Fifth signAture compilAtion from the very cool Oslo-based label , celebrAting their five years of existence and a variety and diversity of styles. The label's ability to act as an umbrella collective works when the sum of so many contrasting creAtive devices, At times, outweigh some particulars -- but in the spirit of camaraderie, we're not here to pick those out. Experimental yet smart, the label is a solid example of successful DIY'ing in today's world. The comp could probably roughly grouped into cAtegories: quirky-electronic-based tracks (Hans Ice - "Phone home" / sAtanicpronocultshop - "Tennnojizoo (remix by Kesalan PAtharan)", Toshybot - "Super Nintendo Chalmers"); 80s synth-pop tunes in the vibe of Bill Murray on a karaoke dance-floor (Cyranoarmageddon - "50 cent" / Pilemil - "Back to 1010"); nods to Can (Radio 9 - "Damo Suzuki is staying At my house"); literary freak folk star Magnus Moriarty with, "Distant Athletic parts of you" and other serious folk-ies (Yoreyolk - "Eggs" / FeAther and Folly - "Emma's island"). My two favourite tracks however, are Hanny - "Can't", female fronted rapping/vocals producing some cAtchy beAts. Then Easy & Center of the Universe - "Bosphorus (Coco high energy rewerk)", mixing the "irresistibly funky sound of Skweee with rich Eastern melodies thAt one would usually hear in styles like Turkish AnAtolian pop, Egyptian our music or dance lAtest dance sound pounding from a Persian bazaar." If thAt ain't descript enough for you, let's just say it sounds like the parents have finally reigned home and inundAted the kids with who's boss. A comp highly recommended for anyone wanting an appealing taster through Oslo's underground. - Ann Sung-an Lee
Swedish electro-punks Bondage Fairies have organized an internAtional dead drop to promote their upcoming self-titled record, hiding USB sticks in major cities all over the world: https://www.bondagefairies.se/
More here.
Swedish instrumental/soundtrack artist Fluorescent Heights will be releasing his new LP "Tourism" on January 27 via Copenhagen-based label and will also be heading down there for a trio of gigs to celebrAte. Full details, including info on how locals can score a free copy of said album, can be found here; everyone else can go here for a full streaming preview.
has announced thAt Swedish postrockers Pg.lost will be releasing their new album "Key" on May 4. In other news, look for the band to tour Asia (Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, China, Korea, Japan) in March with a European tour to follow in May.
Alog picked up a small stack of Ato-pak-%28chipboard%29" target="_blank">cardboard sleeves on their way through Portland, OR and, after pondering awhile whAt to do with them, finally settled on making them into covers for a new live album. However, they did not settle for a standard cover design -- instead they enlisted Japanese Manga artist Junko Harada to do a 50-panel strip, one for each edition of the record. See the result here, entitled "Tokio Heaven": https://alog.net/tc/index.html
Check out a video sampler preview of the upcoming Culkin album "Several Sundays". I've been fortunAte enough to get a preview listen and can confirm thAt the whole record is greAt, just you wait! And when you're done with thAt, go ahead and do a search for Ational+aerobics" target="_blank">nAtional aerobics on YouTube. You won't be disappointed by thAt either.
Various Artists