Peter Bjorn and John are doing an Advent calendar thing and Normally I wouldn't care because I'm a Scrooge, but I can't pass up some behind-the-scenes footage from their dog photo shoot: http://peterbjornandjohn.com/blog/2011/12/gimme-some-advent-calendar-7/
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Svarttjern - Towards the ultimate As much as there seems to be a singing of praises for Oslo's true kvlt black metallers Svarttjern's second album, I'm not enamored by it in the slightest. The production is, without question, a hefty lesson in annihilation-by-metal, but it's completely wasted when the music it's enhancing is nondescript in the big black metal picture. There's nothing exciting here at all; not even the obligatory mid-paced-into-fast-paced-into-mid-paced mid-album track (in this case "I AM the path part II") that Normally elicits a "Let's fucking slay!" reaction works here. The riffs are just way too... crap. I'm sorry to have to use the word, but boring just doesn't cut it at this moment in time. Neither Kerry King's long-and-pointy nailband nor Watain's applied-as-if-it-were-just-thrown-on-but-really-it's-contrived-as-fuck corpsepaint can make up for the fact that Svarttjern are a very average black metal band. I've just noticed that there are a lot of hyphens in this review. Fuck, that's how bored I am listening to this album -- I'm actually counting hyphens. I'm -- actually -- counting -- hyphens. We're up to 29 now. Time to fire up "Sworn to the dark" and wash this muck outta my earholes.
- John Norby
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I don't Normally do any crass ad/promo stuff aside from the ever-present/near-ubiquitous Google ad box below the fold, but I'm happy to make exceptions should the right opportunity present itself, so when Rock Science beckoned, I heeded the call. It wasn't a terribly hard decision: a Swedish-made rock'n'roll boardgame complete with a theme song by Imperial State Electric (included as a CDS in each copy) is totally right up my alley and is pretty much the perfect gift for your favorite rocker this holiday season (hint hint). So if you wanna hook it up, head on over to their webstore and use the promo code ITSATRAP when you check out. Do it!
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Zweizz & Joey Hopkins - s/t It's clear from the offset that this album is something unique. After all, when you have so many tracks in which beauty and madness share a simultaneous space, there's no denying that there's a creative genius at work here. As it happens, we have two creative geniuses in collaboration on this album: Norway's Svein Egil Hatlevik (here under the guise of Zweizz) and the sadly departed US-chaos merchant Joey Hopkins (of Midget Factory fame). The two met online a few years ago and promptly put their maniacal heads together to come up with eleven tracks of unclassifiable weirdness that have culminated in this self-titled opus. There's so much going on here that it's impossible to take in on one listen, from the Commodore 64-industrial barrage of "dWill 2 dPower" to the off-kilter ABBA-esque musings of "How we ate the flesh", this is an album that commands respect. Track of the album is "The goat", which kicks off with a cybersheep chorus followed by something that sounds like a bizarre reimagining of the "Alien" soundtrack. The album also benefits from a wealth of guest appearances from Carl-Michael Eide (Virus, Aura Noir), Kristoffer Rygg (Ulver), Torgny Knutson Amdam (Amulet) and Ingrid Aarvik Berge (Norma Sass), to name a few. To the untrained ear most of this might sound like random incoherence. In actual fact, it's one of the best lessons in controlled chaos that you're ever likely to find. This is a whole new level. This is lounge music for lunatics.
- John Norby
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The new Moloken album "Rural" is mixed and ready to be mastered, but it will not be out this month like previously announced. Instead, the release is being pushed back to November while artist/animator Kenny Lindström (Bring Me the Horizon, Totalt Jävla Mörker, Logh, Norma Jean, etc.) finishes up hand-drawing the artwork and the band works on a new video Standard Film Team. More details (and hopefully samples) when I get 'em...
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Normally I can hardly be bothered to check out all the remix garbage that gets sent my way, but I'll make a small exception for this since a) the new Veronica Maggio single "Jag kommer" is a great tune and b) this mix tamps down the Strokes-isms that are kind of distracting on the original and turns it back into the sort of straight-up dancepop you might have expected in the first place. Recommended!
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Thrash funk not dead! Seriously, of all the sub-sub-genres to come back around, I figured we'd get a fourth wave of ska or something long before I'd be hearing slap bass again. Normally I'd immediately hit delete on any promo that comes my way with the descriptor "funky" (or any derivative thereof), but I guess I was feeling charitable or something because I decided to check out Riff Knives and was actually kind of impressed. I still wouldn't exactly say this is "good", but I'm glad it exists and I have to say, I really do have a soft spot for this stuff I suppose. After all, my teenage years in the SF Bay Area were ruled by the likes of Primus, Mr. Bungle, Fungo Mungo, Psychefunkapus and tons more 2nd and 3rd rate acts in this mode, not to mention my own (unwise) musical endeavors of the time (recordings exist, but I don't have them). So yeah, I can't talk shit and no matter how contemptible you may feel about the style, these dudes nail it. Look for the band's new EP "Ape flip" to be released on March 9.
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First Love, Last Rites's self-titled debut is getting a wider release in France, Japan and the UK on March 1 via , and / respectively. Releases in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the US will be coming soon as well.
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Norwegian female rock act Norma Sass are giving away a new track as a free download: http://soundcloud.com/Normasass/Norma-sass-holy-night
Look for the band's new album "Hunting for treasure" to be released on January 24 via /.
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Norwegian indie quintet Norma Sass have a new video for their new single "Robbery": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExesOa_2_J0
Look for the band's debut full-length "Hunting for treasures" to be released on January 24.
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harold | Mon, Feb 6th, 2012 22:42:51