SWNK talks to Swarm

Some Will Never Know interviews all-star gubbe-rock act Swarm, the new band with members from Disfear and Victims and a new 7" on De:Nihil Records: http://www.swnk.org/interviews/swarm/

De:Nihil to release new 7" from Swarm

De:Nihil Records is putting out a new 7" from Swarm, a bluesy noiserock trio featuring current and ex-members from revered Swedish acts such as Victims, Disfear and Entombed: http://denihilrecords.blogspot.com/2012/05/new-release-swarm-nihil011.html
2 songs, pre-orders start on May 19.

Parasight sample tune online

Screaming Records are now streaming a tune from the new Parasight 7" "Moral recession" at Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/screamingrecords
If you dig metallic d-beat/hardcore ala late-era Disfear or Black Breath, you'll dig this.

RIP Henrik Frykman (Disfear)

Disfear bassist Henrik Frykman has passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer. Read the press statement: http://www.lambgoat.com/news/view.aspx?id=16035

Fred Estby unveils Necronaut

Necronaut, the solo project of ex-Dismember/Carnage drummer/Sunlight Studios engineer Fred Estby, has signed with Regain Records and will be releasing their self-titled album later this year. The band features music written by Estby with a huge cast of metal all-stars contributing guest vocals and guitar tracks including luminaries such as Tomas Lindberg (Disfear, At the Gates), Nicke Andersson (Death Breath, ex-Entombed, The Hellacopters), Robert Pehrsson (Death Breath, Dundertåget), Robert "Strings" Dahlqvist (Dundertåget) and many more. Hear a sample tune at myspace featuring vocals from Chris Reifert (Abcess, Autopsy) and lead guitar from Uffe Cederlund (Disfear, ex-Entombed): http://www.myspace.com/necronaut666

Various Artists
Skitliv! Fucked up passed out no memories left...
D-takt & Råpunk

Sarcastic punk zine iconoclasts "Skitliv!" pay tribute to themselves with a double-disc collection of cuts from (almost) every artist they ever interviewed and that adds up to ten issues and 48 tracks of uncompromising Swedish d-beat/käng/råpunk. Most of the big names are represented, from old-timers such as Anti Cimex, Moderat Likvidation and Mob 47 to Wolfbrigade, Disfear, Skitsystem and Victims, as well as up-and-comers like Tortyr, Kvoteringen, Giftgasattack and truckloads more. Of course the quality here runs the gamut, be it related to songwriting or recording, but it kind of doesn't matter in end because it all starts to blend together after 20 minutes or so. On the other hand, as a genre-dabbler, it's a great resource to have because the song selection is so all-encompassing and overwhelming; I'm sure I'll be going back to revisit in smaller doses to pick out new favorites. For everyone else, especially if your only knowledge of Swedish punk is limited to the mediocre "Svenska Punkklassiker" discs, the uncompromising, unrelenting hardcore noise attack of "Skitliv!" is a great overview of a much-heralded underground scene well worth investigating, even it does veer towards overkill.
- Avi Roig

MP3: Disco Volante - It's your funeral

This is the band that won the Manifest award for best punk/hardcore act? Really? Over Disfear, Nitad and Meanwhile? I think they're a decent band, but c'mon -- those Disfear and Nitad records are serious ragers, the latter especially. Meanwhile is a bit too by-the-books dis-core for my tastes, but that's beside the point. Disco Volante should've been way outmatched. Listen to the first minute of "It's your funeral" and tell me that doesn't sound like The Hellacopters. Another great band to be sure, but come on! Even though they pick it up for the rest of the track, it's lacking the roughness I expect from punk. I don't know; usually the Manifest is fairly right-on in their picks, but I think they might have blown it with this one.

Disco Volante - It's your funeral

Manifest nominees are go

The nominees for the Manifest Awards, Sweden's alternative Grammy, have been announced:

Synth:
Thermostatic - Humanizer (Wonderland Records)
Zeigeist - The Jade Motel (Spegel/Imperial Recordings/Playground)
Moonlight Cove - Orphans of the Storm (Kinetophone/Hot Stuff)
Elegant Machinery - A soft exchange (Out of Line/Hot Stuff)
Rhythm:
Movits - Äppelknyckarjazz (BD Pop/Universal)
Erici - Brasilicum (Erici Music/Dead Frog)
Saft Stockholm - Ordet (Saft Productions/Stockholm Electronica)
Kungers - Galaxen (Rätta Visan/Border)
Experimental:
Anders Dahl - Doorbells (Bombaxbombax)
Nina de Heyney, Charlotte Hug & Christian Jormin - Acoustic Electronic (LJ Records)
Pär Thörn - Schöneberg/Stammheim/Gärdet/Rågsved (Treffpunkt)
Anders Hultqvist - Traces (Chamber Sound)
Pop:
Frida Hyvönen - Silence Is Wild (Licking Fingers/Playground)
Hello Saferide - More modern short stories from... (Razzia/Bonnier Amigo)
Joel Alme - A Master Of Ceremonies (Sincerely Yours/Border)
Nordpolen - På Nordpolen (Sincerely Yours/Border)
Rock:
The Hellacopters - Head Off (Wild Kingdom/Sound Pollution)
Pascal - Galgberget (Novoton/Bonnier Amigo)
Fatboy - In My Bones (Fat State Production/Playground)
Manikins - Crocodiles (P.Trash Records)
Dance:
Pär Grindvik - Samlad årsproduktion (Stockholm LTD)
Anders Ilar - Sworn (Level Records 11)
Style of Eye - Duck cover and hold (Pieces of eight records)
Zoo Brazil - No Place Like Home (Gung Ho! Recordings)
Jazz:
Bobo Stenson Trio - Cantando (ECM/Naxos)
Nina Ramsby & Ludwig Berghe Trio - Du har blivit stor nu [En kamp!] (Moserobie/Bonnier Amigo)
e.s.t. - Leucocyte (ACT/Bonnier Amigo)
The Splendor - Sound of Splendor (HOOB/Border)
Punk/Hardcore:
Disco Volante - "We are forever" (Not enough)
Disfear - "Live the storm" (Relapse/Border)
Nitad - "Ibland kan man inte hindra sig själv" (Kranium)
Meanwhile - "Reality or nothing" (Feral Ward)
Hårdrock/Metal:
Burst - Lazarus Bird (Relapse/Border)
Dismember - Dismember (Regain/Sound Pollution)
Grand Magus - Iron Will (Rise above/Border)
Opeth - Watershed (Roadrunner/Bonnier Amigo)
Hip-hop/R'n'B/Soul:
Chords - Things We Do For Things (Juju/Playground)
Afasi & Filthy – Fläcken (P.o.p.e./Playground)
Masse - Gott & Blandat Vol. 2
Allyawan - Blu Duk Mixtape Vol. 2
Folk/Ballad:
Gunnel Mauritzson Band - Det som sker...(Sandkvie Records/CDA)
Maria Hörnelius, Bernt Andersson & Kjell Jansson - En sång för Kent (Eld Records/Border)
Jonas Knutsson & Johan Norberg - Skaren - Norrland III (Act/BAM)
Bjernulf/Björklund/Lindh – Pål Olles väg (Courage)
Singer/Songwriter:
Melpo Mene - Bring the Lions Out (Imperial Recordings/Playground)
Hyacinth House - Black Crows Country (True Music Production/Glitterhouse)
First Aid Kit - Drunken Trees (Rabid Records/Border)
Olle Nyman - Venture (A West Side Fabrication/Border)
Live:
Detektivbyrån (Danarkia)
The Hellacopters (Psychout Records)
Lykke Li (LL Recordings)
Robyn (Konichiwa Records)
Myspace prize for best unsigned act:
Montauk
Hero in action
Miranda Gjerstad
Sci-Fi Hands
John F Karlsson
Dyno
Tim Schmidt
Nottee
The Bellevues
Diskoteket

Go here for more: http://www.manifestgalan.se/

Wolfbrigade - Ride for a fall (video)

Check out the video for the new Wolfbrigade track "Ride for a fall": http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=49953723
I didn't expect too much from the new album "Comalive", but holy shit is it raging. If you're one of the many people who got into Disfear this past year, but still haven't explored the rest of the Swedish d-beat scene, it's gonna floor you.

Sirius playlist week #51

Here's the playlist for this week's (all-punk/hardcore) radio show:

01. Darkthrone - Hiking metal punks
02. TALK 1
03. Ebba Grön - Staten & kapitalet
04. Massgrav - Jävla fittor
05. Disfear - Live the storm
06. Samtidigt Som - För jag tror att ingen annan kan känna såhär för dig
07. TALK 2
08. We Live In Trenches - Autonomy clinic
09. MABD - Kom kom
10. Black Sheep - Crazy world
11. C.Aarmé - Ti ca tu a
12. Sods - Television sect
13. TALK 3
14. No Hope for the Kids - Rainy day
15. Frivolvol - Take it from the beginning
16. Hanna Hirsch - Ingen kommer sakna oss
17. Silver - Drenched in comfort
18. TALK 4
19. Randy - Win or lose
20. Victims - Your division
21. Smalltown - Warning
22. Lögnhalsmottagningen - Bodybuilder
23. M:40 - Sista tiden
24. TALK 5
25. Hebosagil - Cosmic

Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XM U. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers. Next week's show (December 28/29) will be all jazz.

Podcast: 2008 ugliness

Aversionline on the new Disfear/Doomriders split: http://www.aversionline.com/blahg/2008/12/03/disfeardoomriders-split-7/

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

MP3: Passiv Dödshjälp - Exorcism i beslagtagen kropp

Look, I know that a majority of the readership here is all about the indierock and I know there's a lot of exciting new releases this fall, but honestly, all I've been jamming lately has been crustpunk and jazz. The indie coverage will return later; today I'm going to post something from Passiv Dödshjälp (not to be confused with the band Aktiv Dödshjälp). Guess which category that one falls into? The band's self-titled CDr demo came to me via Halvfabrikat offshoot Halvkass Produktion whose motto reads: "CD sucks shit. Vinyl is for rich fuckers. CD-R is future." Yup, punk as fuck and totally on the level. Musically, Passiv Dödshjälp doesn't offer a lot of surprises. This is straight-up brutal Swedish crust ala Skitsystem/Disfear/et al. with a bit of added heaviness in the form of death-metal tremolo breaks and hardcore breakdowns. Both are prone to abuse, but the band pulls off the former with ease. The latter, not so much -- all too often the results are way too generic and predictable, not to mention out of place. Leave the chugga-chugga breaks for the meathead hardcore. Regardless, the band's ferocity often makes up for it; they're young, they'll figure it out. They also overindulge in pre-song samples, another trait of youthful naivity, but again, it's all good as far as I'm concerned. Live and learn.

Here's the opening track from the disc - like I said, it's pretty damn straightforward aside from the extra metal goodness on the chorus (and the THX opening), but they do it well so I'm happy to recommend it.

Passiv Dödshjälp - Exorcism i beslagtagen kropp

Check out an e-card for the new Disfear/Doomriders split on Deathwish Inc.: http://www.deathwishinc.com/listennow/launch/47/