Tuusanuuskat - Kukkien Guantanamo Bay (video)
Psychedelic Finland in full effect.
MP3: The Dead Radio - Make it easy
It's been ages since I've heard from Jeppe Foldager, frontman for "Reader's companion" alums The First Miles, but now he's back at long last with a new band called The Dead Radio. Less Americana-influenced than his previous act, but just as solid. A bit more ambitious perhaps? They're definitely going for a bigger, more grandiose pop sound, that's for sure. Check out "Make it easy" below and then head to their website for another cut.
The Dead Radio - Make it easy
Barren Womb - Pink funeral
New heavy sludge outta Norway from a band called Barren Womb. Look for the band's new EP "On the origin of the fæces" on September 14 via ; no word on whether or not they'll also be lifting the design of Type O Negative's original artwork off their album of almost-the-same name, but I guess we'll have to wait and see (and never unsee).
Grave album preview
Cult Nation is offering up a full-length preview of the upcoming Grave album "Endless procession of souls": http://www.cvltnation.com/exclusive-cvlt-nation-streaming-grave-perimortem/
Pitchfork reviews Holograms
Pitchfork reviews the Holograms' new self-titled album, out now via : http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16901-holograms/
Don't forget our own review which you can find right here.
Beastmilk
Use your deluge
Svart Records
Now this is where it's at! This four-tracker kicks off like the ugly cousin of something that The Cult would have put out back in the day and it's immediately evident where talk of the Helsinki quartet being a lo-fi outfit comes from. It's not that they're lo-fi though, it's more that the guitars have been given a dirty post black metal(ish) production and remain subdued when compared to the sublime vocals. They're like an apocalyptic marriage of the voices of Ian Astbury and the enigmatic Czral from Norwegian oddballs Virus. Kvhost of Hexvessel infamy is the man here and he simply kills. After opening track "Void mother" the band venture into a more retro-based aesthetic and, as weird as it might sound, from here on out "Use your deluge" is probably best described as hippy '60s surf-punk for the 21st Century. There are many influences at work here and the concept has clearly been built from a punk foundation. It's also a grower that runs from "not sure" to "utterly amazing" in the space of a few days. Awesome stuff.
- John Norby
Glue Girls - Anemic
New Swedish indie heavily indebted to Starmarket and the like. Hear Glue Girls' entire new EP "We're here to pick up the pieces" via Spotify.
Top Tigers Play New Sound
Finland meets Sweden by way of gentle indierock. This is Finns The New Tigers covering Swedes Top Sound while the latter return the favor on the flipside. Hear both tracks and/or order the 7" here.
Springfactory - Enough about you
New music from SKwBN sideproject Springfactory off the band's new album, due out this fall.
New Graveyard in October
Swedish hard-rockers Graveyard have announced that their new album "Lights out" will be released on October 26.
Slowgold - Clark
"Clark" is the debut single from Slowgold's upcoming self-titled debut, due out August 24 via . Quite a bit different from the label's other acts such as Nitad and Bombus, but that's by no means a bad thing!
Lukestar says goodbye
Norwegian indierockers Lukestar are sadly calling it quits after 10 years as a band and will play their final show on August 31 at Parkteateret in Oslo. Read their final statement here.
Back from vacation
Tattoo by Jonas at Göteborg Classic
I'm back home again and back at work after a two-week Swedish excursion -- thanks to all my friends, new and old, for hanging out and being awesome! In the meantime, I've got myself a mountain of junk to climb out from under so expect updates this week to be terse. I'll be back on top soon enough.
Best of 2012 (so far)
Been meaning to get this written up for over a week now, but I haven't found the time and now that I'm about head out on vacation to Sweden for a couple weeks, I figure I need to get at least something up. So without further ado, here's my picks for the best releases of 2012 so far (in alphabetical order):
Agent Side Grinder - Hardware ()
Beastmilk - Use your deluge ()
Diskoteket - Det ska se ut som slutet ()
Magnus Ekelund & Stålet - Supernova EP ()
Nitad - Rastlös & vild ()
Susanne Sundfør - The silicone veil ()
Tvärvägen - Staring directly into the sun ()
Vånna Inget - Jag ska fly tills jag hittar hem ()
On the cusp/too early to tell:
Anchorless - Every nook and cranny ()
Norra Kust - s/t ()
Westkust - Junk EP ()
Reissues:
Missbrukarna - Zooma in en zombie ()
Ratsia - Jäljet ()
Listen to a selection of these records below via Spotify: