Tag: Reviews
I love music. I love it so much it hurts, but at the end of last year and the beginning of this I've just been to too many rubbish gigs and bought too many boring records. I tell you, at one point I almost gave up! Lately though, things have been looking brighter with excellent records by Moneybrother, Håkan Hellström, The Evens and more, coming out, and with equally good live shows from Bright Eyes, Arcade Fire and others, my interest in music has been ignited once again. What I'm trying to get at here is that the Suburban Kids with Biblical Names gig yesterday was just another logical step in this revival. Or, that might be an understatement since the show was one of the best I've witnessed in a long time. If It's a Trap! worked under some sort of grading system this show would have gotten five Vikings out of five. Their songs are just so charming and fantastic that I couldn't help but smiling and shuffling my feet to the beat throughout the whole show. It might help that I'm an avid Jonathan Richman fan, but I'm sure SKWBN can charm anyone who's into clever indiepop. Tonight I'm going to see Arcade Fire once again, and hopefully they won't ruin this good streak that I've enjoyed lately. Thank you very much.
- Simon Tagestam
Sounds to me like someone's been listening to quite a bit of country music. More specifically, the "countrypolitan" style of the 70s. Unfortunately, I think it's going to rub a lot of people the wrong way, especially with sappy, heavy-handed numbers like "Until tomorrow". That tune sounds straight-up like something producer Billy Sherrill could've done. Lucky for me, I'm already a fan of that stuff, so I'm cool with it. I do have one major complaint about this record though - the vocals sound really bad. It has nothing to do with Kristofer's performance which, as always, is spot-on. Rather, the timbre of the recording is sub-par and makes Kris' voice sounds thin and tinny. I can't tell if it's the choice of microphone or the mix that's the problem, but it's quite disappointing because it brings down the entire album. I still enjoy the record, just not as much as I had hoped.
- Avi Roig
Good power pop bands have this thing--this ability to turn a catchy song into one that's outright feverish. They leave you with no choice but to clap or tap your foot along. The Drawbacks have that thing. The group, based in Falköping, Sweden, offers five well-constructed songs on this release. Guitars surge on the big chorus of "Orange", while a fast tempo and sing-along backing vocals make "Straight lines and circles" a standout. The bitter lyrics on "Transparency" are subsumed by the dazzling melody and soaring harmonies, bringing Teenage Fanclub to mind. The spacier "Trampoline" doesn't work quite as well, but a lot of bands would relish the luxury of having a song that solid be the weakest spot on the CD. I'm dumbfounded that their last guitarist left them to play heavy metal. If you're headed to the west of Sweden, go see The Drawbacks--and shake to that tambourine!
- Matthew W. Smith
Heavily steeped in folk of different kinds, I can identify Irish at least, but also with a bit of traditional vocal jazz and some classical instrumentation, the David Härenstam Band cover a lot of ground. However, they do stay within a certain slow, vocal jazz-type, meditative pace but they always throw a little curve ball to keep things interesting. This is not my cup of tea, it is however very well done. See if that sounds good to you.
- Simon Thibaudeau
I haven't got a clue who Per Lundin is, but to justify the lack of quality on these three songs I hope he's not older than 15. I bet he got all the right intention and is influenced by some great music, but he nevertheless he sounds as a very feeble Damien Jurado. If these songs were crafted really early in Per Lundin's career, I'd say there's still hope, because it's not utter crap but to be frank, the songs are just too clichéd (to such an extent that it's almost laughable). "My life", with its 80s atmosphere, is almost excruciating to listen to. I think Mr. Lundin would have been better off singing in his native language (Swedish?) or just try and keep his music and lyrics really simple (like Broder Daniel), because his lyrics are so bad they really stick out which makes them rather hard to ignore (example: "My heart is mine, yours is yours / Leave the past. Close the door") and the music is often way too pretentious. On a positive note, I really like the first 30 seconds of "Path of life", it sounds like a great emo moment but then the song just turns into another myriad of derivative nonsense. Also, there's a lot of Bruce Springsteen-like gusto in Per's voice, which is always a good thing. But we're still left with something that has been done before, many times, much better.
- Simon Tagestam
Maybe it was on purpose, maybe not, but the grammatical error in the title of the album does not actually give a good first impression. Regardless, Éric Rámsey does a decent job of combining post-punk with a lot of Stereolab. With the help of electronics, Rámsey is able to sometimes create sometimes spacey, sometimes rocking numbers that most of times manage to be danceable. Certainly a worthy addition to your discography even though he owes a lot to the aforementioned Anglo-French band.
- Simon Thibaudeau
Sondre Lerche, the Norwegian singer/songwriter/crooner, is very charming. His music, lyrics, appearance, and especially his peculiar small-talk in-between songs will easily have any man or woman charmed right out of their pants. All this jolly charm is of course on the verge of being a bit too much, but Sondre seems to have calculated it specifically not to be either too dark or too happy. This is why Sondre Lerche's music works as a great antidote against such "darker" artists like Will Oldham, Bright Eyes, Smog etc. Live it works rather splendidly as well, with Sondre playing a balanced mix of songs from his two albums, and even though he's alone on stage with only his guitar as company, his intriguing charisma and intricate guitar playing is enough to transfix everyone at this sold-out show. If I get a chance to see Sondre Lerche again I think I'll bring my girlfriend and get a bit drunk, so I can pretend to be a drunken romantic for a night (Sondre's music suits as the perfect soundtrack for such an escapade).
- Simon Tagestam
This Stockholm quintet says, "We do whatever we like, and then we do it completely different." On "We know you love us and that's why we do this", they take that idea and create this sort of brooding brand of industrial/punk that burrows in your mind with its droning bass lines, synth and dissonant guitars that combine themselves with crafty drumming. The vocals are haunting at times and almost reminiscent of Trent Reznor. I do agree with Avi's sentiment of them being borderline Nine Inch Nails-esque in some of their songs (i.e. "Defeated" and "My Life with the Montana Midnight Rider pt. 2", which reminds me of NIN's "The day the world went away".) "Dirtnap" is totally danceable, in my book. Pretty interesting stuff, although "Elephant machine" felt out of place on the album and sort of killed the mood.
- Navy Keophan
I like this three track single quite a lot. The Chrysler play very pleasant music, with lush melodies that lull along in a Beatles-esque way that serves as a perfect soundtrack while I'm sitting inside with a cold watching the snow falling outside (no hardcore punk for me today!). I wouldn't mind hearing more of this, and will definitely be on the lookout for their forthcoming album. Even the lyrics are pretty good, and not as contrived or as clichéd as their music invites you to think. The best song on the single is the second track, "Dear dad", and the main track "Blue gold" is oddly enough the weakest track here. Get it now before winter ends and all you want to hear is All Girl Summer Fun Band all the time.
- Simon Tagestam
This is the kind of record that really takes a long time to sink in and make an impression. As with most every other review I've seen, I was considerably underwhelmed when I first heard the album, but I made myself go back and relisten numerous times before delivering a verdict. i'm glad I did because the more times I listen, the more I find to appreciate. Look, it's no secret that Logh is one of my favorite bands, but that doesn't mean I think they're beyond criticism. "A sunset panorama" is a noble experiment of live-in-the-studio recording, but it is most definitely not the band's best work when compared to the greatness of "The raging sun". Does that mean it's not worth getting? No, of course not - it's still better than most of the new stuff I've heard so far this year and a fine example of music that sounds unequivocally Nordic without being folk.
- Avi Roig
I really want to like this, I would love to say that I'm crazy about it and that it's an even better song than "Reconsider me" (the first single from Moneybrother's last album - a song so good I would rank it as one of my top five songs from the last five years), but this up-tempo number just doesn't do the trick for me. Furthermore, there's something about it that unfortunately makes me think of nothing but crappy TV series from the 80s when I hear it. It's a bit of shame really, since I'm a massive Moneybrother fan, and really looking forward to his forthcoming album (out in March). Fortunately the second song on the single, "Bum fuxxed (For sure)" (great title, by the way), with its reliable Moneybrother sound that involves fine falsetto singing and great backing vocals, is good enough to stop me from thinking that Moneybrother has "lost it" and become a parody of themselves. But the single itself just tries too hard to be catchy and energetic. Frankly, it's just a bit too much and it gives me a sickly feeling similar to the one I get when I talk to crazy drunk people when I'm sober. That said, I bet I would really like the song when drunk (something that's not too hard to test, of course, but since I'm in no mood to get drunk right now you just have to stick with my assumption).
- Simon Tagestam
Straight from the Simon & Garfunkel song comes Punky's Dilemma and their new-folk that is not much different from the originator of the name. Beautiful pop songs made with a couple of acoustic guitars, a voice that is similar to Paul Simon's, some female backing vocals and the occasional keyboard/electronic buried in the mix. Punky's Dilemma certainly won't make history but I am willing to guess that it wasn't their goal to begin with. Not bad, but it certainly gets old after the third or fourth song.
- Simon Thibaudeau
Better than Mando Diao, The Concretes and that Swedish guy from Placebo all mixed into one - here's The Radio Dept.! Not that it's too difficult to beat the previous mentioned trio, but what I'm trying to say is that Radio Dept. deserve to be famous, at least as famous as Abba were. This new EP once again proves how good Radio Dept. are, or actually, not only does it prove how good they are but it also shows how they amazingly enough have managed to become even better. I'm not the biggest shoegazing fan in the world, I admit, but Radio Dept. just makes my heart melt. This EP is a real treat and I pity the man who in 10 years time has to decide what songs to put on The Radio Dept. Greatest Hits album - will he choose all five songs on this EP? If not, what songs will he (sorry for my blatant sexism here) choose to discard? It's a shame though that every time I've seen Radio Dept. live they've always been a bit too shambolic and not really given their recorded material the proper treatment it deserves, but perhaps that has changed now.
- Simon Tagestam
This will probably turn a lot of people off but The Sunday Orchestra reminds me of These Arms Are Snakes. Not because they sound exactly like each other but mainly because they draw from the same inspiration: D.C. punk/hardcore from the early 90's and build from there with emo and a lot of rock. The results, much like TAAS's are really hit or miss. I won't be reaching for this too often.
- Simon Thibaudeau