This week's top 20 Swedish album chart:
01. Lasse Stefanz - Rallarsväng
02. The Real Group - Håll musiken igång! The Real Group sjunger Povel
03. Patrik Isaksson - 10 år en snäll mans bekännelser
04. Evert Taube - Mästerverk!
05. E.M.D. - A state of mind
06. Sten & Stanley - Det känns när det svänger
07. Takida - Bury the lies
08. The Refreshments - Jukebox - Refreshing classics
09. Hammerfall - Rebels with a cause
10. Amanda Jenssen - Killing my darlings
11. Nordman - Djävul eller gud
12. Sanna Nielsen - Stronger
13. Miss Li - Best of 061122-071122
14. Kleerup - Kleerup
15. Rongedal - Rongedal
16. Håkan Hellström - För sent för Edelweiss
17. Brolle - Ett hjärta som glöder som en gång brann
18. Stefan Andersson - No. 90 kleist
19. Eric Gadd - Stockholm står kvar men jag ligger
20. Christer Sjögren - Jubileum 40 år med Christer Sjögren
Norwegian band Sigh & Explode is entering the studio today to begin recording their debut full-length.
More Finnish weirdness for you today courtesy of CMX, a long-running act that rose out of the mid-80s hardcore scene. But don't go into this expected the usual fast/harsh punk because they quickly abandoned that approach and started to incorporate more mainstream rock and progressive influences into their sound. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is pretty much all I know. According to Wikipedia the band is fairly renown at home, which makes sense considering how much they remind me of Kent at times. It's that big, melancholy rock sound, though in CMX's case, it's filtered through that odd Suomi sensibility that touches so much of their music. This particular song is a gem simply because it manages to match classic Finnish tango with pop, prog and hardrock. It's that kind of eclecticism that makes Scandinavian music so great! It's the old being made new again, the past and present coming together. And yet, still the past -- this came out in 1994, after all -- but it doesn't sound dated to me. Weird for weirdness sake almost never works; these guys make it sound natural.
CMX - Nainen tanssii tangoa
Congrats to Andrea Louise and Laura Studarus - you both won the "There's a razzia going on" CD giveaway! I'll get the comps in the mail for you later today. Thanks to everyone who entered, better luck next time!
So the setup was a barbecue and some summer hanging out, then Suburban Kids and Jap Adaptors would play to support Half Handed Cloud and Lake from the States. We picked up some nice pre-marinated entrecôtes from Sabis, Jonas (UDDUP, Ellis) brought some porkchops that he'd marinated himself with his homemade marinade (there's Coca-Cola in it). I hadn't grilled anything in maybe 12 years. There's something about meat on a grill, it's some kind of guy-magnet. Before I knew it, we were four guys standing around the grill watching meat getting grilled, talking about tenderizing. The vegetarian grill, on the other hand, was totally lame.
We'd brought a Frisbee and started to throw, we soon had some folks playing. Johan Hedberg from SKwBN played with us and we were having alot of fun goofing of as the sun started to set. Joel (KVLR) was there, Matte (UDDUP, ELLIS) Pontus, Rickard... seemed like the entire Haninge-scene showed up. People were hanging out and it was cool.
SKwBN played a short set. I didn't recognize much, but it was really good. They're fun to watch. I think a lot were new songs. One song was in Swedish. Jap Adaptors were also really cool. I hadn't seen them before. They have a similar sound as SKwBN but also different. Great guitars. I was getting drunk.
Dinosaur Jr came on the stereo and me and Jonas played air guitar, mouthing the solos. "Take a run at the sun" is a really cool song. The clouds had parted earlier, so it was a bright northern summer night, kinda cold. and then we went home. Wish you'd been there.
- Mathias Rask-Andersen
Danish act Blue Foundation has posted two new remix tracks from Swedish artists Minilogue and Özgur Can on Last.fm for free streaming: http://www.last.fm/music/Blue+Foundation
Ambolthue and Synesthetic Recordings have teamed up to release the debut 7" from Norwegian noise act Phonoloid, the duo of Petter Flaten Eilertsen and Lasse Marhaug. More info + artwork: http://www.ambolthue.com/ambolt_37.html
Emil Jensen's new self-titled album, his third full-length overall, will be released on September 3 via Adrian Recordings. It will also be available for sale in advance at all live shows this summer and can be preordered for delivery 10 days in advance of the street date..
Aversionline on the latest Psyke Project album "Apnea", just now getting a proper international release: http://www.aversionline.com/blahg/2008/07/10/the-psyke-project-apnea-cd/
Powersolo is supporting John Spencer's band Heavy Trash for a bunch of dates this month:
07/12 - Arnhem Arts and Music 008, Arnhem (NL)
07/13 - Leiden Werfpop, Leiden (NL)
07/14 - Barkasse Heedi (Boat show), Hamburg (GER)
07/16 - Bari Experimenta, Bari (ITA)
07/17 - La Sapienza University, Rome (ITA)
07/18 - Garden NEF Party, Angoulème (FRA)
07/19 - Bencassim Festival, Valencia (ESP)
07/20 - Dour Festival, Dour (BEL)
Sally Shapiro producer Johan Agebjörn will be releasing a solo album entitled "Mossebo " on September 2 via the US-based label Lotuspike.
Check out a short biopic on Swedish singer/songwriter Jonna Lee which features a brand new autobiographical song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmdlN1hQ1KU
Kaneel is a prime example of Finnish weirdness ala Magyar Posse, the Fonal label, et al. At least on this track -- the rest of the material doesn't come close. Anyhow, it's got all the proper ingredients such as folk melodies, an other-worldly voice, odd instrumentation, an unsettling vibe and so on. If I heard this out of context, I'm sure I'd correctly guess the country of origin. I especially love the Eastern Bloc-style backing vocals on this one; that's what gives it that extra ooph. I could actually do without the squeaky androgynous vox, but they work fine, it's just that I'm feeling like the technique is overused. I much prefer the deadpan droll of the chorus, that's a far better match for the mood of the song. Regardless, it's a great piece of music from a virtually unknown act and I'm happy to make their music available for others to hear.
Kaneel - Born again
The video for the title track of Lukestar's album "Lake Toba" is now online: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=35895920
Suburban Kids with Biblical Names + Jap Adaptors