This week's Sofia Talvik guest duet partner is Tom Levin: http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=36288433
As mentioned last week, Sofia Talvik will be releasing a new live track with a guest artist every week up until the release of her new album "Jonestown" on August 27.
Swedish synthpop act Kamera will support Blondie on tour in Europe:
07/06 - Academy, Bristol (UK)
07/10 - House of Culture, Helsingfors (FRA)
07/12 - Rock Zottegem, Bryssel (BEL)
07/13 - Limmitshaus, Zurich (CH)
07/15 - Den Attelier, Luxemburg (LUX)
07/16 - Paradiso, Amsterdam (NL)
07/22 - Echo Arena, Liverpool (UK)
07/25 - Vicar, Dublin (IRL)
07/26 - Academy, Glasgow (UK)
07/28 - ExCel, London (UK)
Bombhappies sideproject Psychic Stunts just released their new EP "101 pick up lines" on Gården Recordings and you can preview (and download) it on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/psychicstunts
MP3: Siena Root - Waiting for the sun
When it comes time for me to reflect back on my favorite releases of the year thus far, my prime criteria is always which albums I've listened to the most and I have to say, I don't think there's been any other record that's come close to Siena Root's "Far from the sun". I think we (my wife + I) actually wore out the CDR promo we played it so much. No matter, I just figure that's a better excuse for me to grab a copy of the gatefold vinyl and seriously, is there a better format for music like this? As the Swedes say, this is "hårdrock", plain and simple. A bit of the heaviness of Black Sabbath, but more groove oriented ala Iron Butterfly or early Deep Purple. Sweet riffs galore! And dig that (faux?) sitar on this track -- anyone that can get down with The Soundtrack of Our Lives should be all about it. Sames goes for you Witchcraft and Graveyard fans, too!
Siena Root - Waiting for the sun
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show:
01. Tobias Hellkvist - Besviken
02. TALK 1
03. The Deer Tracks - Yes this is my broken shield
04. The Tallest Man On Earth - Pistol dreams
05. White Knives - Death is king of the dancefloor
06. TALK 2
07. Abcess Exil - Kanske du förstår
08. Sällskapet - Nordlicht
09. KTMK - Kalinka
10. The Kid - Transient dance
11. TALK 3
12. Commando M. Pigg - This thing
13. I Are Droid - Sevenfold
14. Johan Heltne - Din alkoholism är ingen alkoholism
15. TALK 4
16. Zeigeist - Wrecked metal (cello version)
17. CMX - Nainen tanssii tangoa
18. Broder Daniel - Love doesn't last
19. TALK 5
Reminder: my show on Sirius Left of Center (channel 26) airs Sundays at 11pm ET with repeats on Monday.
Kleerup
s/t
EMI
Pop music can be about a lot more than shifting hundreds of a thousands of records and continuously rotating overly-glitzy music videos, and Andreas Kleerup's self-titled debut is verification of this idea. Holding more in common with The Knife's songwriting approach than that of Max Martin, and reveling in similar production tricks to that of Justice, Kleerup's compositions seem almost "accidentally" radio friendly; too much effort has been put into these tracks for them to be dismissed as pop fluff, and yet too much pop sensibility has gone into their writing for the songs to feel pretentiously avant-garde -- the album's strengths exist somewhere in between these two judgments. While the record is rather star-studded with tracks featuring numerous well-known artists: Robyn, Lykke Li, Neneh Cherry, and Marit Bergman, to name a few, Kleerup's own tracks stand up well on their own. "Thank you for nothing" runs cleverly between Europop-like catchiness and the allure of well-produced remixes of bands like Phoenix, and opener "Hero" is an engaging first look at the album, evoking a strange mix between Vangelis and Röyksopp. "With every heartbeat", the Robyn-featured single, is my favorite track, though the Marit Bergman led "3am" and Lykke Li's "Until we bleed" are not far behind. Overall, "Kleerup" is a skillfully produced pop record that's as much fun as it is expertly written and executed -- a pleasant departure from the soulless gloss of so many other pop albums.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Reunited Norwegian cult act White Lord Jesus will be releasing the new album "...into that good night" on August 18, 24 years after their debut. The first single "Strange days" includes guest vocals from Rebekka Karijord and can be downloaded here: http://www.whitelordjesus.com/
Other guests on said record include Arve Henriksen (Supersilent), Martin Horntveth (Jaga Jazzist, The National Bank), Bård Torstensen (Clawfinger) and Maja Ratkje (Spunk, Fe-mail).
Dreamboy has posted a journal from their recent trip to Japan: http://www.dreamboy.se/index.php?page_id=369
Swedish electropop duo Rocca has posted "Private dancer", their new track with Juvelen on guest vocals, on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/roccarocca
Swedish doom act Abandon has completed work on their massive new album "The dead end" and have samples posted on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/inrealitywesuffer
There's no deal signed yet for a release, but if you're up for putting out a 106-minute 2CD/3LP album, get in touch.
Swedish old-school death-metal supergroup Bloodbath will release their new full-length album "The fathomless mastery" on October 6 via Peaceville Records.
The Swedish Music Information Centre (or "Svensk Musik" på Svenska) is now officially its own entity as of today, July 1. The company is still owned by STIM, so don't expect big changes just yet, only a new URL for the time being (and a new physical location in the near future): http://www.mic.se/
New North American dates for Lykke Li:
08/25 - Hotel Cafe, Los Angeles, CA
08/28 - Le Poisson Rouge, New York, NY
08/28 - Richards on Richards, Vancouver, BC
10/19 - Black Cat, Washington, Washington DC
10/23 - Paradise, Boston, MA
10/24 - Mod Club, Toronto, ONT
10/25 - Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL
10/28 - Richards on Richards, Vancouver, BC
10/29 - Neumo's, Seattle, WA
10/30 - Doug Fir, Portland, OR
11/01 - Independent, San Francisco, CA