Monthly Archives februari 2013

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

THE HIVES & The Fume @ KB Malmö 7/2

Vill du möblera om? Ring The Hives!

The Hives har äntligen återvänt till KB med sin senaste skiva Lex Hives i ryggen (2012). Det har tagit herrarna hela fem år att komma ut med nytt material. Efter att ha spelat oräkneliga festivaler är de äntligen tillbaka till klubbscenen.

Precis som på nya skivan börjar The Hives med Come On. Sagt och gjort, ger publiken svar på tal direkt. The Hives och publiken får den isbildning på kulturbolagets tag att smälta redan under de första tre låtarna. Det är trångt. Det är full rörelse och det hoppas vilt. Alla ville stå längst fram!

Howlin´ Pelle och gitarrvirtuosen Nicholaus Arson ligger lika mycket över publiken som de står på scenen! Undertecknad fick agera stödben åt dessa två herrar större...

Posted in Press Releases

Pianist Simone Dinnerstein and singer-songwriter Tift Merritt join forces for the first time on NIGHT, a unique collaboration uniting folk, rock and classical worlds, exploring common terrain and uncovering new musical landscapes. Available on March 18h 2013, NIGHT was recorded at the Academy of Arts and Letters in New York by Grammy-winning producers Adam Abeshouse and Ryan Freeland. Dinnerstein and Merritt will launch the new recording by performing NIGHT live in cities including Munich, New York, Durham, Tampa, and Saratoga in Spring 2013.

Though Simone Dinnerstein (a Juilliard-trained classical pianist from Brooklyn) and Tift Merritt (a singer-songwriter from North Carolina whose father taught her to play by ear) could not come from more different musical backgrounds, when the two met...

Posted in Press Releases

Ra Ra Riot have announced the release date for their third album Beta Love as March 18th for the UK on Barsuk Records. The album marks the band’s first outing as a four piece with members Wes Miles on vocals, Milo Bonacci on guitar, Mathieu Santos on bass and Rebecca Zeller on violin forming the core of the group. Beta Love’s songs are informed by the works of cyperpunk novelist William Gibson and futurist Ray Kurzweil’s musings on the technological singularity and transhumanism.
Inspired by their lean new lineup, the recording process found Ra Ra Riot’s members exploring and re-defining their roles within the new makeup of the group. They built upon demos created mostly by Miles and producer Dennis Herring (Modest Mouse, Elvis Costello, Wavves) at Sweet Tea Studios in Oxford, MS...

Posted in Press Releases

When Syd Arthur emerged in 2012 with their debut, self-recorded, self produced, self released album On An On, it didn’t take long for them to rocket to critical acclaim. Hailed as natural successors to Canterbury’s famous folk-prog sound, they not only connected with fans of Caravan, Soft Machine and Gong, but with fans of contemporary artists like Tame Impala, Devendra Banhart and Wolf People. Rave reviews across Q, Mojo, Uncut and The Guardian followed. With the release of the single Dorothy in late 2012, the band had their first taste of UK radio support, scoring plays across Radio 2, 6 Music, XFM, Amazing Radio, NME Radio, Q Radio and more.

Greatly inspired by the sonic pioneers of the late 60s and early 70s, they have patiently learned how to engineer, produce and mix themselves,...

Posted in Cd Reviews

High Roller Records/Sound Pollution

DEEP MACHINE may not have the same ring to their name as some of their peers from the halcyon day of the NWOBHM. Since their formation in 1979 they have featured the likes of Dave DuFort, Kevin Heybourne, John Wiggins, Ricky Bruce and even Roger Marsden in their ranks. Don´t know about them? Kevin is ANGEL WITCH, Dave (also ex. EF BAND) and Ricky are former members of the said band, John is still part of TOKYO BLADE (and ex. BATTLEZONE and LONE WOLF) while Roger was one the lead vocalist of Swedish phenomenon EF BAND. In short this is a band with a lot of NWOBHM pedigree...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Pure Underground Records/Sound Pollution

Returning with a vengeance from as short spell with SACRED HEART guitarist Byron Nemeth returned to the spotlight with this album. Some twenty years on this album gets a full-blown (albeit limited to 333 copies) re-release on vinyl in a gatefold. The info speaks of charm, dreamy, straight forward and unique, let´s check this one out.

Opening intro “Into Infinity” is rather pompous and dreamy. It doesn´t really have to do with metal but it´s not a bad start. The sound is rather thin, but the chorus and very progressive refrain parts of “Graveyard of the Dragon” is entertaining but not spot-on. The vocals courtesy of Dan Mattingly are feel quite fragile, and would not be out of place in pop, which also adds to the this feeling...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Massacre/Sound Pollution

German pagan metal godfathers ADORNED BROOD returns with their eight albums since 1996. Since their beginning in 1993 the band seems to have matured and developed, plus toured a lot since 2010 and “Hammerfeste”. Surely a gig in Sao Paolo in December must have been an artist bonus as cold as this winter has been. Arrangements, instrumentation combined with groovy folk melodies and classical metal seems to be the way to go according to the info sheet. Let´s find out.

“Einkehr” opens the proceedings with a jolly folk party, complete with pomp and all. The title track really combines a lot into one track, in a convincing way. The same goes for “Call of the Wild”. But the grand epic “Victory or Valhall” doesn´t really tick all that many boxes...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Massacre/Sound Pollution

The second album by strangely southern sounding band from Germany offers both surprises and letdowns. DIRT has been around since 2008, and says that they play sludge and doom with a strong addition of blues and southern rock. How´s that for a change? Can they marry the new religion with the old landed gentry of rock?

Opener “Seven Days” can´t really do anything. The sheer boring factor of a very simple drum pattern over a stubborn but pointless refrain with only the slightest addition of…ZAKK WYLDE´S trademarks does nothing for me. “Dirty” is like another band taking over. It´s groovy and has the right refrain and formula. The same goes for the prowler of a title track that really has me wanting more...

Posted in Gig/Festival Reviews

Frontiers/BAM

TEN formed about 20 years ago, as vocalist GARY HUGHES was preparing a new solo album and had a big song surplus. 1996 saw their album debut with “X” and now they also have 10 albums to celebrate. There has been a lot of member changes, as celebrities like Don Airey, Vinny Burns, Ged Rylands and Mark Zoner (of FATES WARNING) have come and gone. Apart from ubiquitous band leader, vocalist, programmer and guitarist Gary the line-up consists of guitarists Dan Mitchel and John Halliwell, bassist Steve McKenna, keyboardist Darrel Treece-Birch and drummer Max Yates.

The album is more mixed and uneven than I wished for. They know their RAINBOW tendencies and they have lots of melody but “The Gates of Jerusalem is only ok. But the restrained feeling is omnipresent on the disc...

Posted in Cd Reviews

Emanes Metal Records

INFINITE TRANSLATION may not be the most metal name of 2012, but the band has been at it since 2004. Formed by lead guitarist/vocalist Max Maniac and drummer Fish Killer they opted for both classic heavy metal and thrash, but soon decided to stick with the latter. This was especially clear after their debut “Impulsive Attack” in 2010. The lineup is completed by bassist Jon Whiplash and rhythm guitarist Guillautine. Can´t wait to hear this one…
For being a Frenchie Max has a very authentic Bay Area voice. Opener “Malicious Mental Oppression” has a small share of acoustic picking before thrash mayhem ensues. No double bass drums of cause, and vary old school all in all...