The Janitors posit themselves to be the 2nd coming of Silverbullit. They are not; they are, at best, yet another in a long line of mediocre Jesus and Mary Chain rips. I doubt I'd be so down on them if they didn't have such outlandish delusions of grandeur, but they should know better than to claim to be as good as one of Sweden's absolute best bands. Compare their song "Run" with Silverbullit's and it's no contest.
The Janitors - Run
The thing that gets me most stoked on Underacheiver is their pounding chukka-chukka rhythm with all instruments playing steady eighth notes. No grace notes, no pick-ups, no extravagance; everything completely soli. It's worth noting that the tones they use aren't too distorted either, the heaviness they achieve comes from the total ensemble force moreso than anything else. It's the same thing that makes C.Aarmé so great, that same simple/single-minded repetitiveness, heavy on the down-strokes and light on full-voiced chords. See also: The Ramones. I'm way into it.
Download the band's entire 4-song demo right here: https://underachiever.se/?page_id=13
My first impression of The Generals: Oh, sweet! A new Swedish death'n'roll band; been awhile since I've heard someone new trying to capture that sound. They recorded at Sunlight Studios too, I bet this is gonna be killer. And what's this...? Cover art by Kristian Wåhlin aka Necrolord? Damn, I didn't even know he was still active -- I'm really excited to hear this.
On actually listening to them: I've been swindled. This is mediocre Swedish death with a few rock'n'roll riffs jammed in every so often. The feel is incredibly stiff too, something not helped at all by the weak canned drum sound and overall lack of ambiance. Where's the swagger, the swing? I thought this was supposed to be death'n'roll... what it actually is is just boring. Way too many big names attached to such a product of pure mediocrity. Avoid.
The Generals - Blessing in disguise
Familjen with guitars? Sounds to me like someone's been hanging out with Kent a little too much. Aside from that quibble though, it's as solid as anything else he's done and I'm looking forward to hearing the upcoming album.
Familjen - När planeterna stannat
Might as well follow up my last mp3 post with something from their split-mates Axe before the record release show tonight. Axe are more spastic than EL-SD, more dense too. Every note is played like it's trying to hold on for dear life as they get tossed into the maelstrom. A clattering din held together by tightly-wound vocals. Reckless, anxious and angry; they're calling you out: "Hey! You're full of bologna!" Well... are you?
Axe - Harm
Noisy Swedish indierock is always my go-to scene and now you can add EL-SD to the list of current acts making a successful go at it. "Walking sideways" is a new track from the band that's not yet available on any release, but they've got a split 7" with fellow like-minded act Axe (remember?) that comes out tomorrow and you can celebrate with them both (+Soviac) at SugarBar in Stockholm. Expect a full review of that record in the not-so-distant future, meanwhile enjoy this fine slice of sharp, discordant rock.
I'm not crazy about Kellermensch's songs and I don't think I ever will be, but there's no denying that they are a compelling live act. Above is one of three new live clips the band just posted to YouTube.
Kellermensch - Moribund town
I still remember, though I'm getting awfully impatient about a new album/single/anything. "Pretty scary silver fairy" is one of my favorite Nordic pop albums, but it's 4 years old now and aside from Robyn, I don't think I've heard anything else since then that can touch it. So what's the deal? Did drop the ball? That seems likely, as I'm sure those post-Idol contracts are brutally restrictive. Or did you simply move on to other things? That too is understandable. Still, I'd just like to know one way or the other.
Margaret Berger - Will you remember me tomorrow?
Gonna continue with another mp3 post of dirtball metal-punk because, well, just because. Metal was my first musical obsession so it's never far from my heart, but we do fall out of favor from time to time. As any fan will tell you, the stereotypes are true too often and they make for a major stumbling block to the uninitiated; factor in a serious predilection towards the worst, most over-compressed, trigger-happy recordings ever and there's plenty not too like. Still though, I stick it out because metal has and always will be very important to me and also, despite all the machismo and misogyny, classic Heavy Metal (in caps, always) is the one kind of music my wife and I see eye-to-eye on. Can't get her into most modern torch-bearers though, but I try and Sonic Ritual are probably one of the better candidates -- unlike Darkthrone (see yesterday), the vocals are always clean, they've got strong choruses and they have a female guitarist. I wish the latter wasn't important, but in a male-dominated world/genre, it most certainly is. Anyhow, whether or not you know that shouldn't affect your appreciation of the music because these dudes rip. "Early graves" is the first taste of what will be their debut LP I believe and, as always, I'm eager to hear more.
Sonic Ritual - Early graves
Darkthrone doing vocal harmonies? Holy shit! They regressed to the most primal form of black metal a few years back and now they're slowly evolving forward again with "Circle the wagons". And really, aside from the overall rawness of their sound and a few extra-blackened riffs, the Darkthrone of 2010 is not far from the glorious sound of prime-era 80s Heavy Metal, a sound I'm learning to appreciate more and more with each passing day. All the fools who continue their race to the bottom, chasing down the harshest, most inept and racist/nationalist/totalitarian black metal possible to fulfill whatever pissing contest obsessions they have can fuck right off; I've got no use for that garbage and neither should you.
Darkthrone - Those treasures will never befall you
Culkin played an extra special show at Club Probation/Snövit in Stockholm on Friday and you missed it. I would've been there for sure if I wasn't halfway around the world, but hey, that's life -- at least I had the honor of second-handedly providing guest vocalist Nandor Hegedüs a mp3 of his old band's song so he could refresh his memory before hitting the stage. That's the kind of odd international world we live in now.
Brick - I
Two great poets from Lom: Tor Jonsson (1916–1951) and Olav Aukrust (1883–1929). Though their views of rural life were far apart, it held a great influence on them both. Tor Jonsson faced much hardship in his youth and came to be critical of the closely-knit rural society, while Olav Aukrust, a champion of religious and national causes, held a more positive view of rural communities, people and lifestyles. Differences notwithstanding, it is obvious from the titles and form of their poems that both drew inspiration from traditional music. We have set some of their poems to traditional tunes both old and recent, and included a few songs they might have heard at home.
Another dose of Norwegian folk to close out the week (this is "Listen to Norway" #6). Same label as last time (), but with a far more robust lineup of musicians: Camilla Granlien Band features the namesake vocalist flanked by full band, though in this example, "I Hellarskogen", it's a more subdued arrangement of guitar, contrabass and organ. Of the course the main attraction is Camilla's expert vocals and she is marvelous at putting Olav Aukrust's words to a melody of her own creation. Just as naturally, I am drawn to the tune's melancholy qualities which made it stand out among its album-mates. Maybe not the most appropriate selection for what has turned out to be a sunny, spring day, but beautiful nonetheless. Enjoy!
Camilla Granlien Band - I Hellarskogen
I don't expect any surprises from Sophie Zelmani anymore; she's settled into a comfortable groove at this point in her career, regularly releasing solid, yet unassuming albums. Her hushed delivery and minimalist, spacious arrangements suit her well though, so expect no complaints from me. Likewise, her delicacy is a pleasant contrast to the usual bombast I subject myself to. Unfortunately, however, there's no way for me to hear her again like I heard her the first time, so I'm less inclined to rant and rave, but I do look forward to each new release and as for her latest "I'm the rain", let me say this: long-time fans will be pleased, new listeners should be intrigued, the unconvinced will likely remain so. That's as good as I had hoped. More of the same is fine by me.
Sophie Zelmani - Ready
9 out of 10 times I delete every remix track that hits my inbox before listening because they are almost always invariably: 1) worthless 2) boring 3) awful or 4) all of the above. I can't be bothered; I already spend way too much time listening to music I don't like and I honestly would rather listen to something that's obviously terrible than some mediocre retread of a song I didn't care about in the first place. At least then I have the good sense to turn it off 30 seconds in rather than wait fruitless in hopes it might get good. There are always exceptions though and this reworking of Per Egland's "Merkurius brinner" ("Mercury is burning") as done by Martin Senter (Seven Feet Four, EL-SD, Talking to Drake, etc.) works quite well because it completely reinvents the tune. Honestly, the original (listen at myspace) isn't all that; a fine, but ultimately unfulfilling upbeat dirge. Senter's take kicks the tempo way way up and turns it into something far closer to Gbg-style indiepop than I thought was possible. From bummer to summer, this is the way to do it.
Per Egland - Merkurius brinner (Martin Senter remix)
Direct link: https://vimeo.com/9760261
I've long considered Disco Ensemble to be a bit too mainstream/polished for my tastes as far as punkrock goes, but I do dig this new single, especially the stuff with the octave pedal hammer-ons. And the rhythm section sounds remarkably burly too, a trait I can always appreciate. So yeah, no disrespect intended, but consider me pleasantly surprised. Even better to see it paired with an interesting video as directed by boss Sami Sänpäkkilä. Lots of great, awkward closeups and good movement. Not so sure I get the "plot" with the architect as played by Tero Jartti, but whatever -- it's still 1000x better than most of the schlock I see on a daily basis and it never overwhelms the performance shots. Also, if you want to know more, you can soak up the full technical details over at Sami's blog; yet another welcome attribute to said single/song/video.
Disco Ensemble - White flag for peace