Tomas Halberstad appears to have found himself a band: http://tomashalberstad.com/2009/05/14/band-Hunting-done-Hunting/
Will we see live shows in the future? Will the 2nd album be tracked as a unit? Wait and see...
Swedish hip-hop act Speech Defect will release their third album "Happy Hunting" on June 10. Hear samples at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/speechdefect
Finnish act Damn Seagulls have a new website now that their new record "Hunting season" is out: http://www.damnseagulls.com/
The new Dead Seagulls album "Hunting season" is streaming at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/damnseagulls
Göran Petersson from Bonnier Amigo and photographer Johan Månsson have started a new label together called Brus & Knaster. The first release from the label is the soundtrack for the SVT program "De halvt dolda" (composed by Leif Jordansson) and it will be followed by new records from artists such as Nina Ramsby collaborating with US artist Brent Hunter, Tore Berger, House of Tomidas (ft. Britta Persson) and jazz bassist Torbjörn Zetterberg's pop project Folke. Read more: http://www.musikindustrin.se/artikel/365/Nya_brus___knaster_i_Playgrounds_katalog.html (in Swedish)
Skepticism are Finland's undisputed champs of funeral doom. They pioneered the genre back in the early 90s and they're still leading the way today as one of the world's slowest, most heaviest bands with the release of "Alloy", quite possibly their best album yet. As always, the monstrous pipe organ takes center stage, but as their recordings have gotten better, the band has learned to balance their sound more evenly across the board. No longer are the guitars huge wash of white noise, neither are the vocals an indecipherable rumble. The drummer still refuses to employ a proper snare drum, but that's always been part of their charm. And speaking of charm, I have to say that "The arrival", the album's opening track, might be Skepticism's catchiest material yet. It's not just totally crushing, it's also incredibly melodic and daresay, uplifting in its majesty. That's the thing about funeral doom - it doesn't just wallow in misery, it revels in it. As Aleister Crowley says in "The Titanic", "A crown of thorns is still a crown!"
Skepticism - The arrival
Swedish gothrock act Woland has a new single called "ManHunt" out today on National Records which is also the title track from their forthcoming album. Hear it at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/wolandsweden
Rune Grammofon has now posted some details on the new Huntsville album "Eco, arches & eras", due out September 22: http://www.runegrammofon.com/artists/Huntsville/rcd-2079---Huntsville_-eco_-arches---eras-_2cd_
Huntsville have posted a few sound clips from their upcoming 2CD album "Eco, arches & eras" at their website: http://www.Huntsville.no/
They also revealed that Norwegian singer Sidsel Endresen appears as guest on the album along with American artists Nels Cline and Glenn Kotche.
Norwegian drone artists Huntsville will unveil their new double-disc album "Eco, arches & eras" on September 22. I assume they are still working with Rune Grammofon, so unless I hear otherwise I'd presume that's the label. The group also says there will be "three visitors" on the album, but provide no further details at this time.
Look for Rune Grammofon to release the new album "A killer for that ache" from singer/songwriter Hilde Marie Kjersem in mid-August. Also on the way later this year are new records from MoHa!, Huntsville (+ special guests), Susanna (of Susanna and the Magical Orchestra) and Humcrush (live) as well as the sequel to the "Money will ruin everything" art-book/2CD compilation.
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show (Hultsfred special):
01. Familjen - Huvudet i sanden
02. TALK 1
03. Säkert! - Vi kommer att dö samtidigt
04. Robyn - Cobrastyle
05. Håkan Hellström - Kär i en ängel
06. TALK 2
07. Those Dancing Days - Dischoe
08. Mustasch - I Hunt alone
09. Johnossi - Party with my pain
10. The Process - Mot Sverige i tiden
11. TALK 3
12. Raised Fist - Breaking me up
13. Firefox AK - Once I was like you (Markus Guentner remix)
14. Dreamboy - Pay attention
15. TALK 4
16. Miss Li - Miss Li
17. Markus Krunegård - Jag är en vampyr
18. Timo Räisänen - My valentine
19. TALK 5
20. The Hives - You dress up for Armageddon
Reminder: my show on Sirius Left of Center (channel 26) is now on Sundays at 11pm ET with repeats on Monday.
If I had the time or money to put together a new compilation, chances are high it would look awfully similar to Fang Bomb's "Gothenburg 08". The particular scene it explores is one of big reasons I started this weekly Gbg-spotlight series, so naturally I'm very excited to have the opportunity to talk to label-head Peter Ottosson about the comp, among other relevant subjects. Read on!
So you're putting out this new compilation, "Gothenburg 08" - what's the inspiration? What is it about the current scene that merits this sort of documentation?
The idea of putting together a compilation with only Gothenburg based artists, was initially born from a feeling I had about what is going on in the city, the sense of something great happening, a unique scene that deserved to be compiled and documented. It's been growing for a number of years now, with a lot of great artists, labels such as iDEAL, Kning Disk, Release The Bats, and ourselves, galleries and vital concert bookers. It feels like Gothenburg has risen again, in a way. The cultural climate now quite similar to what was going on 20 or 25 years ago. Free, experimental, deep.
And that takes us to were I went to complete the concept. To 1984 to be specific, when Radium 226.05 released a compilation LP entitled "Gothenburg 84". This is now a legendary record, showcasing the fresh talent connected to the Radium organization at that time. CM von Hausswolff was on it, and so were Jean-Louis Huhta, Zbigniew Karkowski and Freddie Wadling - all of whom today are busy people, well respected and regarded as pioneers also from a worldwide perspective.
My conviction is that the Gothenburg scene once again allows for such a manifestation. And that is what "Gothenburg 08" is supposed to be.
Of the musicians you have selected, what is it that they have in common, beyond their chosen city of residence? A sound? An attitude? Can you put a label on it?
There is a sound and there is an attitude. But there is not only one style – rather, I think there is a kind of "anything is possible" approach going on here, and that can be heard in most of the recordings on "Gothenburg 08". For instance, when Anders Dahl mixes bird sounds with elements of noise, it fits! This attitude creates some unique artists. I guess we could call that attitude "punk", if the word hadn't already been used too much.
The thing is, many of the artists know each other well and have done so for a long time. They have collaborated, released records on each others labels, toured together, performed together. That binds it all together, that is what creates the "scene".
A number of the artists you are working with are active in other artistic endeavors, such as the visual arts- how much connection do you see between these various forms? Do you think that it's important for them to remain connected or can they each coexist on their own?
Man, you ask some tough questions ... No, I don't think that is necessary, even if they do feed off each other. But the same message can be encoded into either one of these media, and Thomas Ekelund of Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, who is also a skilled art director and graphic artist, might be the perfect example. He does most of his own artwork (I think all of it, from now on) and he is incredibly stringent, faithful to his concept to the end. What you hear in his music, you can also see in his graphic art.
One thing that troubles me about the experimental/noise music scene, is that it tends to be very male dominated. Do you find this to be the case in Gbg? What do think can be done to address it?
It is, just as everywhere else. Right now, from the top of my head and keeping the local perspective, I can really only think of one female artist that would fit your genre description - Variam, the solo/side project of Mariam Wallentin of Wildbirds & Peacedrums. And if we want to go a little bit softer, there's always Midaircondo.
I'm not sure what to do about the situation. I guess men are generally more into the nerdier aspects of life, and at least one part of the experimental music scene is synonymous to stamp collecting– Hunting for still sealed Industrial Recordings releases from 1979, and brand new releases limited to 8 copies that you buy but never play, that sort of thing... Not that there's anything wrong with that, I do it too.
Also, I suspect that for as long as there are no, or very few, women at concerts, the male-to-female artist ratio will remain virtually unchanged. If something can be done, I'm not sure what it is. Maybe as the industrial iconography develops, a lesser amount of skulls would be a good idea?
Is there a particular song you would like to share, either from 84 or 08? Tell me about it.
It's hard to pick one song to represent the entire "Gothenburg 08" CD - it develops from soft to loud, from noise to dense drones to tracks that are almost "modern classical" in nature - so I've decided to just go with the first one. The track, composed and performed by Viktor Sjöberg and Jonas Lindgren, is entitled "Guldheden", which is also the name of one of the burroughs of Gothenburg. It's a solemn, beautiful piece and unintentionally, at least I assume it is unintentionally, it manages to connect with the very start of electronic and experimental music in Gothenburg, the muffled voices in the background being a reminder of Rune Lindblad's "Party" from 1953, the first ever recording by the city's earliest shining star in the world experimental music. Enjoy!
Viktor Sjöberg and Jonas Lindgren - Guldheden
One of Lack's most admirable qualities is their sexual politic. So much of modern hardcore is either contrived macho bullshit (see Terror, Hatebreed, et al.) or fucked-up misogyny (Killwhitneydead comes to mind as prominent example) that even a marginal level of social responsibility seems refreshing. But to talk about sexual relationships outside of the usual context of love/hate songs is absolutely unheard of. The song "Deserters" from their last album "Be there pulse" was hugely progressive in its frank discussion of bisexuality and now, with "Saturate every atom", we have "I want you to call me Peter North" which openly confronts the issue of internet pornography. It's a touchy subject, especially with the rise of so-called "alternative" porn sites such as Suicide Girls or Burning Angel or whatever. Hardcore has always generally been a boys club, but at least there used to be more of a dialog about sexual equality, especially in the 90s when I was more involved in the scene. Now I'm not calling for a return to the days of overzealous workshops (and witchHunts) from the More Than Music era (dude, the fest!), but goddamn it, any discussion is appreciated. Hardcore is supposed to be confrontational and it's supposed to challenge stereotypes, not reinforce them. I'm sure I'm not the only one weirded about what the scene has become. Thank god for bands like Lack who tackle these ideas head-on. Even better, the song is awesome. That simple snare roll going into the final chorus with the chukka-chukka guitars gets me every damn time.
Lack - I want you to call me Peter North