Richard, your voice is awfully annoying. And the fact that it is SO high in the mix doesn't help me appreciate your record. When I hear your music, I hear a kindred spirit of Arthur Russell with the very important aspect being that Arthur seemed to have fun. You don't seem to have as much fun doing this and it doesn't help the music. I must congratulate you on "Hangin' on a limb", it is an outstanding track. I am sure it will get better from here but right now, the magic is not quite there yet.
- Simon Tagestam
No, it's not anywhere near as good (or as cheap!) as the "It's a trap! reader's companion", but this comp does still offer a good intro into the Swedish indie scene. I did however get turned on to a couple new bands, so I guess it did its job.
- Avi Roig
Ah, Friday. It never comes soon enough. This week's classic tune comes from Last Days of April off their 2000 album "Angel youth", easily the best record they've ever done. Which is not to say they haven't put out decent material since then- they've just never been able to match the ridiculously high standard they set on this release. The band tends to catch a lot of flack for being on Deep Elm in the US (Bad Taste in Sweden) and getting lumped in with the dreaded emo scene, but the music is much better appreciated if you think of it as a pop record. Sensitive boys making great pop songs. Nothing wrong with that. In a lot of ways "Angel youth" is very similar to Jimmy Eat World's breakthrough release "Bleed American": Both bands came from similar scenes and both records have amazing production, gigantic hooks and excellent pacing, 'cept the Swedes probably haven't raked in anywhere near the same amount of money. But what I'm saying is that they could. The potential is there, or at least was. It'll be interesting to see what LDOA mainman Karl Larsson does now that he's gone "solo". I'll be waiting.
Last chance to enter the Novoton Records single giveaway! Winners will be announced Monday.
Finnish hip-hop artist Redrama will release his new album "Street Music" in August. The title track is the first single and it should be out now in Finland and will be released elsewhere in June.
Download the video for "Pyromantikk" from Norway's Johndoe: http://www.johndoe.no/video/Pyromantikk.mpg
Denmark's Figurines will have their album "Skeleton" released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on June 13. More details soon.
The excellent Swedish music site Dagensskiva is actively seeking guest reviewers: http://www.dagensskiva.com/guest.asp
I already did it two years ago, so I guess I'm probably barred from participating again.
Drummer Anders Jakobson of Nasum pays his final respects to Mieszko Talarczyk, gives closure to the band and reports that the group's b-side/rarities collection "Grind finale" will be out this coming fall: http://www.nasum.com/
Marko Tervonen of The Crown does a post-mortem interview with Black Angel Promotions on the breakup of the band and the member's current relationships: http://www.blackangelpromotions.com/marko.php
I know I'm late on reporting it, but HIM is doing a weekly podcast thing and they just posted their seventh one: http://www.heartagram.com/podcast/
The X-Dump electronic music collective has started their own netlabel and the first release is a mini-album from Skruvmejsel. Check it: http://www.x-dump.com/eng/news_com.php?news=80
Coming up next will be the "You sick little monkey" EP from Psilodump in a few weeks.
Danish music news site Supertanker is alive again after a long absence: http://www.supertanker.tk/