songs that maybe won't be forgotten

There are a lot of hand claps in the music of Sumemr Camp. A...

nicklas — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 00:44:00 +0200

There are a lot of hand claps in the music of Sumemr Camp. A lot. This is as it should be though, the name drags up all the feelings of summer for me. Never been to camp but there is the joys of meeting people in the park, to go somewhere new, and there is the melancholia simmers underneath it all.

I’m conflicted after Welcome to Condale but in a good way. Memories associated with songs that didn’t exist then? That’s damn good songs then. And this is the sound of this summer for me.

I could have made it easy and picked one of the few Swedish punk...

nicklas — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:52:26 +0200

I could have made it easy and picked one of the few Swedish punk rock bands you’ve might have heard, or some that still sets the bar pretty high. Or at least something with lyrics in English. But no. I choose this. Mart’s usage of words and force rhymes are amazing and damnit, this album is damn good. Not quite as gimmicky as their most celebrated Le Som En Fotomodell, Sagoland has more fury and introspective moments. I still like it a lot.

While I had heard quite a lot of songs by Kate Rusby before...

nicklas — Sun, 13 May 2012 17:25:32 +0200

While I had heard quite a lot of songs by Kate Rusby before this, the first time I encountered this one was during the credits of an episode of The Wonders of The Universe.

Had someone told me ten years ago that I would be crazy about different type of folk music, I would have given them the finger and told them to get stuffed and fuck off. Back then it was lots of guitars and three chord riffs. Still love those, but it’s a bit limiting to only listen to that. There’s room for the pretty and sublime and calmer moments.

Thanks to a friend who tweeted from The Great Escape earlier...

nicklas — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:44:24 +0200

Thanks to a friend who tweeted from The Great Escape earlier today, I discovered Daughter. Listen to those drums in the intro, he voice and accent. I love people who sing the words in the same way as they speak. Small details, but very important ones.

Anyways, you know the day will be rather good when you hear new music that hits you right in the stomach and the heart wants to join in the beat straight away.

“I’ve never been able to find a live band in New York as...

nicklas — Tue, 01 May 2012 21:18:34 +0200

“I’ve never been able to find a live band in New York as consistently thrilling and funny and fun as the Waco Brothers.” — Sarah Vowell. I take her word for it, never seen them live nor been to New York.

And since we here celebrate the International Workers’ Day in Sweden and did our May Day thingamabob yesterday, here’s a working class song. Yes, I’m a righthanded leftie.

I still maintain that in UK the interesting punk influences...

nicklas — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 21:58:00 +0200

I still maintain that in UK the interesting punk influences happened at the fringes. The pop-punk of the Buzzcocks, the restlessness of the Mekons, the soul influenced the Jam, the folkiness of Billy Bragg and, of course, the psychadelia of the Soft Boys. I know, fringes? But I don’t mean that as in less known but more in the sense of fusion with punk and other things, those that felt the formula and abandonment of all non-punk was just as idiotic as note masturbation.

The Soft Boys then, The anger of punk glued with a healthy dose of early Syd Barrett lead Pink Floyd. I say healthy and I mean it, the man knew the melodies of words as few others. And that’s the part that Robyn Hitchcock tapped into and it works. It works damn good.

Circle Jerks did a great cover of this song together with Debbie Gibson. This means that the founding singer of Black Flag is a Soft Boys fan, and I hope you’re not going to be the one who says he’s wrong in being one.

CallMeKat was opening act to Okkervil River and was cute and...

nicklas — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 22:03:47 +0200

CallMeKat was opening act to Okkervil River and was cute and charming as hell. The music won me over if not immediately at least three songs in. Later, when we waited of the main act, she stood a few meters away. I though about to go up to her and say that I loved her music already — this was the first time I heard it. I didn’t because I’m a coward. I also didn’t buy her EP on vinyl. Those two things are of regret.

I heard songs from the first two Nomad albums live in 2010, the...

nicklas — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:50:00 +0200

I heard songs from the first two Nomad albums live in 2010, the first had just been released and the second with songs of the late Vic Chesnutt was probably under selection and rehearsal. Listening to The Wilderness makes me a bit sad not to have heard any of these live, preferably with less audience and closer to both walls and the stage. The songs feel damn intimate, almost naked.

It’s the kind of songs you listen to on a turntable while sitting on the floor, quiet, and with a jug of hot cocoa/tea. Preferably there should be a fireplace too. But the floor and the cup, those are not optional extras. They’re required.

Rules dictate that I should post this one since it’s the...

nicklas — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 19:09:00 +0200

Rules dictate that I should post this one since it’s the song that gave name to this. However, I didn’t want it to be the first song because that would have been predictable and lazy. Third though, that works.

There is a stream of consciousness at work in the song, the way it jumps from topics and places but somehow it works. It reflects the restlessness that’s there in David Sandström. (Track down his first album released with his own name after the disbandment of Refused: Om det inte händer nåt innan imorgon så kommer jag. Sure, it might be in Swedish which, I admit, is a bit tricky to understand but it’s definitively worth it.)

Levon Helm has passed away, 71 years old is far too young. Very...

nicklas — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 00:09:00 +0200

Levon Helm has passed away, 71 years old is far too young. Very sad now, can’t imagine how it must be for those who knew him. Damn the cancer. While the volume might have dimmed a bit, it can never extinguish the music he and his friends made.

So far, Ideas For To Travel Down Death’s Merry Road is one of...

nicklas — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:36:00 +0200

So far, Ideas For To Travel Down Death’s Merry Road is one of the best albums of the year. It has both infectious fun and sadness — the song For the Love Of is about Christian’s younger brother who passed on last year. This however is the opening track and it’s just as if the band hadn’t been on a hiatus since 2001. That scratch on the guitar in the beginning and the way it builds up to the intersection where the vocals cut in? Made me smile like a daft goon.

It’s this kind of music that make me proud to be Swedish.

(Originally posted on awkward break)