With a chorus borrowed from a song by The Tough Alliance and songs sounding like a mix between Jens Lekman and Moneybrother, this album could hardly have been done any other time and place than in Sweden 2005. But even though "Drama" is a very timely album, David Pagmar (who is Montt Mardié) has also constructed a great piece of music, in fact one of the best this year! There are some really outstanding "souly" tracks on here (e.g. "Huckleberry friend" - one of my favourite songs of 2005), and also a bunch of uptempo ones, and at the end of the album we get treated to a magnificent cover of Håkan Hellström's sucker punch of a song "Kom igen Lena" shrewdly called "Come on Eileen", which is done in a beautiful stripped-down fashion. I love this album and if I had the money and time I'd spend the rest of the year dressed up as Santa and walk around the streets giving away copies of it out to everyone I met.
- Simon Tagestam
What we have here is a failure to self-edit. The new album from this Swedish indiepop act starts out strong enough, but quickly loses steam with quite a few tracks that should've been cut during preproduction. The A-level material would've made for a nice EP by itself, but they can't quite hack it for a full 40 minutes.
- Avi Roig
Danish quartet Epo-555's debut album is a haunting mix of indie rock fueled by synthesizers and the occasional drum machine programming in the vein of mid-'90s Sub Pop band Six Finger Satellite and Belle and Sebastian. They craft these soundscapes out of vocalist/guitarist Max Hansen and Camilla Florentz (who also does vocals along with synth duties) breathy lyrics that takes the listener to a different dimension on "Angelina Balerina". Their vocals are nice and complimentary to the music itself, which flows from track to track in a cohesive manner (see tracks such as "L'art Pour La Fart" and "iL Presidente" as an example.) Good stuff, overall.
- Navy Keophan
The title track of this EP is a pretty little darling of a song that is steeped in New Order and other bands of that type from the 80s. If you like The Embassy you should definitely seek this song out, I'm sure you won't be disappointed. It's a shame that the other (three) songs on this EP are so dull, if they would have been only nearly as good as "Heart" it could have been a right old party.
- Simon Tagestam
I really didn't like The Ark the first time I heard them. I thought "what the hell is this Rocky Horror shit?" But I couldn't write them off either - something about them made me go back a couple months later to reevaluate my opinion. It took me a couple tries, but I eventually came around to understanding their appeal and now, after seeing them live, I can solidly declare my admiration. They are ridiculous and completely over-the-top, but you won't find anyone else making epic pop music quite like this. No other band could pull off such an ostentaious gay-pride anthem like "Father of a son", today's featured track. I'm not sure if middle America is ready for The Ark, but I think it'll be good for them anyway.
Today's top ten is from Tomas Halberstad of Swedish indierock act Punk of Country. Tack Tomas!
Swedish power-pop act The Virtues have posted a free download of their new single "Where were you?", the title track from their new album: http://www.smalls.nu/thevirtues/music.htm
Jettie will tour the UK in April. Dates soon.
The Swedish webzine Shaktar has posted a new exclusive mp3 from Flow Flux Clan, a new duo featuring Tomas Bodén from Differnet and Sarah Nyberg Pergament from Action Biker/Kissing Mirrors: http://www.shaktar.nu/songs.php
Check out a live clip of Dungen from ATP: [click here]
Here's the Swedish nominees for this year's Rockbjörnen:
Female artist:
Amy Diamond
Anna Ternheim
Laleh
Lena Philipsson
Robyn
Male artist:
Darin
Håkan Hellström
Lars Winnerbäck
Moneybrother
Timbuktu
Group:
Bodies Without Organs
Cardigans
Kent
Millencolin
The Ark
Song:
Darin - Step Up
Laleh - Live Tomorrow
Robyn - Be Mine
Thåström - Fanfanfan
Timbuktu - Alla Vill Till Himmelen Men Ingen Vill Dö
Album:
Darin - Darin
Håkan Hellström - Ett Kolikbarns Bekännelser
Kent - Du Och Jag Döden
Laleh - Laleh
Robyn - Robyn
Newcomer:
Amy Diamond
Bodies Without Organs
Darin
Hello Saferide
Laleh
Vote here: http://www.aftonbladet.se/ettor/webb/2805_normal.html
Amandine will be recording two new songs later this month in Malmö for something or other.
Since David & the Citizens were forced to cancel their show at Mondo in Stockholm, they'll be trying to make up for it with a gig at KB in Malmö on December 22 with the excellent I'm from Barcelona as support.
Lifeforce Records has announced the signing of Denmark's Raunchy and will release the band's new album "..Death pop romance" on February 20 in Europe and March 21 in the US. Samples available at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/lifeforcerecords
Montt Mardié
Biker Boy
