Paper Thin Walls does the "Listening Party" track-by-track review thing with Lindstrøm and his new album "Where you go, I go too": https://www.paperthinwalls.com/listeningparty/index?id=91

Antenna talks to reunited Danish metal act Artillery: https://www.antenna.nu/?p=471

Tiny Mix Tapes interviews Norwegian noise maven Lasse Marhaug: https://www.tinymixtapes.com/Lasse-Marhaug,6683

Paper Thin Walls talks with Lykke Li and goes over every song on her album "Youth novels": https://www.paperthinwalls.com/listeningparty/index?id=89

Antenna talks to Peter Dolving of The Haunted about the band's forthcoming album "Versus": https://www.antenna.nu/?p=463

MP3: Division of Laura Lee - Central Park

Ladies and gentlemen, I give to you the new Division of Laura Lee single "Central Park". This is the first single from their forthcoming album "Violence is timeless", due out in limited vinyl format on August 15 with the CD version to follow on October 29. But that's not all! They've also enlisted the help of many friends and peers to create videos for each and every track and will be slowly releasing them to the public as we get closer to the album's release. Peep the first clip for "Central Park" right here, courtesy of UK-based animation team Man vs Machine: [click here]

Also, seeing as how a new DoLL single ties in nicely with my weekly Göteborg Spotlight Series, I decided to track down drummer Håkan Johansson to answer a few questions. Read on...

First, my standard question: how long have you lived in Gbg, what brought you there and what keeps you hanging around?

Per (Stålberg, vocals/gtr) and I had been talking for a while about moving the band to Gothenburg and try to make some kind of music career, but it wasn't until I got approved to artschool that I grabbed my stuff and left Vänersborg. This was in 2001. Gothenburg has pretty much everything you need. Great music and art scene, clubs, bars and most important all the friends I have made during the years here.

I hear a very strong DC influence on the new album - is that a conscious thing? Are you trying to separate yourselves from the Gbg sound? Does such a thing as a Gbg sound even exist? Or are you just hanging out with Shelby Cinca¹ too much?

We have never really aimed for a DC sound, but after growing up with the Discord catalog on our record shelves I think it was unavoidable. When we started this band we wanted to create the same vibe that the DC scene had, and this has followed us throughout the journey. Yeah, hanging with Shelby in DC a lot the last couple of years reminds me of this frequently. The Gothenburg sound... ah yes.. I see us more of the outsider in this bunch. We are a part of the Gothenburg scene, but I don't know if we are a part of the sound. To be honest with you Avi, I'm not sure this "sound" even exists.

Speaking of Shelby and DC, are you still active with Man and Wasp/Frantic Mantis or have you consigned yourself to doing locally-oriented sideprojects like the rest of your bandmates? Do you think there's anything particular about the Gbg scene that makes it easier for folks to collaborate? Also, how awesome is Repoman?

Frantic Mantis are on a hiatus. Man and Wasp is the main sideproject at the moment. We are working on an album that might or might not come out in one shape or the other next year. All the side projects I have been involved in have never been planned. We just had some extra time to jam, and the ability to record it. When playing with Shelby everything just turns into gold. I think there are so many projects around here in Gothenburg 'cause everybody knows everybody, and playing music with people other than your regular bandmates is a way to play other styles and develop as a musician. Yeah Repoman is awesome! I am still bummed I wasn't asked to play drums for them.

Does the same sort of collaborative/cooperative community exist in the Gbg art world as well? I know of a few other local Gbg musicians who double as artists and vice-versa besides yourself, but do you think there's much crossover overall? How would you say the two worlds are the same/different?

Music and art just goes hand in hand. Just look at iDEAL as a label and artcollective, and then Silverbullit with Jon and Andreas who're doing awesome music, videos, projections and art. Nowadays, and even 10 years ago, the DIY way was the way to do it. When a band or artist wanted to release a record, a record cover had to be done. Then you wanted to make some merchandise, a website etc., but there was no money to pay for it. You had to do it yourself. And I think this has grown stronger over the years. Personally, I think doing a record cover for a free dinner is way more fun than doing a company branding that pays your rent for a full year...

Who came up with the concept of getting friends to film videos for each song on the new album? How do you think the experiment came out? Any favorites we can look forward to?

This was something that I Made This came up with. We loved it the second we heard the idea. I won't spill too much, but I love the one Kristofer Åström did. And although I haven't seen them yet, I am especially excited about the ones Joe Lally from Fugazi and Jason Lytle from Grandaddy are putting together.

Tell us about the new single "Central Park"!

I will quote Jonas (Gustavsson, bass) on this one:

"Music is time consuming. Four years, we waited for this song. When it finally arrived, it was finished in four minutes. Four chords. It's yours for free, because some secrets are to reveal."

LINK: https://www.violenceistimeless.com/

Division of Laura Lee - Central Park

Listen to BBC Radio 1 program Rock Show interview Cult of Luna: https://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=2732206&blogID=421970945

Avantgarde-Metal interviews Norwegian act Babyflesh: https://www.avantgarde-metal.com/content/stories2.php?id=71

Minimal Signals talks to Gbg-based experimental artist Jasper TX: https://mnmlssg.blogspot.com/2008/07/mnml-ssgs-mx08-jasper-tx.html

Killing the Legacy talks to Finnish hardcore act Bolt: https://killingthelegacy.blogspot.com/2008/07/interview-bolt.html

Dusted interviews Lindstrøm: https://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/755

Mutinyzine interviews Swedish rockers Alouatta: https://www.mutinyzine.com/interview80.html

MP3: Cut City - Replacement

As regular readers know, Saturdays in 2008 are devoted to the music of Göteborg. This week's guest: Max Hansson from Cut City/White Knives.

How long have you lived in Gbg? What brought you there and what keeps you hanging around?

During a drunken haze back in the year 2000 while stuck in my hometown, I threw a dart at a world map and figured that chance could have its way with me. Though aiming for internationally consensus-proven cool cities like New York, Berlin and Paris, I fell short and took the bus up to Gothenburg and started delivering mail with a disgruntled grin. In my bags I had a band lacking any basic nuance of ambition along with an appetite for spending more time on stage than off. It was an unhealthy equation, but by ditching (read: being ditched by) some of the members, I started Cut City with David Hagberg and it led me to fulfill some modest goals of mine. That was six years ago and though many of the people I know have since left town, I stay put. I'm too old to move and my wonderful girlfriend makes life tolerable here. Gothenburg can be quite abysmal at times, mostly during the fall, winter, spring and the majority of summer. There are things here that makes it worth living though: Koloni put on a whole lot of wonderful shows and pushes a healthy experimental climate; Release The Bats put out some amazing music as does Ideal Recordings. Without them, Gothenburg would have you jump for the Xanax bottle.

How do you deal with bandmates living in Malmö? Don't you know they barely speak Swedish down there? What's keeping you from ditching David and getting someone local? Or why don't you sell out Gbg and move south?

Rehearsing less than once a month is what we do and it's how we define work ethic. I've got a small studio (a grand euphemism for old computer) set up in a tiny walk-in closet and that's what keeps me sane. I'm from the south myself so the language barrier is easily broken down. I can't move to the south because I'm banned there and we can't give David the boot because he's a machine and we all know that machines will take over the world and we really, really want someone to be on our side when that day comes. To be honest, Sweden's such a small country that you run into friends pretty much without effort.

Do you feel any connection to the Swedish post-punk scene of yore or do you draw inspiration from elsewhere? Do you ever consider your city's musical heritage at all? Do you think there's any such thing as a Gbg sound?

I merely play the music I do because I lack the musical prowess to play metal. And that's the honest truth. When you read this I'm either at the Iron Maiden concert with 60,000 other heshers or discussing the grandeur of a mummified Eddie with everyone who failed to get a ticket. Post-punk is too broad of a term to stylistically distinguish band A from band B. But I do know what you mean my dear friend. I'll tell you this: my favorite guitarists among many are Roger Mcguinn, Richard Lloyd and Robert Quine - the triple R - and they inspire me in many ways. Trying to copy them while lacking the talent I make my style my own (oh, the hubris).
I moved here being totally oblivious to what this city had spawned band-wise and I knew next to nothing about what it had to offer with the exception of its metal scene and its very distinct Gbg sound. I would say I feel a whole lot more affiliated with the city now after befriending many of its contemporary musicians. I feel a kinship with the likes of Alarma Man, Silverbullit, Dieter Schöön and a slew of other bands that know better than to sing off-key.

How does the city inspire you? How does it stifle you? How do you think people could make it better?

I like to take long, long walks from one end of the city to the other and see how it transforms from big anxiety-provoking concrete blocks to huge beach mansions soon-to-be engulfed by the sea; from rich ghettos to poor ghettos. I like watching people hitting the bars on Avenyn; I like watching the young kids clubbing; I like seeing the contempt erupting from both sides of the coin. This city could mean everything to me and at the same time nothing. I can't say I could tell if it makes me or breaks me. I think people could make it better if they drank more. Juice.

Going to Way Out West this year? Anything in particular that you're looking forward to? Or dreading?

Yes. Deleted Art has two bands playing there this year: The Mae Shi and No Age. I'm amped up and ready to surf the crowd. Then there's Sonic Youth of course, as well as The National and they're both bands I love. Had only Journey been there playing the entire "Escape" album with Steve Perry holding the mic instead of some poor replaceable cover band member, I would literally be bawling. That's not going to happen though, so I might as well just sit back home watching "Frontiers and Beyond" or "Live in Houston". Dreading? I don't want to run my mouth off and take a piss on bands that probably deserves it because that would be rude and I'm not a rude person (Mando Diao). I dread queuing to the unsanitary toilets, shit and piss on the floors.

Lastly, got a song to share? Either from one of your own bands or another, it's all good. Tell me about it!

I don't know if copyright laws prohibits you from sharing "Bastards of young" by The Replacements with your frequent visitors. I would love for you to have that up there instead of being elaborate and unscrupulous enough to exploit this offer and have people listening to my own band. I know the answer to this and will offer you the second best thing to the Mats themselves: "Replacement". It's our own ode to Westerberg et al and a deliberate attempt at stealing the best things in music history.

Thanks!

No, thank you! Still they ride, on wheels of fire. They rule the night. Still they ride, the strong will survive. Chasing thunder.

Cut City - Replacement

The Local talks to Sofia Talvik as she prepares to tour the US for the first time: https://www.thelocal.se/13228/20080723/

Dagens Nyheter on Live Nation's domination of the Swedish live music scene plus an interview with Thomas Johansson, head of the company's business strategy for Europe and Asia: https://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=2198&a=807546 (in Swedish)