Aerial is a post/indie-rock band from Sandviken, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

. They’ve released four full length albums so far: “Black Rain From The Bombing” in 2006, “The Sentinel” in 2007, “The Legion of Dynamic Dischord” in 2008 and "Put it this way in headlines" in 2009. They have toured in Europe on several times, and they have played with acts such as; Bell Orchestre

Bell Orchestre

Bell Orchestre is a six-piece instrumental band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada.In late 2003, they recorded their first album, at the same time and in the same studio that Arcade Fire recorded Funeral. However, Arcade Fire's popularity was just beginning to break when they asked Bell Orchestre to...

, Deerhunter

Deerhunter

Deerhunter is an American four-piece indie rock group originating from Atlanta, Georgia. The band, consisting of Bradford Cox, Moses Archuleta, Josh Fauver, and Lockett Pundt, have described themselves as "ambient punk," though they incorporate a wide range of genres, including noise rock, art...

, Arab Strap

Arab Strap (band)

Arab Strap were an indie rock band from Scotland that consisted of core members Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton. The band were signed to independent record label Chemikal Underground, and split in 2006...

 and Mono

Mono

Mono is considered to refer most often to:* anything single, e.g. as in monorail, a train system using a single rail, as opposed to the conventional two-rail system...

. Aerial was signed to Nomethod Records in 2006, and has since been released outside of Sweden by labels; Tangled Up!, Thomason Sounds and will be released in late 2009 by Flake Records. The lead singer and guitarist, Sebastian Arnström, is also a member of the semi-electronic indie act Simian Ghost

Simian Ghost

Simian Ghost is an alternative pop act from Sandviken/Gävle, Sweden. It was initiated as a recording project by musician and visual artist Sebastian Arnström. He has released one full-length album, Infinite Traffic Everywhere, which was received with blog praise and excellent reviews...

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Members

• Sebastian Arnström - vocals, guitar, programming, drums
• Victor Claeson - vocals, guitar, programming
• Joakim Westlund - bass, guitar, synthesizers
• Markus Johansson - drums, synthesizers, guitar
• Niklas Wennerstrand - synthesizers, bass, guitar, vocals

Biography

Aerial was co-founded in 2005 by Sebastian Arnström, Markus Johansson, Joakim Westlund and Victor Claeson. They all attended high school together, where they studied art, music and cinema. The band grew out of their common interest for mentioned expressions, and they have always been taking great pride in having total control over every aspect of their works. They recorded a self-released demo called You are which got the attention of Swedish indie label Nomethod Records. They recorded their debut album in a similar fashion and it was released in late 2006. Since then they have recorded two more full-length albums and one EP called The legion of dynamic dischord, a not so subtle reference to the American writer Robert Anton Wilson

Robert Anton Wilson

Robert Anton Wilson , known to friends as "Bob", was an American author and polymath who became at various times a novelist, philosopher, psychologist, essayist, editor, playwright, poet, futurist, civil libertarian and self-described agnostic mystic...

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Other writers mentioned in their work is Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg

Irwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...

, H.P. Lovecraft, Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...

 and Philip K. Dick

Philip K. Dick

Philip Kindred Dick was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist whose published work is almost entirely in the science fiction genre. Dick explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in novels dominated by monopolistic corporations, authoritarian governments and altered...

. When they released The sentinel in 2007, bass player Joakim Westlund went to Peru and was substituted live by Niklas Wennerstrand, which upon Joakims return decided to stay as a regular member of the band.

Influences

As stated in interviews the band is widely influenced by acts such as Glenn Branca

Glenn Branca

Glenn Branca is an American avant-garde composer and guitarist known for his use of volume, alternative guitar tunings, repetition, droning, and the harmonic series. In 2008 he was awarded an unrestricted grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.-Beginnings: 1960s and early 1970s:Branca...

, Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth

Sonic Youth is an American alternative rock band from New York City, formed in 1981. The current lineup consists of Thurston Moore , Kim Gordon , Lee Ranaldo , Steve Shelley , and Mark Ibold .In their early career, Sonic Youth was associated with the No Wave art and music scene in New York City...

, Pavement

Pavement

Pavement may refer to:* Road surface, the durable surfacing of roads and walkways* Sidewalk, a walkway along the side of a road, in British English or Philadelphia/Baltimore dialect* Pavement , a floor-like stone or tile structure...

, Yo la tengo

Yo La Tengo

Yo La Tengo, sometimes abbreviated as YLT, is an American alternative rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan , Georgia Hubley , and James McNew .Despite achieving limited mainstream success, Yo La Tengo has been called "the quintessential...

, The Books

The Books

The Books are an American duo, formed in New York City in 1999, consisting of guitarist and vocalist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong. Their releases typically incorporate samples of obscure sounds and speech...

, Rachel's

Rachel's

Rachel's is an American chamber music group that formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1991. Former Rodan guitarist, Jason Noble, played music individually and referred to himself as Rachel's but then began collaborating with now core members, violist Christian Frederickson, and pianist Rachel Grimes...

, Animal Collective

Animal Collective

Animal Collective is an experimental psychedelic band originally from Baltimore, Maryland, currently based in New York City. Animal Collective consists of Avey Tare , Panda Bear , Deakin , and Geologist...

, Gastr del sol

Gastr del Sol

Gastr del Sol was a Chicago band consisting, for most of their career, of David Grubbs and Jim O'Rourke. Between 1993 and 1998 they put out seven albums ranging in genre from post-rock to musique concrète....

, The flaming lips

The Flaming Lips

The Flaming Lips are an American alternative rock band, formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983.Melodically, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles—such as "What...

 and Black Dice

Black Dice

Black Dice is an experimental electronic music group currently based in Brooklyn, New York, USA.-Early years:Black Dice formed in spring 1997 soon after guitarist Bjorn Copeland met drummer Hisham Bharoocha and bassist Sebastian Blanck when they were students at the Rhode Island School of Design...

. They also had a brief but notable period exploring the genre of post-rock

Post-rock

Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...

, and was in doing so influenced by bands such as Mono

Mono

Mono is considered to refer most often to:* anything single, e.g. as in monorail, a train system using a single rail, as opposed to the conventional two-rail system...

, Mogwai

Mogwai

The word mogwai is the transliteration of the Cantonese word 魔怪 meaning "monster", "evil spirit", "devil" or "demon".-Mogwai/Mogui in Chinese culture:...

 and Explosions in the sky

Explosions in the Sky

Explosions in the Sky is an American post-rock band from Texas. The band has garnered popularity beyond the post-rock scene for their elaborately developed guitar work, narratively styled instrumentals, what they refer to as "cathartic mini-symphonies," and their enthusiastic and emotional live shows...

. The band has also said that it has no small debt to the works of kraut rock legends Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...

 and Neu!

Neu!

Neu! was a German band formed by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother after their split from Kraftwerk in the early 1970s...

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Albums

• Black rain from the bombing - 2006
• The sentinel - 2007
• Put it this way in headlines - 2009

Singles

• Time is on fire - 2006
• My god it's full of stars - 2007
• You will all die, all things will - 2007
• Kallisti - 2008
• All refrain - 2009