Stereogum reports back from their trip to this year's Øya Festival in Norway: https://www.stereogum.com/archives/003109.html
This week's top 20 Swedish album chart:
01. Peter Jöback - Flera sidor av samma man
02. Lars Winnerbäck - Efter nattens bränder - 1996-2006
03. Patrik Isaksson - Patrik Isaksson
04. Tomas Ledin - Plektrum
05. Jonas Gardell - Nästan vackra
06. Sofia Karlsson - Svarta ballader (sjunger Dan Andersson)
07. Amy Diamond - Still me still now
08. Benny Anderssons Orkester - Bao på turné
09. Peps Persson Oh boy - Det bästa med Peps Persson
10. Carola - Från nu till evighet
11. The Poodles - Metal will stand tall
12. Ola - Given to fly
14. Björn Skifs - Decennier sånger från en annan tid
15. Eric Gadd - Eric Gadd
16. Marie Fredriksson - Min bäste vän
17. Thåström - Skebokvarnsv 209
18. Sabaton - Attero dominatus
19. Totta & Wiehe - Dylan
20. Robert Wells and His Rhapsody Lounge Orchestra - Full house boogie
MTVe has Britta Persson's new album "Top quality bones and a little terrorist" up for streaming: https://www.mtve.com/article.php?ArticleId=6435
Suburban Kids with Biblical Names on tour in the UK:
09/11 - Spiral scratch @ The Enterprise, London
09/12 - Don't start feeling all "romantic" @ Bunkers Hill, Nottingham
09/13 - Pop Theory @ Café Royal, Edinburgh
09/14 - Sounds of Sweden @ Admiral Bar, Glasgow
09/15 - Club AC30 @ Water Rats Theatre, London
09/16 - End of the Road Festival, Salisbury
Pitchfork has a track review of the Rex the Dog remix of The Knife's "Marble house": https://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/track_reviews/The_Knife_Marble_House_Rex_The_Dog_Remix
MP3: Tobias Fröberg - God's highway
Tobias Fröberg's debut solo album "For Elisabeth wherever she is" never did much for me. It's not that it was outright bad or anything, it just seemed to me that Tobias was doomed to mediocrity. Sweden has a lot of talented singer/songwriters, but there's only a few who are truly exceptional. Well, imagine my surprise then when I heard Ane Brun's excellent "Duets" album. Tobias plays and sings on a good portion of that record, so I knew had to reconsider my earlier evaluation of his work. Coincidentally, he just released his sophomore album "Somewhere in the city" (on Cheap Lullaby in the US, Playground in Scandinavia and Poptones in the UK). My verdict? It's a heckuva lot stronger than his debut, but it's also telling that the best song is borrowed from "Duets" ("Love and misery"). Is it crass of me to think that Poptones boss Alan McGee only wants to cash in on the wake of José González's UK success? Not that it's fair to judge Tobias against such criteria. Anyhow, let's get back on track. "Somewhere in the city" is good, not great. It starts strong, but overstays its welcome. The last four songs should've been cut, simple as that. The recording and songwriting is charmingly retro 60s folk, nomore so apparent as on the very Simon & Garfunkel-esque song "God's highway" which I've posted today. I love that sweet harmony vocal line and the gentle fingerpicked guitar. Next Scandinavian superstar? Naah, don't think so. Talented and worth paying attention to? Yes, most definitely.
Tobias Fröberg - God's highway
Swedish punkrockers Smalltown will contributing a 20-second song called "Dead end" to an upcoming comp on Shit Sandwich featuring similar contributions from other artists such as This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, Kylesa, Iron Lung, Fleshies and more. They'll also be lending their track "The music" to "ModMod World 1 - Up North Modernists", a collection featuring some of Scandinavia's best mod/punk acts.
Updated tourdates for Lo-Fi-Fnk:
08/19 - Speak Your Mind, Skövde (SWE)
08/28 - Trash, London (UK)
09/02 - Sommarfesten, Hässleholm (SWE)
09/06 - Kalmar Nation, Uppsala (SWE)
09/08 - Bestival, Isle of Wight (UK)
09/11 - Moshi Night, Paris (FRA)
09/12 - Prime Club, Köln (GER) w/Hot Chip
09/15 - FABRICLIVE, London (UK) w/Justice, Para One, Alan Braxe, more
09/16 - Pop Bar, Razzmatazz Club, Barcelona (ESP)
09/19 - Lido, Berlin (GER) w/Hot Chip
09/20 - Übel & Gefährlich, Hamburg (GER) w/Hot Chip
09/21 - Alte Feuerwache, Mannheim (GER) w/Hot Chip
09/22 - Atomic Cafe, München (GER) w/Hot Chip
09/29 - Fanklub, Antwerpen (BEL)
10/27 - Le Nouveau Casinoparis, Paris (FRA)
10/28 - Elektroni[k] Festival, Rennes (FRA)
V2 is offering up the new Tingsek single "Nothing nobody right&wrongs" as a free download: https://gb.v2music.com/site/digitalsinglepop.asp?w=510&h=300&ID=6
Isolation Years report that they have started to mix their forthcoming album. Can't wait to hear it as they've been one of my favorite bands for a long while. In fact, I've got them scheduled as this week's Friday post. Future song titles to puzzle over include "(Jesus was an) Albino child", "A lonely view", "Soldiers on leave" and "Daddy I'm a pilgrim now".
Angry Ape has details on the forthcoming Amandine EP "Waiting for the light to find us", due out this coming winter: https://angryape.com/news/2006/08/amandine-waiting-for-the-light-to-find-us
Some new tourdates for the band:
10/21 - Pauluskirche, Dortmund (GER) w/Willard Grant Conspiracy
10/22 - NBI (Le club uts,m!), Berlin (GER) w/I Might Be Wrong
10/23 - Sunny Red, Munich (GER)
10/24 - Riesa Efau, Dresden (GER)
10/26 - Wäscherei P, Hall in Tirol (Innsbruck) (AUS)
11/07 - The Hope, Brighton (UK) w/The Low-Lows
11/11 - The Luminaire, London (UK) w/Lisa Germano, Memory Band
11/12 - Cul de Sac, Tilburg (NL)
11/14 - Stereo Wonderland, Köln (GER)