Annika Norlin is NOT retiring from music

Some rumours, based on an interview in Swedish magazine Filter, is saying Annika Norlin (Hello Saferide, Säkert!) is giving up on music. This is not at all true.

However:
- I started studying as well, I think it balances up nicely with writing songs. I used to work with other stuff alongside music, I have no idea why this has caused such a storm, says Annika.

- I get really annoyed with how media always portrays female musicians like some kind of super women, so I told Filter a bit about the hard parts about the job as well. This has later on been interpreted by other media like I am lying shaking on the floor and never want to do music again, which is completely untrue.

Thank you to every concerned listener who has been in touch.

The next Säkert! album, Facit, will be released on September 15.

(Thanks Martina)

And the bloody press wonder why the arse is falling out of their business... sheesh.

Go Bambi's!

Time for a wee catch up...

On Sunday, I took in a double bill of “A Prophet” and “The Beat My Heart Skipped”. It was between that and "Toy Story 3" but I figured that the latter is going to be around for a while. I didn’t want to be reduced to seeing “A Prophet” on DVD. As it was, TS3 might have suited my mood better but ye cannae unscramble eggs. I’d had 4 pints of Guinness the previous evening over a relatively short space of time in the company of a very dear old friend, That’s more than I’ve had to quaff, I thought in this country but there was London in May... I should qualify that by saying someone that I’ve known for a long time rather than the fact that said individual is old. The number 38 rings a bell. Anyway, long and short of it is that I’m a lightweight in the drinking stakes these days. Always was if truth be told, especially since the tequila incident. So there was a bit of a woozy fug going on and my attention was apt to wander here and there.

Anyways, I’d heard raves about “A Prophet” and it’s a very good film with one drawback for me, the bad guy in it looks like that pillock TV chef Anthony Worrall Thompson (sp?). It would be a little like that equally heinous twat Gordon Ramsay being a Bond villain. No disrespect to actual twats intended. In spite of all this though, it’s all fairly unpleasant and something of a visual roughing up. The brutality that permeates both films would seem to suggest that that this is Jacques Audiard speciality. “Beat” has some lighter moments and an actress (Aure Atika) that I was very taken with but it’s still pretty oppressive. Never reckoned much to The Kills but dug “Monkey 23” from the soundtrack. Electrocute are in there too. Apparently this is based on a movie called “Fingers” that I’ve never seen. Must check that out.

I would never advocate DVD over cinema viewing but both of these would work equally well on the small(er) screen. To be honest, it was all a bit too much over 5 hours. I’d rather have seen them individually in retrospect but hey, the price was right.

So here we are, the bast part of the way through Tuesday and I’m heading out the door shortly to attend the Dum Dum Girls recital in Edinburgh with The Iain Shaw. Just time to do a quick resume of the past wee while. I’ve been spending some time away from the bunker and, while my planned schlep up to Perth this weekend has been iced, it brings into sharp focus the adage of “ye cannae dae it a’”.

The Moon Duo show lived up to all expectations and those were pretty lofty y’know. This bijou combo makes a big, big noise proving once again that size isn’t everything. There was a bright full moon hanging out over the weej last night perhaps providing solar energy to the relentless groovenotic pulsebeat. With a drum machine set on “Nick Knox” and some blazing guitar that channelled early Gilmour via Ronnie Montrose – they oozed and throbbed just the way we like it. A solid hour of pummelling even included their interpretation of The Scientists “Set It On Fire”. Who the heck could ask for anything more?

Sanae Yamada and Erik “Ripley” Johnson cast excellent shadows below the oscillating light show. They look amazing as the volume gets pumped and frequencies conspire to disorientate. This is an undertow that will sweep you all the way out to sea if you let it. Delivered at a volume you could never recreate at home. Seeing them will enhance the listening experience when you next break out the albums. DO NOT MISS THIS COMBO!

It was a reasonable turnout in the end however, a pox on those who attended Public Image up the road a bit at the expense of this. I imagine that those individuals getting the feeling they were cheated right about now. Oh, wait… that was John’s other group. Rod Stewart was also holding the town to ransom last night but I guess that was no direct competition.

Openers Mudstar (?) made a reasonable racket that would work better using the less is more approach. It all got to be a bit lumpy bordering on grungey. Not in a good way. Other sections were thick and hearty like loud soup. Memo to one of the guitar players, waving your guitar about and dangling it off the stage didn’t seem to kick up any additional sound tingles. You might want to refrain – if not completely then at least some.

OK time to eat something and run. No time for links. Maybe later. Cheerie.