I've been obsessing a bit about goth music lately, it's true. The world is going through dark times and that demands dark music. It has been awhile since I heard from 1999. They released a single on Release the Bats! a few years ago and posted a few other tracks on their website, but after that... nilch. I even attempted to email them about appearing on my latest "Reader's companion" comp, but got no reply. So when stumbled across Celebrity Lifestyle Records (named after the Swans song), the new label that released their full-length debut, naturally I was excited. Luckily CLR was more open to communication and before too long I had a copy of the CD in-hand. Let me tell you: this is the shit. It's borrows heavily from the past (Joy Division, Bauhaus, yadda yadda), but also incorporates more noise and Krautrock influences. Deceptively simple and hypnotic, cyclic riffs, dancefloor-friendly beats and sloganeering vocals - not quite to the level of, say Nitzer Ebb, but definitely leaning in that direction. Like a rawer, more primal version of Boys of Scandinavia. The particular track I've posted today is the album's opener. Deceptively simple and driving. I love how the guitar just turns into a wash of noise with barely any distinguishable attack. The cavernous tone provides the right balance of melody and noise while letting the drums and bass carry the song. Simplicity is key. Beauty is the winner, indeed.
1999 - Beauty is the winner
It's been awhile, but here's some new reviews for you: [click here]
Artists covered this time around include The Charade, Lemonator, Maria Lithell, Red Moon, The Second Band, Viktor Sjöberg, Tigerbombs and the four-way split "If we were oceans" featuring Kristofer Åström, Racingpaperplanes, Boy Omega and Two Times the Trauma.
Viva Revolución planned US jaunt in September has been cancelled.
You can finally hear some new stuff from The Plan now on myspace: https://www.myspace.com/theplansweden
The single "Walk for gold" comes out September 27 and the album of the same name follows on October 25.
Finnish garage-rockers The Micragirls are now on myspace with a new song from their forthcoming album: https://www.myspace.com/micragirls
Bassist Flettefar has left Denmark's I Am Bones to spend more time with his family. Christian Winther will take his place. In other news, the band recently went through a ton of demo sketches on their hard drive and decided to share a mishmash of them with the public: https://www.iambones.dk/mp3/i_am_bones_-_harddrive_cleanout.mp3
Hello Saferide will be travelling to Japan for some dates in early October. Details soon.
The new Fibes, Oh Fibes! website is up: https://www.fibesohfibes.com/
Check out the video for Petter's single "Eller": https://www.dach.se/eller.mov
Labrador has posted the new Irene single for downloading: https://www.labrador.se/mp3/irene-little_things.mp3
Now that he's made a name for himself as the visual artist behind The Knife, Silverbullit guitarist Andreas Nilsson has now been hired to do the video for Depeche Mode's new single "Martyr".
DigitalMetal has the press release for the new Borknagar acoustic album "Origin", due out October 30 via Century Media: https://www.digitalmetal.com/news.asp?cid=7635
Danish post-punk/pop act Cartidge has posted a couple more songs from their album "Enfant terrible" on myspace: https://www.myspace.com/ilovecartridge
Franky Lee, the solo side-project of Mathias from Millencolin, will finally unveil their official website on Friday: https://www.frankylee.com/
Ralph Myerz & The Jack Herren Band's cover of "Forelska i læreren" ("The teacher") by early 80s Norwegian hard-rockers The Kids is now on myspace: https://www.myspace.com/ralphmyerz