Tag: Reviews
I'm pretty fearless in my willingness to review weird records; I guess I like the challenge of seeking a perspective on strange and offbeat sounds. So I didn't flinch after listening to Swedish electronica songwriter Olof Broström's curious sophomore full-length disc, although I wasn't sure what I would say. But let's start with the often surreal lyrics (which were handily printed out on an insert sheet), Olof's alternatingly deadpan, disembodied or just plain sad vocals, and the determinedly offbeat synth and rhythm track combo employed throughout the 15 songs. Interesting tracks include "The creation," where the vocal seems to convey a sort of pain generated for dramatic effect rather than personal catharsis, "We travel north," notable for its gurgling percussion and more balanced vocal track, "The mighty teardrops," whose minimal synth--possibly even played on a cheap Casio--does nothing to dampen the very eccentric arrangement and effects, which features an appearance by Penny Century, and on "You look like gold," the quaver in Broström's vocal adds drama to the already strange lyrics ("Of course I hear you/You're outside my window"). The instrumental "Mexico 86" sounds like traveling through a forbidding landscape at dusk, and the two "Big waters" tracks that close the album are densely textured ambient music, with the latter making a genuinely eerie, hypnotic and unsettling impression. So...Olof is eccentric and a bit outside of categories. This isn't an easy listen, but I dig artists like Mr. Broström who come from a place far away, and capture that feel in their music quite well.
- Kevin Renick
Elak Bingo! Sounds like an affirmative statement of some sort, doesn't it? For me, it already is: I've made it a personal declaration to indicate when a new band successfully inspires that sense of wonder we all crave in music. Funny thing is, "elak" means "bad" or "mean" in Swedish, and this Norwegian female twosome are anything but. Instead, Elisabeth and Ann-Kristen generate one of the most charming, whimsical, unaffectedly childlike sounds I've heard in ages. They're getting attention with their MySpace profile, where you can hear four of the songs from this amazing demo. "Butterfly" (labeled as "Space park" on the disc the girls sent me) is the sweetest 90 seconds I've heard on MySpace yet; it utilizes the repeated single chirp of a bird, a dash of violin and softly feminine vocals to charm the daylights out of you. "Little birds round the tree/You and me," sings Elisabeth, and no matter how minimal the lyrics, the effect is serene and evocative. Elak Bingo are DIY practitioners all the way, so there's no real production, no grandiose intent. But in terms of sweet, unaffected joy of musical self-expression, these Norwegian girls are a sublimely engaging pair of songbirds.
- Kevin Renick
Add my voice to the chorus singing the praises of this record. Everyone else compares them to the Pixies, but to these ears they're more reminiscent of sounds a little earlier in the 80s -- the off-kilter yet powerfully melodic pop of the Go-Betweens circa 1983-1985 where dischordant notes careened off of one another, time signatures shifted mid-song, and what seemed at first to be quasi-random messes revealed themselves on repeated listenings to be nuanced, intricate, and brilliantly crafted. Not a note on this record is where you expect it to be, instruments and vocals (both male and female) play off one another as much as they play with one another. It's unsettling and subversively catchy, intellectually intruiging and gut level appealing. Highly recommended.
- Nancy Baym
There's a song on here called "Som en b-sida om sommaren" ("Like a b-side in summer") and that pretty well encapsulates this record. Pick a hot and steamy night. String some inflatable palm trees with lights. Fill a kiddie pool with ice & beer & soda and your backyard with friends. Imagine sand between your toes. Pop this one in your boombox and start doing the twist. All instrumental, it's part silly, part surf, part B-52s, part casios, occassionally a little annoying, but mostly just fun fun fun. Let the summer dance parties begin.
- Nancy Baym
You don't have to be Nostradamus to be able to predict great things in the near future for I'm From Barcelona. Last year their glorious song "We're from Barcelona" hit Indie Sweden like a bomb and made more people dance than ants in pants, now a year later IFB are signed to Dolores. Now their debut album is out and it manages to live up to the very high expectations. The songs are bursting with energy, the melodies are enormous, and if the band can capture a tenth of this magic when playing live, it'd be a sight worth selling your grandmother's false teeth for (the gold ones of course, hidden under the mattress). If this isn't on lots of "Best of 2006" lists in 6 months, I'll eat my Nostradamus beret and stop playing the lottery.
- Simon Tagestam
Forget about the Kent-like live track (which is actually a Radio Dept. cover, sung in Swedish) and the ambient (and "watery") remix, and concentrate on the first three normal tracks on the new EP from [ingenting] (which is Swedish for "nothing"). The two first songs are poppy summer songs and then it slows down with the third track "Så varm, så kall", but it's still good stuff. [ingenting] are labelmates with Acid House Kings and The Radio Dept. but since they sing in Swedish, I doubt their music will travel outside Scandinavia. This is a damn shame, since their songs are as good as aforementioned bands', it's just a bit less twee/shoegazing and more pure indie pop. Try it, you might like it even if you don't speak Swedish.
- Simon Tagestam
With a new giant label backing them up and a new letter in the bands name, the guys are back with the follow-up to 2004's best album, "Tsunami". The hype has started again with "The second wave" and, for once, it's well-deserved. With a sound that can tear down walls, Khoma's mix of post-rock, indiepop and metal seem to appeal to a wide range of people. Influences from Radiohead are heard in the vocal arrangements, but not to the extent that it becomes annoying. What really makes this band so interesting is that they sound like no other. With members from great acts like Cult Of Luna, The Perishers and old Plastic Pride, it's bound to come out sounding good. They spill their hearts out for us with songs about the great strike in Sweden ("1909.08.04"), feminism and animal rights. But the political aspects are never taking over, it's always the music that's in focus. And I somehow feel that that's exactly how they want it to be. However, there's a negative side to this record and by that I'm talking about focus. Some of the ballads should have been excluded to make the album a total blow-out. And I must say that the decision to include three already released songs, "One of us must hang", "Stop making speeches", "Like coming home", is somewhat boring. But in spite of this, hat's off to Khoma and I look forward to Metaltown in Gothenburg in July. 'Cause if you like them on their records, you should really try to see them live!
- Jonas Appelqvist
Cheerful Swedish twee with happy horns and lo-fi up beats that will slide easily into any collection that features I'm From Barcelona, Red Sleeping Beauty, or Billie the Vision And The Dancers. There's nothing deep here, just pop songs about love, but their songs are full of heartfelt charm and some promising flashes of wit ("you're mean when you're right/and so sweet when you're wrong"). Here's looking forward to an official release.
- Nancy Baym
These Finns have a thing or two to teach Americans about how to do American roots pop. Soaring vocal melodies, keyboards that harken back to Tom Petty hits of the early 1980s, harmonies that evoke the Jayhawks at their finest, and a strong feel-good energy run through this collection of power-pop gems. It's been a while since I've heard a record with so many melodies that smack you over the head with their tunefulness, then pop out of your subconscience when you wake in the morning. A very nice surprise.
- Nancy Baym
On this album Raised Fist have pushed the limits a bit more. We're still talking about pissed-off, aggresive hardcore here, but the band has made its most diverse set of songs yet. While the first couple of EPs was strongly influenced by Youth Of Today and the old-school hardcore scene, this album contains more metal breakdowns, hard-hitting grooves, no compromising vocals and even more rawk. Yes, it's true, Swedens finest hardcore act (still existing, that is) have a few rock n' roll influenced tunes on this one. And I like it! It keeps the album together perfectly. One of the best things that ever happened to the band was the recruitment of Matte Modin, (and by that I'm not saying that former drummer Oskar Karlsson didn't do a great job), the Dark Funeral-drummer gives them a push forward not imaginable before. I've been in love with Raised Fist ever since they released the "You're not like me"-EP and my love is still intact with "The sound of the republic". In fact, it's even more passionate than before! When it eventually comes time to put together a list of the best albums of 2006, this one will probably be on my top 10.
- Jonas Appelqvist
"The 'Chinese Democracy' of punkrock". The statement in the press release from Burning Heart couldn't be more right. The waiting has been long and the expectations incredibly high. But the comparisons with the Axl Rose-monster stops there. While he seems to be more and more of a shadow of his former self, most Refused-members have great musical careers apart from the old band (Dennis in The (International) Noise Conspiracy, David in David Sandström Overdrive and Jon as Jon F. Kennedy [ed: and don't forget ex-bassist Magnus and Cobolt]). Lots of us grew up with Refused. We went to their gigs, bought every record and sought extrication from other punkbands often lousy records and live shows. When Refused got up on stage or went into the studio we knew magic would come out of it. And that's what makes it so hard to watch this DVD. Sure, the music and photography is brilliant and ex-guitarist Kristofer Steen has made this movie with love, I can tell; but the story about why the band broke up and the feelings evolving around that is never deeply penetrated. My feeling is that they are just scratching the surface. The band broke up during the USA-tour following the masterpiece "The shape of punk to come". All members get interviewed thoroughly and they're giving answers to some things never mentioned before, but when I watch "Refused are fucking dead" I can't help but think "I know this already, I know about the whole scenario. I want to get under their skins and really know how they felt about each other." That makes me wonder one other thing: who is this movie really made for? If you're like me, there's nothing new under the sun in these 38 minutes. And if you're someone who's just interested in what Refused was, the movie can seem a bit too self-centered, as if the filmmakers think it's obvious that people know who this band was. And believe me, as much as I'd like that everyone should know, not all people do know the Refused-story. The extra material is two videos ("New noise" and "Rather be dead") and live clips of every song featured on "The shape of punk to come". Oh, and speaking of liveclips; it's not ok to edit a livegig for a DVD-release. I happen to know for a fact that the samples in "New noise" weren't present during the Popstad-gig in the movie. It's not ok to pretend that everything's alright. At least we can take comfort in that no matter how much I dislike this DVD, "Chinese Democracy" will be even worse. Time will tell.
- Jonas Appelqvist
Copenhagen's Skywriter come seemingly out of nowhere to deliver a remarkably strong debut record. Though the sound is completely their own, it's got shades of Leonard Cohen, David Bowie, and (as fearless leader Avi tells us) early Madrugada. The record is also reminiscent of Interpol in how successfully it sets an urban nighttime mood and sees it through to the end. The singer's got a beautiful clear voice, the guitars serve mainly to create atmosphere, and sultry bass lines propel many of the songs. The sound is dark, melancholic, uplifting, deep, and poignant. Lyrically it's a cut above most ("you drag me off my cloud/you walk along with me/the road follows my eye/as far as I can see"). There's not a weak song on here. My only complaints are that my favorite (this week), "This thing never sleeps," isn't even 3 minutes long when I wish it were 4 or 5, and at 37 minutes total, the whole album ends so soon one has to hit replay immediately. Easily my favorite release so far in 2006.
- Nancy Baym
Too hard to be pop, too pop to be metal, these guys are betwixt and between genres in a way that may satisfy no one. It's music for drinking beer and punching your fists in the air, but if you want to do that, you can probably find better soundtracks than this.
- Nancy Baym
His somewhat delayed new EP starts off very strong, with the vocal energy in "So much for staying alive" carrying the listener through the fingerpicked guitar and beautiful organ lines. However, the energy of that track is lost with the second track ("Black Valley theme") on the record being an instrumental, and it's kind of out-of-place on a four song EP (thus making it only three tracks with vocals). While the final two tracks ("Finally home" and "The blackest pond") are great songs, I feel as if they'd flow better on a complete album. Overall, the songs on this record are good, but it's lacking as a cohesive unit and I feel as if this is only a teaser for a new album.
- Matt Giordano
Hell on Wheels
Hemstad
Skywriter
Kristofer Åström