German label The Pleasure Syndicate will be releasing a special vinyl edition of Tiger Lou's "Is my head still on?" come August.
Swedish singer/songwriter Nicolai Dunger has finished work on a new album called "Dunger at the diner". The recording is described as a 'simulated restaurant gig', whatever that means. No release date yet, but it should be out soon.
The latest Scandinavian music reviews from German webzine Sellfish:
Chastisement - Alleviation of pain
Ebon Tale - Sit down
Fall of the Leaf - Volvere
Totalt Jävla Mörker - Människans ringa värde
For those interested in learning about the origin of The Wannadies, head over to their website and click on 'the story'.
The Hives have finally confirmed the title of their new album: "Tyrannosaurus Hives". It comes out July 21 and the first single will be "Walk Idiot Walk", as premiered live during the P3 Gold Awards.
Names and details are starting to be confirmed for this year's Malmö Festival and so far the artist list includes Thor Freddy, Freddie Wadling, José González, Soilwork, Mad Sheer Kahn, Lisa Miskovsky, Bad Cash Quartet, Mattias Alkberg BD, Niccokick, Sophie Rimheden, Nina Rochelle, Cajsalisa Ejemyr, The Kid, Deportees, Under Byen and more. More info: http://www.malmofestivalen.nu/
It's Memorial Day today in the US, so that means I have the day off. However, I am unable to pull myself away from the computer completely, so here's a couple record reviews to tide you over until tomorrow...
Kristofer Åström - There For / Loupita (Startracks)
Two new acoustic-based releases from the Fireside frontman. The "There For" EP is a mostly bare-bones affair with just a bit of string augmentation and not much more. Good stuff, but probably just for people who are already fans. Now "Loupita" is a different story. It's all acoustic as well, but it's much more fleshed out and features plenty of guest vocals from Britta Persson (see her demo review below) and beautiful slide guitar work from producer Mattias Friberg of Logh. The obvious point of reference is Iron & Wine for the style and instrumentation, but the recording quality is not nearly as quaint. Well, except for the one home-recorded instrumental track "Loupita #2". At first I was thinking this was going to end up more as a teaser for the upcoming full band album due out later this year, but it is more than capable of standing on its own. As always, the songs are great. There's no question about that, but it's the vibe that takes it to the next level. The atmosphere is so relaxed and comfortable that Kristofer breaks a string on the song "Devil" and they left it on the final CD version. That sort of touch brings an extra sense of humanity and intimacy to the music which is something that can't be manufactured with rack units, mixing consoles or the like. And unlike a lot of stuff I've been hearing lately, the CD gets better the deeper you get into it. The second half (including the Friberg-penned track "I collect knives") is absolutely sublime, right through the end with the closer "Just another lovesong". Highly recommended.
Division of Laura Lee - Das Not Compute (Burning Heart/Epitaph)
After the break-through release of "Black City", I'm glad to report that DoLL have managed to craft a more-than-worthy follow-up. They enlisted the production assistance of Kalle from The Soundtrack of Our Lives and it paid off. His sonic influence is obvious and goes beyond the requisite guest appearances from fellow TSOOL members Mattias Bärjed and Martin Hederos. It sounds like the band took a lot of time experiment with different tones and the end result is a strongly varied sonic palette. Taking cues from bands like Silverbullit, "Das Not Compute" also cranks up the fuzz-factor to 10 and layers it on thick. There's a couple tracks here and there that don't really go anywhere, but the stuff's that's good (such as the single "Dirty Love" and the epic "Breathe Breathe") more than makes up for it.
Ebon Tale - Sit Down CDS (Dusklight Records)
I am happy to report that this young band has improved greatly since the last release that I reviewed (see 12/13/03). The strong elements from before are still there, such as frontwoman Frida Franzén's strong vocals. Pretty much every complaint I had from before has been remedied as well. The guitars are definitely the focal point now and the songwriting is far more developed. It's especially evident on the 10-minute instrumental b-side "This 6 year old feeling". They just sound much more confident together as a band. Good job - I look forward to hearing more.
The Fine Arts Showcase - Gustaf Kjellvander Presents... (Startracks)
This is one heckuva big pop record. Everything about it is huge: the production, the hooks, the songs. We're talking full-on indie arena rock, akin to bands like Guided by Voices or maybe the Flaming Lips. There's all sorts of quirky instrumentation too, from the North African woodwinds the ghaita and arghul, to electric cicada sounds, theramin, bowed satellite dish and tons more. This is a fun, sugary-sweet album and I like it a lot, but just like candy, it's best enjoyed in small doses. After having it on constant rotation for a couple days in a row, I grew sick of it and had to put it away for a week or so. I don't want to get a cavity, y'know.
Heikki - Heikki 2 (A West Side Fabrication)
Imagine if Neko Case took on a more active roll with the New Pornographers and they might sound a bit like Heikki. Think power-pop with a distinct country influence and huge hooks throughout. In case you are unaware, Heikki is the side project of Maria Eriksson from The Concretes together with Jari Haapalainen from Bear Quartet. I actually like them quite a bit more than the former's main act, as the songs seems more developed, the playing and singing is stronger and the production is tighter. I'd prefer it if there were a few more uptempo tracks on the album, but there's still plenty to enjoy as is.
Pan Sonic - Kesto (Mute)
Four CDs makes for quite an intimidating listen and I'm just having trouble getting past how awesome disc one is. This is Pan Sonic at their most melodic and beat-heavy. It's brutal, distorted and ugly and I love it. I'll probably get to the rest of the set eventually, I just don't feel very compelled to do so yet.
Britta Persson - 4-song demo CDR
If you've heard anything off of Kristofer Åström's new album "Loupita", you already know that Britta possesses an excellent voice. Kristofer's vote of confidence should make that go without saying. I was quite curious to hear what caught Kristofer's attention, so I was very excited to get this demo for my own listening pleasure. I was not let down - Britta is obviously a young lady of much talent and these four songs show a lot of potential. The singing is great - we already know that, but the songs are pretty strong as well and there's definitely some good ideas at work. My sole complaint is that her English is less than stellar and her lyrics suffer accordingly. Maybe I'm too old or something, but lines like "What I need is a program to defrag my heart" make me cringe. Still, she's young and this is only a demo, so I'm not sweating it. I look forward to hearing her in the future, as I don't doubt she'll be getting better and better.