Svartsot confirm new album, offer samples

Danish folk-metal act Svartsot have confirmed that they will release their new album "Mulmets viser" on March 29 via Napalm Records. Hear a medley of tunes at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/svartsot

The Psyke Project to support Nachtmysterium on tour

The Psyke Project will support US act Nachtmysterium for a number of UK and European dates in March:

03/19 - ighting Cocks, Kingston (UK)
03/21 - The Croft, Bristol (UK)
03/22 - Central Station, Wrexham (UK)
03/23 - Moho Live, Manchester (UK)
03/24 - Ivory Blacks, Glasgow (UK)
03/25 - The Well, Leeds (UK)
03/26 - Rock City Basement, Nottingham (UK)
03/27 - Islington Academy 2, London (UK)
03/28 - Engine Room, Brighton (UK)
03/29 - The Frontline, Ghent (BEL)
03/30 - Markthalle, Hamburg (GER)
03/31 - The Rock, Copenhagen (DK)
04/01 - Inferno Fest, John Dee, Oslo (NOR)

MP3: Marvins Revolt - Siberia

"After almost a decade of making music together as Marvins Revolt, we have decided to put the band to sleep for an unknown period of time."

Bummer, especially since I was just now getting into their latest record "Patrolling the heights". The band was always that way for me though, their music always needed extra time to simmer before it reached optimum flavor and that just doesn't fly in this short attention span world. I make notes to revisit, but many others have already moved on. Pity. Anyhow, here's to whatever comes next for those guys -- I'm sure they'll be doing good things whether with Rising or something else. (Read the band's full statement)

Marvins Revolt - Siberia

More, better Twitter integration

For the few of you out there who might be interested, I've added Twitter integration to label pages (see Adrian Recordings for example) and I've also updated it so I'm pulling profile pictures and am doing a better job at parsing links, including those @whoever tags and so on. Want more? Give me ideas, make requests. That goes for any/all site features -- I've got the content, now I'm looking for better ways to leverage it to suit your needs.

This week's Last.fm chart

Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week, unique to our group:

01. Shout Out Louds
02. First Aid Kit
03. Jonathan Johansson
04. Håkan Hellström
05. Kent
06. The Magnetic Fields
07. Oh No Ono
08. Beach House
09. Loney, Dear
10. The Radio Dept.

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: http://www.last.fm/help/

The Silent Ballet reviews "Magic chairs"

The Silent Ballet reviews Efterklang's new album "Magic chairs", their first for big label 4AD: http://thesilentballet.com/dnn/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/384/ItemID/3073/Default.aspx

No Blood in Bones EP details

Morningside Records will release the self-titled debut EP from No Blood in Bones on March 15, both on vinyl and digital. Full tracklist, artwork and samples: http://morningsiderecords.dk/?p=291

2010 watchlist

One of the main reasons I created the site's new custom filter feature is to create lists, both for my own good but also for you, the reader's benefit. Instead of keeping my own private list of my most anticipated releases of 2010, along with tracking all the excellent albums I've already heard and rank highly, I've created a custom filter to do it for me: http://www.itsatrap.com/filter/2010-watchlist
Keep track of my favorites and follow what I say about them; create your own list and do the same!

Oh No Ono mixtape at 'Sup

Danish indie act Oh No Ono made a mixtape for 'Sup Magazine: http://www.supmag.com/2010/mixtape-oh-no-ono/

Apparatjik album is out

As mentioned the other day, international all-stars Apparatjik have unveiled their debut album "We are here": http://www.theoutland.com/

Efterklang track review at Pitchfork

Efterklang's new single "Modern drift" gets a track review at Pitchfork: http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/11745-modern-drift/

Sirius playlist week #5

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

01. TALK 1
02. The Goner - Within the hour
03. Moto Boy - The heart is a rebel
04. Detektivbyrån - Hemvägen
05. TALK 2
06. Valkyrien Allstars - Hvis jeg var deg
07. Tobias Hellkvist - Patience
08. Scarred By Beauty - We swim
09. [ingenting] - Tack
10. TALK 3
11. I'm From Barcelona/Daviel Lindlöf - Lower my head
12. Monazno - Yes we can't
13. Silver - The white logic
14. Eskatol - Siste dans
15. TALK 5
16. Murmansk - The surgical assistant
17. Dyno - Destroy! Destroy!
18. Folkvang - Folkvangs första
19. C.Aarmé - Angola (Princess version)
20. TALK 5
21. Abhinanda - Junior

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.

Apparatjik to play live, release album

Soundvenue is reporting that Apparatjik, the all-star project featuring Jonas Bjerre (Mew), Guy Berryman (Coldplay) and Magne Furuholmen (A-ha), will be making their live debut on February 1 at the CTM Festival in Berlin where they will perform inside of a glass cube. Or something like that. And they'll be releasing their full-length debut that day too. Read more: http://www.soundvenue.com/nyheder/2010/01/29/albumdebut-fra-apparatjik-paa-vej (in Danish)
More in English: http://www.twentyfourbit.com/post/358746952/apparatjik-to-perform-in-glass-cube-drop-debut-album

MP3: Scarred By Beauty - We swim

I don't really pay much attention to new-school metal, but it makes sense that Scarred By Beauty won best upcoming talent at the most recent Danish Metal Awards because they really are one the best examples of where the genre is at nowadays. All the elements are in good balance: the heaviness, the melodies, the syncopation and technicality, the breakdowns. I hear similarities to bands such as Meshuggah, In Flames and The Psyke Project, but they also throw in a few curveballs like the Deftones, an influence they actually manage to incorporate much better than you might expect. Had I read it before I heard it, I would not have believed it, but these youngsters nail it. Still, not the sort of stuff I really care for, but there's no denying that they are damn good at it.

"We swim" is the title track of their self-released 3-song debut EP. Download the entire thing at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/scarredbybeauty

Scarred By Beauty - We swim

New Under Byen now set for April release in America

Under Byen have now confirmed that their new album "Allt er tabt", their fourth overall, will be released in North America on April 6 via Paper Bag Records. Domestic Danish label A:larm Music still has it confirmed for February 8.