If you’re part of emusic, then you have seen them talking about this band. Trust me, I’m the first one to question the bands that get hyped up on that site. My first thought is always, “How much kick backs are they getting to talk about this album?” But with Best Coast, it’s worth the hype. Their name is referring to their love for the west coast, which I must agree is the best coast. They do a great job at mixing garage noise pop with touches of 60’s girl group sensibilities. You can tell they are equally influenced by bands like Vivian Girls and The Beatles, or any Phil Spector band.
Here’s a video for “When I’m With You” that was found on youtube. I guess Best Coast had nothing to do with the video but they saw it and love it, so I thought it would be fitting to put it on here. Then I added the second video that’s the song “Sun Was High (So Was I)” for good measure.
“Tonight Is The Ghost” is the debut album from Hurricane Bells. It has been released on Vagrant Records. This is the latest project from Steve Schiltz, singer and guitarist of Longwave for almost ten years. You may have heard of Hurricane Bells from their song “Monsters” which is on the Twilight soundtrack.
It’s hard to give you a quick description of the album. Schiltz has been able to mix in several different sounds and styles in this album. You’ll have some melancholic, somber songs but you’ll also get your fair share of guitar pop songs as well. The album does have a late-night atmosphere to it that can be heard from start to finish.
The Shaky Hands have released their third album on the Kill Rock Stars label. This is the first album for them to make after their original drummer left in mid-2008. Between that and Nicholas Delffs’ month and a half trip to India, these guys went into the study ready to make something different. This is what Delff says about the experience:
“I feel like my trip to India had a profound effect on the album,” Delffs explains. “Because I wasn’t playing music with anybody and I was having this break, I ended up thinking about it a lot, on the verge of obsessing over things. A lot of the planning and lyrics were done out there, finishing some of the songs. I was really inspired by Indian music and I feel like it changed me, but I wasn’t inspired to make it. It almost inspired me to make straight forward rock for some reason.”
The album is a rock album. I guess that’s the best way to describe it. They broke it up in halves. Side A would be more raucous, upbeat tracks while side B would be more hushed and mellow.
Now I knew that The Acid House Kings were in the studio for a while. I’ve been impatiently waiting for them to wrap that up so we can get some new tunes. Well, just the other day I got news that Johan from Acid House Kings, The Legends, and Club 8 will write an album for Club 8 while he’s in the Summersound Studios. It should be interesting since they will be bringing in an outside producer for the first time. Jari Haapalainen (Ed Harcourt, Peter, Bjorn & John, Camera Obscura, The Concretes) will produce the album.
They were cool enough to stop recording to answer a few questions for me.
How did you meet Johan and decide to start the band?
Karolina: We met when I was 16 and he was 18. It was at a school disco and Johan approached me and sat down beside me on the floor in a corner. He looked drunk and confused though he wasn’t. We talked about the Smiths and sad things but smiled anyway in some kind of strange common irony. I had been curious about Johan since I was 13. I had always felt that he was special because he listened to alternative music and wore clothes that were a bit different. I especially remember his paisley shirts and a turquoise shirt with big black dots. Anyway.. when we were sitting there we found out we had a lot in common and soon after that first meeting I joined his band Poprace. After a couple of years we split the band, and formed Club 8 instead. Johan and I wanted to make softer and more sensitive music, inspired by music that we were into back then, like Sarah Records bands, Razorcuts, The Smiths and The Legendary Jim Ruiz Group. Johan and I broke up after some years but we continued with our music. Some people think it sounds awkward to be in a band with your ex, but to us it has never mattered. In fact knowing each other so well makes it easier to work close and to dare being naked in front of each other in the music making.
How does a new album come to life? Does Johan approach you when he’s ready to start recording or do you give him a call saying you’re getting antsy to record again?
Karolina: We are very good friends and see each other a lot, also when we’re not active with Club 8. Mostly we have been very synchronized and inspired by the same things at the same time. The start of a new Club 8 album just comes when we both feel like it.
How long do you plan on recording the new album?
Karolina: Johan started writing some songs quite soon after we had released “The boy who couldn’t stop dreaming” in 2007. He was very much into electronic sounds at the time so most of it were electronic stuff. We did demos of some of the songs together, but I never really got into the electronic sound. We could of course have re-produced them as more guitar based songs, but we didn’t feel like returning to “old” material. So we went into a short break from Club 8 while Johan recorded The Legends album “Over and over” and then Johan started writing new songs again this year. And this time we both felt we were onto something very special and quite different and since then we’ve worked continuously with new songs. The whole 2009 has been a preparation for the real recording in December, which will take about twenty days (and nights probably). Normally we do everything ourselves in our own studio, but this time we’ll be somewhere else, we’ll let other musicians play most of the instruments and we’ll have a producer for the very first time. The album will be out in the beginning of May.
There seems to be quite a bit of down time for you in between albums while Johan is working on his other projects. How do you occupy your time outside of the band?
Karolina: Yes, Johan sometimes says that I’m “busy in the real world” while he’s working with the other projects. It’s been many different things over the years. I’ve worked as a high school teacher, written a film script, worked as an assistant for a girl who is dysfunctional and right now I study art at the university. And now and then I sing with other bands.
For the last Club 8 album, you did a few shows in Brazil. What inspired that and how did
the shows go?
Johan: We were asked if we wanted to come over and play. I’d never been to Brazil so I thought it sounded like a lovely idea to go there and play. Then I met the people who were to arrange the tour and I started dating one of them, so that sort of encouraged me to come over and play even more. It was a great experience. I can’t remember ever liking a country more than I liked Brazil, it’s a really inspiring place.
Karolina: The shows went well. The venues were crowded but cozy anyway. It was just the two of us going so it was acoustic and it was all very intimate, especially when we played in Sao Paolo in a theater with perfect sound and sitting audience.
What bands are you listening to right now?
Karolina: I played records earlier tonight at a club here in Stockholm, and I chose: Múm, Felt, Smoke City, St. Etienne, The Cure, The Smiths, Heavenly, Cass McCombs, Stereolab, Superswirls, One Dove, Another Sunny Day, McCarthy, The Sea Urchins, The Radio Dept., Taken By Trees, Camera Obscura, The Velvet Underground, Television Personalities, Spacemen 3, The Field Mice, Kahimi Karie and Stina Nordenstam. I’ve listened a lot to all of these bands lately. Another favorite right now is the Swedish band Ingenting (means ‘Nothing’). The Swedish language can sound a bit hard compared to English but that singer makes it sound so pleasant.
Johan: Tangerine Dream’s “Rubycon” has been on repeat the last days and I’ve listened a lot of The Rail Band. And I like the Swedish band Skriet. And The Mary Onettes “Islands” of course. It’s such a masterpiece.
Alright, let’s do a deserted island scenario. If you had to listen to five bands for the rest of your life, who would they be?
Karolina: Leonard Cohen (well it’s not a band but anyway..), Ingenting, The Smiths, Club 8… and the fifth would be something instrumental, probably Mozart. Sometimes I just can’t stand words.
Johan: Perhaps it would be something like GAS, The Rail Band, The Smiths, The Exploited and Club 8.
I’ve heard the new album will sound “different and absolutely amazing” What kind of differences can we expect from your seventh album?
Karolina: We will use African rhythms and we will let the musicians be free to experiment and express themselves.
Johan: I think it might take the magic out of it, at least for myself, if I was to describe it before it’s been recorded and released. I would somehow not feel free if I described it now already. I’m afraid
“different and absolutely amazing” will have to do for now.
Johan, you’re in Acid House Kings, Club 8, and The Legends. Why did you decide to be in several bands?
Johan: It’s to be able to do all the type of music I want to make. It can be strange to talk about it because it just sounds so simple, stupid and cliché-like. But making music is about making new discoveries, exploring and, of course, expressing myself and it just can’t all be made in one band since other people aren’t always into exploring the same things as I am.
You are recording your seventh Club 8 album. The previous six you produced. After producing so many on your own, why did you decide to bring in Jari Haapalainen on this one?
Johan: There’s very few producers that I find genuinely interesting in the way that they add their own personality to the sound, but Jari is definitely one of them. But the fact that you can hear that it’s a Jari Haapalainen has produced a certain album could also be scary because you could be easily be compared to other bands he’s produced. But with the new Club 8 songs there’s not much chance it will end up sounding like something he’s produced before. And I read an interview with Jari some months ago where he talked about the type of rhytmns he’s into. It seemed to be exactly what was doing with Club 8 on our demos, so we figured now is the time to work with him.
When are you expecting the new Acid House Kings album to be finished? We’re all excited to hear it.
Johan: I like to focus on one band at a time and it’s difficult to do AHK stuff when I’m so into writing Club 8 songs right now. But we’ve made a bunch of very good songs and after we’ve finished the Club 8 album I’ll probably get to it. We’d like to release an album next year.
When I listen to The Legends latest album, Over and Over, I can hear songs that definitely sound like they should be a Legends song. But then I hear songs like “Monday To Saturday” and “Jump” and think they could be Acid House Kings songs. How do you decide what band will record various songs?
Johan: Yes, I definitely see what you mean with those two songs. The core idea with “Over and over” was to experiment with feedback and noise. But there’s also a love for big sounds and a lyrical theme that keeps it together and I think “Jump” could only be on “Over and over” in that sense. After all the gloom and depression things were looking a bit brighter by the time when I had more or less finished the album. So I wrote one last, happier song, and that was “Monday..”.
The album “Over and Over” doesn’t seem to have an overall sound style like the previous Legends albums. Why do you think that is?
Johan: I was changing as a person, or at least mood changed, while recording the album and so the songs and the sounds had to change too. My life didn’t change that much while recording the other albums.
Along with being in three bands, you also run Labrador Records. Do you have a hard time juggling all four of them?
No, so far, so good. But when that happens I will let someone else do more of the Labrador work.
Do you have plans to do a Labrador US tour anytime? Something like South by Southwest seems like a perfect situation for Labrador.
Johan: We have a lot of new stuff coming out like Sambassadeur, The Radio Dept., The Mary Onettes and so on, so it’d definitely be fun to bring them all over, but there’s no plans for that right now I’m afraid.
How did Labrador Records get started?
Johan: It was started as a compilation 7″ singles label in 1998 by Bengt Rahm. He included my band Acid House Kings on the first single, and after he had released the two first 7″ singles he wanted to do an album by Club 8 and that’s when I got to know him. I was running the label Summersound at that time and we discovered we shared the same taste in music and the same ideas. So we merged the two labels, called it Labrador and I started running things along with a friend called Mattias.
What non-Labrador bands are exciting you the most right now?
Johan: It’s a very boring answer, but few new things have impressed me lately. Pastels/Tenniscoats was ok. XX was ok. Lake Heartbeat was pretty good. Brothers of End was ok. Cass McCombs had some really good songs on his last album. And Prefab Sprout, Camera Obscura and Fever Ray’s albums were good but that was a little while back now. But it’s only old stuff like The Rail Band or Tangerine Dream that I have really fallen in love with lately. You should email recommendations and Spotify-lists to johan@labrador.se Thanks!
What would be your top five favorite albums? (Obviously not your own
albums.)
Johan:
The Smiths “The Smiths”
Morrissey “Viva Hate”
The Jesus and Mary Chain “Psychocandy”
Television Personalities “Far away and lost in joy” **
Leonard Cohen “Songs of Leonard Cohen”
** Yes, it’s an EP, but I’ll include it anyway…
What hobbies do you have outside of music?
Johan: I like to drive around in the country side. Or go swimming if the weather allows.
Karolina: Reading, mostly novels (my favorite author right now is Hermann Hesse). And I like to listen to people, watch them and think about who they are. It can be on the bus, in the street, in a club or face to face. People fascinate me and I easily like them even though I seldom want to get involved in their lives. And I like to create things with my hands. I love gardening and to paint walls, work with clay, yarn, wool, paper and all sorts of paints and colors. The result is not always beautiful but that doesn’t matter. I just like to do it.
Thanks again to Club 8 for a great interview. We can’t wait to hear the new album next year.
If you’re not familiar with Club 8, then I added some songs to give you a taste of what to expect for next May.
I figured it was long overdue for me to make a new compilation, so here’s the latest one. I hope you guys will enjoy this one. I have some songs that you guys might recognize while there’s probably a few you’ve never heard before, but all of the songs are great. I stuck with an indie pop sound with this compilation. Enough talking about the compilation. Here’s the track list and link to the zip file:
I just saw this video on some blog. I’m totally digging this video. It’s one of the better one’s I’ve seen in a while. The song is full of house funk and I’m loving it. Enjoy.
Red Sky is the first single from Eat More Cake’s debut album, “Climb The Ladder, Live The Dream” and features the haunting vocals of Alexis Griffith. These guys have a chill electronica sound, which I’m always into. Eat More Cake consist of Andrew Briggs and Matt Pearn but were able to have Alexis Griffith come in on their single Red Sky. They were able to get a few guys remix the single as well. Here I put up The Diogenes Club remix of the single. Go to their Myspace to hear a few other songs because you’ll have to wait until 2010 before you can get your hands on their album.
I just got back from seeing Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros last night. That was a really great show. This band has like eleven members in the band. It was worth the price of admission just to see how they fit everyone on the stage. Then to top it off, they had enough room to jump and dance around the entire show. Boy, did these guys have a lot of energy. I don’t know how they’re able to keep up that much energy every night. It’s really impressive.
You guys have to make your way to their shows. Don’t worry if you know their songs or not. It doesn’t matter. You’ll enjoy yourself even if you don’t.
They’ll be touring for the rest of the year. I posted the dates here for you. I also posted a live video of them to give you a taste.
11/9 – Birmingham, AL – WorkPlay Theatre
11/10 – Nashville, TN – 3RD & Lindsley
11/11 – Athens, GA – 40 Watt Club
11/12 – Kent, OH – Kent State Folk Festival @ The Kent Stage
11/14 – Charlottesville, VA – IS VENUE
11/15 – Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church
11/16 – Washington, DC – Black Cat
11/17 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
11/23 – Montreal, QB – Petit Campus
11/24 – Toronto, ON – El Mocambo Club
11/27 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall
11/28 – Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon
11/29 – Minneapolis, MN – The Varsity Theatre
12/1 – Boulder, CO – Boulder Theatre
12/2 – Telluride, CO – Sheridan Opera House
12/5 – Seattle, WA – Neumos
12/8 – Vancouver, BC – The Biltmore Cabaret
12/9 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
12/10 – Eugene, OR – WOW Hall
12/12 – San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
If you’re part of emusic, then you have seen them talking about this band. Trust me, I’m the first one to question the bands that get hyped up on that site. My first thought is always, “How much kick backs are they getting to talk about this album?” But with Best Coast, [...]
I got my hands on Redlight’s latest remix ep. I put a couple of the songs up here. I think you should have some fun dancing to these songs. Junior Senior – Move Your Feet (Redlight Remix) Kings of Convenience – I’d Rather Dance With You (Redlight Remix) Their Myspace [...]
“Tonight Is The Ghost” is the debut album from Hurricane Bells. It has been released on Vagrant Records. This is the latest project from Steve Schiltz, singer and guitarist of Longwave for almost ten years. You may have heard of Hurricane Bells from their song “Monsters” which is on the Twilight soundtrack. It’s [...]
The Shaky Hands have released their third album on the Kill Rock Stars label. This is the first album for them to make after their original drummer left in mid-2008. Between that and Nicholas Delffs’ month and a half trip to India, these guys went into the study ready to make something different. [...]
Now I knew that The Acid House Kings were in the studio for a while. I’ve been impatiently waiting for them to wrap that up so we can get some new tunes. Well, just the other day I got news that Johan from Acid House Kings, The Legends, and Club 8 will write [...]
I figured it was long overdue for me to make a new compilation, so here’s the latest one. I hope you guys will enjoy this one. I have some songs that you guys might recognize while there’s probably a few you’ve never heard before, but all of the songs are great. I [...]
I just saw this video on some blog. I’m totally digging this video. It’s one of the better one’s I’ve seen in a while. The song is full of house funk and I’m loving it. Enjoy. Duck Sauce – Anyway
Red Sky is the first single from Eat More Cake’s debut album, “Climb The Ladder, Live The Dream” and features the haunting vocals of Alexis Griffith. These guys have a chill electronica sound, which I’m always into. Eat More Cake consist of Andrew Briggs and Matt Pearn but were able to have Alexis Griffith come [...]
I just got back from seeing Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros last night. That was a really great show. This band has like eleven members in the band. It was worth the price of admission just to see how they fit everyone on the stage. Then to top it off, they had enough room [...]
