"Like... we play so loose. If the songs start really tentative people get relaxed, they get so uptight by professional music... We want to have the same relationship with the audience as the old fiddlers had in the peasant communities."   This lovely response was given to the Finnish Radio's broadcast by Träd Gräs och Stenar's founder Bo Anders Persson at Sergels Torg in Stockholm City 1970. At that time the band was the heavy hippie stoner locomotive of the Swedish prog- and music movement. And against all odds, the band has survived until today, and has met a new spring.   Through long, crescendoing improvisations of Träden ("The Trees"), formerly known as Träd Gräs och Stenar ("Trees Grass and Stones") in different incarnations but often just as Träden for short, has found their own unique path in the music world for decades, creating a music with room for everyone. Many younger musicians and friends of minimalist, experimental music have been inspired and followed, astonished that a bunch of Swedish hippies made the planet's most hypnotic, moss-fragrant psychedelic trance rock.   "Our last album; Tack för Kaffet (So Long), was in a way a farewell to the old TGS since the recordings were made over a longer time period between 2006 and 2012 and that all original band members, apart from Arne Ericksson, participated on the record. When we now decided to record and release a new one, it's the people who are actually in the band now that's playing on it. We have also become a band again in the way that we can get out and gig more regularly," says Jakbo Sjöholm.   Today, Träden consists of Hanna Östergren, Sigge Krantz, Reine Fiske, and originator Jakob Sjöholm. Nisse Törnquist also plays on three of the songs. In this latest, celebrated edition, the band has played for sold-out houses all over Sweden and other parts of the globe.   "To me, the name change to Träden is equivalent to when Hanna started out in the band. We were down in Gothenburg, Sweden to gig. The same evening, a band called Hills also played and Hanna sat there and played like fire, with a very round heavily pregnant stomach and invited the audience and her future boy to be an unforgettable swinging groove. After a few weeks Hanna was up in Stockholm and we jammed and it really felt right. The name change is also a way to free ourselves from the old band and its idiom, thus opening our minds to let the music find new ways, simply giving us more artistic freedom," explains Jakob Sjöholm.   The new album was recorded at Träden's countryside music workshop and in good old TGS tradition, much of the material emerged by jamming. Then there are some songs that demanded some toil and despair. It was a process where everyone in the band was deeply involved throughout the course of work, in all stages of the production; from the first musical notes to the last choice of colors and images for the album sleeve.   Already on the first song, the TGS '60s classic 'När Lingonen Mognar' ('Lingonberries Forever') something happens to the listener. You just have to let go and be swept along in this soaring, endearing ecstasy, and be thrown into a wild but safe forest.   Even though the band constellation has changed successively, the majestic roar continues. As on 'Kung Karlsson' ('King Karlsson'), where the loudness is lifted out to the big, eccentric carpentry and chopped down to a nice "tree porridge".

As they near their 20th year as a band, Kinski show no signs of slowing down. They continue to push forward, seeking out new ways to blow your mind. Their new record, Accustomed to Your Face, sounds as free and daring as their early forays, but with the luster of confidence that comes with two decades of playing together.  Having played arenas and festivals across North America and Europe, Kinski are equally at home in a local club where they can test out new material, looking to find that choice spot between pure sound exploration and off the hook riffage. One never knows what to expect when seeing Kinski live (there may be some flute, a bass played with a bow), but no matter where the music ventures it will always come back round to expertly crafted, rhythmically solid rock.  Accustomed to Your Face reflects that multi-faceted approach. In the tracks "Guest Girl Vocalist" and "There Goes Hot Stamper", Kinski seem to have harnessed the power of early punk and wed it to their own tight and head-on approach to the genre. But then there is "Kinski 101," a celebratory nod to their quintessential style of dynamically structured instrumental pieces. Weaving it all together is Kinski's consistent command of their craft. The rhythm section is dialed in and the interplay between the guitars continues to be more than the sum of their parts.  With deep roots in krautrock and South American rock of the 60's and 70's, Kinski have always been a proponent of like-minded groups from around the world, and have brought many bands to the U.S. including Acid Mothers Temple (Japan) and Träd, Gräs Och Stenar (Sweden). Similarly, their collaborations with artists such as the dance duo robbinschilds and installation artist Jim Hobbs have been fruitful, allowing them to further delve into regions of sound, working from different perspectives while connecting with new audiences that may have otherwise remained unaware of their work.  Over the years, critics have tried to pin Kinski down to certain genres (the Psych-Rock-Post-Rock-Metal patchwork flag has been planted) but Kinski defy easy categorization, fluctuating between fast, driving rawk, and sweet, lilting melodies…they will melt your brain with their supersonic shredding, but they will give you a hug before you go home.