Swedish singer/songwriter Christian Kjellvander will return to France in June:
06/20 - El Inca, Bordeaux
06/21 - Centre culturel suédois, Paris
06/22 - Le Sirius, Lyon
06/22 - Showcase centre culturel Lyon, Lyon
06/23 - Showcase Fnac, Lyon
06/23 - Acoustic session on RCF Radio, Lyon
06/24 - Showcase Fnac, Avignon
Bad Taste has posted another new David & the Citizens song on their myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/badtasterecords
MI reports that Swedish indie label Hybris has entered into a copublishing deal with Air Chrysalis Scandinavia.
Finnish music blog Lupatarkastaja reports that melodic death-metal act Enter My Silence is once again without a record deal and has posted three new tracks in hopes to generate more attention: http://lupatarkastaja.samizdat.info/2006/05/24/enter-my-silence-loosing-record-label-new-mp3s/
MIC Norway profiles Lorraine in advance of their UK tour: http://www.mic.no/mic.nsf/doc/art2006052413045829072556
This week's top 20 Swedish student radio chart:
01. (01) The Pipettes - "Your kisses are wasted on me"
02. (02) Primal Scream - "Country girl"
03. (03) Dub Sweden - "On your telly"
04. (04) Christian Falk w/Robyn & Ola Salo - "Dream on"
05. (NY) Peter, Bjorn And John w/Victoria Bergsman - "Young folks"
06. (05) The Sounds - "Tony the beat"
07. (09) Archie Bronson Outfit - "Dead funny"
08. (08) Arctic Monkeys - "The view from the afternoon"
09. (NY) Whyte Seeds - "Back in town"
10. (20) Danko Jones - "First date"
11. (13) David & The Citizens - "Are you in my blood?"
12. (NY) Sator - "Angelina & Sister Ray"
13. (NY) Supersci w/Remedeeh - "Get!"
14. (NY) The Strokes - "You only live once"
15. (07) Tiger Lou - "Nixon"
16. (NY) The Knife - "We share our mother's health"
17. (NY) Promoe w/Capleton - "Songs of joy"
18. (NY) Morrissey - "The youngest was the most loved"
19. (ÅT) Swingfly - "Save the trees"
20. (NY) Nathan Larson w/Nina Persson - "Dead leaves and the dirty ground"
Leaving the chart:
Supersci med Chords - "On the grind"
Schneider TM - "Pac man"
The Coup w/Talib Kweli & Black Thought - "My favourite mutiny"
The Raconteurs - "Steady as she goes"
Placebo - "Infra-red"
SLS - "Get back"
Hot Chip - "Boy from school"
Animal Five - "Sharks"
Tool - "Vicarious"
Wolfmother - "Dimension"
Aversionline digs up some tracks from mid-90s Danish death-metal/thrash act Invocator: http://www.aversionline.com/blahg/2006/05/altars-of-thrashness.html
Electropop with big house beats is oh-so-hot right now and I'm really not feeling it at all. It's the kind of music that's tailor-made for the dancefloor, not active listening at home. Likewise, it's also very focused on the single, not the album. There's been quite a lot of huge hype tracks, but very few of the artists have been able to follow up with satisfying full-length albums. No surprise really - that's the way this sort of stuff has always been. Proper songwriting skills aren't necessary to heat up the dancefloor. Of course there are exceptions (aren't there always?). Firefox AK is easily my favorite, but after spending a couple weeks with Otur's new album "Pepperbox hill", I can recommend her as well. The record suffers a bit for being a touch too long, but there's enough genuinely good songwriting to make up for it. The song I've posted today is surely just as strong as the first two singles and there's more where that came from. Now let's just wait and see if Otur's (aka Emma Bates) old bandmates Christina Roos and Hanna Göransson from Light Bulb Project will fair as well with the new Cat5 album.
Otur - Travels right through
Ryan at Good Hodgkins invited me back to contribute to yet another blogger collaboration: http://www.goodhodgkins.com/2006/05/23/the-mp3-blogosphere-presents-i-liked-it-better-live/
The subject this time is songs that sound better live than in the studio and I contribute with tracks from Johnny Cash and Skinny Puppy. Check it out, it's a great read.
Moonbabies have a new website and have posted some news about my lovely comp and about another new song of theirs that's featured in the movie "New York waiting": http://www.moonbabiesmusic.com/
Stream the Led Zeppelin Polar Prize TV special from Sweden featuring The Soundtrack of Our Lives playing a few Zep classics with help from Nina Persson (The Cardigans) and Maja Ivarsson (The Sounds): http://www.tv4.se/player/categories.aspx?treeId=3013&pid=54314&more=1
Absolut Noise does yet another quick Q&A session, this time with Le Sport: http://absolutnoise.blogspot.com/2006/05/interview-le-sport.html
Razzia is working hard to corner the market on ex-Broder Daniel bassists and has now signed Theodor Jensen's band The Plan. The band will record their third album this summer with producer Jari Haapalainen (The Bear Quartet) and will be releasing the first single "Walk for gold" in late August.
Trendcatching talks to Nick from Tack! Tack! Tack! about promoting yourself with myspace: http://www.trendcatching.com/2006/05/how_to_promote__6.html