Danish brutal hardcore acts The Psyke Project and As We Fight are teaming up for a split album release under the name Ebola to be released on March 21, 2011. The bands also plan to collaborate on future live engagements and you can keep up with the project here: http://www.thisisebola.com/
Episode #2 of my new podcast Harsh R is now online: http://www.harshr.com/
Features new music from Fun, Rising, Johan Heltne and others, plus a whole bunch of other things I've been listening to. Feedback is appreciated!
Nö Music has the lowdown on the first batch of Scandinavian artists confirmed for by:Larm 2011: http://www.nomusicmedia.com/2010/11/10/first-nordic-artists-confirmed-for-bylarm/
Glad to see Margaret Berger is coming back!
Head over to the site to peep Figurines' new video for "Hanging from above": http://morningsiderecords.dk/2010/11/video-figurines-hanging-from-above/
The excellent Danish electro/pop act Turboweekend have a new 5-song EP called "Bound" that they are giving out for free/donation: http://www.turboweekendbound.com/
There's a lot of guests on said EP, including Casper Clausen from Efterklang, Jeppe Skjold and Niklas Antonson of Slaraffenland plus a whole lot more. They're also looking to fans to help out with making a video for the track "Into the pavement" -- more details on that here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0AZZVp_5dg
Danish act Efterklang and French director Vincent Moon have collaborated on an album-length film project entitled "An island" and this is the first preview clip. Look for it to premiere in February 2011. Direct link: http://vimeo.com/16564996
Gaffa has a brand new video from Our Broken Garden: http://gaffa.dk/tv/clip/515
Danish artist Tina Dickow aka Tina Dico will have her latest album "Welcome back colour" released in the US on February 1 and will do a short tour in support:
01/30 - Ramshead Tavern, Annapolis, MD
01/31 - Highline Ballroom, NY, NY
02/01 - Smith's Old Bar, Atlanta, GA
02/03 - Schuba's, Chicago, IL
02/05 - Stubbs Jr., Austin, TX
02/06 - Triple Door, Seattle, WA
02/08 - Swedish American Hall, San Francisco, CA
02/09 - Troubadour, LA, CA
02/10 - Anthology, San Diego, CA
Early confirmations for SXSW 2011 include Alcoholic Faith Mission, Giana Factory, FM Belfast, Spleen United, WhoMadeWho and Those Dancing Days. Full list: http://sxsw.com/music/shows/bands
Pitchfork has Under Byen's creepy new video for "Unoder": http://pitchfork.com/tv/#/musicvideo/9926-under-byen-unoder-paper-bag
Shame that the music isn't more compelling to go with the visuals.
The excellent lofi Danish indie/twang act Mechanical Bird (aka Jakob Brixen) has a new EP called "Daughter of the wind" available via and two tracks from it can be previewed at Bandcamp: http://mechanicalbird.bandcamp.com/album/daughter-of-the-wind
Guests on said EP include friends such as Jonas Petersen (Hymns from Nineveh) and Andreas Brixen (Bodebrixen), among others.
Danish punks Hjertestop are keeping a tour diary on their latest US jaust, currently underway as we speak: http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=70425655&blogId=540255953
DragontearsThis record is the last outing in the trilogy from Dragontears. At first listen it sounds much more rocking and less acidic than the previous two -- but that's just a scam. It starts out with "Two tongue talk" which could have been a song from the Baby Woodrose catalogue with added psychedelic effects en mass and almost excessive use of theremin. Next track "No salvation" continues in the rocking way and may probably be the closest Dragontears will ever get to an actual radio friendly hit. The song is so darn funky and swinging, it could freak out a dance floor. Besides that, it also features some of the record's greatest acidic guitar work plus phenomenally cool female background vocals by Emma Acs. After this rocking start, it's time for the slow and semi acoustic ballad "Myfriend" -- a melancholic tale about friendship and... well, life in general?! And then... well, let the chemicals kick in. "Time of no time" is a musical trip of many dimensions. It's a matrix of swirling sounds and vocals and the slightly salted tears do penetrate your cortex. This song is, without doubt, one that shows off the blueprint of what the Dragontears collective is all about. After that, we have "William" which is the only really extended track on this record, complete with all the lysergic effects one could want -- and expect! The song has a nice slow groove and a steady almost tribal drum beat that gives it the perfect monotonic, hypnotic feel. The strong and well-written lyrics are in Danish and tells us a story about the haunted mind of painter William Skotte Olsen. Finally, last track "Mennesketvilling" is another dream-catching and surreal song that strongly underlines that this is Dragontears and not just another semi-psychedelic hipster band.
- Tom Gruschy Knudsen
Here's the video for that new single from The Malpractice that I posted the other day. Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbAObs-96ZE
has signed Copenhagen-based act The Olympics and will be releasing their debut single in November with an album to follow later on down the road. Hear the band at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/theolympicsband
