New Crystal Stilts Shakes the Shackles and Plugs It Up

I wouldnt have posted about this - many others have already - but its prevalent to a previous post, and its awesome to boot, so...deal with it.

Another conversation I had on the weekend at the glorious balcony BBQ we had (see Dungen's post for enlightenment), was on the current trend of bands to play that fuzzy, scuzzy dreamy summer pop thing. My opinion was that the bands to encapsulate that sound first may have ignited the craze, but as months have gone by other bands have come out that either diminish the sound (and to be honest, I think that includes most of the genre) or usurped them in their competency. I threw out the two Crystals - Antlers and Stilts. However I was shouted down about Crystal Stilts, that their sound was still distinctively loud and dirty, and that I should give them another chance (there was no such outcry for the Antlers though - sorry...)

And would you know it, but then Crystal Stilts bring out some new tunes, like Carrie's hand pushing through the freshly turned earth of her grave (that I had admittedly dug that night) and grabbing my ankle, reminding me that they will never go away... 'Shake The Shackles' will be available through Slumberland Records in October, so you still have a month to have the hard copy. Nevertheless, here it is, and I am eating humble pie. It is true swampy drone rock, and has me salivating at the thought of a follow up to the stellar Alight of Night, (and proving that they aren't missing Frankie Rose...but thats another story...).

Yep, Im sucking it up, big time.

Shake the Shackles by Crystal Stilts

Magnetic Moon by Crystal Stilts

Fuck in other languages is fun

As summer packs its bags and makes a hasty retreat, intent on disappearing and not paying the tab, leaving the other seasons in its wake in an incredibly irritable mood, we Londoners have to grab every lick of sun we can and make the most of it. Hence on Sunday I went to a balcony barbecue, where me and some friends have a lovely boozy time being all sun-loving, carnivorous and a wee bit drunken. 100 tea lights and various alcoholic beverages later, Will put on some Dungen which immediately became an interesting source of conversation. I guess Ive never sat down with anyone and chatted about Dungen's virtues, but in the sepia tones of the waning sunset and drunken waves from having eaten too much and still trying to drink more than our share, it made for an interesting palaver.

Which in hindsight seems prevalent, as Dungen returned to the studio earlier this year to create Skit i allt, their sixth album, which is out today on Mexican Summer and Subliminal Sounds. The album title roughly translates to 'fuck it all', which in many ways is an apt description of how the Swedes go about making their music. There is a certain amount of mischievous wherewithal to the dynamics that is created, an aural clusterfuck that has no right to make any sense but audaciously re-enters the stratosphere as a higher being. Each song dares to be more than just one entity - never settling for a gleaming pop gem, a desert-scorching psychedelic jam, an instrumental tapestry, most songs in Dungen's oeuvre strive to be all things at once - and generally succeeds.

It is still an acquired taste for some, and doesnt always pay off. I saw them in Sydney many years ago, just on the cusp of their unveiling of their watershed album (in my opinion at least, where the alchemy finally clicks) Ta Det Lugnt, and they were fantastic - whilst my friends on Sunday who saw them a couple years later labelled them boring. And hence the dangers of alchemy - it generally comes down to chance. When wielding this much Scandinavian magic, sometimes the result will be a puff of smoke - but more often than not, it will be unique and breathtaking.

As for the below song? Imagine Elliott Smith if he played in the Beatles and that's halfway there...

Dungen - Marken lag stilla

Dungen - Skit I Allt from Mexican Summer on Vimeo.