Kornstad in the NYT

The NY Times lauds Norwegian saxophonist Håkon Kornstad: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/arts/music/27play.html?_r=1&src=tptw

[ingenting] track review at Pitchfork

There's an [ingenting] track review at Pitchfork for their excellent single "Halleluja!": https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/11525-halleluja/

Hello Saferide
Live @ Magnet, Berlin, 09/24/2009

I'd waited several years for Annika Norlin and her bandmates to finally make their way to Germany and yet I really didn't know what to expect. Or rather, the show made me realize what I had been expecting by the surprises it gave me. I guess it was Annika's performance as a singer that stood out most -- she came across as a very strong and powerful storyteller, not as the tender or vulnerable songwriter some of her work portrays her to be. I'm not taking the cliché (and sexist) perspective here that "female songwriters have to be gracious creatures": It was her music and not her gender that had me expecting something slightly different. The whole evening came to contain more audience-directed performance than self-referential authenticity -- very refreshing from a pop-cultural point of view -- with Annika not singing, but more likely declaiming the lyrics, when without instrument often with erratic hand or head movements somewhat reminiscent of Anders Wendin (Moneybrother). I've always found Annika's songs to share similarities with short stories, especially in their careful plot construction with turning points and punchlines placed at the end of songs. In a way, Annika staged this affinity to fictional prose very well in her performance: While evidently telling other people's stories and not hers, she did so in a very captivating and engaging way. Especially the duets "Overall" (with album producer Andreas Mattson) and "Long lost penpal" (with Andrea "Firefox AK" Kellerman) reminded me of Stars' Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan acting and interpreting songs rather than just singing them. I believe that it was exactly this enthusiasm which Annika and her five bandmates presented their songs that really won over the crowd in Berlin's well-filled Magnet Club. In the case of Stars, the short-story'ness of their songs has gotten a bit old with time, but Annika was clever enough to throw in more personal, quieter moments like the beautiful "I wonder who is like this one" or the atmospheric encore-closer "Arjeplog" that allowed listeners to connect with her performance on a more emotional level. Now that Annika has proven to be an extremely skillful, conceptually working lyricist and performer well-versed in the art of pop culture, I'm curious to see where she'll go next.
- Arnulf Köhncke

PopMatters reviews Rubik

PopMatters likes Finnish indie import Rubik: https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/111490-rubik-dada-bandits/
Their byline of "Dada Bandits rolls up the last five years or so of indie rock into one tight little album" pretty much explains exactly why I don't.

Golden Kanine
Scissors & happiness
Pet Hate rec.

My first contact with Golden Kanine was when I came across the first track of their debut album "Scissors & happiness" on a random website. That song, "A world to save", has not left me alone for one second since then. I have many arguments against the track -- horrible lyrics, simplistic sound -- but in the end I cannot deny that I'm in love with this two-and-a-half-minute long piece of art. Although the sound is at times simple, it stays unique throughout the whole record, due to the rather unusual choice of instruments, like the mandolin on the track "December". The instruments in combination with the vocals make a distinctive and pleasant sound. The melancholic mood that Swedish music has become rather famous for, is very much present as well.

The record has some trouble living up to my expectations though, after setting the bar so high with the first track. My finger twitches a bit, trying to reach the rewind button, but with songs like "December" and "Scissors" in the line-up, I let it continue playing. I think the guys in Golden Kanine might really be on to something here.
- Morten Frisch

PopMatters reviews In the Country

PopMatters reviews Norwegian jazz trio In the Country's new album "Whiteout": https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/111784-in-the-country-whiteout/

The Silent Ballet reviews Porn Sword Tobacco

The Silent Ballet does not like the new Porn Sword Tobacco record "Everything is music to the ear": https://thesilentballet.com/dnn/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/384/ItemID/2728/Default.aspx

Dusted reviews Múm

Dusted reviews the new Múm record "Sing along to songs you don't know": https://dustedmagazine.com/reviews/5257

PopMatters reviews GusGus

PopMatters reviews the new album "24/7" from Icelandic act GusGus: https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/111079-gusgus-247/

Pitchfork reviews Mika Vainio

Pitchfork reviews the new Mika Vainio (Pan Sonic) solo album "Black telephone of matter": https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13458-black-telephone-of-matter/

Pfork track reviews: Little Dragon + Lake Heartbeat

Swedish artists Little Dragon and Lake Heartbeat are featured in Pitchfork's Track Reviews today.

PopMatters reviews Porn Sword Tobacco

PopMatters reviews the new Porn Sword Tobacco record "Everything is music to the ear": https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/111153-porn-sword-tobacco-everything-is-music-to-the-ear/

WaPo Express on the Ida Maria live experience

The Washington Post Express reports on the "experience" of seeing a trashed Ida Maria live on the Perez Hilton tour: https://www.expressnightout.com/content/2009/09/ida-maria-perez-hilton.php

PopMatters reviews The Gentleman Losers

PopMatters reviews Finnish act The Gentleman Losers and their 2nd album "Dustland": https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/110643-the-gentleman-losers-dustland/

Björn Kleinhenz
B.U.R.M.A.
Devil Duck Records/Tomt Recordings

The new album "B.U.R.M.A." by long time itsatrap-favorite Björn Kleinhenz has something ectoplasmic about it: Every time I think I've pinned down its "essence", it morphs into something else and oozes away through the speakers. At least three musical reincarnations of Björn roam these songs -- familiar Americana and indiepop-Björn, as well as short visits by altrock-Björn. First song "HAZ920" sets the tone: A muffled cymbal plays a straight beat for 30 seconds until loud postrock-guitars set in that, about 60 seconds later, give way to one of the most touching and sparse folk songs I've heard in a long time. Think Bright Eyes' "First day of my life" with less liquor, much less self-pity, and much more enjambment. The albums' other songs might at first glance seem straighter in their arrangements, but second looks often reveal hidden warpedness between notes and pauses. There's a certain charming quirkiness that defines this record and one is hard-pressed to guess where it comes from: Calculation, refusal, or simply the limitations of recording in a small room on a wintery Swedish island? I'd like to think it's all of the above: Here's a musician that knows not only his how-to's but also his why-not's, who has both stories and concepts to tell. That's probably why this record is sometimes so disarmingly close to one of the ideals of pop-music: Easy to listen to but hard to fully understand.
- Arnulf Köhncke