The Silent Ballet reviews Jónsi

The Silent Ballet reviews Jónsi's solo debut "Go": https://thesilentballet.com/dnn/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/384/ItemID/3237/Default.aspx

PopMatters reviews Love Is All

PopMatters covers the new Love Is All record "Two thousand and ten injuries": https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/119800-love-is-all-two-thousand-and-one-injuries/

Monty
2010
Hybris

David Pagmar is proving himself to be quite the prolific pop-artist, and with his new moniker Monty, he's at his most straightforward yet. The change of name is to signify his switch into his native language craft, and the focus found on past releases not wane at all -- in fact, it is up there with "Clocks" as his tightest set of songs. Like most of his releases (barring the aforementioned "Clocks"), "2010" took me a few listens to realize his accomplishment. As a reference point for Montt Mardié fans, this release has the feel of the world he created on "Metropolis" throughout the entire album, a mood piece so to speak, that hides itself in dimly-lit corners only to reveal itself as not an aspect to fear, but one to embrace. However that is not all, because on "2010" Pagmar is also embracing the listener in every track -- it's dank sparseness is an enveloper in an oddly comforting way.
- Matt Giordano

Free Jazz reviews Atomic

The Free Jazz blog reviews the new Atomic record "Theater tilters, vol. 1": https://freejazz-stef.blogspot.com/2010/03/atomic-theatre-tilters-vol-1-jazzland.html

PopMatters reviews Seabear

PopMatters reviews the new Seabear record "We built a fire": https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/120564-seabear-we-built-a-fire/

Pitchfork reviews Jóhann Jóhannsson

Pitchfork reviews Icelandic artist Jóhann Jóhannsson and his new soundtrack album "And in the endless pause there came the sound of bees": https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14064-and-in-the-endless-pause-there-came-the-sound-of-bees/

Rubik
Dada bandits
Fullsteam Records/Paper Tiger AV

Critics are apt to hear "Dada bandits" opener "Goji berries" and label Rubik as frenzied pop auteurs, a sort of Scandinavian Animal Collective. And "Goji berries" does go from screamo-addled Beatles to punchy-drunk keys punctuated by Sufjan flutes, to a Dan Bejar saloon romp that segues into a typically eastern Beirut horn jam. While "Goji"'s schizoid scheme is certainly noteworthy -- it seamlessly switches gears and genres while never betraying its Nordic pop sensibility -- it's hardly metonymical of the album at large. Yes, Rubik's "Bandits" lifts considerably from all of the best in blog-ready sounds, but they do so with the canvases of entire songs. What results is not, strangely, a sugar-coated Scando take on guitar indie, but a rolodex of an album with a virtuoso aesthetic. Rarely is a musical contact called upon twice, and even after repeated listens, you're left reeling at the incredible scope of an album that's stacked like the Yankees.

"Goji berries" phantom-tempo midsection precedes the Canadian guitar battalion of "Radiants", "Wasteland" borrows Idioteque percussion before settling for an anthemic power pop chorus. "Fire Age" and "Richard Branson's crash landing" are album highlights, the former plotting Stars' vocals around a ska-synth breakdown, the latter a glimpse of Scandinavian twee perfection. Its swirling synths wash beneath upbeat melodies and falsetto-and-horns chorus to convince you that this is what Loney Dear's "Dear John" should have been. Rubik reloads and refires, each song an impressive foray into new sonic territory, strung together by catchy hooks and wiry guitars, underpinned by the astonishing depth of the arrangements. It's only on the fifth or six listen that you even hear the complex synth arpeggios buried under "Karhu junassa", or the jaunty riffs beneath "Fire age".

There's little bad to be said about this album. The mix occasionally favors layered instrumentation over Artturi Taira's vocals -- much of the album finds Taira swimming in his own arrangements. While that's likely a tactic to secure more Finnish listeners in their native country, it obscures the beauty of Taira's lyrics. His voice can adequately be characterized as "British Effeminate" indicative of all of those post-Radiohead mope-and-hope rockers that plagued the aughts in Western Europe. But Taira's falsetto exchanges their currency of faux-pathos for a well-placed sense of urgency, his yelps best on "Karhu junassa" and "Radiants" when buttressed by instrumental imitation.

So where is this album? It's tailored for the blogs in almost every way, it has registered heaps of e-praise, yet Rubik has no plans to return to North . Maybe this album will be saved from obscurity by a forward-thinking movie director or cell-phone marketing exec, and maybe it won't. I might just like it better if it remains a diamond in the rough -- quietly pretending to 2010's indie throne.
- Nathan Keegan

jj
jj n° 3
Sincerely Yours/Secretly Canadian

On last year's well-received debut "n° 2", jj brought a summery sound akin to a hypothetical The Tough Alliance-light, if such were a project (and an obviously close reference, as they're on their label). Its mixture of slower ballads with down-tempo firelight pop numbers took in the breezy coastal Swedish twilight. Perhaps they've not waited long enough before issuing their second album, perhaps they've had this release written and recorded before their first was out, but it's glaringly obvious that it doesn't reach the heights of "n° 2". It's as though they took the median of their first record and wrote each track accordingly, while also leaving out (both melodically and sonically) those aspects which would cause one to randomly hum "Masterplan" or "Are you still in Valda?". And that's quite a shame, too.
- Matt Giordano

Pitchfork reviews Kissaway Trail, Love Is All

Pitchfork has what I believe to be an accurate assessment of the new Kissaway Trail album "Sleep mountain": https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14057-sleep-mountain/
Also reviewed, the new Love Is All record "Two thousand and ten injuries": https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14062-two-thousand-and-ten-injuries/

Ikons
s/t
Service

There's nothing quite like the feeling induced by an airy, nostalgic collection of music that appeals to all the senses rather than simply landing on the ears and, well, sounding like the average album does. Thankfully, "Ikons" is not your average album. Simply listening to this results in a variety of sweeping images being projected into the mind's eye. For example, opener "Slow light" conjures up images of gliding through clear blue skies, ultimate freedom and joy at the forefront of the imagination. And maybe this isn't even the correct interpretation -- if there is one. That's one of the appeals of this album; the ability to induce imaginative visuals and for each listener to have his own ideas of what the music represents. Vocals are used very sparingly here, and when they do appear they offer a distinct '80s new-wave aura that fits perfectly with the rest of the music. "Ikons" is one of those albums that offers a wide variety of styles from song to song while remaining completely coherent as a single entity. There's the chill-out ambience of "Domine", the anthemic "Bye", the pure rock of "The hawk" and everything in between. The oblique return to "Slow light" for closer "Untitled" works unbelievably well in winding the album down on a positive note. While "Ikons" is a wonderful album sonically, it must surely come into its own in the live environment, since an integral part of the band's lineup is visual artist Patrik Johansson, who plies his trade onstage by creating stunning visual concepts to complement the music. They've been lauded for their live shows in the past and one can only imagine how sublime the coupling of the two artforms would work in that setting.
- John Norby

Benni Hemm Hemm
Retaliate
Kimi

Proving that less is often more -- both in production and length -- Benni Hemm Hemm's "Retaliate" EP is a brilliantly hushed gem. Trademark horns diminished to a mere whisper, Benedikt H. Hermannsson (the brains behind the ostensibly solo project) gently guides his listener though an affecting five-song cycle of softly strummed guitars, plunked pianos, and ghostly harmonies.

Despite its pervasive lo-fi ambience, "Retaliate"'s minimalism never translates to boring. From the delicate rise and fall "Church loft" to the title track's slow-build instrumentals, Hermannsson crafts the sort of bedroom-Nick Drake compositions that could easily be lost in a slicker set-up. Left unadorned, his image-heavy prose glistens. No Sufjan Stevens-style narrator (even if his style often bares a passing resemblance), the listener is left to comprise his own story, awash in religious iconography, travels taken, days reborn and blood letting. Hermannsson may have settled into a period of personal quiet contemplation, but it's clear his restless creative spirit never will.
- Laura Studarus

Dusted reviews Love Is All

Dusted reviews the new Love Is All record "Two thousand and ten injuries": https://dustedmagazine.com/reviews/5614

PopMatters reviews "Edendale"

PopMatters reviews Norwegian MOR act Bigbang and their new record "Edendale": https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/121969-bigbang-edendale/

The Silent Ballet reviews Anna von Hausswolff

The Silent Ballet reviews the new Anna von Hausswolff album "Track of time": https://thesilentballet.com/dnn/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/384/ItemID/3202/Default.aspx

Pitchfork on the new jj album + live experience

Pitchfork reviews the new jj album "jj n° 3": https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/14045-jj-n-3/
Also, see the reaction to their live show at SXSW here: https://pitchfork.com/news/38222-sxsw-thu-broken-social-scene-jj-lets-wrestle-marina-and-the-diamonds/