Label: Labrador
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With the follow-up to "Everything now", Pelle Carlberg shows again his master touch with lush, reverberating pop songs; horns, strings, harmonies, the works. He's been known to tread ground dangerously close to the Go-Betweens, and "In a nutshell" is no exception. Instead of drifting across land and sea to Australia however, there's enough unique flair to keep his latest effort grounded at home. These acoustic guitar-driven songs, with threads of 60's British folk woven throughout, will no doubt appeal to seasoned listeners of Edson, and his solo work as well. The production values seem to be getting thicker, but hopefully the reins will be held back, lest his songs lose their charm. On this disc, nothing is lost, on the other hand not much is gained. His songwriting will no doubt continue to develop, and it will be interesting to see what comes next.
- Paul Bredenberg
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
Loveninjas are here, and gone is every aspect of twee from their music. Their debut EP was a rock band being held back by a very lo-fi production and buried instruments. This release, the first single from their proper debut album, finds the band in very energetic form with excellent production. I really am very exicted by this, a movement away from their surroundings. This stylistic change (no matter how slight) really works in Loveninjas' favour. The songwriting has boosted a lot as well, and three of the four tracks are just plain great, the weak one being "The way", both musically and lyrically, it just sounds a bit too much like a demo (and one that would probably get scrapped at that). The title track, "Sweet geisha love" and "When is our time" all come recommended, and if the album proper is as great as these three songs, you have yourself quite a record.
- Matt Giordano
It's kind of ironic that the track which follows the Mary Onettes EP on my iTunes is "Primary", taken from The Cure's singles collection. Reason being that The Mary Onettes are another Swedish band painfully indebted to 80s English indie. It seems to be my luck right now that everything I review somehow falls into this genre. On the lead track "Lost", with its driving drums and cathartic vocal style, the band sound a hell of a lot like fellow Swedes Silverbullit. However, if you bear in mind that one of Silverbullit's main influences is Joy Division, I think you can see where The Mary Onettes are coming from. "Explosions" is pure Jesus and Mary Chain circa "Psychocandy". It's simple drumming, lolloping pace and vocals make it a close cousin of "Just like candy". What is a great shame about a lot of these 80s English influenced indie bands is that if they would have come out at the turn of the millennium, I could imagine some of them having some crossover success within the UK.
- Nick Levine
This is the debut record from Edson's frontman and singer/songwriter and, not surprisingly, it sounds a lot like Edson. The groove is still gentle and soothing, the instrumentation simple, the vocals sublimely beautiful, and the lyrics still walk that fine line between sharp wit and tender insight. He's a classic Labrador act - high quality and almost-but-not-quite-too twee - but there's really no one out there who sounds like he does: a Sinatra for the midtempo indie set. At times he's a bit too over the top - "Go to hell, Miss Rydell", a song about repeated rebuffed attempts to contact a reviewer who panned his record, is a funny first listen but grows tiresome after a few rotations. He's got songs about compulsive shopping -- the catchy "Riverbank" takes on buyer's remorse and is considerably more fun musically than "Telemarketing", about someone who "can't say no to a human voice." But it's the empathy with which he inhabits characters like the sad sack singing "Telemarketing" that bring the record its warmth, reached most effectively on songs like "Oh no! It's happening again", which captures that moment when a romantic quarrel escalates into a fight that dooms the relationship, or "Mind the gap", where he yearns to give money to the beggar on the London tube and questions the opportunities his son's school offers that less privileged kids don't get. It's not the perfect album he could make if he'd tone down the silly and stick with the catchy poignant, but it's a very nice listen with high points high enough to carry the weaker songs and a warm glow that goes perfectly with coffee on the cold grey mornings that lie before us.
- Nancy Baym
This is the second album from [ingenting], and they still sound a bit like Kent and a lot like Velvet Underground (the guitar riffs!). The Swedish press hasn't really taken to this album, something I don't really understand since these songs are highly infectious and the more I listen to them, the more I want to go on a road trip with them playing on the stereo. The lyrics are wonderful and the music's ace. [ingenting] are terrific at doing slower ballad-type of songs ("Bergochdalbanan" being my favourite 'slow song' on here), but what they really do best is fast and catchy (such as "Punkdrömmar", "Suzanne", "Släpp in solen" – listened a lot to this last summer, and "Hollywood dreams", the latter being the strongest track on "Mycket väsen för ingenting"). This is Swedish indie at its very best, even if [ingenting] have taken some obvious references points to create their sound like The Hives, instead of being more original like someone such as The Knife.
- Simon Tagestam
Self piteous, at times pathetic, insipid guff. Irene passed by HQ first time around, and while it was not obvious then, it sure is now on second album serving. Irene was a dinner lady. She wore thick tan tights, and a swirl pattern apron. She made drab pies and runny custard and everyone was obliged to like it. This is cousin Irene, but on record. Sometimes there is cabaret about the songs; it's the skipping/hop-scotch brigade-pat-a-cake of tweeness, blended with horrific language pronunciation. The linguistic delivery almost as bad as Billie the Vision and the Dancers, yet those guys have a positive message and a clear canvas to it all - this is simply weak. About as good as it get is all trumpets and doo-doo-doo's on "Little things (that tear us apart)". This is not kitsch cool like the old dinner lady; it is cheesy, and bad.
- Jason Christie
"Facts and figures" sees Johan Angergård return to form after last year's disappointingly slow "Public radio". Whilst that record was fine in its own right, the loss of tempo from the band's debut caught me offguard. Luckily, the tempo is back. Always exploring various textures and aesthetics in his music, Angergård relies very heavily on synthesizers this time around and the result is great pop album that sounds as if it is from 1976 or 1986 as opposed to this year. Coupled with his trademark smooth vocals (and heavy effects), this is the soundtrack to a postmodern dance club in some old warehouse in the nefarious part of town. Top on that the aura of seediness and you have yourself one of the best dark pop records since The Bear Quartet's "Ny våg".
- Matt Giordano
Sambassadeur's eponymous debut was one of 2005's best records - lovely lazy jangle pop with just a wee bit of electrobeat that managed to be blissfully gentle without crossing the line into annoyingly twee. This EP picks up right where that one left off, with 4 songs that show the band continuing to do what they do best. It's a must for those who enjoyed the first record, and a good taster for those curious about the band.
- Nancy Baym
In the endlessly fertile sonic croplands of Scandinavia, there's a certain strain of music you can harvest that might be termed "nostalgic pop." It's the kind of music that bypasses your intellect and goes straight for your emotions, albeit through a sort of gauzy filter. The Radio Dept. are ace practitioners of this sound, and their second album "Pet grief" is a sublime piece of work. It's uncanny how these Swedes know exactly what notes to hit, exactly which chord should follow THAT chord to maximize the "tingle effect" (the emotional response you have when a musical element really grabs you). This album has a remarkably cohesive mood, partly due to the organic shimmer provided by the guitars, simple keyboards and austere production, and partly from the soft, subdued vocals of Johan Duncanson. If you're into the reflective allure of what is often called "shoegaze," you can't do much better. The most immediately gripping example of The Radio Dept.'s style is "Every time," which features one of those spot-on chord progressions strummed breezily on acoustic guitars, a lullingly soft rhythm track and a subtle wall of "processed static" that struck me as the equivalent of a nostalgia portal, inviting the listener to come on through and let those stirred-up memories have their way with you for a spell. The voice really does seem to come from another time and place. "Always a relief" is also sheer perfection, everything about it as tasteful and cannily arranged as a song can be. If you're still grieving over some failed love affair, this kind of contemplative, far-off-staring album could induce tears, but if you really like to lose yourself in melancholic, dreamy Scandi-pop, you couldn't do much better than this.
- Kevin Renick
Forget about the Kent-like live track (which is actually a Radio Dept. cover, sung in Swedish) and the ambient (and "watery") remix, and concentrate on the first three normal tracks on the new EP from [ingenting] (which is Swedish for "nothing"). The two first songs are poppy summer songs and then it slows down with the third track "Så varm, så kall", but it's still good stuff. [ingenting] are labelmates with Acid House Kings and The Radio Dept. but since they sing in Swedish, I doubt their music will travel outside Scandinavia. This is a damn shame, since their songs are as good as aforementioned bands', it's just a bit less twee/shoegazing and more pure indie pop. Try it, you might like it even if you don't speak Swedish.
- Simon Tagestam
As expected, the new single from everyone's favourite band The Radio Dept. is as excellent as anything they've ever released. I read somewhere that they first recorded an album heavily influenced by dance music, only to scrap it when they realised that everyone else was pretty much doing just that. Despite this, "Worse taste in music" sounds like how The Radio Dept. have done previously, and it's as fantastic as ever. Unfortunately, there are only two "proper" songs (both great) on the EP and two remixes (one good, one not as good). So much for them not wanting to follow the latest trends, eh!
- Simon Tagestam
Last year Acid House Kings did a nice little promotion when they launched their album "Sing along with..." by putting a karaoke spin on it. Now they've released an EP where five different artists interpret songs from the album. They got Magnus Carlsson (Weeping Willows) doing "Will you love me in the morning?" which isn't that different from the original. Les Trés Bien Ensemble render "My heart is a stone" in French and Lasse Lindh does a cool Swedish version of "That's because you drive me". Montt Mardié and Don Lennon with their own characteristic vocals both manage to make "Do what you wanna do" and "Tonight is forever" into their 'own' songs. Acid House Kings have managed to get a bunch of excellent artists to cover their songs, so if you like "Sing along..." and, like me, love cover versions, I think you have to buy this EP. Hopefully there'll be a volume two!
- Simon Tagestam
SKWBN's first album is a bit mellower and, to a certain extend, a more experimental affair than their previous two EPs (#1 and #2). Fortunately, it still has that Jens Lekman / Beat Happening / Jonathan Richman feel to it (quirky instrumentation and quirky lyrics where there's no shame in rhyming 'pretty' with 'Tom Petty'). This seems to be a style that tons of Swedish kids are trying to emulate at the moment (a bit like what the Strokes did to the American and British scene, but in a much smaller context, of course), but not a lot of them do it as well as SKWBN, Lekman or El Perro Del Mar (although Agent Simple and Montt Mardié are looking very promising). SKWBN haven't forgotten how to write hits either (e.g. "Noodles"), and this is in fact a very strong album that deserves all the attention it can possible get, from you, you, and you.
- Simon Tagestam
The greatest criticism one could level at The Legends debut album "Up against The Legends" was that it lacked variation. Whilst, it was undoubtedly one of the finest indie-pop albums released in 2003, most of the songs had a very similar structure. However, bar "Something good" (which wouldn't be out of place on "Up against The Legends"), this is no longer the case on "Public radio". The band's reference points are still firmly set in the 80s but they have now increased their palette. We're talking classic bands like Joy Division, New Order and The Cure. It is a known well-known fact that The Legends aren't ashamed of wearing their influences on their sleeves, and rightly so. The Legends are able to ape them in a way which is indistinguishable from the recordings of their heroes, albeit with a slightly more crisp production. If the Rolling Stones could sell rock and roll back to America, then surely The Legends have a chance selling indie-pop back to the UK?
- Nick Levine
Loveninjas![[ingenting] - Mycket väsen för ingenting](/reviews/ingenting-mycket.jpg)
[ingenting]
