IT'S A TRAP! Scandinavian Music Journal

MP3: Little Jimmy Reeves - Romance on drugs

Wed, 14 May 2008 11:49:52 -0700

Little Jimmy Reeves is the latest signing of Danish label Play/Rec and "Bring out the dogs" is their debut EP. The group's heavy rock sound doesn't totally jive with the post-hardcore scene I normally think of when I think Play/Rec (Lack, Barra Head, Menfolk), but when I remind myself that they've also put out records from bands like Monoton and Mt. Eerie it starts to make sense. And it's not as if LJR doesn't have an impressive resumé -- frontman Asger Techau plays drums for Kashmir, one of Denmark's biggest bands. Bassist Jan Damage Petersen plays in Gravy, another great Danish band. And drummer Johan Høyer is an accomplished audio engineer who was/is (?) also in Livaventura. Considering that pedigree, the picture gets clearer and the end result less surprising. And what would that result be? In a nutshell, I'd call it mid-tempo melodramatic rock with a rough edge. Melodic enough for curious Kashmir fans, but also imbued with a bluesy heaviness that band lacks. Overall, I'm not blown away by this release, but I do like the title track and this other song that I'm posting today. It's got a bit of those oh so crucial quietLOUDquiet dynamics ala The Pixies and the vocal harmonies in the chorus are a nice touch as well. Wholly unoriginal, but nice enough, y'know? Still, worth keeping an eye on. There's potential.

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 07:58:00 -0700

Here's the playlist for my radio show on Saturday:

01. Ted Gärdestad - Räcker jag till
02. TALK 1
03. The Setting Son - In a certain way
04. Beyond Dawn - TRNQL
05. Miss Li - Let her go
06. TALK 2
07. Jonna Lee - Dried out eyes
08. Death By Kite - Hiroshima
09. The Motorhomes - I wanna make you sing
10. TALK 3
11. Printer - Minds out
12. Alarma Man - Sweden, Sweden
13. Pistol Disco - Radiation
14. TALK 4
15. Knugen Faller - Lugna favoriter
16. Scraps of Tape - Since all the birds are moving, shouldn't we
17. Carpet People - If I lose my voice
18. TALK 5
19. Asha Ali - A promise broken
20. Ingenting - Punkdrommar
21. Holiday for Strings - I got two hands
22. TALK 6
23. NEI - City of gold
24. FAP - Sjömannen
25. Monoton - Hours
26. TALK 7
27. Deathbed - Everyday heroin
28. Dibaba - Go marching in
29. Johnossi - Execution song
30. Sista Sekunden - Se opp
31. TALK 8
32. Laakso - Worse case scenario
33. Tiger Lou - Sell out
34. Peter Bjorn and John - Matchmaker
35. TALK 9
36. Johndoe - Hardt som faen
37. Espen Jørgensen - Move ahead - quickly
38. Säkert! - Och jag grät mig till sömns efter alla dar
39. TALK 10
40. KVLR - Slow clapping
41. Anna Leong - 61
42. Final Exit - Bent out of shape
43. TALK 11
44. The Bear Quartet - Lights out, sound off

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 00:00:00 -0700

Cursed Danish dark rock act Monoton has decided to throw in the towel once and for all: http://www.monoton.dk/

Tue, 27 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Danish label Play/Rec has announced the tracklist for their five-year anniversary comp, entitled cleverly enough "Five years". The disc features everyone from their roster covering one of their mates and the results is as follows:

01. Barra Head - If It Ain't Broke (The Unit)
02. The Unit - Simonix/Deserters (Lack)
03. Lack - Kill The Lights (Barra Head)
04. Menfolk - Chilblain Heart (Monoton)
05. Monoton - The Storyteller's Been Up All Night (The Violet Hour)
06. The Violet Hour - Are We Enemies? (Menfolk)
07. Mount Eerie - Not Too Fancy (Janosch)
08. Janosch - Wooly Mammoth’s Mighty Absence (Mount Eerie)
09. The Kind Of Bitter - The Beat Up Blues (The Magic Bullet Theory)
10. The Magic Bullet Theory - Dead Fight (The Kind Of Bitter)

Seeing as how Play/Rec is one of my favorite labels, I can't wait to hear it! There will be a record release showcase at Roskilde tomorrow (see link for details, PS free beer!) and the official release date for stores is July 3.

Monoton Greenwood PlayRec

Mon, 17 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0700

Monoton, for all intent and purposes, should not have finished "Greenwood". The band lost their singer, Morten Havn, following complication after a surgery, right after almost finishing an Albini-produced sophomore album. After rebuilding themselves and the band, they reconvened with Søren Vibjerg to finish that damned sophomore album. The results are good, if not very good. Their brand of slow, heavy and country rock reminds oneself of some of Nick Cave's output or Johnny Cash's American recording series in which the legend managed to create the heaviest material of his career by stripping things down to its bare essentials. Monoton use a similar technique by relying in elongated chords, ringing bass notes and 3 note leads to create some very interesting music. The only problem I have is Vibjerg who tries way too hard to be dark and uses a deeper voice than he is able to. His voice sound way too forced for this to work properly. You can imagine Till Lindemann of Rammstein doing this perfectly, but Vibjerg is just unable to achieve it. Still, pretty enjoyable.

Tue, 27 Sep 2005 00:00:00 -0700

Denmark's PlayRec has announced that they will release the new Monoton album "Greenwood" on October 3, their first with new vocalist Søren Vibjerg. The title comes from the fabled burial location in Mississippi of blues legend Robert Johnson. For more info and two free mp3 downloads, go here: http://www.playrec.dk/greenwood/
Sounds a bit like old Danzig in a way. Similar in a heavy/bluesy way.

Thu, 11 Mar 2004 00:00:00 -0800

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the passing of Morten Havn from the band Monoton and Play/Rec is commemorating the event with the release of the new EP "Havin". "Havin" features the last recordings Morten ever made, both in demo/solo and full-band rehearsal versions. More info and samples: http://www.playrec.dk/releases/playrec12/index.html