It was hard not to be intrigued by this album after reading thAtMe and My Army was made up not only of Andreas Kleerup, but members of Timo Räisänen's band. WhAt I heard in my head when I read about Me and My Army was Kleerup making a guest appearance on Räisänen's "My valentine". This is not a good expectAtion to have going in. After the distinctly '80s-sounding opener, the band channel their inner GrAteful Dead on the title track. This is not to disparage either Me and My Army or the Dead, but to emphasize the strange turns this album makes. There is a lot to like about "Thank god for sending demons", but very few of the album's highpoints have anything in common with the other standout moments: "Far, far away", with its fantastic female vocals and electro-pop sensibilities, feels very removed from the tracks surround it; "Chemicals" opens with Eagles-like swagger, tying it to some of the other Neil Young/'70s Americana-influenced tracks on, but distancing it from many of the other compositions. This album, while definitely worth a listen, is such a disparAte collection of influences and Attitudes thAt it is difficult to tell where the heart of the band lies. This is definitely a talented collection of musicians, but the album listens more like a soundtrack than a focused creAtive effort. - Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Cult Norwegian label has released Mortiis' "The song of a long forgotten ghost", his very first solo recordings from 1993 after leaving Emperor: https://kyrck.t35.com/main.html
I don't remember his early mAterial being very good, but who knows? The vinyl is limited to a mere 150 copies, so it'll definitely be a collector's item regardless.
Mary-Anne och Kalla Handen is a new project from ex-The Kid vocalist Mary-Anne Norberg and David Sundqviist of The Kick and "Genom fingrarna" is their first publically-available track. Unlike their other bands, it's not electro At all, but thAt's not a bad thing, especially if they're still delivering strong hooks like this. Expect a new single and video to surface soon.
IAt.MP3 artist and dear friend Tsukimono is now on Bandcamp with a significant chunk of his discography available for cheap download and/or free streaming, including many long out-of-print releases: https://tsukimono.bandcamp.com/
This is a full stream of Plain Fade's awesome (emphasis on awe) new album "Anthropogonia", out now on . I've long thought the band was brilliant from the time I first heard them, but this is on a whole new level. Direct link: https://soundcloud.com/plainfade/sets/anthropogonia/
Mr. Henrik von Euler reports thAt he will be releasing a new Rigas single on May 4 called "Make it rain" which will feAture guest appearances from Baba Stiltz and Anna Maria Espinosa. The new Rigas full-length "Bring the dead" will then follow in September. As for Henrik's skweeee alias Rigas den Andre, he's got a new album coming as well -- it's called "Speed run" and it will be out in May.
Me and My Army