Last weekend, Filter Magazine staged the Culture Collide Festival -- a veritable United Nations of indierock, and (if my opinion as one of their freelance writers is to be trusted) a freaking genius idea. Among the weekend's standout international sets (Might I suggest KAMP! and Casiokids for all your dance party needs?) was Hello Saferide (Annika Norlin to her friends) who, with Andrea Kellerman of Firefox AK, made her Los Angeles debut with three intimate shows.
While the size of the venue -- really the backroom of French restaurant Taix -- made it a bid difficult to call her Saturday night performance a case of taking the city by storm, those present were treated to an all-too-brief intimate performance an incredibly skilled storyteller. (Heck, she didn't name her sophomore album, "More modern stories from Hello Saferide" for nothing.) Replacing the album's electric guitars for an acoustic axe and a kick drum, Norlin breathed new life into the material -- most notably during "Anna", and the onomonopia-dense "Arjeplog" where the stripped-down version elevated Norlin's art of the broken heart.
From apologizing to an über fan parked in the front row for playing the same set three days in a row (he didn't seem to mind), to telling the audience about her wacky Los Angeles pen pal ("She slept with all these hockey players and then wrote to me about it. I was thirteen!") Norlin came across as an every-woman worth knowing. Here's hopping Los Angeles was listening. - Laura Studarus
01. Röyksopp - Senior
02. Diverse artister - Melodi Grand Prix Junior 2010
03. Hellbillies - Leite etter lykka
04. Jan Garbarek/The Hilliard Ensemble - Officium Novum
05. Skambankt - Søvnløs
06. A-ha - 25
07. Bjørn Johan Muri - Airwaves
08. Contrazt - Ser på verden
09. Vestlandsfanden - Livets Glade Plommer
10. Susanne Sundfør - The Brothel
11. Major Parkinson - Songs from a solitary home
12. The Respatexans - Hellbilly Heaven
13. Diverse artister - Go'natt
14. Beady Belle - At Welding Bridge
15. Knutsen & Ludvigsen - Knutsen & Ludvigsens beste
16. Harrys Gym - What was ours can't be yours
17. Tove Bøygard - Tove Bøygard
18. Kvelertak - Kvelertak
19. Karpe Diem - Aldri Solgt En Løgn
20. Jan Toft - Alle e aleina
01. Larz-Kristerz - Små ord av guld
02. Robyn - Body talk pt.2
03. Caroline af Ugglas - Vad var det jag sa
04. Streaplers - Jubileums show - Live på Liseberg
05. Säkert! - Facit
06. Robyn - Body talk pt.1
07. Magnus Carlsson - Pop galaxy
08. Oskar Linnros - Vilja bli
09. Kent - En plats i solen
10. Kristian Anttila - Svenska tjejer
11. Pernilla Andersson - Ö
12. Melissa Horn - Säg ingenting till mig
13. Ola - Ola
14. Anne-Lie Rydé - Dans på rosor
15. Darin - Lovekiller
16. Drifters - Stanna hos mig
17. Carl Johan Vallgren - Nattbok
18. Takida - The darker instinct - Platinum edition
19. Lisa Nilsson - 20 - En jubileumssamling
20. Johnossi - Mavericks
This has been a loooong time coming: famed engineer/producer Linus Larsson (Peter Bjorn and John, Tobias Fröberg, Theresa Andersson etc.) and artist John Roger Olsson (The Grand Opening, Hearts No Static) recorded the album "Leve hogrän" together back in the fall of 2007 and it will now finally be released as a digital download via on October 11. I posted a track back when I first heard it and can definitely say that it is highly recommended. Read more: https://www.headspinrecordings.com/releasedetails.php?ID=39
"A music documentary about the struggle of the Swedish punkrockband Smalltown. Through bars and shitty dayjobs, around the world and back again..." 'Nuff said! In Swedish with English subtitles; direct link: https://vimeo.com/14580688
Efterklang will tour Holland in February as part of the Cross-Linx Festival where they will be backed by a 16-person orchestra (conducted by Daniel Bjarnaso of Iceland):
From the 2007 album "Fall, fall falling" because 'tis the season. The Autumn Equinox hits like a hammer up here, bringing on dead leaves; damp, dreary days and long, dark nights. The angle of light gives the world a special glow and a new chill enters the air, mixing with wood smoke. I'll have lived in this house for 5 years come Halloween and I'm still not quite used to the suddenness of it all. Still, after living most of my life in California, there will always be something special about experiencing true seasonal change. Besides, fall really is the best, most beautiful time of year.
Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - Ashen like the sky
will be opening a physical retail outlet for records + clothes in Umeå: https://nomethod.se/?p=154
If /Rundgång can do it in Malmö, I don't see why it won't work up north.
Swedish artist Regina Lund will be releasing her new album "Return" on November 19 and you can now preview a few tracks at myspace: https://www.myspace.com/reginalund
Five of the tracks from said album also appear on the soundtrack to the upcoming German film "Gellert", in which Regina also has a leading role.
Hello Saferide