Posts Tagged ‘Norway’

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Siv Jakobsen was born and raised in Asker, Norway, and educated at the esteemed Berklee College of Music in Boston, is showing off her new visuals for tender ballad “How We Used To Love”.

Fans of Alice Boman or similar Nordic timbres will surely be enamoured by this offering. Utilising oft-ignored music pillars like dynamics, silence and space, Jakobsen tears your ribcage open to pluck out your still-beating heart; you’ll be left stunned and haunted by these arrangements, but somehow, Jakobsen makes you believe that everything will all be okay anyway. Her lo-fi guitars and trembling piano riffs melt into gorgeous vocals, and when congealed together, the music is ruthlessly emotive to the point it should come with a warning label.

Apparently, the track’s conception was rather a dramatic one: “it came to be when Siv, whilst stuck in San Francisco traffic, She drove into the car in front of her in an absent minded moment. This inspired the first couple of lines in the song and became a monologue she’d never dared say out loud.”

For the video, we see Siv Jakobsen listlessly wandering the streets and footpaths of (presumably) Norway, and visiting various locations of unknown significance. It’s mysterious, but achingly beautiful, and many kudos should be given to the team behind it, Siv Jakobsen herself, and (probably) Norway for being so goddamn pretty in the first place.

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Siv’s first single off of the upcoming EP “The Lingering,” came out May 2015

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With each passing listen, we find ourselves falling deeper and deeper in love with Siv Jakobsen. Utilising oft-ignored music pillars like dynamics, silence and space, Siv Jakobsen tears your ribcage open to pluck out your still-beating heart; you’ll be left stunned and haunted, but somehow, Jakobsen makes you believe that everything will all be okay anyway. Her lo-fi guitars and trembling piano riffs melt into gorgeous vocals, and when congealed together, the music is ruthlessly emotive to the point it should come with a warning label.”

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The debut album The Nordic Mellow by Siv Jakobsen is out August 25th 2017.
Singles Shallow Digger and Like I Used To are out now world-wide:

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Siv’s music is beautifully mellow, much like diary-entries – filled with unfiltered thoughts and reflections. With references to Laura Marling and Ane Brun, listening to her music is like being a fly on the wall while she sings you her secrets. She released the 7-track EP “The Lingering” in May of 2015, to praise from several national and international publications,

The British folk traditions and driving acoustic guitars in this cut from Norwegian musician Siv Jakobsen remind you of something an acoustic Led Zeppelin might have done — think tracks from Led Zeppelin III. Siv Jakobsen’s latest album, The Nordic Mellow, is out August. 27th.

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A captivating live performer, Siv has had the honor of supporting several renowned artists, including Bear’s Den, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Damien Jurado, Highasakite, SOAK and Thomas Dybdahl.

Siv Jakobsen – Shallow Digger
Single out June 30th 2017

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From the upcoming debut album The Nordic Mellow, out August 25th 2017.

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Debrah Scarlett saccharine vocals have a slight edge to them, an eldritch edge which lends her pop an otherworldly quality. The 23-year-old Norwegian/Swiss singer’s incredible voice caught the attention of a nation when she joined Mørland to represent Norway in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest, but it’s her debut solo outing “Cynical Youth” which caught our attention. The track, taken from her latest EP DYS(U)TOPIA, is a stunning ode to an ode to growing up between places and never quite fitting in. She absolutely captivating and not to be missed.

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Norwegian four-piece touting bruising rock with a bark that accurately prepares you for its bite. Following the break-out success of last year’s Empire Records EP, Norwegian pop-punkers Sløtface, are gearing up for a monumentous 2017. They’ve just added a huge October headline tour on top of a raft of festival slots and support dates with both Los Campesinos! and The Cribs. They’ve also got the small task of releasing their debut album, Try Not To Freak Out, which is will be out in September.

Why to get excited about them: Early single ‘Shave My Head’ is a brutal riposte to controlling partners and they’ve followed it up with an equally fiery ‘Empire Records’ EP. Exciting times for Scandinavia’s boldest.

Try Not To Freak Out is out September 15th on Propeller Records.

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Having been fans here of Norwegian indie rockers Slotface since we saw them at a 2014 festival , we’re delighted with the news that the foursome are finally releasing their debut album in September this year.

Haley Shea, Tor-Arne Vikingstad, Lasse Lokøy and Halvard Skeie Wiencke have got better with each release, with last year’s double apex of the Sponge State and Empire Records EPs being examples of how the band’s punk roots and pop nous have combined to greater and greater effect .

“Magazine”, the opening track from Try Not To Freak Out , hints that there’s still much more to come from the Bergen outfit.

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New single ’Magazine’ out now Debut album ‘Try Not To Freak Out’ out September 15th via Propeller Recordings

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Sløtface (yes, prounounced that way) has been through many “phases” as a band, and their next one is sure to be the biggest yet.

Four years ago, there was no Sløtface, just four teens looking to turn the Norwegian music industry on it’s head. Concerned with the progressive disappearance of rock and guitar in Norway’s pop music, as well as the restrictive point of views that were being represented, the band members were focused on changing that scene.

“We deserve to hear different identities.That’s owed to us,” said lead singer Haley Shea. “I write from a female perspective because I feel like women’s voices are underrepresented in general. Especially women angry about things. And I think it’s okay to be angry about things.” And thus the unabashedly unique pop-punk Sløtface was formed.

Their new track “Bright Lights,” proves they’re entering their prime. Think the Neighborhood meets your favorite pop-punk band from middle school—absolutely classic. Living up to its lyrics, the track “never feels the same anyway,” taking a classic song structure for a loop with a commanding bridge. The track itself was inspired by an overwhelming need to get away.

“Bright Lights’ is about escaping from things that are going on in your own head and in society in general by distracting yourself, especially from the minor and major personal issues we all have,” Shea explained. “It’s about a desire for escape, and a break from dealing with things that might seem too hard.”

With their forthcoming EP Empire Records EP will no doubt spark a riotous response from their already devoted fan base came out November 18th, it’s safe to say we’re soon going to be hearing a lot more about Sløtface. Nevertheless, we won’t help but giggle a little when we mention their name to everyone we know.

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Sløtface have  unveiled their new video for ‘Bright Lights’ – tackling the subject of the dangers that face young women walking home at night.

Taken from their acclaimed new EP ‘Empire Records’, the new video from the rising Norwegian punks seeks to raise awareness of the ‘everyday sexism’ that faces females at night time. “We wanted to show people all of the things women do to feel safer when they’re walking home at night alone,” singer Haley Shea  “We think it’s wrong that you should feel less safe being a woman on the streets, and worry that people don’t pay enough attention to it as an issue. It’s all about removing everyday sexism and making the world a safer place for everyone. We think awareness is a good place to start.”

“Maybe sometimes it feels like you’re putting someone on the spot when you’re asking them to have real opinions, which seems like a weird way to approach music in general but for our sake our whole thing is trying to write pop music that’s catchy enough but it’s actually about something important,” Shea told NME about the band’s approach. “Like we’re tricking you into listening to this feminist anthem with like super-clear tendencies but you never realised it.”
Read more at http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-radar/sl-tface-bright-lights-listen-759740#RwJ2SWfqMtmvRBHs.99

The ‘Empire Records EP’ is out now.

Meanwhile, as well as appearing at The Great Escape, South By South West and Eurosonic Noorderslag in 2017, Sløtface’s upcoming UK headline tour dates are below.

FEBRUARY
The Castle, Manchester (13)
Oporto, Leeds (14)
Nice N Sleazy, Glasgow (15)
Kamio, London (17)
Green Door Store, Brighton (18)

Jenny Hval - 'Blood Bitch' album art

Jenny Hval has revealed her second collaboration with Norwegian noise artist/producer Lasse Marhaug. Due out September 30th through Sacred Bones, Blood Bitch was initially described as “her bold, new vampire blood solo album.” This being Jenny Hval, it’s of course not that simple. According to a statement from the singer/multi-instrumentalist, the concept record actually revolves around “the purest and most powerful, yet most trivial, and most terrifying blood: Menstruation. The white and red toilet roll chain which ties together the virgins, the whores, the mothers, the witches, the dreamers, and the lovers.”

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She continued:

‘Blood Bitch’ is also a fictitious story, fed by characters and images from horror and exploitation films of the ’70s. With that language, rather than smart, modern social commentary, I found I could tell a different story about myself and my own time: a poetic diary of modern transience and transcendence.
There is a character in this story that is a vampire Orlando, traveling through time and space. But there is also a story here of a 35-year old artist stuck in a touring loop, and wearing a black wig. She is always up at night, jet lagged, playing late night shows – and by day she is quietly resting over an Arp Odyssey synthesizer while a black van drives her around Europe and America.

So this is my most fictional and most personal album. It’s also the first album where I’ve started reconnecting with the goth and metal scene I started out playing in many years ago, by remembering the drony qualities of Norwegian Black Metal. It’s an album of vampires, lunar cycles, sticky choruses, and the smell of warm leaves and winter.

Tour Dates in the UK

10/17 Glasgow, Scotland – Stereo
10/18 Manchester, England – Soup Kitchen
10/19 London, England – Oslo

Technically, “Sponge State” is Sløtface‘s first single. Well, the first name under the name of Sløtface, anyway. You see up until 1st April 2016, the four-piece band, who hail from Stavanger in Norway, were known instead as Slutface. The change came about because of “social media censorship”, but what the band didn’t change was their brilliant brand of feminist pop punk.

Clearly it hasn’t been a set back for the band, either. “Sponge State” is the first single off an EP of the same name due to be released 27th May 2016 via Propeller Records. From the outset it’s a typhoon of heavy punk guitars and defiance, reminiscent of bands like Bully and Doe. “All my friends are making names for themselves,” singer Haley Shea spits in this anthem to disenfranchised, angsty youth. It’s so relatable that the chorus literally features the line “I keep thinking about that summer we discovered Bon Iver.” We all, and I think I speak for pretty much for the entire planet, remember where we were for that summer,

The EP is set to feature new versions of some of the band’s previously released songs, including the anthemic “Get My Own”, which finds Haley pushing out her own space, not just for herself, but for all women. “We refuse to scared to walk all alone,” she shouts in a particularly rousing cry. It’s the kind of song that is necessary at the moment, the kind of song that people can unite around.

Sløtface are a band that you need to get behind; a band with that rare blend of passion, politics and great song writing.

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New single ’Sponge State’ out now via Propeller Recordings


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