Country: Sweden

PopMatters interviews The Concretes

PopMatters interviews The Concretes: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/131665-no-more-trouble-an-interview-with-the-concretes/

Atlas Losing Grip to Black Star Foundation

has signed the excellent Swedish melodic punk act Atlas Losing Grip and will be releasing the band's new album "State of unrest" on May 28. Listen to some tunes at Bandcamp: http://atlaslosinggrip.bandcamp.com/

Marcus Price & Carli - Bubbelgum (video)

"Bubbelgum" is the new single from Marcus Price and Carli (Savage Skulls) and it's officially released on March 1 via .

Momofoko - What you want to hear (video)

I started to write something about how disgruntled this sort of mundane indie/dance/disco-pop makes me, but I decided to delete it because it was getting far too mean-spirited compared to how innocuous the track really is. Momofoko's new single, "What you want to hear", is officially released on March 5 while the band's upcoming full-length "Momoism" follows on April 15. Direct link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-POKiGkGgs

Pacific! confirm new single

Swedish pop act Pacific! will be releasing the new single "Unspoken" (featuring Sarah Assbring/El Perro Del Mar) on April 18 along with the usual slew of probably-useless b-side remixes. Preview it at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JyCX26pazdE

This week's Last.fm chart

Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week unique to our group:

01. Håkan Hellström
02. Familjen
03. Bright Eyes
04. Veronica Maggio
05. Those Dancing Days
06. The Radio Dept.
07. Cut Copy
08. Säkert!
09. James Blake
10. Broder Daniel

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

MP3: First Love, Last Rites - Always too late

mRa called it. Both that First Love, Last Rites made a killer, time-out-of-place indie record and also that opening cut "Always too late" is a stellar example of such. Like he says, great refrain, great emotional content. I concur completely. Love the false ending too. And yes, the kids are most definitely blowing it. Was just having a conversation with folks a few days ago about Swedish indiepop and they seemed shocked when I asserted that the scene is tiny despite the presence of many world-class bands. Are teenagers still forming bands 'round this stuff or are they just plugging away at their laptops, vying for a space on Altered Zones? If they are, I'm not hearing it. Prove me wrong, I welcome it.

First Love, Last Rites - Always too late

Viktorious weekends

Viktorious, the solo act of Viktor Norén from Sugarplum Fairy, is giving away a new track every week for the next eight weeks at his website: http://viktorious.net/

First Love, Last Rites - s/tFirst Love, Last Rites
s/t
Nomethod

I've been waiting for a band like this from Umeå for a long time. Seems like good indie bands were all over the place in Norrland about 15 years ago and then just disappeared. I like the emotional content here, the refrain for the first song, "Always too late", is sooo good. I knew they were gonna do something good after "Slow wind", I was surprised they were so quick to get an album out. Sundsvallstidsningen thought the record sounds like it's out of phase. I thought that was really funny. There was a lot of moments like that in the music press around the indie wave of the 90s. Some Lundell-nut at DN had to review the first Brick record and struggled to reference Sebadoh, and then struggled to reference 'country' when he has to review the new Sebadoh. As a teenage indie-geekasaurus, there was the sense that the adults were blowing it. Now the kids are blowing it instead. Anyway this is a brilliant pop-record which has a lot of great great moments, my particular faves being the opening track, "Slow wind" and the title track, a moody instrumental that builds. And no, the record is not out of phase. In fact, it sounds perfect.
- Mathias Rask-Andersen

Release spotlight: Necro Facility

Release Magazine shines a spotlight on Swedish industrial duo Necro Facility and their new album "Wintermute": http://www.releasemagazine.net/Spotlight/spotlightnecrofacility2011.htm

Wounded rhymes preview

The Hype Machine is streaming the new Lykke Li album "Wounded rhymes" in its entirety: https://hypem.com/#!/artist/Lykke%20Li

Peter Bjorn and John - Second chance (video)

Watch the backwards version of Peter Bjorn and John's new video for "Second chance" at Vevo: http://www.vevo.com/watch/peter-bjorn-and-john/second-chance/SE2M41100103

September Malevolence announce new album

September Malevolence have announced that their new album "Our withers unwrung" will be released on August 26. Full tracklist and tourdates and so on will be announced shortly.

Miasmal - Toxic breed

Swedish death metallers Miasmal are streaming a brand new track at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/miasmalband/music/songs/toxic-breed-79982924
The band's new album is complete and should be out in time for the band's upcoming US tour in April. And I gotta say; I was pretty tentative about these dudes before, but this new track rules.

Baron Bane - My slow world (video)

Baron Bane's new single "My slow world". Direct link: http://vimeo.com/20166157