Brødrene Unstad makes acoustic indie pop that will satisfy fans of acoustic indie pop and no one else. if you are not yet acquainted with acoustic indie pop, Brødrene Unstad are a nice place to start. primarily relying on a guitar, a bass and two soft voices, this band is stripped down to the bare bones of cuddle rock. it’s still somewhat possible to tell that these two guys are from the Norwegian sensation Kråkesølv, especially on the brilliant guitar-driven passage on “Like tross store feil”, a sort of Jaguar Love cover. either way God steming på Blücher is a solid folky pop piece with some great ambiance and effective creation of atmospheres and well past “humorous” lyrics in Norwegian (including a brilliant rendition of Michael Jackson’s “Black or White”).
archive for November, 2009
Brødrene Unstad – God stemning på Blücher
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009Quiritatio – Forgive and Forget
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009Quiritatio are situated deeply in the Norwegian hardcore scene – which is easy to tell. at least sometimes… because despite the undoubtedly typically depressing Norwegian core Quiritatio manage to stand out by being a thoroughly unique band that add lots of twist to the perfected formula of Orchid-like vocals, flying guitars and technical rhythm section. their misanthropic Cult of Luna-esque gloomy (yet hopeful – in the end) tales (whose influence can be spotted on the newest Dominic album posted beneath this post) are epic journeys throughout many a musical influence, most importantly various metal influences. the metal influence is highly noticeable, to put it kindly. not only in the immediate obvious, such as the low growling guitars as well as some guttural vocals, but also in the long, progressive and highly technical melodic structures. all of this diversity leads to a comparison to The Spectacle being somewhat necessary. but it doesn’t really matter matter who Quiritatio gets compared to. all you need to know is that they are great and you need to listen to them.
Dominic – Nord
Saturday, November 7th, 2009whenever I’ve mentioned Dominic I’ve always stressed how this band is so incredibly unique and different. and I will continue to do this, because there is no one like them, and I can’t wait to see them live again later this month. this is a band who has been together “forever”, yet they don’t have all that many releases to their name. that’s because they’ve toured all over Europe probably a thousand times. but fortunately for us fans, whenever they decide to actually release something – it’s always near perfect. their highly distinct form of screamo is always very welcome in optic or analogue formats. both of which are purchasable from http://www.denovali.com/dominic/ by the way, and I recommend everyone to hit that up. notice how thorough everything is. the covers are astonishing and well worth the money by themselves! but back to the music. Dominic has evolved noticeably as musicians since their last release. the individual performances are fantastic. but it’s the entirety, the symbiosis that’s the most impressing. all of these marvellous individual performances come together like if they used to be one being once. the music is a dark and gloomy voice that recounts the ancient days of yore when everything was just as depressing as now. this is definitely a band from the cold and dark Northern Norway (the title of the album means north). but where there’s coldness, darkness and depression – there is naturally also hope. the hopefulness in Dominic’s composition is hidden beneath frustration and desperation, but it is definitely in there somewhere. it just takes a lot of listens to find it. Dominic’s albums in general takes many listens to fully appreciate. there are so many levels to the songs. it’s quite complex and interesting to witness just how deep this goes. so come join the party, even though it isn’t a joyful one.
MEHE – MEHE
Thursday, November 5th, 2009the first thought that runs through your head while listening to MEHE might be WTF. there’s actually a good chance that’ll be the last thought as well. especially the first time you play through this album. starting out like a thrash metal version of The Locust, and passing through droning sludge and spastic punk on their way, MEHE leaves an everlasting impression. a neurotic and violent cross between punk and metal like none other. a bit too abrupt and hyperactive to be labelled sludge, but far too experimental and noisy to be labelled metal or hardcore punk. I don’t really know what just hit me. I just know that it rules. it sounds like the entire band recorded this during an epileptic seizure.
Monument – 3 New Songs
Monday, November 2nd, 2009this happiness is contagious. I am pretty happy with that sentence. almost so happy I’d leave that as the entire write-up for this album. however, these three songs deserve more words. this here is three songs that pretty much puts the feeling of joy to mp3s. some of the parts here are more of that goody rushing Kinsella rock and some of them are more technical and crescendo-based, and it is with great pleasure I announce Monument’s great success at both styles. you simply need to hear this. at once. oh, what’s that you say? you’re left unaffected by these songs, «have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? have you left no sense of decency»???
Monument – Demo
Monday, November 2nd, 2009I have yet some more Monument, so I really hope you like these guys as much as I do! because here’s some more Cap’n Jazzy goodiness with all the loudness and energy that entails. Monument are somewhat more controlled and precise in their journey than Cap’n Jazz, not giving so much away to coincidence, resulting in a more stable environment. where Cap’n Jazz are speeding way out of control with a vocalist screaming out words so fast he can’t even care less if he manages to pronounce them anywhere near correctly, Monument knows the speed limit. and they don’t make this a disadvantage nor an advantage. they find their own comfort zone and experiment within it with at times great success, in particular at the awesome twinkly guitar breakdown on “Seneca”, where everything sounds just about right.