Henric de la Cour's new video for "My machine", now on YouTube.

Folk/Ballad:
Marin/Marin – Småfolket (Dimma Sweden)
Merit Hemmingson – EQ (Amigo/Cosmos)
Navarra – Nya fönster (Kakafon Records)
Siri Karlsson – Gran Fuego (Flora & Fauna)

Dance:
Skudge – Samlad årsproduktion (Skudge Records)
Jonsson/Alter – Samlad årsproduktion (Kontra-Musik)
The Field – Looping State of mind (Kompakt)
Pallers – The Sea Of Memories (Labrador)

Punk:
Sju Svåra År – Storma varje hjärta (Not Enough)
Obnoxious Youth – The Eternal Void (Adult Crash)
Vånna Inget – Allvar (Heptown Records)
Black Feet – Black Feet (Dirty Faces)

Hip-Hop:
Mofeta & Jerre – Briljanter & Smaragder (Pumpa Records)
Ison & Fille – För evigt (Hemmalaget)
Mohammed Ali – Vi (Bad Taste Records)
Roffe Ruff – Barrabas (Olofsson Management/Swingkids)

Experimental:
Hans Appelqvist – Sjunga slutet nu (Häpna)
Hanna Hartman – H ^ 2 (Komplott)
Ophir – Opus Operatum (Komplott/Callithrix Records)
Midaircondo feat. Michala Østergaard-Nielsen – Reports on the Horizon (Twin Seed Recordings)

Hardrock:
In Solitude – The World. The Flesh. The Devil (Metal Blade)
Opeth – Heritage (Roadrunner)
Terra Tenebrosa – The Tunnels (Trust No One Recordings)
The Haunted – Unseen (Century Media Records)

Rhythm:
Syster Sol – Kichinga! (Swing kids)
Simone Moreno – Planetas (Soul Dog Records)
Kapten Röd – Fläcken Som Aldrig Går Bort (SwingKids)
OK Star Orchestra – The Beat and the Melody (Rootsy.nu)

Pop:
Azure Blue – Rule of thirds (Hybris)
Jonathan Johansson – Klagomuren (Hybris)
Korallreven – An album by Korallreven (Hybris)
Loney Dear – Hall Music (Dear John)

Rock:
Pascal/Mattias Alkberg – Allt det här (Novoton)
Kajsa Grytt – En kvinna under påverkan (Playground Music)
Bob Hund - Det överexponerade gömstället (bob hunds förlag)
Tramp – Indigo (Killer Cobra Records)

Synth:
Henric de la Cour – Henric de la Cour (Progress Productions)
Necro Facility – Wintermute (Progress Productions)
Mr Jones Machine – Monokrom (Progress Productions)
Covenant – Modern Ruin (Progress Productions)

Jazz:
Jonas Holgersson – Snick Snack (Moserobie)
Parti & Minut – Från klart till halvklart (El Dingo Records)
Priming Orchestra – Deep Blue (GAC)
The Splendor – Delphian Palace (HOOB Records)

Best Unsigned:
Death By Armborst
Storskogen
Schizo and the Personalities
Farsta

Singer/Songwriter/Country/Americana:
Brothers of End – Mount Inside (Konjaga)
Ane Brun – It All Start With One (Balloon Ranger Recordings)
Promise & the Monster – Red Tide (Imperial Recordings)
Lars Bygdén – Songs I Wrote (Massproduktion)

Best live act:
Kriget (Kriget)
This is Head (Adrian Recordings)
Graveyard (Nuclear Blast)
Mattias Alkberg (Teg Publishing)

Interesting to see Hybris and Progress Productions dominating their respective niches. Winners will be announced on February 3 at a ceremony at Nalen in Stockholm. Read more: http://manifestgalan.se/manifestgalan-2012/nominerade/

From his start with cult favorite mid-90s indie/goth act Yvonne through his time with the bigger, brassier Strip Music, Henric de la Cour has long been a compelling fixture in the Swedish music, both for his distinctive voice and physical presence. Now, after 17 years in music, Mr. de la Cour is back as a solo artist with his self-titled debut album on the way via Progress Productions (due out October 19). It's a Trap! seized the opportunity to learn more about how he got to where he is today.

Why go solo? What made you decide to go it alone as opposed to starting a new band?

I've always thought that being in a band is much cooler than being a solo act. But after having been in two six-piece bands, who made four and two records respectively, it was time to do something less complicated, just me and my producer in our own studio, just recording music. No politics. Just good fun and good music. But sure, I can miss being in a band, especially the first couple of months, it's like being in love.

You've long been associated with making music that doesn't shy away from grand gestures, yet your solo album finds you paring the instrumentation down more than ever before. Was that a conscious decision? What led you away from guitars?

With Strip Music our motto was "more is more". We never held anything back, the bigger sounds the better we thought. This time I wanted to make something more bare, more electronic, but still dark as fucking midnight. I gave the guitars a smaller part to play this time mostly because neither me and Rikard (Rikard Lindh, also ex-Yvonne), who produced, can really play that well. But there is of course some guitars on the album.

The various live videos I've seen on YouTube show you and your band adopting an almost-black metal look with corpse paint makeup -- what made you decide to go that route? How important of a role does the theatrical/visual element play in your musical vision?

I think that the visual element is very important, especially when it comes to more electronic music performed live. When it came to the make-up I thought that "yeah, maybe this could look cool with the right light setting" and just went for it. I borrowed ideas from the black metal scene and sad clowns. Looks better on photos as well. The live concept I am aiming for is of course KISS Love Gun Tour of '77.

There appears to be a bit of a recent resurgence in goth and other dark music these days and it even seems to be creeping a bit into the mainstream. Would you agree?

I don't really care. I don't listen to music that way.

So how do you listen to music then? Do you keep up with new releases at all? Any recent favorites that may surprise us?

I'm terrible at finding new music, it is always by chance I run into something I like, perhaps a friend shows me something new, or that I happen to be in a record shop and the staff put something on. I'm just not that interested in the hunt for new music, or old music for that matter. But WU LIF's "Go tell fire to the mountain" floored me. Other recent stuff I've liked is I Break Horses debut album and Agent Side Grinder, both Swedish acts.

Lastly, what does Henric de la Cour do for fun these days?

Getting lost in the annals of horror.

PSL has the premiere of the new Henric de la Cour video "Dracula". As I said before, I'm way into this song. Also: an interview is coming soon.

The 2nd best tune (behind "Dogs") from Henric de la Cour's upcoming self-titled solo record, due out October 19 via Progress Productions. I got a promo of the record a few days ago and this has been running through my head ever since. Hear another tune:

Progress Productions has officially signed ex-Strip Music/Yvonne frontman Henric de la Cour and will be releasing his debut solo this coming September. Looking forward to it!

Not an official video, but still cool to hear something new from Henric de la Cour (ex-Yvonne, Strip Music).

Black and white - Linnea Jönsson (Those Dancing Days)
Bad hands - Nina Kinert
Northern lights - Britta Persson & Karl Larsson (Last Days of April)
Kick you out - Nicke Andersson (The Hellacopters) & Howlin' Pelle (The Hives)
Andra relationen - Subbah
Close enough - Choir of Kiemi
We love blood - Henric de la Cour (Strip Music)
Cartoon wolf - David Sandström
I can do it - Therese Johansson (Lowood)
Sillodill - Britta Persson

But on with it, you have my two cents on the Swedish music climate, here's a take on some of the artists. Hellsongs was one of the bands I've never had the pleasure to make an acquaintance with. Transforming classic heavy metal songs into lounge music, what do you get? Lounge metal of course. And really, these songs show a completely new dimension when made into slow ballads. "Run to the Hills", "Seek and destroy", "Breaking the law", you know, the sing-along is great even in the ballad versions. Ballads turned into nifty pop songs with piano and loads of energy is the one of the specialities of Linda Carlsson, aka Miss Li. The woman is crazy, I tell you! Her rough vocals would make any man proud, still she manages to keep her femininity and sensuality intact. There's no way you can leave a Miss Li concert without at least a few dance steps. Along with Weeping Willows, those old geezers still know how to play a show, Linda Carlsson was the highlight of this festival.

You can't mention Strip Music without mentioning Henric de la Cour (Ex-Yvonne). The man may look like a wolf, but he knows how to work at stage. The music can best be described as emo-rock with lots of synthesizers. Perfect in the cold night of Arvika. Do you like leather boots, wearing a black mask and the taste of a whip by the way? Then you should have been at the Kristian Anttila ('cuz he did apparently) concert. How almost pubertal pop music can turn into Sado-BDSM, I'm not sure. The gig was ok, though the "Does anyone want to fuck with me tonight?"-part was a bit unnecessary. Some other people that I don't want to sleep with are the guys from In Flames. Chubby, long-haired men, constantly pissed-off and armed with dozens of brutal metal-wrecking riffs, na, not my kind really. But the show was something for the ears as well as the eyes. Bombs away! Pain, alias super genius Peter Tägtgren, also had the riffs, but only one bomb. He got the rain on the other hand. Too bad, I think most people who like In Flames would find Pain enjoyable as well. Most people decided to stay in their tents.

So, what about the no-so-good-bands? Vapnet, Mixtapes & Cellmates and Ida-Maria were all big disappointments. I really thought Vapnet would be more than a one-hit-wonder ("Kalla mig", anyone?), but sadly I was mistaken. Mixtapes & Cellmates on the other hand, have really good songs but they still have problems applying them to the live format. And Ida-Maria. I wouldn't say she did an all out bad gig, it was just not as incredibly fantastic as it was at Hultsfredsfestivalen. But you shouldn't focus too much on the bad things, all in all, I am still very satisfied with Arvika 2007.
- Christian Stenbacke]]> Wed, 18 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400 articles fest