Danish act Racetrack Babies on tour in California:
11/10 - The Village Lounge, Palm Desert
11/11 - tba
11/13 - Chain Reaction, Anaheim, California
11/14 - tba
11/15 - The Wire, Upland
11/16 - The Fold, Los Angeles
11/17 - Velvet Jones, Santa Barbara
11/18 - Vinny's Bar, Bakersfield
11/19 - tba
11/20 - Trilogy, Victorville
11/21 - Showcase Theater, Corona
11/22 - tba
Danish metalcore act As We Fight has posted a brand new song on myspace: https://www.myspace.com/aswefight
The band's new album "Midnight tornado" comes out October 30 in Europe on Dockyard1 (Europe) and in Benelux via Goodlife.
The Cardigans will be playing one and only one US show this year at The Knitting Factory in NYC on October 31 with The Format and Dan Keyes (Young Love). It will be an acoustic set and they are scheduled to go on at 8:30pm.
Norway's Alpine Those Myriads? have posted a bunch of new songs on myspace from their new EP "Our prolonged black rebirth": https://www.myspace.com/alpinethosemyriads
Good stuff that totally defies categorization.
The Book of Daniel has a new, unfortunately all-flash website up and running: https://www.thebookofdaniel.net/
The new album "Songs for the locust king" is out now in Scandinavia on Black Star Federation and will be released in Europe on November 24 via German label Riptide Recordings.
Thomas Walter's video for the song "Beer & dumplings" is now online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myLkwLBjm_g
The clip was filmed in Prague last February and directed Per Hillblom.
National has announced the signing of Swedish singer/songwriter Miss Li, an artist whose been gathering quite a bit of online attention recently. Her album "Late night heartbroken blues" will be released on November 22. Listen to samples: https://www.myspace.com/experiencemissli
Swedish electronic act Shrtwv rdo, the solo project of Tomas Larsson of The Idle Hands, has posted a new track on myspace: https://www.myspace.com/shrtwvrdo
The song "When all is gone" is from the forthcoming "Hope" EP, out soon.
The Knife's film of their April 12 show in Göteborg will be released on DVD on November 8. 5.1 sound, yadda yadda plus all of the duo's 11 videos thus far, from "NY hotel" through "Marble house".
Pitchfork does the track review thing with an El Perro Del Mar bonus track: https://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/track_reviews/El_Perro_del_Mar_Shake_It_Off#39289
Buy El Perro Del Mar CDs and mp3s: [click here]
I've mentioned my appreciation of Christian music a few times here and there, but I think some clarification is in order. When I talk about good Christian music, I mean passionate stuff like Namur and Isolation Years or 16 Horsepower and even the Louvin Brothers. It's important to note that except for the latter, all of these acts consider themselves musicians first, Christians second. The mission is to make music, not necessarily spread the gospel, though inevitably their convictions are reflected in the music. Want an example of what not to do? Listen to today's mp3 from Ella Rouge. This is exactly the kind of empty, vapid music that gives Christian rock such a horrid name. If the Holy Spirit moves you in profound ways, the music should reflect that. Hiring a gospel choir to double the final chorus is no substitute for real emotion. The first couple songs on their record aren't so bad - overproduced and generic yeah, but listenable. I probably wouldn't change the channel if they came on the radio. But this song? Terrible. Painful even. Download at your own risk. Some trivia: The band features the vocals of one Ludwig Andersson, son of Benny from Abba. Though technically proficient in every way, I feel his talents could be put to much better use.
Ella Rouge - Manhattan
Two guestposts in a row? Sure, why not? Today belongs to Matt Giordano:
Seeing as how The Knife are playing their debut US shows at the cusp of October and November (also coinciding with the US release of their prior two albums), I thought it would be nice to offer up a highlight from 2004's "Deep cuts", and probably my favourite Knife song to date. Attention DJs: this song will get the crowd moving.
If you haven't gotten into The Knife yet, you are seriously missing out on one of Sweden's greatest exports. Very recommended.
The Knife - Listen now
See this? You know what it is? It's the test presses for the Hello Saferide LP I'm putting out. Yes, Hello Saferide and yes, on LP as in vinyl. Want to learn more about the release? Go here.
In case you missed my note yesterday, I've got a bunch of new stuff added to the mailorder section including titles from Ane Brun, Britta Persson, Nikola Sarcevic, Promoe and more: [click here]