The Silent Ballet reviews The Gentleman Losers
The Silent Ballet reviews the new album "Dustland" from Finnish shoegazers The Gentleman Losers: https://thesilentballet.com/dnn/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/384/ItemID/2413/Default.aspx
Tag: Reviews
Pixie Carnation
Fresh poems
self-released
"Fresh poems" exists very much in the shadow of Arcade Fire's "Neon bible", an influence that pervades every track on this spectacular EP, though, in Pixie Carnation's defense, the Springsteen-styled, Wall of Sound indierock overdrive of "Neon bible" in many ways resembles what Scandinavian artists have been bringing to the table for years. Still... there's no way to not immediately think of Arcade Fire when "Fresh poems" blisters alive with "When did the lights go out?", but, honestly, I can't see anyone really caring too much. There's a huge difference between an overwhelming influence on a talented group of musicians and that same influence on a less gifted bunch -- and Pixie Carnation fall very much into the first category, allowing this EP to feel more part of a movement started by Arcade Fire and less like a band trying to be them. Besides, a band should ultimately be judged on the quality of their songwriting and "Fresh poems" is brilliant from start to finish. The dense layers of instrumentation have a deft agility that keeps them flooding ever-forward in driving, anthemic waves instead of being rendered cumbersome constructs of noise, and this kinetic energy permeates every song, from the discord that "When did the lights go out?" emerges from to the brilliant ending of the title-track -- a gorgeous explosion that solidifies Pixie Carnation as a fantastic new voice from the Swedish south.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Pfork reviews The Field's new album 'Yesterday & today'
Pitchfork reviews The Field's new album "Yesterday & today": https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13142-yesterday-today/
The Field reviewed at PopMatters, more
PopMatters reviews The Field's new album "Yesterday and today": https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/92945-the-field-yesterday-and-today/
Elsewhere, a discussion of "Let the right one in": the book, the movie, the upcoming (and unwelcome) American remake: https://www.popmatters.com/pm/column/93676-let-the-right-one-in-but-only-the-right-one/
The Milk Factory reviews Jasper TX
The Milk Factory praises Jasper TX: https://www.themilkfactory.co.uk/st/2009/05/jasper-tx-singing-stones-fang-bomb/
Existensminimum
Ok boys
Novoton
On this album there is a dark, all-too-understanding awareness of the minor tragedies that, despite their relative insignificance, leave their mark on us, possibly for life -- an understanding and mood I've really only ever found before on Markus Krunegård's solo effort. Both Krunegård and Magnus Henriksson (the mastermind of Existensminimum) propose similar answers, too -- get out of the house, onto a bus, and into a bar; it may not change a thing, but at least you're not alone. Accordingly, the thematic landscape of "OK boys" is matched by a dark, cruelly detached, and vulnerable lexicon of musical expression: on "Fugelsang", Henriksson channels his inner Bowie ("They'll send me off to space...") over the droning, lost guitar lines of the chorus; "Signs of human life" has a slight Phil Spector, 60s pop feel to its demure arrangement; "1993" staccato-stabs its way through the account of a life spent trying to find meaning through chemically-saturated escapism; and closer "Messin' up" adopts a Lovekevins-style pop vehicle with which to voice its final, lavishly cynical pronouncement. There is a touch of sub-genre-schizophrenia on here, but this very minor flaw is only noticeable when you skip around the album; as a fluid whole, "OK boys" ebbs and flows, but never quite jumps the banks. By the time you're a few songs in, you wouldn't care whether Henriksson went completely off the rails or not, just as long as he took you with him.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Killing the Legacy praises Cold Inside
Killing the Legacy gives a track-by-track rundown of the new album from Finnish metallic hardcore act Cold Inside: https://killingthelegacy.blogspot.com/2009/05/things-i-failed-to-tell-you.html
Trojne
Who gives a fuck anyway? 7"
Smrt Records
It may not be the lost KBD bonzer you've been hoping for, but this reissue is still a solid example of mid-80s Swedish hardcore punk. Trojne keep it fast and furious for the three tracks on the A-side, keeping time with two-step beats and gruff shouts på Svenska. It's not quite the reckless abandon expressed by some of their beloved peers, but that's not necessarily a mark against them. I like it both ways. As for the flip, I detect a few metal crossover influences creeping in on both "Cell 37" and "Bakom galler", but the bulk of the material always remains raw and ripping even when they drift away from banging out pure power-chords. Hardly essential though that's hardly the point -- this is still a fun piece of history I'm glad to have in my collection and I'm sure everyone involved is just as stoked it's available again for new folks to discover.
- Avi Roig
PopMatters praises Hildur Gudnadóttir
PopMatters praises Icelandic artist Hildur Gudnadóttir and her new album "Without sinking": https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/73867-hildur-gudnadottir-without-sinking/
PopMatters reviews Jono El Grande
PopMatters reviews Norwegian Dada-inspired artist Jono El Grande: https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/73651-jono-el-grande-neo-dada
Under the Radar reviews Those Dancing Days
Under the Radar is only moderately impressed by Those Dancing Days: https://www.undertheradarmag.com/reviews/in_our_space_hero_suits/
Chromewaves reports on The Radio Dept. in NYC
Chromewaves gives decent marks to The Radio Dept.'s recent NYC performances: https://www.chromewaves.net/2009/05/nyc-popfest-with-the-radio-dept-pants-yell-the-secret-history-eux-autres-and-computer-perfection-at-the-bell-house-in-brooklyn/
Burning Hearts
Aboa sleeping
Shelflife Records
Everything about Burning Hearts just seems to fit - from the beautifully conceived cover art (that reminds me of the early dust jackets of Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's cradle") to the whirling swells of pop instrumentation that provide the landscape for Jessika Rapo's voice (one that wonderfully channels Nico at times) to glide along. There is a twee playfulness reminiscent of Belle and Sebastian and Camera Obscura, but Burning Hearts are very much a collaboration that could only have come together in Scandinavia. Opener "I lost my colour vision" exists somewhere between Club 8 and Moonbabies, and "Aboa sleeping" continues to transverse this Nordic territory throughout with a dexterity that only echoes certain bands, Granada and The Chrysler among them, without feeling weighed down by their influence. "Aboa sleeping" is a lavishly imagined pop album, one where my favorite tracks has shifted almost every listen. There is one stumble on the record, however - the strangely conceived "The galloping horse" was removed from my iTunes quite quickly (I can only listen to the sound of heart arrhythmia and a narrator from a 1950s-style medical instructional film played over an arpeggiated synthline so many times). Stumbles and arrhythmia aside, "Aboa sleeping" is one of the best albums Shelflife has put out, and Burning Hearts have proven themselves one of the strongest members of a very strong label roster.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Pfork reviews drone artist Svarte Greiner
Pitchfork reviews the new Svarte Greiner album "Kappe": https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/12862-kappe/
Chromewaves reports from NYC Popfest
Chromewaves reviews Cats on Fire and Liechtenstein live in NYC: https://www.chromewaves.net/2009/05/nyc-popfest-with-cats-on-fire-liechtenstein-the-tartans-and-don-lennon-at-don-hills/