Swedish indiepop artist montt mardié will make his UK debut on may 16 at Bush Hall in London supporting Lucky Soul and Johnny Boy. Tickets/details: m/event/17566" target=_blank>https://www.wegottickets.com/event/17566
I wasn't expecting to like his new double album "Clocks/Pretender" all that much, but it's actually quite nice. I'd say he's actually done a great job at accomplishing the kind of sound he aspires for.

Peter Andersson is holding a Raison d'etre remix contest - simply use the sounds at meat.se/mix/raisonmixer.html" target=_blank>this location to create a 3-6 minute track, record it, and send the results to mailto:raison.detre@coldmeat.se">raison.detre@coldmeat.se via your favorite file service (yousendit, skickafilen, etc.). No post-processing, no additional sounds. The winner gets a copy of the forthcoming Necrophorus album "Imprints", due out may 21.

El Perro Del mar will be the opening act for two TV on the Radio gigs in Spain this July:

07/03 - Apolo, Barcelona
07/04 - Joy Eslava, madrid

millencolin frontman Nikola Sarcevic is taking his solo act to Canada:

06/01 - Call The Office, London, ONT
06/02 - The Drake Hotel, Toronto, ONT
06/03 - The Underground, Hamilton, ONT
06/04 - Café Dekcuf, Ottawa, ONT
06/05 - Club Lambi, montreal, Quebec
06/06 - Imperial Theatre (The Casbah), Quebec

This week's m/group/itsatrap">It's A Trap! Last.fm listening group top 10 albums of the week:

01. The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
02. The Radio Dept. – Pet Grief
03. Bright Eyes – Cassadaga
04. José González – Veneer
05. The Bear Quartet – Ny våg
06. modest mouse – We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
07. Dinosaur Jr. – Beyond
08. The Shins – Wincing The Night Away
09. The Knife – Silent Shout
10. Shout Out Louds – Howl Howl Gaff Gaff

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

Ondo, the doom sideproject of IAT.mP3 artist Pacta (nee Pacta Sunt Servanda), will be releasing a split LP with French artist meny Hellkin this fall via Tetedemort/213records.

Danish act Barra Head will be heading to Hamburg in June to record a new album with producer Tim O'Heir(Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr, Radio 4, morphine). No idea when it will be out, but I'd expect a late 2007 release via Play/Rec.

Fat Planet revisits Icelandic artist Steed Lord: m.au/blog/2007/05/07/steed-lord-iceland-2/" target=_blank>https://www.fatplanet.com.au/blog/2007/05/07/steed-lord-iceland-2/

Friday's Sirius Blog Radio playlist:

01. The Alpine - mondays look the same
02. TALK 1
03. Gravy - Back with the nerds
04. Giant Robot - Best match
05. Jomi massage - A detail
06. TALK 2
07. Broder Daniel - Shoreline
08. The Grand Opening - Don't drop off
09. moonbabies - Take me to the ballroom
10. Britta Persson - Oh how wrong
11. TALK 3
12. Lemonator - Would you die for me?
13. Trapdoor Fucking Exit - Short ends
14. Billie the Vision and the Dancers - Overdosing with you
15. TALK 4
16. Folie - Rocin
17. Robyn - Handle me
18. Laakso - Norrköping
19. TALK 5
20. magnet - I walk the line
21. Isolation Years - Albino child
22. KVLR - Construction work
23. TALK 6
24. Anna Leong - 61
25. Tigerbombs - One giant leap
26. motorpsycho - Hyena
27. TALK 7
28. Oskar Schönning - Other birds
29. Pan Sonic - Rähinä II / mayhem II
30. mercyful Fate - Evil
31. TALK 8
32. Ricochets - Come around over
33. Ghost Brigade - Based on you
34. Smalltown - The music
35. Popface - In the night
36. TALK 9
37. Circle Six - 1

MP3: The Bear Quartet - Euthanasia

This week Jonas Appelqvist gets the Bear Quartet post:

"Ny våg" was released in 2002 and it's a dark and introvert album consisting of just nine songs. Only three of them have actual singing lyrics attached (yeah alright, actually it is four songs, but "Trust island" only consists of matti repeating "Luleå, Kil och Helsingborg", the three cities from where the members of BQ descend) and the rest of the record is more or less instrumental stuff with the kind of twists that are so typical for this band. Ironically enough, I have decided to highlight the opening track, "Euthanasia" that is in no way instrumental and does not have one single trace of Alexandra Dahlström reading a poem over it to destroy it. Fact is, it's just a solid rock song. ´Take two riffs, one for the verses and one for the refrains. Add drums driven almost beyond recognition and haunted lyrics ("Drugs anyone/for the pain for the fun/so I'm a monster really/well guess who spawned me/it was you and you and you and you and you") and there you have it. 1:29. Perfection.

The Bear Quartet - Euthanasia

MP3: Dark Tranquility - Tongues

Dark Tranquility has a new album out, so I figured that it would be a great time to revisit one of their classic mid-90s records to see how well they hold up. As for the new record... it's okay, I guess. While I agree m/index.php?a=292">with Richard that it's somewhat of a return to form (the last few records have been pretty weak, to say the least), I have a hard time getting all that excited about it. I can handle the subtle keyboards and even the clean singing, but the modern metal recording style drives me crazy! It's so overcompressed and lacking dynamics. The guitars all have that horrible, overused mesa dual-rectifier tone. No matter how the good the songs are, I still can't listen to it.
1997's "The mind's I" was my first exposure to Dark Tranquility. It came out at a time when I was purchasing anything and everything that came out the Gothenburg metal scene and for awhile, was one of my favorite new records. Of all the mid-90s melodic death metal from the era, it's certainly a top-10 contender. However, DT was always kind of an also-ran compared to the likes of At the Gates and In Flames. They were always a bit more pretentious and more likely to take risks, often alienating fans. I'm all for band evolution, but 1999's "Projector" was not good. What I like about "The mind's I" and this track in particular, is the clean, organic sound. Two guitars, drums, bass (which you can actually hear quite cleanly) and vocals - no useless overdubs, no excessive production tricks. The musicianship is impeccable, too. Put on headphones and check out the way the hard-panned guitars interact. The solo is killer as well - it leads perfectly into a powerful bridge in which singer mikael Stanne sounds absolutely anguished, even if the lines he's singing are total gobbledygook. This is exactly what got me into Swedish/Scandinavian music in the first place. Every once in awhile, it's good to remind myself why.

Dark Tranquility - Tongues

Tonight! Don't forget to check out my show on Sirius Satellite Radio at 10pm ET on Channel 26/Left of Center! I'll be playing new stuff from Gravy, Billie the Vision and the Dancers, Laakso and Isolation Years as well as a bunch of other favorites. Got a m/stiletto" target=_blank>Stiletto? Set it to record!

Swedish indiepop act Peggy Lejonhjärta recently recorded five new tracks and will be posting samples on myspace soon: myspace.com/peggylejonhjarta" target=_blank>https://www.myspace.com/peggylejonhjarta

Gravitation has confirmed that Elope's new album "9 distilled dreams" will be released on may 16. Tracklist and cover art: me.asp?id=24&action=disco3" target=_blank>https://www.gravitation.nu/discoframe.asp?id=24&action=disco3

Celebrity Lifestyle Records has now confirmed that both Kompjotr Eplektrika's new record "Darrk cirsuits fadead waves" and Pistol Disco's "Radiation" will be released on may 30. more details here: m/" target=_blank>https://celebritylifestylerecords.com/