Tag: Reviews
4
This is painful. I thought it would be cool, but this is barely more enjoyable than Richard Cheese and I hate that guy. Hellsongs covers metal songs in a pop, acoustic and orchestral way in order to bring them to new light. The problem is that those songs were written to evoke a powerful and aggressive emotional response and trying to make people cry with a Regina Spektor-like arrangement and voice is not actually working most of the time. I'll admit as much that "Seek and destroy" actually works, but would work better if it wasn't 16 minutes long and Iron Maiden's "Run to the hills" also does work; the rest is just very hard to listen to. The novelty is fun for just about 2 minutes, after that it's just torture.
- Simon Thibaudeau
4
Karsten Pflum, or Dane Jacob Helverskov Madsen's latest release is thoroughly quirky, but only for those of you who enjoy forays into the frontiers of musical weirdness. To really get into this album, appreciation of minimalist techno is a must as Madsen's arrangements can get particularly tedious (as is the case with the majority of experimental stuff). There are moments on "Idhax" where the music begins to make sense, such as an unusually fully constructed beat towards the end of "Impulse 11", reminiscent of the animated psy-trance of Shpongle or Infected Mushroom. This is, however, a rare moment on the album, which is less a gem of talented composition and more a rambling, haphazard journey from one electronic beep to another. Madsen himself summed it up nicely by naming one of the tracks "No target".
- Jude Ainsworth
8
This disc was a pleasant surprise for me. The Swedish duo, consisting of Suzanne and Patrick, are obviously fans of simple, well-crafted, melodic soft rock, and that's what they deliver on this set of 12 breezy, gently melancholic tunes. Vocalist Suzanne is a bit reminiscent of Christine Sandtorv from Ephemera, which is no bad thing in my book. Christoffer Lundquist produced the platter with exceptional clarity, lending even lesser tunes a pleasing sonic sheen. But some tracks, like the utterly bewitching "Skin to skin", sound like timeless standards. I played this disc on my car stereo during numerous dreary days in December, and it was truly therapeutic. This is subtle, engaging pop music, and I look forward to future efforts.
- Kevin Renick
6
Johan Gustavsson is young, at only 23, but his music, under the name of Tsukimono, seems much more mature. The feel of the album is always out of step - awkward and dysfunctional, but strangely beautiful at the same time. Fragments of each track are picked up throughout the album, which links the tracks with a classic ambient narrative. For instance, a backdrop of torrential rain is returned to, as is the same shadowy, heartfelt piano. Melodies are often repeated with subtle changes to the general sound and feel of the instruments. This leads to a lack of memorable, standout tracks, rather a combination of tracks that should be listened to as a whole. It took a lot of time for me to really appreciate "Née" as it is so jumbled, but it gradually becomes easier to follow and easier to enjoy. The acoustic element to Gustavsson's music earns him a reference to Four Tet - who some would say is a more experienced artist, but both produce work that is descriptive and visual. With a 'sister-album' entitled "Heart attack money", I'm looking forward to hearing more from Tsukimono.
- Jude Ainsworth
Eskju Divine could have made it big if they came from England, they've got the same sound as lots of bands over here, most of them derived from a love of Radiohead, or lately - Coldplay. It's unexciting, uninspiring and highly unoriginal, "Heights" is a collection of bland songs that feature "emotional" vocals that sound pretentious. I don't mind music like this now and then, if it's done in another more interesting fashion. Eskju Divine just tread boring territory that's been treaded many times over and they're just bringing another plain offering to the table of dullness. No thank you, I rather eat in silence!
- Simon Tagestam
Perhaps a half-empty venue where too many people in the back are chatting away, might not be the ideal venue to experience Frida Hyvönen in concert, but this gig still didn't live up to my very high expectations. I thought the gig was going to be something amazing, I even tried to get a bunch friends to come along, so I found it quite unfortunate that Hyvönen seemed to lack that spark that could have turned the gig into something really good. She's got the material, but for her to be able to give them justice being alone just behind a keyboard, it takes a lot of skill, a skill that was sadly not present in its full capacity last night. The highlights of the night were "I drive my friend", "Once I was a serene teenaged child", "The modern", and a new song that I don't know the name of.
- Simon Tagestam
The Idealist, an ambient project of Joachim Nordwall, also of the Skull Defekts, threads relatively well explored waters of the likes of guitar-based ambiance, probably the most well known proponent of the genre being Fennesz. "I am the fire" is actually not that exciting in that there is nothing that I would qualify as new or exceptional in there despite the fact that it is well-done and honest. That said, the album is quite enjoyable on its own and makes some pretty interesting background noise but there is really nothing to grab my attention like many other ambient and dark ambient acts do.
- Simon Thibaudeau
I'm glad getting this review out of the way, since it means I don't have to listen to this album anymore. Jens play basic alt-country, nothing special at all, even though some of the melodies aren't that bad. The vocals are the weakest point, they're way too plain to excite. Perhaps the odd song from this record would be ok, but I find listening to these eight songs in a row seriously boring, despite some duets with a girl and the odd flute playing. If you're of opinion that Wilco are way too experimental for their own good, you might want to try a bit of Jens out.
- Simon Tagestam
All of a sudden my life is revolving around things Norwegian; I'm currently obsessed with author Knut Hamsun, I've been listening to Johndoe constantly the last week and yesterday I even bought something Norwegian for my girlfriend for Christmas (can't say what, in case she reads this). Johndoe is very much my cup of tea - melodic punkrock that's highly infectious and it sounds like a mix between Håkan Hellström, Randy, and a less "spikier" Mattias Alkberg BD, but sung in Norwegian. Can it get any better? Not sure what the lyrics are about, but they seem pretty normal to me. I'm definitely going to try and catch these guys live if I ever get the chance, I'm sure it's a riot.
- Simon Tagestam
Nikola Sarcevic, I'm taking back my 'Most improved in 2006' award and bestowing it upon Loveninjas. Their debut EP "Keep your love" was utterly dreadful - a near-perfect embodiment of most everything I despise about tweepop. Let it be known: I do not hate this. Upon hearing the chatter about what a changed band they'd become with the release of the single "I wanna be like Johnny C", I figured I ought to give them a second chance. I'm glad I did because that song is fantastic - a shining pop marvel that harkens back to the time when alternative music was still known as college rock. Unfortunately, glimmers of the olden days still pop up now and again ("She broke his penis in two" for example) and the rest of songs rarely rise above mediocre status. Still, that's a heckuva lot better than I expected, so let me call it at 'inoffensive' and hope you understand I mean it as a compliment.
- Avi Roig
Not really sure why Burning Heart Records didn't want to release Moneybrother's Swedish album. It seems idiotic to me, but who am I to judge, huh? Maybe they didn't think it would sell enough or something. The album consists of ten covers, all interpreted by Anders Wedin (aka Moneybrother) in Swedish, and one original song that features the Swedish rock legend Jerry Williams. It's an interesting premise and Moneybrother manages to keep it exciting most of the way through. Being a fan of Operation Ivy, "Jag skriver inte på nåt", with The Hives' own Howlin' Pelle, appeals to me a lot and so does "Under bordet" which is a cover of My Morning Jacket's "Off the record" (one of my favourite songs of 2005), even though these are not the strongest songs on here per se. Most of the tracks have got that Bruce Springsteen vibe that Wendin has embraced and plugged away at since his first single "Reconsider me". Now, I'd like for Broder Daniel's Henrik, Randy's Stefan, etc, to step up and release their own Swedish cover albums. Preferably within the next 3 weeks. PS: The album's title is a Swedish translation of "the moneybrother".
- Simon Tagestam
Plain Fade's last album, "Lies, sanctions and cruise missiles", was a little gem of post-rock forward thinking and how the genre's staleness could be nicely complimented by intelligent songwriting and beautiful arrangements. "Aure" takes the band even more forward, into territory where the songwriting is rich and complex and arrangements as elaborate as I have seen on any record I have heard. Plain Fade include instrumentation as varied as didgeridoo, electronic bleeps, crackles and noises, strings and horns for a singular purpose: making the songs go forward. This is a lot less rock and a lot more ambient than "Lies..." but it is also significantly more beautiful and interesting. Great record.
- Simon Thibaudeau
Trying to find any other word than 'moving' to describe Ef's debut is something I've been struggling with these past few days. With a wide arrangement of instruments to use at their discretion, they've constructed a sublime collection of post-rock that's as forceful as it is grounding. Each song careens down a path of delay-driven guitars and yearning strings and even a few scattered vocals here and there to give the record a little more room to breathe. At times "Give me beauty…or give me death!" seems to have the power to make time speed up around you with the captivating rise and fall of "Final touch/hidden agenda", and at other times, it can slow things down with the humbling sway of "Hello Scotland". Any post-rock listener should take note: Ef might just be the band you're looking for during this cold, cold winter.
- Phil Del Costello
This is a cd with three songs by Ghettogetter and five each from Iamuse and Threeminutepopsongs. Ghettogetter are a bit annoying and not my cup of tea, they sound a bit like SKBWN, but less amazing, more electronic and a whole lot more disco with (even) sillier lyrics. Ghettogetter and Threeminutepopsongs consist of the same people, but the latter band sound much more like The Cure, and have more of a goth-feel than a disco beat. Still, it's not worth checking them out. Just like jam doughnuts, the best parts of this cd can be found in the middle, with Iamuse's spellbinding melodic rock songs. Iamuse put the two other bands on this disc to shame with their five songs, that are a bit reminscent of Bright Eyes (especially on the sublime "Neon city lovelane road"). It's a shame they didn't have all the thirteen songs for themselves!
- Simon Tagestam
Tsukimono
Johndoe
Loveninjas
Plain Fade
Ef