"Carpathian Forest from Sweden" is the best way to describe Craft. Image, ethos, artwork, album titles, song titles, music; it's all just a punked-up rehash of Nattefrost's sick utterings, so much so that if you were to fire a Carpathian sticker over the Craft logo on any of their albums you'd probably be None the wiser. They have experimented with other people's styles, however, and on "Void" there's any number of big-time black metal bands shining through. Just one listen reveals a multitude of them which, it must be stressed, are familiarities rather than blatant rip-offs. This distinct lack of originality hits the album hard, though. There are some nice moments (although nice is hardly a word that Craft would want used here) but it's just too... meh. It's been done before. Hundreds of times. There's absolutely nothing exciting about it and, if truth be told, it's almost a chore to have to sit it out until the end. - John Norby
This album comes like a pleasant surprise amid winter, and I'm astonished more haven't caught on. Two drop-dead gorgeous Swedish girls (one, pictured on the album) with the kind of child-like singing style that's popular amongst freak-folk hippies these days. Sweet harmonies and a faraway, easy-to-fall-for, down-tempo introversion -- what's not to love? [see: here] Has more of the popular appeal of Joan Baez than left-field Karen Dalton, though the most immediate comparison, at least vocally, is to CocoRosie, minus their quirky instrumentation. I'm quite attached to the stripped-down, acoustical nature of this album; the cowering suggestive, sparse tones. Moments, like "Queen of the Underground" remind me of walking through Loren Connors' Hell's Kitchen Park. The more I listen to it actually, the more I'm drawn to the guitar-sound. Despite deceivingly plain riffs, the production really glistens. First and last songs "Rebel gold" and "Visions of you" ring similar, but are haunting Nonetheless. "Golden sea" is one of my favourites, whereas "Hurricane blues", which crosses into generic blues riffing, is probably my least. Anyway, I'd keep an eye on these girls. This album is a great cure for cold bones, endearing, easy on the soul --they're definitely talent in the making. - Ann Sung-an Lee
It's true, the new Peter Bjorn and John album "Gimme some" is absolutely superb. Their best record since "Falling out" I'd say, though I don't mean to disparage their work since then -- despite many, many fine singles (and yes, though you may be burnt on "Young folks", it's still a modern classic), None of the the albums have felt like a cohesive statement since then. "Gimme some" is exactly that and it's extremely satisfying. Plus, as a longtime fan since the very beginning, I'm glad to hear them return to their power-pop/mod-rock roots, albeit in a far more refined manner suitable to the current depth of their discography. Opening tune "Tomorrow has to wait" has all the elements that make me love the band, from the verse's excellent call-and-response simplicity and underlying acerbic tension to the eminently satisfying and gloriously wistful refrain of the chorus. Not to mention the buried Eastern-tinged melody lurking underneath it all, so cleverly playing against the steady pulse of the central chord. Peter Bjorn and John never stopped being a good band, now once again they reinforce why I think they're truly great.
There's more than a few bands who call themselves Trust, but only one of them is a gnarly math-rock band from Denmark. Forget the French thrashers, the Canadian synth act or whatever other variation might pop in your head because None of them will be covered here. Much like their labelmates Obstacles, Trust excels at matching their instrumental acuity with heaviness and melody and comes out sounding very similar to two excellent bands local to me: C Average and Helms Alee. The former is an obvious comparison due to the drums + guitar duo format (stir it up, add plenty of octave pedal), but it's those soaring vocals and epic riffs that really make the band and are far more comparable to the latter. Similarily, I can only presume that they are likewise underrated, as these kinds of bands so often are. Get through the flurries of notes and take note of what you find on the other side!
As with "When the deer wore blue", the dreamy echoes of '60s pop continue on through Figurines' self-titled release, coloring the album in nostalgic, sun-bleached tones and textures and casting strange shadows across their music. As fans of the band have come to expect, the swells of the compositions, both with respect to instrumentation and emotion, are layered and intricate, but not inaccessible or pretentious. The bright, clean production is subtly subverted by pop songs that are not reliant on guitar or vocal hooks, and tracks that evoke a summery feel often turn from the sun to explore the shade created by so much light -- "Have you always been someone that you've never been?" This perspective does not feel staged, as if the songs were deliberately crafted to include funhouse mirrors distorting the images reflecting back out of the music -- there is a natural, effortless flow to the compositions, even when a track turns corners that, at first, take the listener by surprise. On "We got away", what opens as a "Pet sounds"-inspired track evolves into something else: a love song that feels distanced from its central premise, and painfully aware of this detachment, as the subtle, clever refrain "I love her like a lover should love her" suggests. There is something this band brings to the table that so many other acts just cannot, an originality that is hard to pin down, but is Nonetheless on full display on "Figurines". - Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Craft - Void 
Sea Lion - Mercy land 
Figurines - s/t 
harold | Mon, Feb 6th, 2012 22:42:51