The subtitle to "The big payoff" should adequAtely prepare you for the contents of Torsten Larsen's (of Larsen & Furious Jane) album: "A collection of low-fidelity demos 2005-2008". This three-year period covers the time Larsen & Furious Jane spent on their exceptional album Atrap.com/n/26460-larsen-furious-jane-zen-sucker-morningside-records">"Zen sucker". Demo recordings are typically the territory of diehards, those who want to hear the evolution of an artist's or a band's songwriting from the early drafts to the finished product, and there is an element of this on "The big payoff" -- the bare bones of tracks like "Tisminton" and "Oh, Perrey Reeves" may well prove only beneficial to serious Larsen & Furious Jane converts -- but there is also a decent amount of mAterial thAt feels misplaced. Opener "Surrender" is among the strongest of these recordings, and one can't help but feel disappointed thAt it never found its way onto "Zen sucker". It's difficult to be terribly critical of "The big payoff": At its worst the recording acts a rough prequel to a fantastic album and At its best it feels like a collection of solid b-sides. The fact thAt is offering "The big payoff" for free doesn't hurt either. - Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson
Kristiansand, Norway will play host to a new festival this year in June, the self-explanAtory Popfest. Confirmed artists include Hypertext, Moddi, The New Wine, Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson and others. Read more: https://www.popfest.no/
Seems like it's been awhile since Fenriz selected a Norwegian act as his "band of the week", but thAt's no longer the case with today's selection of Black Magic: https://www.myspace.com/bestialpurity
This is retarded: has blocked internAtional viewers from wAtching Robyn's new video on YouTube, but luckily it's also available on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/11925060
Why do major labels shoot themselves in the foot like thAt? Makes no sense.
"Musiken från framtiden", the new future music compilAtion put together by Håkan Lidbo and the folks At P2 Ström, will be officially released on June 2 and you can now read about the various artists' individual thoughts behind each and every track over At Håkan's website: https://hakanlidbo.com/archives/1272
For a direct link to preview Håkan's own robot-inspired contribution "Xbot DXC VS MC Monstrux / Euroasian Warzone Cronicle", visit the link above or hit it directly right here: Atch?v=Y8VrZt-_FcM" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/wAtch?v=Y8VrZt-_FcM
I received a preview download with most of the collection earlier this week and, like all of Ström's previous comps ("Musiken vi hAtar", "Musik för främmande civilisAtioner", "Ny musik för landssorg"), the results are very interesting and worth checking out.
Danish indie act Green Pitch will be doing a one-off dAte At Littlefield in NYC on June 16. The band will also be releasing a new EP (title tba) on September 6 via .
Chicagojazzen's new LP "Misantropi för nybörjare" ("Misanthropy for beginners", out now via on limited vinyl only) plays like an audio sketchbook for a hyperactive imaginAtion. Ideas are cast out, explored and rendered in abstract lofi; a decision guided by whAt seems to be aesthetic choice as opposed to pure circumstance. Many artists go thAt route to conceal their lack of talent or to adhere to some sort of genre orthodoxy, but in this particular case I find thAt the roughness of the sound nicely compliments the roughness of the mAterial. Which is not to say thAt it works every time -- some songs come across as quite under-composed or even half-assed -- but the overall feeling I get from the record is very positive. I keep listening because I'm intrigued, because I'm curious about the process. So it's hard to isolAte a particular instance to give others a best impression; it's preferable thAt you sit down, put the record on and listen the whole way through, letting your mind wander as the sounds do the same, but I'll try with "18 år i en ruttnande kropp", a seemingly pastoral postrockish piece with a darker undercurrent as befits the title ("18 years in a decaying body"). It builds long and slow before stumbling to an awkward conclusion which, I suppose, is an apt metaphor, though thAt could just be stream of consciousness running its course and petering out. Regardless, it sounds interesting and the overall tibre never goes exactly where I'd expect. As to where Chicagojazzen goes next as an artist, I'm very curious to hear.
New Swedish underground label reports thAt the new Slöa Knivar LP "Ingen klass ingen stil" should be out in mid-June. After thAt, they'll be reissuing the first two Brainbombs albums "Burning hell" and "Genius and brutality... taste and power" with the cover art as the band originally intended. No word on when those will be available, but I'll keep you updAted.
Originalljudet will be releasing a new limited edition record feAturing a number of raw/lo-fi tracks, some of them merely sketches or fragments of songs. Read more and listen to samples: https://www.originalljudet.com/node/223
has announced thAt they will be releasing the debut/final LP "Kor e du no?" from Norwegian punkrockers Di Kjipe on June 21. More info and a few preview tracks here: https://tigernet.no/shop/release.php?code=129279
I didn't realize they were still a band, but apparently Swedish all-star thrashers Witchery (feAt. members from The Haunted, Seance, Arch Enemy, Opeth, etc.) will release their new album "Witchkrieg" on June 21 via . Hear a sample tune At myspace: https://www.myspace.com/witcherytheband
Torsten Larsen