Swedish highlights from Gaffa SE's top 30 albums of 2011:
3. Mattias Alkberg - Anarkist (Teg Publishing/)
4. Anna Järvinen - Anna själv tredje (/)
5. Skriet - Det Beslutande Organet (/)
8. Invasionen - Saker som jag sagt till natten (/)
12. Graveyard - Hisingen Blues (/)
14. Deportees - Islands & Shores (/)
16. I Break Horses - Hearts (/)
18. The Field - Looping State of Mind (/)
20. Syket - With Love (/)
21. Jonathan Johansson - Klagomuren (/)
28. Movits! - Ut ur min skalle (/)
29. Det Vackra Livet - Det Vackra Livet (/)
30. Ison & Fille - För evigt (/)
Synth: Code 64 - Trialogue () Cryo - Hidden Aggression () Page - Nu () Social Ambitions - Almost gone ()
Hardrock/Metal: Ghost - Opus Eponymous () Watain - Lawless Darkness () Khoma - A final storm () Dark Tranquility - We are the void ()
Rhythm: Haci Tekbilek - Türlü () Helt Off - Marknadens Soldat () Million Stylez - Everyday () Serengeti - Standing Steady ()
Jazz: Elin Larsson Group - Live and Alive () Lekverk - Everyday () NEO (Nässjö Extreme Orchestra) - NEO () The Country - The Country ()
Punk/Hardcore Antipati - Frågor som rör det allmänna () Hårda Tider - Gatan Kallar () Old Fashioned Ideas - We're in this shit together () The Baboon Show - Punk Rock harbour ()
Hip-Hop: Academics - Tare Lugnt 4 () Carlito - Guldburen () PH3 - Löser ett fall () Zacke - Visst är det vackert ()
Rock: Bad Hands - Take The Money And Run () Dundertåget - Dom feta åren är förbi () Pascal - Orkanen närmar sig () The Bear Quartet - Monty Python ()
Folk/Visa: Anders Svensson, Magnus Gustafsson, Susanne Gustafsson, Anders Löfberg, Jörgen Svensson - Bålgetingen, Låtar efter August Strömberg () Mats Edén, Daniel Sandén-Warg, Leif Stinnerbom, Magnus Stinnerbom - Anno 2010 () OK Star Orchestra - Sound Classique () Ola Magnell - Rolös ()
Experimental: Ombudsman - And His Father Was A Great Machine () Erik Enocksson - Man tänker sitt () Leif Jordansson - The Comet / The Doll Maker () New Tango Orquesta - Vesper ()
Singer/Songwriter: I'm Kingfisher - Arctic () Daniel Norgren - Horrifying Death Eating Blood Spider () The Tarantula Waltz - Did Not Leave To Find But To Forget, To Leave Behind () The Tallest Man On Earth - Wild Hunt ()
Best live act: Anna Von Hausswolff The Tallest Man On Earth Masshysteri Robyn
Best unsigned act (in collaboration w/P3 Lab): Alice B Katakomb Ascend Broken Boys
Winners will be announced at a ceremony on February 4 at Nalen in Stockholm. More info: http://www.manifestgalan.se/
Mandal may be the southernmost town in Norway, but if this debut EP from The Violent Years is any indication, it still gets plenty dark there. The band has been compared to acts such as Willard Grant Conspiracy, 16 Horsepower and the obligatory Nick Cave, and with good reason. The five songs revel in a southern gothic atmosphere that would have made Flannery O'Connor proud. Songs start off with lines like: "Caroline was the oldest of three/she ruled the world/and then she blew her head off." Even when the guitars get boisterous, the mood is unflinchingly solemn. It's hard not to think of small towns, hot sticky nights, deranged characters, and overgrown vegetation.
All that can get a little heavy, and at times it does. For the most part, though, The Violent Years usually find a middle ground between over-the-top melodrama and dull gloom. They're particularly effective in their use of piano to add both lighthearted moments and drama. There are passages on here that are truly beautiful. All in all, it's a remarkably mature, confident and very impressive debut. - Nancy Baym
Drawing as much from the layered swells of bands like Decibully and Broken Social Scene, as from the anthemic approach of Arcade Fire, this is a fine, if not damned accomplished debut album. While there are touches of bands like The National, another band oft quoted as having 'jumped on the Arcade Fire bandwagon,' there is as much of the lost, jangled melodies reminiscent of indie music from the late 90s to give The Kissaway Trail an oddly nostalgic quality while simultaneously being placing themselves alongisde contemporary artists presently in the public mind. "Forever turned out to be too long" is everything an opening track should be: elusive and alluring, bringing to mind bands that garnered our love of music, and obviously influenced the band's delivery, though composed of unique strata that give the compositions an original tangibility. Bleeding out of the opener in one of the finest transitions on record, "Smother + evil = hurt" brings the pulse of record to bear for the first time, and pushes this wonderful album off on its way. "La la song" and "Eloquence and elixir" are yet more examples of their brilliance as artists, and provide as much energy in the latter minutes of the album as the opening tracks instilled. As a proud half-Swede who used to call Stockholm my home, I'm once again forced to admit that Denmark has unveiled yet another talented band. - Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
The Slaves aren't that bad (in fact, they're sort of mediocre), but I don't really see the point with them when there are other (Swedish) bands such as Caesars, Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, Pet Politics, etc around doing this type of music, but with much more finesse and less clichés. I might listen to the odd track from "Save me from yesterday" in the future, since a nice melody pops up here and there, but overall I find it unexciting. - Simon Tagestam
The Teenage Idols are straight forward rock'n'roll. It's difficult not to like them. With half of the songs from "Something wicked" under the three minute mark, TTI prove they're about compressed and intensive rock music. Loud guitars, driving drumbeats, fat bass lines and a screaming, panting voice makes for good entertainment. All of this probably also qualifies TTI as an excellent live band. I can imagine experiencing them in a smaller venue being quite an exciting and sweaty adrenaline kick. The only time they lose my interest is during the closing tune; "12:15". It's not so much the Hendrix-esque guitars I mind, but the out-of-control banging on drums and excessive screaming that does my head in. TTI is right. This is something wicked, at least in the east London sense of the word. I just wish they would have the common sense of changing their band name before they make it big. - David Hellqvist
Strip Music are a new Swedish synth pop band, who have risen out of the ashes of Yvonne. However, describing them as "pop" is a bit of a misnomer. Although Strip Music use the synth as a device to drop as many hooks as possible within each song, the overall sound of the band races along at a speed and urgency that is perhaps too epic to be merely described as pop music. Songs like album opener "2.75" have vocalist Henric delivering vocals with such intensity that they lay genuine claim to the Joy Division comparisons, creating a sound that is both melancholic and uplifting at the same time. Forming a new band with the synth as the core of your sound is a tricky and obvious thing to do in 2005, what with the recent successes of The Bravery and The Killers. However, somehow Strip Music have managed to carry this off successfully without sounding cheesy, whilst being able to retain a human element to their overall sound. - Nick Levine
The Violent Years
The Kissaway Trail
