2010

The music year 2010 has been a brilliant time for softpop but otherwise left much to be desired.
I had really big plans for the blog this year, but the lack of posts is obvious now that there are only a few hours left until 2011. It is what it is and my lesson is to not promise more than I can hold. I still have the ideas I mentioned one year ago, but this time the plan is to post when the inspiration comes back.

Records
1. Very Truly Yours –Things You Used to Say
2. Allo Darlin - Allo Darlin
3. Katie Goes to Tokyo - My Naked Heart
4. The Soft City - The Soft City
5. Sambassadeur – European
6. The Jezabels – Dark Storm EP
7. The Secret History –The World That Never Was
8. Stars – The Five Ghosts
9. Will Driving West – The Breakout
10. Standard Fare – The Noyelle Beat

Also good: Minipop - Automatic Love EP, Now Now Every Children – Neighbors EP, The New Pornographers – Together, Säkert! – Facit, Seapony - Seapony EP

Songs
1. Katie Goes to Tokyo - Before You Fell in Love With Her
2. Sambassadeur - Stranded
3. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Say No to Love
4. Standard Fare - Love Doesn't Just Stop
5. Allo Darlin - Dreaming
6. Very Truly Yours - Your Funeral
7. Shrag - Rabbit Kids
8. Allo Darlin - My Heart Is a Drummer
9. Trembling Blue Stars - Cold Colours
10. Katie Goes to Tokyo - The Apartment, The Cat and The Dress
11. Minipop - Into the Night
12. Betty and the Werewolves - Paper Thin
13. The Jezabels - Sahara Mahala
14. Forest City Lovers - Minneapolis
15. Wild Nothing - Summer Holiday

2009

The year list of 2009 is finally complete and it is clear to me that my listening has been concentrated in a few albums. Lacrosse top the album chart, followed by a big gap down to second placed The Jezabels. When I listen to Bandages for the Heart it almost feels like the time before internet.

2010 will probably become a sort of comeback for the blog. I have some ideas I want to carry out, and it will be a very interesting year here on the blog if everything goes well.

Records
1. Lacrosse - Bandages for the Heart
2. The Jezabels - The Man Is Dead EP
3. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (LP)
4. Strawberry Whiplash - Picture Perfect EP
5. Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
6. The Afternoon Naps - Parade
7. Joy Formidable - A Balloon Called Moaning
8. Grand Archieves - Keep in Mind Frankenstein
9. The Starlets - I Wake Up Dreaming
10. Burning Hearts - Aboa Sleeping

Also good: The Fauns - The Fauns, Headlights - Wildlife, State Broadcasters - The Ship and the Iceberg, JJ - JJ no 2, Immaculate Machine - High on Jackson Hill, God Help the Girl - God Help the Girl


Songs
1. Lacrosse - Come Back Song #1
2. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Young Adult Friction
3. Camera Obscura - French Navy
4. The Jezabels - Disco Biscuit Love
5. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Stay Alive
6. Grand Archieves - Oslo Novelist
7. The Starlets - To the Winter Park
8. The Jezabels - Be a Star
9. Burning Hearts - I Lost My Colour Vision
10. Strawberry Whiplash - Celestial
11. Ohbijou - Wildfires
12. Sally Shapiro - Miracle
13. The Besties - Man vs Wild
14. Metric - Sick Muse
15. Anna Järvinen - Äppelöga

Review: Lacrosse - Bandages for the Heart

Lacrosse's second album Bandages for the Heart is really a record of contrasts. Introducing tracks We Are Kids and You Are Blind are upbeat hits from a world where the sun always shines, love automatically is reciprocal and any problems easily are put off until tomorrow. Beneath the surface, however, there is a worry which constantly interrupts the party by pointing to the fragility of life. The transition between life angst in My Stop's story of an abandoned young person's consideration of the final farewell and hazy happiness in Come Back Song #1 is an almost provocative and for the record representative reminder of how the pendulum of life balances between joy and sorrow.

At a first listen, Bandages for the Heart could be mistaken for music made for children. Nina Wähä and Kristian Dahl convey the lyrics by both singing everything at the same time throughout the record. Nina changes her voice to fit different emotional states and sings the way each song requires. Nina's vocals are consistently naive and childish independent of mood state as her voice gives the record its character. Kristian still sounds like he did on Lacrosse's debut album This New Year Will Be for You and Me and basically sings with the same style on every song.

The producer Jari Haapalainen has described Bandages for the Heart as "music performed by children, but written for adults who stagger in life". I do not know if this concept was Haapalainen's or the band's idea but it does not really matter. The important thing is that the warmth from the debut album still remains and that the playfully interjected strange synth sounds are wonderful. Bandages for the Heart could very well be the first record which survived Haapalainen's production and that in itself is amazing. Every rule has its exceptions.

Each of the eleven songs stay in memory and they all have their little peculiarities. Song in the Morning, My Stop and Come Back Song #1 are my favourite songs. You can not ignore that My Stop and Come Back Song #1 are the emotionally strongest tracks. My Stop is a painfully honest depiction infinitely far away from children's music. My Stop describes how a young person who undergoes a life crisis becomes declared an idiot and ignored by the therapist.

When I talked to the psychiatrist, she merely shrugged at me
said this thing you're experiencing, you're not suicidal
you're just a human being my friend
and everybody feels like you do anyway

But even though everything may not be as dramatic and life-changing in retrospect, the problems and feelings are completely real and incredibly stressful for the one with emotional pain.

But look at me, now look at me
with my hand and my feet on the reiling
with my heart all bleed out
I bet you did not believe me when I said that this was different
When I said that this was different

Something is very wrong when someone who seeks help instead gets stamped on. My Stop continues with a monologue in which the character stages suicide to look like murder in order to give the parents, who face the nightmare of surviving their own child, an outsider towards whom they can direct their grief and anger. My Stop is very thought-provoking criticism of the current individualised and competitive society which, deliberately or not, has lost both safety nets and humanity. Come Back Song #1 starts a few seconds later with its contagious life happiness which serves as a first-aid kit for fragile young people crying inside.

I feel very strongly about this album. If it had come a few years earlier it had perhaps been one of the really big records of my life. I have not been emotionally hit like this since Hello Saferide's and Katie Goes to Tokyo's debut albums in 2005 and 2006. Listening to Lacrosse is like for once to be understood by an emotional person with a warm heart and similar life values.

Lacrosse do not give any answers or universal solutions though. Bandages for the Heart is no key, only a consolation for the moment. Lacrosse just ask questions, as in the final song What's Wrong With Love. It is up to ourselves to shape our own future.

2008

Once again, I am waiting for a train that will take me from Lund and today feels like the right day to post the year list of 2008. It has been a weak music year and I do not think any album on this list would break into a revised version of last year's album list.

Records
1. Celestial - Crystal Heights
2. The Rosie Taylor Project - This City Draws Maps
3. Sons and Daughters - This Gift
4. The Narrative - Just Say Yes EP
5. The Indelicates - American Demo
6. Tilly and the Wall - O
7. The Charade - Keeping Up Appearances
8. Stars - Sad Robots EP
9. Monsters Are Waiting - Ones and Zeros EP
10. The School - Let It Slip EP
11. Like Honey - Leaves
12. The Secret History - Desolation Town EP
13. Cloetta Paris - Secret Eyes
14. Mates of State - Re-arrange Us
15. Forest City Lovers - Haunting Moon Sinking

Also good: Sad Day for Puppets - Just Like a Ghost EP, The Boy Bathing - A Fire to Make Preparations, Headlights - Some Racing Some Stopping, The Kid - Transient Blood


Songs
1. Monsters Are Waiting - Ones and Zeros
2. Celestial - Try to Understand
3. Hello Saferide - Anna
4. Celestial - Lonely Boulevard
5. The School - I Want You Back
6. The Indelicates - We Hate the Kids
7. Speedmarket Avenue - Way Better Now
8. The Kid - Mayhem Troopers
9. The Long Blondes - The Couples
10. Secret Shine - Vocie of the Sea

Half year summary 2008

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)

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.

My 2007

Concerts
A really good concert almost always comes down to more things than the music. Sambassadeur have written my soundtrack (the tambourines are shaking but I don't hear the sound, it's my favorite song but I don't like the crowd) of many gigs that were spoiled by people who were talking during the songs. The crowd was horrible when Lucky Soul played at Debaser Medis in Stockholm on Friday, November 9. Lucky Soul played at Blekingska in Lund the following night. The office people who ran the student nation decided to overprice the tickets. I was not happy with that, but the concert was absolutely fantastic because all people who had paid an expensive ticket for the show came for the music rather than the booze. People jumped up and down crazily to the hits Lips Are Unhappy and Ain't Never Been Cool, but they were still completely silent during the quit ballad Baby I'm Broke. Wonderful!
This was very ironic since the crowd at the very same Blekingska talked constantly during Laurel Music's comeback gig only one week earlier. I saw Laurel Music in Copenhagen the following night. It was a very intimate concert with seats around tables for the audience. I had a totally clear view and everyone was quiet the whole time. Laurel Music's concert in Copenhagen will stay in my memory for life. Language of Flowers gave me another unforgettable night when I had the honor to host their last ever show.
The Magic Numbers end the concert year 2007 on Wednesday. I look forward to that gig but I do not think that it will manage to get a place on my list. The concert year has really been that good! I attended 16 concert nights this year, but I have not written any concert texts this fall. You were always on my mind, but I did not have the time to write.

1. Language of Flowers – September 21 at Blekingska, Lund
2. Lucky Soul – November 10 at Blekingska, Lund
3. Laurel Music – November 2 at Huset Magstreade, Copenhagen
4. Irene – November 2 at Blekingska, Lund
5. Au Revoir Simone – November 12 at Vega, Copenhagen
6. Strange Idols – October 12 at Blekingska, Lund

In addition to these concerts, I will particularly rembember the shows with Like Honey (at Blekingska as the support act for Language of Flowers), Air (at Vega the same night as Au Revoir Simone), and Säkert at Kulturbolaget in Mamö.


Albums
Just as I predicted a year ago this year's best album was made by a band whose name begins with "L", but I did not know that (to me) unknown Let's Go Sailing would take me by storm.
Sambassadeur's second album was clearly the disappointment of the year. The single Subtle Changes promised much, but everything I loved with Sambassadeur was lost on the long awaited album Migration. I should really appreciate the record given that Anna sings on all songs except one, but Migration fails to shine despite more than 20 listenings. Sambassadeur have changed their sound and many people will like it, but I will never ever prefer the current pop orchestra sound over the magic of If Rain. I give Migration the rating five out of ten. I have not decided the rating of The Chaos in Order and it will not be needed either. A number one on a year list is greater than a numerical rating.

1. Let's Go Sailing – The Chaos in Order
2. Lucky Soul – The Great Unwanted
3. Immaculate Machine – Fables
4. Celestial – Dream On
5. Tupelo Honeys – Salute You
6. Stars – In Our Bedroom After the War
7. Palomar – All Things, Forest
8. The Afternoon Naps – Sunbeamed
9. Friday Bridge – Intricacy
10. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
11. Säkert! – Säkert!
12. Fireflies – Goodnight Stars Goodnight Moon
13. Irene – Long Gone Since Last Summer
14. Love Dance – Result
15. The National – Boxer

Also good: Au Revoir Simone – The Bird of Music, The Loose Salute – Tuned to Love, Cats on Fire – The Province Complains, Electrelane – No Shouts No Calls, and Blonde Redhead – 23.


Songs
In the end I had to give in and admit that Bobby Wratten wrote two of the best songs this year.

1. Trembling Blue Stars – Idyllwild
2. Lucky Soul – One Kiss Don't Make a Summer
3. Stars – Bitches in Tokyo
4. Celestial – Dream On
5. Stars – Take Me to the Riot
6. Northern Fields – Never Take the Beauty
7. The Strange Idols – It's No Fun
8. Trembling Blue Stars – November Starlings
9. Tupelo Honeys – The Return of the Weeping Man
10. The School – Let It Slip
11. The Garlands – You Never Notice Me
12. Club 8 – The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Dreaming
13. Let's Go Sailing – Sideways
14. Sambassadeur – Subtle Changes
15. The Secret History – Mark and John
16. Irene – By Your Side
17. Immaculate Machine – Dear Confessor
18. The Secret History – Our Lady of Pompeii
19. Penny Century – Nothing Burns Like Bridges
20. Jonna Lee – Dried Out Eyes
21. Säkert! – Någon Gång Måste Du Bli Själv
22. Like Honey – Telling Lies
23. Palomar – You're Keeping Us Up
24. Those Dancing Days – Hitten
25. Liechtenstein – Stalking Skills


2008
Laurel Music's new album is called Cycles and will likely top my next year list. In addition, Katie Goes to Tokyo, Like Honey, and The Charade release new album. And The Secret History will hopefully come to Sweden.

Half year summary 2007

Albums
How many new records do you need for half a year?

I wonder how many records you need. What your record collection needs is an entirely different matter.

Every year there is at least one album I listen to quite differently compared to other records. These albums tend to become overlistened. I fell for Tralala and Hello Saferide two years ago. Katie Goes to Tokyo was more important than anyone else in 2006. Halfway into 2007, another two debut albums top my list. Lucky Soul's The Great Unwanted is fantastic but still does not have a chance against Let's Go Sailing's The Chaos in Order.
When I wrote my half year summary in June last year, I noted that the album concept no longer appealed to me. I was wrong. I was rather tired of lengthy albums and found it difficult to appreciate the abundance of records. Back then it felt like I had to listen to everything. It was, in other words, the music stress I had grown tired of. Now I find it easier to appreciate what I do have. I would be happy to just have Let's Go Sailing, Lucky Soul, and Palomar this semester. The rest is bonus listening. With an eye on the fall, I am hoping for Laurel Music, Like Honey, and Langauge of Flowers!

1. Let's Go Sailing - The Chaos in Order
2. Lucky Soul - The Great Unwanted
3. Palomar - All Things, Forests
4. Friday Bridge - Intricacy
5. Love Dance - Result

Also good: Celestial - Dream On, Au Revoir Simone - The Bird of Music, Säkert! - Säkert!, The National - Boxer, The Loose Salute - Tuned to Love.

My record collection just got two new members: Celestial's Dream On and Camera Obscura's Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken. It will do with that for the rest of the year. But what the record collection needs and what I want are of course not the same thing.


Songs
I stand with a rifle. I will spend my life now. And take back everything that is yours.

Allt Som Är Ditt (Everything That Is Yours) was the collectively strongest music-related moment in Sweden in spring 2007. Consequences follow lines such as de jävlarna ska skjutas! (the bastards should be shot!) and I get scared when I read what some people write on their blogs. I get frightened by a lynch mob that finds the irreversible death penalty a better option than jail. I can not stress enough that innocent people are executed, and will be executed, by the state in countries which practise the death penalty.
On the other hand, I also get surprised by the tunnel vision shown by other people who find it difficult to understand why Annika Norlin (Säkert!) has become so acclaimed for Allt Som Är Ditt. The imagery may be very clear (you will get the message of the music video even if you do not understand a word of Swedish) if the lyrics are interpreted literally, but I understand the context and take the song for what it is. Allt Som Är Ditt is an important contribution to an always present debate and a description of the feelings shown by a friend of a raped woman. Those who criticize the lyrics could think about whether it would be better if Annika instead sang the bastards should be locked up (and then acquitted by the Supreme Court).
I want to clarify my views on this topic in order to avoid potential misunderstandings. I strongly believe in the principle of the accused being innocent until proven guilty. I am aware that the courts get it horribly wrong sometimes, but presumption of innocence is not the fault. The main problems in the judicial system are corruption, bias, prejudice, discrimination, and incompetence.

Trembling Blue Stars surprised me with Idyllwild and November Starlings. Bobby Wratten has something big going on if he can drop the Missing the Moon sound completely on the next album. That would allow Trembling Blue Stars to reach their full potential.
I really want to love Celestial's debut album. It is brilliant at times, but I find it difficult to listen to Bluebell Meadow and Pale Blue Eyes. They do not fit in among the other songs. I much rather listen to the fifth track Dream On again.

1. Säkert - Allt Som Är Ditt
2. Trembling Blue Stars - Idyllwild
3. Celestial - Dream On
4. Lucky Soul - One Kiss Don't Make a Summer
5. Let's Go Sailing - Sideways
6. Palomar - You're Keeping Us Up
7. Those Dancing Days - Hitten
8. Celestial - Fragile Heart
9. Trembling Blue Stars - November Starlings
10. Apples in Stereo - Sunday Sounds

Review: Lucky Soul - The Great Unwanted

Lucky Soul's debut album The Great Unwanted is released tomorrow and the British pop landscape will change forever. Lucky Soul shake shimmy shimmy shake shimmy shaked their way into our brittle pop hearts with an overheated stroboscope. Last year's summer hit Lips Are Unhappy glittered with the sea. It was only the beginning of a long friendship. Lucky Soul were with me wherever I thrived. Lucky Soul on youtube, at after parties, and played by the DJ at Blekingska before Au Revoir Simone's concert. Lucky Soul were my obvious first choice in the category "best new band" when I summed up last year. Both Lips Are Unhappy and The Great Unwanted deservedly made it into top10 on my list of last year's best songs.

The Great Unwanted is a long parade filled with great melodies and beautiful vocals. The singer Ali Howard is comfortable with both sunshine pop and sweet ballads. I am even more impressed by the sum of the parts. Listen to the changing pace in Ain't Never Been Cool and listen to the end of One Kiss Don't Make a Summer. I get to hear all my favourite Lucky Soul songs, except for Give Me Love, from the second the introducing track Add Your Light to Mine, Baby starts.

Add your light to mine x3
Together we could shine

Lucky Soul's strength is also their only weakness. Sometimes I feel that The Great Unwanted sounds more like a collection than an album. There is not enough depth in the music. That is the most negative thing I have to say about the record. Lucky Soul's pop perfection leaves very little to be desired, and it is hard to blame a band for being specialists at writing hits. Lucky Soul have never pretended to be a band to cry with, and everyone can not be all things at once.

Forget the image-aware The Pipettes, and forget the sixties. Lucky Soul feel more at home in the contemporary pop scene where they have placed a never-ending candy vending machine. The Great Unwanted is one of the ten best records of the 2000s. But it is not a ten. Not when Last Song ends the record instead of the wonderful It's Yours. As if that would make any difference. Song by song, The Great Unwanted will be capable of matching everything that is released this year. Everything.


Nine Out of Ten

My 2006

Concerts
The Au Revoir Simone show on November 17 will be a nice ending to an absolutely amazing year of concerts. In total, I spent 22 nights at concerts this year. It is pretty much given that I did not attend any real festival this summer. You find my concert stories in the right column labelled as Concerts.

01 Language of Flowers - May 27 at Mejeriet, Lund
02 Hello Saferide - March 11 at Mejeriet, Lund
03 Like Honey - September 3 at Mejeriet, Lund
04 Belle and Sebastian - May 13 at Kulturbolaget, Malmö
05 Camera Obscura - October 7 at Kulturbolaget, Malmö


Songs
01 Laurel Music - Winter Slow
L A U R E L M U S I C.
Pop hearts never die! I have heard the future and it sounds wonderful. Laurel Music is worth waiting for.

02 Sambassadeur - Marie
I was convinced that Marie was the song of the year when I wrote my half year list. Marie was actually more than a song to me. Things have changed since then and Marie thus only gets an honorable second place on this list. 

03 Language of Flowers - You're The One
My beloved Language of Flowers do not seem in a hurry with the sequel to Songs About You. They have a lot to live up to. With You're The One Language of Flowers show that they can still deliver spellbinding "girl meets boy"-stories. And I listen to every word.

04 Lucky Soul - Lips Are Unhappy
I heard Lips Are Unhappy in early June and thought it was a good pop song, but it would take another month before I really fell in love. Five months later, I am a little sad that there were no promoters in southern Sweden who wanted to set up a show with Ali Howard's band but you can not have everything you want. SHAKE SHIMMY SHIMMY SHAKE SHIMMY.

05 Katie Goes to Tokyo - Alone
Katie has meant more to me than anyone else this year. She was there when I slides and she was still there when my life collapsed. I try to rebuild it, piece by piece. I no longer know what I want but I know that Katie makes it a little easier to wake up in the morning.

06 Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken
07 Hello Saferide - 2006
08 Katie Goes to Tokyo - The Girl Who Ruined Your World
09 Lucky Soul - The Great Unwanted
10 Belle and Sebastian - Another Sunny Day
11 Anna Ternheim - Tribute to Linn
12 Mates of State - Beautiful Dreamer
13 The Magic Numbers - Take a Chance 
14 Firefox AK - City to City
15 The Charade - My Song to You
16 Vapnet - Färjemansleden
17 Headlights - TV
18 Morrissey - You Have Killed Me
19 The Pipettes- Because It's Not Love (But It's Still a Feeling)
20 Those Transatlantics - Whiskey and Tea
21 Acid House King - Keep Your Love by The Loveninjas
22 The Essex Green - Penny and Jack
23 Like Honey - New York
24 The Positions - Back to Me
25 The Tidy Ups - Lack of Nourishment


Albums
There seem to be unspoken rules which determine that a year list shall contain 25 albums. That are just too many albums for me. It is rather pointless to list more records than you will remember when you look back on the year later. I present a top10 this year. I could have done a top15 instead, but no more records than that.

01 Katie Goes to Tokyo - Katie Goes to Tokyo
02 The Positions - Bliss!
03 Those Transatlantics - Knocked Out
04 Mates of State - Bring It Back
05 The Charade - A Real Life Drama
06 My Latest Novel - Wolves
07 Anna Ternheim - Separation Road
08 The Essex Green - Cannibal Sea
09 Marit Larsen - Under the Surface
10 The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes

Also good: The Besties - Singer, The High Violets - To Where You Are, Math and Physics Club - Math and Physics Club, Ms. John Soda - Notes and the Like, The Weepies - Say I Am You, Firefox AK - Madame Madame, Tilly and the Wall - Bottom of the Barrels.
Not evaluated: The Snow Fairies - Voila!, Friday Bridge, Tralala - Is That The Tralala.


EPs
01 Sambassadeur - Coastal Affairs
02 The Tidy Ups - Dizzy Heights
03 Hello Saferide - Would You Let Me Play This EP Ten Times A Day?
04 Gentle Touch - Gentle Touch
05 The Postal Blue - Road to Happiness

Not evaluated: Lucky Soul.


2007
Next year's best album will most likely be the the sequel to This Night and The Nex. I can not see how any other band would compete with Laurel Music. There is a good chance that all bands on the top3 album list will be sorted under the letter "L". Lucky Soul, Like Honey, and Looker all release debut albums. And although I doubt it there is a possibility that even Language of Flowers are recording a new album. Architecture in Helsinki and Sambassadeur are working on new albums. Shelflife Records returns with new releases.

There is a basis for 2007 to become the best record year of the 2000s.

My record collection and wishlist

I had waited far too many days and become equally disappointed every time. My physical mailbox had not gotten any lettered food for a long time and was just as empty as my life. Well aware it was the time of the month when bills soon would drop in, I thought about putting up a note to the postman with the text "Fragile, Don't Crush" but decided not to do that as he never would understand anyway. Another useless day had passed. I was tired of people who pretended, those who acted as puppets in the drama of life. On the way home I realised summer was over and my body was too thinly dressed. I should had been used to it, but I was still not prepared for the cold. I missed something warm and genuine. The most concrete thing I found was lying on my desk - a phone bill for calls I did not remember I had called.

I miss the time when a new record could save my life. To check the mail and discover that the CDs I dreamt of had finally reached their new home. Material happiness which for a moment was the most important thing in life. Although it was bought with money. Although it lasted only a few seconds. It was only a few years ago, but that time feels infinitely far away.

To explain an extreme interest in music to an outsider is difficult. I have never really tried. I discussed pop music in general with a fellow pop nerd on the way home from the Camera Obscura concert. I think we both, not entirely unexpectedly, valued our respective record collection as our most prized material possession. I find it hard to imagine life without my records. They are part of my identity.
Collecting is a two-edged sword. It is fun and engaging, but you are never really satisfied. For every record I buy, I discover three new ones which remind me of gaps in my collection. There was a time when I was not aware of Shelflife, Labrador, Matinée or Sarah. It was probably not a better time but a simpler existence. My collecting is complicated. I clearly have a different relationship to records today compared to five years ago. My computer in combination with broadband have made me lazy. Many of my recently purchased records are lying untouched in the bookshelf while they have spun countless imaginary revolutions on the computer. I almost never play my CDs at home any longer. They mostly collect dust, but they still mean a lot and I could never imagine to get rid of them.

The feeling of something genuine may explain why I still buy records. Of course I want to do the right thing and support my favourite bands and record labels economically by purchasing their records, but that is only true for artists signed to small indie record labels I respect. I let the mainstream artist Anna Ternheim serve as an example. I buy her records because I want to own the CDs, but I have no sympathy for her record label which mainly spreads trash culture.
It is possible to explain collecting by comparing records with trophies, but I have never felt a persistent desire to show my collection to others. It feels, however, important to show the collection to myself. I recognise the spines of some favourite records while being several meters away. That is exactly why it is boring to sort folders on the computer whereas it is nice to move around phyiscal covers in the real CD collection. The folders remain as just only folders. They contain the music but nothing more. As I am writing this I am taking out Pulp's album Different Class to see how I react. It is clear that I have emotional bonds to the physical disc and the jewelcase cover, despite the ugly, round, purple sticker which says that the disc contains the singles Common People, Mis-Shapes and Disco 2000. I open the cover and take out the booklet. The feeling is as genuine (though of course not as magical) as the first time I came home with the CD.

My own record collection obviously means the most to me, but I also love to have a look at other people's collections. If I discover a band I adore, I further go through the collection encouraged by the possibility of finding another favourite record which I do not have in my own collection. I look at the fronts and backs, but do not take out the booklets, not in other people's collections. That only happens in exceptional cases. I get fascinated by record collections and easily disappear into my own world. I remember an afterparty where I could not help but look through the LP collection. The girl who lived there said she knew I would check the collection sooner or later. It is fun to guess what records a collection contains after I have seen parts of it. Each collection is personal and that is probably why it is so interesting to investigate plastic pieces and paper covers.

Take a record like Belle and Sebastian's The Boy With the Arab Strap as an example. It is printed in (at least) tens of thousands copies. It is thus in no way exclusive. The sound is almost as good on mp3. It is one of my favourite records, but it is also a very good proof that exclusivity is not the main factor in my collecting process. Memories are much more important, and that proably explain why I do not like used copies. Except for some Belle and Sebastian bootlegs, I think I only own one used record - The Primitives' Lovely. I want records that I have scratched and worn myself, but not records that already are destroyed and consumed by others. I am sick, I know. I should, however, have made an exception and purchased The Boy With the Arab Strap promo at the same time I bought the Tigermilk promo. Occasionally, used in near mint condition can be alright.

Records help me remember my life and songs often serve as chronological reference points. This became very clear the other day when a girl, with a more normal interest in music, by chance heard the song Lemon Tree by Fools Garden. After thinking for a while, she suddenly said "Paris 1996, just after I graduated [from high school]". That was a nice memory for her. For some, nostalgia is the main reason to collect, but I do not want to have that many old (old as in released a long time ago) records. It is boring to buy old records when you know in advance exactly how they sound.

The influence of file sharing on my record purchases is a subject I would rather not discuss in this text, but file sharing has inevitably affected my record purchases so I will try to briefly explain my views in the next paragraph and be done with that. It is fun to take a chance with a new album by a band I have not heard before, but I can not afford to buy records in that way anymore (someone who wants a Happy Mondays record?). Moreover, you sooner or later get to a stage where it is difficult to pick up recommendations from others. My taste in music had stagnated. Internet came as a saviour and revolutionized my music listening. With file sharing programs like Direct Connect, there is a chance to listen to records, to assess them solely by your own impressions and then decide if you want to purchase them. I order for about as much money per year as before. I am much more satisfied with my purchases nowadays, but seldomly surprised. I mainly buy CDs from bands signed to minor labels, and I have a special interest in EPs. I often buy records released by bands I would not know about if it were not for the internet. I would not buy anything I do not like, but records that are difficult to get hold of become more valuable because they are exclusive. I am thinking about buying The Snow Fairies' Get Married thanks to the wonderful front cover, but exclusivity or cover layout have never driven my collecting. In the end the musical quality of the record comes first.

To get back to the record collecting topic again, I note that much was different in the past. In the old days, I found it natural to listen to one album for several months. Things are changing for good and bad, and some memories change over time. I forgot why I bought many of my records. When I doubt my choices in life, I try to select the memories of why I made the choices I did. Sometimes the reasons I once had do not feel relevant or valid anymore, but they are important to make me understand. It is the same way with CDs. I sometimes become a little surprised to find No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom in my bookshelf, but I do not need to hear many seconds of Don't Speak to understand why I bought the album. Don't Speak may represent all the special songs I fell in love with at some point in life. Those songs alone made it worth to buy the albums (except for a few cases where I only should had bought the single). Don't Speak was released in 1995 and I was then 13 years old.

Today I am 23 years. I live another life with new bands and new favourite songs. The love of pop music is the only thing that lasts. If I ever in the future will remember this great blog, then it is not thanks to the band which wrote the song the blog is named after. I really wanted to name my blog after a song by Langauge of Flowers instead. Songsaboutyou was unfortunately already taken on blogger and I am still sorry about that.

I sometimes take my record collecting too seriously. I have given away the occasional singles because I thought they did not fit into the collection. Is there anyone who wants a record by Happy Mondays (yes, I hate Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches and that was the last time I listened to hype and established "truths" about what album you will like, that is quite a few years ago now) or Starsailor? It is just as if those records are dragging down the overall impression. I therefore need to get rid of them to get consistency in my collection.

Sometimes I miss opportunities to find bargains (the Shelflife sale, anyone?), but I have given up the idea of the perfect record collection. The records listed below would make me come close. I will not buy everything though and some of the records will get out of stock. That leaves me with Ebay only.

It feels just as good to tell you, because one of these records may become your The Boy With the Arab Strap or Songs About You. At the same time, I know it would feel very empty the day, I against all odds, would have obtained all these records. That would be the time to get a new hobby and start over again.

Songs About You is the only signed disc in my record collection, and it is also my all-time favourite album. If I have to choose another favourite in my collection, it would be the white promo single Is It Wicked Not to Care? with the green cardboard sleeve.
Finally, you will not get a link to my record collection. Pop music is not a competition. I prefer to call it love instead.

MY RECORD COLLECTION WISHLIST
Acid House Kings - Say Yes If You Love Me EP (2002, Labrador), 7.83 USD Tweekitten
Annemarie - The Living Model EP (CD-R, 2005, Music Is My Girlfriend), 30 SEK Fractiondiscs
Architecture in Helsinki - Fingers Crossed (2004, Bar None Records), 13.65 USD Cduniverse
The Arrogants - Your Simple Beauty EP (2000, Shelflife), 8.95 USD Tweekitten
The Arrogants - Nobody's Cool EP (2002, Shelflife), 8.95 USD Tweekitten
The Autocollants - Why Couldn't Things Just Stay the Same (1999, Shelflife), impossible to find
Backfish - It's Emily (1997), 145 SEK Dgr
Belle and Sebastian - Wrapped Up In Books EP (2004)
Marit Bergman - From Now On EP (2003)
The Besties - Singer (2006, Skipping Stones), 120 SEK Fractiondsics
Brittle Stars - Brittle Stars (2000, Shelflife), impossible to find
Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken (2006)
The Cardigans - For What It's Worth (2003)
The Consultants - Work From Home (2005, Shelflife), 13.85 USD Cduniverse
Dear Nora - Dreaming Out ​​Loud (2001)
Douglas Heart -Douglas Heart (2003, Labrador), 149 SEK Dgr
Fibi Frap - How Fast Is Your Heart Beating EP (2004)
The Field Mice - Where'd You Learn to Kiss That Way (1997, Shinkansen), totally fucking impossible to get this in mint condition without paying over the odds but I want it.
Free Loan Investments - Ever Been to Mexico EP (2002, Shelflife), 10.55 USD Cduniverse
The Gentle Waves - Green Fields of Foreverland (1999, Jeepster), 159 SEK Dgr
The Gentle Waves - Falling From Grace EP (2001)
Go Sailor - Go Sailor (1996, Lookout), 12.15 USD Cduniverse
Happy Birthdays - Happy Birthdays (CD-R, 2004), 35 SEK Dgr
Heavenly - vs Satan (1990), 12.89 USD Cduniverse
Hello Saferide - Would You Let Me Play This EP 10 Times a Day (2006, Razzia), 39 SEK Dgr
Looker - Looker EP (2006)
Lucky Soul - Lips Are Unhappy (2006), 2.50 GBP Rough Trade
Mates of State - All Day EP (2004, Polyvinyl), 6.19 USD Cduniverse
Mates of State - Bring It Back (2006 Barsuk), 11.59 USD Cduniverse
The Maybellines - Chatfield Holiday (2002, Best Friends), 10 USD Tweekitten
My Favorite - Kids Are All Wrong EP (2003, Double Agent) 8.95 USD Cduniverse
Popsicle - Popsicle (1995)
The Positions - Bliss! (2006), 14.15 USD Cduniverse
Postal Blue - Road to Hapiness (2006, Humblebee), 55 SEK Fractiondiscs
The Primitives - Pure (1989)
Razorcuts - R Is for Razorcuts (2002, Matinée), 125 SEK Fractiondiscs
Razorcuts - A Is for Alphabet (2003, Matinée), 49 SEK Dgr
Red Sleeping Beauty - Singles (2000, Siesta), ahhhhhh how I want this.
Red Sleeping Beauty - Bedroom (1995)
Red Sleeping Beauty - Smile 7" (1995)
Rough Bunnies - Rough Bunnies Goes Pirate (2002)
Saint Etienne - Sylvie (1998), you find it on Ebay. I want the green one!
Saint Etienne - Good Humor (1998)
Shelflife Records - You're Still Young at Heart (2003), perhaps the best-ever collection. It includes Free Loan Investments - Rush Hour by The Shermans!
Shelflife Records - You Make Me Smile
Shelflife Records - One (2001)
The Shermans - Happiness Is Toy Shaped (2001, Shelflife), 12.50 USD Tweekitten
The Shermans - Falling Out ​​of Love EP (2001, Shelflife), 8.95 USD Tweekitten
Skypark - Summer Days Are Forever EP (1998)
Slowdive - Souvlaki (1993), 9.75 USD Cduniverse
The Snow Fairies - Feel You Up (2003, Red Square), it is impossible to get hold of if unless you order directly from Red Square.
The Snow Fairies - Get Married (2005, Red Square), 110 SEK Fractiondiscs. Worth buying just for the cover.
The Snow Fairies - Voila! (2006), directly from the band in that case.
The Softies - It's Love (1995), 14.97 USD Cduniverse
Stars - Ageless Beauty (2004), I once found it at Swedish mailorder Cdon and should had bought it then.
Stars - Set Yourself on Fire (2004), I want the US edition (it is not worth to buy the European version because of the ugly front cover)
Strip Squad - Just Obey! EP (2005), also impossible to get hold of now.
The Tidy Ups - Dizzy Heights EP (2006, Music Is My Girlfriend), 45 SEK Fractiondiscs
The Wilson Hospital - Call Me A.S.A.P. (2003)

All records except for Red Sleeping Beauty - Smile are CDs. Buy them from Fraction Discs, Delicious Goldfish Records (Dgr), Cduniverse, Tweekitten and Rough Trade.

The best records of the 2000s

A good record is a good record. Albums, EPs and EP collections are all included on this list. The only requirement is that the songs on the records have to be from the 2000s. My favourite songs on each record are written in italics.


01 Language of Flowers - Songs About You
Shelflife Records, 2004
Where You Belong, If It's Not You, Who You're With, I Don't Care at All, Tara Mascara, Leaving, Summer's Been and Gone, Songs About You, Botanic Gardens, She's Gone Away

02 Laurel Music - This Night and the Next
Labrador Records, 2004
No One Wants Forever # 2, Dreams and Lies, No One Wants Forever # 1, Make Believe, Into the Blue, The Way Love Goes, Disappear

03 My Favorite - Happiest Days of Our Lives
Double Agent Records, 2003
The Happiest Days of My Life, Le Monster, Burning Hearts, White Roses for Blue Girls, Badge (Grace Under Pressure), The Suburbs Are Killing Us

04 The Arrogants - Your Simple Beauty EP
Shelflife Records, 2000
Lovesick, Lovesick (trashy live acoustic version), Nothing Good Will Ever Come of This, Let you Down, Costa Rica

05 The Snow Fairies - Feel You Up
Red Square Records, 2003
Tongue-Tied, Summer in Japan, Lovers in the Countryside, April Showers, December Love

06 Katie Goes to Tokyo - Katie Goes to Tokyo
Tap Your Feet, 2006
Until She Breaks, The Girl Who Ruined Your World, Unbelievable, Contemplation's Over, If It's Alright, Moving from This Town

07 Brittle Stars - Brittle Stars
Shelflife Records, 2000
Four Words, This Trip, Tripping Me Up, Afloat, You Went in Phases

08 The Shermans - Happiness Is Toy Shaped
Shelflife Records, 2001
Sad Kind of Life, Falling Out ​​of Love, Cindy Sherman, The Umbrella Song

09 Hello Saferide - Introducing ...
Razzia Records, 2005
I Thought You Said Summer Is Going to Take the Pain Away, Long Lost Penpal, San Francisco, I Don't Sleep Well, If I Don't Write This Song Someone I Love Will Die

10 The Essex Green - The Long Goodbye
Merge Records, 2003
The Late Great Cassiopia, Chartiers, Southern States, Lazymay


More favourite records:
Tralala - Tralala (2005), The Knife - Deep Cuts (2003), Stars - Set Yourself on Fire (2004), The Consultants - Work from Home (2005), Belle and Sebastian - Fold Your Hand Child, You Walk Like a Peasent (2000), Mates of State - Bring It Back (2006), Anna Ternheim - Somebody Outside (2004).

Review: Katie Goes to Tokyo - Katie Goes to Tokyo

I am yet to see Katie Goes to Tokyo live. I am a little anxious. Concerned that the concert will be chopped to pieces by speaking people who do not care. Those who do not agree that Katie for an evening may be the most important thing in life. We will see what happens with that.


 


I was also a bit worried when I wrote this review. Sometimes it is hard to put words to feelings. I want everyone to love this album. Katie sings about her life with simple lyrics. I recognized my own life in the opening song Moving from This Town.

this town was never meant to be gentle
see, it wasn't made for people like me
so hold your breath I'm on my way
I'm going now, to my friends in my hometown
back to my friends in my hometown

Alone in a new town in a new life. With a bus ticket to family and friends in my hometown I went aboard, and promised myself not to come back. Then I stood there again on Sunday, at the front door to the future. The train back to school in Lund was overbooked. Perhaps there were more people than me who wondered if there really was no room for us. It was difficult to fall asleep and I did not know what I wanted with my life.

feel so tired I can’t sleep
I have so much to figure out
cause everything is different now

I needed something warm. Katie's album has given me more than that. Each song is special. It is difficult to pick favourite songs. If I had to pick one song, I would choose Until She Breaks. I want to tell you so much, but you should listen and create your own memories.

I think I will find my place in life at last. In the future, it is possible that Katie's debut album will remind me of a time in my life that only created wounds. Katie will still be there. As a friend in life in a world that was far too harsh. It may sound like clichés, but every word is true. I will never forget this album. It was more beautiful than life.


Nine out of Ten

(Originally published on July 25, 2006)

Half year summary 2006

I will remember the first half of 2006 as the time I discovered Language of Flowers. More than a year had passed since the release of their debut album Songs About You, but I still discovered the band in time to attend my most amazing concert ever. Spring 2006 was also the time I took farewell of Belle and Sebastian. It was time to move on, but I did not start over here and now. I have spent the spring trying to fill my music gaps in the 2000s. My pop heart beats rapidly to twee and softpop. The Snow Fairies, The Arrogants, and Brittle Stars are my new favourite bands.

Albums
I have not taken the time to listen to that many new releases. For the first time in life I am beginning to feel tired of the album concept. I find it hard to keep up the interest after forty minutes with the same record. I thus only include six albums on my list as I want to be honest with myself. With an eye on the fall, I look forward to new albums by Laurel Music and Like Honey.

1. Katie Goes to Tokyo - Katie Goes to Tokyo
2. Mates of State - Bring It Back
3. The Charade - A Real Life Drama
4. The Essex Green - Cannibal Sea
5. My Latest Novel - Wolves
6. The Pipettes - We Are The Pipettes

Songs
Sambassadeur make me feel comfortable. They are there every spring ready to deliver. Coastal Affairs is only an EP between two albums, but Marie is the best song of the year so far. For me personally, the lines you know we were scientists, every conversation was a test means everything

1. Sambassadeur - Marie
2. Belle and Sebastian - Another Sunny Day
3. Vapnet - Färjemansleden
4. Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready to Be Heartbroken
5. Katie Goes to Tokyo - Until She Breaks
6. The Essex Green - Penny and Jack
7. Firefox Ak - City to City
8. The Charade - My Song to You
9. Rainer Maria - Catastrophe
10. My Latest Novel - Pretty in Panic

(Originally published on July 2, 2006)

Review: Sambassadeur - Coastal Affairs EP

The first time I heard Sambassadeur I fell head over heels. I am still a little sore. In spring 2004, Ice and Snow was a wonderful song by an unknown band yet not signed to a record label. Acknowledgements in indie fanzines were followed up by gigs at pop clubs. Sambassadeur's first EP Between the Lines was released on Labrador Records one year later. The title track was lovely. The hallmarks of Sambassadeur were unsually great lyrics and beautiful melodies. Everyone can probably relate to a text line like it's my favorite song but I don't like the crowd. Sambassadeur soon released their second EP New Moon and the self-titled debut album.

Sambassadeur now returns with a new EP. The title Coastal Affairs, the beautiful cover and the girl name theme make me think of The Field Mice. Sambassadeur do, indeed, sound cute and sweet on this EP. To my disappointment, the song is divided as usual between Anna Persson and Daniel Permbo. I am in love with Anna's voice, but Daniel is a very mediocre singer who never manages to touch me at all. I wish that Anna would sing on every track.

Nevertheless, the first song Kate tells that something is different now. Where previously clear there would only be one voice per song, Anna and Daniel both sing on Kate. The intro of Think Nothing of It sounds very much like the intro of Song for the Songs by The Concretes, but overall Sambassadeur mainly sounds like themselves with a more developed sound. As far as I am concerned, they could have excluded the boring Think Nothing of It, but all is forgiven when third track Marie starts playing.

It is soon time to prepare for the last exams of this semester. It is good to have bands like Sambassadeur when the anxiety starts coming. I leave the lecture at the break, lie down on the grass in the park, put on the headphones and dream about Kate, Marie and Claudine. I feel relaxed and the burden is eased for a moment.

It is finally spring and Sambassadeur are here again. Welcome back into my life, I have missed you so.

(Originally published on May 3, 2006)