Interview: Rasmus Kellerman
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Blues Pills
Pills EP
Crusher Records
Initial thoughts on this are that bands like Blues Pills are ten a penny and to be found playing in rock or blues bars the world over on any given weekend. It's psychedelic blues rock with -- admittedly -- some absolutely stunning vocals in Elin Larsson and it will naturally appeal to the classic rock crowd who love their widdly-widdly bluesy guitars with some Janis Joplin and a bit more grit. It does take a while before the indifference (sort of) subsides and the true potential of Blues Pills becomes evident. That potential is in the fact that these guys really can play. Bigtime. And if fretwankery is your thing, you'll love this. However, the fact remains that everything is still very formulaic and brings absolutely nothing new to the table musically, so if it's innovation you're after, you may as well forget about this international collaboration between Sweden, France and the USA. It's enjoyable, yes, but -- just like you could say about all those bar bands -- is it a patch on Fleetwood Mac? Not really.
- John Norby
DS-13 reunion (video)
Swedish thrashers DS-13 played a reunion gig in their hometown of Umeå over the weekend. Also, from the same show, here's footage of Dennis Lyxzén celebrating his 40th birthday with a set of songs from his old bands.
"A Somatic Response" now streaming
As promised, here is your soundtrack for the weekend.
Loreen - Euphoria (Eurovision 2012)
Congrats to Loreen for leading Sweden to Eurovision victory this past weekend.
Fleshpress
Acid mouth strangulation
Svart Records
It's generally a prerequisite of sludgy doom metal that intros and track lead-ins run for inhuman amounts of time and Finland's Fleshpress are no exception. We're over half way through the 11-minute opener, "Glass trails", before there's any hint of something solid starting, with the initial six and a half minutes sounding off like an ethereal soundtrack to one of the Wallander movies. The track then plods along in simplistic Tool-esque mode before hitting its stride and finally breaking into a killer mid-paced fist-pounder resplend.nt with vocals touching on a mix of The Secret and Zao. "Copper eye" kicks off with more of a straightforward dirty black metal outlook, although the sludge base is prevalent throughout, while closer, "Oblivion persistent" adopts the sludge penchant for dragging the hell out of a tune to the point that it seems like it'll never end. It's crafted so well and with such menace, though, that it's captivating -- and devastating -- from start to finish. The few moments that drag or don't seem too inspired on this take little from the remainder of the recording. Good stuff indeed!
- John Norby
Gunnhild Sundli live at Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum, Oslo, Norway
I'd love to show you the new Gunnhild Sundli video that just came out today, but it's blocked here in the US so here instead is a great live recording of her playing by:Larm this past weekend.
The Belljars - s/t EP
I received quite a bit of great new music in my inbox over the long weekend. so much so that I'm having a bit of trouble getting through it all. Thankfully, this new EP from Umeå tweepop act The Belljars is short, sweet, easy to digest and very very easy to recommend. Great use of violin too, much like Ironville, another great Swedish pop act that doesn't get nearly enough attention.
Markus Krunegård - Everybody hurts (video)
Here's the brand new Markus Krunegård single "Everybody hurts", as was premiered at P3 Guld this weekend. Look for his new album "Mänsklig värme" to be released on March 28.
Craft
Void
Trust No One Recordings/Southern Lord
"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
Recommended: Elephant & Castle
Looking for a little Halloween music and don't want the usual goth/industrial recommend.tions I hand out? I highly recommend.Matti Bye and Mattias Olsson's collaboration album "Elephant & Castle" -- it's the perfect soundtrack of creepy calliope tunes ala "Something wicked this way comes", great any time of year but especially perfect for this particular weekend. Listen via Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/1zJYHaNEwFdMkXCQcnH13E
And if someone from is watching, I'd sure love a copy of that limited edition box set w/the Edison cylinder, but somehow I imagine I'll have to settle for one of the less-fancy copies. Full details here: https://www.kningdisk.com/index_elephantandcastle.htm
Scraps of Tape - Flera meter kort (live video)
It's a Trap!'s own Jonas Appelqvist filling in for Mattias Alkberg with Scraps of Tape on "Flera meter kort" at the band's releasefest in Malmö this past weekend. Awesome!
MP3: Seven Feet Four - Last days of summer
"If these are the last days of summer, do you sleep or stay awake?" I didn't think it was possible to have a worse summer than last year, but we did and now it's over. A last-gasp week of warmth followed by rain and that unmistakable chill that signals the beginning of the end. Even year it comes like a lion, falling almost squarely on the autumnal equinox. I actually recently loaded Seven Feet Four's classic "Departure/Arrival" album onto my mp3 player, but this selection from their final EP "To kill is easy" far more befits the changing of the season. Hard to believe it's six years old already, especially considering that hardly anyone has stepped up in their wake to strive for Swedish noiserock perfection. That is, aside from bands featuring ex-members. Whatever, I guess I'm just getting old; time to go to sleep.
Erik de Vahl - Our love
Erik de Vahl covers Loleatta Holloway as a gift for his ladyfriend. Read more: https://blog.erikdevahl.com/2011/08/strandkampar.html (in Swedish)