My friend Björn Kleinhenz has given his site a small facelift: http://www.kleinhenz.se/
Swedish alt-country act The Tarantula Waltz is streaming their great new single "Chains" at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/tarantulaband
Look for the band's new album "Minus + Minus = +" to be released this fall via National Records.
Finland's Hundred Million Martians report back from their trip to Liverpool for the International Pop Overthrow festival: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=59969651&blogID=422543673
The new Cake On Cake album "Hymns I remember" is confirmed for release on October 1 via Sleepy Records. Samples at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/cakeoncake
Scraps of Tape are at Mission Hall Studio with engineer/producer Mathias Oldén (Logh) for the next two weeks working on their next album.
The tracklist for the upcoming Raison d'Être live album "The luminous experience" has been revealed:
01. The Invisible Gate of the Temple
02. Metal Stone Mental Heart
03. The Luminous Shield
04. Metamorphyses - Phase III
05. Metamorphyses - Phase IV
06. Wasteland
07. Mouldering the Forlorned - Part I
08. Pathfinder
09. The End of the Key
No word yet from Cold Meat Industry on a release date, but it should be out soon.
Swedish rockers Psychopunch are touring Germany in October:
10/08 - Headcrash, Hamburg (GER)
10/09 - White trash, Berlin (GER)
10/10 - LCB, Wuppertal (GER)
10/11 - Rock n roll Hell Festival, Osnabrück (GER)
10/12 - Klangstation, Bonn (GER)
10/14 - Schlachthof, Wiesbaden (GER)
10/16 - Substage, Karlsruhe (GER)
Danish singer/songwriter Lars Vestergaard's new band Route of the Belated will release their debut album on October 10 via the newly-established label Gutter Baby. Hear samples: http://www.myspace.com/routeofthebelated
The new solo album from Mixtapes & Cellmates frontman Robert Svensson "Young punks are on the never-never" is confirmed for release in Scandinavia on October 1 via Nomethod Records with Japan to follow on September 3 and Europe + North America to follow later on. Check out a short trailer: http://www.youngpunksareonthenevernever.se/
Nomethod is also giving away Robert's new single "Young enough", a duet with Markus Krunegård (Laakso). The official release isn't until September 20, but go ahead and grab it now: http://www.nomethod.se/rs_feat_krunegard_youngenough.mp3
Finnish acts Lapko and Disco Ensemble are touring together starting in late September:
09/25 - Debaser slussen, Stockholm (SWE)
09/26 - Sticky Fingers, Gothenburg (SWE)
09/27 - Reeperbahn Festival, Hamburg (GER)
09/28 - Magnet, Berlin (GER)
09/30 - tba, Prague (CZ)
10/01 - Szene, Vienna (AUS)
10/02 - PPC, Graz (AUS)
10/03 - Garage, Milano (ITA)
10/04 - Biomill, Laufen (CH)
10/05 - Schuur, Luzern (CH)
10/07 - Schlachthof, Wiesbaden (GER)
10/08 - Die Röhre, Stuttgart (GER)
10/09 - Underground, Cologne (GER)
10/10 - Matrix, Bochum (GER)
10/11 - Ekko, Utrech (NL)
10/15 - tba, Bryssels (BEL)
10/18 - Stengade, Copenhagen (DK)
Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week, unique to our group:
01. Håkan Hellström
02. Laakso
03. The Radio Dept.
04. Detektivbyrån
05. Kent
06. Sambassadeur
07. The Concretes
08. The Kid
09. Studio
10. Tiger Lou
Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/
Antenna talks to Peter Dolving of The Haunted about the band's forthcoming album "Versus": http://www.antenna.nu/?p=463
Sofia Talvik's duet partner this week is Christian Kjellvander: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=40257145
MP3: Him Kerosene - Whatever gets you by
I do believe I've covered all the new music I'm genuinely excited about, so I'm going to use today's mp3 post to promote my show on Sirius tonight (11pm ET, channel 26) since I'm doing a special guitar-rock feature. Now when I say "guitar-rock", bear in mind that I mean indie guitar-rock, not classic rock, or 80s rock or anything like that. Generally speaking, I'm talking about the kind of stuff that draws influence from bands such as Sonic Youth, Fugazi or even Quicksand, the kind of bands that Norrland pumped out in the 90s, bands like Starmarket, KVLR, Blithe, Fireside, Brick, The Bear Quartet... the list goes on and on. One of my absolute favorites though has got to be Him Kerosene. Niklas Quintana plays guitar like no other man except for those he inspired and his riffs are so amazing, so unique. The melodies are instantly recognizable and they point north -- there's no way this sound could originate anywhere other than northern Sweden.
"Whatever gets you by" isn't quite a ballad, but it is one of the more downtempo tracks on their masterpiece album "Start. Stop." (1997/Telegram Records). As is typical for bands from the far north, the music is seeped in heavy melancholy and resignation, though the huge guitar melodies provide a triumphant counterpoint to the sadness. The way the guitar lines twist and turn around each other is absolutely incredible. And the rhythm section is sharp too, like the album title implies, starting and stopping on a dime. I actually have a different HK track lined up for tonight's show, but they're such an amazing band, I feel compelled to share more. Too bad Warner (Telegram's parent company) hasn't been interested in doing a reissue or keeping the album in print. It's a lost gem.
Him Kerosene - Whatever gets you by