Dilillis - Bodø blodby (video)
Rock and/or roll.
Country: Norway
Stepping out for a bit
No, not calling it quits just yet like my compatriots at Dagensskiva, just attending to family issues. Back in a week or so.
Ballrogg - Swedish country
Check out a sample from the new Balrogg album "Cabin music", out now via the excellent jazz/improv label .
A quarter-decade under the black mark
Bazillion Points commemorates the 25th anniversary of Bathory's landmark release "Under the sign of the black mark" with a guestlist by author/musician Daniel Ekeroth singling out the five best Bathory albums: http://blog.bazillionpoints.com/2012/05/11/swedish-death-metal-under-the-sign-of-the-black-mark-turns-25-2/
UPDATE! See more on the subject here and here!
Ulver - Magic hollow (video)
Check out a new Ulver video for the Beau Brummels tune "Magic hollow" off their upcoming all-covers album "Childhood's end".
The Megaphonic Thrift - Fire walk with everyone (video)
New visuals from excellent Norwegian indierock act The Megaphonic Thrift.
Vaiping
Industrial workers of the world unite
Karisma Records
For anyone who hasn't heard of Stavanger quartet Vaiping, the album title should at least give the genre away. In keeping with the tradition of the industrial movement this whole work just oozes odd. It's like a mix of Kraftwerk and Die Krupps, only without the innovation or variation of either. That said, "Industrial workers of the world unite" does have some inspired moments and some of the passages are incredibly well constructed and memorable. That the vast majority of the album runs on a slow-to-mid tempo is a two-sided coin of sorts. Firstly, that tempo serves to initiate a hypnotic feeling that staves off any real desire to switch off when boredom threatens to set in. On the other hand, the repetition does induce a certain apathy toward the album as a whole and this tends to overshadow the fact that the overall dismal feel here is quite unique and disturbing. Closing track "Pie in the sky" is a welcome surprise that pricks up tired ears and it's more of this type of variation throughout the album that would have made it killer. There's something captivating about the overall dark image that Vaiping convey but that doesn't mean that "Industrial workers of the world unite" is an essential purchase. The key word here is "potential".
- John Norby
Mindy Misty - Black mass (video)
An old song with new visuals from excellent Norwegian noiserockers Mindy Misty.
Fredrik William Olsen - Helt uten tanke
Hear another new solo tune from Fredrik William Olsen (Kråkesølv) and download it in exchange for a like/tweet: http://www.beyondrecords.no/fredrikwilliamolsen/
MP3: Problems - Stop reproducing
Always nice to hear new hardcore with actual riffs as opposed to merely sounding damaged and unhinged or hiding behind questionable imagery. Anyhow, should've talked this one up ages ago, but life gets in the way, y'know? Norway's Black Hole Crew delivers the goods as usual.
Problems - Stop reproducing
Tubronegro - You give me worms
The first Turbonegro single with new singer Tony Sylvester and it's just as good/bad as you'd expect/fear. The band's new album "Sexual harrassment" comes out June 13.
Philco Fiction - I want you (video)
Seriously? Yet another new video heavily trafficking in mirror-image visuals? This is the laziest bullshit ever.
Ane Brun - One (video)
I do believe this is the 3rd Magnus Renfors-directed video to be released from Ane Brun off her latest work "It all starts with one".
Listen to Norway profiles Stian Westerhus
Also at Listen to Norway today, a profile of experimental guitarist Stian Westerhus: http://www.listento.no/mic.nsf/doc/art2012050312315270593270