Celebrating twenty years as a band is no small task, and Acid House Kings should be applauded for plodding their way through said time span, though with only five albums -- including this one -- their discography seems a bit thin when compared to other acts of a similar vintage. Their previous release, "Sing along with the Acid House Kings" found the band honing their precious twee-pop quite exquisitely -- the lyrics were not overly saccharine and the songs had a punching chorus, an atypical twee attribute. Six years on, we find them attempting to replicate the feel of the aforementioned album, but to rather dire results -- it is as meticulously crafted as any that Johan Angergård helms, however after such a long rest, one would expect to find the band challenging themselves to produce a refreshed, altered work. Instead, "Music sounds better with you" stabilizes itself as a reworking of its predecessor, only without the whimsical charms which made for repeated listens. Sadly, the Acid House Kings have delivered a record that feels nothing more than decent background music. - Matt Giordano
has confirmed that the new Acid House Kings album "Music sounds better with you" will be released on March 22 and will be available on both CD and vinyl. They've also announced a new single from new band/The Mary Onettes sideproject Det Vackra Livet called "Viljan" which will be officially released on February 2. Listen at Tram7: http://www.tram7.se/2011/01/12/det-vackra-livet-viljan/
is doing a reissue of classic Swedish power/indiepop act Happydeadmen's debut album "Eleven pop songs" on the occasion of said album's 20th anniversary. The new edition will include new liner notes from label boss Ola Hermanson, the man who originally released the record, as well as Johan Angergård, who of course you should know from Acid House Kings/The Legends/Club 8/. More info and sample tunes at the website: http://www.fractiondiscs.se/
November - The Radio Dept. - "Never follow suit" 12" EP
November - Acid House Kings - "Are we lovers or are we friends?" digital single
December - Club 8 - "Closer now" 7" single
01. Kent
02. Robyn
03. Familjen
04. Håkan Hellström
05. The National
06. The Radio Dept.
07. Jens Lekman
08. Acid House Kings
09. The Bear Quartet
10. Teenage Fanclub
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With his first three albums, The Legends' Johan Angergård slowly traveled through his enormous catalogue of musical references, from 60's rock to 80's wave and 90's pop. All the while, The Legends managed to show an originality in their genre-bending musicality that always made them more than a simple retro-act. Still, their musical development seems to leave The Legends with a dilemma for their new album: What should the next logical step be when reaching contemporaray influences in their musical journey. Fuzz R&B? Ringtone shoegaze? Maybe not so surprisingly, "Over and over" takes the opposite chronological direction. Only this time, with the first three albums up their sleeves, The Legends can move on from ordinary reference to actual self-reference. Accordingly, the new album contains bits and pieces from The Legends' previous periods -- fuzz-pop, synth-layers, and quite some Pet Shop Boys'isms -- amalgamated with influences from Johan Angergård's other projects Club 8 and Acid House Kings. Quite logically, "Over and over" therefore lacks the aesthetic uniformity and clear vision that made the first three albums stand out. This becomes most obvious when The Legends noisiest single ever, last fall's brilliant "Seconds away", only two songs later gives way to a clear-sounding, very 60's pop boy-girl duet. What the album lacks in coherence in its sound-design is, in part, made up by Johan Angergård's ever-impressive songwriting and fondness for melodies, especially during the record's strong first half. Still, considering their landmark earlier efforts, I'd expected a little more from The Legends than this motley crew of somewhat divergent reference-pop. But then again, maybe they're just surprising us by transforming from an album-band to a singles-band, just like in the old days. - Arnulf Köhncke
Acid House Kings are in the process of working on a new album: http://twitter.com/acidhousekings
They're a slow-moving band, so they really aren't kidding about the 2010 outlook.
01. Hello Saferide
02. Håkan Hellström
03. Detektivbyrån
04. Pelle Carlberg
05. Jens Lekman
06. Loney, Dear
07. The Radio Dept.
08. Acid House Kings
09. Air France
10. The Soundtrack of Our Lives
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Acid House Kings
The Legends
