The Thing down under

The Thing are heading down under for a number of live dates as well as a recording session:

01/18 - tba Aukland (NZ)
01/20-01/21 - Vitamin S, Wellington (NZ)
01/23 - Mofo Foma Festival, Hobart (AU)
01/25 - Tura New Music, Perth (AU)
01/27 - Room 40, Brisbane (AU)
01/28 - Now Now Festival, Sydney (AU)
01/28 - SoundOut Festival, Canberra (AU)
01/30 - Northcote Social Club, Melbourne (AU)
01/31-02/01 - Recording @ Head Gap Studios, Melbourne (AU)
02/02 - The Old Fire Station, Bendigo (AU)

Motorpsycho planning two albums, tour

Motorpsycho is planning on releasing a live album later this year as well as a new studio record based on the material they performed with Ståle Storløkken and the Trondheim Jazzorkester at last year's Moldejazz Festival. The band will also be touring a bit in April and here's what's confirmed so far:

04/13 - Azkena, Bilbao (ESP)
04/14 - Rocksound, Barcelona (ESP)
04/15 - 12 & Medio, Murcia (ESP)
04/16 - El Sol, Madrid (ESP)
07/14-17 - Burg Herzberg Festival, Breitenbach (GER)

PB&J talk to Spin

Spin interviews Peter Morén of Peter Bjorn and John about a few of their songs off the forthcoming album "Gimme some": https://www.spin.com/articles/exclusive-peter-bjorn-and-john-talk-new-album

Firefox AK confirms new album, single

Firefox AK has announced that her new album "Colour the trees", produced by Andreas Mattsson, Lasse Mårtén and Björn Yttling, will be released in April via . The first single "Boom, boom, boom" comes out February 4.

18 Norwegian acts now confirmed for SXSW

Listen to Norway runs down the 18 Norwegian acts now confirmed for SXSW 2011: https://www.listento.no/mic.nsf/doc/art2011011114030711899290
The list: Altaar, Benea Reach, Casiokids, Datarock, Death Crush, Forza, Harry`s Gym, DE Håker Flaten, Kvelertak, Marit Larsen, The Megaphonic Thrift, My Little Pony, Nico D & Admiral P, Serpentine, Simon Says No!, Sondre Lerche, Tôg and Youth Pictures Of Florence Henderson.

The Skull Defekts announce US tour, yet another album

The Skull Defekts will be touring the US this spring:

03/27 - Turf Club, Minneapolis, MN
03/29 - Mission Creek Festival, Iowa City, IA
03/30 - Lemp Neighboorhood Arts Center, St. Louis, MO
03/31 - Hideout, Chicago, IL
04/01 - 31st Street Pub, Pittsburgh, PA
04/02 - Soundlab, Buffalo, NY
04/03 - Littlefield, Brooklyn, NY
04/06 - The Vintage Theatre, Scranton, PA
04/07 - Danger Danger Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
04/09 - Nightlight, Chapel Hill, NC
04/10 - The Pilot Light, Knoxville, TN

Also, in addition to the band's previously announced album featuring Daniel Higgs, now revealed to be called "Peer Amid" and due out soon via , the band will also be releasing yet another full-length LP via called "The slow storm". No release date yet, but I'll keep you posted.

Hej Våld - XOXO

Swedish DJ collective Hej Våld have a new single called "XOXO" out now via upstart indie label ; listen here: https://www.tackforigar.se/artists/hej-vald/

Andreas Mattsson to release new album in February

will release the new Andreas Mattsson solo album "Kick Death's ass" on February 18. Look for the first single "AA" to be released on January 14.

Autisterna - Rachael Ray

Autisterna's new single "Rachael Ray" is officially out now and can also be streamed at the band's website: https://autisterna.se/
The band's new album "Legender" will be out March 2.

Norma Sass - Holy night

Norwegian female rock act Norma Sass are giving away a new track as a free download: https://soundcloud.com/normasass/norma-sass-holy-night
Look for the band's new album "Hunting for treasure" to be released on January 24 via /.

This week's Last.fm chart

Here is the It's a Trap! listening group top 10 artists of the week:

01. Belle and Sebastian
02. The National
03. The Radio Dept.
04. Robyn
05. Kanye West
06. Arcade Fire
07. Beach House
08. Håkan Hellström
09. Lykke Li
10. Sufjan Stevens

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Please join us and make your playlist count! Go here to learn more: https://www.last.fm/help/

Presenting: WÆE (ex-The Honeydrips, Twig)

WÆE is the name of a new band formed by Mikael Carlsson (The Honeydrips) and Mathias Nilsson (Twig) who are supposedly going for a dub/black-metal sound according to this article, but in actuality are just playing the same old low-key twee you'd expect, albeit with a bit of extra delay and some shitty, trebly distortion. Listen to the duo's debut EP "Resa till mark" at their website: https://waee.tumblr.com/

Pintandwefall - Supernatural (video)

Another week, another new video from Pintandwefall. Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43n63-k1JsY

Musik med Säkert! #2

The final artist of PSL's year-end/year-start live music posts comes from Säkert!: https://psl.svt.se/psl/2011/01/09/musik-med-sakert-2/

Ja Ja Ja January: Murmansk, Montée, Benni Hemm Hemm

Tom Robinson from BBC6 Music Introducing has been selected as January's curator for London-based Scandinavian music showcase Ja Ja Ja. His selections for January 27: Murmansk, Montée and Benni Hemm Hemm.