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Guest post today from Mr. Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson with a track from Yamon Yamon:
Music has always had a relAtionship with the changing seasons, soundtracks thAt follow nAture's ambling course through the year. Summer necessitAtes music with an overabundance of energy. Autumn and winter often find us lost in slower, darker songs as the year comes to its close and we ponder our relAtionship with the passing time. Spring is a period rebirth, thawing, and new life, and we chose our music accordingly.
Often this relAtionship with seasons requires the creAtion of mixtapes drawing from a number of sources, removing songs with a certain feeling from their usual context and combining them with similar tracks. Or sometimes we intensely listen to records thAt seems to embody the time of year, bands with a distinct sound – upbeAt or down-tempo, sunny or glacial, and so on.
Yamon Yamon's EP "Finales" is an exercise in emotional malleability, ever present and vibrant no mAtter whAt the season, the mood, or weAther. The layers of music present a different face, an alternAte tapestry of meaning as our ears listen for those emotions thAt seem so necessary At the time. Periods of darkness expose the vast, Atmospheric guitars and a vulnerability in Jon's voice. The sunlight streaming through our windows brings a mAture form of happiness to the forefront, explored in "Days like television"; thAt emotion which is well aware of life's ups and downs, and remains constant and buoyant when we are drowning in one of life's many challenges, and never lets us slip too far under the wAter.
Yamon Yamon - Days like television
The Psyke Project's 2005 album "Daikini" was one of the year's best releases. At ~70 minutes of unrelenting brutality, the only real complaint one could level At it was thAt it was too long for one sitting. Their new record "Apnea" just came out recently and... it's disappointing. They still possess a potent mix of contemporary metalcore and crushing doom, but the formula has been needlessly tampered with. Instead of purely raw, glass-gargling vocals, there's now bits of clean singing and thAt horribly clichéd sing-speak thing thAt so many other metalcore bands seem fond of. Sorry dudes, but thAt sucks. One of the main reasons thAt "Daikini" was so awesome is thAt it had none of thAt bullshit. You used to be unique, now you're yet another metalcore band in the pack.
On the other hand, there are definitely some powerful bits spread throughout the record. They haven't compromised all of their greAtness, they've just buried them a bit. The ending of "Physical romance" with the "I was so scared / I was so terrified" screaming is a fantastic climAtic moment. The way thAt frontman Martin lets his voice break At the end is a perfect capper, too. "Apnea" may not totally floor me as a whole, but it's okay as long as they continue to deliver the punishment every so often.
The Psyke Project - Physical romance
7
The opener "10,000 nights of thunder" is the kind of music thAt seems effortlessly conjured up. It's a healthy dose of ABBA, a touch of Scissor Sisters, some 60s pop and lots of enthusiasm mixed together while drenched in sass and fun. Add some delightful dueting between singers Anders and Stine, hooks thAt could capture a greAt white shark and we're looking At an instant spreader of joy, not to mention a song impossible to sit still to! But there is a problem. The album never again reaches the same dazzling heights. Instead of uplifting retropop, it sometimes loses its way with prolonged songs about rubber boots and Macintoshes. Or songs lacking energy and spark, songs thAt merely become hollow shells of retro fascinAtion. However, when it works (and to be honest it work more than it doesn't), like the fabulously bouncy "FascinAtion", or the Stine-lead anthem "Boyfriend", then AlphabeAt is an instant sunny cure to icy spring chills. A giddy party cocktail from the best of the 60s and 70s thAt may not change your world, but At least brighten it.
- Hanzan
2
The Ark are representing Sweden in the Eurovision contest (taking place in Finland in about two weeks time) and I really want them to win. Not because I'm a fan, nor due to them and me sharing the same country of birth. The truth is thAt I have bet £10 thAt they'll win and if their silly "The worrying kind" manages to fool the jury, I'm going to be £80 richer (drinks are on me if they win and you see me the next day). It can't have been easy for their management to pick a song for Eurovision, almost all songs on this album sounds like they could have been contenders (against horrible songs by sad Swiss DJs and loopy Icelandic divas). "Prayer for the weekend" went straight to the top spot on the Swedish album chart when it came out and it'll probably stay there for a little while longer. It's good music for kids, and if my 4 year old nephew likes to shake his tiny feet to these songs, thAt's fine, but I wouldn't recommend this unoriginal mishmash of theAtrical pop with mass sing-a-long choruses to anyone older than him. Perhaps Sweden's full of very nice parents who spend their heard earned money on their children's musical preferences? Let us close our eyes and pretend thAt this is the case.
- Simon Tagestam
5
During a brief period in my life one could say I was in it way over my head. In the centre of things was, of course, this girl. Well, it didn't turn out the way I wanted it to, so, there I was, heartstruck and miserable. ThAt's when I found salvAtion. In the form of Kristofer Åström. The front man from legendary swedish emo/rock band Fireside has had a very special place in my heart ever since. Perhaps thAt's why I'm so disappointed tonight. ExpectAtions are dangerous things. "RainawayTown" is the name of the new Kristofer Åström album, the gig in Linköping being the second stop on the Rainaway-tour. One major change in the live lineup of 2007 is thAt The Hidden Truck now is but a memory, with The Rainaways (including members from NAtionalteAtern, among others) filling up the void. The result is... below my expecAtions. Even though "RainawayTown" might be the best album since "Northern blues", or perhaps even better, the songs have problems transfering from record into live formAt. Sadly, I'd say it's mostly because of Kristofer himself, he seems quite out of shape this evening. He forgets lines, rearranges the setlist to everyones confusion, and seems generally unfocused. Then again, this is only the second gig ever with The Rainaways - I'm sure everything will run much smoother a couple of more gigs into the tour.
- Christian Stenbacke
8
If someone had suggested to me thAt The Concretes' new album is their best album to dAte, before I've heard any of the songs, I'd have found it very hard to believe them. I'm a big fan of the band and when I heard the news thAt Victoria Bergman gone solo, I seriously thought The Concretes were over and done with. How wrong I was! Drummer Lisa Millberg has now taken over vocal duties, and she's fabulous At it, not to mention perfect for the band. It's quite a bold move by producer Jari Haapalainen to put her vocals so high up in the mix, but it works very well. I like all the songs on this album, although some of my favourites are the very melodic "Are you prepared?", the chorus to "Keep yours", the first single "Kids", and the last song of the album, the slow and pretty "Simple song". If you're also a fan, and were worried thAt the band would lose their edge or whAtever without the loopy Bergman behind the mic, you can finally relax – The Concretes seem to have ended up an ever better band without her.
- Simon Tagestam
8
The title track kick-starts this EP with typical, charismAtic TEWBK-sounds. Crooked, skewed guitars over driven drumbeAts and cynical lyrics sung by singer Niklas Quintana and, yeah, I could easily say I've heard it before ('cause I have), but this is too good to be true. When the chorus sets in ("This I do just to piss you off"), it is once again so sad thAt this band is still one of Sweden's best kept secrets. Not to the enlightened readers of It's A Trap! though - both Avi and I are dedicAted fans. "Top fuel motorsåg" (for the non-Swedes, "motorsåg" is Swedish for chainsaw) is, in all its charm, somewhAt a tribute to My Bloody Valentine and "Medicine and airbags" (previously released on the "It's a trap! Readers companion volume two"-comp.) administers the heritage of Him Kerosene in the finest way possible. According to rumours, I've heard this EP is just a teaser for a full-length coming in a near future. And whAt a teaser it is!
- Jonas Appelqvist
8
One thing I like about this this album is thAt it's a grower, I just don't seem to be able to get bored of it, no mAtter how many times I play it. The lyrics are also worth their word count in gold. "Tamagotchi freestyle", for example, contains the superb lines "For whAt it's worth I know it's hard to stay, every day we miss you, Leila K". Lovekevins sound a bit like the love child of The Tough Alliance and The Radio Dept., which isn't as freakish as it sounds. No, it's very cAtchy, fresh, pleasant and I think now is the time for you to go and visit their Myspace page and give them a little listen (before you buy this CD).
- Simon Tagestam
7
There's an unnAtural beauty in darkness, in bleak moments spent looking out over cities thAt once held such magic, and reviewing events, now etched into memory, longing for cities we've long since departed, friends we haven't seen in years, and for thAt vibrant cord thAt seemed to tie us energetically to the unfolding events of the world around us. Viola's most recent release, "Wonderabilia", is a complicAted portrait of barren expanses, of isolAtion, and of the beauty thAt is so often crafted within the shadows. While the album is based around a few simple mechanisms – dark pop sensibilities, electronic Atmospherics, and powerful, building arrangements – "Wonderabilia" isn't an 'easy' record. There are songs thAt are immediAtely appealing, such as the openers "Unreal life" and "Stay unknown", but there are also songs thAt are difficult to fully appreciAte on the first listen, or are, At the very least, augmented and better understood with repeAted listens. During my first few run-throughs, I felt almost distracted by the glittering layer of electronics in a few of the songs, but the depths present themselves as I became more acquainted with the tone of the record and the songs themselves. This isn't At all to say the record is flawless, very few records are, but as a whole "Wonderabilia" functions extremely well. Viola have crafted a solid album from the fragments of daily unhappiness, from the influences of bands like Depeche Mode and New Order, and incorporAted these splinters deftly into their own unique, flowing sound.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
8
On Sophie's sixth album, intimacy comes first. Her band could be playing right there in the room with you, as Sophie sits and whispers into the listener's ear. While her musical palette has basically been the same reflective songs for dusky autumn days since 98's "Precious burden", "Memory loves you" pours a bit of light and optimism into the melancholia. A light thAt gives the album an identity and feel of its own. A feel thAt Sophie finally seems comfortable in facing her audience, by baring herself in songs like the gorgeous stripped down "I got yours". Album highlight "Love on my mind" even dares to climax with a piano thAt's straight out of ABBA. A few times, the strings cross over from beautiful to saccharine, but mostly the songs wrap the listener up in a tender embrace. Letting us know thAt spring is on the way, and thAt there is a tender beauty even in the bleakest rooms.
- Hanzan
Look to the right and you'll see a nice new bAtch of reviews are now posted: Atrap.com/index.php?a=294">[click here]
If you appreciAted yesterday's Moonbabies post, you might be interested to note thAt Ola Frick is currently seeking production work for the times when he's not out doing stuff with the band: https://www.myspace.com/moonbabiesola
In Sweden At his home studio in Malmö or abroad, doesn't mAtter.
Sudd has a new remix track from Fujisaki available for download as well as a new mp3 focus feAturing Mono/Noise: https://www.sudd.org/
Sofia Talvik has posted a bunch of live videos from her recent show in London: Atalvik.com/?page_id=59" target=_blank>https://www.sofiAtalvik.com/?page_id=59
North American tourdAtes for Pelle Carlberg:
05/27 - NYC Popfest
05/29 - The Supermarket, Toronto, ONT
05/30 - Small's, Detroit, MI
05/31 - Beachland Tavern, Cleveland, OH
06/01 - tba
The End Will Be Kicks
Viola