The ragged, smelly Stay Out West-crowd entered the Opera house of Gothenburg and the rest is history. Kurt Vile made it a night for the ages. The Pennsylvania longhaired slacker dude slammed his guitar into bits and pieces, an absolute epic display that bubbled into cosmos and back. Divine, heartwarming, bone-chilling. The crisp and pitch perfect sound of the opera chamber made the Vile night almighty justice.
Conor Oberst
5/7
”Up for the fight”
Photo: Olle Kirchmeier
All the way from Omaha Nebraska…Mr Oberst in his wide-brimmed hat. Behind him, folk-rocker band Dawes, and the front man is up for the fight. The combo Dawes+Conor is a perfect match and I sure hope they stay together. Oberst sits down at the keyboard, he spins and turns with his acoustic guitar, and beautiful Americana songs as Zigzagging Towards the Light and Artifact #1 gets under our skin.
I Break Horses
6/7
”dark and powerful”
When Maria Lindén enters the dark stage @ GBG Filmstudios, the anticipation is super high. Wearing a veil she delivers just what everyone came for. A dark and powerful night of sounds and vocals that seem to be close to perfection. Only some technical errors seems to bother the singer. No one else hears any errors, just magic. I will keep this night close to me for a long time.
Lemmy Kilmister has had a rough ride. You can tell by looking at the man. He gets upon stage with local boy Mikkey Dee on drums and guitar-man Phil Campbell in a BK Häcken-shirt (give the guy a GAIS-shirt for crying out loud!) and the gig is on. We get Killed By Death and Ace Of Spades and Lemmy sings his weary tunes and raffles the bass guitar. The trio knows what to do, they have been on this highway forever, and deliver the goods. No more, no less.
The National
4/7
”Very lukewarm”
Photo: Annika Berglund
The National never takes off this night in Slottsskogen. They got stuck at the mellow point and can´t crack us down. It´s all very lukewarm. Singer Matt Berninger got his deep beautiful voice but the band isn’t delivering headliner-goods. Songs I Need My Girl and Fake Empire hits us hard, but we want more. More emotions! I want a night to remember, but The National wont give. When Berninger gets into the crowd in the end with the world longest cord it’s absolutely lovely, but too little and too late.
Queens of the Stone Age
7/7
”Pure dynamite”
Photo: Olle Kirchmeier
QOTSA are amazingly powerful tonite. What a bumper tornado ride! Josh Homme is a monster on stage; one second a rock’n’roll god and the other a disco queen. They start of with hits as No One Knows and follows up with Go With The Flow and If I Had A Tail and Monsters In The Parasol and I Sat By The Ocean and The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret and I can go on and on and on. Jack White, Deer Tick, Foo Fighters and other great bands take their dig at classic rock. This night is all of the above, pure dynamite!
Tomorrow hell breaks loose in our home town of Gothenburg, Sweden.
• We sure look forward hanging out with the fine young men of Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires:
• Or with the legend-AAAARY dude Seasick Steve:
• Or the airy sweetness of Kurt Vile:
Wonderful stuff as Conor Oberst, Motörhead, Queens of the Stone Age, Bo Ningen, Neko Case, Bill Callahan and Broken Twin are ahead. Giddyup, Way Out West.
• Joel Borg is the ear on every street. He´s the talk of the town, the shit of the fan, the mojo of hobos. He’s also on of the whizz kids behind Way Out West and we got a minute of his time.
1. Thursday is close. What’u doing up til then?
– I’m in Stockholm today. We’re having Neil Young, GOAT, Magic Numbers, Seun Kuti and more today at Stockholm Music & Arts. Will be super. The sun is shining and the beer is cold, says Joel Borg.
2. Any personal favorite bookings this year?
– Mac DeMarco, The Growlers, Mos Def and Darkside, Elliphant, The Horrors, Holograms, Hurula, Jaakko Eino Kalevi, Kurt Vile, Les Big Byrd, Södra Sverige, MÖ, OutKast and like 100 others. Also, the film programme is fucking ace.
3. We are really looking forward to Friday night, Broken Twin and Kurt Vile tearing down the opera house of Gothenburg. Thoughts on the operetto gigs?
– Yes. Me too. We love challenging peoples thoughts. And we love having artists in forums/venues they might not play in everyday. But maybe mostly, having people over at places they never been to before. The Opera House is right in the center of the City but I can almost promise you most of the Way Out West audience that will be at Kurt Vile next week have probably never seen anything there before.
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• Thanks to brother Joel – and check out one of his fav WOW-bands this year below. The Growlers is a Cali-band with that funky cool garage/psych-vibe we adore. Try the song Humdrum Blues and go see them Friday nite at 23.45 @ Stay Out West.
Check out our old hero Ryan Adams, who turned his genius songwriting into new tune Gimme Something Good. A full-lenght album is bound this fall, this being his first release since the sweet Ashes & Fire from 2011.
The song is a real treat, oozing Tom Petty and the raw natural-born American roots heritage. Play it loud and preferably in the car, alone at night, heading nowhere. Gotta love this one.
Our dear friend, and very much a Kentuckyseven favorite I’m Kingfisher has given us something new and beautiful. The new single ”Force of Habit”, from the forthcoming album, is immensely good. The darkness is there, and the light. Thomas Jonssons voice crowns the music in a way few singer-songwriters manage. The sound of his guitar together with that heavy bass is just pure magic. It appeals to me in so many ways. I just can’t wait for the full length…
When we summed up 2010, Arctic, I’m Kingfishers latest album, Arctic, was right there. Just saying.
Sometimes I hear a song, or some kind of songwriting, that surrounds my soul in a special way. It’s always hard to know why these minutes of music affect me this way. Maybe I don’t even wanna know.
I do know that the mighty Gothenburg duo of Castlewoods hit that nerve deep inside of me, that emotional epicenter of severe satisfaction. I’m officially moved and enjoying the ride, to say the least.
Castlewoods are Sofia Assarson and Maja Fredriksson, both freakishly talented singer/songmakers from Sweden. They make folky indie music that surges from the green treetops and down below ground. Songs light as a feather and heavy as the black rain of a revolution.
Try these songs below, a demo called Little Black Sparrow (just imagine this one fully produced…) and a cover of the Springsteen tune I’m On Fire.
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PS: I can’t help of thinking of First Aid Kit, the breathtaking Swedish duo who is (well-earned) conquering the world. Castlewood is the next big thing. Are you reading this and owning a record label? Well, sign them up.
One of our favorite bands of all times are letting some of their magic hit the streets tomorrow, june 6th. Great Western Valkyrie, the new album is very much longed for.
Rival Sons just played in Stockholm a few nights ago, supporting Aerosmith… But will return in august to play @ Storsjöyran… Will they magically appear in Slottskogen also?
Wanna hear this masterpiece today? Just press that little beautiful triangle… And enjoy!
• ”I started up the engine and headed for the place we met. I prayed to sister Juliette, smoked three packs of cigarettes.”
Two lines into this magical song you are hooked forever into the world of dear John Moreland. This 29 year old Americana man from Tulsa, Oklahoma made one of last years best albums. If you missed it – pick up a copy of In The Throes today. You’ll never look back.
It’s hard rain music, why we are here in the first place. It’s a dark voice from the deepest well, the song Blacklist.
