Video mix: KVLR, El Perro Del Mar, Totalt Jävla Mörker, Entombed, Division of Laura Lee, Abhinanda, more...

Logh has posted a brand new demo tack for listening: http://www.logh.se/IV.html
Good luck trying to find it!

Keep up with Logh as they record their fourth album: http://www.logh.se/loghIV.html

Video mix: Alarma Man, At the Gates, The Bear Quartet, Kings of Convenience, Montt Mardié, more...

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

MP3: Switchblade - 7:05

Switchblade's latest (and greatest) self-titled album is out now in the US via Cyclop Media. Two songs, one clocking in around 30 minutes and one topping off around minute 17. I considered posting a track, but man - that's a lot of bandwidth. And besides, the whole thing is available for streaming here. Posting samples would be redundant. What I have for you instead is the original version of track 2, the song featuring Mattias Friberg of Logh on vocals and additional guitar. Originally released on the tour-only 7"/CDR back in 2004, the song marks an important point in the band's development. It's less focused on plodding mid-tempo Isis-esque riffage, more on space and texture. The guitars are still plenty heavy, but they're brighter, cleaner and much more sparse. You can hear every note of each ringing chord - nothing is lost in overly sludgy tone. Think of how Shellac's guitar sound is still threatening without necessarily being totally overdriven and distorted. The song builds slowly and remains focused on Mattias' half-spoken vocals before breaking out into an awesome lurching riff at around 4:40. Obviously, it takes awhile to get there, but the journey is worth it as the moodiness of the song's first half is just as important as the bombastic conclusion. If you like Khanate, but sometimes wish they were a bit less esoteric, this is for you.

Switchblade - 7:05

Logh has posted "The smoke will lead you home" as a free download: http://195.54.101.165/badtaste/mp3/logh_-_the_smoke_will_lead_you_home.mp3
This is one of my favorite bands, so consider this essential downloading. In other news, the band reports that they have nine songs composed for their next album and will begin recording later this month.

Swedish melancholy country act The Lancaster Orchestra has completed work on a new album, due out in September via Rootsy Records. One half of Logh makes up the backing band behind singer/songwriter Carl Mathson and Mark Olson of The Jayhawks was set to produce, but was held up at the last minute by a family emergency. Despite the setback, the band feels like it came out quite nice regardless.

Profile: Iisole

MP3: Logh - War ensemble

June 6 is Swedish National Day? Boo-o-oring! No! Today is 6-6-6, the National Day of Slayer! To celebrate I'm giving y'all an mp3 of Logh doing an amazing slowcore take on Slayer's classic "War ensemble". Raise the horns and join the festivities! The track is the b-side from the band's "The bones of generations" 7", the second of a four-part vinyl single collection from "The raging sun", still as yet to be completed. The sound quality is imperfect since it's a vinyl rip, but it's still awesome.

Logh - War ensemble

MP3: Lis er Stille - End credits

Okay, today's mp3 post is from Danish post-rock act Lis Er Stille and I'm letting Jason Christie do the talking:

WOW! WOW! WOW! Move over Logh, Jeniferever, Appliance, Thom Yorke go work for Greenpeace and the rest of the postrock proggists can veg themselves out on "The construction of amp-train" with Lis Er Stille.
They are not very pretentious, they are just plain pretentious. Four tracks, three lead up - funnily enough - to the "End credits". Yep, one large chunk of a good 36 production tracks of music on two or three interpolating subtle compostions, bright and breezy, titled then crescendoed give up an overriding monster of almost quarter of an hour in length.
"End credits" (which is the only 'real' track on this EP) is epic in its entirety and, after a few snippets of Madrugada in part one, morphs into something likening prog-rock with skittle drums and circulating song lyrics. All of which is very atmospheric, along with the fairground - think house of horrors - squeals, drills and spiral sounds. I liked this, it works well at 3am.

Lis er Stille - End credits

Logh has announced the addition of two new bands members, Mattias (one of 3) on guitar and Karl on keyboards. Both of them have been part of the band's touring lineup for awhile, but now they are both official full-time members.

Scraps of Tape will record a new album in June with Mattias Oldén of Logh manning the decks.

Check out an e-card for the US release of the new Switchblade record: http://www.switchblade2006.com/
They sound way more like Khanate than Isis this time around and I think that's a good thing. Definitely recommended, especially the track with Matthias Friberg from Logh.

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.