Sophia Somajo - Wristcutters Inc.

A brand new track from Swedish pop artist Sophia Somajo featuring an uncredited guest appearance from Howlin' Pelle of The Hives. Official release date is January 31 with the album "Cinema Beijing" to follow later this year.

Sirius playlist week #27

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

01. TALK 1
02. Makthaverskan - Inside of me
03. Swedish House Mafia - One
04. Elias & the Wizzkids - Waste of time
05. TALK 2
06. The Animal Five - Dancing on my own
07. Miasmal - Creation of fire
08. The Aches - Count slowly to ten
09. Karin Ström - Reptilian brain
10. TALK 3
11. Dear Euphoria - No more time to weep
12. Delay Trees - Cassette 2012
13. Sort Sol - Marguerita
14. TALK 4
15. The Tallest Man on Earth - The wild hunt
16. Cut City - The sound and the sore
17. The Hives - Civilization's dying
18. The Nature - Din medicin
19. TALK 5
20. Kaka - Below this sun
21. The Scrags - Psycho cyclone
22. On Volcano - Ride the wolf
23. TALK 6

Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.

The Hives to release covers EP

The Hives have recorded a new 3-song covers EP called "Tarred and feathered" which will be released digitally on July 2 and on vinyl a week later. Check out Spinner for a sample of one cut, a cover of "Civilization's dying" by classic midwestern punks Zero Boys: http://www.spinner.com/2010/06/23/the-hives-civilizations-dying-zero-boys-cover/
If you've never heard Zero Boys I strongly recommend you grab a copy of the "Vicious circle" reissue that Secretly Canadian did last year. Essential top-10 hardcore/punk IMO; this cover not so much, but whatever.

New EP from The Hives in July

Swedish garage-rockers The Hives will be releasing a new EP on July 2 as a precursor to their upcoming album, due out later this year. The band has also revamped their matching outfits and has decided to go with a nautical/sailor theme.

MP3: Assid - Habibi

I've recently been listening to this track a lot, in kind of a roundabout sort of way. The story: my wife and I go to the gym every morning (well, at least I do, her schedule is more, um, intermittent) and she requested my help with putting together some good workout tunes for her mp3 player. Of course I'm content with a healthy mix of brutal death metal and hardcore punk, but that just won't do -- she wants something melodic, so I oblige myself to pick out a few choice selections from my collection, most of which she is unfamiliar with. The criteria: match the BPM of High Hats' "The end", a track she knows and loves (as should everyone). So yeah, "The end" clocks at 155bpm, so I scan my files for appropriate tunes to match... Laakso and The Hives seem to fit the bill pretty well, but I know that few things are better than a pounding techno beat and "Habibi" is a solid 156 according to my calculator. Perfect! Now I just have to contend with her shrilly shouting "Don't!" at me every time I do something she doesn't like. Which is surprisingly often.

Assid - Habibi

Bad Hands guest vocalists revealed

Via Rogerts Blogg, here's the tracklist and guest vocalists that will be appearing on the upcoming Bad Hands (aka Per Nordmark) album:

Black and white - Linnea Jönsson (Those Dancing Days)
Bad hands - Nina Kinert
Northern lights - Britta Persson & Karl Larsson (Last Days of April)
Kick you out - Nicke Andersson (The Hellacopters) & Howlin' Pelle (The Hives)
Andra relationen - Subbah
Close enough - Choir of Kiemi
We love blood - Henric de la Cour (Strip Music)
Cartoon wolf - David Sandström
I can do it - Therese Johansson (Lowood)
Sillodill - Britta Persson

Festival report: Emmaboda 2009

MP3: Bruket - Stockholm kallar

Confirmed for the next It's a Trap! Clubnight at Debaser Malmö on June 20th: Bruket. Listen to their debut single "Stockholm kallar" and you won't be surprised to learn that it was produced by The Hives' Almqvist brothers (that's Pelle and Niklas), especially considering the Fagersta connection (The Hives' hometown), but I think they're less inspired by slashing garage-pop-punk than classic Svensk punk. Think Ebba Grön or Docent Död with echoes of The Clash and other similar-era acts -- heavy on the pop with huge anthemic choruses. They throw in a dubby breakdown, too. 2009, 1979, whatever. I'm sure it'll be a great show.

Bruket - Stockholm kallar

Bruket - Stockholm kallar

Swedish punkrockers have a new track posted on myspace called "Stockholm kallar": http://www.myspace.com/bruket
The band's debut EP was produced by Niklas Arson and Pelle Almqvist of The Hives and is out now.

The Sweptaways - Time of the season (feat. Howlin' Pelle)

Hybris presents the brand new single from The Sweptaways, "Time of the season" featuring guest vocals from Howlin' Pelle Almqvist of The Hives: http://hybrism.blogspot.com/2009/03/sweptaways-and-howlin-pelle-almqvist.html

New Moneybrother = Real control

The new Moneybrother album "Real control" will be released on April 15 via Hacka Skivindustri and you can now hear the first single "Born under a bad sign" at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/moneybrother
Various songs on the album were produced by Jari Haapalainen, Björn Yttling and Christoffer Roth and besides a few of his usual backing musicians, members of The Hives and Randy lent a hand as well.

'The Sweptaways show' revealed!

Yesterday I told you there was a new Sweptaways album on the way, today I give you full details. Once again, the release date is April 15 and here now is the tracklist with full guest + songwriter details:

01. Democracy – The Sweptaways and Sir Eric Beyond [Erik Aalto]
02. Sign your name – The Sweptaways and Nina Ramsby [Terence Trent D'Arby]
03. They don't know about us – The Sweptaways and Anders Wendin aka Moneybrother [Kirsty MacColl]
04. Electric – The Sweptaways [Dag Volle, Martin Sandberg, Herbert Crichlow, Leila K]
05. Time of the season – The Sweptaways and Pelle Almqvist (The Hives) [Rod Argent, originally performed by The Zombies]
06. Happiness will be my revenge – The Sweptaways and Jens Lekman [Jens Lekman]
07. I've got your man – The Sweptaways and Robyn [Marion Hall, Richard Martin, Rickardo Ducent, originally performed by Lady Saw]
08. With every heartbeat – The Sweptaways and Simone Rubi (Rubies) [Robin Carlsson, Andreas Kleerup]
09. Vintersaga – The Sweptaways and Uje Brandelius [Ted Ström]
10. The world's greatest – The Sweptaways [R Kelly]
11. Something special – The Sweptaways and Asha Ali [Dolly Parton]
12. Tjörn – The Sweptaways and Björn Olsson [Björn Olsson]

Expect the first single (tbd) in mid-March.

The Hives, Johnossi to Japan in April

The Hives are going to Japan in April and are bringing fellow Swedes Johnossi along for the ride:

04/01 - Big Cat, Osaka
04/02 - Diamond Hall, Nagoya
04/03 - Shibuya-Ax, Tokyo

The Animation
Everest
My Records

The Animation gives us typical English alternative rock from the late 80s to early 90s with its underground melancholic sound, first associated with London, nowadays with Göteborg. They sound fascinatingly as British as a band can sound, imagine a blend between Keane, just a bit of Radiohead going into the same sentiment as The Verve and with a small portion of the modern vibe, The Killers. "Everest" is their debut and what a debut then! It's a kickass start for these guys and it will probably grow international, parallel to The Hives. Professional, deep and gloomy could be the headline for this album which contains 11 songs, all worthwhile listening too. Highlights are, without any doubt, title track "Everest", "Overboard", and "Confessions"; where lead vocalist Johan Hasselblom sounds like Chris Martin from Coldplay. Really, this is a red thread coming back and forth in a few songs, but don't be confused because even so, this is more edgy, more! A promising band for Göteborg, shall we expect internationalism and commercialism? Maybe. However, The Animation, with their brilliant song techniques and great instrumental blend, is something for you out there who are classical alternative rock diggers; heads up for this album.
- Therese Buxfäldt

Pitchfork has more details on the new Hives/Cyndi Lauper Christmas duet "A Christmas duel", including a stream of said track: http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/download/147653-new-music-the-hives-and-cyndi-lauper-a-christmas-duel-stream
Looks like it will be available as a free download via The Hives website from November 28-30.