Tag: Mp3s
"Needs vs. facts", doing what you have to as opposed to doing what you want. "To make my live liveable, understandable / more than a waste of time." We all have to work and earn a living so we can pay bills, the goal is to find work with meaning. Something that transcends the drudgery. Or maybe we settle for something that enables us to do what we want with the remainder of our time. As long as we have some sort of ultimate purpose, right? Now when it comes to love, that's far more difficult and elusive. "He woke up again though he actually swore / he'd wake up with someone or not anymore." That's a level of intense desperation that I can't quite relate to. Lonliness is much harder to conquer and being with someone who's good "enough" is not nearly the same as working a shit job so you can, say, bail and go on tour for a few months. The job might drive you crazy eventually, but it's the means to an end, not the end itself. Love is way more complicated and convoluted. I don't think you can merely settle.
The Bear Quartet - Needs vs. facts
Truth be told, I wasn't terribly impressed when I first heard Tiger Lou via the single "Oh, Horatio". It's a fine song, but it took seeing him live at a random living room show in Oakland for me to really appreciate his talent. Rasmus Kellerman's greatest musical asset is his voice, so to hear his songs distilled down to barebones accompaniment was the revelation I needed. His presence and projection made me hear each song anew. It's not a universal test for all types of music, but if the song works in such a setting, it proves that it's bonified. Listening back to Rasmus' early singles this morning makes me realize how far he's come over the years - what was once a promising young singer/songwriter has developed into a true artist, something that first becomes apparent on today's song selection "Sam, as in Samantha". It's still a dude and his guitar at its core, but it's also imbued with a strong sense of drama that didn't exist before on his early 7"s. It's in the production, it's in the performance. Where he goes next, remains unknown - the songs, the voice will undoubtedly be Tiger Lou/Rasmus Kellerman, but I think he aims to surprise as well. New influences, new perspectives... how could he not? Whatever he does come up with, I'm sure it will be great.
Tiger Lou - Sam, as in Samantha
Miss Li is on her third full-length album in less than 12 months, an amazing output of material. Surprisingly, she's managed to maintain a very consistent level of quality throughout. Unnecessary? A little redundant? Perhaps, but she's always incredibly entertaining and each new record surprises by achieving a new level of sauciness. One such highlight on "Songs of a rag doll" has got to be "Take a shower" with its heavy klezmer influence and rapidly snowballing tempo. It's hard not to get caught up in a song like that, especially with the come-on of the title line. And then, once those Cossack-style heys! come in towards the end, you might as well get up and dance. It's irresistable!
Miss Li - Take a shower
Jennie Abrahamson is a singer/songwriter from Sävar in Norrland, Sweden, a small town just a bit north of Umeå. On one hand, her soft pop sound isn't exactly what I normally associate with that part of the country, but I can also understand how it could inspire this sort of sweet, quiet melancholy. At her best, she's reminiscent of Emmylou Harris' more ethereal moments (see: "Wrecking ball"); at her worst, the 80s-esque production robs her of any power by drowning everything in reverb and lame yacht rock tropes. "Songs we sing" features both sides of the equation - it's a good song with a strong vocal performance, but the backing music makes me think of "Take my breath away" by Berlin or, even worse, this song (which I listen to way too often). However, if you can get past that, there is a lot to appreciate. Like I said, it's still a decent song regardless of the production. I just can't handle those damn chimes.
Jennie Abrahamson - Songs we sing
I never thought I'd say it, but the new Mando Diao album "Never seen the light of day" is pretty damn good. I can't say if it's the influence of producer Björn Olsson or what, but whatever it is, it works. As to their status as legendary assholes, I can't say, though I'm willing to entertain the notion that they've grown up. Anyhow, "Gold" is the kind of song that's infuriatingly catchy - the taunting la-la-la refrain is obnoxious, but irresistible and the "Oh my god" lead-up to the chorus is even better. Despite my best intentions, I can't help myself. It's good, maybe even a little bit great. I admit it to be true.
Mando Diao - Gold
I knew that Dieter Schöön had to be related to Svenson from the very first note. There's just no one else with that peculiar art-rock sound, those weird monotonous vocals. When I talk about the exciting new Göteborg scene, this is what I mean. People who push boundaries, who sound like no one/nowhere else. "The harbour's cold" is one of the more upbeat tracks on said album. It's got an insistent beat driven by an offset hi-hat and a pulsing, almost dubby bass. The atonal guitar and aforementioned disinterested vocals and other accoutrements are just gravy. Not just weird for the sake of weird either, Dieter Schöön remains eminently listenable no matter how "out there" he gets. I like this a lot.
Dieter Schöön - The harbour's cold
"From nowhere", another intro track, this time from 2001's "Gay icon". However, unlike other songs of such stature, this is much less of an overture. "From nowhere" is about starting out from scratch, heading off into the unknown. Not an unusual theme for The Bear Quartet, though not often handled as a soft piano ballad. Maybe not exactly what you might call uncharted territories, just less frequently visited these days.
The Bear Quartet - From nowhere
More Swedish postpunk? Sure! Why not? Commando M Pigg were a female fronted act that formed in 1980, dropped the "M Pigg" around '86 and eventually released a grand total of seven albums before finally calling it a day in 1990. I'm not familiar with the group's later English-language material, but the first three albums or so are fantastic. Today's track "Svenska fötter" is actually the first track of their very first self-titled album. The main feature is definitely Eva Sonesson's vocals, but I also love the way the rhythm section holds things down so the guitarist can freak out and wail on his whammy-bar. And that main verse riff! That's some proto-"Waiting room" shit right there. I love it.
Commando M Pigg - Svenska fötter
Compare and contrast: the lack of enthusiasm I bemoaned in yesterday's post on Jonas Game has nothing to do with The Bombettes. The 4-track "What's cooking good looking?" EP is a near-perfect, unstoppable force. They bulldoze through each song with raw fury. When they declare "I wanna kick your ass", I have no doubt that they'll be true to their word. Loud, brash and snotty; this is yet another Umeå band showing the world the way things should be done.
The Bombettes - I wanna
Absolut Noise got this one dead-on: "Nice but a bit too nice."
Which is a shame because I actually really like Jonas Game's singles "ADHD" (posted today) and "New city love" and was fully expecting the rest of the album to be just as good. Sadly, this is not the case. With a total running time of just over 30 minutes, that's even more frustrating. The energy level is low low low and even at the peak moments, it can feel strained and forced. Compared to the other new ex-Bad Cash Quartet band Hästpojken, the deficit is even more apparent. Not that I expecting a rehash of the past, but c'mon now - let's have a little more liveliness, okay?
Anyhow, like I said above, I do really enjoy the singles, especially "ADHD". It's a great upbeat number that's ripe with enthusiasm, optimism and even a touch of swagger. A little more rawness would be welcome, but screw it - it's still a fine pop song despite any complaints I might have and I imagine it's probably way better in a live situation. Good enough!
Jonas Game - ADHD
Time for some autumnal music - for those that passed on reading the interview (thanks again Mr. Porter!), Sinikka Langeland is a Norwegian/Finnish artist who mixes Nordic folk tradition with modern jazz, her instruments of choice being the kantele and voice. Opening track "Høstnatt på fjellskogen" ("Autumn night in the mountain woods") is evocative of exactly that, the shortening days and the slow recession into winter solitude/hibernation. It rushes in like the wind and then all becomes silent and still. Likewise, this piece moves slowly towards a center - notes are left hanging and unresolved, the strange chords creating a tension in the air. When it finally does drift into silence, there is peace.
Sinikka Langeland - Høstnatt på fjellskogen
I know it's insipid, cliché, predictable, and entirely ridiculous, but I can't help it - I love big, dumb, Hi-NRG Europop techno. If I believed in such a thing as guilty pleasures, this would surely qualify. I'm not gonna tell you that the new E-Type album "Eurotopia" is "good" in the usual way, but it's successful at doing exactly what it sets out to do. It won't change your life, but it might liven up your next party. There's no pretension, just pure bombast. Don't think, dance.
E-Type - True believer
"Load it" is a work of glorious melancholy beauty. The chimes and ba-ba-baas of the backing vocals distract, but the depression is unavoidable. "Every day is an empty click / in case my friend you forget to load it" It's a major BQ theme: getting older, feeling more futile. Out of touch and increasingly out of reach. On top of the alienation and hopelessness. Envying the youth and their blissful naivety. It helps if you don't think too hard about the words as you sing along.
The Bear Quartet - Load it
I spent quite a bit of time combing through my music archives looking for dark and scary music to use in my various Halloween playlists, naturally digging up quite a bit of my old goth and doomrock in the process. One of the bands that jumped out was Bay Laurel, a Swedish act that I probably first became aware of through Katatonia, back when I used to regularly check the current playlist section of their website to see what they were listening to. I discovered quite a few great acts that way- it led me to revisit Kent and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and got me into other stuff like Ben Christophers, Novembre and Madrugada. Bay Laurel actually reminds me a bit of Madrugada, come to think of it, at least their older material circa "Industrial silence". It strikes a similar mood the guitarists do a decent job of approximating Robert Burås' superb use of space. It also helps that Bay Laurel frontman Rikard Löfgren has a deep voice reminiscent of Sivert Høyem, though his lyrical aspirations don't quite match up. Still, I appreciate Rikard's incredibly earnest delivery even if he sometimes over-indulges in cliché. And the music is great; dark and heavy without crossing the line into metal. Too bad there aren't more bands like this around nowadays or, if there are, I'm certainly not hearing about 'em.
Bay Laurel - Outside these walls
Welcome to November! The days are getting shorter and the trees have a tenuous grip on their last few leaves. My soundtrack for this month: Winter Took His Life. An ominous moniker, to be sure, but it's not as if the music would suggest otherwise. Or the cover art for that matter. These are sounds for cold, grey days. For quiet and solitude, though said solitude might not be by choice. "I'm done trying" is actually not as pessimistic as you might expect - it doesn't dwell on the sickness as much as it looks forward to something better. Come with me, it says. "I'd make room for you, we'd be better off being two." Somewhere (London?), anywhere. "This town is holding us back." It takes a little while to get going, but the payoff is worth it. The resignation has turned to resolve.
Hopefully you've already investigated the recent split netrelease with Björn Kleinhenz, but if not, please do so! Otherwise, subscribe to the Record Club for a copy of the new album or purchase it ala carte right here.
Winter Took His Life - I'm done trying