All-star Swedish label collective will release new albums from both Kriget and Woodlands this fall: http://www.ingrd.com/2012/first-news-for-fall/
Kriget, as mentioned before, is the instrumental act of Per Nordmark (Fireside, Britta Persson, etc.), Crille Roth (Monster, Hets) and Gustav Bendt (Moneybrother, Club Killers). Woodlands, on the other hand, features Sara Wilson (First Floor Power), Niklas Korssell (Tutankamon, The Plan) and Marcus Holmberg (Komeda).
Timo Räisänen is working on a new album with producer/engineer Pelle Gunnerfeldt (Fireside, etc.) for release this coming September.
In These Woods' self-titled debut/final? EP from late 2010 didn't make much of a splash, but it's still one of my favorite indierock releases of recent memory. While I love bands like Culkin and Tennis Bafra, they're often operating more off of a classic US indie template as opposed to ITW's inherent Swedish-ness. Of course it all comes from the same place if you trace it back far enough, but ITW has a far stronger direct kinship to Him Kerosene and Fireside than Sonic Youth or Dinosaur Jr.. It's in the sharpness of the rhythms, the way the melodies move and layer; there's nothing else like it.
In These Woods - Ghost
PSL has the premiere of a tune from Helvete, a new duo featuring Per Nordmark (Fireside, Kriget, Bad Hands, etc.) and Jens Sjögren (Bring Me the Fucking Riot Man! along with guest vocals from Sibille Attar ([ingenting]): http://blogg.svt.se/psl/2012/04/03/premiar-helvete-med-sibille-attar-in-och-genom-morkret/
Could it be that Les Big Byrd (nee Big Byrd), the all-star Krautrock-ish sideproject of Jocke and Nino from Caesars with Frans of Fireside, is reactivated? I haven't heard any news, but there's a slew of new video clips on Vimeo posted under Patrik Instedt's account.
Drums, bass and sax = Kriget, a new combo featuring Per Nordmark (Fireside, Britta Persson, etc.), Crille Roth (Monster, Hets) and Gustav Bendt (Moneybrother, Club Killers) respectively. Download the band's debut record "What a day" for free/donation: http://www.kriget.com/
"Toast to M" is oddly cheery sounding for a song about suicide, but I suppose that's the point. It's about making peace, not wallowing in misery. It's also an obvious standout on Britta Persson's new record "Current affair medium rare", which is one of three great new Swedish albums out this season, all fairly obvious picks from established artists. As with the others, one of Britta's best qualities is her consistent progression -- she abandoned straightforward girl-with-a-guitar based songwriting with previous album "Kill Hollywood me" and has now gone further into rhythm-heavy composition, building songs around memorable beats. Naturally, having someone as gifted as Per Nordmark (Fireside, Bad Hands, etc... playing Friday at Debaser Malmö for IAT! Clubnights) as your sideman certainly helps, but let's not diminish Britta's wonderful phrasing, among other highpoints. There's lots to like, moreso on the record as a whole.
Also note that Britta Persson will be one of Club Killers' special "secret" guests at Strand on October 8 where she will be singing "Bleeding love" and "Kids in America" with the band. So there you go, two must-see shows on each side of Sweden. I won't be anywhere close, but I would if I could.
Britta Persson - Toast to M
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU:
01. Särkyneet - Huono nainen
02. TALK 1
03. Masshysteri - Masshysteri del två
04. Interment - Eternal darkness
05. Cut City - The sound and the sore
06. Fireside - Lovecar
07. TALK 2
08. Moto Boy - Early grave
09. V. Sjöberg New Jazz Ensemble - Start at the finish
10. The Goner - Lost summer
11. TALK 3
12. The World - Roybgiv
13. Familjen - Det var jag
14. STYGG - Sleep
15. TALK 4
16. EL-SD - Hille
17. Menfolk - Column 79
18. Camouflage - La la la
19. Grande Roses - The astronaut
20. TALK 5
21. Donkeyboy - Ambitions
Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.
We are the Storm"The really good songs tends to write themselves," singer and guitarist Staffan Blomén declared as we sat down for a chat a couple of hours before We are the Storm played at this year's rendition of the Popadelica Festival in Huskvarna, Sweden. We were of course talking about the smashing "I woke up to the bells", which surfaced as a live video a while back. The song is simply breathtaking, so simple and yet so direct. Can you believe this band is still unsigned? They won't be for long, take my word for it. Listening to the songs on the eponymous EP the band released last year got me thinking about Fireside still on their best, or a rougher version of Britain's Athlete. While I was under the impression that the music of We are the Storm was all about dealing with all those not-so-good-feelings we all get from time to time, Blomén explained it was quite the opposite. We are the Storm are all about letting out all that which can't be kept within, no matter the feelings. A fact very clear when the band finally hits the stage - The Seven Nation Army, seven people crowded in a very limited space, performing like their lives depended on it. Let me say this again: We are the Storm are still not signed to any label (it's crazy, I know)! They still lack some experience when it comes to playing live, yes, but the songs! This short 30 min set features only new songs, songs that hopefully will be recorded sometime this summer, and even though "I woke up to the bells" is still the strongest song by far, I sense great potential in these lads from Uppsala. Sure, they need to work on their performance, but with a few more shows in the bloodstream I'm sure they will figure out how to get a good flow going. Because here's the thing, when they're actually playing music, they are amazing! Record labels, get it touch. Now.
- Christian Stenbacke
The Howard Way, a long-running Americana act from Umeå, Sweden featuring Pelle Henricsson of the famed Tonteknik Studios on drums (he's probably recorded at least a dozen stone-cold classic Swedish records in your collection -- Fireside, Ray Wonder, Refused, Komeda, Starmarket, uh... pretty much every significant Norrland act and then some), will finally release their debut album "Never mind the country" on May 5 via Rootsy. Check out an e-card here: http://formton.se/thehowardway
The best new music is old, part II. Java was a somewhat short-lived instrumental act from Gävle, Sweden that formed out of the remains of the hardcore act Ashram. A mere footnote perhaps, but re-visitation might suggest otherwise. Also, consider that the 90s was a fertile time in Swedish hardcore, especially up in Norrland where you had acts such as Fireside, Breach, Refused and Starmarket; to say nothing of acts such as The Bear Quartet or Randy -- so many great bands, all from the same set of towns along the Bothnian coast. The year was 1996 and as such, Java embraced the zeitgeist and sought to expand the sound of modern hardcore as fragmented and moved towards postrock, a sound echoed in acts such as Slint, June of 44 and pretty much any act of that era. The remnants of the 90s 'core remains though, particularly on tracks like "Smokescreen" where you can hear the lingering effects of bands like Groundwork in the subtle mosh. Certainly not as overt as the stuff was putting out further north, but oh yeah, it's there and it's alright. Java never amounted to much in their day, they never played a show even, but they did record a demotape and has seen fit for its rerelease. There is certainly nostalgia for those of us who remember this time in music and saw it firsthand, but I'd assert that Java is simply a good band that never got heard. Until now, that is.
Java - Smokescreen
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU, 100% pre-millennium edition:
01. TALK 1
02. Honey Is Cool - Bolero
03. Beyond Dawn - Addictions are private
04. Commando M Pigg - Baby doll
05. TALK 2
06. Kent - If you were here
07. Fireside - Let Rasputin do it
08. CMX - Ainomieli 97
09. Docent Död - Bensin i blodet
10. TALK 3
11. Bitch Boys - Automobile
12. Nicolai Dunger - This town
13. Broder Daniel - I'll be gone
14. Starmarket - Ten seconds
15. TALK 4
16. Madrugada - Beautyproof
17. Breach - Black sabbath
18. Silverbullit - Thank you Mr.
19. Camouflage - Syster sol
20. TALK 5
21. Entombed - Lights out
Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers. Next week's show will feature tunes from my top 10 albums of the year.
Scraps of TapeThis band continues to evolve with every album and this, their third overall, finds them trying to incorporate more standard pop conventions into their particular brand of heavy postrock. There's still plenty of focus on long, interwoven guitar parts and complex arrangements, but there's also a lot more vocals than ever before and a renewed attempt at redefining and refining their sound. Bits of Fireside-esque post-hardcore gets intermingled with other, more contemporary post-indie/rock/whatever and the end result turns out to be a bit more schizophrenic and far less consistent than previous album "This is a copy is this a copy". However, at the same time, it's far more interesting to hear a band grow with each new release and that's certainly what SoT are doing and the tracks that do work well are easily their best material yet. For each misstep, such as two unnecessary and out of place cover tunes (A novelty slowcore version of Minor Threat's "Filler" plus "Eric" by the terminally underappreciated Carpet People), there is a stride forward. An inspired idea on paper, sure, and undoubtedly fun for the band to play, though not so hot in execution. I foresee "Grand letdown" as a transitional work, a bridge for things to come. It's worth noting too, that many of their peers are going through similar musical soul-searching (Aerial, Immanu El, etc.), all struggling to break free of expected genre trappings and all ending up in a slightly different place. So far, so good... let's see what happens next.
- Avi Roig
Flattery will get you everywhere: seeing my name (or even just It's a Trap!) in an album's thank-you list is a surefire way to put a smile on my face. So thank you to NEI for making my day a little brighter. However, it's not as if I'd be tempted otherwise; I've been looking forward to their album for a long, long time and can confidently say that they deliver as-expected. As said before, these guys make the sort of quality angular rock'n'roll that dudes like me in their 30s and above still recall with extreme fondness. Still, I have a friend complain that he thought NEI were a bit lazy sounding, especially when you consider that these dudes formerly played with monster acts such as Brick, Breach and Fireside. While I understand his point, let me counter with "40 rabbits": a rager of a track that recalls those bands' finer moments. Patrik Instedt's vocals are especially maniacal here as he recalls a story that's as confusing to his own (fictional) experience, as it is for the listening. Blood, rabbits, an empty room, the woods, an abandoned car...? It's a distressing portrait. I like it.
NEI - 40 rabbits
Hard to believe, but It's a Trap! turns seven years old today, an age that could be considered near-ancient in the context of this whole interweb doo-hickey. Yep, I've been slogging away at this thing all those years, slowly improving my foreign language skills, refining my tastes, fighting burnout and maybe even becoming a better writer along the way (not really). I've sent out over 300 weekly newsletters, posted nearly 32,000 news items, visited Sweden three times (with a short sidetrip to CPH once), listened to countless albums and have also had the great pleasure of meeting a ton of lovely people along the way. So a huge thanks to you, my readers and also to all of the great artists who inspire me to keep this thing going -- without you, I am nothing.
Breach's final album "Kollapse" came out in 2001 towards the end of a period when I was intensely seeking out Norrland indie/hardcore. I don't remember my first connection, but that's how I got into KVLR, Fireside, Him Kerosene, Starmarket, Carpet People, Isolation Years and many other neighboring acts. Many of those bands remain favorites today and Breach is definitely near the top of the list, with their swansong record being an absolute classic. Nothing sounds like it, not even any of the band's other records. As for posting it today, it's mere luck they happen to have a song with a title fit for the occasion.
Breach - Seven
