Digfi has a new live studio session posted with Stockholm-based act Top Sound: https://www.digfi.com/default.aspx?id=11960

Avantgarde Metal talks to Norwegian act Det Är Jag Som Är Döden, a band that isn't really metal, but is appropriate for the site because of their ex-Bogus Blimp affiliation: https://www.avantgarde-metal.com/content/stories2.php?id=68

MP3: The Kid - Bloodmoon

Saturdays in 2008 are devoted to the music of Göteborg. This week's guest: Patrik Bengtsson from The Kid. The band's new album "Transient blood" is out now on Hybris.

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

Johan is born here and the other three of us are from Småland and moved here to exchange the rich soil and the pine trees for education and nightlife. Then we found friends and love and decided to stay. Frida moved here in 1996 and me and Maja came in 2000.

I hear a strong lineage in The Kid's music that connects it to the Gbg post-punk scene of yore, bands such as Cortex (obviously), but it's more than that. Do you think that's an extension of living in the same city or is it more predetermined? Was that the sort of thing you grew up on or did you discover it later?

Freddie Wadling is an icon, all the things he has been involved in is great such as Blue for Two, Liket Lever, Lädernunnan, Rukorna and Fläskkvartetten, the original punkscene of Gbg was great with bands like Göteborg Sound and Slobobans Undergång. We were listening to punk and post-punk long before we moved to Gbg. The Swedish post-punk scene was great, with bands like Commando M Pigg, Brända Barn and Reeperbahn. As a new Gothenburger you become proud of Gbg when you understand what this town has giving the world in forms of music and bands, but our taste in music was already formed when we all moved here.

Do you think it's important to keep that musical heritage alive?

When it comes to pop music, no.

Putting aside nostalgia for the moment, how would you say The Kid looks toward the future? Are there any current movements/scenes/happenings in Gbg (or elsewhere) worth paying attention to, whether you are personally involved or not?

We will continue struggling with the band trying to combine the sound of the early 80-ies with the sound of the new new wave/the new new romantic. Make some shows and some new songs. No big plans, just nice to have the possibility to do this and get paid for it. We've been around for a couple of years now and we are quite bored playing for stiff students. It's time for the new Gbg-scene with people in their 20ies to do the studentclub-mayhem. I think the new Gbg pop-scene is some form of an antiscene. They frown at the old Service glory days. They spit on electronic stuff like laptops and iPods, they play instruments and wear hats and love Håkan Hellström instead of The Embassy and Claes Ohlson-stroboscope. And they've got authentic good self-esteem; that's good but it's the total opposite of the classic Gbg scene.

Don't think that I'm a silly old fart, I love changes. And some of these kid are guests at my monthly 77-punk club and they know the lyrics to all the old Gbg punk songs. So the future is saved. They know their heritage.

I understand that a number of you are involved in other art projects besides The Kid- what else are you currently working on?

We are constantly working with other art(y)/music projects.

You will find a couple of them on our myspace–site under top friends. Otherwise, we are still working as Artists and Architects, and when we run out of money we take care of old people, trees and flowers. You can also visit www.mermermer.com and click on Frida Sjöstam and www.patrikbengtsson.com for some aesthetic-experience.

Would you say that Gbg is an artist-friendly city?

I'm sure that Gbg is the best music-friendly town in Sweden. All the interesting bands from the last 10 years are from Gbg. And the mood between the bands is nice and friendly.

Lastly, have you got a song from the new album that you'd like to share?

I think "Let's go kid" or "Bloodmoon" are two nice songs, you could use one of them.

My personal preference is demonstrated below...

The Kid - Bloodmoon

LowCut interviewed some of the guys from The Hellacopters at Roskilde: https://www.lowcut.dk/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=267:hellacopters-interview-roskilde-2008&catid=34:interviews&Itemid=55

If you happened to be listening to SR P3/P4 this morning at 5:40am Swedish time and heard someone rambling about Swedish music, yes, that was me. Sorry I didn't post a heads-up, but it kinda came together at the last minute, so go here for the archive: https://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/p4/nyhetssidor/sandningsarkiv.asp?programID=2689
Big thanks to Johan Åkesson for making it happen!

Missed it on Friday, but Dusted featured a guest list from Tape as part of their weekly feature: https://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/751

Resident Advisor talks to Norwegian artist/producer Prins Thomas: https://www.residentadvisor.net/feature-read.aspx?id=936

MP3: We Live In Trenches - Autonomy clinic

If it's Saturday you know that means we're due for another entry in our ongoing Göteborg Spotlight Series. This week's guest: Robert Samsonowitz, esteemed web developer, graphic designer and musician. Chances are high you've seen his work before as he's done artwork and/or websites for a number of high profile Swedish artists -- just check out his portfolio at rbrt.org for examples. As for his own music, he did time with Satanic Surfers back in the day and has just recently resurfaced with We Live in Trenches, a band that takes the sound of "Damaged"-era Black Flag and runs with it. In other words, old-man hardcore. You know I'm all about it. Anyhow, Robert was kind enough to answer a few questions for us and here's what he had to say:

First off, the standard: How long have you lived in Gbg, what brought you there and what keeps you there?

I've lived in Gothenburg for nine years and five months (since January 1999). I moved here to study web design. I got a job and a new band, so that pretty much kept me here. Nowadays I have a new job and a new band and that pretty much still keeps me here. And also Gothenburg is a pretty rad city to be in at the moment with a lot of nice people and some great things happening, music and otherwise.

You're involved in a lot of different artistic endeavors - which one currently takes precedence? like if someone asks "what do you do?", how do you respond?

Right now I'd probably say "play music", because that's where my heart is at the moment. I think I'm currently in some kind of work-denial state. Like acting really busy on work hours while making plans and stuff for the band, which probably isn't that good in the long run as I'm self employed.

I know there's a lot of other Swedish musicians who double as visual artists, but are there any in particular that you admire? Or what about visual artists who dabble in music?

One of the artists I admire is my old friend Johannes Heldén (www.johanneshelden.com). He's a visual artist (MFA, Valand Academy of Fine Arts, Gothenburg) a writer and a musician. His work is truly awesome. I give him credit for bringing Sci-Fi and mysticism into art and music. Well done, my friend!

How does the city of Gbg influence you and your art? Could you ever see yourself living somewhere else? What benefits does Gbg offer and on the flipside of that, what are the city's detriments?

Hard to tell how this city influences me. I don't even know if influences me at all. Or maybe it does more than I'll ever know. I can't really see myself living in another Swedish city. I've spent a lot of time in Malmö, I have a lot of friends there. There is one specific area there ("Möllan") which consists of... I don't know... maybe 8 blocks of houses and a square, and that area is fantastic. But the rest of Malmö is a terrible, aggressive, cold, cold place to be. They can keep it. If I'd move I'd probably go abroad, maybe Berlin or Barcelona (all my friends reading this are going "yeah, that'll probably happen..." haha), or Montreal, one of my favorite cities. One of the benefits with Gbg I guess is the size, both in people and area. It's not too big and it's not too small either. It's big enough for great things to happen, and it's small enough to actually notice them.

Tell me about the new band - how did you guys get together and what are your plans? Did you form with any particular goals in mind?

My new band is We Live in Trenches and here are all the boring details. Me and David Augustsson (drums, ex-C.Aarmé) formed the band in February 2007 after having played together in the brief punk adventure Haveri, which had broken up due to too hot weather and the fact that the other guys needed more time with their other endeavors (Cut City and Alarma Man). I was also on drum duties in Satanic Surfers, but we had a break at the moment (a break from which we never recovered, we broke up in March 2007). We initially formed as Trenches and I guess it sort of was the second coming of Haveri at first, only I'd switched from bass to guitar. As only two wrongs don't make a right, we needed some more humans to help sink the ship. I met my old friend Ulf Stöckel on a tram and convinced him to jump aboard as I knew of his screaming skills from previous bands (Comatose, Blå Ångest, The Virgins). We later got Oskar Karlsson on bass in May (also in Icos, ex-Last Security) and the Trenches line-up was finally complete. We recorded one song for a hardcore comp on Deleted Art (still not released) during the summer. Oskar turned out to be too busy with Icos as well as being a busy live sound tech for bands on tour (Burst, Red Sparrowes etc.) and he decided to quit the band a couple of months later. During the time without a bass player we started to record all of our songs in our rehearsal space. Anna Knutsson joined our merry bunch in November, halfway through the recording session, and we changed our name to We Live in Trenches shortly after. Now we finally have a booking agent and some upcoming shows, and we will promote ourselves in search for a record label to work with. Our plan is to rock as hard and often as possible, and our goal is to avoid a normal way of life as much as possible.

Lastly, got a song you'd like to share? Either from one of your own band(s) or otherwise? Something that's reflective of Gbg perhaps?

Yes. "Autonomy clinic" by We Live In Trenches. Because self promotion rocks!

We Live In Trenches - Autonomy clinic

Sally Shaprio and Johan Agebjörn talk up their favorite local Stockholm artists for Paper Thin Walls: https://www.paperthinwalls.com/featuredarticle/index?id=217

Skweeelicious talks to rising skweee star Mrs. Qeada: https://skweee.com/?p=7

Antenna talks to the four bands performing at this year's Danish Metal Awards: Dawn Of Demise, Svartsot, The Arcane Order and A Kid Hereafter in the Grinding Light: https://www.antenna.nu/?p=398

Digital Spy interviews Annie: https://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/a102078/annie.html

Drowned in Sound talks to Sarah Assbring aka El Perro Del Mar: https://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/3425162

The Guardian talks to Annie: https://music.guardian.co.uk/pop/story/0,,2288719,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=39

The new issue of Believer has a big article on American black-metal which includes a good primer on the original Norwegian scene and an interview with Snorre Ruch (Thorns): https://www.believermag.com/issues/200807/?read=article_stosuy