Dungen - Skit i allt
Paleface - Helsinki – Shangri-La
Frisk Frugt - Dansktoppen møder Burkina Faso i det himmelblå rum hvor solen bor, suite
Susanne Sundfør - The Brothel
Robyn - Body talk
Jónsi - Go Do
Efterklang - Magic Chairs
Serena Maneesh - S-M 2: Abyss in B Minor
The Radio Dept. - Clinging to a scheme
Ólöf Arnalds - Innundir skinni
Kvelertak - Kvelertak
First Aid Kit - The big black & the blue

The winner will be announced during by:Larm in Oslo February 17-19. More here: http://nordicmusicprize.com/

01. Håkan Hellström - 2 steg från paradise
I like all of Hellström's albums but his previous one had about 3-4 songs that I loved, so I was a but surprised that "2 steg..." turned out to be his best album of his career.

02. Masshysteri - Masshysteri
Pure melodic punk perfection. A darn shame they've split up.

03. Robyn - Body talk
A bit disappointing that all the talk of 3 albums turned out to be 15 new songs in total, but thankfully some of the songs were killer ones!

04. Monty - 2010
A great album that I believe didn't get the attention it deserved. Montt Mardié in Swedish sounded excellent.

05. Johan Heltne - Sara,
This is what Kent would sound if they were still good (plus if they were a bit more into jazz).

06. CEO - White magic
With no new The Tough Alliance we had to do with CEO, which was just fine, just fine.

07. jj - jj n° 3
A lot of people weren't that keen on jj's second album but I really liked it. Shame they're so terrible live though.

08. The Radio Dept. - Clinging to a scheme
Another boring live band, although I don't care as long as they release albums as brilliant as this.

09. Ludwig Bell - Jag har försökt förklara
Some of it a bit too cheesy perhaps, but some of the songs on Bell's album are pure pop masterpieces.

10. Orup - Född i november
The big Swedish comeback of the year? Orup delivered a great personal album, oddly enough with lyrics not written by him.

Fantastic songs in no particular order

Supergruppen - Farsta centrum by night
Ludwig Bell - Silvertejp
Oskar Linnros - Ack, Sundbyberg
Masshysteri - Dom kan inte höra musiken
Robyn - Dancing on my own
Håkan Hellström - Man måste dö några gånger innan man kan leva
Museum of Bella Arts - Who do you love
Säkert! - Dansa, fastän

Best cover of the year:
jj - My life

Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson

Albums (in no particular order, except for "You're a wasteland...""):

"You're a wasteland, honey" Robert Svensson (my album of the year)

"Let this be the last night we care" Alcoholic Faith Mission (my only other 10/10)

"Trilogi" Fredrik

"This wilderlessness" Yamon Yamon

"In never out" Pg.lost

"Conscious castle" Another Nation's National Anthem

"s/t" EP, Night Minutes

"Dada bandits" Rubik

"White mountain" Kiki Pau

"Clinging to a scheme" The Radio Dept.

mp3:
"The sound and the sore" Cut City

Laura Studarus

Jónsi: Go -- Not just my top Scandinavian album, but my top album of the year. Period. There's so much emotion in this one that the first time I heard it (a lo-bit stream over crappy computer speakers) I cried. The fact I also happen to be a noted wimp should in no way stop you from checking this out.

Club 8: The people's record -- Yet another in a long string of reasons why Johan Angergård (Club 8/Legends/Pallers/Acid House Kings) should continue on his quest for world domination. (Or failing that, musical domination.) So many bands lose their way after so many albums -- their attempts to infuse their sound with new elements as convincing as a child's Halloween "scary" costume. And then there's Club 8 -- who has mixed afro/Cuban beats in with their sweet pop, and created a delicious hybrid beast...all without sacrificing an iota of their identity along the way.

Jens Lekman: Sure he didn't put an album out this year, but he played a one-off gig in Los Angeles that had everyone swooning. One of the best performers working today. Full stop.

Ólafur Arnalds: ...And they have escaped the weight of darkness -- Second in emotional resonance only to Go. It can be difficult to write about experimental instrumentals without sounding foolish -- so at the risk of sounding increasingly stupid, this album will recalibrate your perception of beauty.

The Radio Dept.: Clinging to a scheme -- It's about time! Back and better than ever. Welcome.

Casiokids: Topp stemning på lokal bar -- Are these "kids" playing near you? (Given their touring schedule it's a real possibility.) Go! Go! Go! Are you currently at a Casiokids concert? Dance! Dance! Dance!

Seabear: We built a fire -- Another gloriously dreamy album from the Icelandic collective. This is nostalgic chamber pop ready to soundtrack new memories.

Kaskas: In the meanwhile -- Finland's Yo La Tengo blending influences and styles with grace. A side-project that -- if the world is just and good -- will become a full-time gig.

Söder tea: If this were music, it would be a perfect ten. I'm starting to feel like a junkie asking my friends in Sweden to hook me up. No I can't quit any time I want, and of course, I don't have a problem.

Sambassadeur: European -- Classic pop with an orchestral flair. Why these guys haven't caught on stateside is one of life's great mysteries. (Then again, I'm from the country that just nominated Justin Bieber for a Grammy, so what do I know?)

10/15 - 4th And B, San Diego, CA
10/17 - The Wiltern, Los Angeles, CA
10/19 - Fox Theater, Oakland, CA
10/21 - House of Blues, Las Vegas, NV
10/22 - The Complex, Salt Lake City, UT
10/23 - The Marquee, Tempe, AZ
10/25 - Verizon Theatre, Grand Prairie, TX
10/26 - Austin Music Hall, Austin, TX
10/27 - Verizon Music Theater, Houston, TX
10/29 - Voodoo Festival, New Orleans, LA
10/30 - Moogfest, Asheville, NC
10/31 - The Tabernacle, Atlanta, GA
11/02 - The Pageant, St. Louis, MO
11/03 - Vic Theatre, Chicago, IL
11/05 - The Fillmore, Detroit, MI
11/06 - Newport Music Hall, Columbus, OH
11/08 - 9:30 Club, Washington DC
11/10 - Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City, NY

01. The Mary Onettes
02. The Radio Dept.
03. Familjen
04. Håkan Hellström
05. Jens Lekman
06. Hello Saferide
07. Bob Hund
08. Jonathan Johansson
09. Kent
10. Jónsi

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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.]]> Wed, 14 Apr 2010 14:36:21 -0700 reviews http://www.itsatrap.com/n/33790-pitchfork-reviews-jonsi http://www.itsatrap.com/n/33790-pitchfork-reviews-jonsi http://www.itsatrap.com/n/33790-pitchfork-reviews-jonsi#comments Pitchfork gives high marks to the new Jónsi album "Go": http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14098-go/

04/06 - Vogue Theatre, Vancouver, BC
04/07 - Vogue Theatre, Vancouver, BC
04/09 - The Showbox Sodo, Seattle, WA
04/10 - The Showbox Sodo, Seattle, WA
04/13 - Roseland Theatre, Portland, OR
04/15 - Zellerbach Auditorium, Berkeley, CA
04/16 - Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
04/18 - Coachella, indio, CA
04/21 - Paramount Theatre, denver, CO
04/22 - Liberty Hall, Lawrence, KS
04/24 - Pantages Theatre, Minneapolis, MN
04/25 - Pantages Theatre, Minneapolis, MN
04/26 - The Pabst Theatre, Milwaukee, WI
04/27 - Vic Theatre, Chicago, IL
04/28 - Vic Theatre, Chicago, IL
04/30 - Sound Academy, Toronto, ON
05/01 - Sound Academy, Toronto, ON
05/02 - Metropolis, Montreal, QC
05/03 - Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA
05/05 - House of Blues, Boston, MA
05/06 - House of Blues, Boston, MA
05/08 - Terminal 5, New York, NY
05/09 - Terminal 5, New York, NY

I guess after their 2006 tour of Iceland that championed their cultural and musical past, "Með suð..." seemed the perfect vehicle for a massive paradigm shift. My hopes buoyed by that gloriously playful first single, I saw this album marrying the time signature mystique of "Amnesiac" and the ornery appeal of "Sung Tongs" through their distinctive Icelandic style. Instead, all I got was an admittedly beautiful "Takk" remake, marked with the somber organs, plaintive strings, and playful glockenspiels of old.]]> Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700 reviews