Manes has posted the cover and tracklisting for their new album "How the world came to an end": https://blog.myspace.com/manes
Deep Elm has samples and various press quotes posted for the new Sounds Like Violence record "With blood on my hands": https://www.deepelm.com/455/
This week's It's a trap! Last.fm/Audioscrobbler listening group top 10 artists of the week:
01. The Arcade Fire
02. Bloc Party
03. The Shins
04. The Radio Dept.
05. The Knife
06. Belle and Sebastian
07. Kent
08. Sufjan Stevens
09. Jens Lekman
10. Radiohead
I'd list the top 10 tracks too, but it's so dreadfully boring and the albums charts are currently broken. If you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod, please join us! The more people that join, the more interesting our chart will be, the more interesting new music you'll discover. Go here to learn more: https://www.last.fm/help/
DigitalMetal has the press release for the new Dimmu Borgir album: https://www.digitalmetal.com/news.asp?cid=8013
Dark Dose on Swedish thrashers Bewitched: https://darkdose.com/?p=154
The winners of this year's Manifest Awards, Sweden's alternative to the Grammis:
Hip-hop/R&B/soul: Ison & fille
Pop/rock: The Radio Dept.
Hard-rock/punk: Asta Kask
Folk/worldmusic: Ranarim
Singer/songwriter: Andreas Mattsson
Dance/house/techno: The Knife
Best newcomer: Lo-Fi-Fnk - Boylife
Digfipriset (best unsigned artist): The Wonderful Guinea Pigs
Postrock/electronica: Ebb
Jazz: Lennart Åberg with Peter Erskine - "Free Spirit"
Best live artist: The Knife
Read more: https://www.manifestgalan.se/125.aspx
Marit Bergman has posted the b-side to her new single for listening on myspace: https://www.myspace.com/maritbergman
The track is called "3 00 AM" and was written with Andreas Kleerup for his forthcoming album and Marit sings on it. However, the version on Marit's "Mama, I remember you now" single is a 'cover' version played solo on piano.
Some Place Else has posted details and samples for the new Moljebka Pvlse CD "Sadalsuud": https://www.someplaceelse.net/releases/?id=specd07040
Pitchfork has a new Jens Lekman track: https://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/forkcast/41066#Jens_Lekman_Exclusive_Premiere_Jens_
If Society has posted a track from the new Radiopuhelimet album for download: https://www.ifsociety.com/files/Radiopuhelimet-musta_lakana.mp3
Check out a new recently published review of Closer's "Tokpela EP": https://www.dprp.net/reviews/200708.php#closer
One of my favorite releases of 2006.
Eskju Divine on tour in Japan:
05/18 - NEST, Tokyo
05/19 - NEST, Tokyo
05/20 - tba, Nagano
05/22 - tba, Osaka
Norwegian avant-metal act Fleurty is coming out of hibernation and has recruited Runhild Gammelsæter (Khlyst, Thor's Hammer, etc.) to sing on a re-recording of the song "Descent into darkness" from their 1993 demo "Black snow". Completing the lineup are Necrobutcher and Hellhammer from Mayhem, on bass and drums respectively.
I am still looking for more people to contribute to our weekly Bear Quartet tribute posts, so please please email me if you're interested! Also, note that I am now carrying the three most BQ albums in my webstore. You want other titles? Just ask.
MP3: The Bear Quartet - Everybody gets to play
Our guestposter for this week's Bear Quartet post is Martin Lundmark of Tenderversion Recording. Not only is he responsible for many of my favorite recent releases, he's also one of the guys responsible for the "Money talks" BQ tribute compilation, so you know the subject is near and dear for him.
Ok, I'm not sure where to begin. There are thousands of beginnings to this story. This love affair, of sorts. I guess we're divorced now, me and The Bear Quartet. But we used to be very much in love, married. That passionate kind of love, the one you only experience if it hits you while you're still in your teens.
I saw a CD at my local record store once. This was 12 years ago, or something. It had a picture of a worn-down kitchen or bathroom wall on the front cover. Who the fuck puts something like that on the front sleeve? The aesthetic used, the portrait of something gloomy - even though I didn't recognize at the time - was very much BQ. I bought the CD thanks to the artwork, which didn't look like anything else. "Everybody else" would become my favorite album for the remainder of that year.
Two years later, BQ released "Moby Dick". I think I didn't listen to anything else for months. I saw them live for the first time at Arvikafestivalen that year. Me and 23 others. The festival was crowded, but somehow everybody else missed this show. Like always. And that chubby guy who sung didn't fit with the beautiful voice heard on "Everybody else", that tiny guy who kept beating his guitar with a drumstick couldn't be the same guy creating the most mesmerizing hooks on "Moby Dick". It just didn't seem right. This was before you could Google for bandpics. This was before shitbands with a shitload of energy could make themselves famous on MySpace.
I ran into drummer Jejo Perkovic at Debaser in Stockholm in 2004. I'd just put together a tribute album with 16 artists covering BQ songs. We got to talk, I bought him a glass of white wine and soda. I don't remember that much of our conversation, but one thing stuck in my mind. He told me that he considered "My war" to be their "White album", their masterpiece. I guess he was right.
Lately, or for a long time, I haven't been listening to The Bear Quartet. I've missed out on their two last albums. It doesn't matter. All that matters is that The Bear Quartet used to be the best band in the world. And still is.
The Bear Quartet - Everybody gets to play