Profile: Detektivbyrån

Asha Ali
s/t
NONS

Ashi Ali is another promising, beguiling talent for pop panache and at time captivating compositions built on piano. Judge miss Ali on one song: "To bed" and she will own you. It could have been written by Damian Rice but, while the musical base is not a million miles away from The Tiny, it might be the crescendos? Indeed, Ali has a similarity in tone to Asa of Hell on Wheels and "Fire, fire" is surely the long lost First Floor Power epitaph? "These months" offers darting and swirling epic psyche. "Are you here soon" is a delicate little waltz meets country number, "Warm fronts" comes out of Portishead territory, "Somewhere else" could've been a Cardigans album classic. All impressive comparisons - it is a bit fraught at times, but musically deft - so when Ali decides her fuller path, she will be [even more] genius, because here are 11 smoldering teasers, and not a jot to hamper the Ali's credibility.
- Jason Christie

Anagoes
...To Hollywood
self-released

Anagoes play straight ahead post-grunge rock, heavy on guitars and dark vocals. There's nothing particularly original about their sound, they've obviously listened to plenty of Soundgarden and others of that ilk, but they do what they do quite well, and some of the songs on this 4 song EP (especially "She") have killer choruses that make for excellent earworms.
- Nancy Baym

Animasola
Doors/Tainted
self-released

Animasola are really really influenced by the 80s stadium rock schtick. The two tracks showcased on this single feature the band heavily in awe of early U2 and Simple minds. However, this isn't such a bad thing as the Animasola do a very convincing job of breathing fresh life into the genre alongside such contemporaries as fellow Scandinavians mew. Now all they need is a video laden with crashing waves on a rain sodden day and they're sorted in terms of sending up the genre.
- Nick Levine

Pelle Carlberg
Everything. Now!
Twentyseven Records/Labrador

This is the debut record from Edson's frontman and singer/songwriter and, not surprisingly, it sounds a lot like Edson. The groove is still gentle and soothing, the instrumentation simple, the vocals sublimely beautiful, and the lyrics still walk that fine line between sharp wit and tender insight. He's a classic Labrador act - high quality and almost-but-not-quite-too twee - but there's really no one out there who sounds like he does: a Sinatra for the midtempo indie set. At times he's a bit too over the top - "Go to hell, miss Rydell", a song about repeated rebuffed attempts to contact a reviewer who panned his record, is a funny first listen but grows tiresome after a few rotations. He's got songs about compulsive shopping -- the catchy "Riverbank" takes on buyer's remorse and is considerably more fun musically than "Telemarketing", about someone who "can't say no to a human voice." But it's the empathy with which he inhabits characters like the sad sack singing "Telemarketing" that bring the record its warmth, reached most effectively on songs like "Oh no! It's happening again", which captures that moment when a romantic quarrel escalates into a fight that dooms the relationship, or "mind the gap", where he yearns to give money to the beggar on the London tube and questions the opportunities his son's school offers that less privileged kids don't get. It's not the perfect album he could make if he'd tone down the silly and stick with the catchy poignant, but it's a very nice listen with high points high enough to carry the weaker songs and a warm glow that goes perfectly with coffee on the cold grey mornings that lie before us.
- Nancy Baym

[ingenting]
Mycket väsen för ingenting
Labrador

This is the second album from [ingenting], and they still sound a bit like Kent and a lot like Velvet Underground (the guitar riffs!). The Swedish press hasn't really taken to this album, something I don't really understand since these songs are highly infectious and the more I listen to them, the more I want to go on a road trip with them playing on the stereo. The lyrics are wonderful and the music's ace. [ingenting] are terrific at doing slower ballad-type of songs ("Bergochdalbanan" being my favourite 'slow song' on here), but what they really do best is fast and catchy (such as "Punkdrömmar", "Suzanne", "Släpp in solen" – listened a lot to this last summer, and "Hollywood dreams", the latter being the strongest track on "mycket väsen för ingenting"). This is Swedish indie at its very best, even if [ingenting] have taken some obvious references points to create their sound like The Hives, instead of being more original like someone such as The Knife.
- Simon Tagestam

Irene
Apple Bay
Labrador

Self piteous, at times pathetic, insipid guff. Irene passed by HQ first time around, and while it was not obvious then, it sure is now on second album serving. Irene was a dinner lady. She wore thick tan tights, and a swirl pattern apron. She made drab pies and runny custard and everyone was obliged to like it. This is cousin Irene, but on record. Sometimes there is cabaret about the songs; it's the skipping/hop-scotch brigade-pat-a-cake of tweeness, blended with horrific language pronunciation. The linguistic delivery almost as bad as Billie the Vision and the Dancers, yet those guys have a positive message and a clear canvas to it all - this is simply weak. About as good as it get is all trumpets and doo-doo-doo's on "Little things (that tear us apart)". This is not kitsch cool like the old dinner lady; it is cheesy, and bad.
- Jason Christie

MCIP
Doomsday device
self-released

Wow, can you say Spazz worship? At least that's my impression anytime I hear wacky hardcore/grind like this that's constantly shifting tempos and themes. It's sorely lacking in dynamics, as is typical with the territory, but mCIP (my moocow in Pakistan, in case you were wondering) also works twice as hard to make up for it with a good sense of fun and strong musicianship. As is also fairly typical, this is the sort of thing I'd probably really enjoy seeing live, but would never listen to at home. make of that what you will.
- Avi Roig

Miss 45
s/t
NoTalent Records

It takes more than revved-up blues riffs and rampant misogyny to rip off the Devil Dogs. It takes good songs and, more importantly, attitude. miss 45 have neither. Looks like the label moniker was right.
- Avi Roig

Lots of new special content for you today as well, including my promised m/index.php?article=232">profile piece on Detektivbyrån as well as m/index.php?article=233">a nice big batch of reviews. I'm also working on a piece summarizing my toughts from last week's seminar and hope to have it posted in a day or two.

Post-rock aficionados The Silent Ballet have a new comp for free download: m/comp/fall06.html" target=_blank>https://www.thesilentballet.com/comp/fall06.html
I'm not sure how many of the tracks from Scandinavians, but I know magyar Posse is for sure.

Hybris will release The Sweptaways' debut single "Wuthering Heights" on November 1. The album "Ooh aah" follows on November 22.

Swedish stonerrockers Asteroid will begin recording their debut full-length on December 7. They promise "a magnificent collection of really fat and heavy riffs combined with killer grooves from outer space, as always."

Tiger Lou has a nice fancy new website: https://www.tigerlou.net/
Wie geht es in Deutschland Rasmus?

Swedish electronic group Rupesh Cartel report that their new album is done and the first single "Ghost white" should be out in a few weeks. In other news, look for the following remixes soon: "Technicolor girl" by Rename, "Electronic love machine" by Ultraviolet, "Sing this song" by Fantazja and "my song" by Lowe.