Finnish avant-rock act and "Reader's companion" alums Plain Fade will be releasing their new album "Anthropogonia" via this coming fall. Said album is a continuation of the group's collaboration with the WiOL-choir that performed live last November in Helsinki.
Finnish metal acts Sotajumala and Deathchain have a new split CD out now via and the label was kind enough to send a copy my way. Conceptually speaking, it's a fun idea: two bands, one original song plus one Iron Maiden cover each. In execution however, all is not well. Things start off poorly with Sotajumala's "Sinun virtesi", a typical modern death metal track with clicky drums (heavy on the blasts, 'natch), burpy vocals and your usual swarm-of-bees guitar tone. Totally pointless, totally boring. Their Maiden cover on the other hand ("Prowler"), is excellent, no doubt helped along a fair extent by the appearance of one Paul Di'anno on lead vocals. Stop and ponder how sad it is that the dude is now reduced to doing karaoke covers of his old band's songs and the luster starts to dim, but he does actually sound remarkably good still, near 30-some years down the road. Deathchain doesn't fair nearly as well with their take on "Purgatory" -- they're way too stiff to approximate Maiden's trademark gallop and guest vocalist Tommi "Tuple" Salmela (Tarot) pretty much sucks. All is not lost though, Deathchain's one original cut ("The crawling chaos") is a total black-thrash rager in the vein of Grotesque or The Crown. All razor sharp riffs and harsh vocals -- definitely bodes well for the band's forthcoming album. I love Maiden and all, but this one song is the winner by a longshot.
Deathchain - The crawling chaos
will be releasing Regina's latest album "Puutarhatrilogia" here in the US on June 22. I'm not 100% positive, but I'm pretty sure it will be digital-only, at least for now.
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU:
01. Sweatmaster - Turnover
02. TALK 1
03. Viola - Leave it all again (feat. Bääbs)
04. Regulations - Down the street
05. The Bear Quartet - Sweet beef
06. TALK 2
07. Mattias Alkberg - Lys upp mig en stjärna
08. Susanne Sundfør - Turkish delight
09. The Skull Defekts - Remain in cruxus (dub)
10. TALK 3
11. Obliteration - Ingesting death
12. Zombiekrig - Håll käften ge mig dina pengar
13. Grande Roses - The astronaut
14. Brutus - Solution
15. TALK 4
16. Ikons - Guns
17. Rising - Grail of bone
18. The Aches - Dancing syllables
19. TALK 5
20. Eskatol - Fane av løgner
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.
Basso, Nokia and are teaming up for a Disco Ensemble remix competition: http://basso.fi/discoensemble
Check out Hexvessel, the darkwave/neofolk sideproject of Aort and Kvohst from Code: http://www.myspace.com/hexvessel
Resident Advisor reports that Sasu Ripatti (Luomo, Vladislav Delay) will be releasing two new albums this summer under his newly revived moniker Sistol: http://www.residentadvisor.net/news.aspx?id=12080
Finnish rockers Sweatmaster are finally back with a new single called "Turnover" which is now airing on Finnish radio and will be released on 7" in the near future with "15 years", a leftover from the "Animal" sessions, tacked on as a b-side. Listen to both at their website: http://www.sweatmaster.net/news/turnover
Desert Planet will be touring Germany in June to celebrate their 10th anniversary:
06/08 - West Germany, Berlin
06/09 - Club Stadtmitte, Karlsruhe
06/10 - Rote Sonne, München
06/11 - Radio freeFM (LIVE STREAM radio-show), Ulm
06/12 - Karlstorbahnhof, Heidelberg
06/14 - Waldbühne (Open-air Concert), Castrop-Rauxel
06/15 - Kanal21 (tv-show), Bielefeld
06/17 - Kulturzentrum Schlachthof, Bremen
06/18 - Kühlhaus, Flensburg
06/19 - Alternative Treibsand, Lübeck
The Finnish bit-poppers will also be releasing the new compilation album "Extra ball" on May 28 via in GAS and later on at home via .
Ja Ja Ja will be throwing a special Nordic showcase on May 14 for the occasion of London's Great Escape Festival featuring Susanne Sundfør, Jaakko & Jay and For a Minor Reflection. More details: http://www.jajajamusic.com/news.php?id=33
Other Scandinavian acts performing at this year's festival include Choir Of Young Believers, Erik Hassle, Simon Says No!, Ingrid Olava, Joensuu 1685, Megaphonic Thrift, Seabear, Vuk and possibly others, but I can't tell because their website is a piece of shit.
PopMatters reviews folksy Finnish act Captain Cougar: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/124401-captain-cougar-of-dreams-long-gone
is giving away a track from the forthcoming Cats on Fire EP/singles collection "Dealing in antiques": http://www.indiepages.com/matinee/sounds/cats09.mp3
Said track is called "Your woman" and is a cover of UK act White Town. As for the CD, the official release date is May 12 and more info can be found here: http://www.indiepages.com/matinee/
Finland's Hebosagil, one of favorite acts and also one of the heaviest, will be releasing a split 7" with fellow Finns Two Beats Off this summer. Hebosagil's contribution will be the single track "Polku" while TBO will provide three cuts, one of which is streaming at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/tbofinland
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU:
01. Kråkesølv - Skredder
02. TALK 1
03. Lama - Curses and broken glass
04. Underachiever - No rain (arson)
05. Originalljudet - The oral solution (with pear)
06. Lögnhalsmottagningen - Lumpettrick
07. TALK 2
08. Masshysteri - Låt dom hata oss
09. Den Svenska Tystnaden - Reaktor
10. Simian Ghost - Star receiver
11. Kobert - Recipe
12. TALK 3
13. Traktor - Where water goes
14. Disco Ensemble - Protector
15. Hooded Menace - Night of the deathcult
16. TALK 4
17. Menfolk - From the horse's mouth
18. Mattias Alkberg - Nerverna
19. Khoma - Osiris
20. TALK 5
21. Baby Alice - Piña colada boy
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.
It's already May in some parts of the world, so that means it's time for a new track from Viola: http://www.violamusicclub.com/2010-05-leave-it-all-again
This latest song features guest vocals from Bääbs and is said to be a bit more AOR/R'n'B than usual.