Park Hotell
Free for friends
Ultra Radio Records/BD Pop

I've been waiting for Park Hotell's debut full length since the summer of 2007, the moment after the final track of their "The guest who stayed forever" EP came to a close. While fulfilling on its own, "The guest..." heralded a new Norrland talent, and six songs can only hold one over so long. "Free for friends" continues on in their C86-style -- the jangled guitar work struggling its way through the fantastically lower-fi production, the bass and superb drum work reinforcing the sound, with the vocals settled comfortably atop the swells of melody. Opener "Dead ringers", which It's a Trap! made available back in August, is easily one of the best songs of 2008, bringing to mind both The Bear Quartet and early New Order. With the standard set, "Free for friends" continues to deliver: "Black hole" with its wonderful, anthemic chorus of "Let some light in" perched perfectly upon surging instrumentation; the delightfully frantic guitar arrangements of "Happy love"; the chorus and ending of "Pandemonium ducks"; the grungy, angular attack of instrumental "Trouble kid"; and the powerful close provided by the title track and "Rubberneck". In the beginning, there were tracks I had to learn to appreciate through repeated listening, but I find this a compelling aspect of a record rather than a dissatisfying one. I like records that surprise me as they continue to reveal layers not visible on first glance. "Free for friends" is a perfect autumn record: tracts of introspection still fuelled by the reckless hope of summer days. Well worth the wait.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson

Absolut Noise has published the first of a three-part interview with Calle Olsson (The Bear Quartet, Paper, Paddington DC): http://absolutnoise.blogspot.com/2008/10/interview-calle-osson-part-1.html

Paddington Distortion Combo, the solo act of Calle Olsson from Paper/The Bear Quartet, is streaming a new track at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/paddingtondistortioncombo

Robert Svensson
Young punks are on the never-never
Nomethod

There is something endearingly vulnerable and honest about Robert Svensson's music, a quality that carries through in waves on even the thinnest guitar sound or simplest of keyboard arrangements. This sincerity attracted me to Svensson's other project Mixtapes & Cellmates and, while elements of that band bleed over into his solo project, "Young punks are on the never-never" is a far more personal collection of songs, thus amplifying the very attribute that attracted me in the first place. Pair that with a stellar lineup of musical guests -- Markus Krunegård of Laakso, Adam Olenius of Shout Out Louds, Jejo Perkovic of The Bear Quartet, and Japan's Cokiyu -- and you have one of the very best albums of the year. Robert Svensson crafts some of the most original music coming out of Sweden, positioning himself as an equal alongside most of the bands one could claim influence him -- a point strongly evidenced by those who appear alongside the young songsmith on his debut solo album. Whether he croons along with Markus Krunegård on "Young enough", a track that opens like a Tom Petty creation before being assaulted with rather Scandinavian assemblage of instrumentation; raises his fantastic voice over the dance floor-ready heights of the appropriately titled "1991"; or whirls about on the choppy, far too short "Young punks", it's as though Robert Svensson can do no wrong. Since I didn't give 10s to either Aerial or Shout Out Louds, the acts who produced my two favorite albums of 2007, I can't very well give Robert Svensson a 10 here... but I am damn tempted to.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson

Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week, unique to our group:

01. Hello Saferide
02. Frida Hyvönen
03. Håkan Hellström
04. Loney, Dear
05. Billie the Vision & The Dancers
06. The Radio Dept.
07. Kite
08. The Bear Quartet
09. Vapnet
10. Le Sport

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

The new Frida Hyvönen album "Silence is wild" is confirmed for release in Scandinavia on October 29 via Licking Fingers and November 4 in North America via Secretly Canadian. Once again, the record is produced by The Bear Quartet's Jari Haapalainen. Download the first single "Enemy within": http://www.lickingfingers.com/songs/02%20Enemy%20Within.mp3

The message on The Bear Quartet's official website has been changed from "We will release a new album in 2008" to "We will probably release a new album in 2009."

Here's the playlist for this week's radio show:

01. Pascal - Längtar efter dig
02. TALK 1
03. Division of Laura Lee - Central Park
04. New Decade - While tonight still is
05. Abduktio - Uutisia rintamalta
06. TALK 2
07. Echo Is Your Love - Lion tamer vs tigers
08. Fireside - Silver muscle car
09. Him Kerosene - Ladybugs
10. TALK 3
11. NEI - New morning
12. The Bear Quartet - All your life
13. Park Hotell - Dead ringers
14. KVLR - Spit
15. Electric Retard - Skate girl
16. TALK 4
17. Samuraj Cities - Ugly kids are alright
18. Barra Head - Iron to skin
19. Death By Kite - Himmelfahrtskommando
20. TALK 5
21. Blithe - Haven
22. Starmarket - You can't come
23. Lukestar - White shade
24. Monkeystrikes - Tahonga take away
25. TALK 6
26. Voices Break the Silence - This awful friend

Reminder: My show on Sirius Left of Center (channel 26) airs Sundays at 11pm ET with repeats on Monday at the same time.

MP3: Him Kerosene - Whatever gets you by

I do believe I've covered all the new music I'm genuinely excited about, so I'm going to use today's mp3 post to promote my show on Sirius tonight (11pm ET, channel 26) since I'm doing a special guitar-rock feature. Now when I say "guitar-rock", bear in mind that I mean indie guitar-rock, not classic rock, or 80s rock or anything like that. Generally speaking, I'm talking about the kind of stuff that draws influence from bands such as Sonic Youth, Fugazi or even Quicksand, the kind of bands that Norrland pumped out in the 90s, bands like Starmarket, KVLR, Blithe, Fireside, Brick, The Bear Quartet... the list goes on and on. One of my absolute favorites though has got to be Him Kerosene. Niklas Quintana plays guitar like no other man except for those he inspired and his riffs are so amazing, so unique. The melodies are instantly recognizable and they point north -- there's no way this sound could originate anywhere other than northern Sweden.

"Whatever gets you by" isn't quite a ballad, but it is one of the more downtempo tracks on their masterpiece album "Start. Stop." (1997/Telegram Records). As is typical for bands from the far north, the music is seeped in heavy melancholy and resignation, though the huge guitar melodies provide a triumphant counterpoint to the sadness. The way the guitar lines twist and turn around each other is absolutely incredible. And the rhythm section is sharp too, like the album title implies, starting and stopping on a dime. I actually have a different HK track lined up for tonight's show, but they're such an amazing band, I feel compelled to share more. Too bad Warner (Telegram's parent company) hasn't been interested in doing a reissue or keeping the album in print. It's a lost gem.

Him Kerosene - Whatever gets you by

MP3: Bad Cash Quartet - Put me back together

Worlds collide! Besides Broder Daniel and maybe Håkan Hellström, Bad Cash Quartet is the preeminent band that defines the classic Göteborg sound with their slightly shambolic yet anthemic pop music and snotty, out-of-key vocals. They became a bit more polished (and boring) towards the end, but I'll always hold their sophomore album "Outcast" as a classic. I strongly considered posting from that album, but in the end decided to say screw it and went with this, their cover of The Bear Quartet's "Put me back together". Besides, I've already talked about "Too bored to die" more than once. Anyhow, this song is from BCQ's later, more lackluster period and it really doesn't stand a chance at competing with the original, but at least they try to put their own spin on it. I just don't think that sucking all the energy out of it was the best way to go about it. Mattias Alkberg's vocals on the original get more and more manic as the calamities pile on, Martin Elisson plays it closer to the chest. And no one can compete with Jari Haapalainen's explosive leads. Still, it remains a great song. There's not much shame in admitting defeat before the mighty BQ.

Semi-related to this whole weekly Gbg nonsense: who's going to Way Out West? What bands are you looking forward to seeing?

Bad Cash Quartet - Put me back together

Here's the playlist for this week's radio show:

01. Anna Maria Espinosa - Everyday
02. TALK 1
03. Tobias Hellkvist - Vintervarm
04. The Bear Quartet - Needs vs. facts
05. The Social Services - Baltic Sea
06. TALK 2
07. Kristofer Åström - The dark
08. Honey Is Cool - You're a horse
09. Reeperbahn - Hjälte
10. Voices Break the Silence - The way
11. TALK 3
12. Hebosagil - River
13. Pan Sonic - Lähetys
14. Silverbullit - Only gold
15. TALK 4
16. Josè González - Down the line
17. Motorpsycho - Serpentine
18. NEI - Hello
19. Claws Costeau - Finnuggla
20. TALK 5
21. Hello Saferide - I thought you said summer is going to take the pain away

Reminder: my show on Sirius Left of Center (channel 26) airs Sundays at 11pm ET with repeats on Monday.

Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week, unique to our group:

01. Broder Daniel
02. Laakso
03. Kristofer Åström
04. Håkan Hellström
05. Pelle Carlberg
06. Hello Saferide
07. The Bear Quartet
08. Juvelen
09. Jens Lekman
10. Club 8

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

Slightly, but not entirely OT: Scottish indie favorites Camera Obscura will once again be working with producer Jari Haapalainen (The Bear Quartet, Laakso, etc.) on their next album with Björn Yttling (Peter Bjorn and John) handling the string arrangements.

MP3: MABD - Jag vill inte förstå

I went through my day yesterday thinking it was Thursday and then woke up this morning dismayed to discover I'd have to go through it all again. Summer cannot come soon enough, amirite? Alright, so anyhow- I know it might seem incongruous, but the reason I bring it up is because I was all set to post my interview with Mattias Alkberg of MABD/The Bear Quartet and was thinking that an old MABD track would be the perfect Friday accompanyment. But it's not Friday, it's Thursday and just because people say that Thursday is the new Friday doesn't make it true. Well, I decided to go with it anyway and let Matti decide on which song would be most appropriate:

Below my post on the MABD web site there is an unreleased track, "Allting är drömt", did you notice that? Not a lot of people have, not yet anyway. It's a live demo from the the Easter holidays this year, our final rehearsals and I think it's one of the best things we ever did.

But if I were to choose, it would have to be this one: one of the songs from the "Ragnar EP": "Jag vill inte förstå". It might be a bit hard to decipher, but I sing about Tomas Tranströmer and the art of not understanding. It's not very representative of the band, but it's very representative of me to pick it.

Enjoy the track and be sure to read the interview.

MABD - Jag vill inte förstå

Interview: Mattias Alkberg