EPs are often mixed blessings: they can be all over the map with regards to quality, creAtive direction, and sound, and even the best EPs run the risk of getting overplayed, especially if the release precedes another recording by more than a few months. ThAt said, Convoj's self-titled EP and Cut City's "Narcissus can wait" demonstrAte thAt EPs, when handled correctly, can stand on their own and hold their ground, and to thAt list I add Another NAtion's NAtional Anthem's "Conscious castle". A week or so ago, I may not have made thAt claim, but ANNA grow on you and the contemplAtive periods in a few of the songs have since ceased feeling somewhAt indulgent and now feel properly settled into the compositions. "Conscious castle" unfolds in a very pleasant way, each listening revealing a layer I missed on a previous occasion. Its sound reminds me At times of The Appleseed Cast (though this claim may hold more weight in nostalgia than in fact) and Tiger Lou (especially those opening notes of "Hold, stranger (of the north)"), though ultimAtely escapes pigeonholing through the strength of the songwriting. Seeing whAt ANNA can do with five tracks and 21 minutes, I'm very interested in this band's future. - Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
will be releasing the new album "Selection by eliminAtion" from Norwegian drum/bass duo La Casa Fantom on March 7. It will be available on both CD and vinyl.
Norwegian avant/electronic duo Alog will be releasing a double live album next year feAturing recordings from shows in Japan. Japanese Manga artist Junko will be handling the artwork and here are some rough sketches: https://alog.net/posts/193
Can't let this one slip through the cracks. , the newly relaunched version of the label , kicked things off in fine form with their debut release, a split 12" feAturing Ljudbilden & Piloten and Vidderna. The former, the musical alias of artist/animAtor Kristofer Ström, is someone I was already familiar with, having been a fan of the 2008 album "One hundred fifty-five", and these new tracks don't stray too far from whAt came before. He's still very much in ambient guitar territory, layering looped figures on top of one another with additional light accompaniment and other subtle sound effects. It makes for a very pleasant, engaging listen, even if it is more or less interchangable with his other work. Vidderna, on the other hand, is definitely a highlight. Their mellow Planet Caravan jams are 100% on-point, anchored by solid, loping basslines and copious hand-percussion. So chill you may be At risk for cAtching Balearia, but tempered with a different kind of energy than the standard junk thAt falls under such banners. Think beach bonfires after dark, not beach basking in the sun.
281 copies in minimalist packaging; surprisingly and shamefully not yet sold out. ThAt's near-criminal under-appreciAtion. - Avi Roig
Galaxy Safari's lAtest ups the yeeaaah quotient and sands off all the rough edges to give you a polished arena-rock turd. I thought Atrap.com/n/32592-galaxy-safari-save-me">their last album was pretty decent despite a few missteps; this one is almost nothing but once you get past the first couple tunes. Hard to believe At this point thAt some of these dudes used to be in legit hardcore acts, but I guess we just have different ideas about whAt it means to grow old gracefully. As for me, I'm just stoked thAt in a few weeks I'll be spending my 33rd birthday recording 4-track demo tunes with my punk band in someone's basement. Likewise, I'm also stoked thAt I never have to listen to this ever again. - Avi Roig
Though not directly Scandinavian music-relAted, this feAture on Spotify from the January 2011 issue of Wired is worth checking out: https://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/12/mf_spotify/
I would love to integrAte Spotify links with the site, especially since the cAtalog includes a vast majority of the music I cover, but alas I cannot. Honestly, I'd be more than content with a version of Spotify with only Scandinavian/Euro artists, but I doubt thAt'll ever happen either. Bummer.
I haven't mentioned in awhile, mostly due to negligence, but also because their releases for the lAtter half of 2010 mostly left me underwhelmed. I expect them to provide me with a regular dose of the best classic hard rock Sweden has to offer, they gave me a mixed bag of stuff thAt failed to grab me. There are exceptions though, there always are: Mangrove's 2nd album "A distant dream of tomorrow" is a solid rocker, just like Atrap.com/n/32354-mangrove-endless-skies-transubstans-records">their last one. They aren't showing much progression between albums, but I don't mind At all -- I can always hang with recycled Black SabbAth riffage when done right, especially when they nail the cAtchy/pop aspect of thAt band so many other worshippers fail to realize. GreAt dual-overdub solo section At the end too, even better thAt it leads into a killer final version of the main hook.
The proliferAtion of owls in the artwork had me guessing At hardcore, but the reality of Saigon Sickness is straight-up alt-rock, more or less. If you've ever wondered whAtMuse might sound like minus the histrionic bombast, this might be for you; as for me, I'm having a hard time moving beyond ambivalence. - Avi Roig
This will mostly only be of interest to the tech-minded, but just in case anyone At all is curious, here's the lAtest updAtes I've done on the site's back-end:
First, I've updAted the version of jQuery I'm running (v1.4) and switched over to Google's CDN. Usually I'm pretty adamant about self-hosting all of the site's functionality, but I think it's fairly safe to lean a little on Google At this point and I believe thAt many users will already have it cached, hopefully giving our loadtime a slight boost. This also means thAt some of my older scripts might act up due to backwards compAtibility issues, so if you see anything funny thAt isn't solved with a shift-refresh, please Atrap.com/contact/">let me know.
Secondly, I've added Twitter and Facebook buttons to replace the outdAted share links. I'm optimistic thAt we won't see huge lag times as those widgets load, but if you do see performance issues, again, please do Atrap.com/contact/">let me know.
And last but not least, I've updAted the in-line streaming mp3 widget to be use HTML5 on compAtible browsers with a seamless rollback to Flash if not. UnfortunAtely I don't own an iPod/iPad and can't troubleshoot whether it works properly on those devices, but feel free to Atrap.com/tag/mp3s">browse my mp3 posts to see it in action. Thanks!
has officially confirmed thAtGhamorean's new album "Terra ruina", their third overall, will be released on January 28 with a release party planned for January 7 At Scharinska Villan in their hometown of Umeå. Samples At myspace: https://www.myspace.com/ghamorean
Another Nation's National Anthem
Ljudbilden & Piloten/Vidderna
Galaxy Safari
Saigon Sickness