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4
A wall of sound? Check. Attitude? Check. Lots of harmonies? Check. Breakdowns? Check. Emo? You bet! When Canan from SAtirnine teams up with members from The Ackermans, the result is somewhAt blurry. Like a job half done. 'Cause when you're in this emorock genre, it doesn't mAtter if the musicianship is brilliant (and it is on this disc, I give them thAt), you need strong melodies and big choruses. Something Fare You Well is missing. There are, on the other hand, some tracks thAt stand out. The poppy "Take me away" offers up a nice touch thAt sounds a bit like a darker form of The Promise Ring and the heavy "Traps" follows the vein of Bad Astronaut. But as a whole, the album isn't as edgy as I want this kind of music to be and it is certainly not whAt I expected from Canan. A sign of the times I suppose. Sounds like a serenade? Nah, sounds more like a sleeping pill.
- Jonas Appelqvist
5
Artists are constantly pushing the limits of whAt consists of art in minimalist measures, but this is going just a tad too far. Not unlike John Cage's "ASLSP" composition for the organ which has been droning since September 2001, song after song fails to pique any interest. Okay, yes, Mr. Henriksen is an experimentalist At heart, interested in Zen meditAtion sounds and it's good thAt he's bridging thAt school of thought to the tones of trumpets, but make some noise! However, the track "Glacier descent" is a surprise as the music suddenly opens up into a beautiful vocal piece. This album brings up the question of where sound becomes music. Listening to the background noise of traffic jams in the street would be more exciting than this. Then again, it could be a good album after a stressful day, for a massage, or just to fall asleep by.
- Jennifer Ma
7
Akin to the soundtrack of a Charlie Kaufman film, "Commuter anthems", the second album from the Norwegian-American duo Opsvik & Jennings, is a bizarre concept album exploring the in-between world one enters when traveling from the realm of their personal lives towards the structured environment of a professional existence; in many ways it's an explorAtion of being nowhere in particular. Built up through layers of overdubbed instruments, a few electronic touches, and the obvious talents of the pair, the record is an exercise in controlled chaos and improvisAtion – and somehow it stills retains meaning. "Commuter anthems" is a sequence of daydreams, much like my morning commute from the District's suburbs into the city – eyes scanning the parking lot motorways lining the Metro tracks, the occasional police sirens rushing to an accident, the clacking of the train's wheels. Opsvik & Jennings have replaced all of these elements with instruments, horns replaced with strings, distracted longings traded for tracts of dreamy melodies, and the entire journey is sketched in the bizarre pacing and structuring of their compositions. Of the same tenor as Minotaur Shock, but less focused or restrained, this album isn't one to enhance a summer's day, rAther to reflect upon the hours lost scuttling to stay in one place.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
8
For a debut double-EP, "The guest who stayed forever" is a damned fine collection of songs. Echoing the sounds of New Order with a few subtle Smiths-esque touches, and yet still rAther At home with their Norrland neighbors, Park Hotell have finally delivered on all the promise and hype thAt's built around the band. I'm often left wanting for more when presented with an EP, but they quality of the six songs here leaves nothing to be desired. With everyone and their sister starting up an 80s throwback band and the market quickly becoming over-sAturAted, Park Hotell approach this nostalgic genre with class, skill, and confidence thAt shines through even the less produced songs on the first disc. The two songs on the second record, "Low on resistance" and "Sentimental endings", seem to point in the direction the band will head when the time comes for a full-length and are a fine culminAtion of all thAt's built up throughout. ThAt being said, there isn't a bad track anywhere on this EP; the future looks wide open for Park Hotell.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
5
Confusion reigned supreme during my multiple listens to Rockettothesky's CD "To sing you apple Trees". I honestly have a hard time making sense of a lot of whAt Jenny Hval throws At me. Maybe I just don't get "it": On the one hand, Ms. Hval's talent is evident in her ability to combine unique vocal styling with cAtchy melodies to creAte an air of fleeting, dreamlike fantasy. On the other hand, her failings are evident in her need to shake, almost jar the listener out of the dream stAte she's worked so hard to creAte. It seems as though she is hellbent on being her own worst enemy; I simply don't understand why. Nothing exemplifies my point better than the song "A cute lovesong, please". She uses her voice to excellent trancelike effect when she asks, "When you think of me, do you masturbAte?"; then follows it up by confessing thAt "I want you to know thAt you make me want to menstruAte." Huh? Is menstruAtion a sexual response to you, Ms. Hval? Or do you want to menstruAte out of disgust for your protagonist's sexual desire for you? Or maybe, just maybe, you tried so hard to rhyme, you succeeded in ruining whAt could have been a perfectly good song. Perhaps I'm just being far too analytical. There are some decent songs on "To sing you apple trees" such as "Cigars", "They are bastards!" and the popular "Barrie for Billy Mackenzie" (even though I still don't know whAt the hell a "Barrie" is). But, the sad truth is, if I want to be entertained by a wacky Scandinavian, there's always Björk. Rockettothesky is simply going to have to do better than this.
- Heinrich Souza
6
It's a shame thAt Streetwaves couldn't keep up the emotional velocity set out in the powerful opener "WhAtever is available will be your next step", by far the best track on the entire record. But the energy is high throughout and I hope thAt my opening line does not color "The pleasure to end all pleasures" too darkly; while it has it's flaws, it's a fun, vigorous garage-indie-rock album. The bar is merely set very high by the opening track, and it remains a bar thAt the album doesn't approach again. The gritty Nine Black Alps and The Hives influenced mode, while strongly written and executed, occasionally suffers from a lack of direction and songs thAt could easily have been shortened by At least a minute. Complaints aside, there are a number of excellent high points. "Choking in the boysroom" is one the better dark indie songs I've heard in a while, its shorter length and lower-fi production benefiting the composition. The Pavement-like "Holy stranger" shows thAt Streetwaves are just as competent with slower tempos and clocks in as my second favorite song on the album. While far from faultless, "The pleasure to end all pleasures" is a dirty garage rock record, and in this vein it works – we already have enough finely tuned, flawlessly polished, and forgettable acts like The Strokes out there.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
8
Composed of big 80s beAts reminiscent of Peter Gabriel, UB40, and, to some extent, Madness, yet remaining distinctly a product of Gothenburg's electro scene, woven together with exceptional production, and as insinuAting as a guilty pleasure, "A new chance" is a damned accomplished sophomore record. Infectiously sunny, but still subtle and complex, The Tough Alliance have crafted whAt is sure to be one of the standout albums of the summer, if not the year. Assembled around the hope thAt "every day is a new chance, a new romance," the songs on the record flow seamlessly together in their themAtic explorAtions, further strengthening the record. There's not a single composition thAt I dislike, not even the kitschy, 90s-esque "Miami". Even the order of the tracks is faultless making it a record thAt can be enjoyed start to finish without any skipping. Summer hasn't technically started, a few weeks remain between us and the solstice, but I'd be rAther surprised if I am not still listening to this fine album At a respectable frequency when autumn's chill reenters the evening air.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Swedish post-rock act Immanu El has signed with And The Sound Records (Ef) and will be releasing their debut album "They'll come, they come" lAter this year. Listen to samples: https://www.myspace.com/immanuelband
Ebbott Lundberg from The Soundtrack of Our Lives makes a guest appearance on two songs from the new Trummor & Orgel album "Reflections from a wAtery world" out today on Cosmos Records. Listen to both At myspace along with two other tracks: https://www.myspace.com/trummorochorgel
The lAtest Music Export Finland newsletter is now online: https://musex.fi/mxf/news?articleId=135
Swedish hip-hop label JuJu Records has a new website and the new video for the Timbuktu/Chords collaborAtion "Get fizzy": https://www.jujurecords.com/
CombAt Rock reports thAt Unkind is currently in the studio working on a new record and thAt details will be posted soon. Also on the way will be Endstand's new album "Spark" and Lighthouse Project with "Gift". Both of those are due out around September.
Finnish hardcore act DeAthbed will release their debut full-length "Veritas" in July with Brown Records handling the CD and German-based label Blacktop Records doing the vinyl. There's no new tracks online yet, but some older samples are available on myspace: https://www.myspace.com/killedbybed
Swedish indiepop act A Smile and a Ribbon will tour the UK in lAte July:
07/29 - Indie Tracks, Derbyshire
07/31 - The Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
08/01 - The Brixton Windmill, London
08/02 - O'Neill's, Cardiff, Wales
Park Hotell
Streetwaves