2008

It has become time to sum up another year that has gone by. Financially depressing and politically messy (yet possibly hopeful) it was a year of future concern. Wall-E was not the only one to raise the issue of pollution. The songs which were released captured the worry and melancholia of the year well. The Swedish people took Takida and tearful "Curley Sue" to their hearts and in my top ten songs of 2008 there are only two up tempo songs - even there one is about surrender and the other about deceit.

But before I give you that list, have a look at what I thought were the albums of the year. Despite heavy releases such as Metallica, Guns n Roses, Slipknot and AC/DC none of these made the list, other big names did however. Is the list too Swedish? Possibly.


1. Cult of Luna – Eternal Kingdom
2. In Flames – A Sense of Purpose
3. The Haunted – Versus
4. Backyard Babies – Backyard Babies
5. Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band – Conor Oberst
6. The Hellacopters – Head Off
7. Gojira – The Way of All Flesh
8. Rise Against – Appeal to Reason
9. Ida Maria – Fortress Round My Heart
10. Kleerup - Kleerup
(11. Torche - Meanderthal)

Top 10 songs

1. Darling darling – The Hellacopters
2. Until we bleed – Kleerup ft. Lykke Li
3. Abandon – Backyard Babies
4. Snuff – Slipknot
5. If I surrender – The Color Fred
6. Deceit – Union Square
7. Peace Is Free – Black Stone Cherry
8. Ghost Trail – Cult Of Luna
9. Control. Alter. Delete – The Mirimar Disaster
10. Keep Me Warm – Ida Maria
(11. Rivers Run – The Haunted)

A year has gone by and many new musical discoveries have been made.

Ida Maria and Serenade For June were two of my first discoveries this spring.
Kate Nash made my summer golden (one year late, I KNOW) and Stars introduced fall with their beautiful "Personal". This Will Destroy You and Marionette, two very different sounding bands both took my breath away at concerts in Berlin.
And due to my recent move to Germany Turbostaat, Kettcar, Kommando Sonne-Nmilch and Deichkind have entered my life and made great impressions.
Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band and The Color Fred have been among the brighter EMOtional favourites during the year whereas Cavalera Conspiracy and Gojira stood out with heavy riffs.
Some who despite the major hype that surrounded them made an overwhelming impression were Kleerup, Lykke Li and The Faint.
And those who didn’t were Glasvegas and MGMT. Boring stuff.

The gig of the year was no doubt The Hellacopters at Debaser Medis. Amen.

Swedish punk fanzine Skitliv! tells the truth.

Skitliv!, a fanzine which during its three year existence interviewed bands such as Wolfbrigade, Skitsystem, Disfear and Massgrav has released it's 10th and last issue. In the extra thick release it is revealed that the whole thing was a joke from day 1.

"Challe" and "Fisen", the two guys behind the zine who always came across as a couple of sexistic and immature drug addicts are actually:

Joakim Andersson of Human Waste, Opposition and Döden loggar in and Joakim Staaf-Sylsjö, aka Sylen, from Dödsdömd, Human Waste and Totalt Jävla Mörker.

The two musicians wanted to loosen up the Swedish punk scene which they believe takes itself a bit to serious. They also wanted to see how far a joke could be taken and if you actually could joke about anything.

Having interviewed the guys a year ago I got to know the truth behind the zine already then but was never told who the brains behind it actually were. No doubt was I surprised when I last week found out who I had been emailing with. On top of that Sylen, after having seen my wish list here on Nordic Flames, said he wanted to send me Totalt Jävla Mörker's CD for Christmas. What a sweetheart!

Now that the truth is out the duo has been getting a lot of different response. Many think that the band Warvictims which was born out of the zine now has died too but this is not the case. Warvictims and the record label D-Takt och Råpunk Rec are in fact planning releases for the future.

When asked if it was all worth it, Sylen answers:

- It was so fucking worth it! Even though it meant insane amounts of work which was not always motivating the fun bits made up for it. It has been a great relief to be able to leave this behind and move on. Also not having to lie to friends any more feels very good. I'm not mourning.

So Skitliv! may not be mourned for long but it may well have succeeded with its goal to stir up a storm or two in punk Sweden. If nothing else then big thank you to Skitliv! for a good laugh.

Read more about the set up, the reactions that followed and Jocke and Sylen's own comments(and why not check out my essay which is up there while you're at it?) on http://dbeatrawpunk.blogspot.com
For Swedish readers check out www.criticalmass.se for a longer Swedish article