01. Håkan Hellström - Försent för Edelweiss 02. Håkan Hellström - Jag vet inte vem jag är men jag vet att jag är din If all of Hellström's latest album would have been as good as the two above songs, it'd probably be one of the best albums of all time. Now it had too many silly prog songs on it, but he still managed to cram a handful of amazing songs onto it.
03. Afasi & Filthy - Jobb "Fläcken" is the best Swedish rap album in some time, and "Jobb" is the best song from that record.
04. Markus Krunegård - Jag Är En Vampyr Krunegård's album was not as patchy as Hellström's, or his old band Laakso's, and "Jag Är En Vampyr" was one of my favourite songs of the year. I'm currently addicted to the brilliant remix by Detektivbyrån.
05. Lykke Li - Little Bit There's no denying that Lykke Li is a star - her debut album is ace and she's great live. If I had to choose one song from her album, "Little Bit" is the track that probably made me the Lykke Li fan I am today.
06. Frida Hyvönen - Dirty Dancing After last year's odd but intriguing "Pudel" mini album, Hyvönen delivered a strange and beautiful second album. "Dirty Dancing" is something of the jevel in the album's crown.
07. Moto Boy - Young Love It's a shame that Moto Boy didn't make a bigger impact upon the world, not even Sweden really took much notice. Their loss, I say!
08. Alexis Weak - Strawberry Rapclash Remix Ok, I'm aware that it's a bit cheeky calling this a song by Alexis Weak when in fact it's a remix of an Adrian Lux song. Alexis Weak is not even the only rapper on it (perhaps he didn't do the remix either, I don't know), but I'm addicted to Alexis Weak and with hardly no releases from him this year, I've listened to this song an insane amount.
09. Envelopes - I'd Like 2 C U I must say that after being in love with their album and then seeing them live and not being too impressed, I lost a bit of interest in Envelopes. Their album is nevertheless a really great album, full of playful songs that leap out of the stereo and straight into whatever part of your brain that makes you smile.
10. Paragon - Aavisst Paragon's album "Glöd" could have been one of the biggest disappointments of the year, and only because "Aavisst" that I heard long before the album came out was such a banging track. This year's Swedish One Hit Wonder.
... the best I've seen her but it included the obligatory sexy zombie dancing and a totally lame crowd that made poor tired-looking Lykke Li work very hard for her money (there should be a ban on Vampire Weekend covers, by the way).
Lykke Li is playing at Scala (in London) tomorrow, and I think I'll go and see her play. Normally I don't like to see the same artist more than once on the same tour, and I've already seen Lykke Li about 3 times this year plugging the same songs all the time (which is fair enough, I don't except any artist to play different shows every night while promoting an album). It was a few months since I saw her play last time though and I think it can be quite pleasant to see her a rainy October night. Last week I saw Glasvegas at Scala, and it was way too packed, hopefully this gig won't be as rammed. I don't really like Scala when it's too full, I like to be able to move at a little bit (no pun intended) at least. I've just listened to her album, which I haven't done for some time (I OD'ed on it) and there are so many great songs on there, and we all know she's great live. Ok, I think I'm definitely going to go. See you there. Here are the other dates she's doing and an MP3 of "Dance Dance Dance":
01 Oct - Scala, London 02 Oct - Concorde 2, Brighton 05 Oct - Glee Club, Birmingham 06 Oct - Thekla, Bristol 08 Oct - Academy 2, Liverpool 09 Oct - Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh 10 Oct - The Duchess, York
01. Vapnet – Döda fallet I haven’t seen Pitchfork give this album a 9.6 review yet. What’s going on? Have they lost their copy of the album? It took me some time to get into this, but now it’s like potatoes to me – great, versatile and very secure (like an old friend).
02. Moto Boy – Moto Boy Best new artist of the year! Moto Boy came from nowhere and released the most beautiful album I’ve heard in a long time. His live show was also magnificent (what a charming man!).
03. Envelopes – Here comes the wind I stopped listened to this after I saw them do a disappointing show last month, but before that I played it every day for weeks and weeks. There are so many great songs on here, and I just can’t resist that lo-fi charm!
04. Joel Alme – A master of ceremonies If you don’t like The Smiths or crooners, you might want to avoid this one. If you do like The Smiths and crooners, this will be like audio gold for you (I obviously belong to the latter category of people).
05. Juvelen – 1 I refuse to not mention Juvelen in the same sentence as Prince, but that doesn’t stop his music from sounding fresh and modern, and there are some real slick hits on his debut album.
06. Markus Krunegård – Markusevangeliet You could make a very good compilation CD with Laakso, but so far they’ve failed to make a consistently amazing album, so I was rather surprised with how good singer Markus Krunegård’s debut was.
07. Lykke Li – Youth novels Hype-hoopla! Ok, this is not as amazing as it should be, but still – it’s a fine, fine album. She’s even better live, that where she shines.
08. Pacific! – Reveries The singles that have been released from this album are all astonishing, the rest is ok. Still, half of the songs being top notch, and the rest average make for a bloody great album.
09. Afasi & Filthy – Fläcken Swedish hiphop album of the year, and sometimes I wish they’d rap in English so I could share it with my non-Swedish friends without them saying “It sounds great, but I really wish I could understand what they’re rapping about”. Someone called these guys Sweden’s Lil’ Waynes, which is a charming and somewhat fitting description. Nice grooves!
10. Håkan Hellström – Försent för edelweiss Lots of people love this but in my opinion Hellström’s latest album is the weakest one of his career – there’s just too much lame progrock on it! There are some corkers on here though, so there future is still looking bright.
Disappointments of the first half of 2008 Looptroop Rockers – Good things With pre-released MP3s “The Building” and “Marinate” my hopes were sky high! They all fell flat.
El Perro Del Mar – From the valley to the stars Where have the great melodies gone?
Albums from the first half of 2008 that might be great, but I need to listen to them properly before I can pass judgement
Speedmarket Avenue – Way better now Niccokick – The good times we shared , were they so bad Gentle Touch – In memory of savannah Alf – Tivoliv
After watching all four football games over the weekend I've come to realise I need to watch as much of the Euro Cup as possible during the next few weeks. I've got two gigs this week I must go to, first to Death Disco on Wednesday, which will be fun and I'm only missing Turkey vs Switzerland (yaawn!). Ages ago I bought tickets for a show at The Luminaire on Friday (Darren and Jack playing Hefner songs + lots of great support bands), and I must go but Holland are playing France at 7:45 pm! Damn! Damn! Oh yeah, here are the most important events this week:
Tuesday 11 June - Greece vs Sweden - 7:45 pm ITV Saturday 14 June - Sweden vs Spain - 5:99 pm BBC
Anyway, Lykke Li is playing in London on Wednesday, and she's actually doing a bunch of dates in the next couple of months:
Tuesday 10 June - The Jericho Tavern, Oxford Wednesday 11 June - ICA, London Thursday 17 July - KOKO, London
and a date in October:
Wednesday 1 October - Scala
+ she's playing at Latitude, Big Chill, Summer Sundae and Bestival.
Anyway ... Romania vs France starts in 3 hours ...
There has been a kind of remix craze going in the last few years. At the moment it feels as if every song needs to be remixed as if to justify the original song’s existence / hype. It has reached a stage where a new remix is given more attention than a new song by the same artist. It was a long time ago that remixes were the sole property of dance music and rare white labels that could be found in shops in Soho, which after all is fair enough. I rarely get excited nowadays by a new remix, especially if I’ve heard the original song previously. I’m not really into hearing a new version of a song where someone has cunningly added a piano to the mix or more reverb to the vocals. Sometimes it can be quite interesting though, such as the remix of Lil’ Wayne’s “Lollipop” that had Kanye West on it, the Rocca remix of Lykke Li’s “Everyone but me” or Aesop Rock remixing The Mountain Goats. There has to be an element of subversion or surprise there, which is why I find Black Kids remixing Lykke Li to sound more like a PR trick than something I’d like to listen to. Black Kids seem to have done a remix of “I’m good, I’m gone”. It’s no fantastic remix, but they’ve removed those half-annoying tinny backing vocals in the beginning of the song! Wowcha! Boom! Bam! One super hip artist remixing another! Who would have thunk it? Personally I prefer that live performance of “I’m good, I’m gone” with Robyn etc that came out earlier this year. Gothenburg band Pacific! (who are pretty great) have recently remixed The Concretes’ “Keep yours”, and they’ve managed to put their own unique mark on it, which I guess is something that should be given credit to – take a good song and make it sound like your wrote it! The infamous Kleerup (whose new album is a bit of a disappointment I must say) did a terrible remix of the same song last year. Speaking of terrible remixes, Monster Bobby is not exactly doing any favours to Marit Bergman’s “Out on the piers”. Ok, I know I risk sounding like an old fart here. I’m not getting all annoyed by remixes and I’m not thinking of putting a bumper sticker on my car nor starting a facebook group advocating “death to the remix”, I’m just a bit baffled that’s all. Are people craving remixes or is it just a phenomenon that has spiraled out of control a bit? I still get pissed off if I buy an EP from a band and there are 4 remixes of the same song on it, instead of any b-sides / new songs. The Sound of Arrow’s new EP “Danger” has got a nice format – three songs and four remixes (plus an intro and outro) – everyone’s happy (even those intro/outro fans)! Hopefully some other artists will take note, probably not. Maybe the whole music climate where no one listens to a song more than a week doesn’t give artists and labels any choice but to flog remixes instead of new material. A remix of or by an artist is a good way of telling people that the artist is alive and well (this is how Pet Shop Boys seem to have survided in the last few years, and done it rather well). On the other hand, the thought of artists remixing each other’s songs is rather charming and romantic, it brings to mind some kind of notions of community and friendship. Have a listen to some of the above mentioned good and bad remixes:
El Perro Del Mar + Lykke Li (together!) to the UK in June
Good news for all British people with good taste in music! El PerroDel Mar and Lykke Li are coming to the UK in June to do some shows together. These gigs will be pretty special, with El Perro Del Mar’s warblings and Lykke Li’s utter charm it’s going to be a night to remember for days and days afterwards. No, seriously, I don't see any reason why these gigs won't be marvellous. I’m not sure why all these bands have started to play at the ICA (in London) though. I really dislike that venue, it’s so soulless. Pfff! These are the dates:
Camden Crawl and The Great Escape – just not good enough!
If you’re in the mood to combine a festival experience with seeing some great new Swedish bands, Camden Crawl in London (18 – 19 April) and The Great Escape in Brighton (15 – 17 May) are not exactly ideal. Two fantastic Swedish acts play Camden Crawl – Lykke Li and Pacific!, but the only Swedish band worth seeing at Camden Crawl – Envelopes – are not even 100% Swedish. I’m going to stay home and sulk!
Being one of the most talked about artists of the whole SXSW (except R.E.M., Vampire Weekend, MGMT etc etc), the pressure was on Lykke Li to kick some serious ass! Her show was quite similar to the last time I saw her earlier this year, but much shorter, and due to a smaller sized venue, much more intimate (she didn't do "Can I kick it" either, unfortunately). It was a pleasure watching her perform though and if it had been a full length performance it would have been a real killer show. Another formerly hyped woman playing SXSW was Duffy, who was a massive disappointment. Whereas Lykke Li was mesmerising and super sexy, Duffy’s show was sterile and forced. Lykke Li seems to be at that stage where people are trying to figure out if all the talk about her is really justified. I’ve listened to her album a lot, and seen her live twice (so I think I'm almost a Lykke Li expert now, or at least a Lykke Li junior fan), and I’d got to say that Lykke Li deserves all the fame and money she can get. Don’t be a fool, go and see her live and buy her album (perhaps in the reversed order).
This week in London - Lykke Li and Those Dancing Days!
Hey, listen up! Two of Sweden’s currently (here today - gone tomorrow!) most hyped artists are coming to London this week to entertain us, the public. Lykke Li(whose upcoming album is great! We've previously written about her here) is a bit posher and doing just the one show, whereas those kids in Those Dancing Days are putting in some more effort and doing three gigs in as many days. I’m definitely going to check out Lykke Li’s show, and I’ll try and go and see Those Dancing Days’ Barfly show, or the Bardens Budouir one. I’m much more a fan of Lykke Li than TDD, but I’ve never seen TDD live (I’ve heard mixed reviews) so I’m curious to see what they’ve got to offer. Hopefully, they won't be pants.
Lykke Li 31 January 2008 - Hoxton Square Bar, London
Those Dancing Days 31 January 2008 - Bar Acadamy, London 01 February 2008 - The Barfly, London 02 February 2008 - Bardens Boudoir, London
One of the most hyped artists in Sweden at the moment is Lykke Li. On her EP “Little bit” she sounds a bit like a cross between El Perro Del Mar and Stina Nordenstam. Apparently she recorded her debut album in New York last month with Björn from Peter, Bjorn and John. The three songs on the EP are all pretty swell, “Little bit” is quite the hit, “Time flies” is a mellow affair and “Everybody but me” (oh, what a sad title!) – which is my favourite – is quite reminiscent of The Concretes.
Lykke Li’s got a distinctive voice that suits the music perfectly. It’d be great if she could get her twee self over to these shores and play a gig, very shortly. Also looking forward to hear that debut album, I’m sure it’ll be both fey, pretty and damn nice.
