Kvalität: Happiness

Tar... Feathers-related act Happiness are the latest featured band at Kvalität: http://www.kvalitat.com/2010/10/happiness/

Tar... Feathers get set for 'Time of death'

Tar... Feathers will be back in the studio next weekend working on their 2nd album, "Time of death: Always o' clock".

Tar... Feathers are starting to put together a European summer tour: http://www.tarfeathers.com/

Check out the new Tar... Feathers video for "Rumours travels fast": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUGhMOt7bDg

MP3: Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - This room seems empty without you

I was just about to check out of my hotel room and head to the airport when the answers to this week's Göteborg feature showed up in my inbox. This week's guest: Matthias Andersson from Release the Bats, one of Sweden's preeminent underground labels.

How long have you lived in Gbg? What brought you there and what keeps you hanging around?

I moved here in summer 2003 so I have been living in GBG for close to 5 years now. I used to live in a small village in middle of the dark forests of the region Småland, later moved on to the nearest city and then spent one year in Jönköping. I guess I was longing for something more, something else, and eventually decided to go for GBG. In many ways there are only 3 options for young people in Sweden that want to escape the small town boredom: GBG, Stockholm and Malmö. Stockholm was never really an option for me for various reasons and Malmö always seemed a bit too small and boring. Since I already had friends and so on in GBG there wasn't really anywhere else to go at that point. 5 years later I have no intentions on leaving anytime soon, I love this city and for the moment I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I know you work with a lot of int'l acts, but you also seem to always have something going on w/the local scene. Do you see yourself as a regional label at all? How important do you think regional labels are in this day and age?

I actually really didn't release anything GBG-based until last year with the The Skull Defekts album ["Skkull"]. Ok, Tar... Feathers was kind of based in GBG for a while, but has to me always been more of a Stockholm-thing. I never really had the need to cover the music in this town before since other local labels like iDEAL and Kning Disk already did a very good job with that. But recently there has been sooo many amazing things happening here that it has been kind of impossible to not participate in one way or another! So yeah, RTB will definitely be exploring the current activities here a little bit more in the future than in the past with upcoming releases from Tsukimono, Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, The Skull Defekts etc. Is it important with regional labels? Honestly I don't think labels are that important at all nowdays. Still I can see a purpose with regional labels, acting like some kind of centre of the scene with lots of things going on besides just releasing local acts (iDEAL being a way better example than RTB on that with club nights, festivals and so on).

Do you think there's a particular Gbg sound or attitude? Also, how do Gbg artists differ from those in other cities within Sweden?

GBG is known for having a very distinct sound when it comes to both Death Metal and Pop music for an example, but when it comes to the kind of music that RTB is releasing (whatever you want to call it, it's not like I even have a "typical" sound for the label...) I would say no. In that sense that I don't think anyone would be able to "hear" that a certain artist is from GBG when listening to it, just based on the actual sound. Attitude... I don't think this city differs from other Swedish towns really, but I know that outsiders tends to think that people in GBG are very open minded and easy to be around for some reason? If you should compare GBG to other Swedish towns when it comes to music and related activities, I think it's safe to say that no other town is even close to what's currently happening here! So many shows, new projects, new awesome releases and so on all the time! I also think musicians in GBG are usually a bit ahead of other places in Sweden, it seems like new impressions and ways to do things hits GBG first most of the time.

How's the health of the Gbg scene right now? Any particular artists that you're exciting about? What releases do you have planned? Also, anyone else you want to work with/wish you had signed?

Truly amazing things are happening here right now, I haven't been this excited about the local scene since I moved here, that's for sure. I don't know where to start... One of the best and most promising new acts is definitely the 3-piece Leafes. I put out a tape with them in December 2006 when they still lived in Jönköping and only had been a band for a few weeks. Then they put out a CD-R last year which is really, really good, moved to GBG and now they have just finished their debut album "Seedland" which will be put out on tape only! Kind of folky pretty song-based free jams for most of the time, usually arranged around acoustic instruments with a sparse use of electronics... In the vein of Sunburned Hand Of The Man and the likes, but with more melancholy. I really recommend everyone to check them out, and you will be hearing way more about them in the future for sure! Everything Dan of Sewer Election is doing is golden. Put out a Sewer Election/Altar Of Flies LP on RTB a few months ago. Another amazing project from Dan is White. Filthy lo-fi basement dwellings, disturbing shit. Modorra is great underground metal with my neighbour Jon on drums, haven't heard that much yet but it sure seems promising! Prostitute Finger is another new project, members from a few "famous" GBG acts. Rough feedback-mayhem, beautiful stuff. Relic was probably the most promising new band this town had seen in years but unfortunately it seems like they've just broke up? A damn shame if you ask me, the rehearsal tapes was some scary out there stuff and I could only imagine what this beast would have become in the future. Then there is the more well-known acts that is always doing brilliant stuff no matter what: Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, Tsukimono, Viktor Sjöberg, Gloomy Sunday, The Skull Defekts and so on. Plus the whole DJ/club-scene with Studio, Tiedye etc. Current favorite local labels: Harsh Head Rituals and Pillowscars. Upcoming GBG-related releases on RTB this year: Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - Lost in reflections LP + 7" (split release with iDEAL, Fang Bomb and When Skies Are Grey, a minor masterpiece!), The Skull Defekts - The drone drug CD (natural follow up to last years "Skkull", minamalistic and nasty drone-filth with an industrial edge, grim sounding stuff!) and the vinyl version of Tsukimono's stunning "Time Canvas" (originally released as a limited CD-R on Kning Disk last year). All these 3 releases will hopefully be ready early summer. Kind of happy with the current RTB release schedule I must say, but it would definitely be fun to do something more with Leafes in the future. While I'm at it, the label Fang Bomb is putting out a Gothenburg 2008 compilation soon with the The Skull Defekts, Anders Dahl, Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, Sewer Election, Viktor Sjöberg, Jasper TX etc...

Got a song to share to rep Gbg? Tell us about it.

It has to be "This room seems empty without you", the opening track from "Lost in reflections", the upcoming Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words album! A bit different from the rest of the album, and also a bit different from the previous DLSODW sound. Still one of the most underrated GBG-acts in my opinion, why last year's amazing "Fall, fall, falling" (Kalligrammofon) didn't get more attention is a mystery to me.

It's a mystery to me too, especially since I count it as one of my favorite albums of 2007. And now, listening to this, it looks like there's a strong chance of a repeat. Amazing stuff, to be sure...

Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - This room seems empty without you

Tar... Feathers' contribution to the upcoming tribute album "Har du hört den förut? 29 Svenska artister tolkar Förmögenhet" can now be heard at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/tarfeathers (see "Lurad igen")
Full details on said comp are still forthcoming.

"Great Northern Recordings compilation nr. 3", the latest edition of the short-run comp series focusing on some of Sweden's best experimental indie acts, is confirmed for release on March 1. This new one features eight previously unreleased tracks from the bands Nei (members from Breach, Fireside, Brick, The End Will Be Kicks), Giant Boar (members from Seven Feet Four), White Knives (members from Skull Defekts, Cut City) and Happiness (members from Tar... Feathers, Fuglesang) and will be amazing, no doubt. Hand-numbered, 167 copies and yes, I'll definitely be getting a few for resale. Celebrate the release with Nei's debut show at Debaser Slussen in Stockholm on March 1.

Watch video footage of Tar... Feathers playing a houseshow party from this past weekend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_Iof2dJTms

Release the Bats will be putting out new records from a wide range of excellent Swedish acts such as Skull Defekts, Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, Tsukimono, Tar... Feathers, Sewer Election and much more in 2008. Details: http://www.releasethebats.com/rtb.html

Here's the playlist for this week's radio show:

01. Soviac - I got the ribbah
02. TALK 1
03. Downstairs - Peephole city
04. Moonbabies - At the ballroom
05. Tar... Feathers - You are lucky to have nothing
06. TALK 2
07. Truckfighters - Atomic
08. Jonas Kullhammar Quartet - Corny waltz
09. Mixtapes & Cellmates - Quiet
10. TALK 3
11. Norma - The dark
12. Karin Ström - Klaustrofobi
13. Vapnet - Tjernobyl
14. TALK 4
15. Montt Mardié - The windmill turns all the same
16. Motorpsycho - Hyena
17. Musti Laiton - Tämän iltainen
18. Holiday Fun Club - Hamburg in the night
19. TALK 5
20. Rigas - It's a shame
21. Repoman - Jawbone night
22. Iisole - The words
23. TALK 6
24. The Fine Arts Showcase - Modern love
25. Kasper Bjørke - Back & spine (Fidel Astro remix)
26. Promoe - Headache
27. TALK 7
28. Viola - Imaginary times
29. New Decade - While tonight still is
30. Promise and the Monster - Sheets
31. Trapdoor Fucking Exit - Choking on teeth
32. TALK 8
33. Totalitär - Nej vi ska inte ha nåt
34. Him Kerosene - Whatever get you by
35. The Social Services - Up in arms
36. Jens Lekman - The opposite of hallelujah
37. Boeoes Kaelstigen - Flir
38. TALK 9
39. Maia Hirasawa - And I found this boy

There's a new Tar... Feathers track up on the Release the Bats myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/releasethebatsrecords
It comes from the forthcoming "Rumours travel fast" 7".

Tar... Feathers on tour in Northern Europe:

04/26 - Schokoladen, Berlin (GER)
04/27 - Atomino, Chemnitz (GER)
04/28 - Riff, Magdeburg (GER)
04/29 - DB's, Utrecht (NL)
04/30 - tba, Stuttgart (GER)
05/01 - Juz, Saarlouis (GER)

Release the Bats! have posted a mammoth news update: http://www.releasethebats.com/rtb.html
Highlights include a new, super-limited cassette from Leafes, a new electronic record from noise-terrorists The Skull Defekts, new Tar... Feathers material and a 7" series.

Top 10s for 2006: Staff picks

Top 10s for 2006: Release the Bats!