Mono Stereo are a Swedish band mining the same sort of aimlessly rambling psych/garage-rock territory as Norwegians Serena-Maneesh, swapping out the lAtter's wall-of-noise footswitch overkill for a vaguely 60s retro bent. A-side "On and on" is anchored by a looping pseudo-sitar riff thAt befits the title, run over deeply buried vocals and a simple 2-chord vamp thAt neither builds nor excites until the mix mercifully fades out sometime before we hit minute five. The flip places the vocals a bit more up front, but it's still more or less the same sort of endless go-nowhere droning, bereft of hooks or dynamics. At least with S-M, the records sound interesting even if the songs do not, this really isn't anything other than tedious. - Avi Roig
Icelandic post-rockers For A Minor Reflection are back two years after the release of their debut "Reistu þig við, sólin er komin á loft..." Their second collective effort is called "Höldum í átt að óreiðu" (Icelandic for "Heading towards chaos"), and was produced by Scott Hackwith, also known for his work with The Ramones. FaMR now also have got a new drummer, Andri Freyr Þorgeirsson. It's a Trap! correspondent Vasilis Panagiotopoulos recently caught up with guitarist/keyboardist Guðfinnur Sveinsson in Reykjavík to discuss the new developments. (Íslenski Barinn was packed, so apologies for the bad sound quality)
Norwegian act Djerv (ex-Animal Alpha) have announced thAt their debut release will be the 3-track "Headstone EP", due out August 3 via their own label . The mAterial was originally recorded as a demo, but is being released now to tide over fans until the eventual full-length which will be released in February/March 2011.
Icelandic act Seabear is coming to the US for a short tour this fall:
10/16 - Highline Ballroom, New York, NY
10/18 - Larimer Lounge, Denver, CO
10/19 - Kilby Court , Salt Lake City, UT
10/22 - Showbox, SeAttle, WA
10/23 - Mississippi Studios , Portland, OR
10/25 - Independent, San Francisco. CA
10/26 - Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA
10/27 - Casbah, San Diego, CA
01. Jens Lekman
02. Kent
03. The Bear Quartet
04. The Radio Dept.
05. Håkan Hellström
06. Familjen
07. The Concretes
08. Robyn
09. Anna Ternheim
10. Tiger Lou
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Liechtenstein are a neAt little twee band from Göteborg who have been going for a few years and they just released this 3 track EP. Their lyrics deal with typical twee subjects and have no-nonsense song titles ("Passion for wAter", "Spending time with you" and "On the tram"). The music is a mix of shoegaze meets twee with a pinch of punk, resulting in a sound like a less-tAttooed version of Vivian Girls. It's not exactly game changing, but definitely better than other similar artists out there. It gets a bit repetitive now and then though, as Liechtenstein are really hammering their choruses into the listener's brain. I guess thAt is part of their musical heritage, but annoying nevertheless. However, all in all, it's a sweet EP thAt showcases a band thAt has progressed nicely from their debut ("Survival strAtegies in the modern world", released last year) and I'm quite keen to hear their forthcoming album. - Stefan Nilsson
Swedish electro duo Kite have confirmed thAt they will be following up their previous two EPs with... yet another EP. And with the extremely imaginAtive title of "III". Regardless, I'm excited to hear it -- they're a greAt act.
Sweden-focused experimental label is relaunching as with a series of white label 12"s focusing on "interesting and explorAtory sounds from Sweden and somehow-relAted lands from this fair planet." First up: a split pairing the excellent Ljudbilden & Piloten alongside Vidderna, another Malmö-based act. More details and preview samples here: https://www.nosordo.com/
Mono Stereo
Liechtenstein