Top Music Festivals in Stockholm You Can’t Miss This Summer

There’s no denying it, summer is here. Despite the temperatures associated with summer still lacking.

Kraftwerk, Gesaffelstein & Róisín Murphy at Rosendal Garden Party, Stockholm.
Rosendal Garden Party is a three day festival. It has been running in Stockholm since 2022. The event is held at the Rosendals Trädgård, on Djurgården in Stockholm. The three days usually cater to very different audiences due to the variety in lineups. I’ve attended all but one year and it’s such a beautiful time and venue. Djurgården is a very central part of Stockholm, but its so close to nature that being in Rosendals Trädgård you almost forget that you’re just a 15 minute walk away from the subway. This year i went on the friday where i wanted to see Gesaffelstein and the legends, Kraftwerk. We arrived just before Róisín Murphy started to play, and we listened to a few of her songs – what a voice and such a groovy set. When Rosendal announced the lineups for the different days i was fully convinced that i had never heard of her before, but then i checked Spotify and it turns out that she sings on The Truth by Handsome Boy Modeling School – one of my favourite songs ever.

The slot after Róisín Murphy it was time for Gesaffelstein, who’s gotten a lot of recognition in later years after doing collaborations with The Weeknd. I was first introduced to Gesaffelstein back in 2015 or so. The sound mesmerized me as it was so different compared to the other electronic music being released at the same time. The set itself was very cool, as he played mostly his own songs and none of the collaborative songs, despite one instrumental of a The Weeknd song. The headliner of the evening was the legendary godfathers of electronic music – Kraftwerk.

Kraftwerk had a classic setup with their four standing desks with a massive screen behind them, showing animations aligned with the song presently playing. The set itself was nice, they played all of their classic songs, and i’m pretty sure they were actually singing live – kudos!
However, the set itself became a bit slow after a few songs, but it was in no way bad. I imagine it must’ve been way cooler seeing them in their prime. But, it was very exciting to have seen them live.

Rise Against, Annexet, Stockholm.
The Chicago born punk rock band Rise Against played in Stockholm, and i had to go see them. I first stumbeled upon Rise Against in 2004, and they we’re without a doubt the band i listened to most in high school. They also functioned as a massive stepping stone in the music exploration for me, as well as venturing into politics.They have always been very vocal about animal welfare and veganism. This was a great start for a 13 year old me getting exposed to different kinds of politics than what i was facing on day to day in the national media.

I’ve seen Rise Against once before, at the Bråvalla Festival, back in 2015. So, 10 years later it was long overdue to see them perform again. Happy to say that they still put on an amazing and very energetic performance, giving it all during their set. This time they played at Annexet, one of the medium sized venues in Stockholm, with a capacity of a couple of thousand attendees – this suited their performance perfectly. I was lucky to attend the concert with my brother, whom has also loved Rise Against since we were kids, as i played them so much, that he wasn’t able to escape them when growing up. Rise Against has a new album coming out at the end of the summer, and they played a few new songs during their performance. It sounds really good, and i’m excited for the future of the band that i fell in love with so many years ago.

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.

New music recap – January 2024

I always listen to music, and i listen to a lot of music. My Spotify wrapped 2023 put me down for 163 000 minutes which is a lot. But i am not very good at actively seeking out new releases. So, that is a thing i will try and do more of in 2024.

For January i have listened to four albums that was released in January 2024, and below i will list them, give some of my thoughts about them, as well as a 0-10 score.

ORQUÍDEAS – Kali Uchis
Kali Uchis has become a house hold name over the last years and she has put out a lot of fantastic music and featured on many more. This is my first time listening to one of her albums from start to finish, as i’ve mostly heard heard her in different features with artists such as Bootsy Collins. The titles of the tracks are all in spanish, and the lyrics are mainly being sung in spanish, with some english. As i only know a few words in spanish, the lyrics made little sense to me – but the production is very good, and the instrumentals are very cool. My favourite track of off this album is No Hay Ley Parte 2. I read an article the other day about how music sung in spanish is making a big impact, and has been on a steady increase these last few years.
5/10.

People Who Aren’t There Anymore – Future Islands
I stumbeled upon Future Islands when the festival Coachella was streaming concerts on Youtube a couple of years ago. I had never heard of Future Islands before, but since then, i have often returned to them, as i fell in love with their catchy yet smooth melodies, and intriguing lyrics. This new album is no different, it sounds like a Future Islands record, and i’ve really been enjoying it thus far. My favourite track off of this album is The Tower.
7/10.

Saviors – Green Day
As a 90s kid Green Day has been a big part of my musical journey, eventhough, i haven’t been as into them as many have. My first exposure to Green Day was when they released American Idiot in 2004. This lead me to finding their 1994 album Dookie, which holds a special place in my heart, that i often come back to. On this new album, Saviors, they really are trying, for which i give them kudos for effort – but something really is lacking, badly. I do however think that Dilemma is a genuinly good song.
2/10.

Wall of Eyes – The Smile
The Smile is one of Radiohead front man Tom Yorke’s many different projects. Wall of Eyes is the second album from The Smile, and my first exposure to this particular Yorke project. I went in without any thoughts about how this might sound, as i really had no clue. I was floored, and according to my Last.fm-statistics i’ve already listened through it 8 times this wee, not bad for an album that was released a week ago. I’d describe the sound of this album as a slower, and somewhat easier to digest, compared to much of the Radiohead stuff. My favourite track off of this album is Teleharmonic.
8/10.

I think we have some good stuff to look forward to for February. For example, Burial released a new EP yesterday!

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.

Asphalt Meadows – Death Cab For Cutie

This past friday, the 16th, Death Cab for Cutie released a new album, that’s called Asphalt Meadows. I fell in love with Death Cab for Cutie 16 years ago, when i heard their song Soul Meets Body off of their 2005 album Plans, when someone put that song in a video montage of a player versus player video of the computer game World of Warcraft. Can’t remember what video, or who made it, but hats off to you, for introducing Death Cab for Cutie to me.

This american rock band has put out a lot of music since their debut in 1997. Asphalt Meadows is a 11 track album, that stretches over 42 minutes and 5 seconds. And my impressions are that this is an album that sounds very much like a Death Cab for Cutie-album. Some songs that are very gentle and downtempo, some songs that features gentle parts with temposhifts and some songs that goes a bit harder than the other songs, with lyrics that are sung a bit harsher, with an overall tempo that is paced quicker than other tracks.

And this formula is what Death Cab for Cutie is known for, tempo-shifting songs, beatiful lyrics with the angelic voice of Ben Gibbard, that is tightly knit into a package with the help from the very instrumentally strong support from the rest of the band. And this is both a strenght and a weakness from Death Cab for Cutie. You get what you expect, it’s very tight and efficient, but you don’t ever get surprised by a release from them. And i assume that this is what has kept them in the game for so long. The fans, me included, always know what we’re going to get, and it’s often, nearly always, very good. However, i would like to see some experimenting, as i believe that they’re competent enough to make a lot of different genres work. And, you can always fall back and listen to Ben Gibbards other band The Postal Service, that in all honesty sound a bit like DCfC, but it’s also very good.

All in all, to round this text off. I like this album, a lot, i think it’s good, and it will be heavily rotated by me. Have you given it a listen? If not, give it a chance!

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.

Best of Discover Weekly – Week 36:2022

Here comes my three favourite tracks from this weeks Discover Weekly-playlist from Spotify. The tracks are in no particular order. This week we had no tracks in finnish or other languages that i don’t speak, and that’s a rare occasion. Usually there are a few tracks in finnish.

The first track is Here’s Your Future by The Thermals. This is a good rock song, with a slowpaced start that gets into some heavy hitting tempo. This sounds just like a song that was released in 2006, and that’s also when it was released. It has the same features of a mid 00s rock song. And i’m a sucker for it.

The second track is Dum Surfer by King Krule. I’ve been listening to King Krule on and off, but somehow this track flew over my head. I’ve probably never really listened to the 2017 album The OOZ, where this song comes from. This track is a King Krule-esque track, with some pretty interesting and intriguing instrumental parts and solos. King Krule’s voice is one of those things, i believe, that you either love or hate. I had a rough time with it in the beginning, but it grew on me.

The third and final track in this weeks best of Discover Weekly is Something Bigger, Something Brighter by Pretty Girls Make Graves. The album which features this song was released in 2003, so this is also a mid 00’s rock song. We’ve got a female vocalist, whose voice fits this kind of song excellently. This song is very tempo-driven, it changes several times during the track, and i find that this enhances the song for me.

Hope you give these songs a listen, and i hope that you had some good music this week on your DIscover Weekly-playlist.

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.

Best of Release Radar – Week 34 – 2022.

Spotify features this thing called Release Radar, which consists of 30 songs that are newly released. The description of the playlist is, rougly translated from swedish to english, as follows: ”Listen to the newest music from artists that you follow, and also new singles that has been chosen for you. Updated every friday.”.

And i figured that this could be a fun part of the Laces Shoes & Funky Tunes website could be a consistent update. Every week, i pick my three favourite tracks from my Release Radar Playlist. I will however preface that many tracks on my Release Radar Playlist is remixes of older songs, that has been released a long time ago, and already has been remixed several times – but sometimes, these mixes are golden. An example of this would be that i this week have gotten a remix of Avicii’s track Malo, a track that was released back in 2011. So, it’s always rather fun to go through and see what’s been released lately. I assume that these remixes mostly connects to the artists that i follow, and the rest of the tracks on Release Radar can be whatever Spotify imagines that i would enjoy. I do want to preface this list with, that some weeks you get 10 absolute bangers that go into your regular rotation on Spotify, but some weeks it’s a struggle to even find one track that sticks out.

I will list the three songs that i pick, without any special order. If they’ve been picked, i enjoyed them.

The first track that i will mention on this weeks Best of Release Radar is the track called Let It Breathe by the rapper Joey Bada$$. This track was released as a single that features on his new album called 2000. I must admit that i have a somewhat of a soft spot for Joey, i’ve been listening to him for a long time and i think that most of his releases are very good. I was bumping his 2017 album ALL-AMERIKKKAN BADA$$ so much when it was released, and i still come back to it regularly.
I enjoy the sound of Let It Breathe, it’s hard to describe closer what it is, but there’s something in it that speaks to me. And i’m always fascinated by the flow and lyrics of Joey and his tracks.

The second track that i will mention on this weeks Best of Release Radar is a track called Before You and its by BCee, Charlotte Haining and Emba. This is some sort of electronic, possibly a liquid house track – let’s say that it is. I always find these kinds of songs hard to put in a genre of sorts. The track is rather soothing and it has this strong female lead voice, that a lot of songs in this genre has. However i feel like the singer, who i assume is Charlotte Haining, complements the track in a good way. I believe that Before You will go into my regular rotation of songs.

The last track that i will mention on this weeks Best of Release Radar is a track called ‘Til Dawn by Rebecca & Fiona, Chinaski. I’ve been a fan of Rebecca & Fiona for years, and i do enjoy the path and direction that they’re taking with their new music. I get the feeling that they’re not afraid to try something new and different from what they’ve done before. I have no prior knowledge of Chinaski, however i am going to dwell deeper into Chinaski and see what kinds of music has been produced by them before. ‘Til dawn gives me a feeling that i am driving in Miami in the mid 1980’s on your way to a cool party, and i enjoy it. It sounds nice and comforting. Like the world lies before your feet.

Honorable mention as the worst track that i got on this weeks Release Radar is You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween by Muse. This is, i don’t even really know how to describe it. Give it a listen. I feel like there are no redeeming qualities to this track. Which had me rather surprised as i do enjoy Muse a lot, and i’ve seen them live in concert once. However, this time they are completely off the rails

It seems as this was one of those weeks when the tracks on the playlist is rather weak. I had some trouble picking the three tracks that i enjoyed the most. I hope that you have an easier time picking out your favourites from this weeks Release Radar playlist.

Until next time, take care.
SLQT

Anatolian Rock Revival Project

A couple of years ago a friend of mine linked me a playlist on Spotify that’s called Anatolian Rock Revival Project and the description of the playlist is as follows: ”An art project dedicated to bringing non-mainstream pieces from Turkish Rock History (1964-1980) into the light with unique artworks.”. Neither my friend or i speak any turkish, but you don’t need to speak turkish or understand the lyrics to be able to enjoy the purity of the music. However it sure would be fun to understand the lyrics to the songs, alas i’m not sure if i would enjoy the tracks in the same capacity – since rock music from this era in the western world, with lyrics that i understand, sometimes are quite cheesy.

There’s something so wild and excellent about the music, since i can’t comment on the lyrics, the statement before connects to the instrumental parts of the songs, aswell as the singing – because you can get a feel for the lyrics from the voice and emotion of the singer.
However, the instrumentals are so good, there’s just something about that old, raw rock music that really connects back to the time when it was produced. Most of the other rock music that most of us westeners has enjoyed stems from the western part of the world, yet somehow some of the songs in this playlist sounds so similiar to the western counterparts. However, the Anatolian Rock Music from this era also brings in instruments that wasn’t being used in the western counterparts of the music from the same era, since it connects to the more classical and ”folky” music from the Anatolian region, aswell as other elements, of course.

You somehow always fall back into what you’ve grown up listening to, and i assume that the same applies to the rock music in this playlist. You see that in a lot of music, that you implement sounds that comes from the folk music from the region that your roots stem from.

As i’ve been listening through several of these Anatolian rock-playlists during the years i’ve noticed that a few of the songs has been sampled in new and modern music, which is rather fun! I think that speaks volumes for atleast the instrumentals from this region during this era – that rock music from the 60s to the 80s, in the Anatolian region gets sampled into newly produced music. One of the artists that i’ve been listening to a lot before i discovered the Anatolian Rock Revival Project is the rapper Action Bronson – so, figure my surprise when i recognized some instrumentals and some hooks from the Anatolian music, as it turns out that Action Bronson seems to rather heavily sample from these old Anatolian Rock songs. I really enjoy that, it gives people the chance and possibility to broaden whatever music they listen to, as they subconsciously gets introduced to other sorts of music, as they get sampled into different kind of genres of music.

This playlist is something i often find myself wander back into, and i feel that i both listen to it actively, but also keep it in the backround sometimes as it’s so very easy to listen to, in my opinion. I hope that you’ll give the Anatolian Rock Revival Project a chance. I give it my stamp of approval.

Until next time, take care.
SLQT

200822 – The Hives – Live

This will be a brief review from saturday when The Hives played a live show in central Stockholm.

Last week Stockholms kulturfestival (Stockholm festival of Culture), took place over several days within the central parts of Stockholm. There were live concerts, standup comedy, food trucks, beer tents and everything imaginable that falls under the ”culture umbrella”. And the beauty of the whole festival is that it’s free of admission.

I saw The Hives at Bråvalla 2014, and i consider that the best live performance i’ve ever been to, they put on a show like no one else does. So, when i saw that The Hives would play a free show in Stockholm i convinced a couple of friends that we should attend.

The scene was put up at Gustav Adolfs torg, right next to Kungsträdgården, in front of the Opera and inbetween The royal castle and The Parliament. About as a central of a location you can have in Stockholm. The Hives is rather interesting because they’re big in Sweden, but a million times bigger abroad, than at home.

They played a very Hive-esque set, fast paced songs, with showmanship inbetween the songs, and during the songs. The whole band is very fun to watch, as it seems as they have a good time performing. And Howlin’ Pelle might just be the most charismatic front man in the music scene.

The Hives performed all their biggest hits and it was very good. They had an encore. The show featured a lot of the same things that i partook in when i saw The Hives perform in 2014, so their performance is very tight, as they’ve perfected it over several years of performing.

I recommend anyone that has the possibility to watch The Hives perform, to take the possibility as they put on a show like no one else does. It’s very fun. I have a hard time scoring this set, but i’d give it a steady 8/10.

Until next time, take care.
SLQT.

New releases.

The other week we had many new releases from big artists, and as always smaller acts. However the bigger the release seems to be, the bigger the performing artist, the bigger the drum and PR around the release. When it in face should be the smaller acts that gets written about. This inquiry from me will be hypocritical since i am going to write about one of the bigger releases.

The week of releases i am thinking about is the week where Kanye West released Donda, Drake released Certified Lover Boy and Iron Maiden released Senjutsu. The smaller release that i was hinting towards in the beginning of the paragraph is Space Werewolves Will Be the End of Us All by Blockhead.

I’ve given them all a listen, however, i have very different feelings toward them all, apart from Kanye & Drake. I can’t, i was able to listen to like four or five songs from their respective albums. I’ve never been a fan of Drake, he has a couple of songs that i’ve had on repeat and that follows onto every newly created playlist on Spotify, but overall i find Drakes music rather bland.

What to say about Kanye? I don’t know.
I really enjoyed The Life of Pablo and i strongly feel like that’s the last good album Kanye has released alone and under his own name. I do however think that the KIDS SEE GHOSTS project he did together with Kid Cudi was fresh and intresting. I felt a bit let down by Donda because of the route Kanye’s been taking these last years doesn’t please me and my taste. I prefer when his album contains rap with some chorus, and not like it’s been on these last releases, chorus with some rap. I don’t want artists to be stagnant and get stuck in whatever they’re doing, i love when they try different things that might push the artform forward, and i believe that is what Kanye’s doing – he’s trying, and that, i appreciate greatly. I value his work and what he’s trying to accomplish, and i believe that something amazing will come out of it, however, Donda, isn’t that, for me. Compared to Kanye, i feel that Drake has become stagnant in his style, it works, he sells and streams a lot, but it is no longer appealing to me.

I’ve been listening to Blockhead on and off for a couple of years, i discovered him through the discovery of Aesop Rock. I read somewhere that they went to school together and through that they started to make music. Periodically i’ve been more into Aesop than Blockhead, and for periods it’s been swapped.
With that background, i’ve been listening to snippets and stuff that Blockheads been releasing for this new album, leading up to its actual release. I have a softspot for electronic artists that actually release albums. It usually tend to feel like there’s releases of singles and EPs, but rarely albums. I think that Space Werewolves Will Be the End of Us All is very well worth a listen. Blockheads style of producing and putting songs together is very well done and overall i find that this is a good album that i will be rotating for a while.

The last, but not the least.
Senjutsu by Iron Maiden. I must admit, when i saw the name of the upcoming album, i was skeptic. I felt from the name that the old rockers were trying to be woke. However, i was very wrong, and i was floored by this album. I’ve had it on repeat since release, and it keeps on growing on me. It’s full of that classic imagery that you find in Iron Maiden lyrics and i feel like that the sound that they’ve found their way back to a sound that resembles the sound of older albums. I know, this sounds hypocritical of me to say, but an Iron Maiden-album sounding like an Iron Maiden-album will always be the best sounding Iron Maiden album. Senjutsu for me is a strong contender for the best album of the year so far, and i think, and i recommend you to listen to it!

I’ve been walking a lot over the summer, i got a good application on the phone for tracking steps, so i can easily get oversight of my progress. Since May, and 4 months ahead, a couple of days ago, i registred my 750km (465 miles) in four months of walking. It feels good, and it feels like an accomplishment.

I also feel like i should adress the fact that i haven’t finished listening to the new Kanye and Drake album and the fact that i give my opinions on them here. I will finish them, and i will listen through them thoroughly and i might write something about them in the future.

Until next time, take care.

SLQT.

Songs For The Deaf by Queens of the Stone Age.

Howdy.

By the title of the text you might’ve figured out what the subject of todays text will be, and if you’ve guessed Songs For The Deaf by Queens of the Stone Age, you are indeed, correct. Excellently guessed.

When i was in high school i started to get into music, like a lot of people do. You’re growing up and you’re exploring your own taste in music. My high school years correlated perfectly with the emo music wave and my music taste had evolved in that direction for a while, but the emo wave made the evolution go way faster. These last couple of weeks music hasn’t had the same taste and i guess it’s just one of those lows that eventually will return to your regular taste. However, this has made it difficult to find music to listen to, and i felt like i only listen to the same kind of songs all the time, something that i know isn’t true, but the feeling is hard to beat. The other week i read about some french study, and im paraphrasing here, said that the music you listen to when you were around 14 years old is the music that has the biggest impact on yourself and your future music taste.
With this study in my head i started to go back to what i listened to when i was around 14-15 and it was a lot of emo, a lot of postpunk and similar things – and i must admit, it still sounds great. However i assume that there’s a big portion of nostalgia affecting the feeling towards the music.

With this in mind i started to think about an episode of the podcast called Strong Songs that disected the song No one knows by Queens of the Stone Age, that i listened to this summer.
I somehow totally looked past Queens of the Stone Age while growing up, even though it would’ve fitted me perfectly during high school, and Songs for the Deaf was released, so there’s nothing that really stopped me, except the fact that i probably just didn’t stumble upon it. The evolving of the Internet and programs such as Spotify sure has made it easier to find music. Anyway, back to the album. The first album by QOTSA that i remember listening to was when they released …Like Clockwork and that didn’t really speak to me at that time, however it does now. It wasn’t until later when i started to go through their older discography like Songs for the Deaf and Era Vulgaris it clicked for me. And over the years i fell deeper in love with QOTSA, however, i am not a hard core fan of theirs, i just know that whenever my taste for music gets a bit duller – i can always go to Era Vulgaris and Songs for the Deaf and have an excellent listening experience.

I think that Songs for the Deaf is absolutley excellently produced and the sound, the voices, the instruments, all together works so well and that is what makes Songs for the Deaf one of my favourite albums of all times.

I hope you have a fantastic weekend.

Until next time, take care.

SLQT

Spirit World Field Guide by Aesop Rock.

The 13th of November 2020 Aesop Rock releases his new album that’s been named Spirit World Field Guide and as before Aesop Rock is still on the Rhymesayers label.
So far two singles from the upcoming album has been released: The Gates and Pizza Alley. The latter one has stirred up some controversies online partly because people has linked it to some absurd and insane conspiracy theories that wander around social media like a ghoul. Apart from this controversy the other outcry i’ve seen online, about this song, is the mixing. I do not understand what they’re on about, i must admit. But i, on the other hand, really like the sound and i always assume that the released version of a song is the way it’s supposed to sound. And i feel like redacting and updating versions of album, like Kanye West did with Saint Pablo, just makes it hard to keep up with how an album sounds and it gives you this incentive to keep on coming back, just because you cannot be sure if the albums been changed or not. However, back to Aesop.

With these things out of our way, we’ll carry on with this text. From what Rhymesayers write on their website about this upcoming album it’s easy to get the feeling that this is a concept album of sorts that connect to literature. The album is called Spirit World Field Guide which implies that this indeed is a field guide to help us navigate the Spirit World of Aesops imagination. The 21 tracks on the album is referred to as chapters, again tying the knot of this being some kind of literature.
From the sounds of the singles we’ve heard so far, this gives me the feel like it’s tied to some 80s dungeons and dragons-fantasy, The spirit world. The track list really do enforce the feeling of this being 21 chapters that stand alone in themselves, but together they tie this field guide together.

The Gates was the first single that was released from the upcoming album. It appeals to me, i am a sucker for tracks that goes hard. And the beat together with the bass in this track holds hand and makes this slap hard. Pizza Alley has this underlying vibe that makes you a bit uneasy and it feels eerie. And how the sounds in the song switches it makes the feeling that we’re out on a DND-mission hard to ignore. Especially with the other clues we’ve gotten in form of the name of the album and the literature comparision with the tracks named as chapters. The sound of these two tracks differ a lot from each other and i have a feeling that we’ll get 21 tracks that sound very different.

I am truly looking forward to this album and to see what Aesop Rock has managed to pull together this time. I am also very much looking forward to see what lyrical masterpiece Aesop Rock has managed to do this time. As mentioned before, the album drops the 13th of November and will (hopefully) be available on all the regular places you find music.
I will, surely, write something about the album when it’s out.

Until next time, take care.

SLQT.