Tag: Mp3s
Once upon a time, emo was not such a bad word its subset genre "screamo" meant skinny dudes flailing with guitars and crying on stage, not asymmetrical haircuts and blurry photos taken in mirrors for posting on myspace. Most importantly though, emo was shorthand for "emotional hardcore" and carried with it a strong sense of DIY ethics and social responsibility. Yes, there was a certain fashion associated with it and I can certainly remember plenty of shows with dudes in thrift-store cardigans and backpacks, arms crossed and davening wildly, but it was always about the music foremost. Snöras reminds me of those days, when bands played the kind of music that reflected the chaotic emotions they had inside and the only way to adequately express it was to scream it. You had bands with pop leanings on one side (see: Get Up Kids, Promise Ring, etc.) and then you had heavier, angrier bands like Snöras on the other. I'm actually not that nostalgic for that era -- I passed on the recent Portraits of Past reunion despite fond memories and personal connections and I'm generally ignorant of other bands in the scene keeping the sound alive, but sometimes it does hit the spot. I appreciate there are bands out there still keeping this spirit alive, still making zines, still making speeches between songs and doing all these things because they feel like they really matter. It probably comes off like a drop in the bucket, especially when preaching to the choir and faced with dour cynics (such as myself), but you know what? I believe it does matter. As Ian MacKaye so eloquently put it, "At least I'm fucking trying!"
Snöras - Lucid river
They Live is the solo project of one of the guys from Pistol Disco, so that fact alone should give you a good idea of what to expect. No, not half as good, just half as noisy. Think: streamlined. You still get the same electro-Kraut mindmelt, but the overall effect is relaxed hypnosis as opposed to total white-noise amnesia. Early Days' drug music hearkens back to a more innocent time of free love and posi vibes, this stuff is more concerned with present day consciousness obliteration. If you've been reading the news recently and want to stop the ride to get off, here's a five-and-a-half minute breather. Not quite nihilism, just annihilation.
More: https://www.myspace.com/domlever
They Live - My favorit color is gold
I'm From Barcelona mainman Emmanuel Lundgren's greatest skill is his ability to turn the smallest everyday occurrence into a grand musical gesture. Whether it's an inside joke about "Fawty Towers" (see the band's moniker and semi-eponymous single), collecting stamps, making a treehouse or even doing the laundry late at night (see "When stars come out" by pre-IFB band Valley Days), it's those little things that make a difference. Distill those thoughts to their essence and set it to a lushly orchestrated backdrop and you've got perfect pop, accessible to everyone. Though the new IFB album "Who killed Harry Houdini?" does find the time and energy to be more contemplative (see "Music killed me" for instance), it's still those simple ideas that carry the day. Who hasn't spent idle time folding paper planes? Or at least doing something comparable - it's universally appealing, so of course Lundgren nails it.
As with the band's first album, "Who killed Harry Houdini?" struggles to remain consistent through it's entire runtime and could have been reduced to a near-perfect EP, but it's still quite good as-is. I also appreciate that it's not all euphoric pop all the time, a nod back to Lundgren's time with Valley Days. To all the people who doubted whether or not they could remain relevant, you might be surprised.
I'm From Barcelona - Paper planes
Hey, alright! 2nd rate psychrock ala The Soundtrack of Our Lives and Primal Scream. This is the kind of stuff that's best experienced at extreme volume so you can get properly lost in the reverb because otherwise, there's a whole lot of nothing going on. That's drug music for you -- let yourself space out and get down and it's all good; listen at low volume for pop hooks and be bummed. I can handle the glacial pacing when I'm in the right mood, but loudness is key. Don't bother looking if you aren't willing to get lost.
The Early Days - Make you smile
We're not the only ones commemorating a birthday this week; Göteborg-based booker/show promoter Parapluie turned 3 and celebrated by throwing themselves a party and Jonas Lyckander also took the time to answer a few questions as part of our ongoing Gbg Spotlight Series.
So it was your birthday this week - how was the celebration?
We had a great night at Pusterviksbaren in Gothenburg! The Deer Tracks, Jonathan Johansson (just signed for Hybris) and We Are Soldiers We Have Guns gave us the best of pop!
So you've been booking indie/pop shows for 3 years now - how healthy do you think the scene is in Gbg? How do you think it compare to the way it was 3 years ago?
I think the indiescene in Gothenburg is pretty good right now. We have lots of nice venues and a bunch of dedicated club/promoters that bring nice bands/DJs to town.
Three years ago the scene for indiebands was smaller. Now there are shows almost every night where you can go and hear new music. That's good.
Likewise, how do you think the Gbg scene compares to other cities in Sweden or elsewhere? Is there anything in particular that makes Gbg special? Is there anything it is lacking?
I like Malmö. Malmö is the Swedish Berlin! Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö have tehri own scenes and they are pretty
different from eachother.
The scene in Gothenburg is open and friendly for new acts. Not too much attitude.
Who's your favorite local act right now?
My friends in Fantasikrig are great! They will do a show at Klubb Populär @ Storan in Gothenburg next saturday. It will be nice.
Do you have a song from them you'd like to share?
Check them out at myspace:
https://www.myspace.com/fantasikrig
The new myspace music is a total shitsystem, but I did manage to grab a track for reposting. Check it out below.
Fantasikrig - Lovisa och David
After spending last weekend in SF where it was clear and sunny (September and October are the hottest time of year there), I almost forgot that it was fall everywhere else in the world until I got back home to shortened days, slanted sunlight and rain rain rain. Yup, the summer is over and don't you forget it. No band defines that better than Umeå's Carpet People. It's crazy that these guys haven't released anything new since 2003's "More bad weather coming out of the rain", but my understanding is that singer/songwriter Anders Hellman doesn't think enough people care so he doesn't bother. For all I know, he probably has three albums worth of material just waiting to go and he's sitting on it. It's ridiculous! Get it online! Do something!
In other news, It's A Trap! turned 6 this week. Hooray! Hard to believe I've been keeping on for so long already, but there you go. Thanks for your support and hopefully I'll keep at it for many years to come.
Carpet People - Can I touch your trauma
With the release of "Haven", The Goner has completed his H-series triptych and secured himself a place in my year-end top 10 list. This final chapter might be the best of the bunch too, that is, if I was to consider them individually. It's got the gentle folksiness of "Halartraller" as evidenced by opening track "A song" (featured today), but it's also balanced by more raga instrumentals and extensive psychedelic vamping that defined "Hind Hand". Again, this is cult music; willfully obscure and intentionally obtuse. Music like this isn't created to gain popularity, make friends, to sell records; this is art. And as we pass through these Days of Awe I can think of no finer soundtrack.
May all loose threads be sewn / To guard from darksome night
May every grieving soul be thrown / Where God himself gives light
The Goner - A song
I don't listen to nearly as much death metal as I used to, but when I do, I'm almost always reaching for something that appeals to the old-school. Coffins from Japan are a standout and of course the new Bloodbath is totally solid even if it is more "Clandestine" than "Left hand path" (as stated before), but there's also a bunch of far more underground acts worth mentioning and Necrovation is one of 'em. I'm sure I'm missing a lot too, so feel free to leave me suggestions in the comments. Anyhow, these Swedes play filthy death metal exactly the way I like it: Sunlight guitar tones, drums that sound like drums, phlegm-heavy vokills buried deep in the mix and tons of groovy breaks. It's got the melodicism that made the aforementioned "Left hand path" a genre landmark, but it's also got the basement-quality grunginess of Autopsy, another death legend. I still dig some tech stuff now and again, for instance the new Cynic is more than decent, but I think I'll always prefer my metal to be dirty and antisocial. No trends, no poseurs, much love.
Necrovation - Dead faith's purulence
I really like the new Those Dancing Days single "Home sweet home" quite a bit, despite any misgivings and low expectations. It reminds me a lot of classic riot grrl punk in that it's brimming with infectious youthful vigor, enough so that I think a rougher, less produced recording would have brought it out even more. The drums really drive the band, so I'm glad they're one of the most dominating things in the mix. On the other hand, their youthfulness does have a downside in terms of naivety. As much as I appreciate TDD's spunkiness, they really don't have anything to say and that's a shame. Pop music doesn't (and shouldn't) have to be empty and the band is in a perfect position because of their age and gender to be outspoken. As good as this is, I believe they can do better.
Those Dancing Days - Home sweet home
I spent the last five days or so hanging out in SF, working at the corporate HQ for my dayjob and seeing friends and family. I know it's not ordinary for my demographic, but I almost never listen to music on headphones when I travel, so I barely heard any music at all these past five days. All I bothered to load into my mp3 player were those four Sods/Sort Sol albums I mentioned on Friday and the new Nitad disc "Ibland kan man inte hindra sig själv". And y'know what? It was plenty. Nitad, especially - it's a total ripper and the inclusion of all their earlier 7" EP tracks on the disc only makes it better. The review in the new MRR compares the band to Fucked Up which I guess was true once upon a time, but FU's new album "The chemistry of common life" takes the band into entirely new, uncharted territory (it's highly recommended - I'll def be picking up the vinyl next week when it's officially released) and Nitad keeps things raw and to the point. You get picks of the same progressiveness such as that very first opening riff here on "Klimatförändring", but most of the song is killer hardcore punk, some of the best I've heard in awhile. It also helps that despite my limited Swedish skills, I can easily pick out the last line of the chorus: "Jag är ingen jävla hippie!" So yeah, very recommended and be sure to order direct from the source so you can score one of those limited one-sided 7"s.
Nitad - Klimatförändring
Our guest in this week's entry of our ongoing Göteborg Spotlight Series: the mighty Alarma Man! Not only were they kind enough to answer my questions, they also sent over the very first taste of what's to come on their new album. Read on...
It's been quite some time since we've heard anything new from you guys - why the long wait? What have you been doing these past few years?
Since the release of our 12" split "Duets" you mean? We continued working on songs for a full length album and got the chance to move from our old place to Dieter Schöön's Lablaza (the same place we recorded our debut album). Lablaza was both chaotic and a very creative environment for us. A couple of month passed by. In October 2007 we felt pretty close to start recording the album. December came up and our landlord got an offer he couldn't resist. We were threwn out of Lablaza and Bandidos moved in. So there we were. No rehearsal room, no studio.
A week went by and we found a new home. We moved in together with a bunch of other creative bands/people (URAN, Dieter Schöön, FBFOS).
We started building the studio, in which our album where going to be recorded.
During this 1,5 months we wrote a bunch of new songs.
At this time the idea of collaborate with Adam Magnusson as a producer/sound engineer came up and he became a part of the process.
In march we hit the studio. We all study or work so it took a bit longer than expected to get it done. Now when the album is done we're looking for a label that wants to release it.
Besides working on the album we've been on a couple of tours in Europe and we've helped friends on live gigs and studio albums. (C.Aarmé, Cut City, Uran, Boy Omega and Dieter Schöön).
How does Alarma Man fit into the "Gbg scene"? Does a cohesive scene even exist?
When I hear "Gbg scene" I think of Håkan Hellström and a bunch of bands started by ex-members from Bad Cash Quartet, but I'm not sure if that scene really exists. There are too many band in too many genres to say what would be a part of it. Alarma Man has never felt like we're a part of any scene... If you need to be a part of any, we choose the "good band" scene.
We do have the Koloni/iDEAL scene here in Gothenburg. It's really inspiring to live in the same town as Christian Pallin (Koloni) and Joachim Nordwall (iDEAL). They manage to bring us bands that I've never heard of before and those bands are always good or totally crazy. Either way I'm always satisfied when leaving the venue.
So do you think there's such a thing as a Gbg sound? Or would you say that bands in Gbg are brought together by other circumstances or ideas?
Nowadays you don't need a "real" studio and expensive equipment to make music. I guess the "Gbg sound" was killed by Cubase and ProTools. When comparing Cut City, Uran, Repoman and other great bands from Gbg, I find it hard to see any similarity except for that they make good music. Gothenburg is known in Sweden for it's "loose" and friendly attitude. Perhaps that's the thing with bands from here. Gbg bands focus on the music instead of looking good on stage... haha!
Okay, so tell us about the new album. How is it different/the same compared to what you've done before?
This album is the best music we've ever done (yes I know it's a cliche, but it's true).
Lots of people are asking if there will be vocals on this album. Yes. There will be. A lot!
Adding vocals wasn't a big decision for us. We made "Duets" as an experiment and liked the idea of working with vocals. It might seem a bit strange when you've been known as an instrumental mathpunk band, but we feel comfortable with it. We've never had a plan to be an instrumental band forever and we didn't have a plan to start singing on our second album. It's just the way it turned out.
Another big difference is that we worked with a producer. We needed an outside persons thoughts and vibes in the recording process. Adam has a big part in the arrangements and how the songs turned out.
Our first album was a lot of high speed craziness and big guitar riffs. 4 years has passed by and our new songs are slower, darker and colder. I think a held back fever is a good way to describe the album.
Got a song you'd like to share?
Here's a song from the upcoming album. Its a three-faced song about being chased, therefore the name "Nightwolf". Look out for the saxophones in the chorus, played by our friend Joel Westberg!
Alarma Man - Nightwolf
Of all the people who regularly pass along musical recommendations, I am most deeply indebted to Mattias Alkberg for his consistent, spot-on advice. I may not be crazy about the new Mogwai (I find that Helms Alee is a far more exciting band in that vein) and Chad VanGaalen is a bit of an uphill climb (I'm working on it), but as for his insistence I check out early Danish postpunk act Sods/Sort Sol, I'm all about it. Upon given the choice of the band's first four albums, I ask where to start. He says, "all of them" and of course he is 100% right. From the band's early roots as a more straight-ahead punk act under their first moniker to their later, more gothic leanings as "Black Sun", they created a consistently killer discography that was completely unknown to me until now. Whether you like tightly wound, frenetic punk ala "Pink flag"-era Wire or darker, more art-damaged rock with hints of Gun Club type melodrama, there is something for you here. Seriously, I am blown away. I am infatuated. Like Mattias says, there's really no perfect place to start, but since "White shirt" from 1983's "Dagger & guitar" is one of the first tracks I heard when I threw the tracks on shuffle, that's the song you get today. Sweetly sinister, devilish and beautiful; that's what it's all about. Tack igen Mattias!
Read more about Sort Sol/Sods at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sort_Sol
Sort Sol - White shirt
Pop music with a touch of swing? I can get behind that. We don't need another full-on scene revival, but sure, I'll support a band that wants to jazz it up a bit. Finland's Kiki Pau does a decent job at it, though I get the sense they're holding themselves back. Shouldn't a song called "Pit bull" be a bit more... invigorating? Angry, even? Or would that just be reinforcing negative stereotypes? Not all bullies are that way, I know. Anyhow, the people doing those backing vocals sound like they'd rather be anywhere else and the solo section never really takes off quite like I hoped. Still, it's good to hear a band doing something a little different beyond the usual indiepop templates. I'm good with that.
Kiki Pau - Pit bull
It's Wednesday so that means it's time again for more Björn Kleinhenz cover tunes as we count down to the release of his new album "Quietly happy and deep inside". Seeing as how one of this week's featured artists is Thomas Denver Jonsson, an artist I'm frequently in contact with, I figured I'd track him down for a short Q&A session:
How did you get involved with the cover project? Have you known Björn for awhile or what?
Me and Björn must've known each other since 2001 when we started to appear on the same compilations and was reviewed in the same magazines. We also had a band, The Topeka Twins and we released a record 2003 [how soon I forget! -ed.]. We quitted the duo though since we looked too much like a Swedish version of Simon & Garfunkel. The situation was unbearable. Both wanted to be Art.
Did you get to pick the song or was it assigned to you? How did you approach doing your own version?
Björn handpicked "The light of love" for me, he said 'cause it was a country song. I wanted to take away the country pop element and do something more introspective with it. I was very cautious to not listen to the original version while starting to work with the song and recording it.
So how do you think it turned out? Were successful in what you set out to accomplish?
Yeah, I'm quite happy about it and it was fun dubbing the vocals. I had a nice evening doing it.
Have you heard any of the other contributions to the project? Any favorites?
I've only heard what has been revealed and I think all have been fantastic this far. Love Susanna's [Susanna Brandin aka Winter Took His Life -ed.] choir arrangement of "At night we die". It's a great tribute to one of Sweden's best pop artists.
Download more Björn Kleinhenz covers here: https://www.tomtrecordings.se/thelight
Also, be sure to check out Thomas while he's on tour - dates at myspace: https://www.myspace.com/thomasdenverjonsson
As for me, I'm heading to SF for the next few days so expect updates to be slow. Mom, if you're reading this, I'll call you when I figure out my schedule - don't worry!
Thomas Denver Jonsson - The light of love
Fall drops like a hammer up here in the Pacific Northwest. As soon as we hit the Autumnal Equinox the wind kicks up, the temperature drops ~10 degrees (that's Fahrenheit, should you be wondering) and the leaves start turning colors with full vigor. Of course that demands a soundtrack, so may I suggest "The light" from Jonna Lee? If her first album was reminiscent of early Cardigans, the new EP "This war" is her "Gran turismo". The verses are all rhythm section, dark and clattering, but it drops out completely on the first chorus, opening up into major chords and a bright airiness worthy of the title. Like the hard slant of sunshine going into winter, it's a welcome respite from the cold, but it's not completely innocent either. And her closing lines, though muted, are a challenge. Yep, a proper setup for my favorite time of year.
Jonna Lee - The light