| |
|
News
editors: Mikael
Kahrle & Johan
Carlsson |
 |
Catching up with Alice in Videoland June 13, 2008 | By: Mikael Kahrle (Gothenburg, Sweden)
Alice in Videoland's excellent third album "She's a Machine" is out in Scandinavia and now it's time for other parts of the world. June 20 is the release date for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and for the rest of the world (except America and Scandinavia) it's July 4. The European edition, released by Prussia Records, features a bonus disc called "A Different Perspective" including a code for a special web board which will be filled up with videos, remix files, MP3:s and wallpapers. You can make your own remix. In Sweden, label National now releases the second single off new the album, "We Are Rebels". On the album, this is a duet with Maja from The Sounds but the single version only features Alice in Videoland vocalist Toril. Mobile Homes "Close" to their old sound June 13, 2008 | By: Mikael Kahrle (Gothenburg, Sweden)
The new album, scheduled for the autumn, on Megahype, will be produced by Sirviö and Christian Falk (ex-Imperiet). The "Close" video can be watched here. Festival news June 10, 2008 | By: Mikael Kahrle (Gothenburg, Sweden) Norway's Quart festival has been cancelled due to weak ticket sales and bankrupcy. The event has hosted many interesting artists throughout the years even though the 2008 edition looked weaker. M'era Luna has completed its line-up by adding Fields of the Nephilim and Christian Death. The Swedish Hultsfred fest kicks off this week and Release Tobias Eliasson is teaming up with Spetsnaz under the flag GÖF (Göteborg Örebro Freundschaft) for a DJ set, ending the festival at Saturday night at club area Udden. Arvika line-up complete June 6, 2008 | By: Mikael Kahrle (Gothenburg, Sweden) The Arvika Festival has announced that this year's program is complete. We all hoped for that big headliner that would make people rush for a festival ticket. But what we got was... S.P.O.C.K. - We have the best and biggest in indie, metal, elektro, pop and synth music, Olov Hallberg, booking manager brags. Well, that's entirely true as this year's festival could use a couple of big "Release headliners" (not that there are that many to choose from). Where are all the small, struggling Scandinavian bands? The newcomers? Arvika play it safe by spending the majority of the budget on mainstream acts like Håkan Hellström, MIA, The Hellacopters and Robyn. Some of these are interesting for many readers, like Kent, Interpol and Hot Chip. The EBM and synthpop crowds will have to do without a Kraftwerk, Nitzer Ebb and Skinny Puppy on the main stage though. Arvika 2008 aims mainly at the mid-sized, play-it-safe EBM/synthpop bookings - this list is very long (see On Stage). Some of these names stand out, like Rotersand. This is still the Scandinavian festival for Release readers. Just look at next week's Hulstfred festival - HIM, Familjen and Nina Natri are the top names for Release readers... However, I compare the Arvika 2008 line-up with past year's exciting bookings and the sad fact that the new organisers don't use their big muscles to full effect this time. It's obvious, Arvika wants to be more of big a wide-ranged alternative and mainstream festival these days, which is one way of surviving. Only 15,6% of last year's visitors were into synth music. Yes, the organisers has measured this. Now you know. Mordant Music prepare album the second June 4, 2008 | By: Peter Marks (Portland, Oregon, USA) The UK's own connoisseurs of paranormal audio, Mordant Music, are nearing completion of their second full length release. This is not to say Baron Mordant and Admiral Greyscale have been idle; far from it. They have put out two EP:s: "Carrion Squared" and "The Tower parts 8-18" - and have commenced a series of download only "travelogues" which now number a trilogy. The most recent of these, cunningly entitled "Mum Prepared the Piano (Agony and Ivory)" transports the listener to a most regal setting of authoritarian clotted cream and hours in a musty parlor. Fans of more eclectic aural output would be well served by looking further into these "field" recordings which rival not only Coil on a tempestuous spring night but also serve up tones to feast your jaded wizened ears upon. Swedish pop quartet Kiethevez returns after eleven years June 3, 2008 | By: Mikael Kahrle (Gothenburg, Sweden)
In about one month, Gothenburg pop quartet Kiethevez are going to release their third album "Non-binary". The album has been five years in the making and it's been eleven years since the last album, which possibly makes Kiethevez the slowest synthpop band of all. No Swedish label was interested, but in USA Kiethevez got signed by former license partner A Different Drum in Utah. The new Kiethevez sound is more organic than before but the melancholic melodies are still there. In the mid-ninetees, during the early days of Kiethevez, we hired them for two concerts. They were featured on our compilation cassette "Sounds from the Electric Café" whose two 200 copy editions sold out. Electric Café was our club for a couple of years, where we gave local talents the chance to present themselves. Front 242 issue free download this month June 2, 2008 | By: Peter Marks (Portland, Oregon, USA)
Belgian overlords Front 242 are all set to release their new two track single "First Moment" (Alfa-Matrix/Art & Strategy) in downloadable format on June 15. As to what these songs sound like or what era they are from, nothing has been revealed. If you wish to put your name on the list to be given access to these files, proceed to the Alfa-Matrix website for further details. |
