Tag: Reviews
4
This compilation starts up with a very annoying house song by Cotton Crew that could have put me off right away. Fortunately, this is one of the most inconsistent compilations ever, thus, there are still a few enjoyable numbers. The whole thing is a bit unsettling to listen to from start to finish as it jumps from straight house to a more lo-fi approach and to hip-hop influenced beats from one song to another. There's quite a bit of house on here though, which is a bit weird to me as I really thought people didn't listen to that shit anymore, same goes for a few drum'n'bass numbers that just felt so 1999. That being said, there are a few psytrance, drill and bass and psy-minimal tracks that are OK, but perhaps the most disappointing aspect is the lack of truly stellar tracks that would make me want to purchase singles or albums from any of these artists except for maybe Discolor.
- Simon Thibaudeau
8
My only true criticism of this album is that it should have followed the delightfully dirty, (dare I say it?) grungy direction that opener "Home is the one corner of hell that didn't catch fire" suggested. There is absolutely no underestimating the depth of my nostalgic descent that occurred as "The greater good" bled alive. I missed that Nirvana shirt that I left carelessly behind at a friend's house in Sweden like I have only ever missed lost loves before... but anyways, sorry about all that. Don't get too caught up in those first few lines, for what follows on I Am Bones' album is quite fantastic, and, to be honest, probably much better than a redefinition of that 'Seattle Sound'. "Leave the city" is yet more evidence that Denmark is home to some of the best indie songsmiths in the world, ones that seamlessly tie the dark to the light, the softly serene to the guttural and distorted, and producing fantastic pieces through this synthesis. Oh, and if you do have a soft spot for Mudhoney, there's more grunginess on "The masterplan", continuing a little into the following track "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing", a song that feels as though it could have been on "Incesticide" or Dinosaur Jr.'s "Bug". The standout, in my opinion, is "Baby, together we can live with ourselves": the most complete amalgamation of the varied influences - grunge, retro-rock, and indie - and individual voice of I Am Bones. "The greater good" functions as a remembrance, a forwarding of these memories, and a strange marker by which to see the progression of the music of my lifetime. While I hope these words inspire you to investigate these Danes and their craft, they do pale service to the music itself. Find a song, any song, and you'll be sold.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
9
Bobby Baby aka Ella Blixt has been on many folk's indiepop-radar for a few years now. Recently, she's put her solo-efforts on hold and joined forces with German multi-talent F.S.Blumm on their project Bobby & Blumm. From the start, this seemed to be an exciting match: Blumm is a classically-trained guitarist who has released a number of mostly instrumental records full of analogue warmth and experimental playfulness. Their debut together, which appears on Berlin's Morr Music label, manages to combine the best of both worlds. Juxtaposed by Blumm's virtuosic yet never intrusive or flashy guitar melodies, Bobby Baby's voice sounds more gripping than ever in these minimal arrangements. At the same time, the songwriting seems more focused than in some of her solo-work, while what remains of her trademark synths greatly adds to the album's otherwise refreshingly analogue sound. Despite all the obvious skills that went into making this record -- all the hisses, rustles and cracks that were carefully put into place -- it still emits a certain calm introspectiveness that makes you want to listen to it again and again.
- Arnulf Köhncke
Pitchfork review's Peter Morén's new solo record "The last tycoon": https://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/49499-the-last-tycoon
In case you missed it, our own review of said album is here.
4
In Flames' ninth studio album is a big YES if you are a 13 year old emo kid who think life sucks. With lyrics like "I feel like shit, but at least I feel something," it is evident enough they are aiming for the teen audience. On the contrary, it's a big NO if you like me, started to like this band around "The jester race" and have followed their demise. Sure, this album offers a few songs that will assure radio play and MTV exposure. "The mirrors truth", "March to the shore" and "Move through me", are all pretty good songs, but the formula is so well known from the last two efforts, you could swear you've heard this before. Sadly, half of the songs are b-side material at best. It's funny how this band moves more towards Korn and Linkin Park, but I guess they are going for the easy money. And sadly they will make some good cash with this half-assed album.
- Richard Wilson
8
The huge success of Peter (Morén) Bjorn and John's "Young folks" did the disservice of casting them as potential one-hit wonders despite a back catalogue of some mighty impressive song crafting. Given this, it's interesting to hear what Peter Morén does on this first solo outing.
The short story is that he goes the singer-songwriter route, creating quiet, intimate, and earnest numbers built on his singing, a warm guitar very well-played, and additional instrumentation ranging from sparse to lush, percussive to orchestral. Some songs evoke the breezy French jazzy lounge sound that gentle Swedish bands do so well (one even finds him singing in French). Others are more straight-ahead pop numbers akin to his work with Peter Bjorn and John.
Morén's voice conveys an appealing honesty and vulnerability, and he's grown considerably as a singer, but in some passages, his songwriting talents stretch further than his voice. The resulting intermittent dopiness and a few too many slow or too-long songs keep "The last tycoon" from being uniformly great, but there are more than enough creative, touching and memorable melodies paired with thoughtful lyrics to affirm his status as one of Sweden's best exports.
- Nancy Baym
9
There are few albums I have fallen for quite as hard as Håkan Hellström's debut "Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg". For many, this first album is Hellström's high-water mark. In reviews of his subsequent records, "Känn ingen sorg..." is cast as a specter that Hellström is haunted by, an accomplishment he has not been able to match or surpass. That being said, "För sent för edelweiss" does not eclipse Hellström's debut, but it matches this earlier triumph. "För sent för edelweiss" shows that Hellström is a versatile artist and songwriter, creating a brilliant album that amalgamates the distinctly Swedish sound his first album reveled in with a Springsteen-esque quality -- capturing both Springsteen's talents with anthemic compositions (not that Hellström himself is in anyway lacking when he sets his mind to the anthemic) and the Boss' remarkable ability to craft slower, more moving numbers, with Hellström layering in his own distinct sound throughout. Opener "Tro och tvivel" feels like a track off of the seminal "Born to run", its final moments paying homage to Springsteen's "Backstreets". "Zigenarliv dreamin", the strangest addition to the album, though one that has grown on me, only strengthens the comparisons between Hellström's newest and the records of the 1960s and 70s. In "Kärlek är ett brev skickat tusen gånger", I hear echoes of Van Morrison; the wonderfully lo-fi production enriches the opening of the title track, amplifying the Simon & Garfunkel quality of the song; "Kär i en angel" feels like the songs of the 60s and 70s that Jens Lekman emulates; and it's difficult not to sense a touch of Bruce Springsteen in "För en lång lång tid", my favorite from this album, and one of the best songs I've heard in the past few years.
Is "För sent för edelweiss" a flawless album? By no means. Though neither was "Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg", if you get down to it. Håkan Hellström's faults are part of his immense charm, and the artist succeeds so much more than he stumbles here. It's hard to even remember the faulty aspects of the album while listening to songs like "Kärlek är ett brev..." and "Långa vägar", and it's even harder to stop listening to "För en lång lång tid". I'll be very surprised if this album is not high up on my best of 2008 list. If you're one who believes that Håkan Hellström lost his way a bit after 2000, "För sent för edelweiss" is more than ample evidence that he's back.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
8
I was a huge fan of The Mo, so listening to the solo debut of Richard Karlsson, the band's former keyboardist, was a real treat. It's always interesting hearing solo stuff from an ex-band member who wasn't the frontman. Sure, Karlsson's vocals were all over The Mo sound, from background to chorus, but would his own music be a carbon copy of his former band? It turns out that, while still retaining a lot of what made The Mo work so well as a pop band, Karlsson strikes out on its own, borrowing heavily from electronica and international rhythms including a surprising reggae influence. This is most clearly evidenced in songs like "It's a longshot" and "What a frame", which could be classified as reggaetronica, if such a thing even exists. Think The Tough Alliance with a brighter, more immediate pop sound. Though the album does get repetitive towards the end, the strength of the melodies coupled with the simplicity of the production makes this a very promising solo debut.
- Nick James
6
Meshuggah hit their stride a few albums ago, for better or for worse. The album opener shows promise for me with probably the most thrash-like song since their debut, and has a relentlessness that hasn't been seen since "Chaosphere". Unfortunately, the promises end there. The simple fact is that they have taken their sound to pretty much everywhere it needed to go and they don't have anything left to add. Despite of all this, "obZen" is a very effective record, and even a more challenging one than the previous two, but it has nothing on the ferocity of "Chaosphere" or the genius of "I". Guitarist Frederik Thordendal's Allan Holdsworth boner has to stop though, album after album he re-hashes the same over-tired solos in the typical overly reverb-ed guitar sound. No more. I will probably still listen to this record plenty of times, which, I guess, is a testament to its quality.
- Simon Thibaudeau
8
Like a dizzying, drunken sprawl across the deck of a flailing sea vessel, "Spartan picnic" gives you little time to get your bearings before bombarding you with a varied range of genre choices and idiosyncratic deliveries. Astrid Swan seems just as comfortable in the 4/4, straight-forward chorus of the title track of her album as she does with the stuttering, shifting landscape of the rest of the song - and this extends throughout the record. "For those who drown" is a Billy Joel-esque anthem that was directed drastically off course, slipping through the electronica of the 80s and the kitsch of 70s rock ballads, and somehow coming out a winner... don't ask me how. The waltzing "Kinda joke" plays up the burlesque feel of "Spartan picnic", allying these theatrics with an almost "Sgt. Pepper's..." circus of oddities and the current trend towards quirky indie-rock. "What does the pink mean" has slowly become one of my favorite songs released this year: at first masquerading as a calmer, more accessible singer-songwriter's composition, but building itself up through so many torn shrouds of layered instrumentation that it becomes hard to call this track, or any of Astrid Swan's songs, a normal expedition. This album, rather obviously, is not going to be everyone's cup of tea. It is however, in this reviewer's humble opinion, a bizarre vehicle that is well worth its blessed confusion.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Dusted reviews the Lasse Marhaug cassette collection "Tapes 1990-1999": https://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4120
Various Artists
I Am Bones
Bobby & Blumm
In Flames
Peter Morén
Håkan Hellström
Kaka
Meshuggah
Astrid Swan