Norwegian appliance bashers Hurra Torpedo, best known for their entertaining cover of "Total eclipse of the heart", will finally release their album "Kollossus of Makedonia" on May 22.
Cats on Fire will be doing an EP with Fraction Discs consisting of the new song "Draw in the reins" along with all of the tracks from the "Seelonce mayday" demo. More details soon.
Kasual Recordings has confirmed the new Ariel Kill Him album "Named after you" for a June 14 release date. Preorder info and samples here: http://preorder.kasual.se/ww/
Norwegian act The School will be working with producer John Fryer (NIN, HIM, Depeche Mode, Cocteau Twins) on their debut album. Expect a release sometime this fall via KongTiki.
Also on the way from KongTiki will be Popium's new record "The miniature mile" which should be out in August. The first single "Burning the afterglow" hits in June and you can hear a few song samples at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/popium
Lorraine will be spending a lot of time in the UK over the next few months:
05/26 - Ambush @ Liverpool Krazyhouse (UK)
05/29 - Evolution Festival, Newcastle (UK)
05/30 - Club Fandango @ Water Rats, London (UK)
06/02 - Ramshackle @ Bristol Academy (UK)
06/09 - Ramshackle @ Birmingham Academy (UK)
06/10 - Club Kute @ Bristol Cooler (UK)
06/15 - Glitz Club @ Madame Jo Jo's, London (UK)
06/17 - Pink Toothbrush, Rayleigh (UK)
06/18 - Music Live Festival, Middlesbrough (UK)
06/24 - Chinnery's, Southend (UK)
06/25 - O2 Wireless Festival, London (UK)
06/28 - Princess Charlotte, Leicester (UK)
06/29 - Social, Nottingham (UK)
07/02 - King Tuts, Glasgow (UK)
07/03 - Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh (UK)
07/04 - Aberdeen Tunnels (UK)
08/19 - V2006, Chelmsford (UK)
08/20 - V2006, Stafford (UK)
Boy Omega will be busy the rest of the year and has three separate tours in the works. The first one in June will cover Germany and Austria, the second in September will go to the UK and then in October/November it will be time for a full traversal of Europe with US act Hanalei. Dates soon.
A few international dates for Billie the Vision and the Dancers:
06/10 - Ephebia Festival, Terni (ITA)
06/16 - Salon Jürgenz, Oldensburg (GER)
06/17 - Heartbreak Hotel, Bremen (GER)
The May edition of Famous for 15mb is now online and, as always, features an amazing array of musicians from all over the world: http://www.famousfor15mb.com/
Scandinavian contributors include renown Norwegian noise artist Lasse Marhaug and Swedish noiserockers Iisole (one of my recent favorites) as well as Sekvens, Synt Tofs and Zerofication.
Acid House Kings and The Legends will cross the Atlantic to do some select US dates in support of the US release of the latter's album "Public Radio" (out in June?). Details are fuzzy so far, but here's what I have so far:
07/06 - Chicago
07/07 - Detroit
07/08 - Brooklyn
07/09 - Washington DC
07/10 - Philadelphia
07/11 - Boston
07/12 - New York
Swedish singer/songwriter Juni Järvi reports that he has severed ties with the label Sound Like an Orange and will instead be releasing on his own, newly-founded Everlasting Records. Of course that means the release date is now pushed back to August, but I'll keep you posted should new details arise.
This week's It's a trap! Last.fm/Audioscrobbler listening group most-played artist chart:
01. The Knife
02. Tiger Lou
03. Death Cab for Cutie
04. Belle and Sebastian
05. The Radio Dept.
06. Radiohead
07. Kent
08. The Postal Service
09. The Flaming Lips
10. Gnarls Barkley
Top 10 tracks for the week:
01. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
02. Tiger Lou - Nixon
03. The Postal Service - Such Great Heights
04. Band of Horses - The Funeral
05. I'm from Barcelona - We're From Barcelona
06. Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready to be Heartbroken
07. Le Sport - it's not the end of the world
08. Alarma Man - Doctors, Listeners And Spectators Says Viva The Knife
09. Hell on Wheels - Come On
10. Sambassadeur - Kate
If you want to see your favorites listed here you should join us! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/
Logh has announced the addition of two new bands members, Mattias (one of 3) on guitar and Karl on keyboards. Both of them have been part of the band's touring lineup for awhile, but now they are both official full-time members.
Swedish hardcore act The Children Of Fall has broken up. Read the band's final statement: http://www.childrenoffall.net/
Global Domination interviews Finnish toughguy hardcore act St. Hood: http://www.globaldomination.se/interviews/sthood-sami-halme