Top fives: 2005 so far

New pics of CDOASS, Isolation Years and Moneybrother now up at photohenrik.com.

Streaming playlist: Spring is in the air

The entire new Isolation Years album "Cover the distance" is available for streaming on the 3VOOR12 site: http://www.3voor12.nl/luisterpaal (look for the pop-up)
As mentioned before, this is my favorite album so far this year, so it's highly recommended that you check it out if you haven't heard it yet.

Magnus and Johannes of Umeå slowcore act Cobolt will be playing acoustic as support for Isolation Years when they tour Germany and Switzerland. Dates:

05/03 - E-Werk, Erlangen
05/04 - Fishermans Café, Langenau
05/05 - ISC, Bern
05/06 - Backstage club, München
05/07 - Zakk, Düsseldorf

Speaking of Isolation Years on tour, here's some pics and videos from the current trek: http://www.isolationyears.com/goodies.asp

Interview: Peter Ahlqvist (Burning Heart Records)

Oh. My. God. That had to be the longest trip home ever. I left Umeå late Sunday to head back to Stockholm and then got about an hour sleep before I had to run back to Arlanda to catch my flight to Paris. As luck would have it, the flight to Paris was delayed just enough for me to miss my connection flight to San Francisco, leaving me standed in France for an additional 24hrs. Merde! Thankfully the airport put me up at a local hotel, but let me tell you - it's scary to be a vegetarian at a Parisian buffet when there's so many little googly eyes staring back at you. I didn't realize pork came in so many forms. So anyhow, I survived and finally made it back home yesterday only to discover that my computer was kaput. Awesome. Still, it's so nice to be back in my own house with my wife and dogs and to sleep in my own bed, especially after such a draining journey.

Okay, day three of Umeå Open. My talk went okay even though I imbibed quite a bit the night before and the audience was somewhat unresponsive in typical Norrlandic fashion. That's pretty much what I expected, so I can't really complain. I suspect I could've prepared a little better, but it's far too late for those kinds of thoughts now. The shows that night were fantastic. Cult of Luna kicked things off down in the basement and actually played slower live than on record. Good stuff. I ran out of there at just the right moment to find Isolation Years taking the stage upstairs at the main auditorium. Again, quite nice. Both bands suffered a bit from being the first ones out for the evening, but both the bands and the crowd warmed up nicely by the end of their sets. After that I sat for a bit and relaxed before heading off to see a bit of El Perro Del Mar who was much, much better than I expected. I've thought that her recordings were kind of mediocre, but she really had a great voice live. Then it was back downstairs for Silverbullit who were easily the highlight of the entire festival. Such an awesome band, both live and on record. I took it easy after that until Moneybrother closed the show with a fantastic performance with his full band, including strings. It's interesting to see how much more he talked and related to the audience in Sweden than when I saw him a few weeks ago in LA. Both were good shows, but Anders was obviously much more comfortable in his home country, using his own language.

Huge thanks to everyone who put me up and put up with me. Thanks to everyone at Umeå Open and ExMS for making my trip possible and I'll be trying my best to thank you all personally in the next few days as I catch up on email. I had an awesome time and met so, so many great people. Hopefully it won't be too long before I'll be back in Sweden once again. I just won't go through France next time. Pictures soon! Once my home computer gets fixed. Oh, and if anyone finds my address book, please send it back to me. I'll cover the postage.

Okay, I survived Umeå Open day two and actually managed to get up and give my seminar this afternoon at 1. There weren't a ton of people there, but I can't blame them considering how much beer was being consumed the night before. As I said, I barely made it there myself. Firefox played at the same time, too. I'm bummed I didn't get to see her.

Anyhow, the bands I got to see last night were all really, really good. The Tiny kicked things off perfectly and were followed by Tiger Lou. Having only seen Rasmus perform solo before, it was reelly exciting for me to finally hear him with a full band. They played my favorite song "The war between us" along with a couple new tracks, so I was 100% satisfied. I screwed up and totally missed the next few bands while I hung out with friends, but I made sure I got to see The Ark. What can I say? They were amazing. They better come back to the US. Soon.

Tonight I have see Cult of Luna, Isolation Years, Silverbullit and Moneybrother. So many great bands, all at the same fest. And Rasmus from TL is doing guest vocals with CoL, too. Can't wait!

Well, the time has come and it's time for me to leave on my very first trip to Sweden. Can you believe it? It's funny, but it's true. Since I won't be posting any news for awhile I'm gonna leave you with two mp3s for the road, one from Isolation Years and one from KVLR. Both bands are from Umeå way up north in Norrland, my final destination after spending 48hrs or so in Stockholm. The KVLR track is an old tune from the "On planted streets" collection, my selection for April's album of the month. It's been over two years since we all went on tour to SXSW together and I can't wait to see tham all again. As for Isolation Years, this track is the band's bittersweet lovesong for their home country and, like everything else off their new album "Cover the distance", it is absolutely brilliant. There's been some good records released this year, but this one tops them all. Without a doubt, they are my favorite band right now. They keep getting better and better with every new album and I can't wait to see them play next week.

The latest reviews from Sellfish:

Disco Ensemble - First aid kit
Isolation Years - Cover the distance

Isolation Years have finally confirmed some new European tourdates. Here's the latest:

03/12 - Norrlands Nation, Uppsala (SWE)
04/09 - Umeå Open, Umeå (SWE)
04/13 - Woody @ Pusterviksbaren, Göteborg (SWE)
04/14 - Herrgårn, Linköping (SWE)
04/15 - Garage, Oslo (NOR)
04/16 - Café Mic, Vänersborg (SWE)
04/17 - Klubb Söndag @ Strömpis, Örebro (SWE)
04/27 - Molotow, Hamburg (GER)
04/27 - Molotow, Hamburg (GER)
04/28 - Knaak, Berlin (GER)
04/29 - Star Club, Dresden (GER)
04/30 - The Rodeo club @ Projekt 7, Magdeburg (GER)
05/01 - Forum, Bielefeld (GER)
05/03 - E-Werk, Erlangen (GER)
05/05 - ISC, Bern (SWI)

The new Isolation Years website is online too: http://www.isolationyears.com/

Isolation Years has pushed back the release of their new single "Michael (if you cannot row)" by a few weeks so that they have time to press a limited edition 7". The record will include that track along with the new album's first single "Nurse hands" and one more as-yet-undisclosed track. In other news, the band will be doing a few acoustic in-stores over the next few weeks and will have full-band tourdates confirmed soon as well. More info at the band's website: http://www.isolationyears.com/

Stickman Records has announced that they will release the upcoming Isolation Years album "Cover the distance" in Europe on March 29.