Artist: Nicolai Dunger
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Updated SXSW appearance details for Nicolai Dunger plus a new US tour supporting Rhett Miller:
03/17 - tba, Cornerstone/Fader Magazine showcase 3:45 PM, Austin, TX (SXSW)
03/17 - 18th Floor at Crowne Plaza, No Depression showcase 9 PM, Austin, TX (SXSW)
03/18 - tba, Livenation showcase, Austin, TX (SXSW)
03/20 - Gothic, Denver, CO
03/21 - Suede, Park City, UT
03/23 - Showbox, Seattle, WA
03/25 - Doug Fir , Portland, OR
03/27 - Independent, San Francisco, CA
03/28 - Galaxy, Anaheim, CA
03/29 - Fonda, Los Angeles, CA
04/01 - Sons of Hermann, Dallas, TX
04/02 - Sons of Hermann, Dallas, TX
04/05 - Variety, Atlanta, GA
04/06 - Black Cat, Washington, DC
04/07 - ToLA, Philadelphia, PA
04/11 - tba, New Haven, CT
04/12 - Paradise, Boston, MA
04/13 - Webster Hall, New York, NY
04/14 - tba, Pittsburgh, PA
04/15 - Headliners, Louisville, KY
04/18 - Gargoyle, St Louis, MO
04/19 - Music Mill, Indianapolis, IN
04/20 - Park West, Chicago, IL
04/21 - First Ave, Minneapolis, MN
04/22 - Barrymore, Madison, WI
Rounder, Nicolai Dunger's new US label, has posted the video for the single "Hunger": http://www.rounder.com/?id=artistVideo.php&musicalGroupId=7614
The concept of the NONS "Jävla kritiker!" compilation is intriguing: gather up a number of renown critics and have them all write reviews for songs yet to be made. Then have the artists create the song to fit the review. Even though I knew the results would be mixed, I still was incredibly excited to hear it because the idea is just too good. The downside however, is that my Swedish language skills are just not good enough to understand all of the critical essays that are the foundation of the project. Oh well, at least I still have the music, right? Well, the results are uneven, just as I predicted. There are a few diamonds in the rough though - both Andreas Tilliander and Sophie Rimheden contribute nice dancey electronic numbers and Nicolai Dunger's instrumental track is quite good, as is Silverbullit's song. The highlight for me though, is Isolation Years. It's not all that surprising since they have long been one of my favorite bands, but what can I say? The truth is what it is. Read the review and go download the song.
The concept of the NONS "Jävla kritiker!" compilation is intriguing: gather up a number of renown critics and have them all write reviews for songs yet to be made. Then have the artists create the song to fit the review. Even though I knew the results would be mixed, I still was incredibly excited to hear it because the idea is just too good. The downside however, is that my Swedish language skills are just not good enough to understand all of the critical essays that are the foundation of the project. Oh well, at least I still have the music, right? Well, the results are uneven, just as I predicted. There are a few diamonds in the rough though - both Andreas Tilliander and Sophie Rimheden contribute nice dancey electronic numbers and Nicolai Dunger's instrumental track is quite good, as is Silverbullit's song. The highlight for me though, is Isolation Years. It's not all that surprising since they have long been one of my favorite bands, but what can I say? The truth is what it is. Read the review and go download the song.
Isolation Years - Minstrel
Check out an e-card for the new Nicolai Dunger album "Nicolai Dunger sjunger Edith Södergran": http://www.emi.se/artists/nicolai/ndses/index.htm
By the time I discovered Nicolai Dunger he was already on his third album, the excellent "This cloud is learning". "Soul rush" came out soon after (I was already late with the previous record) and the combined grandeur of those two records sealed it: I was impressed. So of course I started to poke around his earlier discography and was moved considerably by what I found. The musician I thought was a retro-folkie/Donovan-throwback was actually a formidable experimental musician, willing to dabble in many genres and play around with all sorts of interesting textures and arrangements. It's no wonder he never got much attention until he toned it done with the records I heard first - this is not accessible pop. It's not so surprising for people getting into Dunger today; his experimentations are now well-known and celebrated - the upcoming Edith Södergran tribute is just one example. I can't say that all his dabblings have been successful to my ears, but I applaud him for trying. It's much more risk than most musicians are willing to take on. So today here's a track from his first record "Songs wearing clothes". The guitars are distorted and King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp lends his patented 'Frippertronics' to the proceedings. Even if you're not into that sort of thing, it's worth listening to just to experience Dunger's expanse of talent.
By the time I discovered Nicolai Dunger he was already on his third album, the excellent "This cloud is learning". "Soul rush" came out soon after (I was already late with the previous record) and the combined grandeur of those two records sealed it: I was impressed. So of course I started to poke around his earlier discography and was moved considerably by what I found. The musician I thought was a retro-folkie/Donovan-throwback was actually a formidable experimental musician, willing to dabble in many genres and play around with all sorts of interesting textures and arrangements. It's no wonder he never got much attention until he toned it done with the records I heard first - this is not accessible pop. It's not so surprising for people getting into Dunger today; his experimentations are now well-known and celebrated - the upcoming Edith Södergran tribute is just one example. I can't say that all his dabblings have been successful to my ears, but I applaud him for trying. It's much more risk than most musicians are willing to take on. So today here's a track from his first record "Songs wearing clothes". The guitars are distorted and King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp lends his patented 'Frippertronics' to the proceedings. Even if you're not into that sort of thing, it's worth listening to just to experience Dunger's expanse of talent.
Nicolai Dunger - We left us (ft. Robert Fripp)
Rounder Records has confirmed a March 14 release date for the US edition of Nicolai Dunger's album "Here's my song...". In other Dunger-related news, 2006 marks the 10-year anniversary of his recording career and to celebrate he will be releasing a new album entitled "Nicolai Dunger sjunger Edith Södergran" on February 1. The album is exactly what it says it is: Nicolai singing the words of Finnish/Swedish poet Edith Södergran set to music he wrote back when he was just 17 years old. The record features multi-instrumentalist Mats Schubert (Bo Kasper's Orkester), bassist Johan Berthling (Häpna), American drummer Timothy Barnes (Sonic Youth, Beth Orton, Royal Trux, Silver Jews) and Dungen guitarist Reine Fiske as well as artwork from Jockum Nordström. Dunger considers the album a natural culmination of his artistic journey thus far and dedicates the work to his mother who sadly passed away recently.
This week's top 20 Swedish album chart:
01. Lena Philipsson - Jag ångrar ingenting
02. Eva Dahlgren - Snö
03. The Cardigans - Super Extra Gravity
04. Sophie Zelmani - A decade of dreams 1995-2005
05. Laleh - Laleh
06. Nanne - Alltid på väg
07. Björn Afzelius - Björn Afzelius bästa
08. Darin - Darin
09. Rikard Wolff - Allt du kan önska! det bästa från: Rikard Wolff
10. Hardcore Superstar - Hardcore superstar
11. Amy Diamond - This Is Me Now
12. Christian Kjellvander - Faya
13. Bodies Without Organs - Prototype
14. Hans Martin - Minnenas promenad
15. September - In Orbit
16. Weeping Willows - Singles Again
17. Ulf Lundell - Lazarus
18. Peps Blodsband - Äntligen!
19. Gemini - Det bästa med karin och anders glenmark
20. Timbuktu - Alla vill till himmelen men ingen vill dö
Rounder Records has licensed Nicolai Dunger's most recent album "Here's my song..." for US release. Look for it around late February. In other news, Nicolai will contribute a cover of the song "Det gåtfulla folket" for the upcoming Olle Adolphson tribute album "Dubbeltrubbel", due out December 14 via EMI.
Upcoming works on the way from the always-prolific Nicolai Dunger:
- Nicollide and the karmic retribution
- Dunger at the diner
- Edith Södergrans poems
- New album with A Taste of Ra
Even though Laakso's band biography involves several break ups and reunions, it's basically a nice story of Swedish music business success. Their newest album "My gods", a decent interplay of twelve churned up songs, proves this very well: Released by the big label V2, produced by a certain Jari Haapalainen (Yes, right, that's the same guy who has worked with Ed Harcourt, Moneybrother, Kristofer Åström and The Concretes) and including some backing vocals by a very certain Nicolai Dunger. Well, of course a record isn't just about some famous names written on the booklet's last page. But even just focusing the music, "My gods" turns out to be a pleasant piece of melodic art. OK, it's probably not the catchiest album that has been released in Sweden during the last months, but still it has everything a good pop CD needs to have: Emotional tunes, guts to try out something new and a stick-out hit song ("High drama"). Markus Krunegård's characteristic voice underlines brilliantly the intimate lyrics which are thematically ranging from self-pity drowned in fuel to an ironic view on the junk of the hearts. Summing it up, Laakso has created an interesting and good-sounding audio portrait of the variety of emotions circulating around the all-time number-one-topic also known as "love".
- Janis Meissner
"Jävla kritiker!" (Fuckin' critics!) is the name of an interesting new comp from NONS, due out January 18 next year. The idea for the record is backwards - first the critic writes the review and then the musician creates the song. Artists set to appear include IAT favorites Isolation Years and Silverbullit along with many other fine artists such as Sophie Rimheden, Andreas Tilliander, Nicolai Dunger, Håkan Libdo and more. More details: http://www.nons.se/javlakritiker/
Nicolai Dunger will be releasing a new album entitled "Nicollide And the Carmic Retrebution" sometime this coming fall. More info soon? via)
Neumu reviews Nicolai Dunger free-folk sideproject A Taste of Ra: http://www.neumu.net/fortyfour/
Indieworkshop.com checks in today with new reviews of A Taste of Ra (aka Nicolai Dunger) and Antennas.
Laakso