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The Kick is locked up in the studio, writing songs for their second "real" album. We're talking about the successor to the critically acclaimed debut "Metal Heart" and the much talked about free compilation "Anomalies (a collection of unreleased tracks)", released on their website and loads of blogs on last Christmas Eve!
The band has received lots of great attention outside Sweden but aforementioned "Anomalies" has gotten great reviews on home soil too; Musikjournalen wrote "9 out of 10 for a brilliant album with great depth" and Nöjesguiden awarded the album a Smiley when stating that it's "a soundtrack suitable for all the gloomy indie hearts, clapping hands in the dark, happy to hear decadent ambient indie, free from Christmas bells and Santas."
The upcoming album is scheduled to be an autumn release but there's already a teaser: "Rubicon", a grandiose summery pop song, full of depth and darkness, and with a chorus that sticks like glue. The B-side is "Only4U", exclusive to the single. "Rubicon" is released April 18 and there's an accompanying video, directed by Christoffer Fransson - don't miss any of it!
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The Kick gives the world an amazing Christmas gift: an album Anomalies, totally for free (Christmas gifts usually are)! Here's what the band has to say:
For the past months The Kick has been hiding out in the studio working on new material to follow up the 2009 debut album Metal Heart. A new single is planned for release later this winter, but in the meantime David decided to give away some previously unreleased material for free. So how did this come about?
"I had a couple of songs that didn't make it on to the first record, mainly because they didn't fit the mood of the album. When I started working on new material I felt that I wanted to take the music in a new direction. I pushed the song writing and instrumentation into different areas and some of the first things I came up with reminded me of those couple of songs that never got properly recorded or released."
So why isn't this the second album by The Kick?
[i]"As the writing progressed I felt this wasn't the direction I wanted to take. At the same time the songs were to good to just throw away, so the label and I decided to release them for free. It's a good marker for where my creativity and inspiration was at for a certain period."
"There is a sort of eeriness to the songs. The sensation of walking through a public building in the middle of the night when it's completely empty. Maybe it's the fact that...
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At last! The legendary Swedish band Two Sheds' full-length albums are available for download!
"Out Of Our Sheds" was originally released in 1991 and received lots of rave reviews, but also contempt; a band from Sweden couldn't possibly sound like that. The bands originality and the dark lyrics, filled with a great deal of black humour, generated strong reactions; being Swedish and deal with such heavy topics was hardly OK at the time. And with a band name taken from a Monty Python sketch, things didn't get any easier. So it was not much of a surprise that a major Swedish magazine critic dismissed the album with a comment stating that a band who makes a cover of "My Little Pony" could not be taken seriously. But the song is an original composition with very serious lyrics and the writer obviously didn’t listen to the album before he reviewed it... Despite the bands controversy, they were mostly praised, e.g:
• "Two Sheds is a furious incitement machine that someone managed to curb just before it's about to run away ... It's impossible to leave the hifi" Mattias Hansson, Nöjesguiden
• "Two Sheds from Malmö released their first full length album, and everything that previously was suggested, bursts into full bloom." Håkan Engström, Sydsvenska Dagbladet
[i]• "Nothing really fits within the framework set up by the major record companies' profit making machinery. That’s precisely why it's so go...
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At last! The legendary Swedish band Two Sheds' full-length albums are available for download!
Two Sheds released "Not Good" their second and final album in 1993, a record which got an even better reception in the press than its predecessor. The album was darker and heavier than "Out of Our Sheds" but yet more dynamic. The controlled chaos is mixed with softer and also acoustic elements, and the melodies are even more self-confident than previously. Even the worst detractors were silenced and the press fully took Two Sheds' odd and uncomfortable rock to their hearts.
• "They are totally unique in the timid Swedish pop scene. Hail them as Kings!" Lars Aldman, Sound Affects
• "What a rock pleasure, I’m amazed!" Björn Gyllix, Helsingborgs Dagblad
• "The Malmö band Two Sheds - the Sparks of the nineties - has released the album of the year" Magdalena Väpnargård, Idag
• "The reason Two Sheds triumph, without being the least innovative, is probably depending on the fact that they’re not for a second glancing at the current musical climate." JJK, Nöjesguiden
• "Malmö's Two Sheds could without any doubt come from across the Atlantic, but that's not case and that's something we probably should be very proud of." Pettersborg, Close Up
[i]• "On 'Not Good' Two Sheds is just as ironic, wacky, intense, affected, tear filled, distinctive, country coloured, humorous, amazed, ...
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Christer Hermodson, from the legendary band S.P.O.C.K, released his debut solo project Biomekkanik last summer attracting considerable attention, particularly in Germany. The album "State of Perfection" was hailed by critics:
• "a perfect blend" (9/10 Orkus)
• "the total listening experience gives a desire to dance" (-/- Sonic Seducer)
• "has more than enough potential to captivate listener, and again and again send him on a journey of discovery" (-/- Zillo)
• "Buy this album as soon as hits stores" (8.5 /10 Reflections of Darkness)
• "a remarkably strong debut album" (8/10 Gothtronic)
...and the list goes on...
And if that wasn't acclaim enough, "'State of Perfection" charted for ten weeks, eight of those in second place, in the German Alternative Charts (DAC)! This resulted in an impressive twelfth place on the DAC Annual Top list for 2009, above artists such as Depeche Mode (# 15), Placebo (# 16) and Marilyn Manson (# 30) !! It might then be no co-incidence that the list was also topped by the compilation "Septic VIII" in which Biomekkanik featured with "Pitch Black Ocean", of which Stefan Herwig of Dependent claimed was "one of the best songs I've heard coming out of this scene in a long time"!
Now, we are proud to finall...
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Let's get one thing straight: this is not a Beatles cover! David Sundqvist does his own thing and this new single is no exception. Right off the highly acclaimed debut album "Metal Heat", we get "Let It Be", not just the original but of course a selection of remixes as well. Notably: a cool tech house version by Håkan Lidbo, recent winner of Beatport's huge Depeche Mode remix contest!
The album "Metal Heart" was released this summer and has been hugely well received with 5 weeks at Top10 on the important German Alternative Charts (DAC), ahead of The Arctic Monkeys, among many. The album has also received some great reviews:
GOTHIC [DE] (9/10) - "Fantastic"
ORKUS [DE] (9/10) - "With the debut 'Metal Heart' the Swede plays his trump somewhere between Nine Inch Nails, IAMX and My Bloody Valentine, and does so with great skill."
REFLECTIONS OF DARKNESS [DE] (8,5/10) - "I'm certain this album is gonna be a total success. Thumbs up!"
MEDIENKONVERTER [DE] (5/6) - "Using great talent to convert raw energy and dark dramatics into self igniting pathos bombs, The Kick is nothing like Roxette, Europe or Ace Of Base"
SONIC SEDUCER [DE] (-/-) - [i]"With gems like 'Freak'' and 'Dancer" this album does very well alongside stars like Nine Inch Nails and IAMX"[...
