Feb 10, 2007

Stage 22, Sweden SE

Welcome to Sweden's SE (second edition), i start off with a vinyl rip, Swedens first ever raprecord sort of, there's some great fusion going on and the title track was a dancefloor cracker, Per Cussion All Stars , besides look at that awesome cover (over at rho-xsss) spectacular, so was the whole production of the album. Radio Dept's first album Lesser Matters surprised the industry and laid a good foundation. Their latest 'Pet Grief", which i came across listed as one of last years best at some places, should pave the way further. From the glossy cityscape drama's to the rough and rugged world of nature isnt as far as it may seem, Hedningarna takes their tools into the field and offers you a ride on their trip. The biggest name in swedish music last year was the Knife, the camera shy brother and sister raised their freakish/odd imago a little more by staying away from the awards cere-money, but thats allright rumour has it they'll soon go on a farao's tour (wink) . Anyway a country so close to Finland must get inspired by the pleasently deranged music scene we'll explore next week.

Wiki has 136 pages in the "Swedish heavy metal musical groups" category, compared to for instance Germany's 98 pages with a 9 times bigger population, kinda tells us that Sweden very likely is heavy metal country no 1 on this planet. I'm not really into that sort of music, however my posting of swedish music bands cant completely ignore the biggest scene the swedes support, the closest i get is with Pain, the soloproject of Hypocrasy frontman, industrial, goth technometal. Also Khoma originally started as a side project from Cult of Luna, well maybe its too sensitive for metal heads , too brutal for indie fans or maybe just right . .


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Per Cussion - Don't Stop 83
Radio Dept - Lesser Matters ( ' 04)
Hedningarna - Hedningarna (1989-2003) ( ' 03)
The Knife - Deep Cuts ( ' 03)
Khoma - The Second Wave ( ' 06)
Pain - Rebirth ( ' 99)

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Per Cussion All Stars - Don't Stop ( 83 ^ 226mb)

Per Cussion all stars' album "Don't stop" from 1983 is an ultra rare Swedish rap record and the first of its kind to be presented in Sweden. The Swedish percussionist Per Tjernberg visited NYC several times in the early 80s. There he discovered the breakdance and the early rap culture and did get so inspired so he brought home the idea to Sweden and put together some Swedish musicians. A friend also brought him together with an obscure rapper Grandmaster funk (later shortened to GM funk), originally from Brooklyn NYC. The project was finally called "Per Cussion all stars". They released their first 12" "Don't stop" in 1983, which was the first rap ever recorded in Sweden. One especially flattering story for Per Tjernberg was when Africa Bambaata, whom he considered the high priest of hip hop, asked him if he could spare some copies of the 12" since he had worn his out when DJ-ing! The 12" was followed up by the album with the same name in June that year. Two yearrs later Per Cussion All Stars released "Beatwave" a bit of a repeat with 2 tracks sung by dr. John (mac rebennack), but without the 'hit' and lacking marketing backing from the recordlabel, the Per Cussion jazz-funk fusion project sank into oblivion.



01 - The Warning (voc. Grandmaster Funk) (4:17)
02 - Miles Over Pygmyland (4:05)
03 - Lucumi Suite (8:12)
04 - Don't Stop (voc. Grandmaster Funk) (5:55)
05 - 42nd Street Heartbeat (4:20)
06 - I Walk On Guilded Splinters (voc. Mac Rebennack=dr.John) (8:10)
07 - 2am Berimbau (1:34)

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Radio Dept - Lesser Matters ( ' 04 ^ 317mb)

The Radio Dept. was formed by Elin Almered and Johan Duncanson in 1995 who were in the school together in their early teenage. The name was taken from a gas station/radio repairer shop in Lund, sweden which had a large sign with the name "Radioavdelningen, ("The Radio Department" in Swedish) hanging outside their shop.

Since 1995 members have been coming and going and at some points there has never really been a Radio Department at all. Coree members Martin Larsson and Johan Duncanson started playing together in 1998 and decided to use the name The Radio Dept. Since the band has done lots of gigs and recordings. In the autumn of 2001 Lisa Carlberg and Per Blomgren (Bass & drums respectively), and soon afterwards Daniel Tjader, on the keyboards joined. Their recordings were sent to the music magazine Sonic and got a good review.

The Radio Dept. signed to Labrador in late 2002 and began to pioneer the Swedish indie pop revival that has occured this millennia. Most of the Radio Dept.' releases have been on Labrador.Including: "Lesser Matters", "Pulling Our Weight", "Where Damage Isn't Already Done", Shelflife were selected by Labrador to distribute The Radio Dept.'s debut album, lesser matters, around Europe. They did this in 2003. XL rec picked them up in 2004 and well, due to XL being a multinational conglomerate obsessed with making 'bucks' and the Radio Dept. being everything but, the two parted ways again a year later. Their latest 'Pet Grief", which i came across listed as one of last years best at some places should really get them moving.

'Lesser Matters' is their long-incubated debut album and a thing of great fuzzy wonder. Sounding like it was recorded in a world where four tracks are the most heavenly of all creations, the record gently fizzes along on a train of buzzing guitars and strained keyboards, with vocals gently focussing in the background. It has the same majesty and ethereal wonder contained in the best works of bands who have bled their soul onto acetate.



01 - Too Soon (1:17)
02 - Where Damage Isn't Already Done (2:43)
03 - Keen On Boys (4:53)
04 - Why Won't You Talk About It? (3:32)
05 - It's Been Eight Years (2:52)
06 - Bus (3:20)
07 - Slottet #2 (3:30)
08 - 1995 (3:36)
09 - Against The Tide (4:54)
10 - Strange Things Will Happen (4:27)
11 - Your Father (4:31)
12 - Ewan (2:24)
13 - Lost & Found (4:09)

Radio Dept @ Base
Radio Dept @ MySpace
Radio Dept @ Livejournal
Radio Dept @ Amazon

The Radio Dept. - Where Damage Isn't Already Done
1995-live @ YouTube

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Hedningarna - Hedningarna (1989-2003) (03 * 513mb)

Hållbus Totte Mattson, Anders Stake and Björn Tollin formed Hedningarna in 1987. Hedning is Swedish for heathen, or unfaithful, and the musicians said that they felt to a great extent unfaithful to the prevailing ideas in folk music. They wanted to go far back to the roots of the Old Norse culture, including the use of ancient instruments not much used in current Swedish folk music. Stake, a trained luthier, also began to invent and build new instruments, to produce new sounds.They play traditional instruments - lutes, fiddles, mandoras, flutes, accordions, except, these are all plugged into amplifiers. Their world is a place where primitive, brutal folk music collides with sampling and programming.

Hedningarna have a scratchy/droning sound and a keen sense of often the dark side of nature.ut sensitive nevertheless.Their lyrics are often from the viewpoint of wolves, horses and wilderness humans.The female singers from Finland are beautifully uninhibited.In some songs they're expressive of childhood innocence, and in others they're wild and frenzied.



01 - Tuuli
02 - Suet Ulvo
03 - Kruspolska
04 - Tina Vieri
05 - Chicago
06 - Ukkonen
07 - Dolkaren
08 - Vettoi
09 - Viktorin
10 - Nàvdi - Fasa
11 - Fulvalsen
12 - Vottikaalina
13 - Juopolle Joutunut
14 - Gorrlaus
15 - Höglorfen
16 - Neidon Laulo
17 - Skåne
18 - Björnlåten

Hedningarna @ Base
Hedningarna @ Amazon

Hedningarna live

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The Knife - Deep Cuts ( ' 03 * 482mb)

This is the world of The Knife: precise, particular, dark, occult, funny-peculiar, funny-ha-ha. This Swedish brother-and-sister duo work mostly on their own in splendid isolation; they release music on their own label, licensing it to selected partners around the world, so they have to answer to no one Though the pair has been at it for years now, diligently producing sounds since 1999 in Stockholm for their own label, Rabid (Being Swedish Grammis winners of "Pop Group of the Year" in 2003 for this work Deep Cuts, specifically the ultra-sweet "Heartbeats," the song transformed into a top 10 hit to achey-breaky affect by fellow Swede José Gonzales in the Sony Bravia ‘bouncing balls’ commercial. And so to The Knife edged towards the mainstream and into the public eye. All this came about when they put last touch on"Deep Cuts" follow up album, "Silent Shout" late 2004. Its release was held back by the sudden succes/limelight thru heartbeats and so Deep Cuts was rereleased in 2005, together with some new videos.

Silent Shout was named the best album of 2006 by Pitchfork Media, however Q mag gave it a 1 in its review, so very polarised opinions in the music press, remarkable in itself. At the Swedish Grammis awards in January 2007, The Knife won in all six categories they were nominated in: Composer, Music-DVD, Producer, Pop group, Album and Artist of the Year. However, they did not attend the award ceremony due to many different reasons according to themselves.Like too silly wearing masks when accepting awards., oops.



01 - Heartbeats (3:51)
02 - Girls' Night Out (3:38)
03 - Pass This On (3:48)
04 - One For You (3:48)
05 - The Cop (0:43)
06 - Listen Now (2:50)
07 - She's Having A Baby (2:10)
08 - You Take My Breath Away (4:27)
09 - Rock Classics (4:56)
10 - Is It Medicine (2:22)
11 - You Make Me Like Charity (3:05)
12 - Got 2 Let U (3:59)
13 - Behind The Bushes (4:14)
14 - Hangin' Out (1:03)
15 - This Is Now (3:55)
16 - Handy-Man (2:40)
17 - The Bridge (3:51)
Xs
18 - Manhood (2:07)
19 - I Live In A Tree (4:40)
20 - Afraid Of You (3:48)

The Knife @ Base
The Knife @ MySpace
The Knife @ Amazon

Heartbeats, the vid that inspired the add
The add that put them on the map
You Take My Breath Away (skeletonsmix
Pass this on

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Khoma - The Second Wave ( ' 06 ^ 330mb)

It seems like an incompatible alliance, members of musically divided bands such as Cult of Luna, the Perishers, Scared, Refused and Plastic Pride together in a rehearsal room. Solid darkness meets melodious sadness, musical precision and the creative forces of anarchist politics. Brutality and tender frailty surrounded by four walls – but there is a theme: Khoma is a breathing space where the different styles fuse, says the band´s singer Jan Jämte. We have a vision of creating heavy music that reflects more feelings than sheer aggression. Sometimes whispering can be more powerful than screaming.

Khoma is yet another result of Umeå's raging music scene, founded in 2002, the members have known each other for years- sharing dreams, rehearsal rooms, vans and a musical kindship that has survived the birth and death of a thousand bands. Anything but a conventional band, Khoma is a few friends sharing a musical and political vision. Khoma is what won't fit the frame. A crashing wave of angst, desperation, anger and beautiful love.

Khoma has two faces. One that writes, rehearses, and records songs, and another that gathers to play live. The core of Khoma is always static vocalist Jan Jämte, guitarist Johannes Persson, and Fredrik Kihlberg on guitar/piano but the surrounding band members are a rolling collective of musicians. Despite starting as a side project originally, a few months in things were beginning to take off for the band. A limited 1000-disc run of debut album Tsunami was released and quickly sold out. It was reprinted and quickly sold out again.

Fusing granite-hard riffs with plangent cello motifs and aching vocals, Khoma are what Radiohead would sound like if they'd grown up listening to Black Sabbath. Complex and technically dazzling, the trio's sprawling songs would be impenetrable were it not for singer Jan Jamte, whose passionate vowels soar above the sonic chaos in the tremulous style of Muse's Matt Bellamy. Too sensitive for metal heads too brutal for indie fans, Khoma may struggle to find their niche. A shame, because this is heavy music at its most epic.



01 - The Guillotine (4:01)
02 - Stop Making Speeches (4:51)
03 - If All Else Fails (3:24)
04 - Medea (4:56)
05 - Hyenas (5:21)
06 - Through Walls (4:25)
07 - Like Coming Home (5:11)
08 - Asleep (3:34)
09 - Last Call (5:00)
10 - 1909.08.04 (3:45)
11 - One Of Us Must Hang (5:55)

Khoma @Base
Khoma @ MySpace
Khoma @ Amazon

Medea @ YouTube

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Pain - Rebirth ( 99 ^ 342mb)

Pain is Peter Tagtgren's Industrial Techno Metal side project. He is also the lead vocalist and guitarist of well known Death Metal band Hypocrisy. In contrast to Hypocrisy, Pain is focused more upon the melody over aggression. Peter no longer sings in grunted snarls, instead he sings normally but still with that trademark attitude people have grown to love. They're still loud, pissed off, yet full of melody and atmosphere due to their masterful mixing of techno and metal with a touch of gothic. Pain is different however when compared to other metal acts, their sound is very high pitched and resonates well. Very unique sound. With ear shattering songs such as 'End of the Line' and 'Suicide Machine', Rebirth is definitely an album I recommend to fans of  Industrial Metal, it will utilize your loud speakers to their fullest capacity.



01 - Supersonic Bitch (3:44)
02 - End Of The Line (4:03)
03 - Breathing In, Breathing Out (3:35)
04 - Delusions (4:03)
05 - Suicide Machine (4:16)
06 - Parallel To Ecstasy (3:58)
07 - On And On (3:54)
08 - 12:42 (1:52)
09 - Crashed (4:00)
10 - Dark Fields Of Pain (5:00)
11 - She Whipped (4:49

Pain @ Base
Pain @ MySpace
Pain @ Amazon

On and On @ YouTube

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* All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hedningarna - Superb! Danke :)

Gerard said...

Thanks for putting up the early Radio Dept. album. Got the New one, but not got into it yet but the songs on Marie Antoinette Soundtrack are lush, so looking forward to this one.
Cheers.

Anonymous said...

Could you please be so kind and reup the Radio Dept? Thank you very much.

Anonymous said...

Could you please reup the knife- deep cuts? Thank you.