Artist: The Hellacopters
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This week's top 20 Swedish album chart:
01. Charlotte Perrelli - Hero
02. Christer Sjögren - Jubileum 40 år med Christer Sjögren
03. Sanna Nielsen - Stronger
04. Peter Lemarc - Lemarc live!
05. Melissa Horn - Långa nätter
06. Amy Diamond - Music in motion
07. Nordman - Djävul eller gud
08. Brolle - Ett hjärta som glöder som en gång brann
09. The Hellacopters - Head off
10. Tiamat - Amanethes
11. Håkan Hellström - För sent för Edelweiss
12. BWO - Pandemonium - The singles collection
14. Linda Bengtzing - Vild & galen
15. In Flames - A sense of purpose
16. Mikael Wiehe & Ebba Forsberg - Dylan på Svenska
17. Maia Hirasawa - Though, I'm just me (new edition)
18. Veronica Maggio - Och vinnaren är...
19. Chords - Things we do for things
20. Takida - Bury the lies
The Hellacopters are working on compiling a retrospective DVD documentary and are looking for people to send in footage. Contact film@hellacopters.com if you have rare clips to share.
This week's top 20 Swedish album chart:
01. Charlotte Perrelli - Hero
02. Sanna Nielsen - Stronger
03. Looptroop Rockers - Good things
04. Christer Sjögren - Jubileum 40 år med Christer Sjögren
05. Brolle - Ett hjärta som glöder som en gång brann
06. The Hellacopters - Head off
07. Håkan Hellström - För sent för Edelweiss
08. Nordman - Djävul eller gud
09. BWO - Pandemonium - The singles collection
10. In Flames - A sense of purpose
11. Linda Bengtzing - Vild & galen
12. Pugh Rogefeldt - Vinn hjärta vinn
14. Amy Diamond - Music in motion
15. Takida - Bury the lies
16. Maia Hirasawa - Though, I'm just me (new edition)
17. Oh Laura - A song inside my head, a demon in my bed
18. Veronica Maggio - Och vinnaren är...
19. Monica Zetterlund - Sakta vi gå genom stan - Det bästa med Monica
20. Tommy Körberg - Rakt upp och ner
This week's top 20 Swedish album chart:
01. Sanna Nielsen - Stronger
02. Christer Sjögren - Jubileum 40 år med Christer Sjögren
03. The Hellacopters - Head off
04. Brolle - Ett hjärta som glöder som en gång brann
05. Håkan Hellström - För sent för Edelweiss
06. BWO - Pandemonium - The singles collection
07. Nordman - Djävul eller gud
08. In Flames - A sense of purpose
09. Streaplers - Rakt av
10. Linda Bengtzing - Vild & galen
11. Oh Laura - A song inside my head, a demon in my bed
12. Amy Diamond - Music in motion
14. Monica Zetterlund - Sakta vi gå genom stan - Det bästa med Monica
15. Maia Hirasawa - Though, I'm just me (new edition)
16. Edith Backlund - Death by honey
17. Takida - Bury the lies
18. Caracola - This is Caracola
19. Pugh Rogefeldt - vinn hjärta vinn
20. Veronica Maggio - och vinnaren är...
Remember De Stijl? They were one of the many Swedish garage-rock bands that got hyped on the coattails of The Hives' success. At least that's the way it appeared to me, though Sweden has a long tradition of great bands in this vein, stretching back to scene godfathers the Nomads. Like many people (I imagine), I first became aware of the stuff through The Hellacopters before discovering the superb "Swedish sins '97" comp which of course led to more and more bands. But that's a post for another time- today we're talking about De Stijl and the single "Date times" off the 2003 record "Yeahvolution!". It's snotty, brash and undeniably catchy, especially with those tuneless frat-rock backups. It's not the kind of thing that'll change your life, but it'll certainly brighten up 90 seconds of your day. So where are these guys now? I know they released a follow-up in 2005, but I haven't heard anything since?
De Stijl - Date times
The Hellacopters' final album "Head off" is confirmed for release in Sweden on April 18 via the band's own Psychout Records. The first single comes out March 20. Wild Kingdom will handle the album in Europe, Backstage Alliance in Finland, the Baltics and Russia and Toy's Factory will take care of things in Japan.
Legendary Swedish rockers The Hellacopters will be breaking up after the release of their next album and subsequent tour. Read the full statement: http://www.hellacopters.com/site/default.asp
Unfortunately, it appears there will be no US dates so American fans may have to travel to catch 'em one last time.
Death Breath, Nicke Andersson's (The Hellacopters) old-school death metal sideproject, will tour Sweden in late October. Dates here: http://www.luger.se/_nyheter.asp?PK_Id=800
Fest update! Friday was great - Low exceeded expectations and Woven Hand was amazing. I couldn't get into Trail of Dead, but I did manage to catch Last Days of April to wrap up the evening and they were pretty damn good too. Saturday started nicely with a thunderous set from Boredoms followed by my first-ever in-person Hello Saferide show. Some folks tell me it wasn't their best, but I was more than happy. The Hellacopters and The Hives both brought the rawk like you would expect and after that I decided to bail early to Sticky Fingers so I could stake out a position for Laakso. It was obviously the right move 'cuz that place filled up mighty quick right after we got there. Seeing Juvelen open was bonus. As for Laakso, it was brilliant. Practically a greatest-hits set you could say. Oh, and Annika Norlin performed the "Italy v Helsinki" duet. Good times! Pictures to come as well.
The playlist for my radio show this week:
01. Death By Kite - Scared of heights
02. TALK 1
03. Kompjotr Eplektrika - Crakkin zombees...
04. Monomen - Asian spacestation
05. José González - Hints
06. TALK 2
07. I Am Bones - Backpackers
08. Ellen Beach - The widespread acclaim
09. Moder Jords Massiva - Ingenting
10. TALK 3
11. Iisole - The words
12. Kornstad - Sweden
13. Cortex - Mind of darkness
14. TALK 4
15. Silverbullit - Run
16. [ingenting] - Hollywood dreams
17. In Flames - The jester race
18. TALK 5
19. Nicolai Dunger - Soul rush
20. Existensminimum - Changing lines
21. Echo Is Your Love - Peace song
22. TALK 6
23. Laakso - The death of us
24. Christian Kjellvander - Words in the wires
25. Mustasch - Double nature
26. TALK 7
27. Tellevika + Firefox AK - Eric
28. Tape - A spire
29. C.Aarmé - Golden retriever
30. TALK 8
31. The Bear Quartet - Put me back together
32. Susanne Sundfør - Walls
33. The Hellacopters - Like no other man
34. TALK 9
35. Aerial - You will all die, all things will
The Hellacopters have joined the ranks of rock legends Kiss (and others) with the introduction of their very own pinball machine: http://www.hellacopters.com/site/default.asp
Check out the microsite for the new comp "Ge Fan I Våra Vatten", a benefit to raise money for fish/water restoration: http://www.sportfiskarna.se/gefan/
Many of the contributing acts such as Erik Ohlsson from Millencolin and Kimmo Kirvesmäki of Voice Of A Generation/The Accidents are sport fishermen themselves, so consider this a labor of love. Other contributing acts include The Hives, The Hellacopters, Millencolin, Soundtrack Of Our Lives, Backyard Babies, Moneybrother, Weeping Willows and Randy. It comes out on May 18.
The Hellacopters report that progress on their new album is going well. Once again, they are working with producer Chips K (Sator) and they plan to have it mixed by Henryk Lipp in early May. Expect a fall release.
I hate irony in music. Hate it with passion. That's one of the reasons that Scandinavian music is appealing to me - it's so refreshingly irony-free. Bands like The Hellacopters play ridiculous, over-the-top arena rock, but there's no "ha-ha, we're only joking" wink-wink/nudge-nudge to it. They play it like that's what they were meant to do and they do it well. There's nothing half-ass about it and that's why it's awesome.
So why does The Bear Quartet's "Fuck your slow songs" appeal to me? It's approach is so blatant, but that too, is the point. The lyrics:
"Your criticism has been noticed
and we plead guilty to a major part
but nothing's easier or more fun
than annoying young punks
so we slowed it down
and added strings and a steel guitar
we wrote song words
about how misunderstood we are"
It's entrapment! If you're annoyed, it means they've won. It's true - nothing is easier than annoying young punks and I know that first-hand. The song itself isn't exceptional, but it serves as a fine anthem for the band's dissatisfaction with the musical norms of the day and proves to be prognostic with regards to their future path. That's more than enough to make it Important with a capital i.
2001's "Gay icon" was the first BQ album I bought. Despite my horror at the gatefold image, I found it to be a great introduction to the band as I immediately set off to devour their vast back catalogue. The music tends to be a bit too typical slacker/indierock for my tastes, but that's okay - there's plenty of highlights to make up for it.
The Bear Quartet - Fuck your slow songs