For our precious friend Emre Yerlikhan aka babel, whom we lost today at the ripe age of 34. A devout literary fanatic and a bright mind, his place won’t be filled. May his ideas & ideals live on through his friends and may he rest in peace.

Swedish psychedelic combo Dungen is back with a new one on Subliminal Sounds. Their 4th album aptly titled “4” is an extremely well crafted album of eclectic influences such as psychedelic pop, 60s soul, swedish folk, acid jam rock and jazz.

The ingredients might sound a little awkward. Swedish folk, jam rock and soul? Yet bear with me as “4″ is hands down one of the best records of 2008, and yes I’m sober. Don’t wanna sound like a 70s psychedelic rock revivalist but Dungen’s (pronounced Dung-in btw) warm sound is an aesthete’s delight. Example : the sound of the drums will always be a reference for my future producing activities. Dungen’s not only a sonically pleasing troupe, but they’re quite capable of conjuring songs with masterfully crafted and dense compositions and lush piano led jams which create pastoral atmospheres that instantly inscribe themselves in your psyche.

Can’t praise this album enough, especially “Minda damer och Fasaner” which is a huge anthem with fuzzy oriental guitar melodies and choral arrangements. Down side : 10 tracks and 37 minutes are very short! 5/5

Hunted from last years, The Silent Ballet’s end of year list, Tuna Laguna is one instrumental rock band from Norway that didn’t garner much attention from music press and blogs. Not surprising as well all know the music press tends to ignore bands that make solid music without bells & whistles or scene buzz.

This six-piece orchestra with proggy leanings have everything in their arsenal from regulars such as bass, drums and guitars to rhodes, glockenspiel, babypianos, banjos and computers helping them to create an effective and mature fusion. After their now soldout debut album, which is freely available here, their second one “Ripples and Swells” a complete album with eight, five minute compositions and two interludes were released last year. All the songs here feature a finetuned balance of energy, versatility and technical complexity. But don’t let the complexity scare you, at the same time it’s readily enjoyable, even radio friendly compared to other multilayered music.

Most reviews on the net are Scandinavian ones, making me wonder if their distribution sucks or somehow this mature sound didn’t appeal to young tastemakers abroad. Thankfully the rateyourmusic community has some activity, where a user rightly says they’re somewhere between Jaga Jazzist and Battles. I concur and raise it with Gong.

Tuna Laguna – On to Tarmac
Tuna Laguna – Arrival of the Rhino
Tuna Laguna – My Lunar Boots

I’ve been listening on/off to the UK release of Norwegian singer-songwriter Silje Nes‘ Ames Room released on Fat-Cat, and it’s about time to talk a little bit about her music now that the European release of her debut is due. The opener “Over All” is the anathema of “Ames Room”, gentle vocal pop over dissonant toy glockenspiel melodies. Silje doesn’t try to hide her Scandinavian essence by creating isolated and personal pop music like Hanne Hukkelberg, but nevertheless it’s much more lo-fi as “Ames Room” is entirely bedroom recorded material created between 2004 and 2007. The melancholic side of her can be heard in songs like “Long Shadows Left Around“, where backgrounds of acoustic guitar meet subtle electronic textures and delicate brasswork, you should listen through headphones though!.

Silje Nes – Over all
Silje Nes – Long shadows left around

15 Battles – Mirrored (Warp Records) : Everybody’s been talking about “Mirrored” this year, and they kind of deserve it for getting their oddtimed dissonant music to find strange acclaim from mainstream circles as well as mathheads.
14 Deejay OM – Reheated Naan and Curry (Galapagos4) : A fine hybrid of Indian samples mixed with beats. Somehow liked it much more than Madlib’s take. Past review on undomondo.

Ólöf Arnalds – Klara

13 Ólöf Arnalds – Við og við (12tónar) : Icelandic singer Ólöf Arnalds‘ acoustic folk deserves a government grant as we get more and more interested in Iceland after listening to her debut.
12 White Magic – Dark Stars (Drag City) : Frankly I’m an utter sucker for their haunting minimalist folk, hopefully more to come in 2008.Past review on undomondo
11 Alamaailman Vasarat – Maahan (Backstage Alliance) : Finnish weirdo prog-rockers Alamaailman Vasarat didn’t fail to satisfy us with their 3rd album a highly versatile & wacky world music stuff. Circus music at its best.Past review on undomondo, The Armchair Critic review

Luke Temple – Medicine

10 Luke Temple – Snowbeast (Millpond) : Brooklyn, NY based singer & songwriter Luke Temple’s album is one of the best albums of the year, with hints of 70s psychedelia and melancholy, top quality singer songwriter pop. Past review on undomondo
09 Nostalgia 77 – Everything Under the Sun (Tru-Thoughts) : UK’s finest nujazz troupe a with an impressive effort, and they didn’t stop here and went for a second gold album as an octet. Past review on undomondo
08 Shellac – Excellent Italian Greyhound (Touch & Go) : Most critics didn’t like this album compared to other Shellac releases, but nevertheless it’s better than most of the stuff this year. Past review on undomondo. Pitchfork review

Men-an-Tol – Orange Juice and Vodka

07 Men-an-Tol – Men-an-Tol (Static Caravan) : I’ve declared my love for bearded UK folkers Men-an-Tol a few times this year, can’t wait for their debut album in 2008. Past review on undomondo
06 Fedayi Pacha – The 99 Names of Dub (Hammerbass) : Unnoticed by short sighted critics with the Burial syndrome, French dubster Fedayi Pacha’s “The 99 Names of Dub” is the most diverse dub album this year as well as the most cranked for me. Past review on undomondo

Battles – Race:in
Deejay OM – Silk dealers of New Delhi
Ólöf Arnalds – Englar og Dárar
White Magic – Poor Harold
Alamaailman Vasarat – Katkorapu
Luke Temple – Saturday People
Nostalgia 77 – Stop to make a change
Shellac – Steady as she goes
Men-an-Tol – Orange Juice & Vodka
Fedayi Pacha – Kufiq Type

Let’s get the ball rolling :

Taxi Taxi – Maps and Legends : NY indie rockers Taxi Taxi have presented a solid album with lots of good songs, I even have second thoughts about how it may have deserved a higher spot.

Odd Nosdam – Level level wires (Anticon) : Released on California’s Anticon, this album blends minimalist electronics with soundscapes and beats.

Arve Henriksen – Strjon (Rune Grammofon) : Trumpetist Arve Henriksen’s glacial trumpet drones on our fave Scandinavian label. Past review on undomondo

The Focus Group – We’re all Pan’s people (Ghost Box) : The lovely UK label Ghost Box, which gave us another topnotch Focus Group album and the fantasticBelbury Poly album last year, strikes once again. I totally love everything The Focus Group produces. Very disoriented short BBC Radiophonics type of retro non-music.

Elegi – Sistereis (Miasmah) : Released on Miasmah, one of the foremost netlabels, Sistereis is a dark & haunting atmospheric ambient album with minimal strings and drones. Sale on Boomkat, don’t miss it.

Roam the Hello Clouds – Near Misses (~scape) : Dreamlike ambient electronic jazz from Triosk & Prefuse 73 drummer Lawrence Pike, trumpetist Phil Slater and laptop-man Dave Miller from Pivot.

Eric Malmberg – Verklighet och beat (Häpna) : Ex member of Sagor & Swing on Häpna, with a terrific album. I haven’t had enough time to listen to this one, else it would have rated higher I guess. Bittersweet, instrumental moog synth stuff with a vast array of influences like 70’s psychedelia.

Vikter Duplaix – Bold and Beautiful (BBE) : Urban neo-soul from Philadelphia’s Vikter Duplaix. past review on undomondo

Taxi Taxi – Maps and Legends
Odd Nosdam – Up in Flames
Arve Henriksen – Leaf and Rock
The Focus Group – The New Activity
The Focus Group – Salty Sun Tales
Elegi – Despotiets Vesen
Roam the Hello Clouds – Phases
Eric Malmberg – Slutet på en epok
Vikter Duplaix – Nothing like your Touch

Another freejazz variant that I’ve been watching since a long time ago is Shining, once again hailing from Scandinavia. I guess the libertarian social atmosphere must help creativity flourish in the north of Europe. Formed by Norwegian sax player and former Jaga Jazzist guy Jørgen Munkeby in 1999, Shining is a 4 piece which has released 4 albums including 2003’s “Sweet Shanghai Devil” on Bugge’sJazzland and their last 2 album on Rune Grammofon. 2007’s Grindstone has moved even farther from jazz into becoming a unique Shining creation which means noisy power rock, Mr. Bunglish odd prog compositions, squawking sax and experimentation. Anyways y’all know by now that Rune Grammofon doesn’t release anything below a treshold of uniqueness, weirdness and quality. This album is by far the heaviest done by Shining but there are lots of strange interlude’s with odd vocals & noise that delves them into soundscape territory. Just check for yourself, the first two tracks are from Grindstone and the last is from 2003’s on Jazzland. There’s also a strange video tipped by the band themselves which has been shot by a Norwegian ubergeek using a virtual reality machine. First watch the prologue here then continue down below.

Video to Winterreise, opening track on Grindstone

When I ponder on extraterrestrial life, I almost always think if they’re as selfish and crochety as our race the oh so self-righteous humans. Just look at this list on wikipedia – the list of active autonomous and secessionist movements , there’s not even one country who’s not having a problem with a minority group. How much more evolution do we have to go through to leave these stuff behind. (On a side note majority of Republicans don’t believe evolution a report by Gallup. so it might take more than planned.)

The Sámi people (The Laplanders) are but one of these problematic ethnic groups, who until the ’50s couldn’t speak Sámi in Norwegian schools and were forced to adopt Norwegian identities and change their names. They’re nomadic tribal people living together with reindeer in the Laplands and were exploited by Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia because their ancestoral lands take the top of Scandinavia (Lapland). Adjagás is a Sámi band that revives the traditional hypnotic yoik chanting of the Sámi people and mashes it with bluesy guitar and drums to create a weird folk/world music album.

Yoik is not about making stories about people, animals, situations or landscapes. Yoik is the young woman, the eagle, the grass field by the river – they are recreations of a moment, a sense, a memory – how the wings of a bird slowly touches your chin, the smell of a fireplace and and how it ewokes memories. The yoik is about bringing memories into the light of day, making them available and inviting new people into this special world.

The name Adjágas signifies the state between sleeping and waking (a state which doesn’t have a definite name in western culture?) and I have to mention that it’s produced by Andreas Mjøs of Jaga Jazzist fame and released on the small one-woman Norwegian label Trust Me. They’re getting international acclaim nowadays and I guess this album is accurate in depicting the life in Laplands and the Sami People (I guess because I’ve only seen the Sami People on a documentary!) who have like all ancient tribes a fresh perspective on life that the modern people has already forgotten.

Another one from the dusty cabinet, Snakes In A Hole is an LP from ‘69. Founded in ‘67, Made In Sweden trio was probably the first prog-rock band in Sweden and also one of the pioneering prog bands throughout the world, since prog-scene wasn’t so heavy until around 1970. This album has a different sound than other hard-core prog bands, being very jazzy & bluesy while also being progressive and it had been out of print for decades and never issued on cd until a 2005 reissue.

PS : It seems the inevitable has happened and filexoom went down after a week or two of hiccups, it might be back but I’m not getting my hopes up. If anyone has any info on minorcrisis.net, please share.

Made in Sweden – Big Cloud
Made in Sweden – Little Cloud
Made in Sweden – Kristallen den Grymma

image by ramon duran

Guess it’s hard to leave Scandinavia behind after a few days of Finland, we will now go to the picturesque Norway with a new album from Rune Grammofon veteran Arve Henriksen. We can all collectively envy how little time it takes Rune Grammofon to give us one after another outstanding release, just a few months after I reviewed 3 of their terrific releases from Svalastog & In the Country and Huntsville. Arve’s “Strjon” is the medieval name of his hometown Stryn on the westcoast of Norway. How he captured the beautiful scenery of his landscape so completely with only a trumpet beats me, but after listening to it I’m sure that I’ve been there! (or haven’t I?).

Strjon can be enjoyed best with a quality headphone (but time freezes!) with Arve’s mellow trumpet sounds assisted by his Supersilent colleagues, keyboardist Ståle Storløkken and guitarist Helge Sten who has also produced the album. The music is close to being ambient with only a few emergent rhythms here and there. Prepare to be amazed if you think of his trumpet playing in terms of traditional jazz, as this is a highly emotive (almost an elegy to medieval times) and lyrical album that’d make you go “was that a painting or music?” right after every song.