Finnish act Clark Kent has signed with the production/management/PR firm Sonic Kitchen and will be releasing their debut album in early 2009 via Bonnier Music Group. The record will be produced by Jukka Backlund with assistance from Aku Sinivalo and Tony Kimpimäki.
Black Star Foundation will be releasing two new albums in September. The first is "It's not me, it's you!", the full-length debut of postrockers Pg.Lost and the second is "Wolves" from the band Holmes. Also on the way is a new Tias Carlson record - look for that one around October.
The Silent Ballet reviews the new Erik Levander album "Kondens": http://thesilentballet.com/dnn/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/384/ItemID/1421/Default.aspx
Tiger Lou has finished tracking his new album "A partial print". Next up, it's off to LA for mixing.
Swedish act Witchcraft will play the special one-off Ozzfest stadium show happening on August 9 in Dallas, TX. More info: http://www.lambgoat.com/news/view.aspx?id=10751
Musikindustrin reports that Swedish booking agency Blixten & Co. is merging with Family Tree Music, the parent company of the labels Razzia Records (Hello Saferide, Maia Hirasawa, etc.) and Catchy Tunes (September, Eric Prydz): http://www.musikindustrin.nu/mi/smpage.fwx?page=198&NYHETER=9110
Norwegian techno act Mental Overdrive will release their new album "You are being manipulated" on May 26.
Themilkfactory reviews the new Skyphone album "Avellaneda", out now on Rune Grammofon: http://www.themilkfactory.co.uk/st/2008/05/skyphone-avellaneda-rune-grammofon/
The new Hiawata! EP "Blacks on blonds" is streaming in its entirety at myspace with one track available for free download: http://www.myspace.com/hiawata
Bob Hund is back and will be playing a few festivals this summer: http://www.myspace.com/bobhundofficial
Expect new music from the band in August too.
Swedish indie act Kusowsky is now offering their most recent EP "Något speciellt" as a free download: http://www.kusowsky.com/diskografi.html
If you enjoy the sound of classic Gbg indiepop, you should definitely check these guys out.
Finnish indiepop act Regina has signed with Johanna Kustannus (Astrid Swan, Tigerbombs) and will be releasing a new album early next year with a single to precede it sometime before the end of 2008.
The new Under Byen "Samme stof som stof" remix LP as done by Goodiepal should be out soon, hopefully in time for the band's Danish shows at the end of the month.
MP3: Ihsahn - Unhealer
You'd be forgiven for mistaking this track for new Opeth, after all that is Mikael Åkerfeldt providing guest vocals. Careful listeners will note however that the music has a distinct blackened Norwegian feel, somewhat akin to Arcturus or Spiral Architect, another not-quite-so-surprising revelation when you learn that the latter's rhythm section of Asgeir Mickelson and Lars Norberg (drums and bass respectively) performs here as well. What is surprising though, is how much heavier this sounds than any of Ihsahn's recent work, including his previous solo album "The adversary" and his work with Peccatum. I actually wasn't expecting to like this at all since I fell off the Emperor bandwagon around the time of "IX equilibrium" and haven't been too impressed with any of the members work since then outside of Zyklon. It's interesting - I still hear the epic symphonic elements of Emperor, but there's a far stronger death-metal undercurrent mixed in with various progressive/prog-rock touches. This particular track "Unhealer" has way more prominent "clean" parts than the rest of the album, but it's balanced out by some of Ihsahn's best, most straight-up metal work ever (well, at least since Thou Shall Suffer). It's worth noting too, again not that you should really be surprised, that the guitar playing is phenomenal. Also, you can't hear it so much here, but there's also a huge similarity to latter-era Death going on. It makes me realize that Ihsahn's rasp really isn't that far off from Chuck Schuldiner's vox on "The sound of perseverance". All in all, I'm very impressed.
Ihsahn - Unhealer
Initial dates are now confirmed for The Hellacopters upcoming farewell tour:
09/15 - Markthalle, Hamburg (GER)
09/16 - Schachthof, Wiesbaden (GER)
09/18 - Razzmatazz 2, Barcelona (ESP)
09/19 - Rockstar, Bilbao (ESP)
09/20 - Palacio Congresos, A Coruña (ESP)
09/21 - Heineken, Madrid (ESP)
09/23 - Mascotte, Zürich (CH)
09/24 - Backstage Werk, München (GER)
09/25 - SO36, Berlin (GER)
09/26 - Vooruit, Gent (BEL)
09/27 - Live Music hall, Köln (GER)
09/28 - Tivoli, Utrecht (NL)
09/29 - LA2, London (UK)