The good people over at Parasol have got a sale on their top picks of 2002. Lots of great Swedish imports worth checking out, among many other fine releases. Can't go wrong with Citizen Bird/Silverbullit, that's for sure. And like they say, be on the lookout for the US release of "Inland Traveller" from Isolation Years coming up soon. A brilliant album.
The (International) Noise Conspiracy have the 'Album of the Day' over at CMJ.com with the "Bigger Cages, Longer Chains" EP. If you've never heard them before, they've got two songs you can sample.
The new EP from Whyte Seeds will be out February 10. I haven't heard them yet, but their keyboardist was the guy who filled in for Martin Hederos on the last US Soundtrack of Our Lives tour.
The new album from Randy will be called "Welfare Problems". Look for it in April on Burning Heart.
The Ark is busy doing promotional work in Germany this week. Check out their schedule here.
The exact release date of the new Fireside album has been announced as April 7.
Look for features on Cult of Luna in upcoming issues of Kerrang, Terrorizer, Rocksound and Metal Hammer. The new album "The Beyond" comes out February 10 on Earache. As for now, you can preview the lyrics here.
Download the song "Sensory Pleasures" from the upcoming HGH album "Seb's Hotel". It comes out February 1 in Norway, February 24 elsewhere.
Christian Kjellvander's excellent album "Songs From a Two-Room Chapel" will be released in Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands and Luxemburg next week. Fans of moody roots music such as 16 Horsepower or recent Neko Case should check him out.
The New Mess will be interviewed on P3 Rock January 22. As stated before, the band's debut five song CD-EP just came out on Kasual Records.
The debut album from hip-hop group Advance Patrol comes out March 24.
Read a review of the new Cardigans single here (in Swedish). I heard the song on P3 yesterday and wasn't blown away, but it wasn't bad either. It actually reminded me quite a bit of A-Camp, Nina's recent solo project, with its heavy use of acoustic guitars. Anyhow, listen to the radio and hear it for yourself. I'm sure it'll be huge no matter what. Look for it in stores February 17.
Röyksopp are nominated for "Best International Group" in the Brit Music Awards. More info here.
Interested in performing contemporary classical music from Swedish composers? STIM (Swedish Music Information Centre and Swedish Performing Rights Society) has published a large catalogue of music they have available (in PDF format).
The US release of "Living In America" from The Sounds will be in May on James Iha's (ex-Smashing Pumpkins) Scratchie Records. As stated here before, the band will also be making an appearance at this year's South by Southwest Festival. In other news, the new single for the track "Seven Days a Week" comes out on the 20th with the b-side being a demo version of the song "Go!"
Hammerheart Records is reissuing Necrophobic's 1993 album "The Nocturnal Silence". The label will also be releasing a limited edition "Tour EP 2003" for the band's current tour featuring a song from each album and five select cover tunes.