Discreet Music レコード& CD

Review: Arv & Miljo's new album delves into radical environmental activism and draws from the Swedish Plogbill movement's early 90s actions alongside Earth First! and Earth Liberation Front. Mixing monologues, interviews, protest songs, and site recordings with raw kosmische synth music, the pair crafts a mesmerising audio collage. Chaotic yet harmonious, disorienting yet soothing, the album reflects dedication, passion, and the spirit of change. Originally a limited CDR release in 2021, it quickly became a highlight in Arv & Miljo's discography. Now on, Jorden Forst offers a multi-faceted journey through environmental activism and the human spirit's resilience.

Review: Bridge Variations is a new and experimental folk album that mixes up traditional guitar playing with the found sound recordings of busy roads and dripping water. It makes for a living and breathing document with traditional Swedish sounds taken into the here and now in evocative new ways by Jon Collins. The title is drawn from the fact that the Stockholm archipelago is made up of around 30,000 islands with many bridged in between them and under which many of these tunes were recorded on his secondhand homemade nyckelharpa. Jonas Mekas's film Travel Songs is also an inspiration and influence here on what is a fantastic record.

Review: With its use of a motorcycle engine speeding off into the distance, an emerging drum pattern that vaguely recalls Brad Fiedel's The Terminator Theme and slowly building tension created by the synth refrains and piano underscore, Magnus Javerling knows how to create atmosphere. As the opening to Bowdark proceeds, that sense of feeling transforms into a sense of place, which makes sense given the album title is 'borrowed' from a fictional US town where strange things happen, here rendered in music form through quirky electronic keys, whirs and tones, melodies that are not dark, but certainly steeped in mystery. Gothenburg-based Javerling spent no less than six years conceiving and recording the contents of this latest example as to why Sweden's second city is a hotbed of leftfield and avant garde musical talent. Owing at least something to the likes of John Carpenter, the result is a record that transports you into a visceral adventure through the unknown.

Review: The solo project of Swedish musician Sofie Herner, Leda is an experimental project mainly dedicated to roomy, claustrophobic freakouts, fashioned out of a distinctive form of guitar playing, among other tinkerings. Now a well-known name in the Gothenburg scene, Herner's proximity to her local DIY underground is abundantly clear. It feels just as reflective in the sound of her latest project here, Neuter, which sounds like a gargantuan woodwork project subsuming a collective consciousness. Building off the natural footprints trailed by not only her former output, but also her involvement in bands like Neutral and Enhet For Fri Musik, this LP comprises nine tracks of minimal guitar loops, layered oppressively with doomy vocals, all-encompassing percussion, and other oddball instruments. Movements one through nine guide us through uniquely dour worlds, all with the utmost creep factor.

Review: Nine tracks of 'life-affirming downer music' by Swedish duo Charlott Malmenholt and Joakim Karlsson aka Treasury Of Puppies. Mitt Stora Nu is the Gothenburg-based duo's second album, following last year's titled Lollos Dagbok and their eponymous debut back in 2020. A collection of lo-fi and quirky indie-pop ditties, all said to have been influenced by Edgar Allan Poe as much as Britney Spears. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi and pressed in an edition of 1000 copies. Comes with insert.