Fashionpolice will be releasing the debut full-length "Minnesmissbruk" from Swedish indie/psych/folk act Blända on October 28. Also, be on the lookout for a new album from Stella Rocket around the same time, but no date has been confirmed yet.
AC4, the new band from Dennis and David of Refused/Final Exit, have completed their self-titled debut album and will be releasing it via Ny Våg in the near future. Listen to a track at the label's website: http://www.nyvag.com/
IAT contributor Vasilis Panagiotopoulos has a piece at Drowned in Sound on how the economic collapse has affected the Icelandic music scene: http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4137547-the-icelandic-music-scene-after-the-economic-collapse
Drowned in Sound does a track-by-track rundown with Mum of their forthcoming album "Sing along to songs you don't know": http://drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4137579-disection--m%C3%BAm-sing-along-to-songs-you-don-t-know-track-by-track
Danish act Blue Foundation have just released a new version of the single "Watch you sleeping" with guest vocals from American melancholy singer/songwriter Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon). Listen at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/bluefoundationdenmark
Swedish hip-hop production duo Addeboy vs Cliff made it to the Pitchfork track reviews with "Beep my beep": http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/11435-beep-my-beep-ft-david-sandstrom-and-erika-moeld/
I haven't been posting much new music lately, but it's not as if doesn't keep piling up. I keep waiting for the market correction that will stop all the hundreds and thousands of wannabees from sending me their tunes, but at this point I've lost faith that it's really gonna happen. Not that I have much reason to complain though; it's just that so much of what I get is so uninteresting, if not flat-out boring. At least if it was awful I'd feel compelled to write about it, but it's hard to feel motivated when there's no inspiration. Yes, I do plan on running down all the crap in my inbox eventually (or most of it anyway), but I'm trying to be posi this week, so I'm gonna try to stick with stuff I actually like.
Gösta Berlings Saga are a straight-up/no fooling around instrumental progressive rock act. They've got loads of intricate, mathy riffs, but they're also clearly influenced by classic Swedish Progg in terms of mood and texture. For me, "Sorterargatan 3" is the highlight of their new record "Detta har hänt" -- it starts off slow and builds, builds builds into quite a stomper. I especially enjoy the digressions into Snakefinger-esque atonality that function as breaks between the main chunky rhythm of the song. It's a fairly simple part at its core, monotonal and steady, but they play around with it quite a bit by adding and subtracting layers and changing up the underlying accents. They're not afraid to show off their chops either, but no one ever takes enough of a lead to showboat. When a prog band sounds like this, like a single unit, I'm all about it. Even better that they're able to employ various subtle melodies and themes as they go along. Needless to say, very well done.
Gösta Berlings Saga - Sorterargatan 3
Check out the new Psychic Stunts video for "Wind up the sound": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT4i9MdjFbU&fmt=18
Holy shit! Logh is confirmed for a show on September 10 at the Knitting Factory in LA. I have no idea if there will be other shows yet, but I'm trying to find out.
Annie's new album "Don't stop" will finally see the light of day on October 19 via Smalltown Supersound.
Spanish blog Art is Fucking Dead talks to Swedish doom act Icos: http://artisfuckingdead.blogspot.com/2009/07/entrevista-icos.html
Excellent underground/DIY label Great Northern Recordings has put together a new compilation (their fourth) featuring two previously unreleased songs each from the likes of Lakes of Grass and Gold, Tape, The Magic State and Tsukimono plus artwork from Ragnar Persson. The handmade CDR version will be limited to a mere 100 copies and there will also be a cassette edition of 30. A release party will be held at Galleri Hangups in Stockholm on August 28 with a live performance from The Magic State.
Experimental/noise label Moptaco Dics has a new 40-minute cassette out now from Nightvision Campers, the duo of Dan Johansson from Sewer Election and label boss Daniel Fagerström (The Skull Defekts, The Je Ne Sais Quoi, Optic Nest). It's called "Golden hiss" and is described as being "based ONLY on white noise and hiss, the band has created a techno-like sound, without any hints of dance."
The excellent Danish indierock act Livaventura has two new songs at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/livaventura
Danish act Jong Pang is streaming their new album "Love" at myspace in its entirety: http://www.myspace.com/jongpang