Tag: Mp3s
2006 has been an amazing year for dark and dreamy pop and Namur's "Songs from the valley of Baca" is one of the best examples of the genre. You can call it a shoegazer revival if you want, but I think that all the sounds I've been hearing are something completely new and different. It may be a lot of things, but it's certainly not retro. Anyhow, despite releasing one of the year's best albums, Namur mainman David Åhlén decided recently that it was time to retire the name and move on with something new: Father of Levi. Naturally, I wanted to know more, so I asked him why. Read more: [click here]
"Marching" is the one of the only songs on the album that delivers immediate gratification out of context. That might sound like a bad thing, but I assure you it's not. "Songs from the valley of Baca" is very much an album, not just a collection of songs or singles. Each track flows effortlessly into the other and weave together to create a much greater listening experience. It's becoming rarer and rarer to find music that achieves this sort of cohesiveness nowadays in our post-iPod world. Like I said before: one of the best releases of the year.
Namur - Marching
If you are reading this, that must mean that it's Monday and I'm probably somewhere in Berkeley, CA right now, hopefully far away from a computer. Assuming that this whole pre-posting experiment works, that is. Anyhow, I figured that this week would be as good a time as any to take a look at some of 2006's best releases and today we're going to start with Lemonator and their latest "At the presence of great beauty". It should as no surprise that I adore this album as I already posted two tracks from it and that's pretty much unheard of around here. So not only am I giving you another track today, I'm also offering up an interview with frontman Lasse Kurki! Check it out: [click here]
Pop music doesn't get much better than this! If you haven't heard these guys yet, you're missing out.
Lemonator - Will I ever find out
There's always way too many things to do the day before going on vacation, so I'm going to have to make this short, especially since I'm going to try to write a few extra mp3 posts for next week before I leave. Thomas Dybdahl could probably be considered the Norwegian equivilent to José González 'cept that instead of José's excellent finger-picking you get a young man with a sweet, smokey voice whose songs tend to be on the more soulful side of things. I imagine a lot of indier-than-thou types will probably find his music a bit too MOR, but to me good music is good music and I really like Thomas' style. He never overdoes it like, say Nicolai Dunger for example (I'm a fan, but he definitely oversings sometimes) - instead, he keeps things chill and lowkey. I imagine him melting hearts everywhere he goes. It's unbelievable it took some three odd years for him to get a US deal. I can't imagine him being a hard sell at all. This particular song I've posted today from his 2003 album "Stray dogs" is about as uptempo as Thomas gets and happens to be one of my favorites as well. Catchy, but in an extremely subdued way. Good to calm the nerves on a day when I feel manic.
Thomas Dybdahl - Cecilia
"Are you in my blood?" is the obvious choice for the first single on the new David & the Citizens album "Stop the tape! Stop the tape!". Even on the very first listen there's no doubt that it's one the strongest songs. As for the second best song, my choice would be "48h". It's probably a bit too long to be an actual single without editing the extended outro, but that's also one of the reasons it's so great. It's an epic pop anthem and the way the song builds and flows over its full five minutes is integral to the way it works. Well, maybe a bit could be chopped off the end I guess - the most important part is the triplets in the bridge around the 2-minute mark which leads into a breakdown and a half-time version of the chorus. That's some serious songwriting craft right there. The tricks themselves aren't terribly unique, but that's besides the point. It's the way they're employed that's so good. If you don't have a great song to begin with, you ain't got nothing. And David & the Citizens have an amazing song.
Buy "Stop the tape! Stop the tape!": [click here]
David & The Citizens - 48h
A good follow-up to yesterday's post on Under Byen is today's mp3 from Élodie. Both bands are female-fronted and could be considered post-rock by the way they embrace slow-building dynamics. The main difference however is that Élodie is more of a pop band. Where Under Byen is unique for their heavy percussion, Élodie soothes with lush, gentle melodies. It's a shame that their new EP "At the end of the line" is the last we'll hear from them - the band recently played their final show at Trästockfestivalen in their hometown of Skellefteå. If you've been at all into any of the other dark and dreamy pop I've been raving about this year such as Lampshade or Namur, then this is definitely up your alley. Not only is there a ton of similar music in this vein being released now, a very high percentage of it is remarkably good. There's more on the way too - keep an eye out for posts on new music Sonores and The Grand Opening in the near future, both amazing bands (and also both IAT.MP3 artists releasing their first official full-lengths).
Buy "At the end of the line": [click here]
Élodie - Overload
I have been meaning to post about Denmark's Under Byen for a long time, even before I posted Simon's fawning review of their most recent album "Samme stof som stof". Now that said record is getting a US release via Paperbag later this month, I figure I might as well get this done. Trouble is, I don't find myself nearly as wowed as Simon or many of the other folks who've been weighing in on the band lately. The music itself is very aesthetically pleasing - I love the clattering percussion, breathy vocals and diverse pallet of extra instrumentation. It's just that the songs fall a tiny bit short for me. On the other hand, I readily endorse any quality foreign-language post-rock that isn't Sigur Rós - not that I don't like Sigur Rós, just that I think people should investigate all the other international musical treasures out there waiting for them, despite any preconceived notions concerning language barriers. That's a lot of what this site is about, after all. I like Under Byen, but I don't love them. Regardless, I admire and respect their creativity and think they are worth listening to anyway. Hear them for yourself and make your own decision.
Under Byen - Siamesisk
Tsukimono's new album "Née" is the perfect release for Kalligrammofon to follow up Viktor Sjöberg's "On a winter's day". Both artists utilize guitars and found-sound as the main source for their art, but what they do with it is totally different. Viktor tends towards the quiet and complative and yes, even romantic (as Kevin points out in his review) while Tsukimono (aka Johan Gustavsson) is often far more frenetic and noisy. This particular piece that I've posted today reminds me a bit of Alog with its steady melodic rhythm. Processed guitar tones chime, twist and turn until the rains come in and their true nature is revealed. It's a beautiful transition that perfect captures the summer day that inspired it.
Tsukimono - Gathering heavy breathing
I won't pretend to be any sort of hip-hop expert, but I know what I like when I hear it. For people already in the know, I've barely scratched the surface of Scandinavian hip-hop with yesterday's video mix, but realize that we all have to start somewhere. No disrespect to Looptroop, long considered one of Sweden's leading crews, but my favorite stuff is almost always done in the act's native tongue or performed with live backing. A perfect example would be Timbuktu backed by Damn! - that stuff is unfuckwithable, regardless of whether or not you can understand what they're saying. However, that's not who I'll be posting today. I've posted about the Finnish band Giant Robot before, but it's been awhile and I really like them, so I figure now's as good a time as any to revisit. The band's soulful live instrumentation and socially conscious lyrics immediately remind me of Michael Franti (Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, Spearhead), but Giant Robot tends to concentrate more on the music than the message. They've got important things to say, but they're also a party band that knows how to get the floor moving. Today's track "Helsinki rock city" is a surefire crowd-pleaser in the hometown, no doubt. I think it works just as well abroad. To be completely honest, I prefer the band's second album "Domesticity" (2004), as opposed to "Crushing you with style" (1999) - the record this track came from. Both are good, but the later record has more hot songs and flows better as a whole. Anyhow, today's posting is still a fine place to start.
Giant Robot - Helsinki rock city
I was going to post something completely different today, but the good folks as Razzia had to ruin my plans by sending me The Plan's new single "Walk for gold". Bummer, huh? Some history: The Plan was started by ex-Broder Daniel bassist Theodor Jensen back around 2001 and have released two previous albums, "The plan" in 2001 and "Embrace me beauty" in 2004. Common consensus says the records are merely so-so, the first one being the better of the two, but the singles ("Mon amour", "Let's leave", etc.) have all been great. So does "Walk for gold" hold up? Well, it's less of a direct Stokes rip, so that's good. I also appreciate the faster tempo. The best thing about though has to be the end when the vocal chorus comes in after the noisy solo sounding like something out of a Morricone soundtrack. After that I can't help but think of the Prospector on "The Simpsons" who shoots his guns in the air and exclaims "Gold!" Now, I can't be sure that's what Theodor was going for, but I like it.
The Plan - Walk for gold
I've been obsessing a bit about goth music lately, it's true. The world is going through dark times and that demands dark music. It has been awhile since I heard from 1999. They released a single on Release the Bats! a few years ago and posted a few other tracks on their website, but after that... nilch. I even attempted to email them about appearing on my latest "Reader's companion" comp, but got no reply. So when stumbled across Celebrity Lifestyle Records (named after the Swans song), the new label that released their full-length debut, naturally I was excited. Luckily CLR was more open to communication and before too long I had a copy of the CD in-hand. Let me tell you: this is the shit. It's borrows heavily from the past (Joy Division, Bauhaus, yadda yadda), but also incorporates more noise and Krautrock influences. Deceptively simple and hypnotic, cyclic riffs, dancefloor-friendly beats and sloganeering vocals - not quite to the level of, say Nitzer Ebb, but definitely leaning in that direction. Like a rawer, more primal version of Boys of Scandinavia. The particular track I've posted today is the album's opener. Deceptively simple and driving. I love how the guitar just turns into a wash of noise with barely any distinguishable attack. The cavernous tone provides the right balance of melody and noise while letting the drums and bass carry the song. Simplicity is key. Beauty is the winner, indeed.
1999 - Beauty is the winner
Even though I know I should probably sick to death of it by now, I somehow keep finding new Swedish electropop artists to talk about. Of the three songs on Papercut's demo, the first track "Time" is by far my favorite. The sound is fairly typical: arpeggiated keyboards over a pounding 4/4 bass drum-heavy beat 'cept that Papercut layers on pink noise and buries the vocals into the mix giving the song more of an ambient, drifting feel. It's nothing groundbreaking obviously, but I like it just the same. The other two songs (which can be heard at myspace) are more standard electropop and far more vocal-centric. They're okay, but the mixes need more work to make everything blend better. Seeing as how this is their very first public recording, I'm sure they'll only get better.
Papercut - Time
I can't remember exactly when I first heard of the band Silver, but I certainly never paid them much attention until their newest CD "World against world" showed up in my mailbox. I know a lot of people are probably interested in them now since Emil Nikolaisen of Serena Maneesh used to be in the band. His brother Ivar aka Blanco still fronts the band and Emil produced the new record, so it's not as if they had a falling out or anything. Emil just wanted to do his own thing and that seems to be paying off, so who can fault him? Anyhow, seeing as how Bad Afro is handling this new release, I knew it was time to take notice. I haven't been too stoked on the current lot of Scandinavian dirty rock'n'roll bands, but Bad Afro always delivers the goods and Silver is no exception. They're actually punkier than I thought they'd be - lots of downstoke-heavy Ramones-style riffage as opposed to the usual bluesy New York Dolls worship. Of course, there's still tons of blustery soloing in the Johnny Thunders tradition, not as if that's a bad thing. Dig it.
Silver - The personal decay
My mom's in town visiting today, so regular updates won't be happening and I doubt I'll get around to putting together this week's newsletter. At least not today like I usually do. However, I still want to leave you with something to listen to, so here's a track from Nihilist, the band that would later become Entombed.
Nihilist - When life has ceased
Guest post today from frequent IAT contributor Nancy Baym:
Swedish band The Lovekevins have what may be the least informative yet most rewarding website on the Internet. It says almost nothing, but it's got what matters most: downloads of six magnificent pop songs, each waiting to grow on you in its own way. An old news item on It's a trap! teased that a full length record should be out by summer. It's not, but in the meantime, here's a happy-Swedish-horn laden pop song. As seems to be required for Swedish indie pop credibility, the lyrics are far gloomier than the cheerful sounds ("happy happy I'm a toy/a boat without a sailor"), but like sweet and sour soup, the contrast only makes it better.
The Lovekevins - Happy happy
Tar... Feathers are a curious beast. The "band" is essentially one man, Mr. Marcus Nyke of Göteborg. Various folks contributed their playing to the recording, but the vision belongs to him and him alone. This is the new face of lofi DIY 'cept it's hard to really call it lofi anymore. Cheap and easy digital recording has lowered the bar, but you still need natural talent to make it work. Just because anyone can record an album nowadays does not mean they should. In most cases, I would actually discourage it. Thankfully, Tar... Feathers shares the same sort of drive that made DIY pioneers need to create art. There's definitely strong traces of indiepop in the music, but it's way too fucked up and dark to label it as such and that's why it appeals to me. The vocals will probably be the barrier that keeps most folk from getting into this though - Marcus' exuberance doesn't necessarily translate into perfect pitch. Still, the intricacy of the music more than makes for it. Fans of Labrador-style perfect pop be warned- this will challenge you, but I think it's worth it.
Buy "Make way for the ocean floor to fall to the surface"" [click here]
Tar... Feathers - You are lucky to have nothing