Swedish modern folk act Garmarna has posted four brand new demo tracks on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/garmarna
MP3: Refused - New noise
Many people consider them to be Sweden's most overrated band, but Refused's influence is undeniable. I personally go back and forth on my feelings with regards to their legacy, but I cannot deny that "The shape of punk to come" blew me away when it first came out. I have yet to see the "Refused are fucking dead" DVD, but I'm still quite curious even though almost all of what I've heard about it has been less than positive. As an aside, the title is a reference to a song by Born Against, possibly the greatest hardcore act of the 90s. Or at least one of the most important. I'm not sure about all the backstory, but it involves beef with the dudes from Sick of it All and I'd imagine there's a good summation of events somewhere out there. Anyhow, for today's Friday mp3 post I've dug up an old version of Refused's "New noise from the "Straight edge as fuck III" compilation released back in 1997 by xDesperate Fightx, the label that defined the zeitgeist of the legendary hardcore scene in Umeå in the 90s. Enjoy!
Refused - New noise (comp version)
I loved Munck//Johnson the very first moment I heard them. Their haunting, stripped-down sound proves the maxim that less is more. Just like Carpet People, one of my other most favorite downer-acts, I find that musical simplicity works best to convey raw emotion. And also like with Carpet People, Munck//Johnson was an easy choice for inclusion in the "Reader's companion" series. I don't have copies of their latest work "Count your blessings" in stock quite yet, but they are on the way and should be here any day now. In the meantime you can download their latest single "The streets" from the mp3 playlist today, buy "Reader's companion volume two" for the track "Slavesong" (and all the other good stuff contained therein), buy buy their split 7" with fellow Danes Pluto or purchase mp3s of their first album "Unlike you" (CDs coming soon as well). All of which are highly recommended, of course.
I meant to mention it earlier, but I now have the latest Namur CD in stock: [click here]
If you like dreamy shoegazer rock, you need this.
The first taste of the upcoming Ariel Kill Him album "Named after you" is now online: http://www.myspace.com/arielkillhim
The video for Tiger Lou's latest single "Nixon" is now online: http://www.tigerlou.com/downloads.htm
I probably sound like a broken record, but this is yet another one of the great tracks that appears on "Reader's companion volume two".
Updated tourdates for The Concretes:
04/29 - Triptych Festival, The Venue, Edinburgh (SCO) w/Tape
04/30 - Triptych Festival, The Tramway, Glasgow (SCO) w/Belle & Sebastian
05/04 - Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, ON (CAN)
05/05 - Petit Campus, Montreal, QC (CAN)
05/07 - Club 9:30, Washington, DC
05/08 - Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
05/10 - Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
05/11 - TLA, Philadelphia, PA
05/13 - Martyrs', Chicago, IL
05/14 - The Varsity Theater, Minneapolis, MN
05/17 - Richard's On Richards, Vancouver BC (CAN)
05/18 - Crocodile Cafe, Seattle, WA
05/19 - Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR
05/20 - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA
05/23 - The Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA
05/24 - The Casbah, San Diego, CA
06/16 - Hultsfred Festival, Hultsfred (SWE)
07/14 - Summercase Festival, Madrid (ESP)
07/15 - Summercase Festival, Barcelona (ESP)
Support on all North American gigs will come from New Buffalo.
V2 has reprinted a couple fawing Ane Brun reviews from E!Online and Rolling Stone: http://se.v2music.com/site/news.asp?ID=1929
The tracklist for the forthcoming "Who will buy these wonderful evils pt 3" Nuggets-style garage-rock compilation on the way from Dolores:
01. Scorpion - Sagitarius
02. Uppåt Väggarna - Jag hatar politik
03. Match - Sympathy For The Devil
04. Red, White & Blues - Last Train To Georgia
05. Björn Famne - Vampire
06. Fruit - Eye Of The Raven
07. Candle - In A Vision
08. Harambee - Tu-Ru-Tu
09. East-West - Mr. Soul
10. Drugs - Love Love Love
11. New Creation - He Is There
12. Atlantic Ocean - Would You Believe It
13. Harambee - Birgitta
14. The Junk's and the Angels - The Message
15. After Life - Help Me
16. Zane - Step Aside
17. Contact - Convul'sions
18. Gå Runt Show - Bara skrot
Wanna try your hand at remixing Otur? Go here to download all the tracks as separate wav files and get to it: http://www.discobelle.net/2006/04/25/reeeeemix/
Vote for IAT favorites Closer to play at this year's Sweden Rock fest: http://www.swedenrock.com/index.cfm?pageID=177
This week's top 20 Swedish student radio chart:
01. (01) Gnarls Barkley - "Crazy"
02. (04) SLS - "Get back"
03. (02) Laakso - "Never satisfied"
04. (03) Arctic Monkeys – "The view from the afternoon"
05. (15) Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Dani California"
06. (05) Dirty Pretty Things - "Bang bang you´re dead"
07. (08) Supersci ft. Chords - "On the grind"
08. (11) Justice vs. Simian - "We are your friends"
09. (10) Lil' Kim - "Whoa"
10. (NY) I´m From Barcelona - "Collection of stamps"
11. (09) The Sounds - "Tony the beat"
12. (18) The Fine Arts Showcase – "The shoplifter’s union"
13. (07) Martha Wainwright - "Factory"
14. (NY) The Pipettes – "Your kisses are wasted on me"
15. (06) Plan B – "No good"
16. (NY) Tiger Lou - "Nixon"
17. (19) Up Hygh ft. Little Brother - "Keep on"
18. (16) Johnossi - "Execution song"
19. (NY) Sambassadeur - "Kate"
20. (20) Sture Alléns Dansorkester – "Lita på mig"
Leaving the chart: Las Palmas - "Du har mail", Ghostface Killah ft. Ne-Yo – "Back like that", Lo-Fi-Fnk - "Wake up" and Mystery Jets - "The boy who ran away".
MIC Norway on goofy shock-rockers Animal Alpha and their recent introduction to US markets: http://www.mic.no/mic.nsf/doc/art2006042712510357633325
Singer/songwriter Maia Hirasawa, also a member of Hello Saferide's backing band, won the Roland/SAMI Music Awards. Read more: http://www.digfi.com/default.aspx?id=9091 (in Swedish)
Indieworkshop.com checks in with a live review of Dungen from Vancouver: http://www.indieworkshop.com/articles.php?id=307