Bad Taste has posted details for the new Last Days of April album "Might as well live", due out February 26: http://www.badtasterecords.se/records.asp?id=430

Alternative Press lists Last Days of April's classic record "Angel youth" as one of their 10 essential heartbreak albums: http://altpress.com/tenessential/17.htm

UK label Big Scary Monsters will attempt to follow in my illustrious footsteps by releasing a comp of Swedish music entitled "Svenskt" on October 16. The lineup looks pretty damn good actually - names confirmed include Alarma Man, Audrey, David and the Citizens, Last Days of April, Logh, Molia Falls, Moonbabies, The Sound OE and, Traktor, pretty much all bands I would heartily endorse. Check out the comp's own myspace page for more: http://www.myspace.com/svenskt

Video mix: A-ha, A Camp, Fidget, Vapnet, The Psyke Project, Timbuktu, more...

MP3: Late Night Venture - Modesto

Denmark's Late Night Venture is the continuation of the band once known as Flying Virgins. I don't remember having heard anything from them as their previous incarnation, but the band's debut album under the new name is pretty darn nice. It's a mix of darker, Interpol-esque rock balanced nicely with melodic emopop ala Last Days of April. Frontman Søren Hartvig's squeaky vocals might be an acquired taste, but the hook on the chorus of the song I've posted today should jump out and grabs you regardless. I often put all my new music on shuffle while I work, just waiting for songs to catch my attention and this is definitely one that stood out. Nicely done.

Late Night Venture - Modesto

The Idle Hands
Let's celebrate a new time
self-released

I believe there are two bands called The Idle Hands at the moment, one American and one Swedish. It'll be interesting to see who will get to keep the name. These guys (the Swedish ones, of course) sound, in places, a bit like a MOR version of Last Days of April in their most melodic mood. Most of the time it's too cheesy and 80s sounding for me though, and it's also way too polished for my taste. I guess there are people out there who really enjoy this sort of stuff. So, good luck to The Idle Hands in finding those fans (and keeping their name).
- Simon Tagestam

Here's the dates for that upcoming Last Days of April tour supporting Fightstar:

03/11 - Southampton University, Southampton
03/13 - University of East Anglia, Norwich
03/14 - Metropolitan University, Leeds
03/16 - Academy, Birmingham
03/17 - Academy, Manchester
03/18 - Barrowlands, Glasgow
03/19 - University, Newcastle
03/21 - Academy, Bristol
03/22 - Astoria, London
03/25 - Temple Bar Music Centre, Dublin
03/26 - Spring & Airbrake, Belfast

Last Days of April will be supporting Fightstar on tour in the UK for a couple weeks in March. Dates soon.

Karl Larsson (Last Days of April) on tour in the UK:

09/20 - The Barfly, London
09/21 - Bar M, Chatham Kent
09/22 - The Prince Albert, Brighton
09/23 - The Ferryboat, Norwich
09/24 - The Casbah, Sheffield
09/25 - The Fenton, Leeds
09/26 - Bar Bloc, Glasgow

Upcoming tourdates for Karl Larsson (Last Days of April):

08/03 - Fritz Corner @ Kulturhuset, Stockholm (SWE)
08/12 - HMV Bourke Street Mall, Melbourne (AU)
08/12 - Northcote Social Club, Melbourne (AU)
08/13 - Jive, Adelaide (AU)
08/17 - Manning Bar @ Syd Uni, Sydney (AU)
08/18 - Oxford Tavern , Wollongong (AU)
08/19 - Annandale Hotel, Sydney (AU)
08/20 - Cambridge Hotel, Newcastle (AU)
09/02 - Weltbühne, Hamburg (GER)
09/03 - Projekt 7, Magdeburg (GER)
09/04 - Scheune, Dresden (GER)
09/05 - Arena, Wien (AUS)
09/06 - Ampere, Münich (GER)
09/07 - AKW, Würzburg (GER)
09/08 - Magnet, Berlin (GER)
09/09 - Eins B, Göttingen (GER)
09/10 - ETC, Erfurt (GER)
09/16 - Zwischenfall, Bochum (GER)
09/17 - JUZ / Indoor Festival, Saarlouis (GER)
09/20 - Barfly (Monarch), London (UK)

The German webzine Sellfish has relaunched with a new user-friendly GUI and plenty more of the usual Scandinavian music reviews and interviews. Recently added pieces include a review of the new Karl Larsson (Last Days of April) album "Pale as milk" and an interview with Anders Wendin of Moneybrother: http://www.sellfish.de/

This week's top 20 Swedish album chart:

01. CajsaStina Åkerström - De vackraste orden
02. Amy Diamond - This Is Me Now
03. Robyn - Robyn
04. Di Leva - Själens krigare: samlade sånger 1980-2005
05. Totta Näslund - Totta 8: Greatest Hits
06. Carola - Störst av allt
07. The Hellacopters - Rock & Roll Is Dead
08. Musikal - Mamma Mia
09. Timbuktu - Alla vill till himmelen men ingen vill dö
10. Ulf Lundell - Högtryck
11. Sofia Karlsson - Svarta ballader
12. Kent - Du & Jag Döden
13. Pandora - 9 Lives
14. Nanne - 20 år med Nanne
15. Ted Gärdestad - Sol vind & vatten - Det bästa
16. Laleh - Laleh
17. Bodies Without Organs - Protoype
18. Electric Banana Band - Electric Banana Band och Trazan & Banarnes bästa
19. Helena Paparizou - My Number One
20. Arvingarna - #8

Indieworkshop reviews the solo debut from Karl Larsson (Last Days of April): http://indieworkshop.com/music/1818/

Podcast: Feel-good summer mix, pt. 2

Bad Taste has posted an mp3 from Karl Larsson's (Last Days of April) upcoming solo album "Pale as milk": http://www.mejeriet.net/badtaste/mp3/karl_larsson_off_the_cliff.mp3
It comes out on June 22.

Ah, Friday. It never comes soon enough. This week's classic tune comes from Last Days of April off their 2000 album "Angel youth", easily the best record they've ever done. Which is not to say they haven't put out decent material since then- they've just never been able to match the ridiculously high standard they set on this release. The band tends to catch a lot of flack for being on Deep Elm in the US (Bad Taste in Sweden) and getting lumped in with the dreaded emo scene, but the music is much better appreciated if you think of it as a pop record. Sensitive boys making great pop songs. Nothing wrong with that. In a lot of ways "Angel youth" is very similar to Jimmy Eat World's breakthrough release "Bleed American": Both bands came from similar scenes and both records have amazing production, gigantic hooks and excellent pacing, 'cept the Swedes probably haven't raked in anywhere near the same amount of money. But what I'm saying is that they could. The potential is there, or at least was. It'll be interesting to see what LDOA mainman Karl Larsson does now that he's gone "solo". I'll be waiting.