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Subject: TSOOL Live Reviews Author: Oatmealgrizzly [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] Date Posted: 22:32:00 01/02/03 Thu I saw them live and were blown away. I found some reviews of them playing live, this first one is quite funny, the guy keeps comparing them to Oasis. http://www.dotmusic.com/reviews/Live/May2002/reviews24985.asp THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES - MEAN FIDDLER, LONDON Gig played on Wed 8 May 2002 As is his wont when he's in the capital, the Pope goes on a walkabout. Dressed in his finest ecumenical robes and sporting a beard and monk's hairstyle that look like they were last groomed in the dark ages, His Holiness wanders amongst his people spreading his version of "the love". He gulps down the communion liquid offered to him in a pint receptacle, pats random members of the faithful on the head, and exhorts everyone to sit down. "This is a London tradition!" the pontiff bellows as the congregation crouch down with only the slightest outburst of giggling. Chances are, you'll have seen this routine for yourself by now. The Soundtrack Of Our Lives' charismatic bear of a frontman Ebbot Lundberg has been pulling a James for the last few months, but when the results are this joyous who cares? Before the modern day Rasputin gets everyone to drop to their knees in his presence, Soundtrack are steadily building up to rock'n'roll meltdown. After, the crowd are handclapping, screaming, cheering, laughing out loud at the sheer hilariousness of it all, and the band themselves are ricocheting! Make no mistake, The Hives were just the warm up, the John The Baptist to Soundtrack's big boned Son Of God. While Howlin' Pelle's crew put on a fantastic cabaret to disguise the fact that they've only really got four decent tunes (songtitles available on request), TSOOL put on a fantastic cabaret because their amazing history-of-rock'n'roll-in-four-minutes songs demand it. If staring in awe at this gig is sometimes akin to watching 'The Name Of The Rose' turned into a rock opera by your local squat's Am Dram Soc, then it's only because that's what the melodies would have wanted. Look, here's 'Still Ageing', big-hearted Oasis guitar riff and rising lust for life culminating in the biggest grin this side of 'Cigarettes And Alcohol'. Here's 'Mind The Gap' taking a stab for 'Champagne Supernova'-sized glory and getting the blend of epic and tender just right. Here's another clutch of songs that sound like someone's chanced upon the songbook that Noel Gallagher left in a taxi just before going in to record 'What's The Story (Morning Glory)'. This is no trite hyperbole. The Gallaghers have been getting so excited over Soundtrack because they remind them of themselves back when they were young, hungry and talented. What makes them more than just Britpop's glories fed through a Swedish pomp rock filter, however, is the emotional command of Lundberg. That a fat bearded man in a kaftan whose idea of stagecraft is throwing maracas in the air and not even trying to catch them should be such an inspiring frontman is testament to the hope and experience he has in his voice. When the band slope off leaving him and his keyboard player for a Jim-Morrison-in-the-spotlight lament for the universe, it's mesmerising rather than embarrassing. And when Ebbot throws his arms wide, as if willing the doors of Valhalla to burst open allowing thousands of tiny winged Patsy Kensits circa 'Absolute Beginners' to fly down in rapture, you almost believe it's going to happen. Emphasis on the "almost" there, naturally. That The Soundtrack Of Our Lives are the finest live experience on offer right now is not in dispute. That '21st Century Rip Off' is the greatest song to face up to the inherent enjoyable shallowness of our post-modern lives is also a given. That 'Nevermore' is the best song to require the use of a double-necked guitar simply goes without saying. What does need to be stressed is how important this group are. Ebbot and pals aren't just for the Swedish season, they're in for the long haul. Rush out, buy their records, tell your friends about this great new religion. Let some soundtrack into your life. And sit down next to me. Ian Watson [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

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[> Subject: TSOOL Live Reviews Author: Oatmealgrizzly [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 22:52:23 01/02/03 Thu http://www.popmatters.com/music/concerts/s/soundtrack-of-our-lives-021103.shtml THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES 3 November 2002: Bowery Ballroom — New York by Dfactor PopMatters Music Critic S E T L I S T Broken Imaginary Time Infra Riot Mind the Gap Still Aging The Flood Tonight Instant Repeater '99 Nevermore Sister Surround 21st Century Ripoff ENCORE Veins Galaxy Dow Jones What a great night! Capping a long CMJ Marathon weekend, the Soundtrack of Our Lives played a brilliant set at the Bowery Ballroom. And the presence of well-known rock faces like the Hives' Pelle Almqvist, Joe Strummer and Ken Stringfellow in the club helped make it a more-than-memorable rock night out. This is the year for the Soundtrack of Our Lives. Immediately upon the February 2002 UK release of their great new CD, Behind the Music, the buzz on the band has been incredible, with fans and reviewers comparing the band's songwriting to the Beatles/Stones/Who pantheon and its tight energetic live shows to the best of Guided by Voices' shows. And with Universal re-releasing TSOOL's latest offering Behind the Music, the audience for this great Swedish band continues to build. Rock and roll the way it was meant to sound. The Soundtrack of Our Lives is not a stranger to New York or the Bowery Ballroom, having played New York a few times since the spring. Tonight, they opened somewhat quietly with bassist Karl Gustafsson's moody, introspective "Broken Imaginary Time" from Behind The Music. Its repeated refrain of "You're such a lightweight after all" provided a muted, haunting opening to the highly anticipated set. TSOOL then plunged headlong into "Infra Riot", the supercharged riff-a-rama that opens up the band's new CD. So welcome to the other side! This song rocks so hard with such melodic, cool flair that it should be played this whole upcoming holiday season on every single FM rock radio station. TSOOL's lead vocalist and band mastermind is Ebbot Lundberg, who, according to the new Universal web site, is "your everyday hippie Viking punk songwriter genius, and also a true entertainer." His vocals are great on the CD, but on this night, his voice seemed a bit tired, perhaps wiped out from a l-o-n-g rock and roll weekend. He strained to hit some of the high points on the songs, but the rest of the band never lacked energy throughout the show. Guitarists Mattias Barjed and Ian Person were awesome rockin' guitar players, smashing the audience with monster riffs, cool kicks and outfit changes. Drummer Fredrik Sandsten was spot-on with bashing insistent drums all night, though, with his mild-mannered looks, he resembled the high school dork. Lundberg meant it during "Mind the Gap" when he sang, "We're taking over, and we might as well blow you away." Wearing a long black caftan that silhouetted his considerable bulging stomach, Lundberg jumped into the crowd later in the set for "21st Century Ripoff". He moved toward the back of the room, exhorting everyone to crouch down while he sang how "everyone's been cheated by everyone," and the house lights shone down on all. Great stuff, and the band rocked on. Musical highlights included "Nevermore" (with Barjed sporting a double-necked guitar), "Sister Surround", and "Instant Repeater '99", though the crowd also loved the piano-driven "Tonight", well executed by the band's keyboardist Martin Hederos (who's also a member of successful duo Hederos & Hellberg, who recently toured Europe with Ryan Adams). The Cato Salsa Experience opened the triple bill, staying true to any opening act attack -- keep 'em short, fast and full of energy. Not unlike Detroit's the Sights, this Norwegian band fused a heady brew of fast and loud garage spunk with psychedelic boogie forays. Sweden's Citizen Bird, all six of 'em onstage, played a psychedelic, guitar-fused heavy drone attack that on its own is a worthy sound, but the band's singer added his Ian Curtis-inflected vocal stylings to the band's slower, sweet songs. — 28 November 2002 [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> Subject: This one is excellent Author: Oatmealgrizzly [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 23:15:50 01/02/03 Thu http://www.laweekly.com/ink/02/21/music-babcock.php Music Reviews Canon Fodder by Jay Babcock THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES at the Point Loma Quality Inn Hotel, March 23 (2002) "They're gonna a build a new dimension/And make a soundtrack of our lives/They're gonna build a new dimension/And drill a hole of imaginary time," sings Ebbot Lundberg on the Swedish six-piece the Soundtrack of Our Lives' "Firmament Vacation (A Soundtrack of Our Lives)," a 1996 song that can be read as a sideways-statement of purpose for a band firmly lodged in 1966­-1974. Tonight, a portal to that new dimension has been opened in the unlikely location of Point Loma's Cactus Rose Saloon, a studiously bland hotel bar that's usually host to country-and-western hickery, not squads of unrepentant mods, rockers and Summer of Love hippies. And yet here we are -- thanks to the for-the-love-of-it work of Mike and Anja Stax's Hipsters club -- in a temporary '60s wonderlounge of oil-lamp projections, wall-size pop-art murals, and onstage go-go dancers decked out in blue-and-white Swedish-flag blouses. The vibe is groovy rather than kitschy; it's the kind of show where the opening bands' lack of polish/talent is made up for by their enthusiasm, the endearing presence of family members and friends from work in the audience, and the knowledge that the Greatest Meat-and-Potatoes-and-Space-Cakes Rock & Roll Band in the World is gonna arrive onstage any minute. That may sound mad, but give a listen to any of the Soundtrack of Our Lives' wonderful worth-the-search (and yes, English-language) albums -- this is a band that actually measures up musically, lyrically and performance-wise to their obvious inspirations: the Who, the Stones, early Pink Floyd, the Beatles, the Doors, the Faces, etc. Tonight, as with the band's show earlier in the week at the Roxy, front man Ebbot is the beer-torsoed weirdbeard in a mumu, opening up his big ol' psychedelic soul on one song, goofballing it like a class clown through the next, roaming the audience in the third, testifying in the fourth. He's a sweet cross between Jim Morrison, Dennis Wilson and that guy from ABBA, and he's a generous presence: To look at this Uncle Rock and frown seems as impossible as not complying when he asks everyone to sit down midway through the affably admonitory "21st Century Rip Off." (Incredibly, everyone does.) The band rocks and booms, stomps and boogies; by the end of the set they're taking choice requests from the audience of fewer than 200, most of whom have never heard the band before. "It's a special night," says Ebbot at one point, beaming. Indeed. Let's hope we get to visit this dimension again sometime soon. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> Subject: London March 2001 Author: Oatmealgrizzly [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 23:38:08 01/02/03 Thu http://www.rocket.fm/scala.html Scandinavian Adult Pleasure at the Scala, London 28 March 2001 The headlining band of the evening, the Soundtrack of our Lives, enter the stage in front of a highly expectant audience, out of which I’d say at least 50% are Swedish. Before the band come on, a small but devoted crowd are excitedly jumping around in front of the stage, awaiting Ebbot, their prophet. And he doesn’t disappoint them. As they come onstage and burst into ‘Still ageing’ off the new album ‘Behind the Music’, Ebbot reaches out his hands to the people in front of him, his children, his disciples, singing “I’m still ageing so won’t you please come home”. And they will. They’ll go wherever he asks them to. So when he asks them all to sit down during 21st Century Ripoff, they obey straight away. Apart from the “cool” journalists and media people at the back who stay standing, sucking their fags and drinking their Red Stripe. Not even the band’s flagship, as Ebbot puts it, ‘Firmanent Vacation’ can make them realise that what they’re witnessing is one of the best bands in the world today. The rest of us need no further convincing. All the new songs go down well, and when Soundtrack leave the stage to the roars of more from the crowd, I can only pity the people who have shrugged at one of the best live bands they will ever see. In five years time, or however long it will take for the rest of the world to realise the brilliance of the Soundtrack of our Lives, they will all claim to have been there when they considered this band to be nothing. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]