is doing a reissue of classic Swedish power/indiepop act Happydeadmen's debut album "Eleven pop songs" on the occasion of said album's 20th anniversary. The new edition will include new liner notes from label boss Ola Hermanson, the man who originally released the record, as well as Johan Angergård, who of course you should know from Acid House Kings/The Legends/Club 8/. More info and sample tunes at the website: http://www.fractiondiscs.se/
Wamer Climes interviews Johan Angergård of The Legends/Club 8/Labrador Records: http://warmer-climes.blogspot.com/2009/10/facts-figures-with-johan-angergard-of.html
Under the Radar interviews Johan Angergård of The Legends: http://www.undertheradarmag.com/interviews/the_legends/
Pitchfork reviews The Legends' track "Always the same": http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/11368-always-the-same/
Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week, unique to our group:
01. Håkan Hellström
02. The Legends
03. Mew
04. Kristofer Åström
05. Fanfarlo
06. Anna Ternheim
07. The Radio Dept.
08. Phoenix
09. Jonathan Johansson
10. Red House Painters
Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/
Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week, unique to our group:
01. Hello Saferide
02. Håkan Hellström
03. Tiger Lou
04. A Camp
05. The Legends
06. Jenny Wilson
07. Jens Lekman
08. Shout Out Louds
09. The Fine Arts Showcase
10. Fleet Foxes
Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/
The Legends are doing a few East Coast shows this week:
06/23 - Bell House, Brooklyn, NY
06/24 - Santos Party House, New York, NY
06/25 - The Bowery, New York, NY
06/26 - The Studio at Webster Hall, New York, NY
06/27 - Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Legends' new album "Over and over" is currently streaming at Spinner: http://www.spinner.com/new-releases#/14
Labrador is giving away yet another song from The Legends as a free download: http://www.labrador.se/YouWon/TheLegends-You_won.mp3
Spin has the premiere of The Legends' new video for "Always the same": http://www.spin.com/articles/exclusive-legends-fuzzy-summertime-jam
Labrador is giving away The Legends' new single "Always the same" as a free download: http://www.labrador.se/mp3/TheLegends_AlwaysTheSame.mp3
Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week, unique to our group:
01. Anna Järvinen
02. Bob Hund
03. Loney, Dear
04. Håkan Hellström
05. The Concretes
06. El Perro del Mar
07. The Legends
08. Kristofer Åström
09. Bon Iver
10. Kent
Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/
The LegendsWith his first three albums, The Legends' Johan Angergård slowly traveled through his enormous catalogue of musical references, from 60's rock to 80's wave and 90's pop. All the while, The Legends managed to show an originality in their genre-bending musicality that always made them more than a simple retro-act. Still, their musical development seems to leave The Legends with a dilemma for their new album: What should the next logical step be when reaching contemporaray influences in their musical journey. Fuzz R&B? Ringtone shoegaze? Maybe not so surprisingly, "Over and over" takes the opposite chronological direction. Only this time, with the first three albums up their sleeves, The Legends can move on from ordinary reference to actual self-reference. Accordingly, the new album contains bits and pieces from The Legends' previous periods -- fuzz-pop, synth-layers, and quite some Pet Shop Boys'isms -- amalgamated with influences from Johan Angergård's other projects Club 8 and Acid House Kings. Quite logically, "Over and over" therefore lacks the aesthetic uniformity and clear vision that made the first three albums stand out. This becomes most obvious when The Legends noisiest single ever, last fall's brilliant "Seconds away", only two songs later gives way to a clear-sounding, very 60's pop boy-girl duet. What the album lacks in coherence in its sound-design is, in part, made up by Johan Angergård's ever-impressive songwriting and fondness for melodies, especially during the record's strong first half. Still, considering their landmark earlier efforts, I'd expected a little more from The Legends than this motley crew of somewhat divergent reference-pop. But then again, maybe they're just surprising us by transforming from an album-band to a singles-band, just like in the old days.
- Arnulf Köhncke
The Legends' new album "Over and over" will now be released on May 6 via Labrador Records.
The Legends' as-yet-untitled new album has been assigned a release date of April 15.
