Label: Warner Music Sweden
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Second album from hippiechick-come-eccentric who can sing like bat out'a hell, and is named after the fifth Tellytubby (allegedly). Brace yourself, it's a full on affair. That I set the player to random seems to have made no difference because 'random' is the operative for "Prinsessor". Warped classical, circus bigtop, singer/songwriter mark a few of the turns - and don't she just love la-la-la-la's, ma-ma-ma-ma-ma's and bird song sound effects. Note the dual assault of English and Swedish language songs. There's lots of movement to "Closer"; bombastic to begin then insipid McDonald's equivalent of Dub is: "Call on me".
A horrendous mish-mash of styles and so ear bashingly provided; but she does have these flashes between keys throughout. Bear in mind Laleh is one massive pastiche, and that "Step on You" could be called 'The world's best song by the greatest session musicians ever' - Fleetwood Mac would have been proud! It's preposterous, but The Knife ought to get Laleh's vocal sampled - not least on the first few versus of "I know this". This album is genuinely good when ambling, but hideous when clever.
- Jason Christie
Since I don't speak Swedish or any other Scandinavian language, it's sometimes difficult to find out information on bands that don't have an English version of their website. With folk/pop quintet Raymond & Maria, the website confirmed that "Maria" is the main vocalist, but I have no idea who "Raymond" is; the other band members are Camilla, Per, Johan and Staffan. Maybe it's some conceptual thing, I dunno. At any rate, this is a pleasant, melodic recording with seven tunes sung in English and three in Swedish. If the Indigo Girls knew when to end a song and had more vocal finesse, they might sound a bit like Raymond & Maria (also if they'd listened to a Blondie record or two). Maria has a sweet, natural voice and it makes the ear-friendly melodies of tunes like "No one notices your brand your new t-shirt" (terrific song), "They love you" and "Dumb again" just soar. With hand-clap percussion and crisply recorded acoustic strumming, these bouncy songs keep you hooked while an underlying sense of familiarity will have you wondering where you've heard the melodies before. You probably haven't, but once the modest charms of this disc take hold, you're liable to get very familiar with Raymond and Maria's ingratiating sound. Nice, sunny day acoustic pop.
[ed: I do believe that this disc is a special int'l promo compiling the group's newer English-language material with a few older Swedish tracks.]
- Kevin Renick
If you like your music twee and melodic, you should check out this compilation from Popsicle, a Swedish band that were active in the '90s, and released some fine albums. This is a double cd, with the standard "one cd full of hits / the other full of b-sides" design. Earlier this year, Popsicle came back from the dead for a one-off gig, and every day I prick my stomach with a needle for missing that show. I have many fond memories from these tunes, and if you're a fan of Teenage Fanclub and their ilk – you should get this and get some of those memories yourself!
- Simon Tagestam
Much anticipated follow up for 2001 hit-record "Behind the music". As always, it's a trip down memory lane with songs reminding of Love, Stooges, Buffalo Springfield and what not. But also as always, they deliver really, really good songs and the production is right on the money. The first track "Believe I've found" is one of their greatest songs so far and "Song for the others" is also pure beauty. I can't wait to see this live.
- Jason Christie
This is normally the kind of stuff I despise. When a band so achingly tries to recreate the sounds of yesteryear, classic soul in this case, it usually just makes me angry. Why not just form a cover band if you're not going to add anything new to the genre? Anyhow, this keyboard, bass & drums trio isn't so bad. You can tell they've taken pains to sound "authentic" with the classic organ sounds and recording style, but they really should be paying more attention to their songwriting. Cool tones and whatever, but enough hooks or dynamics. Probably a lot more fun live than on record.
- Avi Roig