The very fun Finnish act Pintandwefall is heading to Germany in September:
09/08 - Grüner Jäger (Band of the week Party), Hamburg
09/09 - tba, Berlin
09/10 - Gladhaus, Cottbus
09/11 - Schwankhalle (Sitzdisko), Bremen
09/13 - Ampere Cafe, München
09/14 - Cafe Glocksee (Ruby Tuesday), Hannover
09/15 - Moritzbastei, Leipzig
09/16 - Keller Klub, Stuttgart
09/17 - Nachtleben, Frankfurt
The thing that gets me most stoked on Underacheiver is their pounding chukka-chukka rhythm with all instruments playing steady eighth notes. No grace notes, no pick-ups, no extravagance; everything completely soli. It's worth noting that the tones they use aren't too distorted either, the heaviness they achieve comes from the total ensemble force moreso than anything else. It's the same thing that makes C.Aarmé so great, that same simple/single-minded repetitiveness, heavy on the down-strokes and light on full-voiced chords. See also: The Ramones. I'm way into it.
Download the band's entire 4-song demo right here: http://underachiever.se/?page_id=13
Underacheiver - Keep an eye
I'm From Barcelona have contributed a cover of "Anywhere you looked" by Au Revoir Simone for a new Amnesty International initiative called PEACE. More here, including a video for the track: http://www.imfrombarcelona.com/?p=1742
Fluid Radio profiles Originalljudet, a new act on : http://www.fluid-radio.co.uk/2010/04/originalljudet/
There's a new mp3s from The Radio Dept. making the rounds: http://www.labrador.se/never
JónsiWhen the album was announced in December, I wondered whether Jónsi's unfettering for his solo debut "Go" could signal a return to the emotive restraint of Sigur Rós' earlier work. At the time it seemed promising: "Go" began as an acoustic album, with kits by demure Múm stickman Samuli and early production by composer Nico Muhly. All of the pre-release teases seemed to indicate that a self-aware Jónsi was distancing himself from the annoyingly percussive bent of Sigur Rós' last half-decade.
And "Go" begins accordingly, with Jónsi's signature coo, studio-chopped into a startling twinkle. Elated, I imagined this reduction of Jónsi's emblematic voice indicative of the stripped, back-to-basics reinvention that this album deserved. I was wrong. It only took seven seconds to bury all hope under four-to-the-floor theatrics, the drum-heavy frenzy that trampled "Agaetis"' depth and subtlety, giving way to latter-day Sigur Rós' canned euphoria.
Even the album's bright spots are marred by Samuli's perplexing choice to lean heavily on Sigur Rós' drum aesthetics. The breathy breakdown on "Animal arithmetic" arrives, beautiful and intimate, but it's almost immediately carried off by a frenetic mess of percussive garbage. And though lead single "Boy lilikoi" has some catchy moments, its melodramatic sense of urgency is stultifying. The drumless tracks, then, are welcome, but they come off more as Sigur Rós retreads than any real change in direction -- fittingly, the album closer "Heniglas" is drone-for-drone the same elegiac statement as SR closers "Heysátan" and "Avalon". On the whole, "Go" is little more than a would-be Sigur Rós long player -- it takes few chances, and those it does take are drowned out by increasingly histrionic arrangements. Am I the only one who remembers the days when Jónsi effortlessly accomplished "epic" without being overly busy or stiflingly melodramatic?
Don't get me wrong. I'm still a Sigur Rós-lifer who will listen to this album on repeat, until the busywork of it starts to seem intricately wrought, my heart full-stop when Jónsi croons "o hjartað" on "Heniglas". But when longtime producer John Best says he hasn't "felt this excited about a project since the time [he] first heard 'Agaetis byrjun', right back in 1999", he's just getting everyone's hopes up. Yeah right, John.
- Nathan Keegan
Aversionline on Norwegian drone/doom/noise act Detritivore: http://www.aversionline.com/blahg/2010/04/14/detritivore-pakt-cd-lp/
Symfoniorkestern, an act self-proclaimed as "Sweden's angriest pop collective", have a new video and single called "Den lilla flykten": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i5jpc6lXPs
Mostly OT, but relevant to my interests (this is my site, after all): I Just Can't Hate Enough gives a proper assessment of the new Black Breath album "Heavy breathing": http://canthateenough.blogspot.com/2010/04/lift-up-her-robessnake-covered.html (in Swedish)
The band is local to me (from Seattle), but they wish they were Swedish and I suspect that most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference if I slipped a track in somewhere. Anyhow, the band was originally intended to do a split with Sonic Ritual on the strength of their 100% killer debut EP "Razor to oblivion", but then they got signed to , decided to pursue a full-length and Sanctuary in Blasphemy took their place. Now as for said full-length, now that it's out, I must agree that it's a bit disappointing, though they do remain a strong live act IMO. Also: bonus points to 138 for the Ink & Dagger reference, something you probably won't understand unless you too are a 30-something punk.
Here's the video for the new Hästpojken single "Jag e jag": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dF-WUc_xd8
Swedish indiepop act Liechtenstein have a new track up at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/liechtensteinia
Swedish thrashers Zombiekrig will release their debut full-length "Undantagstillstånd" on April 21 and have posted a new track for preview at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/zombiekrig
Pitchfork reviews Prins Thomas' new self-titled record: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14124-prins-thomas/
There's a new 3-song EP from Robert Svensson (Mixtapes & Cellmates) featuring guest vocals from Jennie Abrahamsson and you can preview it here: http://www.nomethod.se/beat/
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