You still have one more day to enter the Hell On Wheels CD giveaway. Click the banner on the right! The winner will be announced Wednesday.

Don't forget to enter to win a copy of "The odd church", the latest album from Stockholm's Hell on Wheels. Click the banner on the right!

I'm giving away a copy of Hell on Wheels' latest masterwork "The odd church". Simply click on the banner on the right to enter.

In honor of this day of supreme evil Hell On Wheels has posted "Stealing notes from the devils notebook" for free download: http://www.myspace.com/hellonwheelss

Hell on Wheels
The odd church
Hybris/PlayRec

Add my voice to the chorus singing the praises of this record. Everyone else compares them to the Pixies, but to these ears they're more reminiscent of sounds a little earlier in the 80s -- the off-kilter yet powerfully melodic pop of the Go-Betweens circa 1983-1985 where dischordant notes careened off of one another, time signatures shifted mid-song, and what seemed at first to be quasi-random messes revealed themselves on repeated listenings to be nuanced, intricate, and brilliantly crafted. Not a note on this record is where you expect it to be, instruments and vocals (both male and female) play off one another as much as they play with one another. It's unsettling and subversively catchy, intellectually intruiging and gut level appealing. Highly recommended.
- Nancy Baym

This week's It's a trap! Last.fm/Audioscrobbler listening group most-played artist chart:

01. The Knife
02. Tiger Lou
03. Death Cab for Cutie
04. Belle and Sebastian
05. The Radio Dept.
06. Radiohead
07. Kent
08. The Postal Service
09. The Flaming Lips
10. Gnarls Barkley

Top 10 tracks for the week:

01. Gnarls Barkley - Crazy
02. Tiger Lou - Nixon
03. The Postal Service - Such Great Heights
04. Band of Horses - The Funeral
05. I'm from Barcelona - We're From Barcelona
06. Camera Obscura - Lloyd, I'm Ready to be Heartbroken
07. Le Sport - it's not the end of the world
08. Alarma Man - Doctors, Listeners And Spectators Says Viva The Knife
09. Hell on Wheels - Come On
10. Sambassadeur - Kate

If you want to see your favorites listed here you should join us! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

Mp3 blog DIY Rockstar on C.Aarmé and Hell On Wheels: http://diyrockstar.blogspot.com/2006/05/what-rocks-in-sweden-nme-hype-band-of.html

Ask any Swedish music biz type about Hell On Wheels and they'll probably all tell you the same thing: nicest band ever. It's true, they are probably one of the nicest bands I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Too bad being nice in rock'n'roll gets you absoltely nowhere - it's a good thing that HoW are also a damn fine band. The trio has been honing their sound for quite some time now and their latest record "The odd church" is easily their best work yet. I had some delays getting my copy thanks to the US Dept. of Homeland Security opening my mail, but I've been listening daily since it arrived late last week. (Insert cheap pun about worshipping at the altar of the Odd Church, yadda yadda...) So enough about how nice HoW is, let's talk about their music! The most easy/obvious/lazy comparison would be The Pixies and I think that's a fine place to start. Bassist Åsa provides excellent counterpoint vocal melodies to frontman Rickard's lead when she isn't leading on her own. They don't usually reach The Pixies' heights of bombast, but they don't need to. HoW's songwriting and arrangements are much more intricate and involved. Not that I would accuse The Pixies of merely banging out chords, but How has more subtlety. They pack a lot of meat into everything they do. And don't forget how nice they are.

MP3: Hell on Wheels - Come on

Ask any Swedish music biz type about Hell On Wheels and they'll probably all tell you the same thing: nicest band ever. It's true, they are probably one of the nicest bands I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Too bad being nice in rock'n'roll gets you absolutely nowhere - it's a good thing that HoW are also a damn fine band. The trio has been honing their sound for quite some time now and their latest record "The odd church" is easily their best work yet. I had some delays getting my copy thanks to the US Dept. of Homeland Security opening my mail, but I've been listening daily since it arrived late last week. (Insert cheap pun about worshipping at the altar of the Odd Church, yadda yadda...) So enough about how nice HoW is, let's talk about their music! The most easy/obvious/lazy comparison would be The Pixies and I think that's a fine place to start. Bassist Åsa provides excellent counterpoint vocal melodies to frontman Rickard's lead when she isn't leading on her own. They don't usually reach The Pixies' heights of bombast, but they don't need to. HoW's songwriting and arrangements are much more intricate and involved. Not that I would accuse The Pixies of merely banging out chords, but How has more subtlety. They pack a lot of meat into everything they do. And don't forget how nice they are.

Hell on Wheels - Come on

Danish indie label Play/Rec has signed Hell On Wheels and will be releasing their latest album "The odd church" in Denmark on May 15 and throughout Europe later this summer. They'll be playing a record release show in Copenhagen alongside fellow Play/Rec licensee Greg MacPherson (from Canada, G7 Welcoming Comittee) on May 13.

Hell On Wheels have added another new song to their myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/hellonwheelss

Speaking of Hybris, the video for the new Hell On Wheels single "Alexandr" is now available on their website: http://www.hybrism.com/

The new Hell On Wheels single "Alexandr" is now available as free download on the Hybris website, both as an mp3 and mp4 video: http://www.hybrism.com/

The new Hell on Wheels album "The odd church" has finally been officially confirmed for a March 22 release date. The first single "Alexandr" (about Russian wrestler Alexandr Karelin) will be released soon, but can be previewed right now on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/hellonwheelss

In other Hybris news, here's some their updated release schedule:

Siberia - "Omtagning" single
Hell on Wheels - "Alexandr" single and video
Vapnet - "Thoméegränd" EP and video
Andreas Mattsson (ex-Popsicle, Vanessa and the O's) - "The lawlessness of the ruling classes" album