Finnish indie act Captain Cougar has added a bunch of new songs to their myspace page from their forthcoming album "Of dreams long gone": myspace.com/captaincougar" target="_blank">https://www.myspace.com/captaincougar
I haven't had a chance to listen to it all myself, but I've definitely been into the newer material I've heard.
Nom de Guerre has signed with German label , home to fellow Swedish bands such as The Grand Opening and Lacrosse. Look for their new album "Love thy neighbor" to be released in march followed by a Euro tour in may.
Swedish devotional artist David Åhlén has a new EP out called "All the way my saviour leads me" after his preacher father's favorite hymn, available either as a limited edition CD or a mp3 download: myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=104141497&blogId=524639630" target="_blank">https://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=104141497&blogId=524639630
Like his recent album "We sprout in thy soil" (a personal 2009 favorite), this is very recommended.
The BBC calls A Camp's "Colonia" one of the best albums you never heard in 2009: ment/8426925.stm" target="_blank">https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8426925.stm
Danish act mew also gets a nod.
Popmatters reviews the latest album "Islands" from Swedish indierockers The mary Onettes: matters.com/pm/review/117937-the-mary-onettes-islands/" target="_blank">https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/117937-the-mary-onettes-islands/
Also covered, the American release of "Wayne Coyne" from Danes The William Blakes: matters.com/pm/review/118115-the-william-blakes-wayne-coyne/" target="_blank">https://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/118115-the-william-blakes-wayne-coyne/
It's been a long while since we've heard anything new from Danish noiserock behemoths menfolk, but reports that they will finally relase the new album "Beast one / man mil" this spring. Samples soon?
Agent Side GrinderYou might wonder why Agent Side Grinder have decided to release two albums at once -- I certainly did -- but, far from this endeavour mirroring the Guns N' Roses "Use your illusion" double-whammy (two albums of the same type of music; one album's worth of decent music), upon cranking this up after giving "Irish recording tape" (see review m/?n=32742">here) a rattle I can see why. While its companion album offers a pretty conventional Krautrock/electropunk nostalgia trip, "The transatlantic tape project" is an entirely different entity, exploring soundscapes that appear infinitely more contemporary and more ethereal. At times akin to some of Red Harvest's electronic uneasiness, at times sounding off like Genghis Tron's ZX Spectrum moments, and at times simply sounding like pure, unadulterated dread, ASG succeed in outputting a little under a half hour of dark ambient electronica that's the perfect accompaniment to inebriation and candlelight. It doesn't get much bleaker than on "210-392", surely a track to herald the impending onset of a nuclear holocaust, while "008-199" could serve as the soundtrack to a post-apocalyptic planet Earth, devoid of civilization bar a handful of desperate survivors clawing at some hope of redemption. Oddly enough though, it all winds down on a decidedly beautiful note with "090-219", signing off with a nice piano passage that shows us there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Or is there...?
- John Norby
Djerv, the new band from ex-Animal Alpha vocalist Agnete Kjølsrud (also featuring Erlend Gjerde of Stonegard/Wardruna and Stian Kårstad of Trelldom), are finally streaming a few demo tracks at myspace: myspace.com/djervmusic" target="_blank">https://www.myspace.com/djervmusic
Peter Bjorn and John frontman Peter morén is now streaming the first single from his forthcoming Swedish-language solo album at myspace: myspace.com/petermorn" target="_blank">https://www.myspace.com/petermorn
Said album, "I spåren av tåren", will be out in February.
There's a brand new track from Ef up at myspace for both streaming and free download (scroll down): myspace.com/ef" target="_blank">https://www.myspace.com/ef
Gaffa has the lowdown on the nominees for the Danish P3 Guld Awards: https://gaffa.dk/nyhed/36363
Watch The Soundtrack of Our Lives play an outdoor acoustic live show for They Shoot music: music.com/posts/the_soundtrack_of_our_lives" target="_blank">https://www.theyshootmusic.com/posts/the_soundtrack_of_our_lives
Rock-metal-Punk talks to the excellent Swedish indie/emo/pop act Fare You Well: metal-punk.org/interview.php?band=fare-you-well" target="_blank">https://rock-metal-punk.org/interview.php?band=fare-you-well
Swedish music/art newsletter The Swede Beat has posted their 2009 year-end edition (issue #11) for perusal: m/blog/magazine/2009/" target="_blank">https://www.theswedebeat.com/blog/magazine/2009/
Norwegian neon-pop act Surferosa is going on hiatus: myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=3996110&blogId=523648363" target="_blank">https://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=3996110&blogId=523648363
No word on if/when they'll be back, but they insist they are not breaking up.