Tag: Mp3s
Theresa Andersson is a Swedish expat multi-instrumentalist based out of New Orleans with a new album "Hummingbird, go!" coming out on Basin Street Records on September 2. Hopefully you've already checked out the video for "Na na na" which is spectacular showcase of her musical prowess and now her PR firm has followed up with the go-ahead to post "Birds fly away", so that's the track I'm sharing with you today. It's got a southern gospel feel in the melody, something I'd fully expect to rub off on anyone residing down in NOLA, mixed with a girl-group stomp. Oh, and lots and lots of handclaps. Again, her skills with loops and layering are superb -- even if you can't see it for yourself, hopefully you can at least try to picture each separate piece in your mind. Be patient though, eventually you will be able to see how it plays out as she'll be touring extensively in the near future. Dates at myspace: https://www.myspace.com/theresaanderssonmusic
I'm actually kinda surprised to see that the hype on her is kinda subdued so far, but then again, all too often it's the best music that goes ignored. Pity!
Theresa Andersson - Birds fly away
As regular readers know, Saturdays in 2008 are devoted to the music of Göteborg. This week's guest: Max Hansson from Cut City/White Knives.
How long have you lived in Gbg? What brought you there and what keeps you hanging around?
During a drunken haze back in the year 2000 while stuck in my hometown, I threw a dart at a world map and figured that chance could have its way with me. Though aiming for internationally consensus-proven cool cities like New York, Berlin and Paris, I fell short and took the bus up to Gothenburg and started delivering mail with a disgruntled grin. In my bags I had a band lacking any basic nuance of ambition along with an appetite for spending more time on stage than off. It was an unhealthy equation, but by ditching (read: being ditched by) some of the members, I started Cut City with David Hagberg and it led me to fulfill some modest goals of mine. That was six years ago and though many of the people I know have since left town, I stay put. I'm too old to move and my wonderful girlfriend makes life tolerable here. Gothenburg can be quite abysmal at times, mostly during the fall, winter, spring and the majority of summer. There are things here that makes it worth living though: Koloni put on a whole lot of wonderful shows and pushes a healthy experimental climate; Release The Bats put out some amazing music as does Ideal Recordings. Without them, Gothenburg would have you jump for the Xanax bottle.
How do you deal with bandmates living in Malmö? Don't you know they barely speak Swedish down there? What's keeping you from ditching David and getting someone local? Or why don't you sell out Gbg and move south?
Rehearsing less than once a month is what we do and it's how we define work ethic. I've got a small studio (a grand euphemism for old computer) set up in a tiny walk-in closet and that's what keeps me sane. I'm from the south myself so the language barrier is easily broken down. I can't move to the south because I'm banned there and we can't give David the boot because he's a machine and we all know that machines will take over the world and we really, really want someone to be on our side when that day comes. To be honest, Sweden's such a small country that you run into friends pretty much without effort.
Do you feel any connection to the Swedish post-punk scene of yore or do you draw inspiration from elsewhere? Do you ever consider your city's musical heritage at all? Do you think there's any such thing as a Gbg sound?
I merely play the music I do because I lack the musical prowess to play metal. And that's the honest truth. When you read this I'm either at the Iron Maiden concert with 60,000 other heshers or discussing the grandeur of a mummified Eddie with everyone who failed to get a ticket. Post-punk is too broad of a term to stylistically distinguish band A from band B. But I do know what you mean my dear friend. I'll tell you this: my favorite guitarists among many are Roger Mcguinn, Richard Lloyd and Robert Quine - the triple R - and they inspire me in many ways. Trying to copy them while lacking the talent I make my style my own (oh, the hubris).
I moved here being totally oblivious to what this city had spawned band-wise and I knew next to nothing about what it had to offer with the exception of its metal scene and its very distinct Gbg sound. I would say I feel a whole lot more affiliated with the city now after befriending many of its contemporary musicians. I feel a kinship with the likes of Alarma Man, Silverbullit, Dieter Schöön and a slew of other bands that know better than to sing off-key.
How does the city inspire you? How does it stifle you? How do you think people could make it better?
I like to take long, long walks from one end of the city to the other and see how it transforms from big anxiety-provoking concrete blocks to huge beach mansions soon-to-be engulfed by the sea; from rich ghettos to poor ghettos. I like watching people hitting the bars on Avenyn; I like watching the young kids clubbing; I like seeing the contempt erupting from both sides of the coin. This city could mean everything to me and at the same time nothing. I can't say I could tell if it makes me or breaks me. I think people could make it better if they drank more. Juice.
Going to Way Out West this year? Anything in particular that you're looking forward to? Or dreading?
Yes. Deleted Art has two bands playing there this year: The Mae Shi and No Age. I'm amped up and ready to surf the crowd. Then there's Sonic Youth of course, as well as The National and they're both bands I love. Had only Journey been there playing the entire "Escape" album with Steve Perry holding the mic instead of some poor replaceable cover band member, I would literally be bawling. That's not going to happen though, so I might as well just sit back home watching "Frontiers and Beyond" or "Live in Houston". Dreading? I don't want to run my mouth off and take a piss on bands that probably deserves it because that would be rude and I'm not a rude person (Mando Diao). I dread queuing to the unsanitary toilets, shit and piss on the floors.
Lastly, got a song to share? Either from one of your own bands or another, it's all good. Tell me about it!
I don't know if copyright laws prohibits you from sharing "Bastards of young" by The Replacements with your frequent visitors. I would love for you to have that up there instead of being elaborate and unscrupulous enough to exploit this offer and have people listening to my own band. I know the answer to this and will offer you the second best thing to the Mats themselves: "Replacement". It's our own ode to Westerberg et al and a deliberate attempt at stealing the best things in music history.
Thanks!
No, thank you! Still they ride, on wheels of fire. They rule the night. Still they ride, the strong will survive. Chasing thunder.
Cut City - Replacement
Okay, so I'm browsing through records in Stockholm and I come across the LP pictured above and hell no, there is no way in hell I'm gonna pass on this. Most of you out there are probably unaware, but besides Scandinavian music, I listen to a heckuva lot of country and a lot of that country also happens to be trucker music. My collection is by no means exhaustive, but I do have at least 7-8 CDs of the stuff and I'm always on the lookout for more. I'm not sure exactly when the trucker country genre came to be, but it sure took the world by storm with "Convoy" in the late 70s and it seems that even Sweden was not immune. Hence, Viking Truckers and their sole (?) full-length album "Love on the road". Just look at that cover! Those shirts! Those beards! Those bandannas! That Volvo bigrig! The band was actually a short-lived sideproject of Bob Lander from The Spotnicks along with Stefan Ericsson as co-conspirator/co-writer, a man whose background I am clueless about.
As for the music, well it's mostly straightforward early 80s country (very countrypolitan, not totally coked-out yet), except it's kinda weird in new, unexpected ways. I mean, I knew it wasn't going to sound like Red Sovine or Red Simpson, but listen to that bagpipe! On the very first song and title track! WTF?! But on the other hand, the pedal steel solo is solid and the lyrics are properly sleazy, just as it should be for the style. This is the sort of record where I can't really tell you that it's "good", but I sure am glad I bought it.
Viking Truckers - Love on the road
I considered saving this one for the weekly Gbg Spotlight, but I figure I might as well run with it. The Greencoats are a psych-pop-rock band featuring members from many, many other notable acts such as Franke, Bolywool and Douglas Heart along with guest appearances from Malin Dahlberg (We Are Soldiers We Have Guns) and Jonas Odhner (Sonores), among others, the latter being credited with both percussion and engineering duties (often that's just as important as playing an instrument). Of those acts, Franke is probably the best reference point as they definitely have a lot of the same shambolic rock'n'roll vibe and devil-may-care attitude, though The Greencoats go for a far more retro feel. For instance, check out those excessive drum fills and tell me you don't think of Keith Moon. And that organ tone, too 0- total 60s rock. I dig this.
The Greencoats - Hello!
Here's a good punk-rock icebreaker: which era of Black Flag is your favorite? I'm a Rollins guy myself, though it didn't always used to be that way. Young Avi liked the louder/faster style of the early years, but now old and bitter Avi prefers the, well, older, more bitter and more disillusioned stuff from "Damaged" onward. Nitad, on the other hand, are definitely early years kind of guys. This isn't the snotty retro-punk of the Umeå or KBH scenes though, this stuff is more like a continuation of classic Swedish hardcore. Fast and furious, yes, but also with plenty of hooks to keep you coming back for more. The name is from a famous Moderat Likvidation song, after all. Really looking forward to the upcoming full-length -- even if it's not so hot, it's still got all the various EP tracks plus some seriously bad-ass artwork.
Nitad - Ge mig ge mig
Who doesn't love a kazoo refrain? You've got to be one cold, heartless bastard to resist. Anna Maria Espinosa has been kicking around the Stockholm scene for a long time now, performing with bands such as Morder Jords Massiva, Club Killers and tons more, as well as popping up as a guest vocalist on numerous releases from a vast variety of artists. And this fall she's breaking free with her very own solo release (due out October 8, I believe) and here now is her debut single "Everyday", a great little upbeat pop number that has me super excited for what's to come. It's produced by the always-reliable Jari Haapalainen and written with Theodor Jensen (The Plan), but it's her voice that carries the day, along with that lovely, buzzing refrain I referred to back in sentence #1. Pure joyful exuberance, pure summer bliss! I'm glad Anna Maria is finally stepping out to do her own thing, it's time she had a chance for the spotlight. Not that she's going at alone though, she does have a lot of help: besides Jari and Theodor, she's also recruited Ellekari Larsson (The Tiny), Mattias Hellberg, Andreas Mattson, The Concretes, Nicolai Dunger and others to help out. I guess it was time to call in some favors, eh? Like I said, 'bout time.
Anna Maria Espinosa - Everyday
I've mentioned Swedish minimal synth/industrial act Agent Side Grinder a few times in passing, most prominently in the very first edition of the MyFriends column series, but now that I've got a few copies of their self-titled LP in the distro, I figure it's time for a proper mp3 post. For genre aficionados, you know the drill - this is classic industrial pop the way it used to be played: purely manual. No laptops or fancy sequencers, rather they use real tape loops and analog synths working together in concert, in real time. If you dig stuff like Suicide or DAF or even newcomers such as Pistol Disco, you know what I'm talking about. It's cold and repetitive, dark and dreary in the best possible way. "Lashes of flashes" has it all, including the heavy, clattering percussion that makes it dancefloor-friendly to boot. If I had a DJ night somewhere, you know I'd be spinning that one for sure. So yeah, check it out! Hopefully I'm not the only one excited about getting a copy of this vinyl-only release on import.
Agent Side Grinder - Lashes of flashes
Saturdays in 2008 are devoted to the music of Göteborg. This week's guest: Patrik Bengtsson from The Kid. The band's new album "Transient blood" is out now on Hybris.
First off, the standard question: how long have you lived in Gbg, what brought you there and what keeps you around?
Johan is born here and the other three of us are from Småland and moved here to exchange the rich soil and the pine trees for education and nightlife. Then we found friends and love and decided to stay. Frida moved here in 1996 and me and Maja came in 2000.
I hear a strong lineage in The Kid's music that connects it to the Gbg post-punk scene of yore, bands such as Cortex (obviously), but it's more than that. Do you think that's an extension of living in the same city or is it more predetermined? Was that the sort of thing you grew up on or did you discover it later?
Freddie Wadling is an icon, all the things he has been involved in is great such as Blue for Two, Liket Lever, Lädernunnan, Rukorna and Fläskkvartetten, the original punkscene of Gbg was great with bands like Göteborg Sound and Slobobans Undergång. We were listening to punk and post-punk long before we moved to Gbg. The Swedish post-punk scene was great, with bands like Commando M Pigg, Brända Barn and Reeperbahn. As a new Gothenburger you become proud of Gbg when you understand what this town has giving the world in forms of music and bands, but our taste in music was already formed when we all moved here.
Do you think it's important to keep that musical heritage alive?
When it comes to pop music, no.
Putting aside nostalgia for the moment, how would you say The Kid looks toward the future? Are there any current movements/scenes/happenings in Gbg (or elsewhere) worth paying attention to, whether you are personally involved or not?
We will continue struggling with the band trying to combine the sound of the early 80-ies with the sound of the new new wave/the new new romantic. Make some shows and some new songs. No big plans, just nice to have the possibility to do this and get paid for it. We've been around for a couple of years now and we are quite bored playing for stiff students. It's time for the new Gbg-scene with people in their 20ies to do the studentclub-mayhem. I think the new Gbg pop-scene is some form of an antiscene. They frown at the old Service glory days. They spit on electronic stuff like laptops and iPods, they play instruments and wear hats and love Håkan Hellström instead of The Embassy and Claes Ohlson-stroboscope. And they've got authentic good self-esteem; that's good but it's the total opposite of the classic Gbg scene.
Don't think that I'm a silly old fart, I love changes. And some of these kid are guests at my monthly 77-punk club and they know the lyrics to all the old Gbg punk songs. So the future is saved. They know their heritage.
I understand that a number of you are involved in other art projects besides The Kid- what else are you currently working on?
We are constantly working with other art(y)/music projects.
You will find a couple of them on our myspace–site under top friends. Otherwise, we are still working as Artists and Architects, and when we run out of money we take care of old people, trees and flowers. You can also visit www.mermermer.com and click on Frida Sjöstam and www.patrikbengtsson.com for some aesthetic-experience.
Would you say that Gbg is an artist-friendly city?
I'm sure that Gbg is the best music-friendly town in Sweden. All the interesting bands from the last 10 years are from Gbg.
And the mood between the bands is nice and friendly.
Lastly, have you got a song from the new album that you'd like to share?
I think "Let's go kid" or "Bloodmoon" are two nice songs, you could use one of them.
My personal preference is demonstrated below...
The Kid - Bloodmoon
Not all of the records I picked up during my Stockholm shopping extravaganza were guaranteed hits. Indeed, quite a few were quite dubious, but I figured what the heck, when else am I gonna come across something like Viking Truckers? How can I pass that up? It's not possible. Don't worry, I'll get scans and mp3s for that one eventually, but the record I want to talk about this week is The Tapirs, which is Swedish postpunks Camouflage singing på Engelska. I figured there was a pretty good chance it was gonna suck as some of the band's later material isn't so hot, but whatever, if I'm gonna pick up the rest of their discography (with some of the old postcards still in the sleeve too! awesome!), I might as well add it to the stack. Luckily, the gamble paid off as the record is actually the same old songs as before, just overdubbed with new vocals. In other words, the songs that were so-so to begin with are still generally so-so, but the best material is just as awesome as ever. Case in point: "My violet you", the new version of "Violetta du" off the band's self-titled debut album. For Swedish-deficient dummies like myself it's great to hear the song in a language I can understand, but what it really comes down to is that it's just a damn good song. I was concerned that vocalist Ola Jörhall's pronunciation might not be up to snuff, but he does the job just fine. I guess the goal of international success never panned out though, or I suppose I would've heard of this record by now. Anyhow, like I said, it's good stuff so check it out.
Note for the audiophiles/collectors: this vinyl rip ran a little hot, so if you're interested in getting more of the album, give me a holler and I'll redo it.
The Tapirs - My violet you
What do you get when two ex-bassists from KVLR form a new band together? Could it be noisy 90s-style indierock? Why, yes it could! Surprise! Seriously though, why aren't there more bands playing this kind of stuff? I do love big pop melodies buried in fuzz, especially when layered with huge effects-laden guitar hooks. And when they get that off-kilter, curved-air quality? Perfect! Don't let this sound die, people! It's not retro, it's just good. This is what I consider true (tr00?) indie rock. As a bonus for all you nerdy Swede-rock historians, they even cover "Allegiance" by Blithe - how cool is that? Download today's track and then head to myspace to hear more: https://www.myspace.com/culkin
Culkin - Pay per fist
In case you've been wondering why I haven't posted anything from the new Tobias Hellkvist album, I really have no good excuse. First and foremost, I wanted to spend some time with the record so I could pick the best track to adequately show it off, but that didn't work so well because the whole thing flows so well together. Then I was going to wait for Tobias to put together a single for a netrelease, but that project is turning into something far more exciting (wait and see!), so I gotta say screw it - here's a song called "Vintervarm" off the brand new Tobias Hellkvist album "Sides". Like all of his work, it's rooted in melodious drone and it's absolutely gorgeous. It's a fairly suggestive title too, as I can easily imagine it being the perfect soundtrack to a crisp, bright winter day, but I also think it works fairly well right now in these dog days of summer. I also appreciate that Tobias' growing composition skills - he's really branched out on this release and is trying new things, showing off different sides of himself ('natch, again as the title suggests) and working with varying arrays of instrumentation. The slow build here is marvelous because, I barely remember how it started by the time it's finished, I'm just enraptured in the moment. It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyhow: very highly recommended!
Purchase: [click here]
Tobias Hellkvist - Vintervarm
In terms of mood, this is the exact opposite of yesterday's post. I've been stoked on all the samples I've heard of Haust for awhile, but only just recently managed to track down mp3s of "Ride the relapse". I originally planned on picking up a CD at their ill-fated show in CPH, but it wasn't meant to be, though it appears to be working out for the best in the end since I'm much more excited about grabbing a copy on vinyl when it's released next month. But enough of my product fetishism, let's talk music! As Aversionline pointed out not too long ago, the band takes a myriad of influences and twists it into some of the most vicious hardcore sludge I've heard in awhile. I've talked a bit about how I feel like bad vibes are the new zeitgeist and this is the perfect illustration as far as I'm concerned. What better way to describe the dystopian state of the world than with this sort of harsh noise? The more I pay attention to the news, the better this sounds. Ride the relapse, indeed! Get with the times and get angry.
Haust - Ride the relapse
Here's some good-time summer vibes for you courtesy of The Amazing, a new-ish Swedish act featuring members from Dungen, Granada and The Guild. It's all about that lazy acoustic strum, that languid melody line in the two lead guitars (best appreciated with headphones) and the soft, understated vocals. So mellow, so sweet, perfectly paired with a cold beverage and a few bites of ripe summer fruit (your pick). I imagine these dudes probably even look as retro as they sound, but I'm not sweating it. I'd rather just lay back in the shade of the elm in my backyard, forget my troubles and turn up the music. Keep an eye on these guys, there's an album on the way soon.
The Amazing - Dragon
If it's Saturday you know that means we're due for another entry in our ongoing Göteborg Spotlight Series. This week's guest: Robert Samsonowitz, esteemed web developer, graphic designer and musician. Chances are high you've seen his work before as he's done artwork and/or websites for a number of high profile Swedish artists -- just check out his portfolio at rbrt.org for examples. As for his own music, he did time with Satanic Surfers back in the day and has just recently resurfaced with We Live in Trenches, a band that takes the sound of "Damaged"-era Black Flag and runs with it. In other words, old-man hardcore. You know I'm all about it. Anyhow, Robert was kind enough to answer a few questions for us and here's what he had to say:
First off, the standard: How long have you lived in Gbg, what brought you there and what keeps you there?
I've lived in Gothenburg for nine years and five months (since January 1999). I moved here to study web design. I got a job and a new band, so that pretty much kept me here. Nowadays I have a new job and a new band and that pretty much still keeps me here. And also Gothenburg is a pretty rad city to be in at the moment with a lot of nice people and some great things happening, music and otherwise.
You're involved in a lot of different artistic endeavors - which one currently takes precedence? like if someone asks "what do you do?", how do you respond?
Right now I'd probably say "play music", because that's where my heart is at the moment. I think I'm currently in some kind of work-denial state. Like acting really busy on work hours while making plans and stuff for the band, which probably isn't that good in the long run as I'm self employed.
I know there's a lot of other Swedish musicians who double as visual artists, but are there any in particular that you admire? Or what about visual artists who dabble in music?
One of the artists I admire is my old friend Johannes Heldén (www.johanneshelden.com). He's a visual artist (MFA, Valand Academy of Fine Arts, Gothenburg) a writer and a musician. His work is truly awesome. I give him credit for bringing Sci-Fi and mysticism into art and music. Well done, my friend!
How does the city of Gbg influence you and your art? Could you ever see yourself living somewhere else? What benefits does Gbg offer and on the flipside of that, what are the city's detriments?
Hard to tell how this city influences me. I don't even know if influences me at all. Or maybe it does more than I'll ever know. I can't really see myself living in another Swedish city. I've spent a lot of time in Malmö, I have a lot of friends there. There is one specific area there ("Möllan") which consists of... I don't know... maybe 8 blocks of houses and a square, and that area is fantastic. But the rest of Malmö is a terrible, aggressive, cold, cold place to be. They can keep it. If I'd move I'd probably go abroad, maybe Berlin or Barcelona (all my friends reading this are going "yeah, that'll probably happen..." haha), or Montreal, one of my favorite cities. One of the benefits with Gbg I guess is the size, both in people and area. It's not too big and it's not too small either. It's big enough for great things to happen, and it's small enough to actually notice them.
Tell me about the new band - how did you guys get together and what are your plans? Did you form with any particular goals in mind?
My new band is We Live in Trenches and here are all the boring details. Me and David Augustsson (drums, ex-C.Aarmé) formed the band in February 2007 after having played together in the brief punk adventure Haveri, which had broken up due to too hot weather and the fact that the other guys needed more time with their other endeavors (Cut City and Alarma Man). I was also on drum duties in Satanic Surfers, but we had a break at the moment (a break from which we never recovered, we broke up in March 2007). We initially formed as Trenches and I guess it sort of was the second coming of Haveri at first, only I'd switched from bass to guitar. As only two wrongs don't make a right, we needed some more humans to help sink the ship. I met my old friend Ulf Stöckel on a tram and convinced him to jump aboard as I knew of his screaming skills from previous bands (Comatose, Blå Ångest, The Virgins). We later got Oskar Karlsson on bass in May (also in Icos, ex-Last Security) and the Trenches line-up was finally complete. We recorded one song for a hardcore comp on Deleted Art (still not released) during the summer. Oskar turned out to be too busy with Icos as well as being a busy live sound tech for bands on tour (Burst, Red Sparrowes etc.) and he decided to quit the band a couple of months later. During the time without a bass player we started to record all of our songs in our rehearsal space. Anna Knutsson joined our merry bunch in November, halfway through the recording session, and we changed our name to We Live in Trenches shortly after. Now we finally have a booking agent and some upcoming shows, and we will promote ourselves in search for a record label to work with. Our plan is to rock as hard and often as possible, and our goal is to avoid a normal way of life as much as possible.
Lastly, got a song you'd like to share? Either from one of your own band(s) or otherwise? Something that's reflective of Gbg perhaps?
Yes. "Autonomy clinic" by We Live In Trenches. Because self promotion rocks!
We Live In Trenches - Autonomy clinic
More Finnish weirdness for you today courtesy of CMX, a long-running act that rose out of the mid-80s hardcore scene. But don't go into this expected the usual fast/harsh punk because they quickly abandoned that approach and started to incorporate more mainstream rock and progressive influences into their sound. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is pretty much all I know. According to Wikipedia the band is fairly renown at home, which makes sense considering how much they remind me of Kent at times. It's that big, melancholy rock sound, though in CMX's case, it's filtered through that odd Suomi sensibility that touches so much of their music. This particular song is a gem simply because it manages to match classic Finnish tango with pop, prog and hardrock. It's that kind of eclecticism that makes Scandinavian music so great! It's the old being made new again, the past and present coming together. And yet, still the past -- this came out in 1994, after all -- but it doesn't sound dated to me. Weird for weirdness sake almost never works; these guys make it sound natural.
CMX - Nainen tanssii tangoa