Vapen & Godis has announced that Otur's debut album "Pepperbox Hill" will be released on may 5. Otur is the electro/synthpop solo project of Emma Bates from The Light Bulb Project. The single "Apart" comes out April 21 and features remixes by mr. Suitcase and Carl-H Hallén (Kompis) along with a video treatment by director Sofie Traav.

Nomethod has announced the signing of mixtapes and Cellmates. The lofi shoegazer act previously released their debut EP "Juno" on Bedroom Records last year and Nomethod will be releasing the band's brand new single "c: you d: the road home" on may 15. Look for the new EP "If there is silence, fill it with longing" to be released in August.

All-star bands are rarely, if ever, any good. There are a few notable exceptions, but what looks good on paper rarely adds up to quality in real-life. Khoma is one such exception. Who would've thought that combining members from such dissimilar acts as Cult of Luna and The Perishers would work so well? Oh, but it does; in fact it sometimes eclipses the other acts altogether. I was excited about Khoma as soon as their first album "Tsunami" was released, way back in 2004 before they added the H to the name. With so many lackluster mid-tempo heavy acts polluting the airwaves I wanted to shout Khoma's name from the mountaintops to let everyone know how good they are. The band's new album "The second wave" is even better than the debut. I had some trepidations about they rerecording some of the songs from the first, but I relucatantly agree that it makes sense now that they have a much bigger potential audience through Roadrunner and heck, they sound great. Why complain? Kudos to magnus Lindberg at Tonteknik - the drums recording is killer. I'm sure some it is Thomas Hedlund's constantly improved playing and maybe his kit, but whatever it is, the tones they got on tape are stunning. For today's mp3 I've decided to revisit the track "One of us must hang" which I used to close out the first m/store.php?item=39">"Reader's companion" disc. The new version is a tad faster, but it's just as powerful. Check it out.

Finnish math/hardcore act Frivolvol has a new website: m/" target=_blank>https://frivolvol.com/
The band recently went through some lineup changes and is working on two new as-yet-unnamed releases.

Swedish indie label Vapen & Godis has a nice new website: m/" target=_blank>https://www.vapengodis.com/

Coming soon from Finnish label Sähkö and its various subsidiaries:

Ø - ASTE 2x12" (Sähkö-002.5)
Gez Varley / Shon (life12in-15)
Finnish Big Band Jazz - Ufology (No Comments) 12" (Jazzpuu-9)

Rhode Island-based radio station BSR 88.1 Fm did a phoned-in live session with Racingpaperplanes yesterday and you can listen to an archive of the performance online: m/archives/playlist.php?p=3985" target=_blank>https://www.bsrlive.com/archives/playlist.php?p=3985

The Virtues have posted their new single "Losing you" for free download: malls.nu/thevirtues/" target=_blank>https://www.smalls.nu/thevirtues/

more on the metallica vs. the Swedish metal workers union domain name battle: m/texplorer/2006/04/wellknown_rock_.html" target=_blank>https://swartz.typepad.com/texplorer/2006/04/wellknown_rock_.html

Norwegian hardcore act Dominic has posted the first batch of dates for their summer tour:

06/14 - tba, Copenhagen (DK)
06/15 - tba, Berlin (GER) w/Syn*Error
06/16 - tba (GER) w/Syn*Error
06/17 - tba, Tournai (BEL) w/Dying in motion
06/18 - need help, Paris (FRA)
06/19 - tba, Lyon (FRA) w/Dying in motion
06/20 - tba, Geneva (SWI) w/Dying in motion
06/21 - theoffice, Gossau (SWI) w/Dying in motion
06/22 - need help
06/23 - need help
06/24 - need help
06/25 - kafekult, munchen (GER)
06/26 - movimento, Wien (AUS) w/Dying in motion
06/27 - Zluty Pez, Pardubice (CZ) w/Dying in motion
06/28 - tba, Ostrava (CZ) w/Dying in motion
06/29 - tba, Nymburk (CZ) w/Lakmè, Dying in motion
06/30 - AZconni, Dresden (GER) w/La Casa Fantom, Dead Silent Days
07/01 - tba, Leipzig (GER)
07/02 - JuZ, Leer (GER) w/Only for the Sake of Aching
07/03 - need help, Versmold (GER)
07/04 - tba, Atwerpen (BEL) w/Autumn Delay
07/05 - tba, Gent (BEL) w/Autumn Delay

The band's new album will hopefully be released in time for tour. The CD version is being put out by Great Northern Records and Dead Letter Records and the LP will be handled by LilacSky, Ape must Not Kill Ape and some other as-yet-unnamed labels. Listen to a sample: minic.breadshaker.com/foreachhisown.mp3" target=_blank>https://dominic.breadshaker.com/foreachhisown.mp3

Norwegian sludge-rockers Årabrot will record a new full-length album at the end of may with producer/engineer Billy Anderson at Athletic Studios in Halden.

This week's top 20 Swedish student radio chart:

01. (01) Gnarls Barkley - "Crazy"
02. (04) Laakso - "Never satisfied"
03. (20) Arctic monkeys - "The view from the afternoon"
04. (03) SLS - "Get back"
05. (08) Dirty Pretty Things - "Bang bang you´re dead"
06. (05) Plan B - "No good"
07. (07) martha Wainwright - "Factory"
08. (05) Supersci ft. Chords - "On the grind"
09. (10) The Sounds - "Tony the beat"
10. (08) Lil' Kim - "Whoa"
11. (NY) Justice vs. Simian - "We are your friends"
12. (14) Las Palmas - "Du har mail"
13. (ÅT) Ghostface Killah ft. Ne-Yo - "Back like that"
14. (15) Lo-Fi-Fnk - "Wake up"
15. (19) Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Dani California"
16. (NY) Johnossi - "Execution song"
17. (16) mystery Jets - "The boy who ran away"
18. (13) The Fine Arts Showcase - "The shoplifter's union"
19. (12) Up Hygh ft. Little Brother - "Keep on"
20. (NY) Sture Alléns Dansorkester - "Lita på mig"

Leaving the chart: matisyahu - "King without a crown", USCB Allstars - "Let's keep it on baby", Franz Ferdinand - "The fallen" and Sean Paul - "Temperature".

MP3: Khoma - One of us must hang

All-star bands are rarely, if ever, any good. There are a few notable exceptions, but what looks good on paper rarely adds up to quality in real-life. Khoma is one such exception. Who would've thought that combining members from such dissimilar acts as Cult of Luna and The Perishers would work so well? Oh, but it does; in fact it sometimes eclipses the other acts altogether. I was excited about Khoma as soon as their first album "Tsunami" was released, way back in 2004 before they added the H to the name. With so many lackluster mid-tempo heavy acts polluting the airwaves I wanted to shout Khoma's name from the mountaintops to let everyone know how good they are. The band's new album "The second wave" is even better than the debut. I had some trepidations about they rerecording some of the songs from the first, but I reluctantly agree that it makes sense now that they have a much bigger potential audience through Roadrunner and heck, they sound great. Why complain? Kudos to magnus Lindberg at Tonteknik - the drums recording is killer. I'm sure some it is Thomas Hedlund's constantly improved playing and maybe his kit, but whatever it is, the tones they got on tape are stunning. For today's mp3 I've decided to revisit the track "One of us must hang" which I used to close out the first m/store.php?item=39">"Reader's companion" disc. The new version is a tad faster, but it's just as powerful. Check it out.

Khoma - One of us must hang

MP3: Skywriter - Dead end street

Did I mention that I'll be posting new music five days a week from here on out? I know that's been the case for the last few weeks, but I'm making it official. It's hard to believe there's so much quality stuff coming out that my posting schedule is booked weeks in advance. I try to be fickle, but there's no arguing with quality.
Today's track comes to us from Skywriter, a dark and brooding rock act from Denmark. Reverbed-soaked guitars and lots of hanging chords, a frontman with a deep-voiced croon, nice sparse arrangements - imagine madrugada, but more solemn, more sullen. "Dead end street", the song I've posted today, is the centerpiece of the band's debut album "Where both worlds never meet". It smolders with a quiet intensity that builds slowly as it weaves its melodramatic tale of a man's doomed love with a prostitute: "All she ever gave him was a name / every other part of her he paid for / and all he ever wanted was his dream / her worn-out pride, her child inside / who can say love doesn't cost a thing?" Sublime.

Skywriter - Dead end street

Did I mention that I'll be posting new music five days a week from here on out? I know that's been the case for the last few weeks, but I'm making it official. It's hard to believe there's so much quality stuff coming out that my posting schedule is booked weeks in advance. I try to be fickle, but there's no arguing with quality.
Today's track comes to us from Skywriter, a dark and brooding rock act from Denmark. Reverbed-soaked guitars and lots of hanging chords, a frontman with a deep-voiced croon, nice sparse arrangements - imagine madrugada, but more solemn, more sullen. "Dead end street", the song I've posted today, is the centerpiece of the band's debut album "Where both worlds never meet". It smolders with a quiet intensity that builds slowly as it weaves its melodramatic tale of a man's doomed love with a prostitute: "All she ever gave him was a name / every other part of her he paid for / and all he ever wanted was his dream / her worn-out pride, her child inside / who can say love doesn't cost a thing?" Sublime.