Detektivbyrån has posted a new chapter in their video diary series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIMmJR4QcxI
Finnish artist Astrid Swan is offering up a song for free download off her new album "Spartan picnic": http://www.astridswan.com/mp3/sea_e_%20life.mp3
Upcoming live dates for Markovic:
02/09 - Loppen, Copenhagen (DK)
02/14 - Kafé 44, Stockholm (SWE)
02/22 - Sticky Fingers Top Floor, Gothenburg (SWE)
02/29 - Lark in the Park, London (UK)
03/02 - The Purple Turtle, Oxford (UK)
03/03 - Whistlebinkies (acoustic show), Edinburgh (UK)
03/04 - Whistlebinkies (electric), Edinburgh (UK)
03/05 - The 13th Note, Glasgow (UK)
03/06 - Wee Red Bar, Edniburgh (UK)
This week's top 20 Norwegian album chart:
01. Madrugada - Madrugada
02. Sie Gubba - Sånn e livet
03. The Margarets - Twenty Years Erased
04. Anne Nørdsti - Livli på låven
05. Secret Garden - Inside I'm singing
06. Madcon - So Dark the Con of Man
07. Celine - Bæstevænna
08. Animal Alpha - You Pay For The Whole Seat...
09. Hellbillies - Spissrotgang
10. Bertine Zetlitz - In my mind 1997-2007 Best of
11. Venke Knutson - Crush
12. Nymark Collective With Kristin Asbjørnsen - Bessie Smiths Revisted
13. Raga Rockers - Ubermensch
14. Vidar Johnsen & Peter Nordberg - Ord og Øgonblick
15. Ugress - Unicorn
16. Kurt Nilsen - Push push
17. Nora Brockstedt - Nora - For Swingende
18. Henning Kvitnes - Stemmer i gresset
19. BigBang - Something Special - The Best
20. Ila Auto - Over The Next Hill
Watch Hästpojken perform on Nyhetsmorgon Göteborg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lHyT_yu_hg
This week's top 20 Swedish album chart:
01. Lykke Li - Youth novels
02. Lars Winnerbäck - Daugava
03. Kent - Tillbaka till samtiden
04. Sara Isaksson & Anders Widmark - Pool of happiness
05. Jill Johnson - Music Row
06. Alf Robertson - Alf Robertsons bästa
07. The Cardigans - Best of
08. Sahara Hotnights - What if leaving is a loving thing
09. Sofia Karlsson - Visor från vinden
10. Hästpojken - Caligula
11. Säkert! - Säkert!
12. Marie Picasso - The secret
14. Salem Al Fakir - This is who I am
15. Peter Lemarc - Kärlek i tystnadens tid
16. Björn Skifs - I2I
17. Lars Winnerbäck - Efter nattens bränder - 1996-2006
18. Magnus Uggla - Pärlor åt svinen
19. Peter Jöback - Människor som du och jag
20. Benny Anderssons Orkester - Bao 3
MIC Norway previews Jon Øivind Ness' new symphonic postpunk piece "Low jive" which will be premiered tonight February 7 by the Oslo Philharmonic: http://www.mic.no/mic.nsf/doc/art2008020715101885517051
The new 18th Dye album "Amorine queen" has been confirmed for a March 31 release via Crunchy Frog, May 6 in the US. The first single "Soft the hard way" will be out February 10.
Check out a transcription of Swedish officials "interrogating" various people from The Pirate Bay: http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-interrogations-080207/
Swedish doom act Suffocate for Fuck Sake has revealed that their new album is finally being sent to get pressed. The work is entitled "Blazing fires and helicopters on the frontpage of the newspaper. There's a war going on and I'm marching in heavy boots" and it features a story told in samples about "a girl who with help from her mother, a friend and a doctor looks back on the time when she was put in a mental institute." Samples at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/suffocateforfucksake
If you like Breach, Cult of Luna or any other bands of that ilk, you'll definitely dig this.
Bad Afro will be reissuing Baby Woodrose's 2001 debut album "Blow your mind" on heavyweight gatefold vinyl on March 17. The record was originally released on Lorenzo Woodrose's own Pan Records label and has long been out of print.
Norwegian progressive metalcore act Benea Reach has posted two new tracks from their new album "Alleviat": http://www.myspace.com/beneareach
Look for an mp3 on these guys next week.
One more day to enter my Firefox AK "Winter rose" giveaway! Simply mail your name and address to firefox.contest@itsatrap.com and you're in! A winner will be announced tomorrow.
MP3: Peloton - Nozal
Peloton is an international jazz combo with members hailing from Denmark, Norway and Sweden. However, it's not their citizenship that caught my attention, it's the inclusion of analog synth in their setup. Now they never quite achieve the sort of "Switched on Bach" or ELP-level of wacky virtuosity that I was kinda hoping for, but it's still cool because they're exploring a timbre I don't often hear in this sort of music. The bass is all synth too, another unusual touch. This particular track I'm featuring today is probably the biggest barnburner on their album "Selected works" as most of their pieces tend towards the languid and spacious. It doesn't adequately demonstrate their range, but it should at least pique your interest. Personally, I'm content just listening to that drummer go off. Hear more at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/pelotonjazz
Peloton - Nozal
TLS
A song left for you
Imperial Recordings
While intensely lush and dreamlike, there's a significant flaw in "A song left for you": it meanders beautifully, and it even feels right, but the compositions just don't go anywhere. The listener's patience is rarely rewarded; unlike a Mono track or a slow Radio Dept. song, there's no conclusion to the convoluted instrumentation and emotions with TLS - just moment after moment of stagnant thought, beautiful as it may be. Even on "Future rush", with its crackling electronic elements, there is no progression, just an in medias res entrance into a moment and a fade out before the scene feels completed or accomplished. Dreamy, shoegaze inspired pop still needs to take a page from post-rock bands' notebooks - take all the time you need, just make the journey worthwhile.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
