I have been waiting quite a while now for the debut album from Killer Clan of F.U.N. Some time ago I listened to a couple of demo tracks that sounded interesting, but it was hard to say in which direction they were going. So, finally, a week ago, after waiting more than a year, I finally got to listen to the album. And it was a complete surprise to me.

Their road had taken them to an album that was full of vibrating rock’n’roll, right out to it’s fingertips. A guitar riff party that made me jump up and down and join Maniac Daniels, screaming and singing. The references is  hailing down over me, like for example Motley Crue, Accept, Guns’n’Roses, Aerosmith, Rainbow, AC/DC, The Rolling Stones and many others. Yet they don’t sound like anyone else.

Maniac launches like a loose Scud missile and sometimes makes me feel that  Beastie Boys finally has taken over a hard rock band. Bedlam sprays his guitars all over and distinctivly hammers rock’n’roll into my soul. Guitars that leans forwards in their energy and almost threaten to nuke my room. At the same time the voice of the blues echoes within the music, through the feeling and with the help from Maniac’s harmonica.

Luckily they give me some breathing space now and then, as sparkling acoustic guitars appears, Maniac shows a surprisingly broad register and everything is just glued together.

Listen more on Killer Clan of F.U.N.’s Myspace page, where you also can order their album.

Tattletail
Tellin’ Lies

The first rock riffs cut like a sharp razorblade through all veils of distance that was present before I started to listen. And so I enter Lars Clevemans new album “Voices In My Head”, a record that was released yesterday.

And Lars deserves the attention he gets as I continue to listen. It’s a real album, twisting and turning, surprising, going inwards and outwards. And yet it forms a whole with Lars Cleveman’s special voice. And special it is. First I come to think of Iggy Pop and his special expression in the seventies albums, but here with a different voice. Lars’ former partner in Dom Dummaste, Håkan Soold, is backing him with his Plastic Pals in the first half of the album, where the crescendo comes in “Not Your Friend”, a catching, direct track where my Iggy Pop-vibes are in a way confirmed.

In the second half of the album another colleague from Dom Dummaste joins in: Lars Clevemans special companion Martin Rössl. And the direct becomes more subtle and thoughtful, and shifting. More contrasts where electronica is mixed with rock, darkness with light.

Lars Cleveman is, interestingly, also a celebrated opera tenor with a long row of successful performances during the years, both in Sweden and in other countries. With this knowledge, with this album and with his background in Dom Dummaste and many other projects, I can’t help being fascinated by Lars Cleveman. What is it that makes him move across old barriers so effortlessly?

Jonas Almqvist, from The Leather Nun, has said about this abum that “This may well be the most important Swedish record of 2009.” Maybe he will be right, I don’t know, but you can listen for yourself here in a couple of tracks. If you’d like to listen to more tracks from the album, you can visit Lars Cleveman on Polythene Records.
You can also meet him on Lars Myspace page and on Polythene’s Myspace page.

Not Your Friend
Friends

Some of the members of Second Hand Rumours got together with some friends and started Oh My!. In the end of last year, they locked the doors to the studio  and recorded 5 tracks during 20 hours. You can listen to two of these here.

And this is something very different from Second Hand Rumours. Here they give us a more basic, close sound, some garage, raw guitars and really nice pop melodies. A little brit pop and a really cool voice in Johan Åkerström.

You can listen to more tracks on Oh My!’s Myspace page. In March they will hit the studio again and my guess is that it won’t take long after that, before we can listen to the new tracks.

I, I Did
Scary Conversation

Last year Friska Viljor released their second album “Tour de Hearts” (Crying Bob Records), a wonderful album full of great melodies and warmth. In a way the band started out of pain and bitter change in 2005, as the two band members just had broken up from earlier relationships. They set out to speak about their feelings around this, through music.

And even if I feel the pain from the singer, in a way like an Axl Rose that has calmed down and started to sing in The Cure, this music feels upplifting for me. Great pop melodies, many times with a sing-a-long feeling, is given it’s own character with mandolins and a folk and acoustic feeling. But at the same time grand. Does that make any sense?

Well, anyway, you can listen to a couple of tracks from “Tour de Hearts” here and hopefully you’ll have the chance to see them live some day. If you want to listen more and talk to them, you can visit Friska Viljor on Myspace.

On and On
Old Man

Others about Friska Viljor and “Tour de Hearts”: Eaten By Monsters, Absolut Noise, Indierock.net (in portuguese)

dePhaser went for the top right from the beginning. That is, they were formed on the top flor in Turning Torso in Malmö, Sweden. They rehearsed and wrote songs for a year or so, but they didn’t feel complete until the singer Markus Gustafsson entered the band. An even if I don’t know how they did before, it’s clear to me that Markus’ nice tone and rock voice sits perfectly with their music.

Well, now they are on their way out with their music, a tight and well played rock, catchy, with a post grunge feeling. Here they give us two tracks, where I was especially caught by “It’s Over Now”, which has really nice dynamics and a nice drive. If you’d like to see the band live, their next gig takes place the 17th of March at Arena 305 in Malmö.

You’ll find dePhaser on Myspace.

It’s Over Now:

It’s Over Now
Forgotten Words