The first five acts are already confirmed for next year's Øyafestival: https://www.musikknyheter.no/news/3220
Norwegian names include Ida Maria ('natch), Sigh & Explode, Silje Nes and Diskjokke.
Lars Winnerbäck is already posting dates for his 2008 summer tour: https://www.winnerback.net/?sid=article&pid=read&id=7934
Killing the Legacy on Norwegian hardcore act Lash Out: https://killingthelegacy.blogspot.com/2007/11/deadly-storm.html
Check out Piroth's new video for "Dance closer": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcyDAD0FY-I
Robyn's new video for "Be mine" is up on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjLHu_vPhoU
MIC Norway profiles ECM artists Trio Mediæval who are currently on tour in the US: https://www.mic.no/mic.nsf/doc/art2007112715523596991073
I'll be seeing them on Friday in Seattle and will have an mp3 for you on Thursday.
Finnish rockers The Sheena Hyenas have a new track up on myspace: https://www.myspace.com/thesheenahyenas
Swedish act Audio Objekt managed to recruit Ralf Hütter from Kraftwerk to lend his vocals to updated Swedish covers of "Computer world" and "The model", now called "Vår nya värld" ("Our new world") and "Modellen". Hear samples at myspace: https://www.myspace.com/audioobjekt
If you were thinking about ordering a copy of Hello Saferide's "Introducing..." on 12" vinyl, better do it soon - less than 10 copies are left and I'm not sure if it'll get repressed.
MP3: Holiday Fun Club - Hamburg in the night
Holiday Fun Club have got to be one of the most authentic sounding postpunk revival acts. Not the best, mind you, just the ones that sound the most like they recently awoke from a 25-year hibernation. Besides getting the guitar tones right on, they've also got that tightly wound, anxious feeling that's crucial for the genre. There's a paranoia that pervades everything, even a song about something as benign as going out for drinks in Hamburg. The skronky sax sure helps, too. Aside from a few subtle electronic flourishes in the background, if someone told me this came out in '81, I'd believe 'em. As a new release, that makes it good, not great. I appreciate the craftmanship and attention to detail, but why bother? Retro new wave is an oxymoron. Let's move forward!
Holiday Fun Club - Hamburg in the night
Dieter Schöön
LaBlaza
Headspin Recordings
"LaBlaza" is a damned entertaining, eerie romp through the Göteborg electro, avant-rock, and Krautrock scenes; it's a journey where the origin is quickly lost, the endpoint forgotten, and only the blurs scarring the landscape make much sense anymore. "The harbour's cold" is a wonderfully detached electropop song (and might get kids suggesting that we "smoke a spliff in the afternoon", something I haven't heard since my late '90s frolic through the British reggae scene), and the Khonnor-esque (remember him?) "Soft and slow" is every bit as engaging as it is distant. The rest of "LaBlaza" is just as unique and prone to change, but there's a bizarre continuity present as the tracks rumble onwards. Just another record to prove that, while 2007 may have been useless in many ways, the music released this year has been anything but.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
The new Kasper Bjørke single "Doesn't matter"is up on myspace now: https://www.myspace.com/kasperbjorke
Look for remixes from Kasper himself along with Trentemøller, Jack Schidt, Thugfucker and more in the near future plus a video.
Swedish rockers Sator and The Bones contribute a cover of "Touch too much" by The Arrows to a new comp entitled "Wild sound from the past dimension", a tribute to rock'n'roll from the 60s and 70s out now on Italian label GoDown Records. Sator frontman Chips Kiesbye also sings a cover of Joni Mitchell's "Both sides now" together with White Flag. More details: https://www.godownrecords.com/index.php?page=store&scheda=god021
Crunchy Frog posts more info about the signing of Beta Satan: https://www.crunchy.dk/asp/default.asp?News_Id=223
Memento Materia has confirmed that the new Colony 5 single "Knives" will be out in December. Said MCD will feature three remixes by Schallfaktor, Syrian and Herzschlag plus the b-side "Avalanches". As for their new full-length "Buried again", look for it in February.
Also on the way from Memento Materia is Swedish synthpop act Bobby's new album "Thursday in this universe", now set for February with their new single "Autumn never leaves" preceding it in January.