The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce San Francisco/Silicon Valley is sponsoring a panel on Swedish music at Bazaar Cafe here in SF on November 17. Of course, I've been invited to speak and I've graciously accepted, but it appears there are still openings for more panelists. If you consider yourself to be knowledgable about the international music industry and am willing to participate and can get to SF on the date in question, please give me a holler.
As promised, there is new content in the now featured articles section. Head on over to check out some new reviews, the first ones on this site to include guest writers. The next thing I intend to do will be to archive all of my old reviews and make it searchable. Hopefully I'll get it taken care of this weekend, but it's definitely in the works regardless.
As always, comments and suggestions are welcome. If there's something you feel I could be doing better, please let me know.
The Ackermans
Come on, come on CDS
Plugged Records/Inpediente
The first single I heard from these guys showed a lot of promise and this new one more than lives up to expectations. Imagine a less manic version of The Hives with stronger chops and you'd have something like The Ackermans. Both bands play high-energy garage pop, but what The Ackermans lack in punk vigor, they make up for with musical competence. Lots of nice interplay between the two guitarists and good, strong, clean vocals. Can't go wrong with the personalized cover either.
- Avi Roig
The Higher Elevations
There is a town EP
Little Teddy Recordings
The Higher Elevations play power pop in the same vein as their countrymen The Wannadies and (the now defunct) This Perfect Day and Psychotic Youth, with a slightly stronger psychedelic touch to their songs. And just like those band The Higher Elevations will definitely make you tap your feet, but most likely they'll inspire you to undertake some pogo dancing. The second song on this three track EP, "Just like Juliet", only required one listening before it had etched itself onto my membrane, and although it's pretty damn cold outside, this song makes me feel like going to the park and do some flips on my skateboard while drinking beer and dancing simultaneously. The only negative thing about these songs is that they might be a bit TOO melodic, thus making them date too quickly, but for now they sure do the trick and make me thirst for more songs from this excellent band (and beer).
- Simon Tagestam
The Lionheart Brothers
Colour contrast context
ChewinPine
Honest to god, I'm not the type of person who'll dismiss a band on the sole grounds of them sounding like "millions of acts before them", but when I listen to The Lionheart Brothers EP "Colour contrast context" I can't help but to feel like an old bitter man who spent his teenage years in the swinging sixties and wore nothing but flares and listened to nothing but psychedelic pop and now spends his time constantly repeating how much better everything was "back then" and how the bands of today sound like soggy carbon copies of the bands he used to like forty years ago (crazy, huh?). Of course, most of these old farts deserve to be slapped out of their weird denial, but in the case of the Lionheart Brothers there's some truth to be found in these clichéd arguments, because not only do The Lionheart Brothers wear their influences a bit too much on their sleeves but they also sound more like a travesty rather than a heartfelt homage (lyrics like "I've been crying / I've been flying" hardly work in the Brother's favour but only add to the Spinal Tap feel). Nevertheless, it should be said that The Lionheart Brothers have a rather nice feeling for melodies, harmonies and all that, but if you're really into this sort of music I'd recommend you to go and check out the new The Soundtrack Of Our Lives album instead of anything by this dull Norwegian duo.
- Simon Tagestam
Stina Nordenstam
The world is saved
V2
So, she’s back again, the first lady of secrecy. Obviously, the collected Swedish rockcritics – which are just as trustworthy as, say, Fox News - have hyped this album beyond belief, but is it really that good? Well, let’s put it this way – if there’d be any justice in this world and bla bla bla this album would go number 1 all over the fucking world. Eleven perfect pop songs for your night in. And the record is worth its cost for the song "The end of a love affair" alone.
- Jason Christie
Novak
Perpetual motion
Novoton
I was really shocked at how mellow this album is considering that "It all works out in the end" is such an energetic and uptempo single. It's cool I guess, it's just not at all what I was expecting. Novak plays the kind of classic power-pop that takes obvious cues from the likes of Cheap Trick and Badfinger all the way down to the retro-sounding recording. The tracks with the tight, in-your-face drum tone totally nail the vibe I think they are going for. However, the best thing about this record is definitely the lead guitar playing. The songs are so chock-full of great riffs, but c'mon guys- no solos? I bet Novak is more than capable of amazing guitar heroics and even have that extra something to pull it off tastefully. The songwriting lacks a certain boldness and it's holding them back. The first half of the record is a solid listen, but they quickly run out of steam before the end. That makes for a great EP, but sadly, only a mediocre album.
- Avi Roig
The Perishers
Let there be morning
Nettwerk
I wasn't really sure what to expect from this release. The only time I've heard of The Perishers was glancing through the liner notes for the Lost Patrol's "Song about running away". Doing some more research, I discovered that one of their songs is going onto the soundtrack of that trend-o-rama Fox show "The O.C." and a couple of the members was also involved in that Cult of Luna side-project Koma. Using my barely-functioning brain (thanks a lot, college), I didn't really know where they would fall in the spectrum.
"Let There Be Morning" is this Umeå, Sweden-based group's second effort. On the opener, "Weekends," lead singer and guitarist Ola Klüft's voice mournfully waits for the two-day break at the end of the work week. Klüft, being backed by Martin Gustafson (keyboards/backing vocals), Pehr Åström (bass) and Thomas Hedlund (drums), lets his voice handle every lyric as if it were a piece of porcelain. His vocals never weigh down the songs but provide the right amount of emotion for every song. The subtle guitar work, combined with the keyboards, creates a sound similar to that of Coldplay and Travis but with more of an "indie" edge to them. "Trouble sleeping," which will appear on vol. 2 of the soundtrack for "The O.C.", is the highlight of the album. Klüft's voice glides over the instruments while the guitar and piano quietly play off one another. Lyric-wise, the songs aren't that hard to decipher. Simple, straight-to-the-point stuff point that won't rack your brain.
- Navy Keophan
Uusi Fantasia
Top ten
Tellé
Dubreggae, Jazz, Electronica, Whatever. Anything goes for Kroko Roc and DJ Street Kobra of Helsinki-based duo Uusi Fantasia. Often it leads to the greatest finnish party you’ve had since the days of über-cultband Op:l Bastards (DJ Street Kobra is in fact Vilunki 3000, ex member of Op:l Bastards). Singles "Takaisin" and "Lattialla taas" are really good songs and there’s more stuff for your sauna-party here. Unfortunately it also, at times, leads to a maybe little too unfocused album. But fuck that, 6 songs out of 12 is good enough for me. It should be for you too.
- Jason Christie
Swedish singer/songwriter Sofia Talvik has an new, annoyingly flash-heavy website: http://www.sofiatalvik.com/
Danish psychobilly act PowerSolo has signed a deal with French label CornFlake Zoo who will reissue their latest album "It´s Raceday...and Your Pussy Is GUT!!" in France, Spain, Belgium and Switzerland sometime in early 2005.
Check out two videos from Norwegian rockers Cadillac:
01. Locomotive
02. Galaxy of nobodies
The clips themselves aren't super-hot, but the music is definitely worth checking out.
As mentioned before, Norwegian label Smalltown Supersound is sending Kim Hiorthøy, Sir Dupermann and label honcho/DJ Joakim Haugland over to Japan to play live in November. Here's the dates:
11/18 - Shibuya 0-nest, Tokyo w/Yuichiro Fujimoto
11/19 - Tranq Room, Kyoto w/PsysEx
11/21 - Warszawa Forth Floor, Tokyo