Artist: Sad Day For Puppets
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Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU:
01. TALK 1
02. Culkin - Breathholders
03. Max Peezay - Boven i droven
04. Detektivbyrån - En annan typ av disco
05. Billie the Vision & the Dancers - You'd better watch out, 'cause I like you
06. TALK 2
07. Sad Day for Puppets - Marble gods
08. Viola - The hardest hit
09. Samuraj Cities - Spoonful of talk
10. Kalle J - I skydd av mörkret
11. TALK 3
12. Murmansk - Vague language
13. Boeoes Kaelstigen - Radius (Dmitry Fyodorov Radius Relaxation Remix)
14. The Low Frequency in Stereo - Texas fox
15. David Åhlén - We sprout in thy soil
16. TALK 4
17. Paper - Out of it into it
18. Andreas Tilliander - Caught in a riot
19. On Volcano - Out of sight
20. Entombed - Seeing red
21. TALK 5
22. Säkert! - Någon gång måste du bli själv
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.
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This week is a great week for Swedish music connoisseurs living in London, both Sad Day for Puppets and First Aid Kit are playing here. Yesterday I went to The Social to see Sad Day for Puppets. First up were The Deer Tracks (also from Sweden), who play music I don't get at all – some kind of slow ambient electro drone. There are fans of this genre, I'm pretty certain on that, but I don't associate with them. I watched half their set, then I ordered another beer and sat down as far away from the stage I could.
Sad Day for Puppets are great, their album is very solid and they've got some blinding songs (they sound a bit like a more melodic The Radio Dept. or a more shoegazing Camera Obscura). Yesterday it was all shambles though, mostly due to the sound situation being catastrophic. Over the weekend I went to a festival in Oslo and, despite short changeovers and stressed out musicians, nothing there sounded as bad as yesterday's show. There was feedback throughout the whole set and Anna Ecklund's vocals were barely audible (something that the crowd kept pointing out, alas to no avail). I don't blame the band, they did as best as they could, just a shame that they had to suffer on the behalf of a sound engineer not being able to do his job (The Deer Tracks brought their own engineer who annoyingly ran back and forth all the time to check that the sound was ok, but at least he got the job done). I'm not particularly fussy about how a gig sounds, as long as I can hear the vocals I'm usually ok, so this was a very rare occasion where the quality of the sound actually ruined my whole gig experience. A total waste of £6 and an evening.
- Simon Tagestam
Swedish indierockers Sad Day for Puppets will be releasing a new 7" via UK-based label Sonic Cathedral featuring "Marble gods" b/w "Big waves". The official release date is March 2, but you can preorder now: http://www.soniccathedral.co.uk/shop.html
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The 90s have been somewhat redeemed in recent years - grunge has made a little resurgence in acts like Nine Black Alps and I Am Bones; Britpop has retained much of its shimmer; indie acts like Pavement and Dinosaur Jr. continue to inspire... but what of the other stuff that was happening back then? Sad Day For Puppets would fit quite perfectly onto the "So I Married An Axe Murderer" soundtrack, right between the Boo Radleys, Spin Doctors, and Toad the Wet Sprocket, and yet this designation doesn't seem to carry with it the dreaded "cultural black hole" label for Sad Day that haunts so much of the artistic contributions of the 1990s. The influence is there, but somehow Sad Day instill a degree of sincerity into the saccharine-sweet swells of guitars. The music is just as catchy, and yet there's no bad taste left in the mouth. There is also an attempt on "Unknown colors" to update this decade-old sound: "Mother's tears", the album's standout, takes a less optimistic approach, a little reminiscent of The Stone Roses; "Lay your burden on me" could almost be a Granada song; and I can't help but hear a little Håkan Hellström in "Last night". Sad Day For Puppets have achieved quite a feat - an album saturated in the 90s that doesn't feel like a guilty pleasure.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
More 90s indie nostalgia? Sure, why not! Norway's Simon Says No! doesn't really mine the same territory as say, Sad Day for Puppets -- they've got more in common with bands like Culkin or maybe Giant Boar, 'cept that's not right either. Simon Says No! is more muscular, heavier. I'm actually reminded a lot of fellow Norwegian act Cadillac who evoked similar 90s alt-rock feelings with a bit more of a detached stoner vibe. There might be a little Motorpsycho and 120 Days in there too, however the one band that's the strongest touchstone for me would have to be Chavez. Especially on tracks like "Shiver", with its big, beefy riffs and that continually buzzing part persisting throughout. It's a good formula, even if the song itself loses its luster once you get past the immediacy of the big guitars. Too many starts and stops, not enough memorable melodies to latch onto. Still, as demo bands go, I can't complain. There's potential.
Simon Says No! - Shiver
90s-style guitar-based indierock never fully went away, but I think we're finally ready for a proper resurgence. Hopefully all the retarded "rockism" talk has faded to the background enough for folks with loud guitars to emerge unashamed. And why should they be? I like rock music; rock music is good. I like plenty of other music too, but it's hard to compete with the classic distorted tones coming out of a cranked-up amplifier. It's not just a silly masculine thing either, just listen to Sad Day for Puppets or think back to all the other exceptions. It speaks to the hardcore/punk roots of indierock -- level the field, anyone can (and should) play. "Mother's tears" obviously hearkens to the blueprint set by My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus and Mary Chain with even a bit of The Sundays tossed in for good measure, but they succeed with more than retro rehash. Yes, it strongly evokes the giants of bygone, but it sounds fresh in their hands. Digging deeper into the album "Unknown colors" offers even more variety and surprises, reminding me how much I love this stuff. I want MORE.
Sad Day For Puppets - Mother's tears
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show:
01. Familjen - Nu händer det igen
02. TALK 1
03. Murmansk - Pale
04. KTMK - Valaistu risti
05. Lapko - Hugging the phone
06. Hebosagil - Big sun
07. TALK 2
08. Samuraj Cities - Washed up!
09. Sad Day for Puppets - Marble gods
10. Logh - An alliance of hearts
11. Epidemics - Never grow up
12. TALK 3
13. Simon Says No! - Shiver
14. Kornstad - Turkey, Texas
15. Spirits of the Dead - White lady/Black rave
16. TALK 4
17. Laakso - Hang me in the Christmas tree
Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XM U. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and in my house, channel 831 on DirecTV.
Swedish indiepop acts Palpitation, Billie the Vision and the Dancers and Sad Day for Puppets will play a special show together at UT Connewitz in Leipzig October 2, presented by FRWRD Booking and radio program 45minutes.
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This is the debut release from the Stockholm-based band. It's released on Radio LXMBRG's Haha Fonogram Records, and produced by Alex Svenson-Metés of the same band. Musically, this couldn't be further apart from Radio LXMBRG. "Annie says" is reminiscent is one of The Concretes' more tender moments, whilst the rest of the EP brings to mind eighties indie pop bands like The Cocteau Twins and the long-forgotten, but rather excellent, Voice Of The Beehive. The dreamy melodic sounds transport the listener back to a more innocent time when shonky anorak-clad bands genuinely believed they could change the world. With this release, Sad Day For Puppets are very well placed to capitalise on the micro indie-pop phenomenon currently doing the rounds on MySpace.
- Nick Levine
Swedish shoegazers Sad Day for Puppets are confirmed to release their debut EP "Just like a ghost" on April 9 via HaHa Fonogram (Radio LXMBRG). Hear samples at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/saddayforpuppets
Reminds me a bit of The Sundays, but with a bit more fuzz layered on top.