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Vital, weird, romantic, aggressive, funny and most of all very, very swedishUPCOMING SHOWS
Sunday, July 14th 2013: Night of the Prog, Amphitheatre St. Goarshausen, Germany
Saturday, August 31st 2013: Ino-Rock, Teatrze Letnim, Parku Solankowego, Inowroclaw, Poland
Friday, September 6th 2013: Melloboat, Stockholm/Riga, Sweden/Latvia
LATEST NEWS
Monday, March 18th 2013
Änglagård have played their first shows with the new line-up! There are a couple of reviews of the Japanese shows, as well as pictures from Kawasaki and Stockholm online. Meanwhile, Änglagård are now listed on the billing of Ino-Rock in Poland, which will take place on August 31st this year. The band posted a complete song filmed at the Stockholm gig on February 23rd: "Längtans klocka":
Friday, February 15th 2013
A quick reminder: Änglagård will be playing in Stockholm at Bryggarsalen next Saturday, February 23rd. The band posted a rehearsal snippet of "Jordrök" over at YouTube.
On a slightly different note, there's this nice write-up of the "Epilog" album by Michael Ostrich (of ProgScape fame) that I enjoyed reading. Maybe you enjoy reading it, too?
Friday, January 11th 2013
The tenth video of the making of Viljans Öga is online: Percussion and Noise. And Mattias considering leaving the band. And huge classical drums! (aka timpani.) As mentioned earlier, all three studio albums have been released in mini LP-sleeves in Japan. They are now available in a box. The band remarked that they will be selling some copies during the upcoming concerts this year.
Tuesday, December 25th 2012
The ninth video of the making of Viljans Öga is online: Saxophone and Bass Guitar. Also, the band announced a concert in Stockholm on February 23rd next year. This will be the first gig featuring the new line-up. Tickets are for sale online.
Monday, December 17th 2012
Änglagård have been confirmed for the Prog-resiste Convention 2013 in Belgium! The event takes place from April 27-28th in Soignies.
Friday, December 14th 2012
The eighth video of the making of Viljans Öga is online: Mellotron and Synthesizers. And once again we get a tastefully edited video, so that by now all chapters basically constitute a full-length film that documents the recording of the album. Very nice!
Tuesday, December 10th 2012
The seventh video of the making of Viljans Öga is online: Clarinet and Cello.
Monday, November 26th 2012
Änglagård will return to Mexico to play at Baja Prog. The festival takes place from April 3-6th, 2013. Änglagård will play on the second or the third day. Earlier that year, from March 15-17th, the band will open for The Crimson Projekct at Club Citta' in Japan three nights in a row. There will be (or maybe already is) a Japanese Edition (released by Disk Union) of Viljans Öga that comes with English translations of the poems. Here's a first glimpse.
Tuesday, November 20th 2012
Änglagård have been confirmed for next year's edition of the Melloboat, a cruise from Stockholm to Riga (and back again) with some proggy musical entertainment. It's going to take place from September 6-8, 2013. Tickets will be released on December 1st, 2012.
Wednesday, November 14th 2012
The sixth video of the making of Viljans Öga is online: Back to Atlantis, Drums, Piano & Flute. I don't know about you, but I love these glimpses behind the scenes. Kudoos to Martin Gustafsson for filming and editing these episodes!
Wednesday, October 31st 2012
Änglagård have been confirmed for next year's edition of the Night of the Prog Festival! It's going to take place on July 13-14, 2013 at the Loreley Amphitheater in Germany, a beautiful venue. Tickets are already on sale.
Monday, October 29th 2012
The fifth and probably last video of the making of Viljans Öga is online: Flute
Monday, October 22nd 2012
The October issue of Eclipsed (a German progrock magazine) comes with a CD that contains an edited version of "Ur Vilande". The edit clocks in at 11:15 minutes - the band clearly sold out in favour of a radio compatible format. Seriously, though, the intro has been cut; the edited version fades in just before the drums set in and then runs through until the end. Also, let's celebrate that Viljans Öga is the album of the month in the same magazine. (Backorders of the issue should be possible via the publisher once the month is over.)
Tuesday, October 16th 2012
Big news: Over the past few weeks (months?), Änglagård have put together a new line-up:They are currently rehearsing old material for possible live dates in 2013. There are also some new ideas floating around. Check out AnglagardRecords.com for a new band picture, a sound clip and more details on the recent changes.
- Anna Holmgren: Flute, Saxophone
- Johan Brand: Bass
- Tord Lindman: Guitars, Vocals
- Erik Hammarström (Brighteye Brison): Drums, Percussion
- Linus Kåse (Brighteye Brison): Keyboards
PS: The black vinyl edition of Viljans Öga is back in stock at http://www.recordheaven.net (S), Wayside (USA) and Just for Kicks (D).
Saturday, September 8th 2012
Quick mailorder update (update with additional vendors): Viljans Öga CDs are back in stock at Alvarsdotter.com (S), Just for Kicks (D), Wayside (USA), The Laser's Edge (USA), BeyondRock.nl (NL) and http://www.recordheaven.net (S).
Friday, August 24th 2012
As far as I can tell, the vinyl versions of Viljans Öga are now sold out. Still, it appears that another batch of the black vinyl edition is being manufactured. You can pre-order it from RecordHeaven.net (S). The CD version should be available again by the end of August (from various mailorders).
There's this video from the soundcheck at Crescendo Festival. If you were there and took picture, feel free to send them in!
Tuesday, August 14th 2012
The vinyl versions of Viljans Öga are now available at various mailorders (Note: this list of vendours is probably incomplete):
Black vinyl (limited to 1500 copies):Wayside (USA), The Laser's Edge (USA), Just for Kicks (D)
Clear vinyl (limited to 500 copies, includes postcards):Just for Kicks (D)
The CD version should be available again by the end of August. Finally, I've added a bunch of Sweden Rock pictures to the site; thanks to Stefan for sending them in!
Thursday, July 12th 2012
The limited edition mentioned in the previous update is now sold out. You can still get the regular CD version of Viljans Öga at Alvarsdotter.com. Also, various progrock mailorders can be expected to ship the album, soon. Meanwhile, here's a little interview with Anna and Johan that I filmed at NEARfest last month:
Wednesday, July 11th 2012
Anna Holmgren wrote on Facebook that Viljans Öga is now available from Alvarsdotter.com "with a possibility to buy the hand-numbered, signed limited edition of the first printing. Only 199 copies in total. Just click on the extra sum button beneath the album to get this.
There's only a few copies left of this one, and if you can't put it in the shopping cart they are sold out.
For those of you that already ordered the album and want to change to the numbered edition, just go to the webshop and click on the addition-button only. Before tomorrow please! I'll send most of the orders before this weekend."
In other - less imminent - news, I uploaded a new NEARfest video, this time featuring touring keyboard player David Lundberg (of Gösta Berlings Saga fame).
Sunday, July 8th 2012
Okay, NEARfest photo update: Dave Kulju took many amazing pictures of the event. So did Acoustic Walden. Tord Lindman took some pictures during the soundcheck and later on during the show.
The latest news regarding Viljans Öga: All versions (CD, 2LP, limited 2LP) can now be pre-ordered from RecordHeaven.net. To support your local/favourite prog dealer, check out the updated links section for international mailorder shops that will (presumably) carry the new album.
Finally, today's NEARfest video features Greg Walker (who runs Syn-Phonic) talking about his role in bringing Änglagård to the U.S. back in the 90s.
Wednesday, July 4th 2012
Quick update from the band regarding the availability of Viljans Öga: There are some issues with the CD manufacture process, so the widespread release will be postponed by a few weeks. Meanwhile, the vinyl release is taking shape. The distribution of the LPs will be handled by RecordHeaven.net. There will be the regular double album (each side one song, 45 rpm) as well as a limited edition in clear vinyl with four postcards (the music is the same, though). The regular edition is already available for pre-order on RecordHeaven.net. The limited edition will follow, soon.
Quick update from me regarding how to pronounce the names of the new songs: Jonas teaches you Swedish!
Tuesday, July 3rd 2012
Viljans Öga - the first new studio album in 18 years! - was released on June 28th, just in time for NEARfest. (The album is truly amazing!) It will soon be available from Alvarsdotter.com. Some mailorders in the US picked up copies from the band and might have them available already. Please excuse the lack of updates at this historic moment. (First I was in the US and offline, now I've just started a new job and there's still this jetlag lingering on. I'll write a proper update this weekend with pictures, videos and fireworks. Note: Due to the lack of fire guards there won't be any actual fireworks.)
Tuesday, June 19th 2012
Anna Holmgren announced that Viljans Öga "will be available for delivery to the shops and distributors by the first week of July." I do not know whether that includes the vinyl edition. The album will also be available directly from the band via Alvarsdotter.com. In other news, I've added a couple of pictures from Sweden Rock (thanks to Alex for sending them in!) and the fourth Making of video is now online - and it's all about Hammond Organ recordings.
Tuesday, June 5th 2012
Mattias Olsson confirmed that a vinyl edition of Viljans Öga is in the works. ("According to Johan it will be somekind of super extra fantastic cheese-comet with all the trimmings release.") Meanwhile, I added a couple of pictures from Portugal to the site. If anyone takes pictures from the Sweden Rock gig this Friday, feel free to send them to me!
Also, for your information, a couple of mailorder shops are now taking pre-orders for the new album (i.e., BeyondRock.nl and RecordHeaven.net). I do not know whether this is the fastest way to get the CD once it's been released. (I could imagine that the album will be sold at NEARfest upfront - but again, I do not know anything for certain and have no confirmation from the band.)
Friday, May 18th 2012
Please allow me to introduce: Viljans Öga - the new Änglagård album, prospective release in June 2012. It includes four songs (57 minutes):
1. Ur Vilande
2. Sorgmantel
3. Snårdom
4. Längtans Klocka
It's a three fold digipak and comes with a booklet with artwork and poems for every song. I don't know yet how the album will be distributed, but I'm sure time will tell. The same goes for a possible vinyl edition. By the way, "Sorgmantel" is the track formerly known as "New Song #1".
In other news you can now look at some picture of the reunion concert in Stockholm last month. I'll add photos from Portugal, soon.
Friday, April 20th 2012
Two day until the concert at Bryggarsalen... I updated the band history page to reflect the live line-up 2012, which features David Lundberg on keyboard instruments (Mellotron and stuff, you know). David steps in for Thomas Johnson, who is still very much part of the band and recorded keyboards for the upcoming album but simply doesn't have enough spare time to join the live activities. Speaking of the new album, I have no idea what the status is (mixing stage?) and when it will be released (in time for NEARfest in June?). Hopefully I can get an update on the whole thing this weekend. If you're attending the Stockholm concert (or any other Änglagård show for that matter) and take pictures, feel free to send them to me to add to the site.
Wednesday, April 11th 2012
Today is the 10th anniversary of Anglagard.net! I don't have cake to celebrate, but half-priced Easter candy will do just fine. I resurrected the poll - so if you have a moment, feel free to say when you first heard of the band (poll's closed, sorry). And there is a new making of video online for you viewing pleasure: Bass!
Thursday, April 5th 2012
Änglagård will be playing in Stockholm at Bryggarsalen (T-Odenplan) on Sunday, April 22nd 2012. Tickets are now available via Tickster. And for those asking, there should be band t-shirts for sale.
Tuesday, March 27th 2012
Sweden Rock time! Änglagård are confirmed to play at the Sweden Rock Festival this summer! It takes place from June 6th-9th - Änglagård are scheduled for Friday. Great news, I think - this should help to expose the band to a broader audience.
PS: Check SwedenRock.com for ticket info, updates etc.
Saturday, March 10th 2012
Video time! Check out "Drums in Atlantis" - the second chapter of the making of the new Änglagård album, filmed by Martin Gustafsson.
Wednesday, February 8th 2012
The Anglagard Newsletter 2 has just been sent out. It will be the last newsletter, because a) the technical maintainence was quite complicated (i.e., manual) and b) the upcoming album and live shows changed the pace of news (daily updates!), making it difficult to find the right dose of newsletter content and frequency.
Tuesday, February 7th 2012
Video time! Check out "The First Rehearsal" - the first chapter of the making of the new Änglagård album, filmed by Martin Gustafsson.
Friday, February 3rd 2012
Concert time! The next Änglagård concert will take place in Portugal on April 28th at the Gouveia Art Rock 2012 held at the Teatro-Cine. Tickets are scheduled to go on sale in a couple of weeks.
Sunday, December 4th 2011
Concert time? Well, you decide! German speaking visitors can read the following info directly at http://www.freakshow-in-concert.com - for everyone else, here's the news: The organistor of the Freakshow Festival in Würzburg, Germany, is planning an "on demand" festival with Änglagård as headliner in 2012. There are a couple of potential dates available, i.e., October 20 or 21, or December 1 or 2. More bands will be added once a date has been chosen. A poll regarding the date is online until the middle of December. Next, pre-financing will start. The organisators currently aim at winning 150 people investing 80 Euros. If the total sum required for the production is not achieved, the festival will not take place and the money will be returned. But if it all works out you'll get a chance to see Änglagård live in Europe next year. Please visit www.freakshow-in-concert.com and facebook.com/freakshowfestival-on-demand for further details and the aforementioned poll.
Änglagård already played in Würzburg back in 2003 and (if you ask me) it was a fantastic concert! Check out the pictures.
Sunday, October 30th 2011
Concert time! The line-up for next year's NEARfest has been announced. And guess what: Änglagård are scheduled to play there on June 23rd, 2012! According to the organizers, the band will be performaing "a unique set list including a performance of its classic Hybris album in its entirety". The festival will be held at Zoellner Arts Center at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA. Check out NEARfest.com for details such as tickets, accomodation and the complete line-up.
In other news, the recordings for a new album continue. Check the Änglagård page on Facebook for status updates and a bunch a new pictures.
Sunday, June 19th 2011
So the band rehearsed and will be starting with drum recordings in August. August 2011, indeed. But wait, there's more: Mattias Olsson wrote on Facebook:
"Ok... so after a couple of months of discussing and a whole lot of talking we have decided that parallel with the recording of a new album Änglagård will be doing some live shows again in 2011 and 2012. There are already discussions about some very interesting gigs but nothing is settled yet but we will inform as soon we have all the details. Best regards, Mattias Olsson"
Wednesday, January 5th 2011
The band will be rehearsing. Tonight! Why? How? In their own words (as posted on Facebook on December 26th, 2010):
"Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all prog fans worldwide!
For all of you who are wondering where Änglagård went ... and what we do today.
Since 2008 Änglagård have been working on a new album and basically, we now have five new songs ready for recording. It now remains to start the rehearsals with the drummer and sync the material together.
Greetings from the deep woods of Sweden
Johan Brand"
Thursday, April 29th 2010
Behold: Epilog is now available over at Alvarsdotter.com! "This edition has a three-fold digipack with beautiful artwork printed in copper with relief. It also includes an additional CD, containing a bonus track "Rösten". Rösten was written in 1993 but recorded in 2008-2009", says the band.
Tuesday, March 23rd 2010
Anna provided some (in my opinion really good) news regarding the Epilog rerelease and the band's future. The reissue of Epilog is scheduled to be out in a month with a bonus CD included. It contains a new recording of an old song from 1992. All original members are participating, including Tord. Check out an excerpt from the acoustic guitar recording session here! (I'll send out a newsletter as soon as the album is available.) Also, Johan, Jonas, Anna and Thomas are rehearsing on regular basis, writing new songs. According to Anna, this is "very exciting!"
Friday, October 16th 2009
According to Mattias Olsson, Änglagård had a band meeting last night. A meeting regarding the future! I suspect they're planning to build a warrior robot race. But I might be wrong. Anyway, nobody told me that the frequently asked questions were outdated. Well, they're no longer. (Anyone disagreeing better have protection against the robot army's laser guns.)
Wednesday, July 29th 2009
Mattias Olsson posted the following message on Facebook:
"I think we have already released a livealbum that was possibly a bit so-so...Havent heard it in years though. The bands main things on the to-do list is a) making sure the old albums are available b) making new music and finding ways of making this exciting and pleasurable c) if possible recording and releasing new stuff...
"There is a lot of interesting material floating about. The band could easily start recording stuff as we have more or less all the old equipment available...we just need to find a sort of format and framing that will work for the band today.
"Thomas said once (in defense of splitting up the band in 95 (?) that he thought there were enough mediocre albums in the world without our band adding to the pile. If we make a new album it has to be an album we are excited about and we feel is strong and individual.
"We are very slow and very picky. We are snails with increasingly bad eye sight and long memories. We will never wear capes.
// Mattias
End of message
As for the content, I think it sums up the situation perfectly. The tentative date for the Epilog re-release ("with sexy surprises") is Fall 2009. No, I don't know what these surprises are. No, I can't promise delivery until Christmas. No, I don't think it's a good idea to do a fundraiser to buy the snail that is Änglagård new glasses. And by the way, I hope you (yes, you) are somewhat happy with Anglagard.net in its present state. It's not very fancy and some pages haven't been updated in ages. Still, it's pretty enduring and hopefully informative to keep you coming back every now and then (or, if it's your first visit, to help you discover this amazing band.)
Saturday, May 9th 2009
Mattias Olsson posted a blog with some Änglagård-related news a couple of days ago. He wrote: "About two weeks ago Änglagård had a small get together lacerated in Ricard and strong coffee where we listened to some musical Ideas and discussed the future. Why have a progressive rock band. What is relevant in the genre today? If we are supposed to reawaken Frankenstein I think it is important that he has got a new fresh hip haircut and some new dance moves. So in a effort to try to trace back to the bands old inspirations I have been listening to some old prog lately. Trying to avoid the horribleness of ELP and the squeakyness of Rush. A bit of Gentle Giant, some King Crimson around the edges.
"Also..please understand that I don't think/hope/expect the band will be venturing into any sort of electronic pathway or Warpness any time soon. There will not be any boogie woogie on this album either. The new material is very much old school stuff but it has a new harmonic edge. I just want it to have more dimensions and layers. Is that too much to ask?"
So they're alive. And talking to each other. And drinking coffee. Who knows what next? Will they exchange telephone numbers? I will keep you posted.
In terms of non-news, I recently attended a Per Gessle-concert in Germany. After the show I had a little chat with guitarist Christoffer Lundquist about Änglagård. He asked whether there band made any new album. (No, they haven't.) He also remarked that (being a recording studio owner similar to Mattias Olsson) he wants to have a Mellotron someday, one that stays in tune. Now I don't know much about the instrument, but I have the feeling that this is even less likely to happen than a new Änglagård album. We'll see.
Sunday, March 22nd 2009
Anglagard Newsletter 1: The latest re-release of "Hybris" is now available for sale directly from the band over at www.alvarsdotter.com - and it should also be available at selected progressive rock vendours, soon. "Epilog" is supposed to be re-released in a couple of months. This is all the information I have so far.
Update: The content and packaging is the same as the 2003 Exergy edition (5 tracks, digipack).
Tuesday, March 3rd 2009
Things are taking shape: www.anglagardmusic.com...
Friday, February 20th 2009
Remember Hybris? Änglagård's debut? "The Holy Grail of 90s progressive music"? "Terrific, terrific stuff"? "A must-have for just about any fan of prog music"? "Pretty derivative stuff"? The album you always wanted to check out, but couldn't find anywhere for a reasonable price? RRRRRs (recent re-re-release rumors) suggest you may be lucky, soon.
Friday, December 26th 2008
Late(st) news: Änglagård might release the NEARfest 2003 live recording. I spoke with Thomas Johnson back in November and he said "it's not impossible." This statement certainly implies no warranty and no date of any kind. It's apparently not going to come out in time for Christmas 2008. Sorry to everyone who had that on their wish list. As a more realistic wish for 2009 I recommend Änglagård t-shirts. No promises here, either. But it might just happen. Sooner or (more likely) later.
Sunday, September 28th 2008
Summer came and went - and still no re-releases. Yesterday, Mattias Olsson blogged about a reunion with Johan Brand, Jonas Engdegård and Tord Lindman (including a picture), which took place last Wednesday in his studio. Although the name Änglagård is not mentioned, it is rather obvious. Still, I cannot say whether they've been recording new material or something like a Spandau Ballet tribute album.
In other news, Thomas Johnson is playing some gigs with Thieves' Kitchen in the U.K., Germany, Belgium, and France this fall. As for current gigs of Mattias Olsson's bands/projects (mainly in Stockholm), please check out his MySpace profile.
Wednesday, May 7th 2008
Some people wrote me about Amazon.com, which lists the old albums with a new release date (April 29, 2008) - but marked as out of stock. Now there are two reasonable possibilities that come to my mind:
a) the band moved faster than its shadow and the re-releases are already on their way;
b) some more or less automatic process on Amazon.com refreshed the (outdated) offers.
While option a) would be cool and very appreciated, option b) seems more realistic to me for a number of reasons.
- the same "updated" release date can be found for Reminder's "Broken Tone" album, for which no re-release is planned;
- I would like to think that the band would notify me if a) was true;
- the offers should pop up at various mailorders, not just on Amazon.com.
This being said, I'd like to thank everybody who added the Änglagård MySpace profile as friend. It is appreciated! If you haven't already done so, you might also like to check out the MySpace profiles of Anna Holmgren, Tord Lindman and Thieves' Kitchen (from their recently released album "The Water Road") - all filled with rather new music.
Monday, April 21st 2008
Yesterday, Mattias Olsson wrote in his MySpace blog about the Änglagård's plans to reissue their old albums: "Last night we had a meeting with my old band Änglagård to try to decide about how we are to proceed with re pressings of our old albums. We released two studio albums in the early 90s and then we put out a live album (of course). These albums have been out of print for a long time and now we are trying to decide in what format and in what kind of constellation the business side of things will take form...
We have a couple of different alternatives up in the air but for once we actually have a deadline. Within a week we have to make up our minds. I'll keep you posted on developments."
Tuesday, March 11th 2008
Anna Holmgren, Jonas Engdegård and Johan Brand are working together, "trying some new musical ideas that might lead to something... or not..." (Anna). Mattias Olsson wrote in his blog: "I have heard a quick ricochet and it sounds really promising. Who knows what the future brings..." Thanks to Dominik and Markus for notifying me.
In other "news", I've launched a MySpace profile for Änglagård. It is as semi-official as this website here. All updates will be posted on both sites from now on. Feel free to give me feedback - I'm sure there is some stuff that can still be improved.
Thursday, January 17th 2008
Thomas Johnson provided me with the results of the unofficial bowling tournament (which presumably took place during the recent Holidays): "in absence of one third of the band Mattias turned out to bowl most straight, thus scoring the highest, while Jonas had the most screw and Tord the most enthusiasm." Music-wise, Thomas and Thieves' Kitchen are busy with their upcoming album, scheduled for a release in spring 2007. The latest news from Mattias Olsson is probably that he actually spent more than five days away from making/producing music; but he is back on track now. Read (and hear) all about his current projects over at his MySpace page.
Online since April 11th 2002
Last updated on May 3rd 2013
