Adam mcCormack from IAT.mP3 act Imagine I Had Hands has set up a new myspace profile for his solo hometape stuff: myspace.com/adammccormackdk" target=_blank>https://www.myspace.com/adammccormackdk

I Am Bones has confirmed the title and tracklist for their new album: myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=30882408&blogID=280746555" target=_blank>https://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=30882408&blogID=280746555
It will be called "The greater good" and it will be out October 1 via morningside Records.

Check out Paper, a new band featuring Calle Olsson of Paddington DC/The Bear Quartet and Peter Backebo of Audionom: myspace.com/paperstockholm" target=_blank>https://www.myspace.com/paperstockholm

Erasing Clouds reviews the US release of The Chrysler's "Cold War classic": m/wk1207chrysler.html" target=_blank>https://www.erasingclouds.com/wk1207chrysler.html
Hit the frontpage of the site for reviews of moonbabies and Cake On Cake as well.

MP3: Entombed - Serpent saints

Entombed has been releasing album after album of consistently decent material for long enough now that a new one is essentially a non-event. With their latest "Serpent saints - The ten amendments", the story remains unchanged. maybe they lost a guitarist and changed drummers this time around, but casual listeners will be hard-pressed to notice. Or give a damn. It still sounds like Entombed and that's what matters. LG Petrov is still one of metal's best frontman and his imposing growl remains the band's strongest trademark aside from their ever-present, oft-copied guitar tone. The band's death'n'roll swagger is firmly intact and they've made no foolish attempts to modernize their recordings. Title and opening track "Serpent saints" kicks off perfectly with a short evil acoustic guitar + piano intro before launching straight ahead into the shit. I can't explain how they get away with such lazy metal clichés, but it works perfectly. As the old adage goes, don't fix it if it ain't broke! Entombed: once again proving that death metal can be fun. I dunno about you, but this puts a big smile on my face.

Entombed - Serpent saints

Festival preview: Accelerator

Christel Alsos
Closing the distance
Columbia

Norwegian jazz pop has been a rich vein of creative gold in recent years, with artists like Bol, Solveig Slettahjell, and Susanna & magical Orchestra making stellar records. Add Christel Alsos to the list of ladies who deliver the goods in this genre. Her debut album "Closing the distance" is first-rate. Alsos has a soft, slightly husky voice that grows on you throughout this record. Her band plays with a level of sophistication you can feel, and the string arrangements are flawless. The closing tune "Still" may well be the single most intimate performance I've heard on record this year. The lyrics are strong and the music is poignant, timeless and deeply resonant. Alsos is more than just a "promising new talent" - she's already come through with one of the year's most quietly captivating, mature works of introspective songcraft.
- Kevin Renick

Depressive Art
Bye bye dear everything
Wonderland Records

I'd be curious to know if this Swedish group chose their name to head off critics that might apply that description to their sound. Whatever. This music is neither depressive, nor art. It is slightly above average bar rock, the kind of testosterone-laced riffage that would sound better while drinking. Singer Klas Bohlin is an acquired taste - he has a manly, but not very nuanced voice which I found a bit grating. That said, "Solar system" and "Season for regret" are catchy little rockers that will get your foot a-tappin' but the slower tunes here are fairly dull and there's not much else about this band that really stands out.
- Kevin Renick

The Fine Arts Showcase
Sing Rough Bunnies
Adrian Recordings

It's hard to follow up a record like TFAS's stunning "Radiola". Doing so with an album of cover songs by close friends Rough Bunnies seems an odd choice, but it works surprisingly well. Lyrically, there's very little difference - the same characters are back, only now Frida and Anna are writing the songs instead of appearing in their titles. And the same topics of drinking, drugs, and love gone wrong remain the focus. The wit is still there (in "You should be in love with me" - which I hope will be the next single - the protagonist offers "we could watch TV / until our eyes get dry / from being inside / and we could only go out when it was spring outside" as though that's appealing). The title sounds hokey, but truth is, Gustaf Kjellvander is a real singer, one who cares about every tiny turn of phrase and who's got a voice that can transform songs that sounded mediocre at best in their original versions into shining moments of pop brilliance. These songs may lack the depth or diversity of his own, making the album more like a candy bar than a satisfying meal, but who doesn't like candy? And bonus points to Kjellvander for leaving the gendered pronouns intact (I especially like hearing him sing "seems like the meaning of my life is to drive my men away").
- Nancy Baym

Tobias Hellkvist
Transports
self-released

I have the utmost admiration for young artists who take on a genre that is often ignored or belittled by others, and proceed to inject fresh new life into it. Sweden's Tobias Hellkvist has done just that in the area of drone-based ambient with his exceptional new CD "Transports". This is a virtually flawless, efficiently produced showcase of warm, shimmering drones and evocative sonic adornments that exemplifies why some of us are still in love with ambient. Hellkvist has the aesthetic of an inspired painter, lost in the beauty of what's slowly emerging on his canvas. "Aching," "Slowly but surely" and "Nothingland" are all lush, hypnotic soundscapes with the shimmer of a frozen lake on a sunny winter morning; "moment at Ven" utilizes gentle guitar picking and seaside bird calls to place you squarely in a soothing landscape. Nothing is wasted or excessive here, it's just seven perfect tracks of serene, blissful ambient pleasure.
- Kevin Renick

William Hut
Nightfall
Universal

William Hut has a special place in my history. Hut's former group, Poor Rich Ones, first got me interested in Scandinavian pop music way back in 2001. Their album "Happy happy happy," was a sparkling gem, and once I started learning about this band and other talented Scandinavians, I never looked back. Hut has one of the most pleasing, melodically sweet voices in rock and he's clearly in touch with his feminine side. "Nightfall" isn't quite a classic, but it's pretty good. Hut always puts melody above all else. In fact, all four of the closing songs here capture Hut at his best. missing are the diverse prog-rock stylings Poor Rich Ones conceived with such flair whereas most songs here are rather simple and laid-back. There are no unequivocally brilliant songs. What is here is merely pretty and kind of soothing, but that is still a good sight better than half the platters I've heard lately.
- Kevin Renick

Les Issambres
Late fairytales
Fifth Week Records

This has been the surprise record of the year for me. Though they are often categorized as twee - a label their flute + acoustic guitar + alternating boy/girl singer sound would seem to merit - I'd plant this release firmly in the indie pop category, circa the late 1980s with its momentary flashes of bands like Throwing muses and The Feelies. It's hard to use a flute without sounding horribly arty or just plain horrible, but here it offers a nice sunny dimension without ever stepping over into sugary or, worse yet, saccharine. The heavy bass no doubt helps this, as do the slightly flat but never annoying vocals. The songs are all good, and they have a really nice way of creeping under your skin so that while you're consciously getting hooked on one, you're unknowingly about to decide another is really your favorite. At nine songs in half an hour, it's too short, but it's a half hour well spent. Get one of the first 300 copies and it comes in a sweet hand-sewn sleeve.
- Nancy Baym

Lis er Stille
Apathobvious
Brutal But Sentimental

This, the follow up to last years "The construction of amp-train", shows off an improved band with way more interesting song structures and intricate songwriting. Not to say that the previous album was disappointing, it was just too obvious that these Danes had more to show off. In a genre like post-rock, wherein the band at occasions hover, that often tends to go for the more rectifying way to approach its listeners, Lis er Stille always has an ace up the sleeves. Surprising turns, beautiful strings and a singer that, on this album, steps up a notch, are all ingredients that makes this record one of the more interesting I've heard this year. The fact that the piano plays a central part in their soundscape gives it an extra dimension and the similarities to mogwai are not at all misguided. It is indeed hard to compete with those Scotsmen, but Lis er Stille can definitely consider themselves worthy opponents. A tune like "Lorelei" would make anyone in the genre jealous.
- Jonas Appelqvist

Mob
Polygon
Quartermain

With nerve and uncompromising attitude, mob follows up their critically acclaimed "I believe in you" with more noisy rock strongly influenced by Sonic Youth and the likes. In fact, the four songs featured on this disc could easily be outtakes from "Daydream nation" or any other record released in the eighties by New York's finest. And that is both good and bad. Y'know, being a fan and all of Thurston, Kim, Lee and Steve, I've heard this before and don't really need more carbon copies. But on the other hand, mob's intense rock really gets to me and, to be honest, I'm a sucker for these massive walls of distortion and find myself loving it after all. I will definitely be keeping an eye open for these guys in the future.
- Jonas Appelqvist

Pistol Disco
Radiation
Celebrity Lifestyle Records

Our dear editor-in-chief Avi, who is far more learned in this genre than I, jokingly accused Pistol Disco of selling out by adding beats to their no-wave noise approach during m/index.php?d=1287">an mp3 posting of his. To those of you who truly do feel that Pistol Disco have forsaken themselves by adding danceable beats to a number of their up-tempo compositions, I have no idea what to buy you for Christmas! While unfamiliar with bands such as this Göteborg duo, it was the drum beats, shifting chords, and sense of direction that drew me into "Radiation". Sounding like Wire or "Warsaw"-era Joy Division cranked to eleven, blasted through wrecked club speakers on a night where I already know there's no way I'm making it home, tracks like "Walking with Jesus" and "Upside down" easily converted me to Pistol Disco's manipulated waves of distortion. Though there's also a softer side to this record, with "Sweetheart" and "Air" having been steadfast companions during peaceful evenings spent writing on my balcony; their fluid transition into closing tack "The sunshine underground" ending the record on a powerful and convincing note. While I am an admitted newbie to the noise genre and have no knowledge of the 'similar bands' that appear on m/music/Pistol+Disco" target=_blank>Pistol Disco's last.fm page, "Radiation" has been a fun and interesting record to break my teeth on, and to come to enjoy.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson