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Still hung up on crust and jazz. Yep, crust and jazz. Last night: went and saw Corrupted, Asunder, Thrones and Samothrace here in Oly and while None of those bands fit into IAT's geographical coverage area, the wardrobe of choice was black with dreadlocks. Maybe not as ripe as those upcoming Amebix reunions will be, but there were definitely some folks there in need of a shower. Anyhow, back to the jazz. Malmö threesome Auton isn't a traditional jazz combo playing on the standard set of acoustic instruments, but their music is most certainly in the jazz tradition. Like label-head Viktor Sjöberg's own New Jazz Ensemble, the sounds are slow and drifting and the track "El Dorado" captures the group at their best. Melodies come and go, interweave and shift across voices, trade back and forth. It's a gorgeous piece of music; incredibly moody, yet also warm and lush, gentle and floating. It's the rare that I find a song ends too soon, but Auton never ever overstays their welcome, never overplays their hand. Viktor said that touring with them this past month was "special" and I can't think of another word that describes them better. It's rare to hear new groups in jazz with a fresh, distinct sound, but Auton pulls it off.
Auton - El Dorado
What we have here today is a new track from Swedish/Danish act Lampshade, their first in quite some time. It's actually a Nikolaj Nørlund cover song, their contribution to the Danish classic artist tribute comp "Kender du det?". I won't pretend that I actually know anything about Nørlund and I will refer you to Hits in the Car for more details on said comp, but I do have this story as provided by vocalist Rebekka Maria Andersson:
"When I was phoned by Franka Abrahamsen, who asked if we would like to contribute with a cover version of a Nikolaj Nørlund song, I couldn't help but laughing a bit. Fact was, that we were at the Sauna Studio with the same guy producing new Lampshade material. We asked Nikolaj is he would produce his own song in a new version, and he answered with a dry smile that he could at least help us with the chords..."
More new Lampshade material? Finally! Apparently an EP in on the way before the end of the year and I have to say, I'm pretty excited about it. While the members of Lampshade have been quite busy with various sideprojects such as As In RebekkaMaria, This Is Head and so on, None compare to the original. I will not settle, I will not accept substitutions.
Lampshade - Den støjende tid
I used to wonder why None of Ted Gärdestad's early records have been remastered and reissued on CD, but now, having purchased copies of the first three ("Undringar", "Ted" and "Upptåg") and listened to them many, many times, I can confidently say that all of his worthwhile early material is readily available on best-of collections. Case in point: "Beat it, girl"; the final track off his 1972 debut. This is bad white-boy funk best left to the dark, forgotten corners of history, but thanks to modern technology, I'm able to resurrect it for your, uh, "enjoyment". Actually, as far as bad white-boy funk goes, it's really not that bad, but I certainly wouldn't go so far as to call it good. Really, how bad can it be when you essentially have Abba as your backing band? Even if the song isn't so hot (it isn't), it's well executed. So with that damnation of faint praise, here's yet another original vinyl rip for you this Friday.
Ted Gärdestad - Beat it, girl
This week's guests in our ongoing Göteborg Spotlight Series: Detektivbyrån.
First, the standard question: how long have you lived in Göteborg, what brought you there and what keeps you hanging around?
Different for all of us but between 3-5 years.
Martin was brought here first, he had a love story in Göteborg and when we wanted to start this band I (Anders) moved here and soon Jon too. After my four years here, the windy weather keeps me a little confused, it's never still, as in Wermland where we come from, there it's quiet and never cold winds like this. I like both. Right now a lot of things are happening with this band and it suits us to be in a city with much going on, musically, also we have both our booking agency and our distribution company right around the corner here in Göteborg; that's nice since we want to have a straight and good contact with everyone we work with.
How do you guys fit into the city's musical landscape? Are you more at home in the folk or indie scene? Or is there another niche that fits you better? Or does that kind of segmentation even affect you at all?
Since we play instrumental music that happens to reach so many different kinds of people from many different places in the world, I would say we don't have much in common with any kind of scene in Göteborg or anywhere else. I think we contribute with something beautiful to the musical landscape of Göteborg. We don't call us indie but other people do, sometimes we call ourselves folk but there's so much we do which is not "folk", I don't know, we never think about this really.
This summer we have played both at Urkult which is very, very folky out in the deep woods of north Sweden, and at Emmaboda which is called Indieboda and that tells about their profile.
To me, we are something new. Someone called us Folktronica. Maybe that's it. But that's just words, in fact we have people listening to us who have never heard about "indie" or "folk" and they don't care, they are not a part of a scene and we don't have a need to be either.
What inspired your interest in traditional Swedish folk music? Was it hard to find eachother/other people who shared similar interests?
We are from Wermland, in those cabins out in the woods of Wermland everyone has an accordion. It's like people in cities have an e-mail. Both my grandmother and grandfather has always played the accordion for me. (My love for accordion though actually started in 1989 with the extremely beautiful song "Lambada" by the group Kaoma, I got a mix tape from my parents which they bought at a gas station when we drove from Karlstad to Stockholm at the higway of E18, I listened to that song every night, rewind, listen, rewind, listen...).
One day in 2004 me and Martin borrowed an accordion from our grandmother and just did a song. Martin pulled the accordion bass side forth and back and I played the buttons, it was too hard to do it by myself at that time. =)
The three of us knew eachtother before the first time we played together in this band. We had a very clear idea of what to do together and it was magical how easy it was do work together from day one.
Would you say that Detektivbyrån inspires listeners to become more interested in Swedish folk tradition or do you find that it works the other way around, inspiring people who are typically only interested in folk to branch out into other modern indie/experimental music?
Sure, both of them, and that's fun!
"Indie kids" come up to me after shows and tell me their parents gave them an accordion as a birthday present, they started to play it since they listened to us, and that's one of the most beautiful things I can hear after a show. Then there's an local radio station which has this accordion special every Thursday and usually there's just old traditional stuff, but they really dig us and play for the old people out there, and these people send cute e-mail to us, they are glad we are taking care of their accordion tradition.
How excited are you to play this year's Nordic Roots fest? Got any other plans for when you're over here?
Hey, None of us has even been to the US so it's pretty huge for us, both as a band and personally. We met a band that had played at that festival and they told us it's one of the most amazing audience you can get, I asked them if there's something special to think about when we are going and they just answered "Have FUN, have so much fun." And we will. We will enjoy every second of it.
I'm scared of the long flight. It is NOT natural to pretend you are a giant bird together with a huge group of people. People get caught and locked in for stuff like that, but in this case it's legal, we even pay money for it...
We are gonna play at Lotus festival in Bloomington, Indiana the week after the Nordic Roots fest. We have people in both LA, NYC and other cities, wanting us to play at their clubs and we really want it to happen but I'm afraid we won't make it out there since the big distances you got. We'll see what happens. It's the first time we come over but hopefully not the last.
Lastly, how about sharing a song from the new album? Tell us about it.
You can download two songs from the new album at detektivbyran.net, please choose one of them whichever you prefer, or use both! "Om du möter varg" was written on Martin's and my grandmother's electric organ, out in her cabin. "Neonland" was written as a lullaby for my little kid.
For all readers, we'll release our new album "Wermland" on our own label Danarkia, 3rd of September. It's financed, composed, played, produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by ourselves and if you want to you can Pre-order it at our website detektivbyran.net
If you do you'll get a signed copy up on the release date.
I flipped a coin and it came up "Neonland", but you really can't go wrong with these guys no matter what you do. If you like what you hear, head to their site for more.
Detektivbyrån - Neonland
Brine is a Swedish band that goes for the artsy indierock thing with varying degrees of success. Most often they stick with the tried and true path of Sonic Youth worship, but every so often they let their quirkier side show through such as on "Make it to Berlin". The focus is shifted to vocals and drums; everything else is incidental. Perhaps not quite at the level of "We will rock you", but it's certainly anthemic Nonetheless. And riddle me this: what's with all the Swedes moving to Berlin anyway? Is that grass really that much greener? There's gotta be places at home where the bohemian lifestyle is still within reach, right?
Brine - Make it to Berlin
Dusted on the Fonal rerelease of Ville LeiNonen's debut album "Suudelmitar": https://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4414
8
I've always held a soft spot in my heart for Tigerbombs, mostly as a damned fun summer band, though Pepe Trouble's solo act took me by surprise: not only in solidifying his songwriting amongst the strongest summer-pop work out there, but also by branching out his pop craftsmanship along more serious avenues. With a truly all-star Scandinavian cast, including Astrid Swan, Samae Koskinen (of Sister Flo), and Sweden's The Mopeds, amongst many, many others, King of All the Animals is a talented collection of tried and tested musicians, and "Paper beats rocks" is even further testament to this statement. Instead of the Caesars (Palace)-like tact that Tigerbombs adopt -- chock full of rock organ hooks and fills -- King of All the Animals is a much more typically Scandinavian pop group. "1000-mile-heartache" feels like it fell straight out of a 80s coming-of-age film, a Modern English vibe wrapped around an almost Shout Out Louds-type delivery. "Everything burns red" bristles with perfect guitar hooks and the layered, saturated approach that Moonbabies have perfected. There are a few stumbles on the record, all of which are easily forgiven (and almost more easily forgotten as one become more familiar with the album), and None of which even mildly threaten to derail this proficient and entertaining work. Listen to "The Cologne beat" and you'll know exactly where all my excitement for "Paper beats rock" comes from.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
This track is all about the wordless refrain. It sucks you in on the first listen, at least that's the way it worked on me when I heard it live. The persistence of the melody burrows it deep inside my skull, though None of the transmutations every match the quiet beauty of the solo voice. On the other hand, the majesty of the full band carrying the line at the song's peak is quite powerful as well. Finally, David Lehnberg has achieved the epic sound he's been searching for! Ariel Kill Him came close, but was bogged down by trying too hard, trying to do too much. The Deer Tracks hold more back and thus are able to go further. Still, as much as I enjoy "Aurora", the record doesn't match the band's live performance. They blew me away at Hultsfred, but they aren't nearly as dynamic or powerful here. I remain a fan, but my enthusiasm has waned ever so slightly.
Hear more/pre-order the album: https://www.myspace.com/thedeertracks
The Deer Tracks - Slow collision
One of the perks of running this site that I enjoy most is developing relationships with artists I admire. It's not just interacting via email interviews, but moreso the conversations that go on off the record. Stuff like talking Broder Daniel with Gustaf Kjellvander or even shooting the shit with the dudes from The Swedish Model, discussing the future of physical products. Of course, it's always about the music in the end and so when I get a chance to peep in on the creative process, that's always the best. I'm not much a collector of b-sides and alternate mixes for the most part, but sometimes that really is the best way to get inside an artist's head to see how they work. Moonbabies are a great example -- their songs go through so many variations before arriving at the finished product and it's amazing to hear how many different ways a single piece of music can be expressed. Another great example is Jacob Holm-Lupo and his current project The Opium Cartel. Like Moonbabies' Ola Frick, I get the impression that Jacob labors endlessly in the studio, adding endless layers of instrumentation until he can finally realize the symphony in his head. Ah, the double-edged sword of modern technology! So naturally, when presented the opportunity to share a work-in-progress from him, I gotta jump on it.
If you remember the previous Opium Cartel track I posted last September, this one mines similar territory, though is a bit quieter/folksier. I still hear a bit of the same dark, atmospheric vibe that's in all of Jacob's work dating back to White Willow, however the guest vocals from Rachel Haden (currently on tour with Todd Rundgren, believe it or not) push it closer to Kate Bush avant-pop territory. It starts off twinkly, but slowly progresses into, well, progressive territory. This mix isn't even close to refined so I'm sure the finished version will be even bigger (Jabob: "None of the TOC tracks have actually been mixed yet, and this one suffers a bit from that, as it has like a million tracks"), but it's pretty damn good as-is, so listen up and let your mind fill in the blanks for its as-yet untapped potential. The song and the main melody are in place and that is what's most important.
Errata: the lineup for this recording is Jacob and Rachel plus frequent collaborator Mattias Olsson (Pineforest Crunch, Molesome, etc.) and flautist Ketil Einarsen (Jaga Jazzist). Expect a late 2008/early 2009 release.
The Opium Cartel - Flicker girl (ft. Rachel Haden)
Danish act Agata & Me on tour in Italy:
06/24 - LEGOcafe, Cesena
06/25 - Cantina Mediterraneo, FrosiNone
06/26 - Karon Beach, Vasto
06/27 - Bahia Light Bar, Napoli
Samples at myspace: https://www.myspace.com/agataandme
It's Saturday, the final day of Hultsfred, but I won't let that stop me from posting a new entry in our Göteborg Spotlight Series. This week's guest: Erik Londré from Bonnie & Clyde and The Spurts.
First off, the standard question: how long have you lived in Gbg? Where did you move from and what keeps you there?
I have lived in Gothenburg all my life except for short stints as a chef in France and a mod in London. Now I got myself so tangled up in everything it would be impossible for me to move or even take a vacation. At least that's how it feels like.
I play bass with Bonnie & Clyde and The Spurts. I run my own managing company No Good Productions who take care of both my bands as well as the best band in the world; Ram Di Dam. I organise club nights and gigs under the name No Good Club. Now I'm planning on starting a record label as well that would be called No Good Records surprisingly enough.
I tend to keep busy.
How healthy do you think the local Gbg indie scene is nowadays? Good bands? Good venues? Is there enough diversity? How do you think it compares to the scene of 5/10+ years ago?
The Gbg indie scene in is dead! Long live the Gbg indie scene!
It's brilliant right now and it's getting better! There is a new scene on the rise with a couple of bands that I'm pretty sure will make it big. Bands without any ironic touch, silly gimmicks or iPods on stage. Bands that really know how to play and write fantastic music: The Fume, Bye Bye Bicycle, Ram Di Dam and I really hope for B&C and The Spurts as well of course.
There you got it! Gothenburg's soon-to-be legendary new indie scene. Remember where you heard it first!
Speaking of diversity, how much crossover do you see happening between various music scenes? Or does everyone stick to their own niche, more or less?
Well, basically None. It might sound harsh, but right now we are not so interested in what's happening on the other scenes around the city or anywhere else. We are to busy doing our thing. Or inventing it more or less.
What does Gbg have to offer that no other Swedish city can compete with? On the flipside, is there anything it lacks?
My father, who is musician as well, has written a song where the lyrics, translated from Swedish, go: This town is too small to live in but much too big to leave. Thats pretty much how it is and not even Henrik Berggren could have said it better.
We love our city as much as we hate it. It feeds us as much as it feeds on us. It's not always a healthy relationship but we like it that way.
Since you play in both the Spurts and Bonnie & Clyde, this may be difficult, but here's the deal: pick a favorite, give me a song to post and tell me how you came to your decision.
Bonnie & Clyde - I guess there's no one
It's the first track on our brand new EP ("The great tram robbery") and I'm really proud to be a part of it because I think its a great song. We had our release party yesterday (7/6), it was fantastic! Lots of sparkling wine!
Right now I am waiting for the painkiller to kick in so I can go buy some breakfast. I hope I made my point?
Bonnie & Clyde - I guess there's no one
When Closer first disbanded, the core membership went on to form The Goatboys, a short-lived project that was intended to be a stripped-down version of their previous act. Faster, shorter, less complicated; back to basics, if you will. Unfortunately, nothing really ever came of them except a few rough demos, but now those same guys have moved on yet again to form Bright Oak. I'm unaware if the guys had any high-minded intentions with this act, but I can tell you that the name "historically stands as a notable meeting place for wise and powerful people to share information and solve problems." Judging from that, I'd say that yes, they do have big plans, I'm just not privy to them yet. As for the music, the most important part, it's somewhere between The Goatboys and Closer. The first three songs they've recorded are definitely the most "mainstream" material I've heard from them so far. Not as raw as The Goatboys, neither are they as proggressive as Closer. The arrangements are verse/chorus oriented and None extend beyond 4:30 in length. They slip in a few tricks here and there, but it's very subtle -- an odd melody here and there, maybe a short rhythmic interlude. It is definitely pop music. The choruses are big, uplifting and immediate. Everything is clear and concise. I miss Closer's tendency towards secrecy and conceptualism because a higher barrier of entry often makes for an overall more rewarding listening experience, but I also understand the frustration of playing music like that without having people "get it". Bright Oak, for better or worse, plays music that is very easy to get. I look forward to hearing more.
Bright Oak - On the list
King of All the Animals