Aversionline on Head Control System, the new project from Garm of Ulver collaborating with Daniel Cardoso (ex-Sirius, Re:aktor): http://www.aversionline.com/blahg/2006/03/best-nu-metal-album-of-all-time.html
Download a live video clip of Randy playing "Rockin pneumonia and the Punkrock Flu" in Hamburg: http://hem.bredband.net/fredgr/rockin.mpg
Both an audio and video stream of the brand new Juni Järvi single "The stars above Indian Lake" are now available online: http://www.junijarvi.com/downloads.html#music
Lars Bygdén
Trading happiness for songs
Massproduktion
I like to think I'm one of the most open-minded listeners around, but dad gum it, this new record by Swedish folkie/country minstrel Lars Bygdén tested my patience. If it weren't for his name, you wouldn't have a friggin' CLUE that this thing came from within a thousand miles of the Arctic Circle. It sounds like safe, low-rent stuff from Nashville or somewhere else in the American south. I started scratching my brow on track two, "Thinking 'bout you," as our boy turns up the eloquence meter to, uh, ONE, with this verse: "I'm thinkin' 'bout chu (definitely pronounced as CHEW--c'mon, Lars, you're SWEDISH, not AMERICAN BACKWOODS)/With everything that I do/I'm movin' too fast/Won't give you no rest/I'm always thinkin' 'bout chu." I kept scratching through several bland, acoustic ballady numbers--only perking up my ears for the uptempo "Dream on," which you can actually tap your foot to, the sorta poignant "For the old folks" (a straight tribute to your ma and pa's generation; "I guess they need a thought or two," LB tells us), and "I couldn't help it," which, if you forget it's from Sweden, is one of the nicer and more wistfully sweet ballads here, Bygdén picking at the old six-string with some heart. But otherwise, this record is seriously lacking in some key musical ingredients: little things like originality, melody, emotional interest, etc. It's hard to imagine many folks making it to track 11 without yawning. Lars, m'boy, I'm sure you're a decent, sincere chap, and I promise I like Americana as much as you. But rough it up a bit or head for the edge, otherwise you're gonna start sounding like you belong in Branson. And that would be a terrible fate for a nice Swedish boy.
- Kevin Renick
The Drawbacks
Aluminum
self-released
There's probably a million other bands doing the power-pop/indierock thing and, while the quality level of the scene is usually fairly high, it's increasingly hard for bands to distinguish themselves from the rabble. I can't say anything bad about The Drawbacks, but I can't really say that I'm all that impressed either. Once you get past the excellent energetic opening track "Celia", the rest of the eight songs on this disc are merely "ok". Maybe they just need the right producer to bring out their personality. Or maybe they should let loose and rock out a little more. Hard to say exactly what's lacking, but it definitely needs something.
- Avi Roig
Monastir
Good things never last
A West Side Fabrication
I was originally drawn to Scandinavian music because of the differences I was hearing in it, yet a lot of stuff coming out lately sounds distinctly like many other groups. That doesn't make it bad, but it kinda makes it difficult to wax enthusiastic about such music beyond saying "Yeah, it's decent." Take the latest record by Swedish rockers Monastir. It has some energetic guitar work, some big blustery rock vocals (with just enough distortion to give it a bit of edge), and a great production. The song "So defeated" has already charted, and several others here are just as good if not better. But, while I enjoyed this disc overall, it's not one I see myself coming back to often. It's sort of a made-for-driving CD, yet it falls short of being a classic. I do like the '60s-influenced harmony vocals melding with a modern indie sound and more than a little mid-period Who flavoring. There are some nice keyboard textures, especially on "I freak out on everyone" and "Echoes in my head", and any disc with a song that celebrates being "young and stupid" or that provides imbibing accompaniment like "Saturday night and I'm feeling alright/Gonna have me a drink or two...I don't really care about you," is gonna induce smiles, for sure. I would use the word "sturdy" to describe this: there are some okay melodies, but most of it kinda sounds the same, and there's little here not being done better by other groups. Monastir just didn't create much of a, well, STIR, for me.
- Kevin Renick
Munck//Johnson
Count your blessings
PonyRec
Still bummed because Minnesota mopemeisters Low got all rocked up on their last album and subsequently didn't provide the misery/melancholy quotient you counted on them for? Relax, my frowning friends; Munck//Johnson are here to help. On their second album, the Danish duo sound incredibly like Low at times, and Camilla Munck shouldn't feel at all belittled to be called the Danish Mimi Parker. Her voice is just as lovely, just as capable of expressing deep, private sorrow that doesn't reveal its source openly. "Last wish" and the evocative organ utilized on "The streets" are unquestionably Low-ish (never more than when those tight harmonies deliver the goods). But my favorite tracks are the beautifully eerie "This time," which features electric guitar washes distorted to create an evocative ambient soundscape over which sparse synth and the quietly sombre vocal effectively stir up your most buried emotions, and the graceful piano-laden "Be kind," which is truly lovely. Elsewhere, several tracks are just Moogie Johnson's simple acoustic guitar and Camilla's delicate voice ("Ellis of Davenport," "Sweet and lowdown," "Flesh and bone"). While this is often downbeat music, it's engaging and poetic, and it always feels genuine. With a little patience, anyone into introspective, soul-searching music should be able to appreciate this disc, which is a tad more consistent than last year's debut.
- Kevin Renick
Various Artists
Jävla kritiker!
NONS
This could have been the compilation album that would make other compilation albums obsolete, since it's a brilliant idea – get some critics to write reviews of non-existent songs then let the bands record them. What a shame then that most of the tracks here are rubbish. Before I dug into this album, I read the individual reviews, and they made me expect something great, which is a bit unfortunate since "Jävla kritiker!" only contains a couple of interesting songs. There are definitely none of those masterpieces that the reviews suggest that there is to be found here. It's kind of odd that they've managed to get some of Sweden's best critics and writers together for this project, but hardly any of Sweden's best bands (ok, Sophie Rimheden is perhaps the undisputed master of what she does and Nicolai Dunger seems to hit the right strings with certain folks). The best thing about this compilation is how some of the artists (like Nicolai Dunger) have either submitted a song chosen on random, or totally ignored the text they were meant to base their song on.
- Simon Tagestam
We continue our exploration of traditional Scandinavian folk this week with a track from the aptly-named Hurdy Gurdy. Artist monikers don't get much more self-explanatory than that! The concept is staightforward enough: two men (Stefan Brisland-Ferner of Garmarna and Hållbus Totte Mattson of Hedningarna) and their instruments. Except that it's not really that simple - the men don't just play their instruments - they also process and chop the recordings on their computers so that every single nuance of sound you hear on the album originated from a hurdy gurdy. The so-called "medieval synthesizer" is an unexplored landscape of noise, especially when it comes to modern recording technique. It's not at all like electric guitar where there's an established and accepted standard for mic placement, tone range and so forth. Most engineers, when faced with a contraption like a hurdy gurdy, would have absolutely no idea what to do. Stefan and Hållbus use that to their advantage and are free to play around and create something completely new from the old device. It's a fascinating instrument and I highly recommend that, if the opportunity presents itself, you see it performed live. I caught Garmarna on tour a few years back and Stefan stole the show. Never would I have imagined that a hurdy gurdy player could rock out with such reckless abandon.
New stock just arrived from NONS including the latest from Montys Loco, Asha Ali and Holy Madre! Go spend some money!
A West Side Fabrication has announced the signing of Luleå-based singer/songwriter Olle Nyman and will release his album "Behind the clouds" in April. Many of his songs will be featured in the Swedish TV program "Möbelhandlarens dotter" which just premiered earlier this week.
The new Tiger Lou single "Nixon" will be out on May 10 and will include the following tracks:
01. Nixon
02. A Lucky Escape (prev. unreleased)
03. The Loyal (Martin Vogel mix)
04. The War Between Us (Rupesh Cartel mix)
"Nixon" also appears on the forthcoming "It's a trap! reader's companion volume two" CD, which I should have in-stock is just a couple weeks. Listen to a stream of it at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/tigerlou