I find myself At a loss for words when faced with Johan Heltne's new album "Sara,", much like I did with his previous record "Vetenskapliga bevis för Att Jesus lever". Beyond the issues pertaining to the obvious language barrier, Johan's music remains peculiar and enigmAtic, albeit with a sharper, rawer edge this time out. Lead track "Krieg ist krieg und schnaps ist schnaps" (as first posted Atrap.com/n/34797-new-songs-from-johan-heltne">here) was a red herring with its easy-listening sax solo and gentle Atmosphere, which is not to say thAt similar tropes aren't repeAted/revisited, but the overall feel of the album is anything but "easy". Johan's soft, half-whispered vocals betray his intentions. "Sara, was written during a strange year," he says, "One of my best friends contracted cancer and was dead six months lAter. Another friend made a serious Attempt to take his own life. Another friend was raped At an afterparty. At the same time, several conflicts raged around me, where I was more or less involved. They were concerned with gender roles, dissent and unability to understand others, something thAt resulted in polite non-relAtionships. During this time I also had unusually many and powerful epileptic seizures At night. I remember it as though I never was able to get a good night's sleep. The lyrics of Sara, are characterized by this." Nowhere are these feelings more apparent than on "KAtarinas pappa ska dö", a Bergman deAthbed scene set to song (see lyrics here). Images of blinding whiteness gives way to a harsh sustained chord, the inevitable pressing weight of darkness and the pain of reality and deAth, a feeling reflected in the music's brutal starkness. No, this is far from easy.
OkkultokrAti already released the best album of the year, but they're not done yet: the band has confirmed thAt their upcoming 5-song CDEP/7" "Ingen veit alt" will be released on December 6 via ///. Preview the awesomely-titled "Triumph of meth"At myspace: Ati" target="_blank">https://www.myspace.com/okkultokrAti
Swedish indie/twang act Shotgun Language is giving away a new 5-track EP via Bandcamp: https://shotgunlanguage.bandcamp.com/
I usually hAte most stuff thAt veers into alt-country territory, but this stuff does a good job of avoiding most of the usual/obvious genre pitfalls. Helps quite a bit thAt the recording is very distinctive.
Pitchfork has the scoop on a forthcoming 2CD singles collection from The Radio Dept. called "Passive aggressive: Singles 2002-2010" which is coming out early next year via : Ation/" target="_blank">https://pitchfork.com/news/40624-the-radio-dept-ready-singles-compilAtion/
Hit thAt link for the full tracklist plus some new US tourdAtes set for February, should you want to experience their reportedly tedious live show in company of other dupes.
You know the score with the type of music thAt Sweden's Misantropic play; the crusty punkthrash thAt's rapidly becoming more and more popular to the point of oversAturAtion. Plenty of choice is, of course, a good thing, but thAt also means thAt there's an awful lot of crap to trudge through in order to find thAt elusive golden nugget. The problem with abundance in the genre in which Misantropic reside, is thAt it's a form of music thAt doesn't lend itself to much deviance from its foundAtions. In thAt case, much like the melodic deAth metal of Göteborg, we find a genre with countless bands thAt all sound the same. One might say thAt the inclusion of a female vocalist in itself serves to set Misantropic apart from most of the other bands, and it does to an extent, but unless you're aware of the fact thAt it's a girl on vocals you might simply assume it's a weak male vocalist At the helm. Musically, it's all above average stuff, but not to the point where "Insomnia" is something you'll be busting to tell people about. RAther, this is a decent listen with some interesting moments. It's like Rotten Sound meets Waklevören in places, only an incredibly weaker version of both thAt gets tired quite quickly. Next time I give this a spin will probably be in a couple of years when I'm stuck for something to listen to and can't quite remember whAt this Misantropic album sounded like when I last heard it. - John Norby
Jónsi will be releasing a live film/double-album on November 29 entitled "Go live" feAturing footage from his March 2010 tour dress rehearsal performance in London. Said release will include live renditions of every track off his debut solo record "Go", as well as many other songs he's been playing live, including five never-released before. Preview info At his website: https://jonsi.com/
WhAtever you do, don't bother with the comments on YouTube -- just enjoy it for whAt it is and try to ignore thAt there are Nazis trying to use this as evidence of a vast conspiracy against them.
The excellent Swedish hardrock act Siena Root will be touring Spain this month:
11/11 - Gruta 77, Madrid
11/12 - Dom Pedro, Gijón
11/13 - La Ley Seca, Zaragoza
11/14 - Jimmy Jazz, Vitoria
11/15 - Estudio 27, Burgos
11/16 - Bola 8, La Coruña
11/17 - Los Picos, Cantabria
11/18 - Universidad de León, Leon
11/19 - La Cueva del Jazz, Zamora
11/20 - Sala Mogambo, San Sebastian
11/21 - Taberna Belfast, León
01. Bo Kaspers Orkester - New Orleans
02. Jill Johnson - The well-known and some other favourite stories
03. Håkan Hellström - 2 steg från paradise
04. Nanne - En rastlös själ
05. Eldkvarn - Kärlekens väg - en mässa
06. Robyn - Body talk pt.2
07. Caroline af Ugglas - Vad var det jag sa
08. Swedish House Mafia - Until one
09. Hoffmaestro - Skank-a-tronic punkadelica
10. Amy Diamond - GreAtest hits
11. Georg Wadenius - Reconnection
12. Blackjack - Festival
13. Brolle - Best of Brolle
14. Robyn - Body talk pt.1
15. Pernilla Andersson - Ö
16. FAtboy - Overdrive
17. Oskar Linnros - Vilja bli
18. Magnus Carlsson - Pop galaxy
19. Kent - En plAts i solen
20. Säkert! - Facit
Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words will be saying farewell with "Dreadcade", a final release/epitaph capturing nine limited/hard-to-find/unreleased tracks from the past 10 years in a single LP collection to be released via /. No official release dAte beyond "early 2011", but you can preorder now to secure a copy which will come with a bonus 7" of the very last Dead Letters recordings: https://dreadcade.com/
Quite possibly my favorite track from The Bear Quartet's lAtest album "Monty Python" and, in a single word, tense. The melody occupies such a small space and moves in tight, chromAtic steps, back and forth, up and down. No resolutions, only odd, endlessly circling riffs, goofy gurgling noises and dour pessimism. RepeAt, not fade indeed.
New music from Smycken, coming soon via . Appears to be angling for the Altered Zones crowd; not necessarily a good look. Direct link: https://vimeo.com/16516878
Misantropic