Kid Down offer up songs for download
Kid Down is giving away a batch of songs to help promote themselves while on tour with Fall Out Boy: http://www.kiddown.com/giveaway.zip
Stream the new Florence Valentin album
Florence Valentin's new album "Spring Ricco" is currently streaming in its entirety at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/florencevalentin
Metal Blade signs As You Drown
Metal Blade has announced the signing of Swedish metal act As You Drown and will be releasing their debut album in July. Listen here: http://www.myspace.com/asyoudrownsweden
Moist - Just say you're sorry (feat. Sophie Rimheden)
Download a new single from Moist featuring guest vocals from Sophie Rimheden and remixes by Håkan Lidbo and Stefan Aronsson: http://www.moist.se/
New EP from Penny Century + UK tour
Swedish indie act Penny Century is offering their 5-track EP "Valencia" as a free download: http://promotion.pennycentury.se/
Be sure to check out the band when they're in the UK next month:
04/14 - The Liquid Ship, Glasgow
04/15 - The White Room, Sunderland
04/16 - Newcastle Arts Centre, Newcastle Upon Tyne
04/17 - The Enterprise, London
04/18 - tbc, London
Marit Bergman has a new website
Marit Bergman has given her website a much-welcome facelift to coincide with the release of her new album "The tear collector": http://www.maritbergman.net/
Good to see that the Mubito system is no longer heavy on frames and URLs that make no sense.
The Low Frequency in Stereo + Hypertext to Germany
The Low Frequency in Stereo are doing a batch of German dates in May and bringing fellow Norwegians Hypertext along for the ride:
04/30 - Drone Bar, Copenhagen (DK)
05/01 - Klub Drushba, Halle (GER)
05/02 - Beatpol, Dresden (GER)
05/04 - Magnet Club, Berlin (GER)
05/05 - Gladhouse, Cottbus (GER)
05/06 - Kukuun, Hamburg (GER)
New Anchor CD on Self True
Russian label Self True Records has put out a new CD from Swedish sXe hardcore act Anchor called "First year" which collects all of the band's recordings so far: the 5-track "Captivity songs" EP as well as two from their split with The Kind That Kills and one previously unreleased track. More info: http://www.myspace.com/selfxtrue
Raised Fist to record new album in April
Swedish hardcore act Raised Fist will be entering Studio Dug Out in Uppsala in April with producer/engineer Daniel Bergstrand to record a new album, their fifth overall.
Cops shut down TSOOL gig in LA
Aftonbladet reports that The Soundtrack of Our Lives' show at the Swedish Consulate in LA got shut down by the cops: http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/musik/article4683887.ab (in Swedish)
It's a damn shame I live too far away to have been able to attend.
MP3: The River Phoenix - 5 wheel drive
Okay, one last promo mp3 before Friday's Danish Dynamite showcase. The River Phoenix are a band that manages to transcend their abominable name to deliver solid emopop on this particular track, "5 wheel drive". Nothing groundbreaking to be sure, but if you like soaring octave chords, heavy half-time choruses and earnest, keening vocals then these guys will surely satisfy. Sand off the dark edges from either Mew or Lapko and you get the picture. Not quite as sugary as Jimmy Eat World's best material, but awfully close, so let's play it safe and file 'em under guilty pleasures for the time being.
As for the rest of the Danish Dynamite lineup, since there's no way I'll cover 'em all (even if I wanted to) I'll just pass along this zip file so you can familiarize yourself on your own time: [click here]
The River Phoenix - 5 wheel drive
The Change to play two German shows in May
Swedish hardcore act The Change will do a couple German gigs in May:
05/20 - Knaack, Berlin
05/21 - Backstage, Munich
Velvet interview at Scandipop
Scandipop interviews Swedish pop sensation Velvet: http://www.scandipop.co.uk/?p=633
New David Sandström Overdrive single in May
The new David Sandström Overdrive single "These are the days" will be released in May.
Listen to I Was A King
Morningside Records is streaming I Was A King's hyped self-titled album in full: http://morningsiderecords.dk/IWAK