Swedish rockers The Bones have lined up some summer dates around Europe, mostly with Social Distortion:
06/08 - Bataclan, Paris (FRA)
06/19 - Zitedelle, Berlin (GER)
06/28 - Devil Side, Duisburg (GER)
06/30 - Rockefeller, oslo (NOR)
07/06 - Melkweg, Amsterdam (NL)
07/08 - Shepherds Bush Empire, London (UK)
Norwegian shoegazers Maribel will release their debut album "Aesthetics" on April 27 via oslo Grammofon.
My friends Tiger Lou are heading out for a few Scandinavian dates this weekend:
04/03 - Garage, oslo (NOR)
04/04 - Chalmers, Göteborg (SWE)
04/05 - Kägelbanan, Stockholm (SWE)
05/02 - KB, Malmö (SWE)
Updated tourdates for Swedish roots act Baskery, including details for SXSW:
03/14 - McGonigel's Mucky Duck, Houston, TX
03/15 - KPFT Radio's 39th Anniversary Birthday Bash, Houston, TX
03/17 - Artz Ribs, Austin, TX
03/18 - Maria's Taco Xpress, Austin, TX
03/19 - SXSW Mother Egans, Austin, TX
03/21 - Folk Alliance at Threadgill's World Headquarters, Austin, TX
03/26 - El Lok, Zurich (CH)
03/27 - Waldsee, Freiburg (GER)
03/28 - Rockpalast-Harmony, Bonn (GER)
03/29 - Nachtleben, Frankfurt (GER)
03/30 - Schocken, Stuttgart (GER)
03/31 - Beatpol, Dresden (GER)
04/01 - Glanz and Glori, Osnabruck (GER)
04/02 - Paradiso, Amsterdam (HOL)
04/03 - W2, Den Bosch (HOL)
04/29 - oslo Blues Club, oslo (NOR)
04/30 - Bergen Fes, Bergen (NOR)
05/01 - Nidaros Blues Festival, Trondheim (NOR)
05/02 - tbd, tbd (NOR)
05/22 - Spot Festival, Århus (DK)
05/30 - O.B.S. Festival, Beverungen (GER)
05/31 - O.B.S. Festival, Beverungen (GER)
06/20 - Big Session Festival, Leceister (UK)
06/22 - Borderline, London (UK)
06/26 - Glastonbury Festival, Somerset (UK)
07/18 - Stainby Festival, Lincolnshire (UK)
07/19 - Larmertree Festival, Salisbury (UK)
07/24 - Canal Street Jazz & Blues, Arandal (NOR)
07/25 - Canal Street Jazz & Blues, Arandal (NOR)
New Loney Dear tourdates:
03/26 - Herrgårn, Linköping (SWE)
03/27 - Umeå Open, Umeå (SWE)
03/28 - Debaser Medis, Stockholm (SWE)
04/01 - Pustervik, Gothenburg (SWE)
04/02 - Parkteatret, oslo (NOR)
04/03 - Hulen, Bergen (NOR)
04/04 - Debaser, Malmö (SWE)
04/05 - Lilla Vega, Copenhagen (DK)
04/06 - Voxhall, Århus (DK)
04/08 - U&G Turmzimmer, Hamburg (GER)
04/09 - Knaack, Berlin (GER)
04/11 - Motel Mozaique Festival, Rotterdam (NL)
04/12 - Doornroosje, Nijmegen (NL)
04/14 - The Scala, London (UK)
04/15 - Night and Day, Manchester (UK)
04/16 - Sugar Club, Dublin (UK)
04/17 - Brudenell Social Club, Leeds (UK)
04/18 - Stereo, Glasgow (UK)
04/19 - Glee Club, Birmingham (UK)
04/20 - Le Grand Mix, Tourcoing (FRA)
04/21 - Botanqiue Rotonde, Brussels (BEL)
04/22 - Point Ephemere, Paris (FRA)
04/24 - Le Romandie, Lausanne (FRA)
04/25 - 59:1, Münich (GER)
05/04 - Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia, PA
05/05 - Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
05/06 - Great Scott, Boston, MA
05/07 - il Motore, Montreal, Quebec
05/08 - Rivoli, Toronto, Ontario
05/09 - Schuba's Tavern, Chicago, IL
05/10 - Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis, MN
05/13 - Crocodile Café, Seattle, WA
05/14 - Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR
05/15 - Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco, CA
05/16 - Spaceland, Los Angeles, CA
05/17 - UCSD, San Diego, CA
Susanna Wallumrød (aka Susanna of Susanna and the Magical Orchestra) and Jenny Hval (aka Rockettothesky) have collaborated on a new piece entitled "Meshes of voice" which will be performing for perhaps the first and only time at Ladyfest oslo on March 8. The description: "sometimes melodic, sometimes dissonant, all times surrealist piece inspired by the film "Meshes of the Afternoon", Casa Batlló, and a whole lotta voice."
MaribelOslo shits out yet another shoegaze band and of course Emil Nikolaisen from Serena Maneesh is in the credits, this time as producer, alongside Bjarne Stensli (Harrys Gym, I Was A King). Hoo-boy, that's quite a lineup of mediocre bands, so why should this be any different? Actually, the a-side ("Taste the trash") isn't all that bad, despite the robotic drumming. I'd even say that the abundant feedback squalls adequately compensate for the overall lack of energy, egged on by by the heavily layered and buried female vocals. Side two ("Spit voyage") aims to repeat the formula by amping things up even higher, but the polyrhythmic arrangement doesn't work at all and subsequently comes across like a huge mess. And again, that damn drummer! I swear, if you told me it was a machine I'd believe you, he's so competently lifeless. Loosen up man! The future of your band depends on it.
- Avi Roig
Sad Day For PuppetsThis week is a great week for Swedish music connoisseurs living in London, both Sad Day for Puppets and First Aid Kit are playing here. Yesterday I went to The Social to see Sad Day for Puppets. First up were The Deer Tracks (also from Sweden), who play music I don't get at all – some kind of slow ambient electro drone. There are fans of this genre, I'm pretty certain on that, but I don't associate with them. I watched half their set, then I ordered another beer and sat down as far away from the stage I could.
Sad Day for Puppets are great, their album is very solid and they've got some blinding songs (they sound a bit like a more melodic The Radio Dept. or a more shoegazing Camera Obscura). Yesterday it was all shambles though, mostly due to the sound situation being catastrophic. Over the weekend I went to a festival in oslo and, despite short changeovers and stressed out musicians, nothing there sounded as bad as yesterday's show. There was feedback throughout the whole set and Anna Ecklund's vocals were barely audible (something that the crowd kept pointing out, alas to no avail). I don't blame the band, they did as best as they could, just a shame that they had to suffer on the behalf of a sound engineer not being able to do his job (The Deer Tracks brought their own engineer who annoyingly ran back and forth all the time to check that the sound was ok, but at least he got the job done). I'm not particularly fussy about how a gig sounds, as long as I can hear the vocals I'm usually ok, so this was a very rare occasion where the quality of the sound actually ruined my whole gig experience. A total waste of £6 and an evening.
- Simon Tagestam
oslo Grammofon has announced the signing of Sally Suicide. Expect a new 7" single soon.
Norwegian hardrockers Jaqueline will release their new album "Cape Horn" in March, exact date tba. The first single "Olivia" is out to radio now and there will a record release show at John Dee in oslo on April 3.
My Little PonyI am still wondering whether choosing such a name for your band works in your interest or against you. It sets the tone for something not that ambitious. Don't be fooled though, "Think too much" is a sensitive and sincere album from one of the front-runner bands on the new oslo indiepop scene. My Little Pony's music creates a sometimes bright and euphoric, sometimes down-tempo and mellow soundtrack, packed with trombones, saxophones, banjos and slide guitars; reminding me of The Magic Numbers and Belle and Sebastian. Lyrically, they are funny and inventive and make some amusing TV series references ("MacGyver", "The West Wing" and "The Mighty Boosh"). And, as always, what counts the most is that this album has proven itself by managing to stay on my playlist for quite a while now.
- Vasilis Panagiotopoulos
