Ida Maria has lined up a new UK tour for November:
11/07 - Oran Mor, Glasgow
11/08 - Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh
11/09 - Academy 2, Newcastle
11/12 - The Point, Cardiff
11/13 - Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
11/14 - Academy 2, Sheffield
11/15 - Barfly, Birmingham
11/18 - Komedia, Brighton
11/19 - Cockpit, Leeds
11/20 - Club Academy, Manchester
11/22 - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
11/23 - Zodiac At The Academy, Oxford
11/26 - Thekla, Bristol
11/27 - Scala, London
PopMatters on the new Cult of Luna album "Eternal kingdom": http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/61531/cult-of-luna-eternal-kingdom/
Musique Machine on the new Skull Defekts album "Drone drug": http://www.musiquemachine.com/reviews/reviews_template.php?id=1883
Norwegian rockers Silver have confirmed that their new album "Wolf chasing wolf" will be out in Europe on August 29 via German label Rodeostar Records and in Norway on September 8 via VME.
Aversionline on the new 7"/DVD from Finnish melodic hardcore act Lighthouse Project: http://www.aversionline.com/blahg/2008/07/31/lighthouse-project-misanthropic-humanist-7dvd/
Service is putting out a 12" EP from semi-legendary underground Italian/Swedish production team Jackpot. The story of the album is too long and involved to explain here in a concise way, so I suggest you go here for the full scoop: http://jackpotresearch.wordpress.com/
I have no clue if the music will be any good, but it certainly is interesting reading about it.
SF-based label Devil in the Woods will be placing Swedish act The Confusions on two upcoming compilations, the first with the song "Skalka" and the second featuring an acoustic version of "The pilot". There might even be a 7" single in the works too, but nothing is set yet. In other news, the band has made the track "Thin" available as a free download: http://www.theconfusions.com/media/sounds/The_Confusions_Thin.mp3
It turns out I was hasty is my assessment of "Big sun", the first track released from Hebosagil's new album "Colossal", because the rest of the record is totally slays. At first I was put off by how much slower and doomier the material is, but once I got used to it, I was able to properly appreciate its greatness. There's some serious studio wizardry going on here too, though it might not be obvious to a lot of folks. I'm not sure how they do it, but they manage to push every single instrument way into the red (listen to the drum rumble on "Cosmic"!), yet it remains clear and crisp enough to individually pick them out of the mix. And it seriously is the most blown-out, fucked-up brutal sound too, like, as I've said before, Sunlight Studios to the nth degree. That bass is absolutely monstrous and all the guitar leads are pure scorchers. In a word: awesome.
"River" is by far the most raging track on the album, so that's the one I'm gonna share today. It's not exactly the best representation of what the rest of the album has to offer as I'm sure you can imagine since it's not doomy at all, but screw it -- it floored me when I first heard it, so that's what you're gonna get. Easily one of the best heavy releases of 2008 thus far.
Hebosagil - River
The Smell of MutinyThe band's self-titled debut EP left little impression on me, though I do remember the b-movie sci-fi/horrorshow graphics. If only the music was as memorable! They do one-up themselves on this follow-up single though, running through an upbeat garage-pop stomp on the a-side and some quality French pop baladeering on the flip, complete with flute and harpsichord tones. Still, I gotta say, the artwork wins out yet again. Though the band's music has improved, the retro graphics (courtesy of Andreas Tylden) are far more compelling than their tired retro sound.
- Avi Roig
Monument Records will be putting out a 7-track 7" from Swedish upstartsFirst Cut, a no-frills hardcore band that features members from bands such as Achilles Last Stand, Smalltown, Hearts Alive and The Arson Project. Hear samples at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/firstcuthardcore
Danish postrockers Lis Er Stille are counting down to something or other: http://www.liserstille.dk/
The August issue of All About Jazz NYC features a label spotlight on Jonas Kullhammar's Moserobie Records: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/newyork/
Check out the new video for "I rock" from Henry Fiat's Open Sore: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCrIsaQIX0Y
If you miss the manic garagerock of early Hives records and haven't heard these guys yet, you're blowing it.
Norwegian melancholic pop act Third Avenue now has a video for their new single "Ten to fastlane" up on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrY0G5ybk-U
The Monotonik netlabel has a new release from "laidback electronica" artist Coax available for free download: http://www.mono211.com/content/releases/mtkmp204.html
