It's hard to get excited since his last few releases have been pretty weak, but ex-Laakso frontman Markus Krunegård will be releasing a new album on March 28. He will premiere his new single "Everybody hurts" at P3 Guld on January 21.
Vessel, the new solo project of Anders Mathiasen from Danish act Murder, will release his debut album "Enlettered species" on January 23.
is doing a number of vinyl pressings of back-catalogue releases, including the following:
Elephant9 - Live at the BBC (LP)
Scorch Trio w/Mars Williams - Made in Norway (2LP)
Fire! w/Jim O'Rourke - Released! (10" EP)
The Last Hurrah!! - The great gig in disguise (10" EP)
All are officially released on December 9.
The video for the new Agent Side Grinder single "Wolf hour", featuring guest vocals from like-minded Swedish synth artist Henric de la Cour, is now streaming at Gaffa: http://gaffa.se/tv/clip/996 You can also listen via Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/2aUInu31MA0aByDndvur55
Ted Malmros (Shout Out Louds) and Sarah Snavely (Dag för Dag), in addition to being married and having a baby together, have started a new band called A Nighthawk. They recently recorded five tracks with Peder Mannerfelt aka Subliminal Kid called "Until I Faltered I Wasn’t Free" which will probably be out in early 2012.
has picked up Norwegian thrashers Nekromantheon in a kind of no-brainer deal. Look for their new album "Rise, Vulcan Spectre." to be released on January 13.
Dad Rocks!The talent present on Snævar Njáll Albertsson's debut full-length is undeniable. In the same creative neighborhood as the criminally underappreciated Alcoholic Faith Mission, Albertsson, an Icelander now living in Denmark, crafts lush pop soundscapes awash with his cleverly worded, sharp observations of contemporary life. The album is a distinct pleasure, perhaps the best of its kind to come out this year, but as with every album that is deemed "clever," Albertsson's "Mount Modern" has the tendency to occasionally be too clever for its own good: the instrumentation occasionally feeling a little too cute, the rich arrangements leaving the shadowy side of the street in order to frolic in the sun, and the lyrics can, with repeated listening, lose some of their initial charm. That said, I'll take an album that is sporadically too smart, too layered, too happy, and too charming over the limp, anemic indie pop offerings that get hyped every other week. And when Dad Rocks! gets it right, he really gets it right -- like you want to make a mixtape for a friend with tracks off "Mount Modern" right. "Take care", one of the many highlights, balances itself perfectly between detached cynicism and intimate despair, both in its musical and lyrical approach: "And they watch the military fireworks and talk about traveling light, and there's a global spread of wasted lives which we'll later take care of with knives." "Mount Modern" is a soundtrack for those who find beauty in the winds tearing the last of the autumn leaves from the trees, who appreciate the descent into winter because they are hopeful for the spring.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
An excellent new video from Finnish neofolk act Hexvessel.
Raison d'Être sideproject Atomine Elektrine is giving away the new live recording/Coil tribute "Space is an illusion - Live in Vilnius" as a free download for a limited time: http://webshop.raison-detre.info/album/space-is-an-illusion-live-in-vilnius
At long last, new music from Swedish punk/powerpop act Hanna Hirsch. Pre-order the band's new 12" EP "Gå hem över himlen" here: http://www.adagio830.de/news/hanna-hirsch-pre-order-starts-today/
Thomas Ekelund of Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words/Soma Sema/etc. has put together a mix of classic Swedish postpunk/new-wave for listening via Mixcloud: http://i.mixcloud.com/CuXi1
ÅBE report that they have recorded 13 new songs for release on 12"/CD/digital via on December 31, 2011. No confirmed name yet, but the working title is "King of Pellargonia".
Danish indie act Oh No Ono will play their final show this coming Friday, December 2 at Vega in Copenhagen as a benefit for their recently robbed Moono Studio. Full details: http://ohnoono.com/home/oh-no-moono/
A new video from Norwegian pop act Donkeyboy. Pretty forgettable unfortunately.
Turboweekend is doing some sort of video advent calendar thing at Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/turboweekend?sk=app_178091127385
