Export Music Sweden has selected singles from Atomic Swing, Sara Rumar, Tom Levin, Le man, The Callahan and Tiger Lou to promote to international radio. Well, at least they got one of them right.
Speaking of Sara Rumar, she'll soon be working on a track with famed producer Fran Ashcroft (Blur, Gorillaz, Dandy Warhols, etc.) to try and break her in the UK market.
Johan from Surburban Kids with Biblical Names answers a few questions for Absolut Noise: http://absolutnoise.blogspot.com/2006/05/interview-suburban-kids-with-biblical.html
New tourdates for CDOASS:
05/20 - Burn The City @ Djäzz, Duisburg (GER)
05/24 - Kulturpalast - Linden, Hannover (GER)
05/23 - Studio 672, Cologne (GER)
05/25 - Tanzhalle, Hamburg (GER)
05/26 - Melt Club @ Magnet, Berlin (GER)
05/27 - Nachleben, Frankfurt (GER)
The latest Music Export Finland newsletter is now online: http://musex.fi/mxf/news?articleId=103
Fluxblog has posted the Trentemoller remix of The Knife's "We share our mother's health": http://www.fluxblog.org/2006/05/end-is-always-near-knife-we-share-our.html
Geiger is reporting that Danish experimental act Slaraffenland has signed with US label Hometapes.
Aversionline on new releases from Victims and Skitsystem, both on Havoc Records: http://www.aversionline.com/blahg/2006/05/two-third-lps.html
I haven't heard the new Victims yet (I'm planning on picking it up at the Seattle show tomorrow), but their last record "...in blood" is killer, so I have high hopes.
You can hear a medley of songs from Powersolo's new album "Egg" at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/powersolo
I don't know what's up with the cockney accented announcer, but the music is as silly and great as always. There's an e-card here too: http://www.powersolo.dk/ecard/
Oslo-based math-metal act Manhattan Skyline will tour the UK this fall:
09/28 - tba, Leeds (UK)
09/29 - tba, Nottingham (UK)
09/30 - Westport, Dundee (UK)
10/01 - Canons Gait, Edinburgh (UK)
10/02 - Bar Bloc Glasgow, Glasgow (UK)
10/03 - tba, Aberdeen (UK)
10/04 - tba, Oxford (UK)
10/05 - The Downtown Diner, Ashford (UK)
10/06 - The Lido, Margate (UK)
10/07 - tba, Chester (UK)
10/08 - tba, Coventry (UK)
The band will also be contributing to the forthcoming "Emo apocalypse" compilation on React With Protest featuring 30-second songs from a whole shitload of bands such as Funeral Diner, The Birds Are Spies They Report to the Trees, Suis La Lune, Catena Collapse and many, many more. Otherwise, the band is in the studio working on their full-lenth debut and hopes to have it done in time for the aforementioned tour.
Updated tourdates for Wired for Mono:
05/13 - Showdown/Henriksberg, Göteborg (SWE)
05/14 - O.R.K.Z., Groningen (NL)
05/15 - De Klinker, Aarschot (BEL)
05/16 - tba
05/17 - The Cave, Frankfurt (GER)
05/18 - Hauptquartier, Aachen (GER)
05/19 - Komplex, Schüttorf (GER)
05/20 - Buchte, Bremen (GER)
Swedish indiepop/folk duo Raymond & Maria have been added to the lineup of The Great Escape festival in London. They play May 20 at Redroaster.
MP3: Alarma Man - Doctors, listeners and spectators says viva the knife
Today's mp3 comes to us from manic Swedish instrumental act Alarma Man. Or at least they were instrumental until this release which I believe features guest vocals from singer/songwriter Ed Greene. And what release is this you might ask? Why it's from their split 12" with fellow nutjobs Knife and Ape. Too much insanity for a mere 7", that's the truth. The band describes themselves as "labyrinth-punk" that's as apt descriptor as I've ever heard. I especially like the part in the middle where it sounds like they pushed the guitarists down the stairs - they can barely keep it together, but that's what's so exciting about it. Great stuff.
Alarma Man - Doctors, listeners and spectators says viva the knife
Ask any Swedish music biz type about Hell On Wheels and they'll probably all tell you the same thing: nicest band ever. It's true, they are probably one of the nicest bands I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Too bad being nice in rock'n'roll gets you absoltely nowhere - it's a good thing that HoW are also a damn fine band. The trio has been honing their sound for quite some time now and their latest record "The odd church" is easily their best work yet. I had some delays getting my copy thanks to the US Dept. of Homeland Security opening my mail, but I've been listening daily since it arrived late last week. (Insert cheap pun about worshipping at the altar of the Odd Church, yadda yadda...) So enough about how nice HoW is, let's talk about their music! The most easy/obvious/lazy comparison would be The Pixies and I think that's a fine place to start. Bassist Åsa provides excellent counterpoint vocal melodies to frontman Rickard's lead when she isn't leading on her own. They don't usually reach The Pixies' heights of bombast, but they don't need to. HoW's songwriting and arrangements are much more intricate and involved. Not that I would accuse The Pixies of merely banging out chords, but How has more subtlety. They pack a lot of meat into everything they do. And don't forget how nice they are.
Less than 25 tickets left for Monday's Tack! Tack! Tack! show with Firefox AK and Marit Bergman! If you want in, you better get on it!