Swedish pop act Celestial has a new website: end.com/celestial" target="_blank">https://www.musicismygirlfriend.com/celestial
The band's new album "Crystal heights" will be released on October 8 via Lavend.r/Music Is My Girlfriend.

Kalle Gustafsson Jerneholm and Daniel Nyström of Svenska Grammofon Studios recorded Broder Daniel's final show at Way Out West this past weekend. I have no idea if it will be released, but I assume so.

Devillac
s/t
self-released

These Finns sure know how to sabotage themselves. Between the misleading name, forgettable cover art and tepid instrumental opening number, it's a miracle I even bothered to check out the rest of the album. I'm glad I did though because these dudes actually have a decent heavy fuzzrock sound once they get going. They're not idiosyncratic enough to stand out from the mediocre multitudes, but I do dig the fact that they're going for a more modern, streamlined approach as opposed to doing the tired retro/stoner thing. I've heard enough wannabees in that vein to last me a lifetime. Anyhow, I'd say that Devillac is eminently listenable and far, far better than I expected, but still totally forgettable in the end.
- Avi Roig

MP3: Cut City - Replacement

As regular readers know, Saturdays in 2008 are devoted to the music of Göteborg. This week's guest: Max Hansson from Cut City/White Knives.

How long have you lived in Gbg? What brought you there and what keeps you hanging around?

During a drunken haze back in the year 2000 while stuck in my hometown, I threw a dart at a world map and figured that chance could have its way with me. Though aiming for internationally consensus-proven cool cities like New York, Berlin and Paris, I fell short and took the bus up to Gothenburg and started delivering mail with a disgruntled grin. In my bags I had a band lacking any basic nuance of ambition along with an appetite for spend.ng more time on stage than off. It was an unhealthy equation, but by ditching (read: being ditched by) some of the members, I started Cut City with David Hagberg and it led me to fulfill some modest goals of mine. That was six years ago and though many of the people I know have since left town, I stay put. I'm too old to move and my wonderful girlfriend.makes life tolerable here. Gothenburg can be quite abysmal at times, mostly during the fall, winter, spring and the majority of summer. There are things here that makes it worth living though: Koloni put on a whole lot of wonderful shows and pushes a healthy experimental climate; Release The Bats put out some amazing music as does Ideal Recordings. Without them, Gothenburg would have you jump for the Xanax bottle.

How do you deal with bandmates living in Malmö? Don't you know they barely speak Swedish down there? What's keeping you from ditching David and getting someone local? Or why don't you sell out Gbg and move south?

Rehearsing less than once a month is what we do and it's how we define work ethic. I've got a small studio (a grand euphemism for old computer) set up in a tiny walk-in closet and that's what keeps me sane. I'm from the south myself so the language barrier is easily broken down. I can't move to the south because I'm banned there and we can't give David the boot because he's a machine and we all know that machines will take over the world and we really, really want someone to be on our side when that day comes. To be honest, Sweden's such a small country that you run into friend. pretty much without effort.

Do you feel any connection to the Swedish post-punk scene of yore or do you draw inspiration from elsewhere? Do you ever consider your city's musical heritage at all? Do you think there's any such thing as a Gbg sound?

I merely play the music I do because I lack the musical prowess to play metal. And that's the honest truth. When you read this I'm either at the Iron Maiden concert with 60,000 other heshers or discussing the grandeur of a mummified Eddie with everyone who failed to get a ticket. Post-punk is too broad of a term to stylistically distinguish band A from band B. But I do know what you mean my dear friend. I'll tell you this: my favorite guitarists among many are Roger Mcguinn, Richard Lloyd and Robert Quine - the triple R - and they inspire me in many ways. Trying to copy them while lacking the talent I make my style my own (oh, the hubris).
I moved here being totally oblivious to what this city had spawned band-wise and I knew next to nothing about what it had to offer with the exception of its metal scene and its very distinct Gbg sound. I would say I feel a whole lot more affiliated with the city now after befriend.ng many of its contemporary musicians. I feel a kinship with the likes of Alarma Man, Silverbullit, Dieter Schöön and a slew of other bands that know better than to sing off-key.

How does the city inspire you? How does it stifle you? How do you think people could make it better?

I like to take long, long walks from one end.of the city to the other and see how it transforms from big anxiety-provoking concrete blocks to huge beach mansions soon-to-be engulfed by the sea; from rich ghettos to poor ghettos. I like watching people hitting the bars on Avenyn; I like watching the young kids clubbing; I like seeing the contempt erupting from both sides of the coin. This city could mean everything to me and at the same time nothing. I can't say I could tell if it makes me or breaks me. I think people could make it better if they drank more. Juice.

Going to Way Out West this year? Anything in particular that you're looking forward to? Or dreading?

Yes. Deleted Art has two bands playing there this year: The Mae Shi and No Age. I'm amped up and ready to surf the crowd. Then there's Sonic Youth of course, as well as The National and they're both bands I love. Had only Journey been there playing the entire "Escape" album with Steve Perry holding the mic instead of some poor replaceable cover band member, I would literally be bawling. That's not going to happen though, so I might as well just sit back home watching "Frontiers and Beyond" or "Live in Houston". Dreading? I don't want to run my mouth off and take a piss on bands that probably deserves it because that would be rude and I'm not a rude person (Mando Diao). I dread queuing to the unsanitary toilets, shit and piss on the floors.

Lastly, got a song to share? Either from one of your own bands or another, it's all good. Tell me about it!

I don't know if copyright laws prohibits you from sharing "Bastards of young" by The Replacements with your frequent visitors. I would love for you to have that up there instead of being elaborate and unscrupulous enough to exploit this offer and have people listening to my own band. I know the answer to this and will offer you the second best thing to the Mats themselves: "Replacement". It's our own ode to Westerberg et al and a deliberate attempt at stealing the best things in music history.

Thanks!

No, thank you! Still they ride, on wheels of fire. They rule the night. Still they ride, the strong will survive. Chasing thunder.

Cut City - Replacement

Danish rockers No Privacy have invited the infamous Anton Newcombe of Brian Jonestown Massacre to record a duet with them this weekend.

Artpunks Knife and Ape are now working with new label Moptaco Dics. No idea when a new record will be out, but they are apparently working on a video for the track "Sexual tension" this weekend.

MP3: Mist - Subjective love song

Leaving for Hultsfred today from Stockholm - be sure to check the msgboard for updates.

Jeff Buckley comparisons are so rarely applied to female vocalists even though they are much more capable of scaling the heights he achieved. Gbg-based act Mist earns the label, not just for the light and airy vocals of frontwoman Martha Brauer, but also because they get the music right as well. A little quirky, a little funky, with a touch of jazz and very pop in the end. It's been done enough now by other Buckley wannabees such as Belgium's Arid, but I think this is the first time I've heard it with a female touch and I have to say that I really enjoy it. It does sometimes push the boundaries of histrionics and they definitely lose me the more they lean on the soul/funk tip (see "My baby blue"), but tracks like "Subjective love song" are nothing but nice. All in all, a very pleasant surprise.

Mist - Subjective love song

Caesars
Strawberry weed
Dolores/EMI

When "Strawberry weed" is played in my iPod, the first association that comes to my mind is: Coldplay. This might be outlandish, but it's true. If we throw in some Beach Boys, Beatles and Rolling Stones, then we have a recognizable sound, describing Caesars' new album. I expected to hear something more rebellious and edgy, going more back to their hit "Jerk it out", but didn't. This isn't something you want to scream from the top of your lungs to at festivals, this is something more mature, and something you might want to listen to at a sunny day at the beach. The album consists of 24 songs, it's a double album and frankly, I ain't praising that, even if Ebbot Lundberg deserves admiration, doing a fine job producing this. My 'too much feeling' means that Caesars is that kind of band that can bore you, therefore one good, crammed CD could have been enough. However, in this case, "Strawberry weed", "Fools parade", "You nailed me" and "Boo boo goo goo", does it for me; they are catchy and, should we say, MTV material. But I still wonder why you want to throw in something such as "Solina": a 2:59 long, acoustic song, without César Vidal's easily broken but beautiful voice? It's a small pause in the middle of it all that gives me the feeling of a computer game. To the positive parts, the overall impression is that it makes me darn pleased that the band gives us something new, these dudes knows how to do it despite my words above, and let's face it, Caesars are Caesars and as in a salad, you will always get that little extra parmigiana that gives you a tasty experience and some energetic fuel in the end. "Boo boo goo goo" is a perfect example of that. In the end. after hours of listening somehow this poppy, indie sound gives me almost the same feeling as the beach boys, and it makes me say; Strawberry Field... you nailed me!
- Therese Buxfäldt

MP3: Viktor Sjöberg and Jonas Lindgren - Guldheden

If I had the time or money to put together a new compilation, chances are high it would look awfully similar to Fang Bomb's "Gothenburg 08". The particular scene it explores is one of big reasons I started this weekly Gbg-spotlight series, so naturally I'm very excited to have the opportunity to talk to label-head Peter Ottosson about the comp, among other relevant subjects. Read on!

So you're putting out this new compilation, "Gothenburg 08" - what's the inspiration? What is it about the current scene that merits this sort of documentation?

The idea of putting together a compilation with only Gothenburg based artists, was initially born from a feeling I had about what is going on in the city, the sense of something great happening, a unique scene that deserved to be compiled and documented. It's been growing for a number of years now, with a lot of great artists, labels such as iDEAL, Kning Disk, Release The Bats, and ourselves, galleries and vital concert bookers. It feels like Gothenburg has risen again, in a way. The cultural climate now quite similar to what was going on 20 or 25 years ago. Free, experimental, deep.

And that takes us to were I went to complete the concept. To 1984 to be specific, when Radium 226.05 released a compilation LP entitled "Gothenburg 84". This is now a legend.ry record, showcasing the fresh talent connected to the Radium organization at that time. CM von Hausswolff was on it, and so were Jean-Louis Huhta, Zbigniew Karkowski and Freddie Wadling - all of whom today are busy people, well respected and regarded as pioneers also from a worldwide perspective.

My conviction is that the Gothenburg scene once again allows for such a manifestation. And that is what "Gothenburg 08" is supposed to be.

Of the musicians you have selected, what is it that they have in common, beyond their chosen city of residence? A sound? An attitude? Can you put a label on it?

There is a sound and there is an attitude. But there is not only one style – rather, I think there is a kind of "anything is possible" approach going on here, and that can be heard in most of the recordings on "Gothenburg 08". For instance, when Anders Dahl mixes bird sounds with elements of noise, it fits! This attitude creates some unique artists. I guess we could call that attitude "punk", if the word hadn't already been used too much.

The thing is, many of the artists know each other well and have done so for a long time. They have collaborated, released records on each others labels, toured together, performed together. That binds it all together, that is what creates the "scene".

A number of the artists you are working with are active in other artistic end.avors, such as the visual arts- how much connection do you see between these various forms? Do you think that it's important for them to remain connected or can they each coexist on their own?

Man, you ask some tough questions ... No, I don't think that is necessary, even if they do feed off each other. But the same message can be encoded into either one of these media, and Thomas Ekelund of Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, who is also a skilled art director and graphic artist, might be the perfect example. He does most of his own artwork (I think all of it, from now on) and he is incredibly stringent, faithful to his concept to the end. What you hear in his music, you can also see in his graphic art.

One thing that troubles me about the experimental/noise music scene, is that it tend. to be very male dominated. Do you find this to be the case in Gbg? What do think can be done to address it?

It is, just as everywhere else. Right now, from the top of my head and keeping the local perspective, I can really only think of one female artist that would fit your genre description - Variam, the solo/side project of Mariam Wallentin of Wildbirds & Peacedrums. And if we want to go a little bit softer, there's always Midaircondo.

I'm not sure what to do about the situation. I guess men are generally more into the nerdier aspects of life, and at least one part of the experimental music scene is synonymous to stamp collecting– hunting for still sealed Industrial Recordings releases from 1979, and brand new releases limited to 8 copies that you buy but never play, that sort of thing... Not that there's anything wrong with that, I do it too.

Also, I suspect that for as long as there are no, or very few, women at concerts, the male-to-female artist ratio will remain virtually unchanged. If something can be done, I'm not sure what it is. Maybe as the industrial iconography develops, a lesser amount of skulls would be a good idea?

Is there a particular song you would like to share, either from 84 or 08? Tell me about it.

It's hard to pick one song to represent the entire "Gothenburg 08" CD - it develops from soft to loud, from noise to dense drones to tracks that are almost "modern classical" in nature - so I've decided to just go with the first one. The track, composed and performed by Viktor Sjöberg and Jonas Lindgren, is entitled "Guldheden", which is also the name of one of the burroughs of Gothenburg. It's a solemn, beautiful piece and unintentionally, at least I assume it is unintentionally, it manages to connect with the very start of electronic and experimental music in Gothenburg, the muffled voices in the background being a reminder of Rune Lindblad's "Party" from 1953, the first ever recording by the city's earliest shining star in the world experimental music. Enjoy!

Viktor Sjöberg and Jonas Lindgren - Guldheden

April Fools from Hybris: end.html" target="_blank">https://hybrism.blogspot.com/2008/04/end.html

TIAC
Overstaying the welcome
Hybris

Balancing itself somewhere between over-accessibility and kitschy electronica, "Overstaying the welcome" is an undeniably fun album, but it's hard to give a general impression of the record overall. "Catalogue of failures" is an overabundance of 80s clichés and synths, wonderfully wound around solid songwriting, but the following track "Piss on you" is rather disappointing, especially the lyrics. Imagine New Order on a drug binge (probably uppers) in Berlin deciding to record an album in a weekend... and you're somewhere in the realm of TIAC's "Overstaying the welcome". It's a lot of fun, like I said, but there's an obvious expiration date to this enjoyment.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson

MP3: Love & Happiness - Stop, wait or go

I think it's fair to say that Jerry Bowman is a Göteborg scenester. I know that many people bristle at the term, but really, how else do you describe someone who is not only a prominent member of the local media, but also a show promoter and respected blogger? And yes, this week's guest in our ongoing Gbg-spotlight series. I mean no disrespect! So with that, on to the questions!

How long have you lived in Gbg? What brought you/keeps you there?

I've been walking the streets of Göteborg since 2001, when I got a job here. I'm from a small town on the west coast of Sweden, where everybody dreams about Göteborg. I pictured the city in a romantic haze, and when I moved here that image turned out to be true. I'm staying because I've found my home.

Do you think that there's a particular Gbg sound or attitude? If so, how would you describe it? Any prominent examples you'd like to cite?

There is no Göteborg sound. That's a myth created by the media. I think it's more of an attitude, a feeling of being the underdog. No one has ever really called Göteborg an underdog though, it's more of a self-inflicted position. People in Göteborg like to be the dirty, obnoxious dog compared to Stockholm. I think that Göteborg is more open to music that speaks from the heart. The bands just let it flow, they don't really give a shit about what's 'right' or 'wrong'.
A few examples are: Autisterna, Pen Expers, They Live by Night, Peter Sjöholm, Mormors Systrar and Cobra Charlie.

What is it that makes Gbg different from other major Swedish cities?

What sets Göteborg apart from all other Swedish cities is that, statistically, one person gets hit by a tram here every day of the year. We live in constant fear of these huge monsters! And fear generates creativity and fellowship!

How about if you were hosting an out-of-town visitor- what are the must-see places you would take them?

I would take him or her to the harbour. We have the biggest harbour in Scandinavia and it's located right in the city center (there are both pros and cons about that). Harbours are exciting. I would show the visitor the 'Broder Daniel-crane' and where they shot the video for "Shoreline". Then we would go to see a concert, of course. Hopefully Koloni would be arranging something that evening. If not, I would take my guest to Klubb Sandviken, the club run by me and my girlfriend. Needless to say, it's the best club in town. :-)

I know are a champion of many local Gbg acts- who are a few (more) of your current personal favorites?

Love & Happiness, Tilde Hjelm, a guy called Jesper from Frölunda (a Göteborg suburb) and Pats, the singer from Hospitalle who is now writing songs in Swedish. The last two have no MySpace pages... yet.

Of those favorites, got a particular song you'd like to share?

"Stop, wait or go" by Love & Happiness.

Listen below...

Love & Happiness - Stop, wait or go

Madrugada
s/t
EMI

Guitarist Robert Burås left this world much too soon. And he will be missed. Those of us that got to see Madrugada live can certify that he was a main character in this otherwise so well put together combo. Being the sixth and final album from Norway's finest, this is nothing but pure genius. The intensity is evident throughout, both musically and vocally. On this self-titled full-length, the band has taken the atmosphere of foreboding that is their trademark to a higher level, which leaves us, the listeners, in a state of darkness that's indefensible. Simply put, we're reeled right in and I wouldn't want anything else. Frontman Sivert Høyem sings with such authority and grace, it makes my eyes fill up with tears. And seeing that I'm into The Birthday Party and Nick Cave, it's difficult not to compare, but Sivert has a hypnotizing way of taking each song to perfection, something Mr. Cave is missing at times. "The hour of the wolf" is a straight-forward rock song with howling guitars, powerful drums and a showcase of one of the shapes that was Madrugada. It's rock'n'roll in its purest form. The more acoustic "Look away Lucifer" is a dark and eerie song that sort of sums up the album as a whole. The uncanny feeling of this swan song is charming in a way that you never want to end. But, all good things must come to an end.and I can't think of a better way than this. Kudos. And R.I.P.
- Jonas Appelqvist

MP3: At the Gates - Cold

If it wasn't for At the Gates, It's a Trap! would not exist. They were the very first band I ever heard that I associated with having a distinctive "Swedish" sound and I can still fondly remember the day I brought home "Terminal spirit disease". I must've listened to it at least three times in a row; it was an absolute revelation. When the follow-up album "Slaughter of the soul" came out, I listened to it at least once a day, every day for six months straight. So yeah, when I say that At the Gates changed my life, I'm not exaggerating in the slightest. Taking that into account, I am extremely flattered that AtG guitarist Anders Björler agreed to participate in this week's Göteborg feature.

Would you say there is a particular Gbg sound or attitude? If so, how would you describe it?

Gothenburg stood for melody, while for example the Stockholm sound was more Punk / Rock influenced. However, the Gothenburg bands didn't have that much in common. They all had unique styles.

Was there already an established metal scene in Gbg back when AtG first started? Was there ever a point when you realized that there some something special or distinctive going on or did that only happen once you started to get international attention?

There was no metal scene at all. There was only Grotesque [vocalist Tomas Lindberg's old band with scene vet Kristian Wåhlin aka Necrolord plus fellow AtG founding member Alf Svensson] in the Death Metal scene. A couple of Thrash bands like: Intoxicate, Pagandom, Dead end./b>, Valcyrie, Megaslaughter etc...
We didn't realize how big it was going until after we split up. At the Gates were never a big band. We were basically a very small punk band that played melodic death metal.