JR Ewing has announced that they will soon be releasing a new single entitled "Fucking & Champagne" which fill feature the exclusive b-side "One Without The Other". This will mark the band's first release after signing with Sony and is the first taste of what's to come from the upcoming album "Maelstrom". The new full-length comes out May 30 in Norway, elsewhere later this fall.
Startracks/V2 will release the proper debut EP from Britta Persson on March 23. After that, it's off on tour in Europe as support for labelmate and frequent duet partner Kristofer Åström. Dates soon.
Check out the first video for "White van" from David Fridlund: http://www.adrianrecordings.com/whitevan_petter.wmv
Norway's Amulet is yet another hardcore band trying to recapture the glory of Refused by heading to Tonteknik Studios in Umeå, Sweden to record their next album. Production team Pelle & Eskil will be coming to Norway next week to start pre-production and they'll head to Umeå in March to begin tracking.
Splendid reviews David & the Citizens: http://www.splendidmagazine.com/review.html?reviewid=1107517196744105
E.S.T. has the album of the week at BBC Music: http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/jazz/reviews/est_viaticum.shtml
Sweatmaster has confirmed that their new album "Tom tom bullet" will be released on April 4 via Bad Afro Records.
Danish redneck-rockers Powersolo will be heading back to France at the end of March:
03/30 - Fairfield, Toulouse
04/01 - Mars Attack, Angouleme
04/02 - Festival Garorock, Marmande
04/04 - Nouveau Casino, Paris
04/05 - La Laiterie, Strasbourg
Rick Rubin has reportedly signed a deal with Warner to house his label American Recordings. Maybe that new (Int'l) Noise Conspiracy album will finally come out, eh?
Oystein G. Brun has announced that the next project by Borknagar will be an acoustic album "based entirely on the epic and progressive aspect of the band." He continues "This is something we have wanted to do for many years now, and the idea has lingered within the band ever since the recording of 'Quintessence' and a few private sessions with a grand piano and an acoustic guitar. The album will be acoustic-based but largely arranged with a wide range of instruments and vocal styles. It will be recorded by the same line-up that did 'Epic', and we will be working with different locations during the recording process in order to catch the sounds of different acoustic environments. Musically the album will be rather dissimilar from what we have done before, though the unique Borknagar sound will surly shine through." More info to come.
The full story behind Marduk/The Legion drummer Emil Dragutinovic getting beat with a baseball bat: http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=32892
"Immigrants", eh?
Ellis the Vacuumchild
Peace by extermination
Chalksounds
This goes absolutely all over the place, and I love it! Seriously, we need more instrumental indie-rock records like this. The influences of EtVC are numerous but let's just mention the ones that stick out: early Stereolab, Sonic Youth, GBV and Mogwai. Combine that is one happy melting pot and you'll have a nice idea of what they are all about. If it were not for terribly recorded drums this album would have been a joy to listen to, but this little detail makes it alright but a bit annoying. Still very interesting.
- Simon Thibaudeau
David Fridlund
Amaterasu
Adrian Recordings
If you like David & the Citizens I shall hereby save you a minute or two by informing you that David Fridlund's solo album sounds like David & the Citizens and it's as good. So stop reading and go and buy it now, thank you very much. For all you other people who have never heard David & the Citizens, here you go:
It seems to be quite a trend to release solo albums lately in Sweden, but whereas usually these solo outings take on a completely different form than how the artist's band sounds like (e.g. Fireside's Kristofer Åström, International Noise Conspiracy's Dennis Lyxzen's Last Patrol, or Millencolin's Nikola Sarcevic), David's solo album sounds in fact quite a lot like a D&tC's first album (only a bit slower and less energetic). Even though it would have been interesting with an album that sounded completely different from D&tC, "Amaterasu" is so good that one quickly forget the initial disappointment and such before mentioned speculations, because by calling this just "another D&tC album" what that really equals is "another excellent album."
Another expectation on solo albums is of course for the lyrical content to deal with more personal issues, but if you've heard D&tC you know that their lyrics hardly can be any more personal and intimate. It should also be said that David Fridlund writes excellent lyrics and often manages to come up with lines that cunningly drill themselves into your brain, set root, and refuse to leave (such as "Rub your allergic eyes and look at me" from "Satellite", which is one of the best songs on the album). In the beginning of their career numerous people compared D&tC to Bright Eyes, and that comparison is still valid although "Amaterasu" is not as angst-driven as most of Bright Eyes' material. It's also a quite long album, but it's so varied it hardly ever becomes repetitive, but it's not really amazingly accessible either and it took quite a few listenings before I really got into it.
- Simon Tagestam
Håkan Hellström
En midsommarnattsdröm CDS
EMI
Håkan Hellström's career is quite intriguing, from playing bass in indie combo Broder Daniel he has, after two solo albums, become one of Sweden's biggest and most popular artists. Hellström has somehow managed to become a major artist (and a proper household name) without alienating most of his original indie audience, which is quite a feat. It comes as no surprise then that this new single from his forthcoming album "Ett kolikbarns bekännelser" (which roughly translates as "Confessions from a colic child"), is the most anticipated single this year in Sweden. The single did of course race directly into the number one spot in the singles chart. My expectations for this song was probably way too high, and I should have realized that my hopes would inevitable be crushed no matter what. But even though there's some nice flute playing by Dungen (who's to my bewilderment has received a lot of hype in the States in the past months) the song is unfortunately not as fantastic as Hellström's previous singles/songs.
- Simon Tagestam
Now
s/t EP
AA/Nosordo
This trio of Swedes play this really cool brand of instrumental rock that is a bit on the jazzy/funky side. Reminds me of the Euroboys' stuff from "Jet age" and is rooted in a nice '70s groove. This eight-track EP is almost hypnotic at times. Good listening for when you want to chill out in the afternoon with a drink in your hand.
- Navy Keophan