The Garlands and Roadside Poppies join the fun!

THE GARLANDS



While I'm writing this, The Garlands are just a couple of weeks away from their first two gigs ever! At the Cosy Recordings release party for the Snowbirds, then at the fab London Popfest. I don't believe their fantastic debut EP or their split 7" with The Sugarplums have passed anyone by, but just in case: The Garlands make the most apparent twee tunes I've heard in ages. Crisp and sharp. Sour and sweet and salty, all at once, everything we need for our quick fix! Finally, they've gotten around to a becoming a live act. Apart from singer Christin Wolderth, it consists of members from such esteemed acts as Action Biker, Le Futur Pompiste, Ring Snuten!, The Gentle Smiles and Strawberry Fair! Off stage, Roger Gunnarsson (Nixon, Free Loan Investments, Cloetta Paris, The Happy Birthdays) is the other half of the band.




ROADSIDE POPPIES (England/Denmark)



This lot describe themselves as "an indie pop beat combo who, on average, hate mayonnaise". Quite accurate, I'd say. And obviously, you surely can't help but to be at least quite fond of a band who write songs about people who never answer surveys, cycling & crying, and neighbours being on the news. Roadside Poppies are semi-Cambridge, semi-Copenhagen based and you never quite know who's going to show up. Except for Matloob, who is ace. So are the others, and I've decided to trust his judgement. You can listen to their songs here or here. And you should.

...

You'd better take my advice:
Just like you stick a piece of tape
On every chord and microphone
You better stick on yourself
Before they claim you as their own

(Don Lennon)

Venue update

I made a little "survey" concerning last year's venues, and not surprisingly, it turned out that the Gula Villan in Haninge was very popular. Even more so than Lasse i Parken, where we had a very enjoyable evening in 2009. So for 2010, I've now decided to have the Friday some 19 kilometres from Stockholm city, and not just the Saturday. And - if all goes as planned, there will also be some pretty exciting things happening outside of the house itself this time around... more about this later!

I am happy to have Thorells Syndrom involved anyway - the Sunday is looking to be completely ace with their help. And, as you know, Landet is always great. So, preliminarily, here's what it all looks like:

Torsdag: Landet
Fredag: Gula Villan, Haninge*
Lördag: Gula Villan, Haninge*
Söndag: Southside's top floor/Southside's bottom floor*/Southside's outside tables (mini soundsystem?!)*

* to be completely confirmed, but is now preliminarily booked!

Some kind words

Micke from the esteemed Stockholm indie night Klubb King Kong has written a very nice piece looking back at the 2009 festival and forward to the 2010 one. Read it here (in Swedish, but there are also ace photos to view).

Culkin and White Town set to play!

CULKIN



In the fall of 2008, Culkin played their very first gig and they chose to do it at Cosy Den. I'm still very proud of that. The four members hail from Uppsala and Haninge and have previously played in bands like KVLR, Jenniferever and Starmarket. It's therefore quite inevitable that they play what we like to call indie rock - in the best way that I could possibly mean it. Avi from itsatrap.com wrote this a while ago: "Don't let this sound die, people! It's not retro, it's just good." And I cannot stop seconding that. Expect great tunes with thick layers of guitars over them from one of the untrendiest and finest bands in Sweden.




WHITE TOWN (England)



I think it's been a while since I told you the story, so here we go. Large parts of our planet were blown away by Your woman (1997, still holding the record for debut cd single sales in the UK). Some of us bought the album Women in technology, too. But I was fortunate enough to buy the Swedish fanzine En Garde back in 2004. It featured an interview with White Town, and I sent Jyoti Mishra an e-mail. Since then, he has been over no less than five times to play at Cosy Den, and also in places like Halmstad and Turku. White Town has existed for over 20 years now, and although his fan base may not be millions anymore, there's been fantastic songs and albums released for all this time.

First acts confirmed!

THE JUST JOANS (Scotland)



Someone on Last Fm wrote that this bunch are "the twee Arab Strap". It's perhaps not the most accurate thing I've ever read, but it does say something, I guess. This band was my biggest crush in 2009, not just music-wise. I travelled to Nottingham mostly to see them play, and to try to talk them into coming to Sweden. Um, at least it was what made me actually press that "purchase ticket" button. Absolutely remarkable songs about despair, joy, life in Motherwell and... heartache. This will probably be the band's first ever trip outside of the UK, too. (Oh, and if you'd like to set up a gig nearby, just get in touch!)




STELLA ROCKET



I saw this band by chance in November. And I completely missed the whole hype that surrounded the band around 2004 when they released their debut album. Missing out on stuff is good sometimes. And there are definitely good things happening randomly - I fell in love with the band that night, and if someone asked me, I'd describe them as a blend of Scarlet's Well and Heikki or perhaps Rough Bunnies. Stella Rocket are also an incredible live act, incredible enough for me to fall for them from the very first chords of the gig.

I've got to do it again!

Torsdag: Landet
Fredag: Lasse i Parken* and Southside's both floors
Lördag: Gula Villan, Haninge*
Söndag: Southside's top floor

* not yet 100% confirmed

Further info will obviously follow.
For now, here are a couple of thoughts about the 5 years festival and next summer's shindig!

* The ticket system was confusing and a bit messy - I got nervous when people started getting in touch from abroad and simply wanted to make sure everyone got in... this time around: just be there early

* The closeness to Indietracks was intended but is not repeated (at least not in detail); using the Emmaboda week was not intended and is not repeated either
* Saturday in Haninge ended a little abruptly since you drank a lot more lager than the Gula Villan crew expected, and although I do think they know what you're like now...
* ...the Sunday will in 2010 be a very long breakfast with some nice music to secure a proper round-off

Feedback, requests, etcetera - everything is very welcome!