As with any recent addition to a niche subgenre, newcomers to the '60s girl group/surf rock-inspired scene are going to be compared to the movement's forerunners and inspirations. Night Minutes' debut full-length is sure to receive at least a handful of comparisons to fellow Scandinavians The Raveonettes (It's a Trap! already got that ball rolling a year ago with a review of the song "Sweetheart at the funeral" from their self-titled EP), and while these comparisons can be useful to establish an idea of the band's sound, with smaller subgenres these parallels can prove limiting -- if I'm already into The Raveonettes and Glasvegas, I may feel that I've reached my saturation point for jangly, Jesus and Mary Chain-esque indie pop and not even bother to read past the first mention of Phil Spector. Night Minutes certainly share characteristics with groups like The Raveonettes and Glasvegas, especially in the latter two's darker moments, but it is where the overlap ends that the band comes into its own. As a few critics noted with Weekend's debut "Sports", there are numerous places on "Grateful depression" where '60s pop and post-punk coalesce, somewhat unsurprising given the years band member Max J Hansson spent with prior act Cut City, and with the prominent use of electronic drums and synths one can find echoes of New Order throughout the album. And there is an edginess to "Grateful depression" that is often lacking on their contemporaries' records, moments like the end of "Purely hated" where the distorted pop shifts into a near-breakdown -- with acts like The Raveonettes, overproduction often undercuts the impact of their heavier moments, reducing walls of distortion to torrents of white noise. While only an eight-track record, "Grateful depression" is surprisingly hard to grow weary of, and spared of weak songs it can be enjoyed in its entirety. Summer might be drawing to a close, but there's enough sun and shadow to make this offering more than just a summer record. - Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Night Minutes, the new band of ex-We Live in Trenches bassist Anna Knutsson and ex-Cut City bassist/vocalist Max J Hansson, have finally unveiled their new album "Grateful depression" and are offering it for paid digital download and free streaming preview. Check it: http://nightminutes.bandcamp.com/
It's more like CC than WLIT and far more shoegazey than either, but any fan of good music is strongly encouraged to check it out.
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU:
01. Night Minutes - Sweetheart of the funeral
02. TALK 1
03. Korova Station - Come on come on
04. Okkultokrati - Stench of life
05. Johan G Winther - Chasing kingdoms
06. Kimono - Vienna
07. TALK 2
08. SONMOI - The man with no flesh
09. Phonophani - Neverdal
10. Kausal - The conquistador
11. TALK 3
12. Vowels - oiaå
13. The Bear Quartet - We're not gonna make it
14. Säkert! - Rotary
15. Slöa Knivar - Stay dirty
16. TALK 4
17. Slöa Knivar - Hjärtat
18. Menfolk - Skeletons
19. Asha Ali - Hurricane
20. Tiger Tape - She is fiction
21. TALK 5
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.
To be honest, I was a little thrown by the lo-fi, analog feel of Night Minutes' "Sweetheart at the funeral" on my first listen, but I've since fallen quite hard for the band's sound: the warm, viscous layers of guitars and keyboards, the slight hint of distortion on the vocals, even the digital drums. If anything, Phil Spector's Wall of Sound seems more at home on Night Minutes' self-titled EP than on more polished recordings, the dense strata of instrumentation providing a fine vehicle for both the strong songwriting and Anna Knutson's and Max J Hansson's wonderful vocal harmonies and tradeoffs. As noted in the mp3 post for "Sweetheart at the funeral", there is something infectious about Night Minutes, and their ability to evoke the summery, 1960s girl group feel without sacrificing depth is one of the band's greatest strengths. Despite only being three tracks long, I've yet to tire of the EP. There's not a weak song to be found, and for such a short recording it is well-paced: the upbeat "Sweetheart..." is followed by the slower, more contemplative "Queens", with the fabulous, building "Lord, I can never be your mirror" rounding out the record. There’s not much more you can ask of a young band. Having set the bar quite high with their debut effort, I am excited to see what Night Minutes have in store for the future. - Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Night Minutes is the new project of the always-charming Max J Hansson of the soon-to-be-departed Cut City in which he collaborates with Ms. Anna Knutsson of the likewise-great/still-going-strong We Live in Trenches (who still need to send me mp3s of the album btw). While it is surely a shame that CC is going under, the prospect of Max playing in a far more actively active band is far more exciting. You see, Max lives in Göteborg and the rest of those dudes live down in Malmö... it's not that far, but far enough to cause complications. With Night Minutes there are no such issues, just quality JAMC-inspired jangle noise. The Raveonettes are an obvious point of comparison too, though Night Minutes' fuzzy sheen is more trve lo-fi in comparison to the Dane's well-manicured gloss. Anyhow, "Sweetheart of the funeral" is my favorite of the three songs off their forthcoming self-titled debut EP, due out soon via offshoot -- heavy on the girl group vibe, but not overselling it. The female/male vocal tradeoffs in combination with the cheap and raw organ tones make for quality noisepop, that's really all there is to it. It's easy to like and I'm immediately smitten.
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU:
01. Niels Nielsen - Dpend
02. TALK 1
03. Haleiwa - Pure vida dude
04. Óðmenn - Einn ég ræ
05. The Bear Quartet - Lovers goodbye
06. Night Minutes - Sweetheart at the funeral
07. TALK 2
08. A Swarm of the Sun - The worms are out
09. Logh - An alliance of hearts
10. Tomas Halberstad - I must be in love
11. TALK 3
12. Liechtenstein - On the tram
13. Scraps of Tape - Blindspot
14. Dear Euphoria - Coming down
15. Dyno - Emotional
16. TALK 4
17. Kvelertak - Ordsmedar av rang
18. The Social Services - Baltic Sea
19. Oriel Joans - Knuckles whiten
20. TALK 5
21. Ted Gärdestad - Oh, vilken härlig dag
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.
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU:
01. Håkan Hellström - Kann ingen sorg för mig Göteborg
02. TALK 1
03. Enforcer - Katana
04. Existensminimum - 1993
05. Ludwig Bell - Kärlek slutar alltid med bråk
06. TALK 2
07. Karla-Therese Kjellvander & The Rockridge Brothers - New season
08. Lapko - Summer nights
09. CEO - No mercy
10. Night Minutes - Lord I can never be your mirror
11. TALK 3
12. Dungen - Marken låg stille
13. My Brother the Wind - Electric universe
14. Rigas den Andre - W.A.S.P. (R2 remix)
15. TALK 4
16. Waklevören - Oslo spy
17. Okkultokrati - Tail of the snakewind
18. Haust - Vomiting
19. TALK 5
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.
Night Minutes
Night Minutes
