Neumu reviews Peter, Bjorn and John: http://www.neumu.net/fortyfour/
IAT.MP3 artist Pacta Sunt Servanda (see the free EP for download on the right) has a new website: http://www.pactasuntservanda.se/
Dusted's annual 'Destined' feature of bands to watch in 2006 includes Denmark's Whomadewho: http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/459
Swedish rock'n'roll power trio Black Belt will be heading over to Germany for some dates in February:
02/03 - Pirate Cove, Berlin
02/04 - White Pig, Bad Frankenhausen
02/05 - Dipol, Freiberg
02/06 - Subway To Peter, Chemnitz
02/07 - Schützengasse, Weimar
02/08 - Kreuz, Obermarchtal
02/09 - Club Scheune, Erlangen
02/10 - Barfly, Schönebeck
02/11 - NVA-Club, Ludwigsfelde
02/13 - Unikum, Osnabrück
02/14 - Schaubude, Kiel
A new single entitled "Hold on" will be released in Sweden in February. The song was produced by Magnus "Existensminimum" Henriksson and Pierre Lindsjöö (Dungen, Ceasars, etc.). As for the band's next full-length, they plan to enter the studio following the tour.
Svenska Kraftekvilibrister, aka experimental noise duo Henrik Rylander and Henrik Andersson, will be playing a special show at GUMP (Jazzhuset, Göteborg) on January 26 with guest guitarists Patrick Caganis (ex-Union Carbide Productions) and Andreas Nilsson (Silverbullit) that will recorded for release via Kning Disk.
In semi-related Rylander news, his other project The Skull Defekts will be doing a split LP with US noise act Wolf Eyes in March through the label Fang Bomb.
MP3: The Samuel Jackson Five - No name
Did you see that list of the top instrumental/post-rock albums over at Decoy Music? Claiming the #1 spot is a band from Norway cleverly named Samuel Jackson Five. I had seen their name in passing before, but I had no idea what they sounded like so I immediately went out and got a copy of their record "Easily misunderstood". I'm not the biggest post-rock/instrumental aficionado, so I'm not exactly qualified to state whether or not the album deserves the #1 ranking, but I do like what I hear: looping, hypnotic riffs, loud epic passages and a pronounced Scandinavian sense of melody. Some of the tracks remind me a bit of Finnish post-rockers Magyar Posse but then again, on tracks like the one I've posted today, you'll hear that SJ5 takes the "rock" part of the genre name much more seriously. It starts out quiet, but right around 2:30 they crank it up and kick out the jams.
The Samuel Jackson Five - No name
I am incredibly excited to present to you an It's a trap! exclusive interview with Jenny Wilson and The Knife's Karin Dreijer Andersson: [click here]
Huge thanks to Roni Brunn for making it happen! The brand new Knife single "Silent shout" just came out this week.
Norwegian electronic act Ugress (aka musician/producer Gisle Martens Meyer) has posted a new EP for free download: http://www.ugress.com/media_music_swep.asp
TIAC (Three is a Crowd) will be releasing their new single "It's always the same, anyway" as a free mp3 and video download on January 25.
Swedish post-punks The Je Ne Sais Quoi will be doing some shows in Germany in March:
03/09 - tba
03/10 - Sunday Service Fest @ Knust, Hamburg
03/11 - tba, Berlin
03/12 - Blue Shell, Köln
Pics from the Flaming Sideburns 10th anniversary party: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kittykowalski/tags/tavastia/
Check out a video for the song "Em" from Swedish post-rock act Once We Were: http://www.oncewewere.net/video/em.mov