Swedish doom acts Candlemass and Grand Magus will be teaming up with the UK's Cathedral for a month-long European tour in October. Dates soon.
Black Lodge Records has signed Swedish black-metal act Mörk Gryning. The is officially broken up, but will release one last album to appease their fans. Said disc is currently being mixed and should be ready for release by the end of the year.
Copper Press interviews the now-departed Kid Commando: http://copperpress.com/new/features/html/kidcommando.html
Norway's JR Ewing will be doing a one-off gig at the Empty Bottle in Chicago on September 17. This is being organized as part of the band exchange arrangement program between the club Blå in Oslo and the Empty Bottle.
Jeez, is it August already? My, how the time flies! Today marks my first day working graveyard shift back in good ol' San Francisco. I got lured back for the month by an offer I couldn't refuse, so here I am. Mailorder might be a tad slower than usual as I'm having my wife mail stuff out for me from back home in Washington, but don't you worry - she's more than capable of handling the task. So yeah, it's August now so that means a new album of the month. My pick: Alarma Man's very excellent self-titled debut on Carcrash Records. Frenzied instrumental rock at its finest. Very, very recommended.
On a side-note: I've updated the "you might also like" feature in the store so that it returns better results. Go ahead, start browsing.
Today's new mp3 comes from El Perro Del Mar, the Dog of the Sea, err singer/songwriter Sarah Assbring. She's often associated with the current hip Swedish twee scene, a genre I often revile, so I was incredibly skeptical when I first heard her music. I downloaded a couple mp3s, listened in passing and promptly forgot about 'em. But then I made the fateful decision to check her performance at Umeå Open on a total whim. That's when it truly hit me that hers was a talent worthy of acknowledgment. She proves that a simple tune embellished with creative vocal arrangements and lush production are all you need to create pop gems. She utilizes the classic Phil Spector/Beach Boys blueprint - heavy stomping beats, loads of bells and timpani, tons of oohs and ahhs and beautifully layered melodies. There's a reason the formula has turned out so many quality hits - it works.
This week's MTV UpNorth video chart:
01. Apulanta - Pahempi Toistaan
02. Midnight Monkeys - Monkeys On Attack
03. TwoPointEight - Red Eye
04. Division Of Laura Lee - Dirty Love
05. Peshi - Hush Hush
06. JR Ewing - Fucking & Champagne
07. Darin - Why Does It Rain
08. Lene Marlin - How Will It Be
09. Venke Knutson - Just A Minute
10. Madrugada - Stories From The Streets
11. Soak The Sin - Hands Up
12. Looptroop - Chana Masala
13. Cheek - Liiku
14. Östermalm - Le Åt Allt
15. Timbuktu - Det Löser Sig
16. Movie - The Fool
17. Jori Hulkkonen - Lo Fiction
18. Röyksopp - Only This Moment
19. Hellacopters - Everything's On TV
20. Lilyjets - Going Blind
Challengers:
01. Tingsek - Egoflow
02. Brandon - What U See
03. Laleh - Live Tomorrow
04. Alcazar - Start The Firt
05. Cast - Problembarn
Go here to vote for your favorite: http://www.mtve.com/article.php?ArticleId=4753
Musique Machine interviews the often-cryptic Garm of Ulver: http://www.musiquemachine.com/articles/articles_template.php?id=66
Indieworkshop.com checks in today with new reviews of A Taste of Ra (aka Nicolai Dunger) and Antennas.
Download an mp3 featuring 20 second clips for every song on the new When We Fall EP "A cry in despair": http://www.whenwefall.se/media/testlistening.mp3
Norwegian hard-rockers WE continue their international expansion by taking on France. Their most-recent excellent album "Smugglers" will be released over there on August 8 via Bad Reputation and the band will follow-up with two gigs in support in September. Dates:
09/17 - Le Festival des Grosses Guitarres, Lyon
09/18 - La Maroquinerie, Paris
Din Stalker has posted a new banjo/breakbeat track for download: http://smk.ko2000.nu/hannes/din_stalker_kristi_rus_v2.mp3
Download the title track from Thehelpmeplease's new album "A little love": http://web.telia.com/%7Eu31451362/alittlelove.mp3
Diskaholics Anonymous, a trio featuring renown Swedish jazz musician Mats Gustafsson along with Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) and Jim O`Rourke (Sonic Youth/Wilco), will perform at this year's Øya Festival on August 12. The group will also be releasing what I believe is their debut album "Weapons of ass destruction" this coming fall via Smalltown Superjazzz.
US label Lujo Records will be releasing the "Sweet sweet suicide" EP from Norwegian hardcore act Silence the Foe in a special new version this coming September with two bonus tracks and two videos included on the disc. In other news, StF will be entering GrandSport Studio today with Christian Engfelt from Cato Salsa Experience to begin work on their debut full-length album.