You like your guitars sound fat and dirty? You happen to like most of Orange Goblin's discography? You like a band that throws you a curve ball once in a while? WE are the band for you. The curve balls that they send your way this time around are straight indie rock songs as well as one of the best ballad I have heard this year. Let's not forget that the band rocks more than is probably necessary.
- Simon Thibaudeau
Marit Bergman's second solo-album "Baby dry your eyes" is one of the finest records that has been released this year, thus me listening to an EP with four new songs by her will of course be nothing but a session of preaching to the already converted. The title track (with its, strangely enough, original title) is one of the best songs on her album, but it's the three other tracks that are of real interest. People like me who prefers Ms. Bergman when her songs are of the uptempo nature, can all rejoice in the ace "Please don't walk on red" that highlights one of the biggest downsides of being in love. "Boom Boom" with its regular Marit Bergman stomp inevitably stands in the shadow of the rest of the songs on this EP, and although it's a better song per se than "Highway for Hell" (the last track on this EP) it fails to interest the listener as much as the latter. Her rendition of this AC/DC number is in the same vein as Mark Kozelek's covers, and like Kozelek, Bergman manages to transform one of AC/DC's machismo anthems into something completely different, namely her own feminist manifesto (sort of) by making the song into a minimalistic number with her voice being accompanied by a lone piano.
- Simon Tagestam
Not to be mistaken with the Sega Master System game of the same name, Black Belt play a brand of rock that is reminiscent of bands from the '70s (AC/DC, Cheap Trick, etc...) and which a lot of bands today are trying to do (I'm looking in your direction, Jet.) In this case, Black Belt manage to do a decent job of it.
The Swedish trio's debut, produced by Johan Gustafsson (the bassist from Randy, who also had a hand in the recording the latest albums from The Hives and the Sahara Hotnights), was something I really enjoyed. A lot of the songs, such as "Shoplift girl" and "Belly up", showed a lot of potential from this band. It's pretty good stuff to play in your Mopar-fueled Mustang while speeding down the street to. The balance between the guitar and bass complimented one another without overpowering each other. I found myself sinking into the guitar solos and trying to pinpoint what they reminded me of.
The only downside is that the lead singer's voice gets too warbly on the first track "Plastic angels" and the first minute or so of the last track "Hands Up!" He has a great voice that reminds me of the lead singer of The Cult but on those two tracks, he strains it too much and it loses its richness. The warbling spoils what is a good album overall. If you could just move past the first track, then you'll enjoy "First blood".
- Navy Keophan
Instrumental trio in the vein of Les Angles Morts, Shellac (but less violent) or maybe Fly Pan Am, without the electronics, create here three songs for 15 minutes of groovy progressive rock. Each of the three offerings here showcases the bands songwriting excellence and more than reasonable musicianship. Coarpnc do a reasonable job at working their way around the usual traps of the genre and keep things flowing at all time. Pretty good.
- Simon Thibaudeau
Thomas Dybdahl is a 24 years old singer/songwriter from Norway who looks like a pretentious hipster on his websites. His work can placed within the same category of music that has utterly swamped the Nordic countries the last few years (nowadays, for every Kristofer Åström you get twenty lousy impersonators). These facts alone (combined with the title of the actual song that this review is about) inflamed the prejudices buried deep within me to such a degree that if I hadn't taken a deep breath, sat down, and listened to the song, this review would have been nothing but a deep sigh full of cynic remarks. Now instead it'll read like this: This first single of Thomas Dybdahl's forthcoming album is a lush and gentle affair, with nothing subversive about it, that lulls along nice and quietly. Yes, it's singer/songwriter stuff in the usual way, but it's stuff done in a much better fashion than what I'm used to hear.
- Simon Tagestam
Beautiful - a often rather cheesy adjective that I don't like to, bust must, use to describe Jens Lekman's live show. Magic - another word that's far too bombastic for my taste, but keeps popping up when I think of Lekman's fantastic performance. Honestly, what is there not to like about this guy, really?! He's got an angelic voice, marvelous melodies, appears to be a very charming and witty man, and on top of all this he somehow manages to pull off singing crazy and weird rhymes rhymes that never were meant to be sung. Although Lekman's backing band were fabulous my favourite parts of the gig were the two songs Lekman did a cappella. Time Out predicted that this gig would be "one of those 'I was there moments'" and as far as I'm concerned it sure was (shame on you Dave who didn't come along!).
- Simon Tagestam
Considering the reputation these guys have for being total assholes, my initial impulse is to rip them apart completely. However, as tempting as that may sound, I'm going to try and stick to the moral high road and tell it like it is. Look - while Mando Diao is obviously nowhere near as good as they think they are, they really aren't all that bad either. "Hurricane bar" is simply a straight-up sophomore slump in just about every way. They've ditched most of the soul and garage-rock trend-chasing and delivered an album that's totally safe and unremarkable, not to mention about 15 minutes too long and desperately lacking in energy. It's pleasant and inoffensive enough that I wouldn't switch the channel if it came on the radio, but at the same time, it's definitely not worth spending money on.
- Avi Roig
Since the band exists since 1995 and I have known them for about a day I will not delve in my apparent lack of knowledge or their history. All I can say is that this record runs the gamut in terms influences, from early Soft Machine to Joy Division through some pretty strong Smiths tints. Thirdimension manages to all make it work and shows plenty of room for improvement, and that’s scary.
- Simon Thibaudeau
These Finnish goths do a great job at emulating the songwriting of Joy Divison and classic Cure, but lose me with the out-of-tune, marble-mouth vocals. Their press materials and general all-around musical competence proves that they know what they're doing, but they still need to work on it to get it right. All in all, it's really not all that bad for what's essentially a three-song demo. There's potential, for sure. Lord knows I've heard plenty of other bands attempt similar stuff in this genre and have it be thousands of times worse.
- Avi Roig
The first single I heard from these guys showed a lot of promise and this new one more than lives up to expectations. Imagine a less manic version of The Hives with stronger chops and you'd have something like The Ackermans. Both bands play high-energy garage pop, but what The Ackermans lack in punk vigor, they make up for with musical competence. Lots of nice interplay between the two guitarists and good, strong, clean vocals. Can't go wrong with the personalized cover either.
- Avi Roig
The Higher Elevations play power pop in the same vein as their countrymen The Wannadies and (the now defunct) This Perfect Day and Psychotic Youth, with a slightly stronger psychedelic touch to their songs. And just like those band The Higher Elevations will definitely make you tap your feet, but most likely they'll inspire you to undertake some pogo dancing. The second song on this three track EP, "Just like Juliet", only required one listening before it had etched itself onto my membrane, and although it's pretty damn cold outside, this song makes me feel like going to the park and do some flips on my skateboard while drinking beer and dancing simultaneously. The only negative thing about these songs is that they might be a bit TOO melodic, thus making them date too quickly, but for now they sure do the trick and make me thirst for more songs from this excellent band (and beer).
- Simon Tagestam
Honest to god, I'm not the type of person who'll dismiss a band on the sole grounds of them sounding like "millions of acts before them", but when I listen to The Lionheart Brothers EP "Colour contrast context" I can't help but to feel like an old bitter man who spent his teenage years in the swinging sixties and wore nothing but flares and listened to nothing but psychedelic pop and now spends his time constantly repeating how much better everything was "back then" and how the bands of today sound like soggy carbon copies of the bands he used to like forty years ago (crazy, huh?). Of course, most of these old farts deserve to be slapped out of their weird denial, but in the case of the Lionheart Brothers there's some truth to be found in these clichéd arguments, because not only do The Lionheart Brothers wear their influences a bit too much on their sleeves but they also sound more like a travesty rather than a heartfelt homage (lyrics like "I've been crying / I've been flying" hardly work in the Brother's favour but only add to the Spinal Tap feel). Nevertheless, it should be said that The Lionheart Brothers have a rather nice feeling for melodies, harmonies and all that, but if you're really into this sort of music I'd recommend you to go and check out the new The Soundtrack Of Our Lives album instead of anything by this dull Norwegian duo.
- Simon Tagestam
So, she’s back again, the first lady of secrecy. Obviously, the collected Swedish rockcritics – which are just as trustworthy as, say, Fox News - have hyped this album beyond belief, but is it really that good? Well, let’s put it this way – if there’d be any justice in this world and bla bla bla this album would go number 1 all over the fucking world. Eleven perfect pop songs for your night in. And the record is worth its cost for the song "The end of a love affair" alone.
- Jason Christie
I was really shocked at how mellow this album is considering that "It all works out in the end" is such an energetic and uptempo single. It's cool I guess, it's just not at all what I was expecting. Novak plays the kind of classic power-pop that takes obvious cues from the likes of Cheap Trick and Badfinger all the way down to the retro-sounding recording. The tracks with the tight, in-your-face drum tone totally nail the vibe I think they are going for. However, the best thing about this record is definitely the lead guitar playing. The songs are so chock-full of great riffs, but c'mon guys- no solos? I bet Novak is more than capable of amazing guitar heroics and even have that extra something to pull it off tastefully. The songwriting lacks a certain boldness and it's holding them back. The first half of the record is a solid listen, but they quickly run out of steam before the end. That makes for a great EP, but sadly, only a mediocre album.
- Avi Roig
I wasn't really sure what to expect from this release. The only time I've heard of The Perishers was glancing through the liner notes for the Lost Patrol's "Song about running away". Doing some more research, I discovered that one of their songs is going onto the soundtrack of that trend-o-rama Fox show "The O.C." and a couple of the members was also involved in that Cult of Luna side-project Koma. Using my barely-functioning brain (thanks a lot, college), I didn't really know where they would fall in the spectrum.
"Let There Be Morning" is this Umeå, Sweden-based group's second effort. On the opener, "Weekends," lead singer and guitarist Ola Klüft's voice mournfully waits for the two-day break at the end of the work week. Klüft, being backed by Martin Gustafson (keyboards/backing vocals), Pehr Åström (bass) and Thomas Hedlund (drums), lets his voice handle every lyric as if it were a piece of porcelain. His vocals never weigh down the songs but provide the right amount of emotion for every song. The subtle guitar work, combined with the keyboards, creates a sound similar to that of Coldplay and Travis but with more of an "indie" edge to them. "Trouble sleeping," which will appear on vol. 2 of the soundtrack for "The O.C.", is the highlight of the album. Klüft's voice glides over the instruments while the guitar and piano quietly play off one another. Lyric-wise, the songs aren't that hard to decipher. Simple, straight-to-the-point stuff point that won't rack your brain.
- Navy Keophan