IT'S A TRAP! Scandinavian Music Journal http://www.itsatrap.com/ Scandinavian music news, daily mp3 downloads, reviews, interviews and more Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:48:45 -0500 2010 avi.roig@itsatrap.com http://www.itsatrap.com/images/logo.png http://www.itsatrap.com/ IT'S A TRAP! Scandinavian Music Journal 137 141 Bad Hands guest vocalists revealed http://www.itsatrap.com/n/31497-bad-hands-guest-vocalists-revealed http://www.itsatrap.com/n/31497-bad-hands-guest-vocalists-revealed http://www.itsatrap.com/n/31497-bad-hands-guest-vocalists-revealed#comments Via Rogerts Blogg, here's the tracklist and guest vocalists that will be appearing on the upcoming Bad Hands (aka Per Nordmark) album:

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

]]> Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:37:35 -0400 news general Festival report: Arvika http://www.itsatrap.com/n/25706-festival-report-arvika http://www.itsatrap.com/n/25706-festival-report-arvika http://www.itsatrap.com/n/25706-festival-report-arvika#comments I just recently wrote a take on this year's Arvikafestival for another publication, in Swedish, and I reached the conclusion that what seemed like a great line-up at first glance ended up as something less interesting than I had anticipated. Why? Being a great fan of music, in all forms, and an equal fan of festivals in general, I have come to see a great deal of bands each year. This year being no exception. Especially Swedish and Scandinavian bands, since they tour just about anywhere. Unfortunately, this leads to the fact that it takes quite a lot to impress me these days. On this year's festival I went to the concerts of twelve Scandinavian bands. Only three of them where bands that I had never seen before. Most of the rest of those bands are bands I've been to recently, at least within the range of a year. But that doesn't necessarily have to be something bad, sure, I'm harder to impress, but I'm also able to compare different occasions with each other, and festivals tend to be something different from a regular gig at some club. Still, something more exclusive would absolutely be preferable. I'm growing quite tired of the likes of The Ark, Mando Diao, Timbuktu, Shout Out Louds and The Tough Alliance (you can't avoid them!).

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