Nikola Sarcevic - Lock-Sport-Krock (Burning Heart)
So the frontman for Millencolin wants to try the sensitive singer/songwriter thing. Why not? It certainly seems to be what's cool these days. The problem is that he really doesn't have anything interesting to contribute to the genre. Aside from a more acoustic-based instrumentation, some slower tempos and indulgent heart-on-your-sleeve lyrics, most of the songs here really aren't that different from Nikola's stuff with the full band. Turn on the distortion, lay down a faster drumbeat and you'd be listening to Millencolin. On the other hand, the music is certainly a lot more country than I anticipated, but it's merely adequate. It would be ridiculous for me to call him a poseur or anything, but the playing comes across as someone who is trying to ape the various basic trappings of the genre without actually feeling or understanding it. Picture a yellow cd cover with the title "Country for Dummies". Sure, it's got the proper rhythms, chord progressions and some nicely played pedal steel, but it's lacking any sort of authentic emotional weight or feeling. Part of the problem is that the guitar playing is way too simple. Dashboard Confessional can strum a few basic chords and win hearts of teenage girls, but it takes a bit of picking to get my attention, or at least a bit more developed melodies and harmonies. All in all, I shouldn't get too down on this because it's really not that bad, but I was really hoping for something more than a vanity project.
Voice of a Generation - The Final Oddition (Burning Heart)
It's been a looooong time since I was a lil' punkrocker, so I felt ambivilent when I got this disc and put it in my car stereo. It was a nice surprise to find out that I actually enjoyed this. They aren't as pop as Randy, nor are they all that heavy or crusty, but they've got enough hooks and energy to get by. Sure, it's a bit cliched at times, especially in the lyrics, but if you don't already expect that with most punk these days, you're probably not listening very carefully. I'm leaving this in the car for guilty pleasure listening when the wife's not around.
Kristofer Åström
There for / Loupita
Startracks
Two new acoustic-based releases from the Fireside frontman. The "There For" EP is a mostly bare-bones affair with just a bit of string augmentation and not much more. Good stuff, but probably just for people who are already fans. Now "Loupita" is a different story. It's all acoustic as well, but it's much more fleshed out and features plenty of guest vocals from Britta Persson and beautiful slide guitar work from Mattias Friberg of Logh. The obvious point of reference is Iron & Wine for the style and instrumentation, but the recording quality is not nearly as quaint. Well, except for the one home-recorded instrumental track "Loupita #2". At first I was thinking this was going to end up more as a teaser for the upcoming full band album due out later this year, but it is more than capable of standing on its own. As always, the songs are great. There's no question about that, but it's the vibe that takes it to the next level. The atmosphere is so relaxed and comfortable that Kristofer breaks a string on the song "Devil" and they left it on the final CD version. That sort of touch brings an extra sense of humanity and intimacy to the music which is something that can't be manufactured with rack units, mixing consoles or the like. And unlike a lot of stuff I've been hearing lately, the CD gets better the deeper you get into it. The second half (including the Friberg-penned track "I collect knives") is absolutely sublime, right through the end with the closer "Just another lovesong". Highly recommended.
- Avi Roig
Division of Laura Lee
Das not compute
Burning Heart Records
After the break-through release of "Black city", I'm glad to report that DoLL have managed to craft a more-than-worthy follow-up. They enlisted the production assistance of Kalle from The Soundtrack of Our Lives and it paid off. His sonic influence is obvious and goes beyond the requisite guest appearances from fellow TSOOL members Mattias Bärjed and Martin Hederos. It sounds like the band took a lot of time experiment with different tones and the end result is a strongly varied sonic palette. Taking cues from bands like Silverbullit, "Das not compute" also cranks up the fuzz-factor to 10 and layers it on thick. There's a couple tracks here and there that don't really go anywhere, but the stuff's that's good (such as the single "Dirty love" and the epic "Breathe breathe") more than makes up for it.
- Avi Roig
Ebon Tale
Sit down CDS
self-released
I am happy to report that this young band has improved greatly since the last release that I reviewed (see 12/13/03). The strong elements from before are still there, such as frontwoman Frida Franzén's strong vocals. Pretty much every complaint I had from before has been remedied as well. The guitars are definitely the focal point now and the songwriting is far more developed. It's especially evident on the 10-minute instrumental b-side "This 6 year old feeling". They just sound much more confident together as a band. Good job - I look forward to hearing more.
- Avi Roig
The Fine Arts Showcase
Gustaf Kjellvander presents...
Startracks
This is one heckuva big pop record. Everything about it is huge: the production, the hooks, the songs. We're talking full-on indie arena rock, akin to bands like Guided by Voices or maybe the Flaming Lips. There's all sorts of quirky instrumentation too, from the North African woodwinds the ghaita and arghul, to electric cicada sounds, theramin, bowed satellite dish and tons more. This is a fun, sugary-sweet album and I like it a lot, but just like candy, it's best enjoyed in small doses. After having it on constant rotation for a couple days in a row, I grew sick of it and had to put it away for a week or so. I don't want to get a cavity, y'know.
- Avi Roig
Heikki
2
A West Side Fabrication
Imagine if Neko Case took on a more active roll with the New Pornographers and they might sound a bit like Heikki. Think power-pop with a distinct country influence and huge hooks throughout. In case you are unaware, Heikki is the side project of Maria Eriksson from The Concretes together with Jari Haapalainen from The Bear Quartet. I actually like them quite a bit more than the former's main act, as the songs seems more developed, the playing and singing is stronger and the production is tighter. I'd prefer it if there were a few more uptempo tracks on the album, but there's still plenty to enjoy as is.
- Avi Roig
Pan Sonic
Kesto
Mute
Four CDs makes for quite an intimidating listen and I'm just having trouble getting past how awesome disc one is. This is Pan Sonic at their most melodic and beat-heavy. It's brutal, distorted and ugly and I love it. I'll probably get to the rest of the set eventually, I just don't feel very compelled to do so yet.
- Avi Roig
Britta Persson
Demo
self-released
If you've heard anything off of Kristofer Åström's new album "Loupita", you already know that Britta possesses an excellent voice. Kristofer's vote of confidence should make that go without saying. I was quite curious to hear what caught Kristofer's attention, so I was very excited to get this demo for my own listening pleasure. I was not let down - Britta is obviously a young lady of much talent and these four songs show a lot of potential. The singing is great - we already know that, but the songs are pretty strong as well and there's definitely some good ideas at work. My sole complaint is that her English is less than stellar and her lyrics suffer accordingly. Maybe I'm too old or something, but lines like "What I need is a program to defrag my heart" make me cringe. Still, she's young and this is only a demo, so I'm not sweating it. I look forward to hearing her in the future, as I don't doubt she'll be getting better and better.
- Avi Roig
Nikola Sarcevic
Lock-sport-krock
Burning Heart Records
So the frontman for Millencolin wants to try the sensitive singer/songwriter thing. Why not? It certainly seems to be what's cool these days. The problem is that he really doesn't have anything interesting to contribute to the genre. Aside from a more acoustic-based instrumentation, some slower tempos and indulgent heart-on-your-sleeve lyrics, most of the songs here really aren't that different from Nikola's stuff with the full band. Turn on the distortion, lay down a faster drumbeat and you'd be listening to Millencolin. On the other hand, the music is certainly a lot more country than I anticipated, but it's merely adequate. It would be ridiculous for me to call him a poseur or anything, but the playing comes across as someone who is trying to ape the various basic trappings of the genre without actually feeling or understanding it. Picture a yellow cd cover with the title "Country for Dummies". Sure, it's got the proper rhythms, chord progressions and some nicely played pedal steel, but it's lacking any sort of authentic emotional weight or feeling. Part of the problem is that the guitar playing is way too simple. Dashboard Confessional can strum a few basic chords and win hearts of teenage girls, but it takes a bit of picking to get my attention, or at least a bit more developed melodies and harmonies. All in all, I shouldn't get too down on this because it's really not that bad, but I was really hoping for something more than a vanity project.
- Avi Roig
Voice of a Generation
The final oddition
Burning Heart Records
It's been a looooong time since I was a lil' punkrocker, so I felt ambivalent when I got this disc and put it in my car stereo. It was a nice surprise to find out that I actually enjoyed this. They aren't as pop as Randy, nor are they all that heavy or crusty, but they've got enough hooks and energy to get by. Sure, it's a bit cliched at times, especially in the lyrics, but if you don't already expect that with most punk these days, you're probably not listening very carefully. I'm leaving this in the car for guilty pleasure listening when the wife's not around.
- Avi Roig
Sondre Lerche checks in from the road from Portland on his way here to San Francisco: https://www.sondrelerche.com/diary.asp?id=57
Norwegian band Johndoe recently travelled across the border to Sweden and recorded a song with producer extraordinaire Pelle Gunnerfeldt. Read more: https://www.adressa.no/kultur/article.jhtml?articleID=490708 (in Norwegian)
Hell on Wheels are reportedly working with Minty Fresh for a licensing deal in the US/North America.
Here's this week's top 20 Swedish albums:
01. Jimmy Jansson - Flickan Från Det Blå
02. Di Leva - Tiden Faller
03. Sahara Hotnights - Kiss & Tell
04. Agnetha Fältskog - My Colouring Book
05. Peter Jöback - Det Här Är Platsen
06. Gyllene Tider - Gt 25 - Samtliga Hits!
07. Da Buzz - Dangerous - The Album
08. Petter - Ronin
09. Teddybears Sthlm - Fresh
10. Infinite Mass - 1991
11. A Teens - Greatest Hits
12. Fredrik Kempe - Boheme
13. Marit Bergman - Baby Dry Your Eye
14. Joddla Med Siv - Talli Balli Toraban
15. Abba - The Definitive Collection
16. Per Gessle - Mazarin
17. E-Type - Loud Pipes Save Lives
18. Lisa Miskovsky - Fallingwater
19. Carola - Guld Platina & Passion - Det Bästa
20. Lill-Babs - I Lyxförpackning - Det Bästa