FRIENDLY NOISE

is a Swedish collective dedicated to the intersection of experimentation and pop. The collective has roots in the Benno, Twisterella, and Gospel zines. Prior to the label's founding, the Friendly Noise folks referred Testbild! to Radio Khartoum, and it's only fitting that Testbild! have since released quite a few albums in their native Sweden on Friendly Noise.


Distribution in North America (and, to some extent, beyond) for Friendly Noise releases is coordinated by Radio Khartoum.

ACTION BIKER: Hesperian Puisto

Friendly Noise (Sweden)
fyn69

It really is time for Action Biker’s first solo album! It has now been six years since she emerged as an artist doing fun and popular live shows and releasing CD-R’s in the indie pop scene of Gothenburg, Sweden, which included people like Jens Lekman and The Honeydrips. Since then, Sarah Nyberg Pergament has been involved in other projects, such as Flow Flux Clan, Kissing Mirrors and The Dreamers, whose record “Day For Night” has received great acclaim from different places around the world. Over the years, Sarah has also performed lots of Action Biker shows (some, as an opening act for Le Tigre and The Embassy), contributed to recordings with Lars Blek (The Field), Differnet and The Honeydrips, and all this time, new recordings with Action Biker have popped up on compilations and singles.

In brief, when “Hesperian Puisto” finally is released, it means the début of someone with a lot of experience… The record is named after the Hesperian park in Helsinki, Finland, where Sarah lived for a while. She describes her music as baroque on synthesizers. It is pop music built on complex naivety – altogether very accessible music with distinct vocals and a crispy, sweet, analogue sound. Two great-looking videos are also included on the CD.

References and Influences: Young Marble Giants, Broadcast, Dislocation Dance, Moondog, Virna Lindt, BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Antena, Francoise Hardy, Saint Etienne, Brian Eno, Ghost Box, Stereolab, Fred Astaire, Maurice Ravel, ESG, Komeda, Cluster, Flying Lizards, Syd Barrett, The Passions, St Christopher, John Barry, Can, Human League, Colleen, Marine Girls, Eric Dolphy, Telex, George Delerue, The Wake, Kraftwerk, Lori & The Chameleons, Differnet.

01. Intro

02. Love For Sure

03. By Myself

04. Tavaststjärnegatan

05. Refridgerator

06. La Durée

07. Hesperian Puisto

08. A Tiger In My Garden

09. I Look Out For You

10. Dance To Keep From Crying

11. ICA Lappis

12. Too Much Distance

13. Frosty Snow Winter

14. A Fight

DIFFERNET: Collapsing Universe

Friendly Noise (Sweden)
fyn50

Stellar, crunchy melodics from perennial Friendly Noise favorites Differnet. Icy, beautiful, and kind of in-your-face at the same time.

01. Patterns of Parklands

02. Caring Arms

03. Savage

04. Prediction and Event

05. Survival Kit

06. Electricity (is Not What it Used to Be)

07. Stadium

08. A Fairy Tale

DIFFERNET: The title of the new record is the text printed on the cover, or nothing at all.

Friendly Noise (Sweden)
fyn026

The elusive second album by Differnet, available again.

Here is a round-up of the tracks included, with some leading bits of (dis)information: A FABLE: As title suggests, and in a galaxy far away. EDISON: A song in several parts. Stylus ultimately picking up, the pick-up event adventure. SAURAU: Austrian misanthropy to a disco beat. ON A TRAIL: Johan Duncanson of The Radio Dept. singing wrong of love gone wrong. SEARCHING FOR MR RIGHT: Young Marble Giants were a great band. No further explanation needed. CALIGULA: Featuring a very wicked boychild. Drone-style. CRASH RECONSTRUCTION: Built around a track from, and featuring, Swedish band CDOASS. Electro in the middle. ALBUQUERQUE: Like a children’s rhyme, but distorted. Sometimes. Vocals by Sarah Nyberg Pergament, a.k.a. Action Biker. KERNEL PANIC: A sort of operating systems funk. Something beautiful could happen. ANALPHABETISM: The sound of an old harmonium, an alpha, a beta - let it be all you need. MAGNETIC MEMORIES: Can’t get you out of my head.

01. A Fable

02. Edison

03. Saurau

04. On A Trail (Featuring Johan Duncanson)

05. Searching For My Right

06. Caligula

07. Crash Reconstruction (Featuring CDOASS)

08. Kernel Panic

09. Albuquerque (Featuring Action Biker)

10. Analphabetism

11. Magnetic Memories

THE DREAMERS: Day For Night

Friendly Noise (Sweden)
fyn55

A lovely suite of nocturnal pop from Kevin Wright (Mr. Wright, Always) and Sarah Nyberg Pergament (Action Biker). I love where Sarah’s collaboration has taken Kevin’s music...bridging the gap between those lovely, homesick pieces that turned up on Always’ Thames Valley LP ... and Differnet. “All Across the City” is simply one of the loveliest tunes I’ve heard all year.

01. One Day In The Woods

02. Day For Night

03. Petit Nuage

04. Piccadilly Night Bus

05. A Place I Know

06. So Near So Far

07. Michael

08. Out Of This World

09. All Across The City

10. Goodnight Farewell My Friend

MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS: You in Honey

Friendly Noise (Sweden)
fyn31

Debut album from Swedish quartet MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS throws open the blinds and lets the light shine in. The four fellows from Nacka cite “new instruments and new technology” among their influences, and the album is an appropriately bright world of discovery, exploration, loops, electronics, harmonizing vocals, beauty in frailty, beautiful keyboard melodies and child-like wonder. Press “play” again and listen to “A Dream (Dreamt)” being shaped in the knowledge that “Music Breaks Where No Sun Shines.” Other influences: Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, Italo Calvino, Olivia Tremor Control, Robert Wyatt, New Order, Active Suspension...

“Best swedish record so far this year, best record art ever !” - Jens Lekman

01. A Dream (Dreamt)

02. AC in HCMC

03. Guess My Name

04. A Kiss on the Lips

05. Snow in May

06. Marco Polo

07. Stockholm Doesn't Belong to Me

08. Most Valuable Players vs. the Technology

09. Coffee and Chocolate

10. You're All I Can Think of

11. Music Breaks Where No Sun Shines

TESTBILD!: Aquatint

Friendly Noise (Sweden)
fyn99

Now this is a proper long player! I say this not merely because the music itself clocks in at 68 minutes, but because it is a record to immerse oneself in. The music is warm, comforting, and yet somewhat disorienting. The program is at its strongest taken whole; in fact, I’m very doubtful that the excepts below do justice to the album. I’m confident, however, that if you already like Testbild!, this album will make you like them even more. (For newcomers to Testbild!, perhaps Imagine a House or The Double Life of Testbild! are better entry points…I’m not sure.) In addition to the 20 songs, this album also includes a 12-page booklet comprising a short story, a short film by collective member Pontus Lundkvist (honestly, I have no idea if Pontus also plays music), and a 6-panel digipak with the most beautiful blue I’ve ever seen on a CD cover (and neck and neck with the blue on Lill Lindfors’ 1967 debut LP). Hooray for the printed artifact!

01. Sunset Through a Drinking Glass

02. Lighthouse Glow

03. Rippling Icicle

04. Solid Food Invented By Tigers

05. Drop

06. Soup and Fog

07. Drowning, Breathing

08. Disintegration In Daylight

09. All Of The Fishes

10. Aquatint

11. The Bathysphere

12. Damp Meteorograph

13. Monochrome Kaleidoscope

14. Four Images of Salt

15. Garnet Brand Land

16. Beneath Transparent Felt

17. A Ship Directed

18. Cell

19. The Submarine

20. My Brother the Submariner

TESTBILD!: Une teinte intense

Friendly Noise (Sweden)
fyn52

A very pleasant left turn finds the Testbild! collective not in outer space or ocean depths, but in the Sahara circa 1900. Une teinte intense is a tribute to explorer Isabelle Eberhardt. Excerpts from her travel diaries float in a dreamy sound environment of Bedouin drums, echoing muezzin calls, and warm winds blowing in the distance, while pop melodies flow like spring water in the irrigation canals. Light as a mirage, this album bridges pop, jazz and exotica in the sun-bleached deserts of North Africa.

01. Je Suis Seul, Et Je Reve

02. Labyrinthine

03. Maghreb

04. La Tombée De La Nuit

05. The Moorish Café

06. Evening Star

07. Ain-Sefra

08. Une Grand Calice Pale

09. Figuig

10. The Dying Mirage

11. L'Errante

12. Le Vent Du Desert Tarit Mes Yeux Humides

TESTBILD!: Imagine a House

Friendly Noise (Sweden)
fyn33

Utterly lovely new album from Testbild!, now a quartet, with Petter and Mattias joined by Douglas Holmquist (Dr Higgins, Rodriguez) and film maker Pontus Lundkvist. Lacking most of the jagged postpunk edges of the second album or their recent 7" split with Anthony Rochester, the new Testbild! make good with gentle melodies and layers and layers of tasty keyboard, metallophone, lullaby vocals and atmospherics recorded in that house--you know, the one at the end of the street that you were forbidden to play in (but did, nevertheless). The band purport to be influenced by acid folk and Canterbury pop songs, but I think it’s just sweet, moody and really good. Tasty artwork too, plus a 14 minute film* by Pontus, in a digipak with lyric book.

*The RK mac had trouble playing the .avi file till I downloaded the free VLC Media Player. The film is pretty freaky, by the way—definitely more Eraserhead than Jacques Tati—and not exactly my cuppa, but the music is fabulous.

01. Inside Raindrops

02. Caryatides

03. Bas Jan Ader

04. Inspoor

05. Imagine A House

06. Sodaine

07. Isthmus

08. Shirley Dreams

09. Phanopoeia

10. Suddenly Aching

11. Ipsifendus

12. Inmoor

13. A Lullaby In Vain

14. Ryska valsen

15. The Attic

16. Where Did This Begin

TESTBILD!: The Inexplicable Feeling Of September

Friendly Noise (Sweden)
fyn22

RK artist Testbild! returns, this time by way of friendly label Friendly Noise (it was one of the label’s bosses who originally referred Testbild! to RK back before FN was up and running). Another solid dollop of lilting pop melodies, jagged postpunk bits, and beautiful autumn melancholia. There’s a new emphasis on choral arrangements this time around, and the album has an earthy feel as well. Very atmospheric at points...you’ll drift, and just might experience some inexplicable feelings.

01. Another Day

02. Tangled Humidity

03. Rain And Air

04. Clouds in Transit

05. Little Crystals

06. A Secret Note

07. You Don't Have to Go

08. Faded by Sun

09. The Inexplicable Feeling of September

10. Undertow

11. Stettinergränd

12. Meerschaum

13. Sarkofag

14. Clandestine Clam

15. Sparks From Extinct Steelworks

V/A: Splendid Isolation

Friendly Noise (Sweden)
fyn68

A collection of exclusive tracks from the Radio Dept., Testbild!, Most Valuable Players, Differnet, Action Biker, Viktor Sjöberg, VED, Peter Jackson, Peter Nilsson, Redmalm, Enheten för musik och melodi, Malkovic, Erik de Vahl, Band in a Box, Flow Flux Clan, Robotboy, and Jian.

Between January and December 2007 Friendly Noise released 18 mp3 singles offered as free downloads from the label’s website. From the start it was intended to be a one-year-long project. The idea was simple: contributions chosen by us from our extended family of old friends and new discoveries, usually two songs, together with an introduction by the artists themselves and a picture to illustrate and enhance, once or twice a month. This was meant as a complement to our CD releases, and a chance to easily distribute great songs, in cases where the album context isn’t necessary. These two ways of distribution aren’t contradictory, they’re related, as we stated on our website.

Soon we realized the series had become a success, both when it came to the quality of the output and the amount of interest generated. So “Splendid Isolation” — our third compilation after “Friendly People Making Noise” (2003) and “Are You Scared To Get Happy?” (2006) — is our way of documenting the series through a selection of the songs and thus giving them a more official kind of release. The record is also a celebration of five years of Friendly Noise as a label. The order of the songs on the record isn’t chronological, it’s instead our attempt to make the record sound as good as possible as a whole.

01. Peter Jackson: Bognor Regis

02. Viktor Sjöberg: (Jack) Lullaby

03. Most Valuable Players: Rondo

04. VED: Stratoscope

05. Peter Nilsson: Get Nowhere

06. Peter Jackson: Hultviksvägen 7

07. Redmalm: The Bravest Person I Know

08. Flow Flux Clan: Shut Out

09. Robotboy: September

10. Peter Jackson: Hashish in Nizza

11. Enheten för musik och melodi: Sol genom lövverket

12. Testbild!: En gång i Stockholm

13. Testbild!: Dedicated to Therese Holm

14. Malkovic: 1959y

15. Peter Jackson: Almost Close

16. Most Valuable Players: Open Night

17. The Radio Dept.: Bachelor Kisses

18. Action Biker: Vinden susar i advent

19. Peter Jackson: Postojna

20. Erik de Vahl: Whatever We Want

21. Band in Box: Leaving Smears

22. Jian: Just A Little Lovin’

23. Differnet: Curriculum Circular

V/A: Are You Scared To Get Happy?

Friendly Noise (Sweden)
fyn30

Their hearts hide dreams of perfect piano intros. Their hands strum plastic harps while aiming the sound at the distant sky. They’re dreamers fighting to lift their heads high, even though they’re weighed down from romantic reverie and broken illusions. “Are You Scared To Get Happy?” is the soundtrack from a play which ran from 22 August 2003 to 14 June 2006. It is also the second installment in a trilogy of compilations from Stockholm’s Friendly Noise label. The latest and the freshest of the Swedish scene, including exclusive songs from The Radio Dept., Differnet, Testbild!, The Field, Auton, Friday Bridge, Flow Flux Clan, Sarto, Erik de Vahl, Conduo Orchestra, Lars Blek, Most Valuable Players, Dianas Tempel, Kuryakin, Discolor, Majessic Dreams, Action Biker, Stream and Nicolas Makelberge. The musical scope is wide but cohesive, it’s dancy electronic music, straight ahead indiepop songs, dreamy instrumental beauties, distortion, jazz pop, and so on! Includes six covers (songs by Cola Boy, The Embassy, The Cure, Electric Prunes, Young Marble Giants and Prefab Sprout).

01. The Field: "Cola"

02. Auton: "Aerikanne"

03. Differnet: "It Never Entered My Mind" (live)

04. Friday Bridge: "It Girl"

05. The Radio Dept.: "Mad About The Boy"

06. Flow Flux Clan: "Fascination Street"

07. Sarto: "Den vita staden"

08. Erik De Vahl: "The Days Before Lunch"

09. Conduo Orchestra: "Referencia (remix)"

10. Lars Blek featuring Action Biker: "My Everything"

11. Most Valuable Players: "Stockholm Doesn't Belong To Me" (remix by Viktor Sjöberg)

12. Testbild!: "Landfall"

13. Dianas Tempel: "It'll Be Different This Time"

14. Kuryakin: "Onie"

15. Discolor: "Falls Angel"

16. Majessic Dreams: "Changes or Lies"

17. Action Biker: "Eating Noddemix"

18. Stream: "Sometimes"

19. Nicolas Makelberge: "Johnny Johnny"