Live report: ExMS Swedish Showcase @ The Troubadour, LA 03/16/2005

Late Thursday thoughts:

Moneybrother is Stellan Skarsgård's favorite band.

Both Kim and Kelly can't get the thought of Ola Salo's too-tight jumpsuit out of their heads.

The best thing I can say about Deportees is that at least they're slightly better live than on record. Poor Thomas Hedlund sure is slumming.

Vikings are the new pirates.

That is all, back tomorrow.

Here's this week's MTVe UpNorth video chart:

01. Smak - Hallanvaara
02. Moneybrother - They're Building Walls Around Us
03. Christian Walz - Never Be Afraid Again
04. Thomas Dybdahl - A Lovestory
05. Timbuktu - Alla vill till himlen men ingen vill dö
06. Lazyboy - Underwear Goes Inside The Pants
07. Hammerfall - Bloodbound
08. Annie - My Heartbeat
09. Håkan Hellström - En Midsommarnattsdröm
10. Husky Rescue - City Lights
11. In Flames - Touch Of Red
12. LAB - When Heaven Gets Dirty
13. The 69 Eyes - Lost Boys
14. The Confusions - Don't Let the World Catch You Crying
15. Darin - Money For Nothing
16. Johnny Deluxe - Vi Vil Ha Mer
17. The Ark - One Of Us Is Gonna Die Young
18. Pain - Same Old Song
19. Moder Jords Massiva - Fast Attack/ Slow Decay
20. Gubb - Om Änglar Finns

Challengers:
01. Mendez - Is That Ok
02. Deportees - Champagne
03. Sugarplum Fairy - Far Away From Man
04. Jim Stärk - Morning Song
05. Beats And Styles - Two White Monkeys

Go here to vote for your favorite.

Check out the flyer for the upcoming US appearances by Moneybrother: [click here]
As mentioned before, I'll be heading down to LA for the ExMS showcase at the Troubadour on Wednesday night. Should be a good time!

Here's this week's YLE/Morjen top 10 Nordic video chart:

01. Disco Ensemble - We might fall apart (FIN)
02. Smak - Nousen (FIN)
03. Korpiklaani - Hunting song (FIN)
04. Kent - Max 500 (SWE)
05. Padington - Hey now (NOR)
06. The 69 Eyes - Lost boys (FIN)
07. The Mo - Howl in the jungle (SWE)
08. PMMP - Päiväkoti (FIN)
09. Moneybrother - They're building walls around us (SWE)
10. Pain - Same old song (SWE)

Challengers:
11. Anniina - Who's about to cry (FIN)
12. Hammerfall - Bloodbound (SWE)
13. Infernal - From Paris to Berlin (DK)

Here's this week's top 20 Swedish album chart:

01. Moneybrother - To die alone
02. Christer Sjögren - Love Me Tender
03. Hammerfall - Chapter V: Unbent, Unbowed, Unbroken
04. Timbuktu - Alla vill till himmelen men ingen vill dö
05. Darin - The anthem
06. Håkan Hellström - Ett kölikbarns bekännelser
07. Christian Walz - Paint by Numbers
08. Lars Winnerbäck - Vatten under broarna
09. Anna Ternheim - Somebody Outside
10. Caesars - Paper Tigers
11. Arash - Arash Arash
12. Lena Philipsson - Det gör ont en stund på natten men inget på dan
13. Magnus Uggla - Den tatuerade generationen
14. Stefan Nilsson - Så som i himmelen (filmmusik)
15. Ted Gärdestad - Sol vind & vatten - Det bästa
16. Barbados - Best of Barbados 1994-2004
17. Soilwork - Stabbing the Drama
18. Pain - Dancing with the Dead
19. The Ark - State of the Ark
20. The Real Group - In the Middle of Life

Go here to download some demo tracks from Consequences, a Swedish band consisting primarily of members from Marit Bergman's backing band: http://www.consequences.se/musik.php

Here's this week's MTVe UpNorth video chart:

01. Smak - Hallanvaara
02. Moneybrother - They're Building Walls Around Us
03. The 69 Eyes - Devils
04. Timbuktu - Alla vill till himlen men ingen vill dö
05. Thomas Dybdahl - A Lovestory
06. In Flames - Touch Of Red
07. Lazyboy - Underwear Goes Inside The Pants
08. Hammerfall - Bloodbound
09. Christian Walz - Never Be Afraid Again
10. Annie - My Heartbeat
11. Håkan Hellström - En Midsommarnattsdröm
12. Husky Rescue - City Lights
13. Johnny Deluxe - Vi Vil Ha Mer
14. The Confusions - Don't Let the World Catch You Crying
15. Various Danish Artists - Hvor Små Vi Er
16. The Ark - One Of Us Is Gonna Die Young
17. Pain - Same Old Song
18. Gubb - Om Änglar Finns
19. Dreamboy - Uncalled For
20. LAB - When Heaven Gets Dirty

Challengers:
01. K-Laz - The Reason
02. Moder Jords Massiva - Fast Attack/ Slow Decay
03. Darin - Money For Nothing
04. Nathalie Nordnes - Cars And Boys
05. The 69 Eyes - Lost Boys

Go here to vote for your favorite.

Sellfish reviews the new Moneybrother album: http://sellfish.insfx.com/_start.php?link=review/03-05.htm%234

I've been alerted by the good folks at Burning Heart that Moneybrother will be doing an additional show in LA besides the ExMS showcase at the Troubadour on March 16. He'll also be performing an acoustic set at the Swedish clothing/streetwear store WE on Robertson Blvd. in Melrose on March 17 at 8pm. I'd imagine it'll be free, so don't miss out if you're in the area.

Here's this week's YLE/Morjen top 10 Nordic video chart:

01. Smak - Nousen (FIN)
02. Disco Ensemble - We might fall apart (FIN)
03. Kent - Max 500 (SWE)
04. Korpiklaani - Hunting song (FIN)
05. The 69 Eyes - Lost boys (FIN)
06. Bitch Alert - Latenight lullaby (FIN)
07. Pain - Same old song (SWE)
08. Apollo - Peli (FIN)
09. Gakko 3 - Club idiot saturday drive (FIN)
10. Moneybrother - They're building walls around us (SWE)

Challengers:
11. PMMP - Päiväkoti (FIN)
12. The Mo - Howl in the jungle (SWE)
13. Padington - Hey now (NOR)

Don't forget to also check out the new batch of reviews posted yesterday evening. We've got the lowdown on new singles from Moneybrother and The Chrysler, demo reviews of Punky's Dilemma and The Sunday Orchestra, my official take on the new Logh and Simon Tagestam's assessment of a couple new Labrador releases.

Here's this week's MTVe UpNorth video chart:

01. In Flames - Touch Of Red
02. Smak - Hallanvaara
03. The 69 Eyes - Devils
04. Thomas Dybdahl - A Lovestory
05. Pain - Same Old Song
06. Dreamboy - Uncalled For
07. The Ark - One Of Us Is Gonna Die Young
08. Lazyboy - Underwear Goes Inside The Pants
09. Annie - My Heartbeat
10. Husky Rescue - City Lights
11. Embee / Vanessa Liftig - Not Tonite
12. Johnny Deluxe - Vi Vil Ha Mer
13. Kapasiteettiyksikkö - Usko Parempaan
14. The Confusions - Don't Let the World Catch You Crying
15. Timbuktu - Alla vill till himlen men ingen vill dö
16. Kevin - Theme From Forever
17. Various Danish Artists - Hvor Små Vi Er
18. Hammerfall - Bloodbound
19. Moneybrother - They're Building Walls Around Us
20. Christian Walz - Never Be Afraid Again

Challengers:
01. Håkan Hellström - En Midsommarnattsdröm
02. Mando Diao - Down In The Past
03. Gubb - Om Änglar Finns
04. LAB - When Heaven Gets Dirty
05. Karen - Onsket

Go here to vote for your favorite.

Moneybrother
They're building walls around us CDS
Burning Heart Records

I really want to like this, I would love to say that I'm crazy about it and that it's an even better song than "Reconsider me" (the first single from Moneybrother's last album - a song so good I would rank it as one of my top five songs from the last five years), but this up-tempo number just doesn't do the trick for me. Furthermore, there's something about it that unfortunately makes me think of nothing but crappy TV series from the 80s when I hear it. It's a bit of shame really, since I'm a massive Moneybrother fan, and really looking forward to his forthcoming album (out in March). Fortunately the second song on the single, "Bum fuxxed (For sure)" (great title, by the way), with its reliable Moneybrother sound that involves fine falsetto singing and great backing vocals, is good enough to stop me from thinking that Moneybrother has "lost it" and become a parody of themselves. But the single itself just tries too hard to be catchy and energetic. Frankly, it's just a bit too much and it gives me a sickly feeling similar to the one I get when I talk to crazy drunk people when I'm sober. That said, I bet I would really like the song when drunk (something that's not too hard to test, of course, but since I'm in no mood to get drunk right now you just have to stick with my assumption).
- Simon Tagestam

Here's this week's YLE/Morjen top 10 Nordic video chart:

01. Smak - Nousen (FIN)
02. Korpiklaani - Hunting song (FIN)
03. LAB - When heaven gets dirty (FIN)
04. The Ark - One of us is gonna die young (SWE)
05. Christian Walz - Never be afraid again (SWE)
06. Pain - Same old song (SWE)
07. Gakko 3 - Club idiot saturday drive (FIN)
08. The 69 eyes - Lost boys (FIN)
09. Apollo - Peli (FIN)
10. Bitch Alert - Latenight lullaby (FIN)

Challengers:
11. Disco Ensemble - We might fall apart (FIN)
12. Kent - Max 500 (SWE)
12. Moneybrother - They're building walls around us (SWE)

MTVe has a stream of the entire brand-new Moneybrother album "To die alone": http://www.mtve.com/article.php?ArticleId=5406