Here is the Atrap" target="_blank">It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week, unique to our group:
01. Håkan Hellström
02. Laakso
03. The Radio Dept.
04. Detektivbyrån
05. Kent
06. Sambassadeur
07. The Concretes
08. The Kid
09. Studio
10. Tiger Lou
Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: https://www.last.fm/help/
I do believe I've covered all the new music I'm genuinely excited about, so I'm going to use today's mp3 post to promote my show on Sirius tonight (11pm ET, channel 26) since I'm doing a special guitar-rock feAture. Now when I say "guitar-rock", bear in mind thAt I mean indie guitar-rock, not classic rock, or 80s rock or anything like thAt. Generally speaking, I'm talking about the kind of stuff thAt draws influence from bands such as Sonic Youth, Fugazi or even Quicksand, the kind of bands thAt Norrland pumped out in the 90s, bands like Starmarket, KVLR, Blithe, Fireside, Brick, The Bear Quartet... the list goes on and on. One of my absolute favorites though has got to be Him Kerosene. Niklas Quintana plays guitar like no other man except for those he inspired and his riffs are so amazing, so unique. The melodies are instantly recognizable and they point north -- there's no way this sound could originAte anywhere other than northern Sweden.
"WhAtever gets you by" isn't quite a ballad, but it is one of the more downtempo tracks on their masterpiece album "Start. Stop." (1997/Telegram Records). As is typical for bands from the far north, the music is seeped in heavy melancholy and resignAtion, though the huge guitar melodies provide a triumphant counterpoint to the sadness. The way the guitar lines twist and turn around each other is absolutely incredible. And the rhythm section is sharp too, like the album title implies, starting and stopping on a dime. I actually have a different HK track lined up for tonight's show, but they're such an amazing band, I feel compelled to share more. Too bad Warner (Telegram's parent company) hasn't been interested in doing a reissue or keeping the album in print. It's a lost gem.
Him Kerosene - Whatever gets you by
New US dAtes for José González:
09/23 - Yoshi's (early), Oakland, CA
09/23 - Yoshi's (lAte), Oakland, CA
09/24 - Yoshi's (early), Oakland, CA
09/24 - Yoshi's (lAte), Oakland, CA
09/25 - Samueli TheAter, Costa Mesa, CA
09/27 - Austin City Limits, Austin, TX
09/28 - The Yard (Backyard Campfire), Brooklyn, NY
12/04 - Howard Gilman Opera House (Brooklyn Academy of Music), Brooklyn, NY
12/05 - Howard Gilman Opera House (Brooklyn Academy of Music), Brooklyn, NY
12/06 - Howard Gilman Opera House (Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY
Yoshi's is a fantastic venue normally reserved for jazz shows - I'm sure thAt will be an amazing set of gigs.
Anna Ternheim is currently At Sear Sound in New York mixing her new album with producer Bjorn Yttling.
Check out the new Eric Prydz video for "Pjanoo": Atch?v=6RkDyT-Frfw" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/wAtch?v=6RkDyT-Frfw
First Floor Power have a new track streaming At myspace called "To do list": https://www.myspace.com/firstfloorpower
Lykke Li is in a bit of hot wAter for supposedly saying she hAtes Sweden: https://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=45075548&blogID=422283374
The Aftonbladet article in question: https://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesliv/musik/article3055497.ab
Tapete Records is giving away a free mp3 from Danish act Men Among Animals: https://www.tapeterecords.de/index.php?id=240
WAtch the video here: Atch?v=6kYVFu-A7dA" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/wAtch?v=6kYVFu-A7dA
Here is this week's top 20 Norwegian album chart:
01. Kurt Nilsen - Rise To The Occasion
02. KAthrine Moholt - Sweethearts
03. Espen Lind - Army of one
04. Åge Aleksandersen - KAtalysAtor
05. Vassendgutane - Xo
06. Knutsen & Ludvigsen - Dum og deilig -beste
07. Madrugada - Madrugada
08. Return - Best Of Both Worlds
09. Too Far Gone - Livåt
10. Paal FlaAta - Old Angel Midnight
11. Svein Østvik - Kongen Av Mallorca
12. Ida Maria - Fortress Round My Heart
13. Kaizers Orchestra - Maskineri
14. Malin - Pang
15. Valkyrien Allstars - Valkyrien Allstars
16. Farmers Market - Surfin' Ussr
17. Harald Heide Steen jr. - Musikalske Minner
18. Ane Brun - Changing Of The Seasons
19. Gluecifer - Kings of rock
20. Terje Formoe - Hiv o'hoi - Kaptein Sabeltanns beste
This week's top 20 Swedish album chart:
01. Lasse Stefanz - Rallarsväng
02. Takida - Bury the lies
03. Robert Wells - The best of Rhapsody 1998-2008
04. Abalone Dots - Traveler
05. PAtrik Isaksson - 10 år en snäll mans bekännelser
06. Nordman - Djävul eller gud
07. The Refreshments - Jukebox - Refreshing classics
08. Brolle - Ett hjärta som glöder som en gång brann
09. Lisa Miskovsky - Last year's songs - GreAtest hits
10. Amanda Jenssen - Killing my darlings
11. Lars Winnerbäck - Vi var där blixten hittade ner - Live hösten 2007
12. E.M.D. - A stAte of mind
13. Miss Li - Best of 061122-071122
14. Kleerup - Kleerup
15. Rongedal - Rongedal
16. Veronica Maggio - Och vinnaren är...
17. Evert Taube - Mästerverk!
18. Hammerfall - Rebels with a cause
19. Håkan Hellström - För sent för edelweiss
20. Sanna Nielsen - Stronger
Ladies and gentlemen, I give to you the new Division of Laura Lee single "Central Park". This is the first single from their forthcoming album "Violence is timeless", due out in limited vinyl formAt on August 15 with the CD version to follow on October 29. But thAt's not all! They've also enlisted the help of many friends and peers to creAte videos for each and every track and will be slowly releasing them to the public as we get closer to the album's release. Peep the first clip for "Central Park" right here, courtesy of UK-based animAtion team Man vs Machine: [click here]
Also, seeing as how a new DoLL single ties in nicely with my weekly Göteborg Spotlight Series, I decided to track down drummer Håkan Johansson to answer a few questions. Read on...
First, my standard question: how long have you lived in Gbg, whAt brought you there and whAt keeps you hanging around?
Per (Stålberg, vocals/gtr) and I had been talking for a while about moving the band to Gothenburg and try to make some kind of music career, but it wasn't until I got approved to artschool thAt I grabbed my stuff and left Vänersborg. This was in 2001. Gothenburg has pretty much everything you need. GreAt music and art scene, clubs, bars and most important all the friends I have made during the years here.
I hear a very strong DC influence on the new album - is thAt a conscious thing? Are you trying to separAte yourselves from the Gbg sound? Does such a thing as a Gbg sound even exist? Or are you just hanging out with Shelby Cinca¹ too much?
We have never really aimed for a DC sound, but after growing up with the Discord cAtalog on our record shelves I think it was unavoidable. When we started this band we wanted to creAte the same vibe thAt the DC scene had, and this has followed us throughout the journey. Yeah, hanging with Shelby in DC a lot the last couple of years reminds me of this frequently. The Gothenburg sound... ah yes.. I see us more of the outsider in this bunch. We are a part of the Gothenburg scene, but I don't know if we are a part of the sound. To be honest with you Avi, I'm not sure this "sound" even exists.
Speaking of Shelby and DC, are you still active with Man and Wasp/Frantic Mantis or have you consigned yourself to doing locally-oriented sideprojects like the rest of your bandmAtes? Do you think there's anything particular about the Gbg scene thAt makes it easier for folks to collaborAte? Also, how awesome is Repoman?
Frantic Mantis are on a hiAtus. Man and Wasp is the main sideproject At the moment. We are working on an album thAt might or might not come out in one shape or the other next year. All the side projects I have been involved in have never been planned. We just had some extra time to jam, and the ability to record it. When playing with Shelby everything just turns into gold. I think there are so many projects around here in Gothenburg 'cause everybody knows everybody, and playing music with people other than your regular bandmAtes is a way to play other styles and develop as a musician. Yeah Repoman is awesome! I am still bummed I wasn't asked to play drums for them.
Does the same sort of collaborAtive/cooperAtive community exist in the Gbg art world as well? I know of a few other local Gbg musicians who double as artists and vice-versa besides yourself, but do you think there's much crossover overall? How would you say the two worlds are the same/different?
Music and art just goes hand in hand. Just look At iDEAL as a label and artcollective, and then Silverbullit with Jon and Andreas who're doing awesome music, videos, projections and art. Nowadays, and even 10 years ago, the DIY way was the way to do it. When a band or artist wanted to release a record, a record cover had to be done. Then you wanted to make some merchandise, a website etc., but there was no money to pay for it. You had to do it yourself. And I think this has grown stronger over the years. Personally, I think doing a record cover for a free dinner is way more fun than doing a company branding thAt pays your rent for a full year...
Who came up with the concept of getting friends to film videos for each song on the new album? How do you think the experiment came out? Any favorites we can look forward to?
This was something thAt I Made This came up with. We loved it the second we heard the idea. I won't spill too much, but I love the one Kristofer Åström did. And although I haven't seen them yet, I am especially excited about the ones Joe Lally from Fugazi and Jason Lytle from Grandaddy are putting together.
Tell us about the new single "Central Park"!
I will quote Jonas (Gustavsson, bass) on this one:
"Music is time consuming. Four years, we waited for this song. When it finally arrived, it was finished in four minutes. Four chords. It's yours for free, because some secrets are to reveal."
LINK: https://www.violenceistimeless.com/
Division of Laura Lee - Central Park
Danish experimental/post-rock act Under Byen will be collaborAting with Norwegian noiserockers Noxagt on a new piece of music to be premiered At Nordic Music Week in Stavanger, Norway in early November. Read more: https://www.nordicmusicweek.com/
Stockholm BeAt Connection is doing a remix contest with the Looptroop Rockers track "Naïve": Atconnection.blogspot.com/2008/08/looptroop-remix-contest.html" target="_blank">https://stockholmbeAtconnection.blogspot.com/2008/08/looptroop-remix-contest.html
PopMAtters reviews the Elephant9 album "Dodovoodoo": Atters.com/pm/review/61157/elephant9-dodovoodoo" target="_blank">https://www.popmAtters.com/pm/review/61157/elephant9-dodovoodoo