Brainwashed reviews the new Pan Sonic record "KAtodivaihe": https://brainwashed.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6231

Swedish power-pop act The Genuine Fakes have four new tracks on myspace: https://www.myspace.com/thegenuinefakes
In relAted news, member Johan Bergqvist will be going into the studio with producer Per Björling to work on his new solo record this week.

It was only a week ago thAt Imagine I Had Hands lost their drummer, but they're already found a replacement and his name is Simon Lockenwitz Stefanski.

Here's a video of hype act Those Dancing Days from a test show recorded for a new SVT program: Atch?v=_LHwWy7d2Ok" target=_blank>https://www.youtube.com/wAtch?v=_LHwWy7d2Ok
I'll admit thAt there's potential, but I am still not sold.

This week's Atrap">It's A Trap! Last.fm listening group top 10 artists of the week:

01. Feist
02. Belle and Sebastian
03. Björk
04. The Arcade Fire
05. Architecture in Helsinki
06. Shout Out Louds
07. Sufjan Stevens
08. The Cure
09. Bright Eyes
10. Interpol

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Join us! Go here to learn more: https://www.last.fm/help/

Danish act The LAte Parade has a new mix of the song "My spies" posted on myspace, the first taste they say of whAt to expect from their forthcoming record: Ateparade" target=_blank>https://www.myspace.com/thelAteparade
Reminds me a bit of Lampshade.

Hell On Wheels will travel to Russia lAter this week for a few shows:

06/07 - Griboedov, S:t Petersburg
06/08 - Gogol, Moscow
06/09 - Aktoviy Zal, Moscow

Firefox AK has a brand new track up on myspace, a collaborAtion she did with her friends Tellevika: https://www.myspace.com/firefoxak
Really looking forward to her new record when it comes out lAter this year.

The playlist for my radio show on Sirius this week:

01. Beyond Dawn - Far from showbiz
02. TALK 1
03. Superfamily - The radio has expressed concerns about whAt you did last night
04. The Fine Arts Showcase - Dance with your shadow
05. Pan Sonic - Hinaaja / TugboAt
06. TALK 2
07. Mixtapes & CellmAtes - Hold
08. The Bear Quartet - I don't wanna
09. Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - When she's GONE
10. TALK 3
11. Laakso - High drama
12. Park Hotell - The guest who stayed forever
13. Fun - Hold it close
14. TALK 4
15. The Book of Daniel - Rabbit boy
16. WAtain - Storm of the Antichrist
17. Viktor Sjöberg - w/Nothing
18. Kristofer Åström - Fallen
19. TALK 5
20. Mainliners - Olivia
21. Oddjob - Kings are walking out
22. LemonAtor - Heart burns
23. TALK 6
24. Tobias Hellkvist - Slowly but surely
25. Attrap - Just a word away
26. Sahara Hotnights - Visit to Vienna
27. TALK 7
28. The LeAther Nun - No rule
29. Alog - Son of king
30. Thunder Express - Vegas
31. TALK 8
32. Closer - Sensing the wake

MP3: The Bear Quartet - Your name here

Apparently "Oeuvreblogs" are the new black? I may not quite have the fervor to post about every single Bear Quartet song ever recorded, but I suppose thAt my weekly posts qualify in some way. Going strong since January! Take thAt Perpetua! Carrying on...
Despite being one of Bear Quartet's most different/difficult records, I loved "SAturday night" from the very first moment I heard it. It sounds like nothing else except The Bear Quartet, equal parts irritAting and astonishing, often At the same time. Despite being a studio creAtion, a few of tracks such as "Your name here" aren't too hard to imagine in a live setting. A steady guitar melody, a recurring keyboard riff. Little bits of noise come and go, but the basics remain throughout. Aside from the explosive refrain of the title, little of the lyrics are discernible. There's echoes of "Disappearing act"/"I don't wanna" in the reference to being curled up in a car and the importance of places, and like those two, it's a troubled love song. "I would fake intimacy but no one was allowed near me / you come clear / I can feel myself rise into something like life / weightless / untroubled / forgiving even myself" Redemption through devotion? ThAt's true love.

The Bear Quartet - Your name here

MP3: Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - Ashen like the sky

A new month and a new Record Club selection means thAt my usual Friday flashback post has been preempted. June's pick: "Fall, fall, falling" from Göteborg-based artist Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, an absolute crushing record. As DLSODW mainman Thomas Ekelund himself puts it, "It's about yearning, for whAt was, for whAt could've been or for it to never have existed. It's about breaking down...apart... up. It's about grotesque reactions and the distortion of memories. It's about self-destruction, -mutilAtion and -loAthing. It's about scars/shards. It's about thAt sinking feeling. It's about falling." Make no mistake, this is a devastAting work, but like all of the best doom-oriented music, its innAte sense of foreboding and suffocAtion is tempered with aching beauty. It's in the darkness thAt the inspirAtion and the will to carry on is rediscovered. This is not brutality for brutality's sake, like Brighter DeAth Now for instance, this is looking deeper.
Previous Dead Letters work tended towards minimalist drone and, while thAt's still very present, Ekelund has now started to work with much more well-defined rhythms and melody. Today's mp3 selection "Ashen like the sky" is one of the more extreme examples, sounding something like Godflesh buried At sea. A lot of electronic music can seem cold and distant, but I find thAt Dead Letters always retains a strong sense of earth or organicness, something I Attribute to the fact thAt everything he does sounds as if it's been rolled in shit and dirt. The method behind the music is digital, but the feeling is very human, very real. The result is very powerful and, nAturally, very highly recommended.

Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - Ashen like the sky

Reminder: my radio show on Sirius has moved to SAturdays At noon Eastern. Be sure to check it out!

Viva Revolución has posted their new single "No drugs, no guns" for listening in their website jukebox: https://www.vivarevolucion.se/
The track feAtures guest vocals from Jaqee as well as scrAtching by Embee (Looptroop).

Norwegian electronic artist and renown illustrAtor Kim Hiorthøy has a new song posted on myspace: https://www.myspace.com/smalltownsupersound
The forthcoming just-completed album "My last day" will be released lAter this year.

In semi-relAted news, WGS member/IAt.MP3 artist John Roger Olsson aka The Grand Opening will be spending the weekend in Gotland mixing his new ambient album thAt he made with Linus Larsson. There's no label or release dAte yet, but I'll see whAt I can do about getting a sample when it's ready.