Records
While waiting for the train which will take me north, I take the opportunity to finish my half year summary. Sons and Daughters top my album list. The introductory song Gilt Complex defines the entire record just as Lust in the Movies set the bar for The Long Blondes' debut album Someone to Drive You Home.
Tilly and the Wall's opening six minutes on the new album O sums up the band. It is possible that it will change if I listen more, but I now feel that O quality-wise is more consistent than the band's previous records. And did I say that Pot Kettle Black is wonderful? Speaking of reliability, Mates of State delivers as usual. Their fifth album Re-Arrange Us is not as good as the brilliant Bring It Back, but still a given on this list.
1. Sons and Daughers - This Gift
2. Tilly and the Wall - O
3. The School - Let It Slip EP
4. Mates of State - Re-Arrange Us
5. The Rosie Taylor Project - This City Draws Maps
Also good: Cloetta Paris - Secret Eyes, Sad Day for Puppets - Just Like a Ghost, M83 - Saturdays = Youth, Headlights - Some Racing Some Stopping, Ally Kerr - Off the Radar.
Other
This year's best news is that Kathleen Bracken plays with Those Transatlantics again. Beyond that there are many other music-related things which made me happy. Some old and some new. I come to think about this right now:
Aberdeen (band)
Minipop (band)
El Perro del Mar (concert at Mejeriet)
Bruce Springsteen (concert at Nya Ullevi in Gothenburg on July 5)
Katie Goes to Tokyo - Big City (song)
Sad Day for Puppets - Hush (song)
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Open Your Heart
There is still much left to write about 2007 before I sum up the first half of 2008.
Arcade Fire needs no presentation. I am writing about them only now because I heard the song The Well and the Lighthouse as late as this spring. Arcade Fire were not unknown to me, but the sound on their debut album Funeral did not appeal to me. I therefore never cared about their second album Neon Bible. Imagine my surprise when I heard The Well and the Lighthouse by chance. Incredibly good. Remember where you read it last.
This whole genre called indie rock is quite unknown to me. Los Angeles-based Earlimart are said to belong to the same genre but I am already familiar with their sound. That is probably because Aaron Espinoza and Ariana Murray are from California. Answers and Questions stands out as by far the best track on the album Mentor Tormentor released last year. You can listen to the whole album in good quality here.
In Los Angeles, we also find the hippie quartet Lavender Diamond which plays folk/pop with piano. Open Your Heart is a very beautiful track on their debut album Imagine Our Love.
Swedish Blind Terry also base their music on piano. They sing about burning down the school, but the hit When Prefab Sprout Wrecked My Mind deservedly receives the most attention. Blind Terry would have fit in well in the Rip It Up festival line-up, but they will play at this year's Emmaboda festival instead.
Taste of Honey sound promising with their sweet song Sylvia Said. The same can be said about Susanna Brandin's acoustic music project Winter Took His Life. Listen to When You Said You Headed Home! With the even longer album title You Know What It's Like to Be Alone and Shut Down we have a female counterpart to Sufjan Stevens.
In our neighbouring country Norway, we find Dylan Mondegreen which sound very much like their compatriots Love Dance. You can listen to their entire debut album While I Walk You Home at lastfm. In summer t-shirt weather, British Little Name also charm us with For the Attention of and especially Tracy and I.
Last out is the Minnesota band Gospel Gossip which is the city's main export since the hockey team moved to Dallas. The album Sing into My Mouth, another debut album, wanders between shoegaze and pop with many different sound images. Three short tracks, around a minute each, are reminiscent of What the Snowman Learned About Love, the introductory track on Stars' album Heart. Shadows Are Bent is the best song on Sing into My Mouth. Listen at the band's website and lastfm.
Arcade Fire needs no presentation. I am writing about them only now because I heard the song The Well and the Lighthouse as late as this spring. Arcade Fire were not unknown to me, but the sound on their debut album Funeral did not appeal to me. I therefore never cared about their second album Neon Bible. Imagine my surprise when I heard The Well and the Lighthouse by chance. Incredibly good. Remember where you read it last.
This whole genre called indie rock is quite unknown to me. Los Angeles-based Earlimart are said to belong to the same genre but I am already familiar with their sound. That is probably because Aaron Espinoza and Ariana Murray are from California. Answers and Questions stands out as by far the best track on the album Mentor Tormentor released last year. You can listen to the whole album in good quality here.
In Los Angeles, we also find the hippie quartet Lavender Diamond which plays folk/pop with piano. Open Your Heart is a very beautiful track on their debut album Imagine Our Love.
Swedish Blind Terry also base their music on piano. They sing about burning down the school, but the hit When Prefab Sprout Wrecked My Mind deservedly receives the most attention. Blind Terry would have fit in well in the Rip It Up festival line-up, but they will play at this year's Emmaboda festival instead.
Taste of Honey sound promising with their sweet song Sylvia Said. The same can be said about Susanna Brandin's acoustic music project Winter Took His Life. Listen to When You Said You Headed Home! With the even longer album title You Know What It's Like to Be Alone and Shut Down we have a female counterpart to Sufjan Stevens.
In our neighbouring country Norway, we find Dylan Mondegreen which sound very much like their compatriots Love Dance. You can listen to their entire debut album While I Walk You Home at lastfm. In summer t-shirt weather, British Little Name also charm us with For the Attention of and especially Tracy and I.
Last out is the Minnesota band Gospel Gossip which is the city's main export since the hockey team moved to Dallas. The album Sing into My Mouth, another debut album, wanders between shoegaze and pop with many different sound images. Three short tracks, around a minute each, are reminiscent of What the Snowman Learned About Love, the introductory track on Stars' album Heart. Shadows Are Bent is the best song on Sing into My Mouth. Listen at the band's website and lastfm.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Review: The School - Let It Slip EP
Placed as tenth and eleventh on my year list of 2007, Let It Slip and You'll Never Notice Me were both fantastic up beat songs by previously unknown bands. The School and The Garlands have both released an EP this year, but that is probably the only thing that still is common in the respective bands' careers.
The Garlands' self-titled EP was another Swedish contribution to the Cloudberry Records catalogue. The four tracks are all fine, but it would had been more interesting if Roger Gunnarsson and Christin Wolderth instead wrote a new hit.
Liz Hunt's The School are new label mates with Camera Obscura and Lucky Soul on Elefant Records (Lucky Soul also release their records on their own label Ruffa Lane Records), which is funny because these were the bands I came to think about immediately the first time I heard Let It Slip in the end of last year.
The EP Let It Slip was released on June 16 and lives up to all expectations. The EP balances on the thin line between crystal clear sound and overproduction, ends up at the wrong side a couple of times, but still gets away with because Liz sings the way she does. The title track is rearranged with beautiful backing vocals and strings, but the third song I Want You Back is the on which knocks me. I Want You Back really begins like a fairy tale with the line Once upon a time. I know when the music stops that this is the best song of the year so far. The EP ends in the best of manner with I Don't Believe in Love, a beautiful song about miserable love with a narrative that shifts between two different voices.
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