Sweden - Pop Stronghold!

I recently wrote two reviews for Cluas, as part of a special on the Swedish music scene:

Yosei - The Wind-Up Waltz
Lucknow Pact - Open Your Arms

Sweden appears to be something of a pop mecca at the moment, throwing out brilliant artists like Manchester has for the past few decades. The Hives, Peter, Bjorn & John, Jens Lekman and Lykke Li spring to mind instantly, but the underground delights of bands like The (International) Noise Conspiracy and Randy (amongst many many others) help to make the Swedish scene one of the most vibrant and eclectic in the world.

Icy pop from Lucknow Pact



Warm pop from Jens Lekman




Politically-driven garage rock from The (International) Noise Conspiracy

Song of the Day: Peter Doherty - Sheepskin Tearaway (feat Dot Allison)

A song I've recently re-discovered and one of the finest songs in Doherty's back catalogue. Exemplary of Grace/Wastelands, "Sheepskin Tearaway" features the defining hazy production and strings of that album, and includes the perfectly-suited vocals of Dot Allison. Her voice compliments Doherty's well, both sounding vaguely unpolished and conjuring a mood that suits the lyrics; telling the story of a woman who "opens her heart" to "a tearaway, all covered in scars and full of heroin," it's easy to view this as an autobiographical piece by Doherty, but another interpretation would be that this is another song paying tribute to the underdog, a frequent topic of his.

A Tragic Story

"Shaun Ryder heckled by Peter Andre fans after V Festival mix-up"

One of the stories that caught my attention in the last week, mostly due to the terrible way in which the events got progressively worse as the performance went on. Firstly, why did the V Festival organisers play a Peter Andre highlights video before Ryder's set? Were they actively trying to stir up trouble? Secondly, the mixed-up Ryder shouting "are my ears fucked or are you shouting New Order?" as the baying crowd chanted "who are you?" and threw bottles at the beleaguered frontman. At that point I had trouble reading on, but forced myself through til I mercifully reached the end, after further highlights like an exodus from the crowd, bottles and "wanker" signs hurled toward the stage, before the final tiny mercy of "Step On" receiving a good response (a marked contrast to the rest of the set.) The final, all-encompassing questions I have are: 1. Who knew Peter Andre had fans? 2. Who knew Peter Andre fans could be so aggressive? 3. Are they stupid? Sure Ryder's live performances might not always be up to scratch, but I'd much rather hear a botched performance of this:



over a perfect rendition of this:

An Introduction to Psybient

This is a short psybient mix I made as an introduction to the genre. It's recently became a favourite of mine; following a real interest in psytrance I wished to explore its ambient cousin genre. Retaining a psytrance aesthetic and sound but slowing the bpm and dropping the four-to-the-floor bass drum, psybient artists are creating music that possesses both restfulness and an edge. This serves as an entry point for those interested in exploring the style.

Tracklisting:

1. Zero Cult - Broken Hope
2. Carbon Based Lifeforms - Right Where it Ends
3. Celtic Cross - Khatmandu
4. Aes Dana - Haze
5. Vibrasphere - Ice Flow
6. The HUVA Network - Rain Geometries
7. Tripswitch - Shamanic Tea

Download Link

Song of the Day: Etta James - Tell Mama

A singer whose stylistic range encompassed jazz, blues and soul, Etta James epitomises that hard-edged strand of soul given the regional prefix "southern." On "Tell Mama" her voice is simply breathtaking: strong, completely controlled and yet emotionally tangible.

Song of the Day: T-Rex - Spaceball Ricochet

The Slider remains T-Rex’s magnum opus, only slightly topping the 1971 masterpiece Electric Warrior. Marc Bolan achieved this by focussing on that album’s main strengths, namely a combination of groove-rock and affecting balladry. “Spaceball Ricochet” fits into the latter, sparsely rendered (aside from brief introductory and concluding cello) on acoustic guitar, low-level bass and beautiful vocal harmonies. The song is lyrically oblique, but seems to snapshot Bolan’s life at the peak of his career. That Bolan makes lines like “with my Les Paul, I know I’m small but I enjoy living anyway” and “what can I do? we all live in a zoo, all I do is play the spaceball ricochet” sound emotionally involving is a testament to his immense talent and/or charisma. One of the finest cuts from T-Rex’s softer output.

Song of the Day: MIA - It Takes A Muscle

Since I haven't posted in a while (the busy summer schedule dragged me away!) I'm going to post a second song of the day, one that's had my attention most of this season.

MIA's newest release Maya has divided critics, some hailing her third album as a continuation of the exciting eclecticism of her first two albums (with Drowned In Sound describing it as "bold, inventive and occasionally thrilling") and others finding the album a simply baffling, alienating listen (or as Pitchfork put it: "it's as if everything that was great about M.I.A. has been stripped from this music, leaving behind only the most alienating aspects of her art and public persona.")

I would tend toward the former opinion: Maya is a challenging album, and all the better for it. At times the music sounds like an auditory ambush, instruments careening from ear to ear and occasionally descending into cacophany. Primarily the mood is that of digital-age paranoia and terror, but there are light moments scattered throughout. One of these is "It Takes A Muscle," a cover of Dutch band Spectral Display's synth-pop original. Bathed in reggae rhythms and defined by a sugar-sweet melody, MIA's vocals hover over the instrumentation, distant yet completely in keeping with the song's composition. Lyrics like "you've got to love one another, that's what the good man says" sound resplendant in MIA's cool, echoed tones, making this the perfect summer song, especially when placed in the context of the awesome, jarring surroundings of Maya.

Song of the Day: Gene Vincent - Cat Man

The narrative of early rock n roll is a well-known one – a burst of rebellion, quickly submerged into the mainstream showbiz abyss, a journey typically connected with Elvis Presley. Of course, revisionism is a strong component of music criticism precisely because such narratives are coarsely simplistic and reductionist (indeed, some of Presley’s late 60s albums are considered among his best). What is often forgotten is the embedded radicalism of many of the early rock n roll songs.

“Cat Man” is a superbly sinister song; maybe it’s the squeamish guitar lines, Vincent’s anguished shouts, the typical rockabilly reverb – or most importantly, maybe it’s the title character, who the lyrics portray as some sort of sexual predator. Either way, this song embodies the below-the-surface sexuality and violence present in many early rockabilly tracks.