Profile: Iisole

Nomethod has revealed that besides from new full-length albums and digital singles from both Mixtapes & Cellmates and Aerial, they'll be doing a comp this winter featuring a large cast of exciting Scandinavian artists. Names confirmed so far include Bobby Baby, Mixtapes & Cellmates, Kuryakin, Most Valuable Players, Aerial, Tar...Feathers, Echo Is Your Love, Cat Burglar, Penny Century, We Are Soldiers We Have Guns, Otur, Audrey and KVLR. More details to come!

My good friends, Umeå-based indierockers KVLR, will enter the studio next week to record basic tracks for the first three songs of their new album. They say the material is very varied and different, so expect greatness.

German-based label Stickman Records (Motorpsycho, KVLR) has licensed The Fine Arts Showcase's most recent album "Radiola" for a wider release and will be putting it out on August 25.

My boys KVLR are back! They had their first rehearsal in over a year today and finished two new songs with four more on the way. Look for them to record a new full-length at Arrowstreet in Umeå over the summer. Song titles so far include "Feel bad hit of the summer", "You caress the greedy hand", "Bad century dream" and "Enemy diary".

We continue our glut of great new music with another full week of daily tunes, 'cept this time it's all demo/self-released material. My first choice was easy - all of Iisole's previous material has been strong, but their latest demo is a stunner. The band has started to incorporate more post-rock tendencies into their noisy, guitar-heavy sound and the result is something like a cross between KVLR and Logh, two of my most favorite bands. How could I not love it? Hopefully you will too.

MP3: Iisole - The words

We continue our glut of great new music with another full week of daily tunes, 'cept this time it's all demo/self-released material. My first choice was easy - all of Iisole's previous material has been strong, but their latest demo is a stunner. The band has started to incorporate more post-rock tendencies into their noisy, guitar-heavy sound and the result is something like a cross between KVLR and Logh, two of my most favorite bands. How could I not love it? Hopefully you will too.

Iisole - The words

It's a trap! recording artist KVLR is now on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/kvlr
The band is on permanent hiatus, but I hear that frontman Johan and drummer Magnus plan to record some new material this summer. Labels interested in giving them money to make sure it happens are encouraged to get in touch.

Swedish noiserockers Iisole will be going into the studio on February 23 to record some new songs and will also be playing a short tour in Sweden and Norway with When We Fall in mid-March. If you're into stuff like KVLR, be sure to check these guys out.

2006 release schedule for upstart indie label Nomethod:

01/10 - QGMR - No Language EP
01/31 - Aerial - Black rain from the bombing CD
02/27 - The giant's dream - Idiomatic allograph EP
03/13 - KVLR - Swan Songs EP
04/24 - v/a - It´s the method of Nomethod's Summer CD

It's a small, small world that we live in. About a week ago my wife went to a meeting of the local weavers guild where a woman was talking about her upcoming trip to the Swedish speaking region of Finland so of course my wife mentioned something about this site and my interest in such things and so forth. So then this other lady relates a tale from one of her ealier trips to Sweden years ago where she stayed with some friends who had a surly punk-rocker daughter who later became a pop star. And who would that daughter be? Why, Marit Bergman of course. I can only imagine that this must've been during the Candysuck days, but I don't know for sure as it's all second-hand. As for my own Marit Bergman story: we met very briefly at SXSW in Austin when I was on tour with KVLR. I was totally out of my head from driving all night and probably made no sense, but whatever - it was years ago. I'm over it. So Marit, should you ever read this, I hope you're enjoying your stay in NYC. Hopefully we'll get some new music from you in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, here's a live track from Popstad 2003.

MP3: Marit Bergman - I take my wings off you

It's a small, small world that we live in. About a week ago my wife went to a meeting of the local weavers guild where a woman was talking about her upcoming trip to the Swedish speaking region of Finland so of course my wife mentioned something about this site and my interest in such things and so forth. So then this other lady relates a tale from one of her ealier trips to Sweden years ago where she stayed with some friends who had a surly punk-rocker daughter who later became a pop star. And who would that daughter be? Why, Marit Bergman of course. I can only imagine that this must've been during the Candysuck days, but I don't know for sure as it's all second-hand. As for my own Marit Bergman story: we met very briefly at SXSW in Austin when I was on tour with KVLR. I was totally out of my head from driving all night and probably made no sense, but whatever - it was years ago. I'm over it. So Marit, should you ever read this, I hope you're enjoying your stay in NYC. Hopefully we'll get some new music from you in the not-too-distant future. In the meantime, here's a live track from Popstad 2003.

Marit Bergman - I take my wings off you (live)

Today's oldie classic comes from Him Kerosene, one of my all-time favorites. Seriously, this is the kind of stuff I live for: huge walls of discordant guitars, dissonant melodies and a heavy rhythm section. What more do you need? This is the post-hardcore/indierock sound that got me hooked on the Norrland scene. From early Fireside, Starmarket and Brick to other bands like KVLR, Breach, Convoj and Seven Feet Four (not from the North, I know), Him Kerosene helped define and establish what I consider to be my favorite sound. And let's not forget HK frontman Niklas Quintana's newest band The End Will Be Kicks, also featuring ex-HK drummer Tomas Turunen. Today's selection comes from the sadly out-of-print magnum opus "Start.Stop", first released back in 1997 on Telegram/Warner, but it must be said that all of their releases are brilliant and worth tracking down even if they aren't quite so readily available. It's worth it, trust me. You want to start a band that I'm enthusiastically endorse, here's your blueprint.

I figure I might as well keep with the theme of the most recent podcast and post another fine track from Starmarket. I was considering trying to track down some Shredhead mp3s, but I get the feeling that those dudes probably don't want that stuff distributed online so prominently. Anyhow- Starmarket, as you can probably infer, are another fine band from Umeå in Northern Sweden. Their sound is part mid-90s noisepop mixed with a bit of post-hardcore, kinda like Fireside who I featured on a Friday classic post two weeks ago. This track happens to be one of the more tender numbers from the band's early period. It's incredibly melodic, but rhythm section keeps things heavy and powerful. The band is still kicking around nowadays, but they've gone through quite a few member changes over the years. Magnus and Johan went on to form KVLR (one of my absolute favorite bands), Patrik plays with Family Music and Fredrik also does The Crystal Committee. There's probably tons more too, but really - who needs to read through their entire incestous musical family tree? Not gonna happen. Just download the track whydoncha?

Podcast: The sound of Umeå