Updated tourdates for Björn Kleinhenz:
12/05 - Blue Shell, Cologne w/Kimono, Mercer
12/06 - Gleis 22, Münster w/Nice Man & The Bad Boys, Daniel Benjamin
12/07 - Merlin, Recklinghausen
12/08 - Juz, Leer
12/09 - Jfz der Club, Haldensleben w/Chikan
12/10 - Projekt 7, Magdeburg w/Tiger Lou
12/11 - UT Connewitz, Leipzig w/Nice Man & The Bad Boys, Daniel Benjamin
12/12 - NBI, Berlin w/Rainer Maria
12/13 - Gasthaus Vorstadt, Wien
12/15 - Südstadt, München
12/16 - Salon Elitaer, Kassel w/Nice Man & The Bad Boys, Daniel Benjamin
12/17 - tba
12/18 - Kuppel, Basel w/Whysome
12/19 - Club Carambolage, Karlsruhe
New mp3 today from Brighter Death Now. No, I'm not trying to atone for last week's A-ha post, but I do admit that it's quite a contrast. BDN's skull-rattling throb is about as far away from pop as you can get. Which is not to say that you can't enjoy both - I had 'em on shuffle in my car over the weekend and had nary a problem. But enough of my jabbering, this post belongs to Simon Thibaudeau:
Roger Karmanik has been doing noise, or power electronics as he likes to call it, since the early eighties. Since then, his vision never wavered: Creating challenging music for the forward thinking mind. With the harsh debuts of Lille Roger to diverse Brighter Death Now, his violent and dark world has evolved and refined to the point where now, Roger Karmanik is a cult figure in the genre. His frustration in releasing music lead to the creation of Cold Meat Industry records, a label that has concentrated on various denominations of Swedish dark electronic artists, since 1987. Although the label did a few forays in Norway and created sublabels for international artists, the base of this operation has been Sweden and the artists that adhere to his vision. The quality of the music released is such that I would gladly take a subscription to his label to get everything he releases. Anyway, here is a song off his latest record as Brighter Death Now, "Kamikaze kabaret". "Testing" has more crossover appeal than anything he released in my opinion, at least the music I have heard. Enjoy this song from a master of noise.
Brighter Death Now - Testing
Randy has a new album that just came out, but I'm not going to post a track from it. It's not because it isn't great, because it is (Simon Tagestam reviewed it here), but instead I'm going to reminisce about the record that got me into the band: 2001's "The human atom bombs". Every couple years or so, just about when I'm about to totally give up on punk-rock, along comes a record that breathes new life into the genre. Refused did it to me in the late 90s and Randy did it again with this record. It's not even that they were doing anything all that original - it's that they were doing it with such enthusiasm and vitality that it was impossible not to stand up and take notice. "The human atom bombs" is fun and funny, energetic and entertaining and just all around amazing. So here's a track from that record that'll hopefully help brighten up your Friday.
This week's newsletter will probably end up going out tomorrow (Saturday). I'm just swamped with errands that I need to get done today.
Discouraged Records has signed Lithany from Umeå and will release their debut album very soon. Download a track here: http://213.114.113.173/~discouragedrecords/mp3s/Lithany_-_Mondegreen.mp3
To What End? has started preproduction on their next album and hopes to go into the studio in the spring. Interested labels should get in touch.
It's been quite some time before we've anything new from them, but word just came in that Denmark's The Fashion will do a few dates in Germany in January:
01/25 - Underground, Köln
01/26 - tba
01/27 - Grüner Jäger, Hamburg (UncleSallys Party)
01/28 - Silverwings, Berlin (UncleSallys Party)
01/29 - Volksbad, Flensburg
Norwegian singer/songwriter Saint Thomas has posted a full report from his recent European tour: http://www.stthomas1976.net/tour_2005.html
The Wire's website has posted video footage of Rune Gramofon act MoHa! recording a track at Athletic Sound for their debut album "Raus Aus Stavanger", due out in January: http://www.thewire.co.uk/web/camera.php
Looptroop has added to their North American tour itinerary:
12/12 - Joe's Pub, NYC, NY
12/14 - Mario Keller's Bar / Gasthofs, Minneapolis, MN
12/17 - Babylon Nightclub, Ottawa (CAN)
Check out a sample from the new Nash Kontroll disc: http://www.lassemarhaug.no/sound/mp3/your_left_hand_just_exploded_edit.mp3
NK is an experimental trio featuring Lasse Marhaug, Dror Feiler and Mats Gustafsson. The debut album "Your left hand just exploded" is out now on Ideal Recordings.
Swedish synthpop act Kamera has posted a couple new tracks on their website: http://www.kamerapop.com/
Recent Imperial Recordings signee TLS has posted a new song for streaming on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/tlsartist
Eskju Divine will release a new EP entitled "Fears" in January.
This week's YLE X3M video chart:
01. Kent - Den döda vinkeln (SWE)
02. Darin - Step up (SWE)
03. Smak - Vesi tulvii sisään (FIN)
04. Jermaine - Goodbye sign (FIN)
05. Andreas Johnson - Show me xxxx (SWE)
06. Mew - Special (DK)
07. Indica - Vuorien taa (FIN)
08. Brandon - Mentally fit (FIN)
09. Korpiklaani - Kädet siipinä (FIN)
10. The Cardigans - I need some fine wine and you, you need to be nicer (SWE)
Challengers:
11. The Rasmus - Sail away (FIN)
12. Kometfabriken - Snedsteg (FIN)
13. Jim Stärk - Morning song (NOR)