Artist: Nikola Sarcevic
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Nikola Sarcevic, I'm taking back my 'Most improved in 2006' award and bestowing it upon Loveninjas. Their debut EP "Keep your love" was utterly dreadful - a near-perfect embodiment of most everything I despise about tweepop. Let it be known: I do not hate this. Upon hearing the chatter about what a changed band they'd become with the release of the single "I wanna be like Johnny C", I figured I ought to give them a second chance. I'm glad I did because that song is fantastic - a shining pop marvel that harkens back to the time when alternative music was still known as college rock. Unfortunately, glimmers of the olden days still pop up now and again ("She broke his penis in two" for example) and the rest of songs rarely rise above mediocre status. Still, that's a heckuva lot better than I expected, so let me call it at 'inoffensive' and hope you understand I mean it as a compliment.
- Avi Roig
This week's It's a trap! Last.fm/Audioscrobbler listening group top 10 tracks of the week:
01. The Killers – When You Were Young
02. The Shins – Sleeping Lessons
03. Loveninjas – I Wanna Be Like Johnny C
04. The Shins – Australia
05. The Shins – Phantom Limb
06. Nikola Sarcevic – Love Is Trouble
07. The Shins – Pam Berry
08. The Shins – Red Rabbits
09. The Killers – Sam's Town
10. I'm from Barcelona – We're From Barcelona
And the top 10 albums of the week:
01. Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
02. The Arcade Fire – Funeral
03. The Knife – Deep Cuts
04. Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
05. Band of Horses – Everything All the Time
06. The Strokes – Is This It
07. The Knife – Silent Shout
08. The Radio Dept. – Pet Grief
09. Thom Yorke – The Eraser
10. Hello Saferide – Introducing...
Want to make your own playlist count? Join us! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/
Millencolin (Sarcevic's band) has always been more about killer melodies than any Dostoyevsky-like lyrics, and one problem with Sarcevic's first solo album was that the lyrics appeared naïve and awkward, being laid so bare with only an acoustic backdrop. Don't get me wrong, I've always liked Millencolin's lyrics - they work well with the music - but in a The Descendents sort of way, not in a The Mountain Goats way. This time around, Nikola Sarcevic's lyrics have really improved. The overtly simple rhymes from "Lock-sport-krock" shine with their absence. The music itself has also improved, the album feels much more “natural” and less stilted this time around. It's still of the same singer/songwriter school as his debut though, but just much more solid and … better! Hopefully Sarcevic will bring along all this progression to the next Millencolin album.
- Simon Tagestam
This week's It's a trap! Last.fm/Audioscrobbler listening group top 10 tracks of the week:
01. The Killers – When You Were Young
02. Nikola Sarcevic – Love Is Trouble
03. The Killers – Sam's Town
04. Sufjan Stevens – Chicago
05. The Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
06. Cat Power – The Greatest
07. Anna Ternheim – Feels Like Sand
08. The Killers – Enterlude
09. The Killers – Bones
10. The Arcade Fire – Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
And the top 10 albums of the week:
01. The Arcade Fire – Funeral
02. The Knife – Deep Cuts
03. Cat Power – The Greatest
04. The Radio Dept. – Pet Grief
05. Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
06. Radiohead – OK Computer
07. The Knife – Silent Shout
08. Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
09. The Radio Dept. – Lesser Matters
10. Jens Lekman – Oh You're So Silent Jens
Want to make your own playlist count? Join us! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/
In case you missed my note yesterday, I've got a bunch of new stuff added to the mailorder section including titles from Ane Brun, Britta Persson, Nikola Sarcevic, Promoe and more: [click here]
I hereby decree that the 2006 most improved artist award goes to Nikola Sarcevic for his album "Roll roll and flee". The Millencolin frontman's first solo album "Lock-sport-krock" in 2004 sounded like little more than a few leftover songs from his main band, slowed down and performed acoustically. It felt much more like a vanity project as opposed to an artist struggling to break free from the expectations and constraints of his regular band. However, all that has changed with the new record - Nikola has finally discovered the nuance required to take his material to the next level. He sounds much more comfortable performing in a country/folk idiom, never forced or contrived. I can't say whether or not he'll have a strong solo career ahead of him like his peer Kristofer Åström (who released his first solo record "Go, went, gone" in 1998 after four albums with Fireside), but listening to songs like the one I've posted today, it's not hard to imagine. I'm impressed.
Nikola Sarcevic - Love is trouble
The video for Nikola Sarcevic's new single "Soul for sale" is up on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/nikolasarcevic
Millencolin frontman Nikola Sarcevic has posted a brand new solo track on his myspace profile: http://www.myspace.com/nikolasarcevic
Millencolin frontman Nikola Sarcevic will be releasing a new solo album on Burning Heart later this year, his follow-up to 2004's "Lock-Sport-Krock". In other Millencolin sideproject news, guitarist Mattias Färm is fronting a new project called Franky Lee also featuring Fredrik Granburg from Randy on drums and Magnus Hägerås from The Peepshows on guitar and bass. They'll be releasing their debut album this fall and some samples should hopefully be online soon.
Randy always blow me away when I see them play live and I'd recommend everyone to try and catch them if they happen to come to play anywhere near where you live. Their show on this night was no exception to above statement (even though the crowd participation was pretty "tame"). It's the first time I've seen Randy play songs from their last album, hopefully they'll come back soon to do a proper headline gig. Whereas the people watching Randy didn't seem that interested, in Millencolin's case it was Nikola Sarcevic – their singer – who appear quite aloof (the kids didn't seem to care though and went nuts, as always when Millencolin are in town). This didn't bother me too much though since when I walked into the venue I bumped into an acquaintance of mine, whose company combined with some beers made the whole night (Millencolin's show included) a fun experience.
- Simon Tagestam
It's been two years since Millencolin has been on the West Coast and I, being the requisite fan, was looking forward to seeing them. Something about seeing a band two nights in a row sounds kinda boring but it was nothing but. The bands that opened for Millencolin on their little trek across the West were Roses Are Red, A Thorn For Every Heart and Boys Night Out. I wasn't really impressed with seeing three bands that were all five-pieces and it was really hard to decide if it was a cruel joke of sorts. Oh well, at least some of the kids there were into them.
Then came the headliners.
Millencolin burst onto the stage with energy and the crowd responded accordingly. They played about four songs off of their latest release "Kingwood" and also peppered the a-little-over-an-hour long set both nights with songs from "Same old tunes", "Life on a plate", "For monkeys and "Pennybridge pioneers". In-between song banter between guitarists Erik Ohlsson and Mathias Färm and bassist Nikola Sarcevic were lively and entertaining. I'm not sure how many times my neck became a target for crowd surfers during the Henry Fonda show but it was worth being up close and personal with the band. The crowd for both shows were very different. For some reason, all the idiots that throw stuff at bands during their set decided to show up for the Anaheim show. Whatever. I had fun meeting them on Saturday, having my glasses knocked off and smashed to bits, getting a random drunk guy putting his arm around me after that show and seeing them put up with flying shoes and water bottles on Sunday. Good times all around.
- Navy Keophan
If you like David & the Citizens I shall hereby save you a minute or two by informing you that David Fridlund's solo album sounds like David & the Citizens and it's as good. So stop reading and go and buy it now, thank you very much. For all you other people who have never heard David & the Citizens, here you go:
It seems to be quite a trend to release solo albums lately in Sweden, but whereas usually these solo outings take on a completely different form than how the artist's band sounds like (e.g. Fireside's Kristofer Åström, International Noise Conspiracy's Dennis Lyxzen's Last Patrol, or Millencolin's Nikola Sarcevic), David's solo album sounds in fact quite a lot like a D&tC's first album (only a bit slower and less energetic). Even though it would have been interesting with an album that sounded completely different from D&tC, "Amaterasu" is so good that one quickly forget the initial disappointment and such before mentioned speculations, because by calling this just "another D&tC album" what that really equals is "another excellent album."
Another expectation on solo albums is of course for the lyrical content to deal with more personal issues, but if you've heard D&tC you know that their lyrics hardly can be any more personal and intimate. It should also be said that David Fridlund writes excellent lyrics and often manages to come up with lines that cunningly drill themselves into your brain, set root, and refuse to leave (such as "Rub your allergic eyes and look at me" from "Satellite", which is one of the best songs on the album). In the beginning of their career numerous people compared D&tC to Bright Eyes, and that comparison is still valid although "Amaterasu" is not as angst-driven as most of Bright Eyes' material. It's also a quite long album, but it's so varied it hardly ever becomes repetitive, but it's not really amazingly accessible either and it took quite a few listenings before I really got into it.
- Simon Tagestam
Millencolin frontman Nikola Sarcevic will be taking his solo act on the road with four gigs in Germany this December. Backing him will be various folks from The Peepshows and Bombshell Rocks. Dates:
12/07 - Molotow, Hamburg
12/08 - Mud Club, Berlin
12/09 - Prime Club, Köln
12/10 - Amadeus, Oldenburg
Finally, Burning Heart issues a press release concerning their upcoming "Heart Attack" 10 year anniversary compilation: http://www.burningheart.com/news/article.php?id=140
This thing's been in the works for a loooooong time, so I'm very excited to see that it's finally coming out on October 25. So many amazing collaborations! Full tracklist:
01. T(I)NC - Black Mask
02. C. Aarmé - Tu Puta Mi Casa
03. Promoe - These Walls Don't Lie
04. Nine - Inferno
05. Moneybrother - Reconsider Me
06. Turbonegro - Drenched In Blood (DIB)
07. Nasum - Darkness Falls
08. The Weakerthans - The Reasons
09. Raised Fist - Message Beneath Contempt
10. Nikola Sarcevic - Lovetrap
11. Division Of Laura Lee - Endless Factories
12. Refused - Refused Are Fucking Dead
13. Puffball - Take You Down
14. Looptroop - Don't Hate The Player
15. VOAG - Cause For Alarm
16. Give Up The Ghost - Love American
17. X-Ray Eyes - Randy
18. The Peepshows - Count Me Out
19. Bombshell Rocks - Warpath
20. The Lost Patrol - Alright
21. Between Us - Dialog
22. The Hives - Untutored Youth
23. Millencolin - Happiness For Dogs
24. The Business - No One Likes
25. Division Of Laura Lee - I Don't Wanna Hear It
26. Turbonegro - Repo Man
27. Nasum - The Real
28. Randy - Beware
29. Nobodys Heroes - Wrongones
30. Moneybrother/Looptroop - Looking For More Love
31. C. Aarmé - You're A Dead Box
32. Raised Fist - Time Will Let You Go, All Alone And Break
33. The Lost Patrol Band - My Heart Is Still A Mess
34. Nine - United Forces
35. Club Killers - Some Of Them A Bawl
36. Millencolin - AB Böna Och Be
37. Sounds Like Violence - You Give Me Heartattacks
38. T(I)NC inhale Blacksmoke - Armed Love
Loveninjas
Nikola Sarcevic
