Artist: The Hives
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6
Riding a huge wave of success and acknowledgement, the freaks are out and back again. This, the follow up to 2005's "Sweden we got a problem", is, despite its simplicity, a more complex record. The hardcore fans, however should not be alarmed by this, the trademark madness QYD do so well is intact throughout all 13 tracks. The impression I get when listening to "Tools for fools" is that the songwriting has improved. For better and worse, I must add. The head-on, full-frontal punkrock with surf vibes, the all-or-nothing feeling is lost on this album at times. And to be really honest, this is one band that is more suited for just releasing EPs. When the band sounds like a date between Dead Kennedys and The Cramps on speed in "Danger! Fire kills children", it's like coming home again. Robert Johnson & the Punchdrunks would be proud of a song like "Medieval monsters in the modern man" and "Bodypoppers" is a smart move as the first single, being co-written with The Sounds. To sum it up, these maniacs are enjoying recognition from all sorts of characters including Blag Dahlia from The Dwarves, Ok Go, The Hives and, more surprising, R.A. The Rugged Man who is also featured on the opening track "Warmachine". I salute them as well! If they had just weeded out some of the weaker material, the grade would've been higher, for sure.
- Jonas Appelqvist
Listen to "You got it all wrong", a new track from The Hives: http://zaphod.uk.vvhp.net/v-v/071004145303
The video for "Tick tick boom" is now up on The Hives' homepage: http://www.thehivesbroadcastingservice.com/ (scroll to the bottom)
The Hives have started to stream tracks from their new album "The black and white album", starting with "Try it again": http://del.interoute.com/?id=49b875dc-8e37-4b2a-aaac-95ede6f5cb8a&delivery=stream
The Hives have thankfully added a few headlining gigs to their upcoming US tour supporting Maroon 5:
09/30 - Metro, Chicago, IL
10/03 - Phoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto, Ontario
10/09 - Webster Hall, New York, NY
10/14 - Middle East, Boston, MA
10/17 - The Black Cat, Washington, DC
11/01 - The Showbox SoDo, Seattle, WA
11/07 - Avalon, Los Angeles, CA
The question that everyone wants to know: who was the best band at Way Out West? Sounds easy enough, but it's almost impossible to answer. How can you compare Woven Hand to Boredoms to The Hives? All were fantastic, albeit in totally different ways. However, it must be said that one of the most satisfying live experiences of the entire festival had to be Laakso. A small club show at Sticky Fingers was a perfect way to close out Friday night and easily one of the biggest highlights of my trip. It's funny - except for fellow IAT contributor Jonas Appelqvist, most everyone else I know in GBG could care less about the band, but we were both incredibly excited to see them. Not that I'm all that surprised though - I can totally understand why most Swedes would be bored with the big indie acts. On the other hand, everybody agrees that "Italy vs Helsinki" is a fantastic song. It's also unanimous that The Hives are one of the world's best live bands. Not that that fact should come as a surprise, but there you go. Anyhow, Laakso delivered the kind of show I was hoping for. Energetic, cathartic, glorious, beautiful.
Laakso - Worst case scenario
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.
Maroon 5 will have the pleasure of letting The Hives blow them off the stage every night for their upcoming tour:
09/29 - Palace of Auburn Hills, Auburn Hills, MI
10/01 - Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul, MN
10/02 - Allstate Arena, Rosemont, IL
10/04 - Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario
10/05 - Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
10/07 - Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH
10/08 - John Paul Jones Arena, Charlottesville, VA
10/10 - Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
10/12 - Mohegan Sun, Uncasville, CT
10/13 - Wachnovia Center, Philadelphia, PA
10/15 - TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, MA
10/16 - Verizon Center, Washington, DC
10/18 - Colonial Center, Columbia, SC
10/20 - Bank Atlantic Center, Sunrise, FL
10/21 - St. Pete Times Forum, St. Petersburg, FL
10/23 - Amway Arena, Orlando, FL
10/24 - Gwinett Civic Center, Duluth, GA
10/26 - Toyota Center, Houston, TX
10/27 - Convention Center, Fort Worth, TX
10/29 - Pepsi Center, Denver, CO
10/31 - Energy Solutions Arena, Salt Lake City, UT
11/02 - Memorial Coliseum, Portland, OR
11/03 - Pacific Coliseum, Vancouver, BC
11/05 - ARCO Arena, Sacramento, CA
11/06 - HP Pavilion, San Jose, CA
11/08 - Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
11/09 - Cox Arena, San Diego, CA
11/10 - The Pearl, Las Vegas, NV
6
It's a shame that Streetwaves couldn't keep up the emotional velocity set out in the powerful opener "Whatever is available will be your next step", by far the best track on the entire record. But the energy is high throughout and I hope that my opening line does not color "The pleasure to end all pleasures" too darkly; while it has it's flaws, it's a fun, vigorous garage-indie-rock album. The bar is merely set very high by the opening track, and it remains a bar that the album doesn't approach again. The gritty Nine Black Alps and The Hives influenced mode, while strongly written and executed, occasionally suffers from a lack of direction and songs that could easily have been shortened by at least a minute. Complaints aside, there are a number of excellent high points. "Choking in the boysroom" is one the better dark indie songs I've heard in a while, its shorter length and lower-fi production benefiting the composition. The Pavement-like "Holy stranger" shows that Streetwaves are just as competent with slower tempos and clocks in as my second favorite song on the album. While far from faultless, "The pleasure to end all pleasures" is a dirty garage rock record, and in this vein it works – we already have enough finely tuned, flawlessly polished, and forgettable acts like The Strokes out there.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
The Wall Street Journal had an article on the latest Swedish music explosion the other day: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118013401357815214.html?mod=weekend_leisure_arts_hs_coll_left
Seems to me like a rehash of everything that was said a few years ago when The Hives and TSOOL were getting press, but whatever. A subscription is required to read the article, so if someone would be kind enough to repost the text in the msgboard, I'd appreciate it.
Swedish rockers Jimmy Lingon have a new set of preproduction demos posted for listening on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/jimmylingon
Pretty rough in some ways, but definitely showing potential. Kinda reminds of The Hives, 'cept with more of a straight-up soul/r'n'b influence.
Quit Your Dayjob
Streetwaves
