Cold Meat has posted details for the new album "Souyuan" from Swedish dark ambient/industrial artist Atrium Carceri, his first new album in three years.: http://www.coldmeat.se/mailorderf.asp?id=2733
The official release date is November 26.
The new Scraps of Tape album (title tba) is set for release next March and the band plans to tour Europe throughout April and May. Dates and details to come.
The Soundtrack of Our Lives' new album "Communion" is now streaming in its entirety at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/officialtsool
Aversionline on Gbg-based hardcore act Dead Vows: http://www.aversionline.com/blahg/2008/11/19/dead-vows-bad-blood-cd/
Antenna talks to vocalist Mikael Stanne from Dark Tranquility: http://www.antenna.nu/?p=666
MP3: David Sandström Overdrive - Songs that maybe won't be forgotten
Facing the prospect of another 12-hour workday at ye old dayjob, so let's make this quick and easy. I can't wholeheartedly recommend the new David Sandström Overdrive album "Pigs lose" because it's got a bit too much filler, but man oh man, the good songs are damn good. Maybe even some of his/their best! It's the culmination of a 10+ year career with the wisdom of hindsight and the optimal optimism necessary to combat jadedness. Learn from the past, look forward to the future; don't dwell, keep on moving, keep looking at the world with fresh eyes. Turn up the fucking cowbell and get going! It's easy to get bogged down by negativity in this day and age, but we can fight it. Even better if we've got a kick-ass soundtrack.
David Sandström Overdrive - Songs that maybe won't be forgotten
Scandinavian metallers making the Pitchfork "Show No Mercy" top albums of 2008 list include Enslaved, Disfear, Darkthrone and The Haunted. Read more, including guest lists from two of the dudes in Enslaved: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/147495-column-show-no-mercy
Gbg-based indie/jazz duo Wildbirds & Peacedrums are doing a batch of West Coast dates in December:
12/05 - Transmission, Vancouver BC
12/07 - Neumos, Seattle, WA
12/09 - Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR
12/11 - Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco, CA
12/12 - Spaceland, Los Angeles, CA w/Radars to the Sky
They'll also be back in February as support for Lykke Li:
02/02 - Webster Hall, New York, NY
02/03 - Music Hall, Brooklyn, NY
02/04 - Club Soda, Montreal, PQ
02/06 - Phoenix, Toronto, ON
02/07 - Metro, Chicago, IL
02/08 - Varsity, Minneapolis, MN
02/11 - Commodore, Vancouver, BC
02/12 - Hawthorne, Portland, OR
02/13 - Showbox, Seattle, WA
02/15 - Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
02/17 - Glass House, Pomona, CA
Norway's Casiokids make Pitchfork's Forkcast: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/download/147078-new-music-casiokids-togens-hule-stream
The November CD blowout continues! Not only have I marked down an incredible amount of inventory, I'm also offering 10% off for all purchases over $50 and 20% off for everything over $100. Help me clear out merch to make room for 2009!
Peter Bjorn and John
Seaside rock
Wichita/V2
To be rather honest, I haven't really kept up with Peter Bjorn and John since they became everyone's favorite Swedish pop act with "that whistling song". Due to my negligence, I was completely taken aback by the instrumental nature of "Seaside rock" -- not just because there are few vocals (and the ones present are treated like instruments), but because a decent amount of the tracks on the album would be much improved by the introduction of a lyrical voice. It's hard to fully settle into the album. My mind keeps recalling tracks like "Objects of my affection" and "Up against the wall" from "Writer's block", and comparing those songs with the efforts on "Seaside rock" (I hope the rhyming nature of the two album titles was not intentional), this new record doesn't fare too well. It's not awful, not by a stretch, but the sudden and strange shift of tone is... well, awkward (and not in a cute way). The lush pop layering of Peter Bjorn and John has been replaced by avant-garde, postrock-inspired tendencies -- it's like Shout Out Louds following up "Our ill wills" with an album of Godspeed! You Black Emperor covers. There are some fantastic results -- "Barcelona", for example -- but the overall, lasting impression is the question, "Why?" "Seaside rock" is interesting, but it should have been released under a different band name; it's just not a Peter Bjorn and John record, but it has to be judged to that standard... and, sadly, it doesn't live up.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
New Sissy Wish dates in LA:
12/11 - Roxy theater, Los Angeles, CA
12/12 - The Beauty Box, Los Angeles, CA
There's a new Rumskib track called "Secrete" posted on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/rumskib
Opeth will tour South America in the spring: http://www.opeth.com/index.php/news/show/id/97
NORCD is releasing a new version of the classic medieval Norwegian ballad "Draumkvedet" featuring Berit Opheim Versto on vocals and Karl Seglem on ram's horn and electronics. Sounds fascinating - read more: http://www.norcd.no/DisplayArticle.php?id=369