Tag: Reviews
8
Before I listened to this album, I'd heard about three Lykke Li songs. Those tracks were all catchy and fantastic with great melodies, so I naturally expected her album to be more of the same. What a surprise I was in for! The album consists of a bunch of songs like those I've previously heard, but then there's a whole weirdness thing going on, a bit like Björk or perhaps more similar to those sounds Tom Waits has made his own. The album's quite spooky, and it's got a factory feel to it. The juxtaposition of spookiness with melodic choruses and such poppy devices such as handclaps work very well though. Li is the fortunate owner of a marvellous voice and on the slower tracks it reminds me of Stina Nordenstam. The parts I'm not particularly fond of are the ones where she talks more than sings, but even those ones manage to create an intimate atmosphere that draws you in. This album surprised me, but even though I'd accept twelve "Little bit"s with open arms, the songs on "Youth novels" make for a strong, interesting and intriguing debut album that incorporates many interesting elements without solely relying on them.
- Simon Tagestam
6
This is Esbjörn Svensson Trio's third live album and the first recorded outside of Sweden. You would expect it to sound like Norwegian Tord Gustavsen and his trio, except it's not. EST has more of an experimental spirit in their songs and, because of that, they've redefined jazz. This time around, EST uses less dissonance than usual. They haven't left their minimalistic roots, but have filled out the spaces with more sound. Like in the past, they kick in a phrase or two of vocalizations or other unusual instruments that makes the song quirky and adventurous. As an aside, the clapping at the end of the tracks can really disturb the listening experience, as this one did. This may not be as great an introduction to EST as their earlier works are, but as a standard, it can be said that they've done it again.
- Jennifer Ma
2
Bodies Without Organs are ex-Army Of Lovers man Alexander Bard, Marina Schiptjenko and Martin Rolinski (who shot to fame on Swedish reality television program Popstars). They're pretty big in Sweden and Eastern Europe and this is their third album. I like pop, and even though I was never a fan of Army of Lovers, I was indeed a very big fan of Page (a Swedish synthpop band that Schiptjenko used to be in) when I was younger. As far as cheap Euro dance music goes, I'd say that this is quite well executed, and there are a handful of infectious choruses on "Fabricator" (i.e. "Save my pride"). I won't spend too much time though trying to polish a turd, if you want some great Swedish pop music just go and buy pretty much any ABBA album you don't already own, instead of this tat.
- Simon Tagestam
4
I gather Ishak earned his indie cred as frontman for Norway's Beezewax. Perhaps it's not a coincidence that this solo album, precariously straddling indie and arena, is on a label called "SellOut!" It's as though he hoped that if he threw enough things together, something would stick and make him a ubiquitous radio star. Instead, for every moment of finely-crafted power-pop on here, there's at least one noodling guitar solo or overproduced distraction that renders the whole downright unlistenable.
- Nancy Baym
5
I believe it all started with Carl Michael Bellman in the 18th century. Bellman wrote songs that now are an important part of the Swedish musical heritage and have been the blueprint for many Swedish musicians to follow. For many years now there has been a school of solo male troubadours in Sweden singing mostly about love and how hard life can be. They're usually not as witty or original as Bellman, but there seems to be a fondness for these types in Sweden, since there constantly seems to be one of these guys on top of the charts. In the last 10-20 years the style of choice has been to sound like (a very accessible) Tom Waits, with some Balkan and folk music influences thrown in for good measure. If you ever find yourself around a campfire in Sweden on a hot summer night, it's very likely that some loafer-wearing smug chap will materialise out of nowhere with an acoustic guitar singing songs by aforementioned songsmiths. Lars Winnerbäck is currently the king of this genre, and this (his eighth) album is ruling the Swedish album chart once again after it was released in September 2007 (probably due to him doing rather well at various music awards). It's generic stuff, and often quite boring, except perhaps on the biggest hit of the album "Om du lämnade mig nu" which has a certain sentimental appeal to it.
- Simon Tagestam
PopMatters on the latest from Nicolai Dunger alter-alias A Taste of Ra and his album "Morning of my life": https://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/a-taste-of-ra-morning-of-my-life/
Dusted reviews Kim Hiorthøy's new album "My last day": https://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/4056
6
If The Perishers cheered up a bit and moved to Southern California, I wouldn't be surprised if their first effort after escaping the harsh, dark winters of Norrland to sound something like "Brain vs heart". Caitlyn have put together a very clean pop record, treading carefully between their radio friendliness and ability to write a solid indie-pop song. There's plenty of gloss and sun on "Brain vs heart", but it doesn't feel superficial with a compromise between reached between style and substance instead of a trade off. The only true downside of the record is that the tempo, rhythm, and style is very similar throughout - this does lend itself to the creation of a solid album, but it also generates a feeling of 'false familiarity' with songs you haven't heard, thus stealing a bit of the 'newness' of a previously unknown track and giving the record a bit of a 'more of the same' feel as it progresses. All in all, the album quite good, and "Brain vs heart" pleasantly takes you from point A to point B... though a few sharp left turns and scenic detours wouldn't have hurt either.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
6
Hyacinth House are not from the southern United States, though they work the sonic conventions of that region as though they were, hovering somewhere between Southern Gothic (though nowhere near as much as a band like Midnight Choir), Southern Folk (lots of banjo!), and plain old Southern Rock. There are even beards involved. They do it well. The songs are strong and evocative. But when push comes to shove, there's nothing particularly special about the record. If it's a sort of music you enjoy, they are surely one of its better practitioners, but if you aren't, this won't be the record that awakens you to its brilliance.
- Nancy Baym
PopMatters reviews the US release of Jettie's latest album "Kites for charity": https://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/52369/jettie-kites-for-charity/
Paper Thin Walls on The Raveonettes single "Aly, walk with me": https://www.paperthinwalls.com/singlefile/item?id=1266
7
This debut album from Adam Tensta won a Swedish Grammy the other day for best "dance/hip-hop/soul" album. Not sure if it was the best dance album, but it was definitely the best hip-hop album to come out of Sweden in 2007. That said, it's not that great, but quite average to be honest (even though there is hope for it, Swedish hiphop is currently a poor state of affairs). There are a handful of great tracks on here, the rest are fillers. By avoiding gangster rap lyrics (he wore a "close Guantanamo bay" t-shirt when picking up his Grammy), having quite dance orientated beats together with soulful hooks, and having a soft spot for neon colours, Adam Tensta comes across a bit like a Swedish Kanye West or Lupe Fiasco. "It's a Tensta thing" can be scaled down to a fantastic 6-track EP, but the 14 songs as a whole are quite derivative and not all that fresh. Also, if I listen to him too much I quite quickly tire of Tensta's über-American vernacular. Still, it's a very promising debut and it'll be interesting to see what he'll come up with for his second album. Hopefully his quick rise to fame won't affect him too much in a negative manner (like it did to Kanye).
- Simon Tagestam
5
I have a soft spot for talented pop singers. A decent amount of my time is spent enjoying the works of artists like Imogen Heap, Lily Allen, Annie, Gwen Stefani, Robyn, and others, some guilty pleasures, others with no guilt whatsoever. Jennie Abrahamson, a Norrland girl from the same part of Sweden that birthed the Refused and The Perishers (whose singer, Ola Klüft, is featured on "Wasted heart"), has crafted a solidly produced, though somewhat lacking pop record. The melancholy sounds okay, but it doesn't always feel quite right. Title track "Lights" begins to feel like a meandering and lost expedition when it could easily have bore direction and teeth, and that can be said for a number of tracks. On "Songs we sing", Abrahamson's gorgeous voice sits comfortably alongside a song that has a sense of forward motion. "Lights" could have been so much more, and I hope Jennie Abrahamson's future recordings are - it would be a shame that such a talented vocalist should be overlooked because of lukewarm songwriting.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Lykke Li
E.S.T. (Esbjörn Svensson Trio)
BWO
Kenneth Ishak
Lars Winnerbäck
Caitlyn
Hyacinth House
Adam Tensta
Jennie Abrahamson