Candlelight Records will be bringing Scandinavian black-metal acts Dark Funeral (SWE) and Enslaved (NOR) over to the US for a month-long tour to kick off on January 9. Dates are still TBA, but let me tell you: Enslaved is by far the best black-metal band that I've seen live. Very, very highly recommended.
Swedish singer/songwriter Jonna Lee will play the Cobden Club in London on October 2. Look for a possible second show to be added the following day, on Jonna's 25th birthday.
Swedish indie act Consequences, a band whose members some of you might recognize from Marit Bergman's backing group, will release their first-ever official single "Release me from love" on September 22 via Bow Music. The album will follow in October and samples should be online soon, once it is mastered.
Updated US tourdates for my favorite electronic act, Alog:
08/12 - San Francisco Electronic Music Festival
08/15 - Holocene, Portland, OR
08/17 - Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL
08/19 - Mills Gallery, Boston, MA
08/21 - Tonic, New York, NY
Stockholm-based instrumental prog/pysch band Gösta Berlings Saga will release their debut full-length album in August. Download numerous demo tracks at the band's website: https://www.gostaberlingssaga.se/
AMG gives high praise to Hell On Wheels: https://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:e8ge4j178wai
Listen to some samples from Daniel Andréasson's new four-song CDR: https://www.myspace.com/danielandrasson
The music is described as "a mix between Squarepusher, Bogdan Raczynski and Aphex Twin, but a bit poppy."
Swedish artist Tobias Bernstrup is contributing two tracks to the forthcoming 3xLP + 1x7" "Weird compilation", out soon on NYC-based label Weird Records. The massive vinyl-only comp features "some of the most influential bands and artists of current new American-European minimal wave, synth and electronic dance music scene" and you can read more about it at the label's website: https://www.wierdrecords.com/
Big news! Sometimes a solo artist, sometimes a nine-piece band - whatever you want to call it, it's Loney, Dear and they've just signed to Sub Pop. The label will be bringing 'em over in October to show them off at CMJ (and maybe for a few other dates) and will be releasing the band's album "Loney noir" in February. The band first made a name for themselves back home in Sweden by self-releasing a number of well-received CDRs, eventually garnering more and more fans and good press. DIY pays off! In other news, UK-based label Something in Construction will be releasing a 7" single for the track "The city, the airport" in September, just in time for a UK tour. And to add to the hype, BBC 1 will be playing the band's Maida Vale session tomorrow (August 1) on the Huw Stephens show.
Buy Loney, Dear's album "Sologne" here: [click here]
I had an interviewed featured in Upsala Nya Tidning yesterday: [click here]
Many thanks to Patrik Wirén for making it happen.
Check out a video by Russian artist Julia Zastava for the Alog track "Your secret flesh": https://alog.net/soundclips/secretflash.html
Roxette's brand new single "One wish" has been confirmed for a September 20 release in Sweden, September 22 in Germany. This is some of the first new material from the band in something like three years and is being used to promote the duo's upcoming greatest hits album and retrospective box-set, both of which I believe are due in October.
MP3: Diabolique - Rain
I've been talking about (and listening to) a lot of goth/darkwave recently, so I'm gonna keep on going with it. Diabolique formed in the mid-90s out of the ashes of Liers in Wait, one of the many New Wave of Swedish Death Metal bands that helped establish Göteborg as an international metal mecca. And if you go back even further, you'll find that frontman/guitarist Kristian Wåhlin (aka Necrolord) was also a founding member of the band Grotesque with vocalist Tomas Lindberg, pre-At the Gates. Kristian is also renown for his many cover paintings that graced oh-so-many of the 90's best metal releases (see a list at Kristian's official website). Anyhow, Diabolique released their first album "Wedding the grotesque" in 1997, and while it's a fairly decent example of doom metal with goth-leanings, it wasn't until their next release, 1999's "The black flower" that they really hit their stride. Heavy, shoegazer guitars mixed with deep vocals and a steady, pounding rhythm section. What I enjoy most about it is that heaviness - even though the music is most definitely not metal at this point, they still have a thick and beefy guitar tone that evokes the same sort of feeling. The bass is especially huge and driving. While I rank "The black flower" as one of my favorite Swedish CDs, the song I've posted today actually comes from the "Butterflies" EP that followed a year later. The music is a bit cleaner and lighter, but it's the vocals that really progressed the most. Kristian extends his range and instead of his usual baritone drone, he actually sings. I understand that many folks were turned off by that, but I think it works. Most of the time. The band's final album "The green goddess" (which I don't think was ever officially released, though somehow I did manage to find a copy in the used bin many years ago) goes even further by doing away with the deep vocals altogether and adding more electronic beats and synths. I absolutely hated it when I first heard it and I still can't say it's really worth tracking down. Regardless, eventually dissolved (probably at least partially due to label issues) and Kristian, along with drummer Hans Nilsson, eventually reunited with Lindberg in the band The Great Deceiver. But that's a post for another Friday...
Diabolique - Rain
MP3: The Vicious - It's all a lie
Got a new mp3 today from Umeå-based punk-rockers The Vicious from their latest 7" "Obsessive". If dig classic snotty singalong punk like Randy or Regulations (with whom they share a member) then you'll definitely love this too. A lot of times this sorta retro-sounding sound comes off as forced, but somehow the Scandinavian punks usually seem to pull it off. No detached irony, no snide winks; just 100% quality rock'n'roll. The other point of interest concerning The Vicious is that this is the new band of Sara Almgren from The (International) Noise Conspiracy. Sorry to those of you hoping that she'd return to her moshcore roots (she was in band Doughnuts way back when), but it looks like it ain't gonna happen. Yet. C'mon, isn't it about time someone started a Chokehold tribute band or something?
The Vicious - It's all a lie