Rising Shadows offer new album for free download

Swedish atmospheric prog/neofolk act Rising Shadows are giving away their latest album "Finis Gloriae Mundi" as a free download, either as mp3s or lossless files: http://www.risingshadows.net/
Said album was recorded with the always-interesting/always-analog Mattias Olsson and features a guest appearance by Stefan Granberg of randy on bouzouki.

Sirius playlist week #24

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

01. randy - Who's side are you on?
02. TALK 1
03. randy - Freedom song
04. Far From Tellus - Rosemary
05. Chicagojazzen - 18 år i en ruttnande kropp
06. TALK 2
07. Andreas Söderlund - Hawaii
08. Noisebud - Truck driver
09. Montys Loco - Heavy
10. TALK 3
11. Maim - Maimed
12. Turboweekend - Sweet Jezebel (Efterklang remix)
13. Pearl Fiction - The ruby fever
14. Meleeh - Hells mouth
15. TALK 4
16. Oranssi Pazuzu - Korppi
17. Brutus - Swedish lady
18. Entombed - Something out of nothing
19. Katzenjammer - To the sea
20. TALK 5
21. Robyn - Dancehall queen

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.

Java - Smokescreen

The best new music is old, part II. Java was a somewhat short-lived instrumental act from Gävle, Sweden that formed out of the remains of the hardcore act Ashram. A mere footnote perhaps, but re-visitation might suggest otherwise. Also, consider that the 90s was a fertile time in Swedish hardcore, especially up in Norrland where you had acts such as Fireside, Breach, Refused and Starmarket; to say nothing of acts such as The Bear Quartet or randy -- so many great bands, all from the same set of towns along the Bothnian coast. The year was 1996 and as such, Java embraced the zeitgeist and sought to expand the sound of modern hardcore as fragmented and moved towards postrock, a sound echoed in acts such as Slint, June of 44 and pretty much any Dischord act of that era. The remnants of the 90s 'core remains though, particularly on tracks like "Smokescreen" where you can hear the lingering effects of bands like Groundwork in the subtle mosh. Certainly not as overt as the stuff Desperate Fight was putting out further north, but oh yeah, it's there and it's alright. Java never amounted to much in their day, they never played a show even, but they did record a demotape and Dead Birds Records has seen fit for its rerelease. There is certainly nostalgia for those of us who remember this time in music and saw it firsthand, but I'd assert that Java is simply a good band that never got heard. Until now, that is.

MP3: Java - Smokescreen

Sirius playlist week #30

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

01. I Are Droid - Sevenfold
02. TALK 1
03. [ingenting] - Halleluja!
04. Montys Loco - Farewell Mr Happy
05. Turboweekend - Something or nothing
06. José González - How low
07. TALK 2
08. Ison & Fille - Ikväll vi är kungar
09. Arcana - Invisible motions
10. Eskju Divine - Darkness all around
11. TALK 3
12. Murmansk - Silver heel
13. Björn Kleinhenz - HAZ 920
14. David Sandström Overdrive - Songs that maybe won't be forgotten
15. randy - Evil
16. TALK 4
17. The Bombettes - Oh boy
18. We Are the Storm - Where we used to be heroes
19. Elmo - Young love
20. The Bear Quartet - Volksblues (ft. Karin Dreijer Andersson)
21. TALK 5
22. Mattias Alkberg - Jag bara tänkte, liksom, att

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.

My God Damn Territory - Used to be

I look at the ever-increasing piles of mediocre CDs crowding my desk and I can't help but feel defeated. There's a few gems in there to be sure, but I'm fully daunted. To say nothing of all the downloads in my incoming directory -- more often than not, I'd much rather listen to all the old-school death metal I've been gathering than some uninspiring no-name wannabees. Like I said though, it's not all bad. Only a few are truly awful, the overwhelming majority are merely forgettable. What's it take to stick? Name recognition helps. My God Damn Territory's bio mentions ex-ex-members from Blithe, randy and Refused as well as Celestine and, even though I recognize none of the actual personnel names, I figure that at least earns them a cursory listen. Of course I wouldn't be telling you about them if they weren't good, so let me spell it out: My God Damn Territory are a solid band. They've got a ridiculously long roster of musicians who appear on their new self-released album "Between art and failure" and the record's widely varied sound reflects that, though the songwriting remains consistent. They cover a lot of ground from noisy 90s-style indie to postrock and beyond, but you can always tell it's the product of the same mind(s). "Used to be" stands out to me as one of the more driving numbers and the repetitive, overlapping vocal melody is hard to forget, especially with those bendy guitar notes that bookend it. Best of all, it just sounds so different from anything else I've heard as of late. And the whole album is available as a free download. Good enough!

MP3: My God Damn Territory - Used to be

Randy - Karl Marx and history

Happy May Day comrades! PS, new randy album in 2009? I wouldn't hold my breath, but it just might happen.

MP3: Randy - Karl Marx and history

Sirius playlist week #14

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

01. TALK 1
02. Small - Highway child
03. Seance - Invocation
04. Halph - New money
05. TALK 2
06. Anna Frank - Directions
07. Kristofer Åström - Me and the snakes
08. The Scrags - Mad passion
09. TALK 3
10. randy - Who's side are you on?
11. Division of Laura Lee - Violence is timeless
12. Existensminimum - 1993
13. Familjen - Socker
14. TALK 4
15. The Fine Arts Showcase - Lovesick
16. Viola - Cute destroyer
17. Nitad - Nervvrak
18. Penny Century - Just because
19. TALK 5
20. Marions - Another hour
21. BJ Nielsen - Tummen upp
22. Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - Facelessness erases every trace of humanity

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.

New Moneybrother = Real control

The new Moneybrother album "Real control" will be released on April 15 via Hacka Skivindustri and you can now hear the first single "Born under a bad sign" at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/moneybrother
Various songs on the album were produced by Jari Haapalainen, Björn Yttling and Christoffer Roth and besides a few of his usual backing musicians, members of The Hives and randy lent a hand as well.

Randy Barracuda interview

Skweeelicious talks to genre pioneer randy Barracuda, also known as one half of Imatran Voima: http://skweee.com/?p=27

Sirius playlist week #51

Here's the playlist for this week's (all-punk/hardcore) radio show:

01. Darkthrone - Hiking metal punks
02. TALK 1
03. Ebba Grön - Staten & kapitalet
04. Massgrav - Jävla fittor
05. Disfear - Live the storm
06. Samtidigt Som - För jag tror att ingen annan kan känna såhär för dig
07. TALK 2
08. We Live In Trenches - Autonomy clinic
09. MABD - Kom kom
10. Black Sheep - Crazy world
11. C.Aarmé - Ti ca tu a
12. Sods - Television sect
13. TALK 3
14. No Hope for the Kids - Rainy day
15. Frivolvol - Take it from the beginning
16. Hanna Hirsch - Ingen kommer sakna oss
17. Silver - Drenched in comfort
18. TALK 4
19. randy - Win or lose
20. Victims - Your division
21. Smalltown - Warning
22. Lögnhalsmottagningen - Bodybuilder
23. M:40 - Sista tiden
24. TALK 5
25. Hebosagil - Cosmic

Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XM U. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers. Next week's show (December 28/29) will be all jazz.