Zooparty formed in Linköping, Sweden back in '05 and "You must be joking", their third release, is a contemporary pop-punk album that most old-school punks would be crazy not to love on first listen. It has the power and grit of 1970s UK punk with the hooks and slickness of 90s era sKate punk. Two icons of the genre, Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols) and Brian James (ex-Damned), contribute their guitar chops to the first two songs respectively, with James appearing again on the final song. Having said that, there is no drop off in quality from track to track and I can't help but think these guest appearances are nothing more than a token of their blessings meant to give the album some extra publicity. Besides, Erik Pettersson, the so-called "creative genius" of Zooparty, more than holds his own when compared to his legendary counterparts. His style reminds me of a young Steve Jones, consistently churning out explosive, catchy riffs that pack plenty of muscle. Petterssons' vocals are exhilarating as well and have an upbeat, tongue-in-cheek charm. The quirky lyrics don't make much sense, but that doesn't lessen the impact of the music. They sound very authentic for a latter-day punk band too, probably because they play each song with such fervent energy and really seem to be enjoying themselves. They don't force it and therein lies the beauty; isn't that what punk was about in the very beginning? - Doug Ahlgren
More often than not I could usually care less about remix tracks, but watching a video of the actual production underway makes it far more interesting. The cribbed Kate Bush melody still kinda irks me though.
Solid melancholic pop from Swedish act Sailor & I off their forthcoming EP of the same name with a touch of "Cloudbusting" ala Kate Bush. Look for said EP to be released in late March.
I don't get tipped off on new Finnish music nearly as often as I'd like, most likely due to the impenetrability of the language, but every so often there's something that slips through the cracks and this lil' sKateboarding Justin Beiber clone is definitely worth noting.
Swedish sKatepunks Atlas Losing Grip will be heading back out on the road in the new year and will be doing a few shows with a reunited No Fun At All along the way:
01/11 - Hurricanes Pub, Tours (FRA)
01/12 - Heretic, Bordeaux (FRA)
01/13 - Sala Mogambo, Donostia-San Sebastián (ESP)
01/14 - La Antigua, Ovideo (ESP)
01/15 - Sala A Reserva, Carballo (ESP)
01/16 - tba, Porto (PT)
01/17 - Sala Supersonic, Cadiz (ESP)
01/18 - Santiago Alquimista, Lisbon (PT) w/No Fun At All
01/19 - Sala Live, Madrid (ESP) w/No Fun At All
01/20 - Sala rock City, Valencia (ESP) w/No Fun At All
01/21 - Estraperlo Club, Badalone (ESP) w/No Fun At All
01/22 - Sala Moscou, Torello (ESP), w/No Fun At All
01/23 - Connexion Cafe, Tolouse (FRA)
01/24 - La Fourmi, Limoges (FRA)
01/25 - Les Combustibles, Paris (FRA)
02/03 - Alter Stadtbahnhof, Schweinfurt (GER) w/ZSK
02/04 - Matrix, Bochum (GER) w/ZSK
02/10 - Faust, Hannover (GER) w/ZSK
02/11 - Batschkapp, Frankfurt Am Main (GER) w/ZSK
The poststructural feminists are going to have field day with this one. There's already been so much said on Jenny Hval, former alias Rockettothesky, that it requires some self-reflection of adding more unnecessary internet debris. I'll try to make this short and sweet. First off, "Viscera" -- the first effort released under her own name -- scares the shit outta me. Kicking off with a quirky avant-garde-like recitation, it dropkicks you like a welterweight champion of morbid genius. Heavyweights I'm referring to of course of dark siren goddesses and radical poets: Kate Bush, Siouxsie Sioux, Elisabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins, Patti Smith, Laura Nyro, etc. It's no wonder Ms. Hval wrote a Masters' thesis on Kate Bush, probably something as bad-ass as Lacanian readings on voice (think: Mladan Dolar's, "A Voice and Nothing More", MIT Press) or phonocentrism. Just as Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" was inspired by an Emily Brontë novel, Jenny Hval draws on strong literary influences. It takes special brains to not only extrapolate necessary understanding of one's music on paper, but be a decisive act/performance as well. And she certainly is.
An old music critic once told me you can tell everything about a band by reading their lyrics. Most of the time you do it reluctantly, with one-eye squeezed shut -- especially bands where English isn't their first language. It's painful to ingest the gaping vulnerability of text, so it's often treated it as a discardable or excess entity, sidelined by the "real" stuff. But here the music follows the imagery of the words, pieced together like limbs conjoined and changing; developing within itself, evolving, caving in, and even exploding ("Portrait of the young girl as an artist"). Jenny Hval exhibits beautiful harmonic development ("How gentle") but her songs never get so lost to return to a theme ("Blood flight"). It never so alienates it's listener should you understand it, and patience is rewarded abundantly. - Ann Sung-an Lee
Newly-announced live dates for Danish neofolk act Of the Wand & The Moon:
09/16 - tba, YeKaterinburg (RUS) w/Die Weisse Rose
09/17 - DOM, Moscow (RUS) w/Die Weisse Rose
10/21 - The Steeple, Waregem (BEL) w/Death in June
10/22 - tba, Lutherstadt Eisleben (GER) w/Death in June
10/23 - Pumpehuset, Copenhagen (DK) w/Death in June
More dates have been confirmed for Millencolin's upcoming European tour celebrating the 10th anniversary of their most popular album "Pennybridge pioneers":
Årabrot are coming over for SXSW and will be doing a number of other dates as they work their way back to Chicago to record a new album with Steve Albini:
03/17 - Barbarella Patio (SXSW Nanotear Showcase), Austin, TX
03/18 - Dave's SKate Park, Texarkana, AR
03/19 - Dalzell, Shreveport, LA
03/20 - Hi-Tone Cafe, Memphis, TN
03/22 - Caledonia Lounge, Athens, GA
03/24 - Lunchbox Records, Charlotte, NC
03/25 - Kings Barcade, Raleigh, NC
03/27 - Acheron, Brooklyn, NY
03/28 - O'Briens, Boston, MA
03/29 - Daniel St, Milford, CT
03/30 - Machines With Magnets, Pawtucket, RI
03/31 - Geno's, Portland, ME
04/02 - Hard Luck Bar, Toronto, ON
04/03 - Mac's, Lansing, MI
04/04 - Empty Bottle , Chicago, IL
Zooparty
Jenny Hval