Musique Machine on the Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words disc "A line: align": https://www.musiquemachine.com/reviews/reviews_template.php?id=1966

Pg.lost
It's not me, it's you!
Black Star Foundation

Pg.lost's newest recording, "It's not me, it's you!", is almost double the length of their previous effort "Yes I am". The opener alone is nearly the duration of the previous record's first two tracks, though this space is well used: a slow, almost discordant swell bursts into a mass of distortion, a wave which breaks and allows for the tinkling of soft piano notes in its recession. The last few moments of "The day shift" are amazing: a lush, thick mingling of instruments in the final throes of a beautifully composed song, finally breaking down to the near inharmonious strains from which it began. Darker than "Yes I am", "It's not me, it's you!" takes a few more steps away from the 'big names' (if there can be such a thing in such a niche movement) of the post-rock genre. "Jonathan", my personal favorite, revels in deconstructing the rock guitar riff and Bloc Party-esque drum line, washing over these elements with beautiful delay-heavy guitar. "Maquina" is gorgeous and schizophrenic -- suddenly, though not jarringly, shifting from a soft, Explosions in the Sky-like vein into a violent accumulation of heavy guitars and drums -- further establishing the originality of Sweden's Pg.lost. While "It's not me, it's you!" is a fantastic record, something doesn't work quite as powerfully as it did on "Yes I am". At times, it feels as though they are trying to attempt to do with thick brush strokes what they were doing with finer detail on their previous outing. However, espite its faults, it is more than deserving of a place in your record collection.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson

The Silent Ballet on Danish electronic act Rumpistol and their new album "Dynamo": https://thesilentballet.com/dnn/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/384/ItemID/1788/Default.aspx

The Silent Ballet on the rerelease of The Samuel Jackson 5's "Same same but different": https://thesilentballet.com/dnn/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/384/ItemID/1777/Default.aspx

Musique Machine reviews Rune Grammofon act Elephant9: https://www.musiquemachine.com/reviews/reviews_template.php?id=1963

Pitchfork on the international release of The Tough Alliance's first album "The new school": https://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/145119-the-tough-alliance-the-new-school

PopMatters gets around to covering Tape's latest album "Luminarium": https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/63186/tape-luminarium/

Pitchfork on the new Emiliana Torrini album "Me and Armini": https://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/145293-emilana-torrini-me-and-armini

Culkin
Demo
self-released

The evidence of members of KVLR in Culkin is obvious as "Pay per fist" bursts alive in a chaotic display of Scandinavian indierock. And, as with many outstanding records, the lo-fi production adds a wonderfully human element to the compositions. This demo release almost perfectly encapsulates what has been left out of many of the recent advances into the rock genre: thick, jangled guitar lines blurring over one another to form a wall of melody; vocal lines that don't attempt to set themselves above the instrumental fray, but impose themselves directly into this skirmish; an undulating framework that allows the compositions to easily, seamlessly shift between bouts of melancholy into sections of outright triumph. Imagine elements of shoegaze and post-rock, a healthy study of 90s acts like Sonic Youth, and an outright appreciation for the Scandinavian bands who helped reshape this bastard brand of indierock (see: The End Will Be Kicks) and you get a pretty good idea of what Culkin's all about. If this demo is any indication of what's in store, Culkin have quite a future in front of them -- one that I'll be watching very closely.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson

The 405 calls the new Mimas album "The worries" a "masterpiece": https://thefourohfive.com/2008/09/15/mimas-the-worries/

Pitchfork reviews the new Peter Bjorn and John instrumental album "Seaside rock": https://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/145301-peter-bjorn-and-john-seaside-rock
Also posted today in the Forkcast, a track from Kool DJ Dust: https://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/download/145492-new-music-kool-dj-dust-comin-to-getcha-mp3

PopMatters reviews Paavoharju: https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/62760/paavoharju-laulu-laakson-kukista/

Pitchfork reviews Icelandic artist Mugison and the new album "Mugiboogie": https://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/145349-mugison-mugiboogie

Brine
Story vs plot
Harbour, Sea

The 90s art-rock movement is very much alive on "Story vs plot". As if by mere accident, harmony arises from the rattling of guitars and the deep moan of the bass on opener "Bashful". The half-spoken, half-sung vocal style finds an appropriate home in this medium of musical expression as the drums tirelessly beat on. Names like Sonic Youth and Pavement easily slip off the tongue when trying to describe what has slipped out of the stereo speakers, though there's also a Pixies-like playfulness and a Velvet Underground drive. Sebadoh wouldn't sound too oddly placed were one of their tracks to precede or follow a Brine composition on a mixtape. "Make it to Berlin" shatters much of these preconceptions however, sounding far more like something that would have come out of Britain in the 90s than from the other side of the Atlantic, and so Blur and the radio-friendly tracks of Elastica spring to mind. And this balancing game plays out beautifully as the record continues. "A high wire walking" and "Bathtub revisited" are among the standouts on a quality album, although the breakdown/ending of "Mirrors" may take top prize -- an organic building of guitar lines and drums that eventually blurs into a wave that crashes and breaks. An album that celebrates the possibilities of rock music as much as the 90s scene it was birthed from, "Story vs plot" is very much worth tracking down.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson

PopMatters on the international release of Pluxus' "Solid state": https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/62240/pluxus-solid-state/