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The Radio Dept.

 
Artist: The Radio Dept.
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The Radio Dept.

Similar Artists:

Silver Screen, The Meeting Places, The Fine Arts Showcase, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Cake on Cake, Goodbye the Band, The Bridal Shop, Working for a Nuclear Free City, Jamie Long, Friday Bridge

Influenced By:

The Sea and Cake, Yo La Tengo, Pale Saints, Pet Shop Boys, Ride, The Cure, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Boo Radleys, Orange Juice, My Bloody Valentine, New Order
  • Genres: Rock
  • Representative Albums: "Pet Grief

Biography

The Radio Dept. were one of the more successful shoegaze-influenced indie rock bands to come out of Sweden in the early 2000s, making waves among indie aficionados on the strength of their critically acclaimed first release, Lesser Matters. Elin Almered and Johan Duncanson formed a prototypical version of the group in Lund, Sweden, in 1995 while they were in high school, naming the group after a gas station called Radioavdelningen. Almered and Duncanson disbanded almost as soon as they'd found a name, but Duncanson revived the group three years later, teaming up with Martin Larsson. Bassist Lisa Carlberg, drummer Per Blomgren, and keyboardist Daniel Tjader rounded out the lineup in 2001, and things took off for the group at that point. They sent a demo to Sonic magazine, which went on to feature the band on a CD sampler. Swedish indie giant Labrador caught wind of the demo via the sampler and snapped the band up; the group's debut full-length, Lesser Matters, arrived two years later, during which time Blomgren amicably split with the group. That album and the band's second release on Labrador, 2005's Pulling Our Weight EP, received widespread attention with the release of Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, which featured "Keen on Boys," "Pulling Our Weight," and "I Don't Like It Like This."

Carlberg left the group soon after Pulling Our Weight was released, and the group refrained from hiring another bassist, opting instead for the use of a drum machine on its next album. That release, 2006's Pet Grief, found Duncanson and Larsson turning away from the guitar-driven aspects of their first full-length and delving into synth pop in the spirit of the Pet Shop Boys. Due to various factors, including the fact that the band didn't tour heavily in support of the album, Pet Grief failed to sell as well as its predecessor and received little attention from the mainstream music press. The Radio Dept. took their time recording material for their next album, and it wasn't until summer of 2008 that a new single, Freddie and the Trojan Horse, was released. More delays led to nothing further surfacing (and the album that was supposed to be out in late 2008, Clinging to a Scheme, being shelved) until the next summer, when the single David was released. ~ Margaret Reges & Tim Sendra, All Music Guide
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
The Radio Dept.

The Radio Dept. in concert in Lima, Peru (October 2006)
Background information
Origin Lund, Sweden
Genres Dream pop
Indie pop
Shoegaze
Twee Pop
Years active 1995 – present
Labels Shelflife
Labrador
Website theradiodept.com
Members
Johan Duncanson
Martin Larsson
Daniel Tjäder
Former members
Elin Almered (1995 - ????)
Lisa Carlberg (2001 - 2005)
Per Blomgren (2001 - 2003)
Kim Sjölander
Max Weiland
Le Bombe
Rugar

The Radio Dept. is an indie pop band from Lund, Sweden signed to Labrador Records.


Contents

History

The band was conceived in 1995 by schoolmates Elin Almered and Johan Duncanson, who named the group after a gas-station-turned-radio-repair-shop called "Radioavdelningen" (The Radio Department in Swedish). However, Almered and Duncanson soon stopped playing music together, putting the band on hiatus. The group was reborn three years later, in 1998, when Duncanson starting making music with Martin Larsson. In 2001, Larsson's then girlfriend Lisa Carlberg joined the group on bass, followed by Per Blomgren on drums and Daniel Tjäder on keyboards.[1][2]

Later in 2001, the band sent recordings to music magazine Sonic, receiving a positive review and being featured on the free CD sampler that came with the magazine. Labrador Records heard them on the disc and signed them to their label. Per Blomgren left the group prior to the release of their album Lesser Matters and Lisa Carlberg departed after the release of This Past Week EP. According to their website, the band decided to use digital drum tracks and stated that for their second album they were "taking a new direction ... which wouldn't require a member that played bass guitar."[3]

The group enjoyed more widespread recognition after three tracks ("Pulling Our Weight" from the Pulling Our Weight EP, "I Don't Like It Like This" from the This Past Week EP, and "Keen on Boys" from Lesser Matters) were included on the soundtrack for Sofia Coppola's film Marie Antoinette.

Early 2006 saw the release of their second album Pet Grief. The distorted buzz that adorned most of their debut was now replaced by synthesizer. The album didn't reach the rest of Europe, including the UK until later in 2006. Unfortunately, with little touring support there was no real buzz behind Pet Grief. Reviews were mixed. NME rated Pet Grief with a 7 out of 10, but other magazines were not quite so kind. However, Pet Grief did find popularity amongst a growing fan base throughout the world, thanks to the Internet. The album is available in the US through Darla and through their US distribution deal with Labrador.

By the end of 2006, a brand new track "We Made the Team" was released as the 100th release on the Labrador. It was also the final track on the Labrador's labels Compilation of 100 tracks released at the beginning of 2007. Although all UK tour dates but one in London were recently canceled, the band is said to be working on a new album.[4]

The band released a new EP in May 2008 called "Freddie And The Trojan Horse", including the songs "Freddie And The Trojan Horse", "Closing Scene" and "The Room, Tarzana" on Matador Records. A new LP, "Clinging to a Scheme”, was to be released on September 10th, 2008, but hasn't seen the light of day.

A new single, "David", was released on June 24th 2009. It included four songs; "David", "Messy Enough", "David (Rice Twins Remix)" and "The Idle Urban Contemporaries". The song "David" has been made available for download at no cost by Labrador Records.

Sound

The Radio Dept. are related to such genres as Dream pop, Indie pop, Shoegaze and Twee Pop, with reviews comparing them to Pet Shop Boys, My Bloody Valentine and the Cocteau Twins.[5]

On their website, they cite influences such as Charles Aznavour, Saint Etienne, Broadcast, Frank Sinatra, Joy Division, Pet Shop Boys, Chet Baker, Fennesz, Nick Drake, Kevin Rowland, Prefab Sprout, Paddy McAloon, Junior Boys, Orange Juice, Kraftwerk, Neu!, Jonathan Richman, The Avalanches and The Pale Fountains.[3]

Accolades

Their album Lesser Matters was ranked No. 9 on NME's list of the 50 Best Albums of 2004.[6] The album received an 84/100 (Universal acclaim) on Metacritic from a total of five reviews.[7]

Discography

Albums

EPs and singles

  • Against the Tide 7", Slottet 2002
  • Annie Laurie EP, Slottet 2002
  • Liebling 7", Slottet 2002
  • Where Damage Isn't Already Done, CDEP, Labrador 2002 (LAB033)
  • Pulling Our Weight, CDEP, Labrador 2003 (LAB058)
  • Ewan, CDEP, 2004
  • Why Won't You Talk About It?, CDEP, XL 2004 (REKD41CD)
  • This Past Week, CDEP, Labrador 2005 (LAB068)
  • The Worst Taste in Music, CDEP, Labrador 2006
  • We Made the Team, MP3/Single, Labrador 2006 (DLAB0002)
  • Freddie and the Trojan Horse, CDEP, Labrador 2008 (LAB111)
  • David, CDEP, Labrador 2009 (LAB124)

Featured on

Notes

  1. ^ "XL: The Radio Dept.". http://www.xlrecordings.com/theradiodept/. Retrieved 2006-08-16. 
  2. ^ "Labrador: The Radio Dept.". http://www.labrador.se/artists/radiodept.php3. Retrieved 2006-08-16. 
  3. ^ a b "The Radio Dept. Biography". http://www.theradiodept.frih.net/Band.htm. Retrieved 2007-02-09. 
  4. ^ The Radio Dept. at Prince Albert (Brighton) on 24 Jan 2007 – Last.fm
  5. ^ "The Black and White". http://www.theblackandwhitemag.com/reviews.asp?cid=r. Retrieved 2006-08-16. 
  6. ^ "Metacritic: Best Albums of 2004". http://www.metacritic.com/music/bests/2004.shtml#topten. Retrieved 2006-08-16. 
  7. ^ "Metacritic entry". http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/radiodept/lessermatters?q=radio%20dept.. Retrieved 2006-10-27. 

External links


v • d • e
The Radio Dept.
Johan Duncanson · Martin Larsson · Daniel Tjader
Studio albums
EPs
Against the Tide · Annie Laurie · Pulling Our Weight · Where Damage Isn't Already Done · This Past Week · Freddie and the Trojan Horse
Singles
Why Won't You Talk About It? · Ewan · The Worst Taste in Music · We Made the Team (digital single)
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Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "The Radio Dept.".  Read more

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