Scandinavian Indie Digest Tue, 27 Jan 1998 Volume 98 : Issue 11 Today's Topics: Re: Gigs at GBG film festival Re: Gigs at GBG film festival Re: Music Journalism Re: Gigs at GBG film festival Re: Music Journalism Honeymoons (and Blond) in NME Bob Hund boot. Tour List (Motor BA) [27-Jan-98] Re: Bob Hund boot. Re: Music Journalism Grand Tone Music Re: Tour List (Motor BA) [27-Jan-98] Re: Grand Tone Music News from Latvia... Re: News from Latvia... Re: Honeymoons (and Blond) in NME SV: Honeymoons (and Blond) in NME Administrivia: To unsubscribe from the Scandinavian Indie Digest mailing list: * send e-mail to: scan-indie-d-request@lysator.liu.se * with the Subject: unsubscribe To post to the Scandinavian Indie mailing list: * use the address: scan-indie@lysator.liu.se Digest back issues can be found in the [SID] section at the Scan-Indie website: http://www.lysator.liu.se/~chief/scan.html () Please take care not to include the entire digest in your () reply, only the message(s) you are replying to. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 14:39:53 +0100 From: j.sundstrom@ekuc.se (Jan Sundstrom) Subject: Re: Gigs at GBG film festival > The Gothenburg film festival (30/1 - 9/2) is reason enough to visit gbg. > Besides a lot of films, there are also some gigs at Kinski bar: > > Thu 5/2 Shallow Soundwave Wow! Wish i could be there... Sometimes i wish that Stockholm and gothenburg swapped place for one night ;-) > As I always say: Don't miss a opportunity to see Shallow Soundwave! > I have to quote the line describing them in the film festival program: > "Slayer meets Kate Bush meets Autechre" Curve! Don't forget Curve! ( ...meets Lords of the New Church/New York Dolls or smth.) ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 16:27:05 +0100 From: Joris Gillet Subject: Re: Gigs at GBG film festival you wrote: > Sat 31/1 Grovjobb > Sun 1/2 Lee Harvey Oswald-Ensemble > Mon 2/2 Chutzpah > Tue 3/2 Mody Prudence > Wed 4/2 Svarta Safirer > Thu 5/2 Shallow Soundwave > Fri 6/2 Rotten Beak > Sat 7/2 Tyson > > As I always say: Don't miss a opportunity to see Shallow Soundwave! > I have to quote the line describing them in the film festival program: > "Slayer meets Kate Bush meets Autechre" sounds interesting... but what about the other bands ?? are they worth seeing ?? oh, and I heard something about Spiritualized coming to Gothen- burg the 5th of march or something, anybody knows anything more ?? thanks joris gillet gillet@geocities.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 17:39:12 +0100 From: Erik Soderstrom Subject: Re: Music Journalism Mikael Fant wrote: > Regarding the debate on music journalism. I think I'd like to put another > angle on the debate by asking "What can we demand from a music journalist". [snip] Do I dare to post the batch of upcoming reviews we're working on after this? Hmmm, well none of us are writing reviews as a job so I guess we'll fall under the "can't criticize" rule. Phew! ;-) //Erik ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 17:45:38 +0100 From: Erik Soderstrom Subject: Re: Gigs at GBG film festival At 16:27 1998-01-26 +0100, Joris Gillet wrote: >> Sat 31/1 Grovjobb >> Sun 1/2 Lee Harvey Oswald-Ensemble >> Mon 2/2 Chutzpah >> Tue 3/2 Mody Prudence >> Wed 4/2 Svarta Safirer >> Thu 5/2 Shallow Soundwave >> Fri 6/2 Rotten Beak >> Sat 7/2 Tyson >> >> As I always say: Don't miss a opportunity to see Shallow Soundwave! >> I have to quote the line describing them in the film festival program: >> "Slayer meets Kate Bush meets Autechre" > > sounds interesting... but what about the other bands ?? are they worth > seeing ?? oh, and I heard something about Spiritualized coming to Gothen- > burg the 5th of march or something, anybody knows anything more ?? Don't know about Spiritualized but you're not going to regret going to the Shallow Soundwave gig. Their stunning effect-boxed electric guitar mayhem mixed with the etheral light voice of angel vocalist Annica Silvonen is worth every penny. And don't forget earplugs. ;) //Erik ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 18:56:39 +0000 From: "johanna.hillgren" Subject: Re: Music Journalism Mikael Fant wrote: > With this in mind I think you can demand the following from a professional > music journalist: > 1. HUMILITY. A music journalist (in fact all critics, art, film, etc) > should always remember where his job is coming from. Weren't it for the > bands/musicians he would be out of a job. Criticism is a spin-off effect. > Creation comes first. Music (art, film) criticism is not an independent > artform in itself, as many critics seem to think, overrating their own > value and importance. I agree with you that some big star journalists put a little bit too much weight on their opinions. But somehow I also think that some readers are to blame as well. Reviews should always be counted as reviews and with a grain of salt and preferrably with a bit of readers thinking. Some people just let the journalists rule too much over their musical taste and I think the Pop-phenomenon is one of the strongest examples of this. I guess there are a couple of hundreds of people who actually think they're so cool just because they are buying all the records that the Pop-crew write about. And not really seeing whether the bands are any good or not. This kind of behaviour certainly gives the writer a lot more power than he is worth. > 2. RESPECT. With humility in mind a music journalist should treat the > object of his criticism (i.e. the band/record) with respect. For instance > I think you can't review a record without listening to all of it AT LEAST > five times. The critic must give his work a sound base to lean on, and > must give the bands, etc a lot of chances. A lot of music doesn't give > itself away at the first hearing. (In my youth it took me a year before > I could appreciate Joy Division, but they're still on my top ten all time > favourites.) This makes me a bit suspicious towards critics that churn out > loads of reviews every week. I think the maximum should be about 5, possibly > 10 reviews a week. And sometimes it's bleeding obvious that the critic > hasn't listened to the record hardly at all, f.x. a reviewer slagging off > the latest Frente! album on account of it being too PSYCHEDELIC? Another > example of lack of respect is the absence of corrections in papers/ > magazines. It's OK to make mistakes, everybody does it, but how to handle > it? If a daily paper makes a mistake in facts or in spelling names, etc. > the day after there is a little notice saying "Excuse us so very much, > but this and this were wrong, it should be that and that." This very > rarely happens when the fault in question is concerning music. (e.g. > Carpe Wade/Carpet People). Being right about facts (or in any case > correcting oneself) is really the most fundamental form of respect towards > the objects of criticizm. Yup, being right about facts is the most important thing. That gives the writer it's credibility. But sometimes I think people take mistakes a bit too hard and despise a journalist for the rest of his life just because he once happened to be wrong about the guitars that were used on the second song on the latest Spiritualized album or whatever. Most people are always worth a second chance. > 3. AN OPEN MIND. If you can't approach a record/band with an open mind, > you shouldn't review it. I wouldn't review the latest Ace of Base-album > or whatever, because I would do too poor a job about it. And any music > journalist with any self respect should know when NOT to review something. > I mean if you don't like playful/utflippad/experimental music you shouldn't > review Mercury Rev, OK. This is why oneliner reviews such as "This sucks > bigtime" about the latest Van Halen are crap. And you really shouldn't > review demo-tapes if you're not really interested, haven't got an enthusiasm > about what's happening out in the rehearsal rooms, it isn't fair towards > the bands. My definition of having an "open mind" is that even if you're not interested in the Ace of Base-album you at least give it a try and see if you can find anything in it. And I also believe that if you're seriously interested in music and seriously care about music you will be able to have an open attitude towards most kinds of music. But if you don't and is a music journalist, I totally agree with you that you have to be true to both yourself and the reader and let someone else do the review. > 4. COMPETENCE. If you criticize something you should know about it. A > lot! You can't like Eva Kvanta review a Sugar record and start off by > saying "Bob Mould once was in a band called Husker Du, which I've never > heard". She and a lot of other critics are even snobbish about NOT > KNOWING ANYTHING. Another horrid example is a review of a late Pere Ubu > album (post-reunion), where they were described as "Influenced by the > Pixies". Yeah, and the Beatles were very influenced by Oasis as well, > eh? Also, a music review should be 10% stating your opinion, and 90% > describing the music, not the other way around (Sadly forgotten by most > critics overvaluing the importance of their opinion). And in describing > music, there, sadly, is no other way than with comparison. So you're a > poor music journalist if you're too niched, and can't hear similarities > and influences from out of the niche/genre in question. Because the > musicians themselves are often far more open than the critics. Even if > you're a hip-hop critic, you should be able to hear when listening to > Afrika Bambaata, "hey, he's borrowed that from Kraftwerk". I've even > seen a review of Bob Hund's Ett fall..., the reviewer complaining that > it didn't sound really like a Bob hund song (Him not knowing it was a > cover). You're not worth your salary if you don't know A LOT about music. > A football player should know alot about football, shouldn't he/she. A > lawyer should know a lot about the law. Yes, being a real music fan is probably the main issue. You'll have to have a hunger for music to be a good music journalist. That I agree with. But I still don't see any reason with a review that contains of 90% info on how the record sounds and only 10% opinion. This will probably be the most boring reading ever and it sure is a very cheap way of getting away with writing about a band. > This is in my opinion what you can demand from a professional music > journalist. There are a couple that meet with these standards, but > they aren't very many. The sad truth being that the amateurs are > often much more "professional" in their attitudes than the tired, > cynic and uniterested professionals. Sorry for the dry tone and > length of my letter, but I feel a lot about this... And you journalists > can pin up the above list in your offices and read it every morning...;-) > Micke Fant Thank you Micke for this interesting and "thinking" letter. I appreciate when people don't just have opinions just slagging off other journalists just because it's kinda cool and rebellious without having a real thought behind their words. And I'm sorry if I've done the same to some of you guys letters the past few days. It's just that I'm so sick and tired of hearing the same things over and over again. DANIEL ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 20:23:56 +0100 From: Erik Soderstrom Subject: Honeymoons (and Blond) in NME Honeymoons (NONS) were reviewed in this week's NME - and here's the really good review: HONEYMOONS - Fabrications (Nons) BLOND Catnap - (Landspeed Record) "... Ah, a new year, and a new batch of Swedish bands twisting their tonsils beguilingly 'round our language in an effort to get famous and not have to live north of the Arctic Circle any more. Honeymoons, could quite conceivably start packing their cases for kinder climes, what with their by-numbers pure pop croonings and their nifty way with a chord sequence. Ho hum. Blond, however, are a stranger proposition, combining creaky glacial ambience with groovy analogue shoops and whirrs. A snowflake-voiced girl coos a persistent request: "Wake me up". //Erik ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 00:09:43 +0200 (EET) From: Timo Riitamaa Subject: Bob Hund boot. So... has anybody got a Bob Hund boot with reasonable sound? i don't really like boots, but it'd be interesting to hear one by this band. Tornado DaSilva. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 23:13:16 +0100 From: Erik Soderstrom Subject: Tour List (Motor BA) [27-Jan-98] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scandinavian Indie Motor Tour List UPDATE Scandinavian Indie January 27th, 1998 by Erik Soderstrom ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SCANDINAVIAN: Caroline af Ugglas (S) V2 *NEW* 26/2 Stockholm - Amnesty gala, Medborgarhuset (S) 10/3 Stockholm - NK, Modevisning (S) Bleeder (DK) Sony + D.A.D (DK)* 18/2 Kolding - Teatret* (DK) New Date 25/2 Copenhagen - KB Hallen* (DK) New Date, Extra Concert 6/3 Stockholm - Arenan* (S) New Venue bob hund (S) Silence 2/2 Helsingborg - Tivoli (S) New Date Robot (S) Starboy Rec. *NEW* 14/2 Stockholm - Studion (S) w/High Llamas Sued(e)palooza -98 Burning Heart *NEW* = No fun at All, Liberator, Refused, the Hives (S) = The tour formerly known as Volvopalooza 28/2 Stockholm - Medborgarhuset (S) 3/3 Copenhagen - Vega (DK) 4/3 Amsterdam - Melkweg (NL) 5/3 Tilburg - Norderlicht (NL) 6/3 Antwerpen - Hoterloo (B) 7/3 Paris - Club Dunois (FR) 8/3 Albi - CCA Frankrike (FR) 10/3 Madrid - Katedral club (ES) 11/3 Barcelona - El Garatge (ES) 12/3 Montpellier - Rockstore (FR) 13/3 Biella - Babyloonia (IT) 14/3 Pordenone - Rototom 15/3 Lubljana - Festival Dvorana (SLOV) 16/3 Vienna - Szene (AT) 17/3 Salzburg - Rockhouse (AT) 18/3 Wil - Remise (CH) 19/3 Bern - Rightschule (CH) 20/3 Munchen - Backstage (DE) 21/3 Schweinfurt - Alter Stadtbahnhof (DE) 22/3 Salzgitter - Forellenhof (DE) 23/3 Osnabruck - Hydepark (DE) 24/3 Essen, Zeche Carl (DE) 25/3 Koln - Live music hall (DE) 26/3 Frankfurt - Batchkapp (DE) the Wannadies (S) BMG *NEW* 13/2 Trondheim - Studentersamfundet (N) 14/2 Tromso - Studentersamfundet (N) 16/2 Stockholm - Grammy Awards (S) 17/2 Lillehammer - TBC (N) 18/2 Stavanger - Checkpoint Charlie (N) w/Twigs (N) 19/2 Bergen - Hulen (N) 20/2 Tonsberg - Exo (N) w/Twigs (N) 21/2 Oslo - Rockefeller (N) w/Twigs (N) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NON-SCANDINAVIAN: Cornershop (UK) MNW ILR *NEW* 19/3 Copenhagen - Loppen (DK) 20/3 Malmo - KB (S) 21/3 Stockholm - Studion (S) Kristin Hersh (US) MNW *NEW* 2/3 Copenhagen - Rust (DK) 3/3 Malmo - KB (S) 5/3 Stockholm - Studion (S) 6/3 Oslo - John Dee (N) High Llamas (UK) V2 14/2 Stockholm - Studion (S) w/Robot, New Support Kelly Deal 6000 (US) MNW ILR + Snowpony (UK) Radioactive/One Little.. 25/2 Arhus - Huset (DK) Cancelled! 26/2 Copenhagen - Loppen (DK) Cancelled! 27/2 Lund - Mejeriet (S) Cancelled! 28/2 Stockholm - Studion (S) Cancelled! 1/3 Oslo - So What (N) Cancelled! Smash Mouth (US) Universal *NEW* + Goldfinger & A 2/4 Lund - Mejeriet (S) 3/4 Stockholm - Klubben (S) 4/4 Oslo - Mars (N) 5/4 Copenhagen - Pumpehuset (DK) Strangelove (UK) EMI *NEW* 3/3 Stockholm - Studion (S) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The complete Motor Tour List is posted once / month to the list. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 26 Jan 1998 23:33:08 +0100 From: j.sundstrom@ekuc.se (Jan Sundstrom) Subject: Re: Bob Hund boot. > So... has anybody got a Bob Hund boot with reasonable sound? i don't > really like boots, but it'd be interesting to hear one by this band. I have a bunch. both livetapes and P3 Live recordings... Jan ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 00:34:07 +0100 (MET) From: per langstrom Subject: Re: Music Journalism holy moly, this is a long one, but it's too darn interesting to stay away from (even though i have tons of "more important" things that i should be doing). here goes: At 13.45 1998-01-26 +-100, Mikael Fant wrote: > My point is that an amateur can write whatever he bloody well wants, be > utterly incompetent, or totally niched (f.x. in the indie-genre) and > whatnot, and CAN'T BE CRITICIZED for it. You can maybe pity him/her, if > they're really off the mark, but they can't be criticized. They're just > stating an opinion. Reading an amateur-text is like talking music with a > friend. Non-committal. > > But as soon as a person is doing a job and getting paid for it, you can > demand that he should do a GOOD job, and music journalists aren't an > exception. The consumer should always crave a good product, whether it's a > frying pan or a pop magazine he is buying. this is what i find is part of the problems any serious art- journalist is facing. i mean, "do a good job" is a pretty tough thing to define when it comes to expressing personal opinions, like in a record-review. it's easier to see when somebody's doing "a bad job" (like the aforementioned expressen journalist from a couple of days back) - spelling mistakes, getting the fact wrong etc. testing out frying pans is so much easier, since all you have to do is to compare the pans and see which one is the best when it comes to not getting your food burnt. > With this in mind I think you can demand the following from a professional > music journalist: > 1. HUMILITY. A music journalist (in fact all critics, art, film, etc) > should always remember where his job is coming from. Weren't it for the > bands/musicians he would be out of a job. Criticism is a spin-off effect. > Creation comes first. Music (art, film) criticism is not an independent > artform in itself, as many critics seem to think, overrating their own > value and importance. i totally agree with this. in a way, it's bizarre the way jour- nalists get paid for simply writing _about_ something that other people have put in hours and hours of hard work. and, still, a lot of the bands barely have money to tour or buy new gear. and this is without even considering the latest trend where music-journalists are reaching celebrity status, simply by playing records at various clubs.. > 2. RESPECT. With humility in mind a music journalist should treat the > object of his criticism (i.e. the band/record) with respect. For instance I > think you can't review a record without listening to all of it AT LEAST > five times. The critic must give his work a sound base to lean on, and must > give the bands, etc a lot of chances. A lot of music doesn't give itself > away at the first hearing. (In my youth it took me a year before I could > appreciate Joy Division, but they're still on my top ten all time > favourites.) This makes me a bit suspicious towards critics that churn out > loads of reviews every week. I think the maximum should be about 5, > possibly 10 reviews a you are dead on, man! i write reviews from time to time and, honestly, there's no way in the world i could write even 5 reviews a week, and still feel like i have given the records the attention they deserve for me to write at least a decent review! gee, just listening to a record 5 times takes well over 4 hours! and, for some records, 5 times isn't even dog-shit! > week. And sometimes it's bleeding obvious that the critic hasn't listened > to the record hardly at all, f.x. a reviewer slagging off the latest > Frente! album on account of it being too PSYCHEDELIC? Another example of > lack of respect is the absence of corrections in papers/magazines. It's OK > to make mistakes, everybody does it, but how to handle it? If a daily > paper makes a mistake in facts or in spelling names, etc. the day after > there is a little notice saying "Excuse us so very much, but this and this > were wrong, it should be that and that." This very rarely happens when the > fault in question is concerning music. (e.g. Carpe Wade/Carpet People). > Being right about facts (or in any case correcting oneself) is really the > most fundamental form of respect towards the objects of criticizm. > > 3. AN OPEN MIND. If you can't approach a record/band with an open mind, > you shouldn't review it. I wouldn't review the latest Ace of Base-album or > whatever, because I would do too poor a job about it. And any music > journalist with any self respect should know when NOT to review something. > I mean if you don't like playful/utflippad/experimental music you shouldn't > review Mercury Rev, OK. This is why oneliner reviews such as "This sucks > bigtime" about the latest Van Halen are crap. And you really shouldn't > review demo-tapes if you're not really interested, haven't got an > enthusiasm about what's happening out in the rehearsal rooms, it isn't > fair towards the bands. records shouldn't be taken out of their context, and reviewer should have some knowledge about the scene that band is a part of. if that's not case, he/she should make sure to state that his/her knowledge about the band/type of music is limited. van halen records should be reviewed by a person who knows what they are about and are familiar with the kind of music they play. who is simply able to compare the record to their previous records and other records in the same genre. > 4. COMPETENCE. If you criticize something you should know about it. A > lot! You can't like Eva Kvanta review a Sugar record and start off by > saying "Bob Mould once was in a band called Husker Du, which I've never > heard". She and a lot of other critics are even snobbish about NOT KNOWING > ANYTHING. Another horrid example is a review of a late Pere Ubu album > (post-reunion), where they were described as "Influenced by the Pixies". > Yeah, and the Beatles were very influenced by Oasis as well, eh? Also, a > music review should be 10% stating your opinion, and 90% describing the > music, not the other way around (Sadly forgotten by most critics > overvaluing the importance of their opinion). And in describing music, > there, sadly, is no other way than with comparison. So you're a poor music > journalist if you're too niched, and can't hear similarities and influences > from out of the niche/genre in question. Because the musicians themselves > are often far more open than the critics. Even if you're a hip-hop critic, > you should be able to hear when listening to Afrika Bambaata, "hey, he's > borrowed that from Kraftwerk". I've even seen a review of Bob Hund's Ett > fall..., the reviewer complaining that it didn't sound really like a Bob > hund song (Him not knowing it was a cover). You're not worth your salary if > you don't know A LOT about music. A football player should know alot about > football, shouldn't he/she. A lawyer should know a lot about the law. hmm, i guess this is were our opinions differ. as i said, a reviewer should know what he/she is talking about, but if that's not the case he/she should state that in the review. because, then you as the reader would at least know that this person isn't familiar with this band. and, following that, the review should be looked at from that point of view. the reviewer is obviously new to this band, still this is how he/she experiences the music. because, there is a big problem with reviewers having to know of every- thing that has ever happened music-wise before this specific record came out (and then i am not considering the fact that reviewers would probably be closer to 50 years of age, if not 60, than 20 - and exactly which teenager want to read record-reviews written by their dad?) - they are not neccesarily writing for an audience that know everything about the history of music! if the reviewer and his/her audience aren't on the somewhat same level, the review is going to fall short for at least one of the parties involved. the reviewer doesn't want to be having to re- peat that, yes, this and this record by this and this band came out so and so many years before this and this band released their Xth record, which in turn came out and drew influences from this and this band.. and the readers don't want to constantly hear about this and this b- side from these very inluential but obscure and out of print singles since 30 years.. if there's possibly anything i personally dislike more when it comes to record-reviews, than a reviewer who doesn't know what he/she is talking about, it's reviewers who just can't shut up about all these b-sides from sixties-singles and, as soon as they hear some- thing, must give at least five references to obscure bands from 30 years back! you can very well be a motor-journalist without never have driven the first fucking t-ford, why must so many art-journalists be such pretentious elitistic fucks? per p.s. your analogy with the fotball-player doesn't work as the fotball-player has the role of the musician in a band, and since when do musicians have know a lot about music in general (who invented the guitar etc.) to be able to play their instruments well? and even though the lawer one is better, every lawer on the face of the earth doesn't have to know the laws in all 200+ countries to be a good lawer for the citizens in the country he is working in, right (even though the laws in a lot of count- ries have the same origin)? a music journalist writing about hardcore, and hardcore only, are fully capable of doing a good job, without ever having heard of motown. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 00:44:54 +0100 From: Erik Soderstrom Subject: Grand Tone Music Damn - the ZTV video show "Tryck Till" panel didn't like the Grand Tone Music video to 'Venues'... And they called the music "typical rock journalist music" - meaning it'll only generate a buzz among the music journalists (!) Anyone buy their album (released today) yet? //Erik ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 01:58:18 +0200 From: ig@mindless.com Subject: Re: Tour List (Motor BA) [27-Jan-98] > Kelly Deal 6000 (US) MNW ILR > + Snowpony (UK) Radioactive/One Litt.. > 25/2 Arhus - Huset (DK) Cancelled! > 26/2 Copenhagen - Loppen (DK) Cancelled! > 27/2 Lund - Mejeriet (S) Cancelled! > 28/2 Stockholm - Studion (S) Cancelled! anyone that knows why they cancelled their tour? j.n ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 10:57:37 +0000 From: "johanna.hillgren" Subject: Re: Grand Tone Music Erik Soderstrom wrote: > Damn - the ZTV video show "Tryck Till" panel didn't like the Grand Tone > Music video to 'Venues'... And they called the music "typical rock > journalist music" - meaning it'll only generate a buzz among the music > journalists (!) > > Anyone buy their album (released today) yet? Yes, I've got the album and it's kind of nice. Laidback, slow and pretty beautiful at times. The problem with it is that all the songs are much too alike, basically there are not many ways of doing music with just drums, guitars and the same Hammond-sound all over again. But it's definitely worth a listen. Daniel ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 17:08:24 +0200 (WET) From: Roberts Galvans Subject: News from Latvia... Hi folks! TORNIS Rec. - quite small indie label (anno 1991) form Riga (the capital of Latvia) has released a brand new compilation tape of Latvian underground music. The compilation consist of 18 songs (each song is represented by another artist/band - all of them are signed to TORNIS Rec.) All songs recorded between 1995 and 1997, most of them at Tornis studio. A_side is for bands: BALOZU PILNI PAGALMI pirms saule lec SIRKE otras dienas vakara KARTAGA uz galeram NAVES INSTINKTS izbrins INOKENTIJS MARPLS rudens dziesma SARKANAIS OKTOBRIS 30 C LATVIJAS GAZE teva svetvakars PLASTALINS lauku dzive YULUNGA ekspedicija (klusums) B_side - for artists: EDGARS SUBROVSKIS anekdotes VOICEKS siseni MARTA 2 reiz viena upe neiekapsi JANIS JANSONS vina sacija MARTINS KORSIETIS telepats IEVA MAZVERSITE kakis KALVIS aizejosas dienas stasti MARIS SVERNS sniegs ir nokusis ANDZONS tu un es If you would like to get this compilation tape, e-mail me: se51097@lanet.lv (we will work something out). If you want know more about TORNIS Rec., go to: http://www.rdvp.lv/tornis # Special news for UK subscribers - you can get this tape attending a "TORNIS Rec. BENEFIT" all-day concert in Newcastle (England) at 31st January. Bands that will play: SPRAYDOG, RED MONKEY, THE BOWLING BOY, RAY SPEEDWAY AND THE DEVILS OF PACE, etc (it's very posible that there will be also BIS). This happening is organised by John Hedley (THE BOWLING BOY) (you can e-mail him J.D.Hedley@newcastle.ac.uk and ask for tape) and SLAMPT ORGANIZATION (which is Newcastle underground label). That's it. Bye RoberC //se51097@lanet.lv ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 16:59:41 +0100 From: j.sundstrom@ekuc.se (Jan Sundstrom) Subject: Re: News from Latvia... > TORNIS Rec. - quite small indie label (anno 1991) > All songs recorded between 1995 and 1997, most of them at Tornis studio. He he. I've been there! Thanks for taking me to the studio, Roberts, it was definitely one of the most cool settings for a studio i've seen. Inside an old watertower, can you imagine! The whole place was circular, so you could go round and round. Filled with old soviet rock paraphernalia, pedals and amps, all prime communistic brands. > A_side is for bands: Roberts, is this the band i got from you via Ieva?! It was no track listing... > If you want know more about TORNIS Rec., go to: > http://www.rdvp.lv/tornis Cool page, well done! You can see a picture of the watertower! JAn ------------------------------ Date: 27 Jan 1998 18:49:31 +0100 From: Robert Cumming Subject: Re: Honeymoons (and Blond) in NME > BLOND Catnap - (Landspeed Record) [...] > with a chord sequence. Ho hum. Blond, however, are a stranger > proposition, combining creaky glacial ambience with groovy > analogue shoops and whirrs. A snowflake-voiced girl coos a > persistent request: "Wake me up". Bloody hell! They sure have changed a lot since representing us at Eurovision last year. Robert, who saw Benny Andersson playing accordion on Sunday (but how indie _is_ he really? ;-) ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 27 Jan 1998 21:10:05 +0100 From: "Micke Rehnstrom" Subject: SV: Honeymoons (and Blond) in NME > > BLOND Catnap - (Landspeed Record) > [...] > > with a chord sequence. Ho hum. Blond, however, are a stranger > > proposition, combining creaky glacial ambience with groovy > > analogue shoops and whirrs. A snowflake-voiced girl coos a > > persistent request: "Wake me up". > > Bloody hell! They sure have changed a lot since representing us at > Eurovision last year. Hah, yeah :-). Those guys, called BLOND, who represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest were not very innovative when it came to music and the same goes for their choice of name. I know there exists or has existed _at least_ three Swedish bands (so God knows how many foreign bands there must have been!) with this name and the one reviewed in NME must be one of those other two. Anyone who has heard them? I must admit that I have only heard the slimy Eurovision guys. The third Swedish BLOND I have heard of released an album in 1969 (according to Sound Affects), so I guess this is probably not them ;) /Micke ------------------------------ End of Scandinavian Indie Digest Vol.98 #11 ********************************************