Tag: Reviews
I got goose-pimples when I heard Britta perform at Vinterviken in '04, and still do every time "I search in you, you search in me" from "Demo 2" is played. So with great anticipation "Found at home" was initially welcomed here at review HQ. So lest not beat about the bush: much of Persson's attraction is her relationship to the KÅ/Hidden Truck/Fireside/Startracks family, and the natural interest which that brings. This is singer/songwriter Persson's first a "real" release. It has a fuller more complete sound, thanks perhaps largely to bedfellow Kristoffer Åström's backing vocals, production, and guitar playing. Åström guests from on "A dad for you" and again on track 4 "The past is not for real". This is a predominately two chord, slightly folkesque song (in her voice there is a Irish lilt, sometime shrill, in his a gruff hung over tone!). Neither a bad thing, because I want to rave about this release. But it is hard. Persson sounds like Cranberries singer O'Rioden or Sinead O'Conner (read again: Irish lilt) just a bit too often for my tastes. Sad, it would seem because Persson is definitely doing something... although the songs are lyrically naive. This EP somehow falls short of the virgin feeling created on her own self released EPs from 2004. The positive effect of considered production seems, in my ears, to detract from the former urgency held on the DIY demos. Next question: When will this singer try out a backing band? It might be the progressive step she needs.
- Troy Convers
Since female singer/songwriters from Finland don't exactly grow on trees, I pay special attention when one comes along. Astrid Swan has just released this debut CD, and it's a pretty strong effort. Swan has one of those voices that sounds real familiar, yet I can't readily compare her to anyone else. She's got a flair for the dramatic; in fact, the first two tracks "They need you if they think you love them" and "Poverina" sound like they're from some Broadway musical. I can easily picture Astrid onstage, belting out the tunes to the audience and making excited hand gestures. Swan plays fluid grand piano (often accompanied by slick backing vocals) throughout the disc; strong examples include "Rock 'n' roll blonde" and the lively "Good girl", which has a nice hummable chorus. My favorite songs are "The kinda tea you like to cry in", which has competing musical pulses from keyboard and guitar that give the tune a strong rhythmic thrust, and the haunting, minimalist "Daddies". "Life in a container" is also a cool tune. Some of this disc is a little too slick and commercial for my taste, but it's a pretty meaty debut, and Swan's obvious passion marks her as a talent that bears watching in the future.
- Kevin Renick
This Tromsø-based Norwegian band offers melodic epic rock reminiscent of bands like Radiohead, Coldplay and Muse. Guitarist/vocalist Rune Simonsen even sounds a bit like Thom Yorke in ballad mode at times. But this debut full-length (the band released an EP a few years ago) stands on its own quite nicely. If you can avoid thinking about all the stylistic touchstones, "A new order rising" is a very pleasant listen. "Landslide" is a sweet mid-tempo radio-friendly tune where Simonsen quickly shows his voice can soar with the best of 'em, while drummer Esko Pedersen and bassist Andreas Hoyer lay down a solid rhythmic foundation that's crisp and clear. "Have you ever" is actually one of the nicest slow songs I've heard this year, thanks to one of those stick-in-the-head melodies and a beautifully clear vocal (hey, a Norwegian Thom Yorke ain't such a bad thing, right?). Nice mellotron right in the middle, too. "River run by night" sounds like it's in a weird time signature, and it's so mesmerizing and carefully arranged that you imagine the band spending hours in the studio getting it just right. The cool percussion and lap steel guitar make it a standout track. The acoustic "Hymn" lets Simonsen show off his delicately beautiful falsetto, and if that's an autoharp being played behind it, bonus points for your good taste, guys! You're also gonna see a lot of reviews that single out the track "A long poem about the acts of heroes or gods." This nine-minute excursion into deep, Floyd-ian, guitar-based melancholy is the kind of big, expansive tune you can either lose yourself in, or shrug off 'cause it sounds like a bunch of other groups. I've opted for the former, and I've grown fond of this disc, even if it's a little monotonous in places.
- Kevin Renick
In case you needed more proof of the depth of talent in Swedish pop and indie rock, here are 19 fine examples assembled by the Velvet Rock Klubb and the student radio station in Uppsala. This one has a bit of everything, from the snappy pop of The Sunshine's "Love" to the darker, Siouxsie Sioux-style sounds on "Pasadena" by Le Muhr to the slow-burning, Swedish-language folk number "Allting ni gör" by [ingenting]. Other standouts include the Joan Jett-on-helium garage of Chick Habit's "Too much is not enough" and yet another track from Convoj, recently given the thumbs-up by my IAT! colleague Navy Keophan. The revelation to me is "Sound of sirens", an insanely catchy slice of indie rock by The Horror, The Horror. I had never heard of them before but will be on the lookout for more of their stuff. I'm not sure you can buy "Songs we have learned to sing" outside of Sweden, but for anyone who can get their hands on it, pick this one up!
- Matthew W. Smith
Caesars had fierce competition this night, from the Champion League Final between Liverpool and Milan that was on TVs in a adjacent bar (if you're American you probably haven't got a clue what this is, but let's just say it's a very important soccer game). Whereas the sport event was full of excitement and drama, Caesars' gig was quite ordinary, non-spectacular, and pretty tame. Caesar Vidal, the lead singer, looked utterly bored and none of the other band members' efforts could make up for his lack of charisma. Caesars got plenty of good material so for them to mess up a gig like this is pretty weird and I left ULU feeling a bit cheated, just like all those Milan fans.
- Simon Tagestam
Post rock, to me, is not very conclusive in the short form. On the other hand when too long it becomes damn tiring. Caterpillar adheres to the notion that the shorter songs should work better, or at least would be easier to get the point across. The result is that they sound like a mix of Do Make Say Think (very good) and Archive (not so hot). The ideas are there, it just seem that they are not explored to the fullest.
- Simon Thibaudeau
The Swedish post-rock scene is constantly improving in quality and likewise, so is Ef. Each new recording from these guys shows more and more promise, but I still think they have some ways to go. Quality music of this genre relies heavily on tension, but Ef has a hard time staying restrained long enough for that feeling to set in. The climatic noisy moments work well, but the quieter parts need to be quieter and they need to be drawn out as they build-up. Less is more! Same goes for the heavy use of effects - a little can go a long way and I think some extra restraint in that department would do some good as well. But regardless of these issues, I must reiterate how impressed I am by this band's progress. Give them time and they'll get it right.
- Avi Roig
Swedish trio Godrun are billing themselves as sort of a "garage-folk" outfit, which fits since they're doing a noisy, garage-y thing on the one hand, but drawing on traditional, fiddle-heavy sounds on the other. This 3-song demo shows promise, but it didn't bowl me over. On "Happy people", the sound is tinny and the vocalist sounds like he's got a cat scratching its claws down his back while he sings. And repeating a bland lyric like "I can't believe you're here tonight/I have been waiting all my life" over and over doesn't strike me as an inspired idea. "OK" is a bit better, because the arrangement is just weird enough to be kind of interesting and the rhythm is more engaging. "Arkadien" is an instrumental, with fiddles dominating the arrangement and the rhythm being perfect for Swedish folk dancing. A full-length from these guys (one or two of whom used to be in Boot) could be interesting, but boys, turn up the bass, hire a producer and lock up that cat.
- Kevin Renick
When I first listened to "Answering machines" by this Danish duo, I was surprised to find out it reminded me of a lot of Fugazi with a touch of that Texas band Les Messieurs Du Rock. Really fuzzy, arty and haunting indie rock that my brother enjoys making art to. Singer/guitar player Thomas Nygaard's vocals are a perfect match for songs like "Bad wiring" and "Back door". Drummer Karsten Bagge's jazz-fused drumming provides a good backbeat to the above mentioned songs and makes "Evil one" almost danceable. I thoroughly enjoyed this.
- Navy Keophan
This EP is just awesome. Who needs ordinary things like melodies, good beats, strong vocals and memorable lyrics when you can get all disoriented and weirded out listening to Majessic Dreams? Call me depraved, but I probably get more excited by bands that break the rules and map out uncharted territory than bands that are just plain ol' good in a conventional manner. Swedish duo Mats and Jessica Majessic are responsible for this very strange 6-track EP, which is filled with ambient drones, barely-in-tune acoustic guitar and Jessica's beguilingly shy, tentative vocals. They're mixed low, so you have to strain to hear what she's singing. Somehow, the ghostly wisps of sound that result from all this are utterly compelling. "When you sleep", with its heard-in-a-dream atmospherics and feather-light percussion, rates a "10" on my personal cool-o-meter. Interesting synth tones spruce up "Different light", on which both Jessica and Mats sing - it's not exactly lo-fi, but "slow-fi," for sure. The average listener would probably like the pleasing harmonies and soft acoustic guitar of "Around here" best, but perversely, that tune is less than two minutes long, while the title track, consisting of very slow, droney drifty stuff and Jessica's barely audible, flickering-light vocals, is about six minutes! Honestly, I think this disc is fantastic, and truly original. Majessic Dreams are definitely wafting to the beat of their own out-of-step drummer. I can hardly wait for a full-length!
- Kevin Renick
With all the attention paid to Danish group The Raveonettes' gradual shift from minimalism and keeping everything in the same key ("Whip it on") all the way through to their current open approach that embraces early 60s rock, the girl group sound and fuzzed-out garage, I was curious to see how they'd put everything together in a live setting. Their expansion to a quintet onstage was a good idea--when she wasn't playing the tambourine, singer Sharin Foo added a third guitar to an already thunderous sound. Sune Rose Wagner, the manic Manoj Ramdas and company played most of the new album "Pretty in black", giving the songs a little fuzzy kick to make them sound a bit more like the earlier material. This was especially the case on "Red tan" and "Somewhere in Texas". That made things pretty much seamless, as the new songs fit right in alongside "Attack of the ghost riders" and "That great love sound". The downside to that consistency in sound was that the band avoided a few of the largely acoustic songs from the new record, which was a shame. "Uncertain times" is one of the best things they've written, so I was hoping they'd give it a spin. Hearing Ronnie Spector's sampled voice on "Ode to L.A." was a little disconcerting (Sharin could've covered that part, too), but the surf-twang of "Love in a trashcan" and primal stomp of "Beat city" made me forget the samples pretty quickly. The harmonies of Wagner and Foo hold up well live in the midst of all those layers of guitar, so I must say I came away impressed. My friends Paige and Susan agreed, all the more impressive because our eardrums took quite a beating.
- Matthew W. Smith
In the world of Bloc Party, Futureheads and other contemporaries of the angular indie-rock, Royal Downfall are one of the group, never the leader. My main beef with this record is that it is so goddamn bland; nothing jumps at you to get your attention. Honestly, you can feel a good energetic vibe going on but nothing more. Because the coming overabundance in the style, RD have to find an angle to get them over the cusp of the average band. Still, not a bad release.
- Simon Thibaudeau
Good energy for a slightly emo indie rock band that manages to present themselves in a good fashion with this demo. The songs go in a few different directions and keep me guessing as to what the next angle will be, despite the relative simplicity of the premise. Not a bad demo at all that showcases a talented band that could get even better. Recommended listening.
- Simon Thibaudeau
Various influences make their way into Vesergaard's music. From country to folk and rock and blues, he presents varied instrumentation for similar effects. To be completely frank, this is way overproduced, and some of the arrangements are baffling (for example: timpani mallets on drum cymbals on "Weary eyes" are very out of place.) That said, the song writing is pretty good, if very middle of the road, and sometimes reminiscent of John Mellencamp. A more intimate recording would have been a lot better.
- Simon Thibaudeau
This Stockholm band has close ties to Dungen, which comes as no surprise after a few listens to the dense psychedelia on this debut. Everything about it screams "1967"--the acid rock, the guitar sounds, the album art. Sometimes that's a good thing, like on opener "Everybody", with its rousing chorus and overall feeling of discovery but suitable restraint from solo excesses. The wide-eyed, booming "Speak your mind" is a good showcase for the vocal range of Andreas Stellan. Elsewhere though, hallmarks of bad psych-rock creep in: endless guitar noodling, straying from the melody, even a flute part! If you're into psych-rock and can accept the excesses mentioned above, The Works just might be for you.
- Matthew W. Smith
Britta Persson
Halph
Majessic Dreams