Painted Wolves confirm 7" release

Swedish hardcore act painted Wolves new 7" EP "Unholy" has been confirmed for release in late June via Italian label Epidemic Records. 300 copies, 40 of them in a special "pink edition" -- preorder here.

Painted Wolves - Poisoned words

painted Wolves = new Swedish hardcore featuring members from Anchor, Death is Not Glamorous, Dead Vows and The Smackdown. This is a tune from the band's upcoming 7" coming out later this spring. Dig the music, especially the rhythm section, but not the vocals.

Casablanca
Apocalyptic youth
Rocket Songs

I'm not a big fan of supergroups; throwing a bunch of celebrities in a room usually results in extreme hype and ambiguous substance. Half-formulated or compromising in studio = lacklustre songs. Such is not necessarily the case with latest addition Casablanca, featuring Alice Cooper's guitarist Ryan Roxie, Erik Stenemo from Melody Club, Swedish football star Mat Rubarth, Josephine Forsman from Sahara Hotnights on drums, and Anders Ljung from Space Age Baby Jane on vocals. It's the kinda Guns'n'Roses-cum-Journey revival Swedes adore, thrown in a typical 80's epic love battle between hair product and tight jeans brand. The album art directly mimics The Warriors, in that New York 80's spray-painted "Apocalyptic Youth" type. The music's less raw then Alice Cooper or Thin Lizzy that's for sure, and a bit more predictable like Whitesnake or Rod Stewart. If you're into that sort of thing, it'll probably get yr head nodding. The title track's got a formulaic radio rock feel, while fast-paced next track and sugary chorus-friendly "Downtown" echoes a path the Hotnights were once on. The album's production hums big, fat and Eighties, and Josephine's solid, tasteful rock drumming shines brightly, serving as a strong backbone. They definitely show some experienced songwriting; "The juggler" is a smart, feel-good tune. But in general, the cheesy bandana-riffing and melodramatically sung verses such as on "Love and desperation" are a bit overly harry for me. I mean it kicks off with, "HUSH, NOW, THUNDERCHILD", and by track 9, "Last of the Rockstars", I'm experiencing déjà vu. Get the picture? But hey, I ain't gunna rag on something some people, especially in the backwoods country, might clearly enjoy.
- Ann Sung-an Lee

Pearl Fiction - Run (video)

New from ex-Zeigeist artist Pearl Fiction. "Run" is the first official single from the upcoming album "painted wolf", due out January 25 via Bibbie Records/Sony Music.

Presenting: Torgny

Torgny Amdam, ex-vocalist for Norwegian hardcore act Amulet, has painted his skin black and reinvented himself as a mediocre electronic artist going under the name Torgny. Listen at SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/torgny
His debut release "Oslo, 31. august EP" will be out on October 31.

Stranded singles club: Håkan Hellström

The next entry in the Stranded Records single club after Graveyard's "Hisingin blues" will be a psychedelic remix of Håkan Hellström's "Dom där jag kommer ifrån" as done by Devil McDoom. Cover art is being handled by Jens Fänge and each copy will feature a unique hand-painted illustration.

This week's top 20 Swedish album chart

This week's top 20 Swedish album chart:

01. Håkan Hellström - 2 steg från paradise
02. Bo Kaspers Orkester - New Orleans
03. Larz-Kristerz - Små ord av guld
04. Caroline af Ugglas - Vad var det jag sa
05. Nanne - En rastlös själ
06. Hoffmaestro - Skank-a-tronic punkadelica
07. Robyn - Body talk pt.2
08. Brolle - Best of Brolle
09. Pernilla Andersson - Ö
10. Blackjack - Festival
11. Oskar Linnros - Vilja bli
12. Robyn - Body talk pt.1
13. Säkert! - Facit
14. Fatboy - Overdrive
15. Anders Ekborg - painted dreams
16. Kent - En plats i solen
17. Magnus Carlsson - Pop galaxy
18. Freda' - Äntligen här igen - Samlade hits sedan 1984
19. Anna Stadling - E4 mot norr
20. Melissa Horn - Säg ingenting till mig

This week's top 20 Swedish album chart

This week's top 20 Swedish album chart:

01. Håkan Hellström - 2 steg från paradise
02. Larz-Kristerz - Små ord av guld
03. Hoffmaestro - Skank-a-tronic punkadelica
04. Caroline af Ugglas - Vad var det jag sa
05. Robyn - Body talk pt.2
06. Nanne - En rastlös själ
07. Pernilla Andersson - Ö
08. Robyn - Body talk pt.1
09. Säkert! - Facit
10. Oskar Linnros - Vilja bli
11. Fatboy - Overdrive
12. Anders Ekborg - painted dreams
13. Freda' - Äntligen här igen - Samlade hits sedan 1984
14. Kent - En plats i solen
15. Carl Johan Vallgren - Nattbok
16. Adolphson & Falk - 101010
17. Melissa Horn - Säg ingenting till mig
18. Jill Johnson - Music row II
19. Anne-Lie Rydé - Dans på rosor
20. Magnus Carlsson - Pop galaxy

This week's top 20 Swedish album chart

This week's top 20 Swedish album chart:

01. Larz-Kristerz - Små ord av guld
02. Hoffmaestro - Skank-a-tronic punkadelica
03. Nanne - En rastlös själ
04. Caroline af Ugglas - Vad var det jag sa
05. Corroded - Exit to transfer
06. Pernilla Andersson - Ö
07. Robyn - Body talk pt.2
08. Fatboy - Overdrive
09. Robyn - Body talk pt.1
10. Säkert! - Facit
11. Anders Ekborg - painted dreams
12. Oskar Linnros - Vilja bli
13. Magnus Carlsson - Pop galaxy
14. Kent - En plats i solen
15. Ola - Ola
16. Anne-Lie Rydé - Dans på rosor
17. Melissa Horn - Säg ingenting till mig
18. Freda' - Äntligen här igen - Samlade hits sedan 1984
19. Irya's Playground - Irya's Playground
20. Raubtier - Skriet från vildmarken

Top 10s for 2009: Nomethod Records

Sirius playlist week #25

Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU:

01. Samuraj Cities - 2 close 2 yr hrt
02. TALK 1
03. Pirate Love - Laughing gas
04. Fare You Well - Overload
05. Kap Kap - Steel wheels
06. TALK 2
07. Elmo - Two becomes one
08. Johndoe - Hardt som faen
09. The Black - On the descent to hell
10. The Amazing - Dragon
11. TALK 3
12. The Bear Quartet - I was a weapon
13. Aerial - All refrain
14. Mögel - Håll mig hårt
15. TALK 4
16. Je Suis Animal - painted in my face
17. Katatonia - Deadhouse
18. Pixie Carnation - Little sister
19. Björn Kleinhenz - Show me love
20. TALK 5
21. New Decade - I guess you ran from something

Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.

Je Suis Animal
Painted in my face b/w Photograph 7"
Cloudberry Records

This is what well-executed tweepop should sound like: sweet and delicate with a soft, fuzzy coating. I've generally considered Norway's Je Suis Animal to be one of the finer current bands in this style currently going and this recent 7" of theirs does not disappoint. The a-side "painted in my face" is an upbeat number full of clever melodic twists that give it a bittersweet edge. It's also as good, if not better than anything from their debut full-length "Self-taught magic from a book", promising proof that the band is moving forward onto bigger and better things. On the flip we're treated to "Photograph", a slightly slower, more extended track that trades guitar leads for the kind of vocal harmonies the also-rans are too scared to even try. While the first couple of Cloudberry vinyl releases more or less left me cold, this one is assured of repeated listens. Nicely done!
- Avi Roig

The a-side for the forthcoming Je Suis Animal "painted my face" 7" on Cloudberry Records is now streaming at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/jesuisanimal
Sounds quite nice I must say.

Larsen & Furious Jane
Zen sucker
Morningside Records

Despite the laughable name of both the group and their album, Larsen & Furious Jane are by far one of the best bands I've heard this year. An amalgamation of the melancholic immediacy of fellow countrymen Kashmir and the more contemplative vein of Interpol's register -- though this American influence only extends so far, most notably on "A deathbed conversion". A naming of influences also does little with an act like Larsen & Furious Jane; the majority of the record is difficult to place in this way. "Zen sucker" is a wonderfully luxuriant album -- its various components are in no hurry, despite the rather short length of the songs (only two tracks break the 4-minute mark), taking their time to build off the first moments of a composition and creating a extraordinarily functional mass of instrumentation, the timbre of the voice chosen to appropriately settle into this mixture: an almost Ian Curtis/Paul Banks tone adopted on "A deathbed conversion"; a somber, nearly-spoken register taken with "Snakes in the grass"; a contemporary Brit-pop style utilized within "A car that comes with the job"; a very Scandinavian quality (similar to The Radio Dept.'s approach) imbued into "Fine". In the end, "Zen sucker" is a record painted in almost every despondent, sorrowful hue that we've come to expect from Kashmir's contemporaries, but that somehow fits into these early summer days. There is a fragile sense of a hope intertwined in the beauty of Larsen & Furious Jane's music -- sometimes that's all you need.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson

Danish avant-pop artist Marybell Katastrophy, one of my current faves, will release the new EP "You are the two" on March 12. As with her last EP "This is the one", it will be released as a digital download and on 10" vinyl except that this time, each one of the 500 physical copies will be hand-painted. Listen to samples at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/marybellkatastrophy