On Volcano reports that their excellent debut EP "My sleep was filled with dreams" is sold out, but have no fear - copies are still available through me at a reasonable price: [click here]
Finnish shoegazers Murmansk are back in the studio with producer Julius Mauranen working on their 2nd album. Expect a spring 2009 release.
MP3: Anna Maria Espinosa - Glowing with you
My promo copy of Anna Maria Espinosa's album "Glowing with you" didn't come with liner notes, but it hardly matters - I'm confident I can accurately guess a large number of the co-writers and backing musicians based on sound alone, if not for past associations. If you're at all familiar with the crowd she keeps, it won't be hard either - this is the sound of peak Stockholm rock circa 5+ years ago or thereabouts. Her time with Club Killers is more than apparent and so it's only natural that she also takes on the sounds of Moneybrother and, as you'll hear on the title track posted today, Weeping Willows. It's a classic WW-style ballad; I half-expect Magnus Carlson's croon to enter on every new verse though Anna does manage to pull it off on her own. She can't quite wrench out the teardrops like Magnus on the peak of that sad, sad chorus, but still, she soars admirably. Yes, it's terribly derivative, but come on, are you surprised? You shouldn't be.
Anna Maria Espinosa - Glowing with you
Pitchfork recommends Love Is All's new record: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/147229-love-is-all-a-hundred-things-keep-me-up-at-night
Norma
Book of Norma
Novoton/NONS
I'll admit that I had a little difficulty at first with Norma's debut "1". I fell hard for "Love no other", but found it slightly demanding to be as powerfully drawn to the rest of the EP. As an English professor of mine would carefully say about a book he didn't appreciate to the extent his colleagues did: "I'm not ready for it yet." Still, something about Norma imbedded itself into me and I couldn't shake them. I can say now: I'm ready for Norma.
"Book of Norma" is overwhelming and disconcerting, yet it is precisely in this difficulty that Norma best profess their talents. No band attempting to provide a facile listening experience would start a record with "S.A.M", a track that starts off as though its been recorded from the backstage room of a club. Even in the most simple, driving moments of "S.A.M" or "Waste", there is a fullness that most bands lack - in "S.A.M" this comes from the dark amplitude of the production and in the bridging of Krautrock with indie rock; in "Waste", Norma separate themselves through attitude and approach alone, taking what could almost be a track from Tiger Lou's "The loyal" and saturating it with a dysphoria present not only in the song's pacing, but in the detached lyrics. "Book of Norma" is brilliant, be it in the near freak out of "Evelyn", the unsettlingly fast/slow pacing of "You go, we follow", or in the beautiful closer "Empty hands" which is only made more remarkable through Andrea Kellerman's (of Firefox AK) backing vocals. I've never given full marks to a band before, nor do I hesitate to do so with this - "Book of Norma" is the record to beat in 2008.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Danish ambient electronic act Rumpistol has a new video for the track "Dynamo": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKCk1VwVEkI
Watch "Kid Down Street Team The Movie": http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=46337663
Norwegian misanthropic hardcore act Haust is back in the studio recording their 2nd album. The band also plans on doing a split 7" with countrymen Succuba sometime before the end of the year.
Swedish hip-hop artist Form One is streaming his entire album "Behind blue eyes" at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/formoneonline
In Flames is going to Japan in March:
03/04 - Blitz, Tokyo
03/05 - Blitz, Tokyo
03/06 - IMP Hall, Osaka
Cult of Luna has a nice, sleek new website: http://www.cultofluna.com/
Note the Australian dates in February.
Hello Saferide will be doing an extensive Swedish tour in February:
02/04 - Kulturens Hus, Luleå
02/05 - Pinkerton, Skellefteå
02/06 - Gamla Teatern, Östersund
02/07 - Oscar Matsal & Bar, Sundsvall
02/13 - Katalin, Uppsala
02/14 - Spegeln, Gävle
02/18 - tba, Norrköping
02/19 - Växjö Teater, Växjö
02/20 - Mejeriet, Lund
02/21 - The Tivoli, Helsingborg
02/27 - Jönköpings Konserthus, Jönköping
02/28 - Trädgårn, Göteborg
03/13 - Tyrol, Stockholm
Ektro Records reports that the new album "Kingdom of the golden hammer" from gone-soft NWOFHM act Steel Mammoth is out now. Read more and be confused: http://www.ektrorecords.com/ektro.php
Swedish indie act Utah Rangers are playing a last-minute gig at the Cake Shop in NYC tonight. Show is at 10pm and will set you back $6.
Lighthouse Project and Combat Rock Industry have parted ways. Says the label: "It feels weird because we started doing stuff together right from the start of the band and they have an unique vision of what they do, and we still have nothing but respect for the band.. but it's just that we don't enjoy the music they currently make enough to do what a record label should do. For me an important part of the personality of the band disappeared with the departure of their original drummer, for some people it's quite the opposite like it should be.. but anyways good luck in the future!"