Somehow I neglected to post this yesterday: Ink19 reviews the Tiger Lou "Until I'm there" 7": m/issues/april2007/musicReviews/musicT/tigerLou.html" target=_blank>https://www.ink19.com/issues/april2007/musicReviews/musicT/tigerLou.html

Danish indie Sounds of Perpetual Astonishment is putting on a special label night at Ausland in Berlin on may 9 featuring the acts KURvE, Agata & me and Animallovers as well as Italians 9. Read more: https://www.sopa.dk/

Swedish tweepoppers Lovekevins in the UK:

05/08 - metro, London
05/10 - Whelan's, Dublin w/SKwBN
05/12 - Roisin Dubh, Galway

Norwegian rockers The Grand have posted their new single "Traveling bound" for listening on myspace: myspace.com/thegrandspace" target=_blank>https://www.myspace.com/thegrandspace
Reminds me of the Ricochets or my midnight Creeps, 'cept with a little more boogie to it.

The Chrysler
Cold War classic
Galaxy Gramophone

First the disclaimer: I'm supposed to love this album. This American release of The Chrysler's second record is on Galaxy Gramaphone, a Parasol imprint, and I'm generally a strong advocate of all things Parasol. But so help me, this is one boring CD. I'll grant that it's got clever and unusual arrangements that sound surprisingly natural and organic, but their brand of slow, tranquil soft pop never connects emotionally. In some ways, they epitomize the Swedish knack for deconstructing genres of the past (in this case sensitive sixties Donovan-esque folk pop) and reconstructing them in ways that are simultaneously familiar and brand new. In this case, though, this intellectual accomplishment isn't enough.
- Nancy Baym

Dark Tranquility
Fiction
Century Media

Dark Tranquility can still deliver top notch melodic death metal after some 15 years in the business. Together with At the Gates and In Flames, they are the founders of the so called Gothenburg sound. Where most bands would long since peaked, Dark Tranqility at this point sound better than they've done in a long time. I dare say "Fiction" is their best album since the classic "The gallery" from 1995. They make smart use of keyboards and sometimes create a gothic mood, and the variation of really fast and aggressive songs alongside slower material makes this album a very versatile affair. And the fact that vocalist and growl-master mikael Stanne once again uses his clean voice on two songs is a great move. Songs like "Blind at heart" and "Nothing to no one" is the ultimate proof that this band should achieve the same kind of breakthrough as other Swedish death metal bands like Arch Enemy or In Flames!
- Richard Wilson

The Honeydrips
Here comes the future
Sincerely Yours

The Honeydrips have previously released material quite sporadically, in the shape of CDRs, mp3s and seven-inches. I've enjoyed their songs and I really wanted this album to sweep me off my feet and let me taste a slice of indie pop heaven. Unfortunately, it's not exactly heavenly although it is quite good. The album's very much a product of the time and place where it was made (i.e. Sweden in 2006-07), which I think is a very good thing. Even though I miss some great standout tracks (such as "The trouble with the neo-Nazis"), it's a nice album with cosy songs, ok lyrics, and bits of sampled movie dialogue that, all in all, helps to create a warm and fuzzy atmosphere.
- Simon Tagestam

Konie
The club is open
Razzia Records

Konie is experimental electronica from Stockholm (see sample on m/index.php?d=1213">march 27th, 2007) with a big difference: all samples are from taperecorder tapeloops. At most times, the album just blends it all together as one endless buffet - the selections are bad for you, yet they can become highly addictive - but then you catch a snippet here and there that sounds appealing. Take for example the intro for the album that welcomes you warmly to the 'club', while "History/Science" tackles quirky subject matter. However, the track that sticks out the most it "my life is shit but I am funky", reminiscent of Blair's "Have fun go mad". It's songs like these that make me wish there'd be more singles. There are upwards of 20 different instruments used in the total of 16 songs featuring 15 contributing artists. With that much choice, I'm sure you'll find a favourite track.
- Jennifer Ma

Moonbabies
At the ballroom
Startracks/Hidden Agenda

I have been quite interested in hearing the upcoming moonbabies record ever since hearing "Take me to the ballroom" on m/label.php?show=iat003">"Reader's companion volume two" last spring. The album version of said track is just stellar, which is hard to imagine based on the quality of the older version. I still consider that to be one of the album's top tracks, and actually, the band's success on the album lies mostly in the uptempo numbers. "Don't ya know?" carries the album into the danceable stratosphere, whereas "Weekend a-go-go" harkens back to some of the best alt-rock that come out a decade ago. The production on this album is just so full, yet retains a playful atmosphere. I can see this album really bringing the band a ton of success especially in the States, as I can easily see the songs on both radio and TV.
- Matt Giordano

Scraps of Tape
This is a copy is this a copy
A Tenderversion Recording

Oh, Scraps of Tape. The critical success of this album means that it is tempting to trash, but I am not going to be one to rain on their parade. Delicate, yet intricate notes, phrases and melodies bloom into a huge resonance of sound and beats. It is the beating of your heart that matches the rhythm of the guitars as it does its sway dance. They live by repetition and also the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' doctrine. The drums come in at the moment the song cries out for drums. But it's the hardness that explodes so suddenly and powerfully that distinguishes this post-rock band. The only stumble in this marathon is the underdeveloped lyrics at times forcing its way into the song prematurely or too late. This dizzy dance should never end, but when it does, you're satisfied.
- Jennifer Ma

Vapnet
Något dåligt nytt har hänt
Hybris

No rest for the wicked! After giving us the best album of last year ("Jag vet hur man väntar"), Vapnet have now "done an Arctic monkeys" and released a mini-album (hopefully they will do another "Arctic monkeys" and release their second full length album this year as well). There are five proper songs on the album - one The Avalanches-like number, and an instrumental outro (which I guess is a version of "Tjernobyl") There is also a song sung by Jens Lekman, which I didn't like at first, but has started to grow on me. The other four songs are of the highest quality. "Tjernobyl" sounds like a song I would consider doing one of those audio tattoos of, in my ear, if those things existed. "Förtjäna mig själv" ("Deserve myself") is another knockout track, with classic Vapnet lyrics and a girl going "baa-ba-ba" in the background during the chorus. I think I love Vapnet more than ice cream.
- Simon Tagestam

MP3: Imagine I Had Hands - Dead sailor

Saving the best for last, our third and final featured demo act this week is Imagine I Had Hands. Instead of me telling you about them, I've decided to let mainman Adam mcCormack speak for himself.

How did Imagine I Had Hands come to be and how has it evolved?
The whole thing started when I found myself without a band after leaving Dublin and my old band Sylvan to move to Denmark. I just began to record some idea tracks on my girlfriend's laptop. When I eventually discovered mySpace and created an account for the project the songs got a good response, so I decided to try forming a band. I really missed playing live and I thought the songs would work well in this context. I met Jens Højland, our bass player, at college and I knew our drummer Casper Ubbesen from when I lived in his hometown. The line up was complete by late November of last year.
Since then we have been going over some old home recordings and trying to figure out what will work and what won't. A lot of the songs turned out quite different when we played them as a band. We have just begun to write songs together at rehearsals. We plan to record a couple of these new songs with Jakob Hvitnov (Barra Head) this week actually. We are quite excited about them. I think they are a little more aggressive and urgent sounding.

How did you hook up with Jakob?
Recording with Jakob came about through our contact with Play/Rec. The guys at Play/Rec have been really supportive in helping us get this band going which is really flattering as there are so many amazing bands on that label. Its nice that they consider us worthy of their support. Anyway, they recommended Jakob to us and we had heard his work on the Play/Rec "Five years" compilation so we were delighted that, when we asked him, he was up for it.
We're still in the process of recording, but so far so great! Jakob is a very skilled engineer and in producing our music he has really had a lot of influence on how the songs have come together. Perhaps just as importantly he is a really cool and easy going guy. The atmosphere is very relaxed which makes things a lot easier and of course makes for better results. We are delighted with how things are sounding and we are excited about working with Jakob more in the future.

So what's next for the band then?
Next, we gotta play live. We are not quite veterans of the road yet with only two gigs under our belts so we are in desperate need of live experience. Our next gig is on may 9th in support of The Paper Chase. We hope to play throughout Denmark this year. We are also looking into playing some shows in my home country of Ireland during the summer and perhaps Germany later in the year. We will probably start thinking about a debut album towards October/November. By then we will have been together for almost a year so the timing would be nice.

Imagine I Had Hands - Dead sailor

MP3: Giglinger - The prime suspect

Our second demo band of the week is Giglinger, a Finnish act that desperately wants to be Big Black. Not that there's anything wrong with that, especially since they don't fall into the trap of attempting to ape Steve Albini's dystopian lyrical style. So that leaves you with a pair of shrill noisy guitars dueling over cheap, machine-made drum beats. It's pretty easy nowadays to create quality drum loops with even the most basic equipment and applications, so I appreciate the artistry of sticking with such clearly outdated sounds. It fits the style well and the addition of a few short synth lines on this particular track is bonus. Aside from obvious issues of originality, I like this a lot.

Giglinger - The prime suspect

mailorder news: re-stocks of Hello Saferide, Firefox AK and maia Hirasawa should be arriving today along with new records from Thunder Express and They Live By Night. Check back soon! New CDs from Kristofer Åström and Laakso are ordered and supposedly on the way along with all the latest from Hybris - montt mardié, Vapnet, etc.

New summer festival dates for I'm From Barcelona:

05/27 - Papillons de nuit, St Laurent de Cuves (FRA)
06/29 - microcosm, La Roche sur Yon (FRA)
06/30 - Eurockéennes, De Belfort (FRA)
07/06 - Rock dans tous ses états, Evreux (FRA)
07/07 - Oxegen, Punchestown Racecourse (IRL)
07/13 - melt Festival, Ferropolis/Gräfenhainichen (GER)
07/14 - Latitude, Southwold (UK)
07/15 - Indian Summer, Glasgow (UK)
07/16 - Concorde 2, Brighton (UK)
07/28 - The Secret Garden Party, Cambridge/Huntingdon (UK)

If you missed my radio show on Friday, you also missed my wife and I serenading our border collie Parker with a little IFB. He sure does hate them.