"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.

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

01. Timo Räisänen - Sixteen
02. TALK 1
03. Dreamboy - What have I done
04. Echo Is Your Love - Three ropes
05. The Raveonettes - Dead sound
06. TALK 2
07. Connny Nimmersjö - Dum i huvudet
08. Holiday Fun Club - Hamburg in the night
09. Elin Ruth Sigvardsson - Antidote
10. TALK 3
11. Christian Kjellvander - Two souls
12. Heroes & Zeros - The foolproof
13. Gåte - Sjå attende
14. TALK 4
15. Repoman - Chemically obsessed
16. The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Instant Repeater '99
17. Petter - Logiskt (ft. Säkert)
18. TALK 5
19. Dieter Schöön - Warm hearts
20. Springfactory - Stingy Friday afternoon
21. Sivert Høyem - Don't pass me by
22. TALK 6
23. Sweatmaster - Song with no words
24. Enslaved - Enemy I
25. The Concretes - Kids
26. TALK 7
27. Broder Daniel - Cruel town
28. September - Cry for you
29. Britta Persson - Cliffhanger
30. TALK 8
31. TLS - A song left for you
32. The End Will Be Kicks - Ass of a friend
33. Immanu El - Kosmonaut
34. TALK 9
35. Fare You Well - Deceiving eyes
36. Weeping Willows - So it's over
37. Firefox AK - Winter rose (ft. Tiger Lou)
38. TALK 10
39. Scraps of Tape - Death as it should be

Live report: The End Will Be Kicks + AHRM @ IAT! Clubnight #1, Debaser, Malmö 09/08/07

The playlist for this week's radio show:

01. Timo Räisänen - My valentine
02. TALK 1
03. Torpedo - From Russia with love
04. Desert Planet - Breakout button
05. Ebba Grön - Mamma pappa barn
06. TALK 2
07. The End Will Be Kicks - Don Johnson
08. Skywriter - Where both worlds never meet
09. Skull Defekts - The secret
10. TALK 3
11. Tsukimono - Tokyo OEast
12. Kristin Asbjørnsen - Trying to get home
13. Enemy Alliance - Government subsidized ghetto
14. TALK 4
15. The Indecision Alarm - Where every fucking dream is killed
16. Dismember - Soon to be dead
17. Mixtapes & Cellmates - Moments
18. TALK 5
19. Kristofer Åström - All in
20. Pan Sonic - Virta 1
21. Ulver - Of wolf and fear
22. TALK 6
23. Mainliners - Olivia
24. 120 Days - Let me come down
25. Universal Poplab - 60 is the new 40
26. TALK 7
27. Dag Vag - Popitop
28. The Bombettes - Lust is the new black
29. Breach - Big strong boss
30. TALK 8
31. CS Nielsen - Black spots
32. Tape - Sand dunes
33. The Psyke Project - For us to see for us to help
34. TALK 9
35. Cortex - Shark boys die hard
36. Viola - I don't know how to party
37. Don't Be A Stranger - Lonely together
38. TALK 10
39. Broder Daniel - What clowns are we

TOMORROW! If you happen to find yourself in or around Malmö, be sure to head down to Debaser to check out the very first It's a Trap! Clubnight featuring The End Will Be Kicks and AHRM! It's gonna be a killer, so don't miss out! Other shows booked this fall:

10/13 - Samuraj Cities and Club 8
11/15 - Death By Kite and Housewife Lovers
12/14 - Randy and Johndoe

How awesome is that? I may just have to fly out for December, if I can afford it.

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

01. Sahara Hotnights - Visit to Vienna
02. TALK 1
03. José González - Down the line
04. Anna Ternheim - Girl laying down
05. The Bear Quartet - The supremes
06. TALK 2
07. New Decade - I guess you ran from something
08. Commando M Pigg - Allt genast
09. Mikkel Metal - Bano
10. TALK 3
11. Johan Hedberg - Nygubbe4
12. Mikko Singh - Toisella puolella
13. Mimas - Thought discuss
14. Fattaru - 100:-
15. TALK 4
16. Sista Sekunden - Jag är aldrig nöjd
17. E.S.T. - Tuesday wonderland
18. Syster Lycklig - Drömgränd
19. TALK 5
20. The End Will Be Kicks - Ass of a friend
21. The Grizzly Twister - Tigers made of paper
22. Samuel Jackson Five - Easily misunderstood
23. Grande Roses - Dead town
24. TALK 6
25. Thomas Dybdahl - B A part
26. Njurmännen - Cold meat industry
27. Tobias Hellkvist - Moment at ven
28. TALK 7
29. David Sandström Overdrive - Here's for summer
30. Randy - Freedom song
31. Kalle J - Vart stack du?
32. The Flaming Sideburns - Bad trip
33. TALK 8
34. The Bell - I am history
35. Lack - Pessimist poetry
36. The State of Floral Beings - Andy
37. Fireside - Problem (to you)
38. TALK 9
39. Firefox AK - Love to run
40. Manes - Cinder alley
41. Lukestar - Untitled
42. TALK 10
43. Oskar Schönning - S

On a somewhat related note, I guess this is as good a time as any to announce that we're working on setting up a series of It's A Trap! club nights at Debaser in Malmö and our first show on September 8 will feature The End Will Be Kicks and AHRM (ex-Revolvo) plus Magnus Bjerkert from Adrian Recordings and Big Boss Börén in the DJ booth. It should be killer, so be sure to check it out if you're in the area. Look for future show announcements very soon.

My special guest on my radio show this week was Ola Frick of the Moonbabies. Here's what we played:

01. Johndoe - Kjøtere
02. TALK 1
03. Mixtapes & Cellmates - The better half of cynical boys
04. The End Will Be Kicks - Ass of a friend
05. Breach - Lost crew
06. TALK 2
07. Silverbullit - Only gold
08. Lack - Primo Levi
09. Samuraj Cities - All along the shoreline
10. Rockettothesky - Barrie for Billy MacKenzie
11. TALK 3
12. Fireside - Let Rasputin do it
13. Heroes & Zeros - Into the light
14. Moonbabies - War on sound
15. TALK 4
16. Moonbabies - Cocobelle
17. TALK 5
18. Moonbabies - Take me to the ballroom (comp version)
19. Björn Kleinhenz - Pocket of gold
20. TALK 6
21. Loney, Dear - Saturday waits
22. Revolvo - Marmelade
23. TALK 7
24. Emerald Park - Open up
25. KVLR - Capitol city child
26. TALK 8
27. David & the Citizens - Are you in my blood?
28. TALK 9
29. David Åhlén - Wasted breaths
30. Maia Hirasawa - Still June
31. TALK 10
32. Moonbabies - Sun A.M. (outtake version)
33. TALK 11
34. Moonbabies - Don't ya know?

Not only did Ola reveal that he used to be a member of the Mercyful Fate fanclub, but it also looks like he'll be recording the next David & the Citizens record. Excellent!

Kristofer Åström's amazing new record "RainawayTown" is now available for non-Record Club subscribers and I also have the new The End Will Be Kicks "Ass of a friend" EP in-stock and ready for ordering as well. Lots more stuff on the way too, including new releases from Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, Tobias Hellkvist, Viola, Fun and Mixtapes & Cellmates. Go shopping!

The End Will Be Kicks
Ass of a friend EP
Premonition Records

The title track kick-starts this EP with typical, charismatic TEWBK-sounds. Crooked, skewed guitars over driven drumbeats and cynical lyrics sung by singer Niklas Quintana and, yeah, I could easily say I've heard it before ('cause I have), but this is too good to be true. When the chorus sets in ("This I do just to piss you off"), it is once again so sad that this band is still one of Sweden's best kept secrets. Not to the enlightened readers of It's A Trap! though - both Avi and I are dedicated fans. "Top fuel motorsåg" (for the non-Swedes, "motorsåg" is Swedish for chainsaw) is, in all its charm, somewhat a tribute to My Bloody Valentine and "Medicine and airbags" (previously released on the "It's a trap! Readers companion volume two"-comp.) administers the heritage of Him Kerosene in the finest way possible. According to rumours, I've heard this EP is just a teaser for a full-length coming in a near future. And what a teaser it is!
- Jonas Appelqvist

MP3: The End Will Be Kicks - Ass of a friend

Is this roleplaying or speaking from experience? No matter, I like the first-hand narrative regardless of where the inspiration came from. Somehow I doubt that The End Will Be Kicks frontman Niklas Quintana is the asshole in question, sleeping around with other people's boyfriends and such, though I suppose that anything is possible. As for being old friends with Satan, well yeah - that I believe.

The End Will Be Kicks - Ass of a friend

Yet another 'missing link' in the same vein as Neveres (see this post): http://www.myspace.com/neitheband
Per and Anders from Breach plus Patrik from Brick and Lars from The End Will Be Kicks. Picks up fairly close to where Brick left off I think. Look for their album "New agenda" to possibly be released this fall.

The label Jezus Factory has a new comp available for free/donation download featuring quite a few Scandinavian artists such as The End Will Be Kicks, Imagine I Had Hands, Halph and more: http://www.jezusfactory.com/

MP3: Neveres - Repent

Seeing as how I had an interview published in Norrbottens-Kuriren earlier this week, I figured it would be fitting to feature another Luleå band besides the weekly Bear Quartet post. I'm not sure who Neveres is - my sources tell me that it's the old band for a few of the The End Will Be Kicks guys. Maybe Breach-related as well? It certainly sounds like it. Whoever it is, they aren't talking:

Thank you for showing an interest in the band, however I dont know who they are... I dont think anyone does... I heard that the album was written during a one-year drinking binch and recorded in the woods of northern Sweden sometime in 2003. It was supposed to be released by freedumbrecords but they never payed the sound engineer in full, so the album never got sent to the company.
The finished reording got lost somewhere along the way and all that is left is the rough mixes that are now available at neveres.cjb.net for free...
I hope this helps you and I hope you help to spread the word about the album.

I know I'm being lied to, but what can I do? Argue? Maybe someone will shed some light on the mystery in the comments. Otherwise, enjoy a track of excellent, noisy Norrland hardcore in a similar vein of the bands referenced above. If you like what you hear, go to the link to download the entire record for free.

Neveres - Repent

I don't normally post Swedish-only tourdates, but I have to make an exception since two of my favorite reclusive bands, Trapdoor Fucking Exit and The End Will Be Kicks, are teaming up for a few shows:

03/30 - Klubb Stilett, Gävle (TFE only)
04/05 - Färjan, Luleå
04/06 - Mullberget, Skellefteå
04/07 - Scharinska, Umeå

TFE is also working on finally doing a few UK dates around mid-June, but nothing's been confirmed yet.