will be releasing the new album "Aventure" from long-running Swedish psych/folk act Kebnekajse, their 9th overall and 3rd since the band's reunion back in 2001. More info and preorder details here.
will be doing a limited LP reissue of early 70s Swedish psych/proggrock act Resan with in-depth bio/liner notes provided by Reine Fisk (The Amazing/Dungen). Read more/preorder here.
Swedish retro hardrockers Skogen Brinner have found a new home in , reportedly sealing the deal in blood. The band's debut 2-track single "Pundarvarning" has now been rereleased digitally after being originally released by on 7" last fall and a new full-length will follow later this year.
The AmazingThere's some inherent complicity in this record that triggers a violent uneasiness. It's like it's 1972 and I'm one of those kids who are sick of the soft-pop chart hits of Fleetwood Mac, America, fluffy brown hair & equally revolting album covers (however radical these folkies were in their own right). Halfway through listening to The Amazing's "Gentle stream", the overall one-beat homogeny gives birth to a nihilistic urge to shake things up. Now, if I could goddamned be like everybody else, especially the hip Scandy radio-pop listening public, this cauldron would probably just spill off the decks like almond milk; the super gooey melodies and the Air-like retro sexing mood perfected by obviously professional musicians doing it up professionally -- probably wouldn't hurt so bad. Already celebrated Dungen members serve up what can be viewed as a Seventies itch they needed to scratch, or a chance to break the market with another kind of popular. Title track, "Gentle stream" has the cushy opening déjà vu of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young while the following track has more of that Nick Drake, laid-back reminiscence. Track 3, "International hair" hints at a Morrissey chorusing style (an uncanny reminder of "...International Playboys", anyone?). "Gone" however, could annoy even those loving the most introverted croon as it teeters too much on the side of breathy repetition. However well-produced this album is, however deserving of fans of the NME or just willy-wet twee folk revivals -- as for me, count me out.
- Ann Sung-an Lee
is doing a 3x12" reissue of Dungen's 2004 breakout album "Ta det lugnt". The original LP apparently was incorrectly mastered from the digital and not the analog source material, so the sound quality was not up to par -- not so with this new edition which sounds like it was originally intended, if not better. 1000 copies, includes a poster.
The new album "Gentle stream" from Swedish psychrockers The Amazing is now available for preorder from : http://www.subliminalsounds.se/DOK/news.html
Swedish psych act The Amazing will have a new album out in October via .
will reissuing 2LP collections from both legendary progg act Träd Gräs och Stenar and psych/funk/erotica artist Tom Zacharias in early April. Details: http://www.subliminalsounds.se/DOK/news.html
has announced that the new album "Idioten" from Swedish psych/prog/folk legends Kebnekajse will be released on February 25, a full 40 years since the release of their debut "Resa mot okänt mål". Full details here: http://www.subliminalsounds.se/DOK/news.html
is doing a 5x7" boxset featuring instrumental mixes of Dungen's new album "Skit i allt", some of which will be in glorious mono. 400 copies, officially released sometime around November 17.
is putting out a limited 3xLP boxset for legendary Swedish psych act Pärson Sound, the band that later morphed into similarly legendary acts International Harvester and Träd, Gräs och Stenar. Said collection will include various recordings from 1967/68 (both live and studio) as well extensive liner notes (in English) and plenty of photos. Limited to 1000 copies and officially out on May 28 -- preorder/more info here: http://www.subliminalsounds.se/DOK/news.html
will release the new album "Behind the bend" from Swedish folk/psych artist Lisa o Piu on March 17.
has announced a new single from Swedish psych act Life on Earth! under their "provincial" alias Liv pa Jorden! for the track "Blomkraftens frukt". 499 copies out on February 13. Read more: http://www.subliminalsounds.se/
DungenAtmospheric, jazzy, psychedelic, and soaked with the jam band instincts of the late 60s, "4" is a fantastic album. Opener "Sätt att se" sets the tone for this cinematic experimentation with freeform rock and jazz, the retro production adding further depth to the nostalgic experience - warm, buzzing guitar notes; no sharp edges anywhere, just wave after wave of layered instrumentation. The fact that frontman Gustav Ejstes sings in Swedish does not necessarily matter, not in the way that Markus Krunegård's record suffers for non-Swedish speakers - the beauty of Dungen is in watching the band's songs augment, gain inertia, evolve, and one doesn't have to understand Ejstes' lyrics to witness the progression of the compositions. "Fredag" has quickly become one of my favorite Dungen tracks, though there isn't a bad song to be found on "4". It may not make my Top 10 of 2008, but "4" might well outlive some of those that do through sheer talent and timelessness.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
This Stockholm band has close ties to Dungen, which comes as no surprise after a few listens to the dense psychedelia on this debut. Everything about it screams "1967"--the acid rock, the guitar sounds, the album art. Sometimes that's a good thing, like on opener "Everybody", with its rousing chorus and overall feeling of discovery but suitable restraint from solo excesses. The wide-eyed, booming "Speak your mind" is a good showcase for the vocal range of Andreas Stellan. Elsewhere though, hallmarks of bad psych-rock creep in: endless guitar noodling, straying from the melody, even a flute part! If you're into psych-rock and can accept the excesses mentioned above, The Works just might be for you.
- Matthew W. Smith
