The video for the excellent new Robert Svensson single "Young enough" (ft. Markus Krunegård) is now online for viewing: https://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=43939786
Swedish EBM act Lip Service is now working with the female-centric industrial/electro/noise label MachineKunt in the US: https://machinekunt.com
This week's top 20 Norwegian album chart:
01. Odd Nordstoga - Pilegrim
02. Øystein Sunde - Meget i Sløyd
03. Maria Mena - Cause & Effect
04. Rita Eriksen - Hjerteslag
05. Diverse artister - Mgp Jr 2008
06. Smurfene - Smurfeparty
07. Tommy Tokyo feat starving For My Gravy - Smear Your Smiles Back On
08. TNT - Atlantis
09. Finn Coren - I Draumar Fær Du
10. Kurt Nilsen - Rise To The Occasion
11. Espen Lind - Army of one
12. Maria Arredondo - Sound of Musicals
13. Vassendgutane - Xo
14. Knutsen & Ludvigsen - Dum og deilig -beste
15. Ida Maria - Fortress Round My Heart
16. Hilde Louise Asbjørnsen - Sound Your Horn
17. Jarle Bernhoft - Ceramik City Chronicles
18. Helge Toft - 5500
19. Malin - Pang
20. Lindstrom - Where you go I go to
The Washington Post Express on Norwegian metal act Keep of Kalessin: https://www.expressnightout.com/content/2008/10/professors_of_rock_keep_of_kalessin.php
Finnish shoegazers Murmansk have started a tour diary: https://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=68437695&blogID=437824041
The new issue of the Lords of Metal e-zine is out and it features interviews with a ton of bands such as Burst, Enslaved, Benea Reach, The Haunted and much more: https://www.lordsofmetal.nl/interviews.php?lang=en
Looks like there's a new Annie track making the rounds: https://www.discobelle.net/2008/10/02/annie-two-of-hearts/
Also note that the release of her new album "Don't stop" has been pushed back to 2009, not a good sign I'd say.
Norwegian country-rock act Real Ones will be coming over for CMJ:
10/22 - Rehab (Stranded In Stereo CMJ Showcase), NYC, NY
10/22 - Living Room, (CMJ Showcase), NYC, NY w/Theresa Andersson, Ane Brun, Tobias Fröberg
10/23 - Harpers Ferry, Boston, MA
10/25 - Fat Baby (CMJ Showcase), NYC, NY w/Marching Band
Hellsongs have decided to start a tour blog: https://loungemetal.blogspot.com/
Danish metal act Hatesphere will be going into the studio later this month to record a new album, their first with an almost all-new revamped lineup.
MP3: The Goner - A song
With the release of "Haven", The Goner has completed his H-series triptych and secured himself a place in my year-end top 10 list. This final chapter might be the best of the bunch too, that is, if I was to consider them individually. It's got the gentle folksiness of "Halartraller" as evidenced by opening track "A song" (featured today), but it's also balanced by more raga instrumentals and extensive psychedelic vamping that defined "Hind Hand". Again, this is cult music; willfully obscure and intentionally obtuse. Music like this isn't created to gain popularity, make friends, to sell records; this is art. And as we pass through these Days of Awe I can think of no finer soundtrack.
May all loose threads be sewn / To guard from darksome night
May every grieving soul be thrown / Where God himself gives light
Robert Svensson
Young punks are on the never-never
Nomethod
There is something endearingly vulnerable and honest about Robert Svensson's music, a quality that carries through in waves on even the thinnest guitar sound or simplest of keyboard arrangements. This sincerity attracted me to Svensson's other project Mixtapes & Cellmates and, while elements of that band bleed over into his solo project, "Young punks are on the never-never" is a far more personal collection of songs, thus amplifying the very attribute that attracted me in the first place. Pair that with a stellar lineup of musical guests -- Markus Krunegård of Laakso, Adam Olenius of Shout Out Louds, Jejo Perkovic of The Bear Quartet, and Japan's Cokiyu -- and you have one of the very best albums of the year. Robert Svensson crafts some of the most original music coming out of Sweden, positioning himself as an equal alongside most of the bands one could claim influence him -- a point strongly evidenced by those who appear alongside the young songsmith on his debut solo album. Whether he croons along with Markus Krunegård on "Young enough", a track that opens like a Tom Petty creation before being assaulted with rather Scandinavian assemblage of instrumentation; raises his fantastic voice over the dance floor-ready heights of the appropriately titled "1991"; or whirls about on the choppy, far too short "Young punks", it's as though Robert Svensson can do no wrong. Since I didn't give 10s to either Aerial or Shout Out Louds, the acts who produced my two favorite albums of 2007, I can't very well give Robert Svensson a 10 here... but I am damn tempted to.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Updated US tourdates for The Skull Defekts:
10/03 - Death By Audio, Brooklyn, NY
10/04 - Talking Head, Baltimore, MD
10/05 - Sonic Circuits Festival @ Velvet Lounge, Washington DC
10/06 - Eclectic @ Wesylelan University, Middletown, CT
10/07 - AS220, Providence, RI
10/08 - PA's Lounge, Boston, MA
10/10 - Now Thats Class, Cleveland, OH
10/11 - Frankies, Toledo, OH
10/12 - High Concept Laboratories (early show), Chicago, IL
10/13 - The Pleasure Dome, Ypsilanti, MI
10/14 - Skylab, Columbus, OH
10/15 - Gooski's, Pittsburgh, PA
10/16 - (R5 Presents) Danger Danger Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
10/17 - Cake Shop, New York, NY
Two more free Björn Kleinhenz over at Tomt Recordings: https://www.tomtrecordings.se/thelight
This week's contributors include IAT.MP3 collaborator Pete Thompson along with fellow Gbg-based artist Fujasaki.