Album review

Taikes

Apologies To All Your Friends

added: 19 Jan 2010 // release date: 2 Jan 2010 // label: Unsigned
reviewer: Claudia A.

Taikes are grunge-rock trio from Sweden who formed seven years ago.
Back then, frontman and guitarist Johan Fredlin decided it’s high time to form a band, as opposed to merely dream of playing in one! Together with Alex Heding on bass and Oskar Landgren on drums, Taikes bounced onto the map with their first EP ‘Nothing More, Nothing Less’ and thus enriched Sweden’s alternative rock scene. Several EP’s and one studio album later, Taikes are ready to take on the musical world with their second studio album ‘Apologies To All Your Friends’. In between, the trio won several music contests, played over 100 gigs in their native country and twice toured Mexico. Radio stations worldwide played tracks from the band’s various albums and no doubt the airplay will only increase with the release of their current album.

Most tracks on ‘Apologies To All Your Friends’ are slightly rockier and less grungy then on the previous albums. However, there’s still a considerable Nirvana and occasional Stone Temple Pilots influence to be heard, especially Bones and Get It Right have that ‘angsty’ feel so familiar to that particular genre. Not that this is a bad thing you understand.
Tracks like Chloroform or Violator in particular display every potential to convert even mainstream audiences into Taikes fans. Daft Anthem, in contrast, is a track that slightly strays off the bands more regular pattern in such that is combines a funky bass groove with a grungy rock sound – and it works great.

There are more sedate songs on the album, too, like Everybody Dies or Memento. Both songs are somewhat reminiscent of Placebo’s Black Market Music phase, although the overall vibe is distinctively Taikes own.

Frontman Johan proves that he is a talented songwriter, penning lyrics that deal with daily life and emotions, but are treated poetically and with haunting sensitivity.
In Memento, he writes:
“Release your tide, let me cross for you, find me some to do
Reverse the mind, let me work for you, find me some to prove
And I can’t explain to you my love… why it hurts in me”.

In contrast, the lyrics of Daft Anthem are altogether more morbid and surreal:
“You could cut those feathers, I could strife in dead letters
It’s all the same in here, I’m beginning to mold,
The walls they talk, they walk their own circles,
It seams my dear we crave the same vengeance…”

Taikes music is available through www.taikes.com and also via iTunes.

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