I don’t know when Swedish rockers Deville will have their new record out, or even what it’s called, but the band has posted two minutes of audio from it on their Soundcloud page, so I figured I’d share. Let unpretentious European heavy reign:

One has to wonder if the fact that Greenleaf are now confirmed to be playing both the Berlin and the London Desertfests means that we’ll have the chance to hear their new album before April. If that’s the case, all the better. I’m dying to get the chance to see how they follow up 2007′s most righteous Agents of Ahriman, and whatever the new one is called, and whenever it comes, it’s definitely one of my most anticipated records of 2012. Hope you’re half as stoked as I am.

Here’s the confirmation from Sound of Liberation of Greenleaf‘s slot in Berlin:

Alright Desertfest Folks, a couple of news from the headquarters. We will announce more great bands during this week, so stay tuned for some acts you surely don’t expect. Anyhow, today we are delighted to confirm the presence of Swedish Super Stonerrockers from Greenleaf to the lineup!

Featuring a revolving cast of fellow musicians who share a love of heavy fuzz rock, Greenleaf has consistently defined what rock ‘n’ roll was, is, and should be, and they will prove it to you at Desertfest Berlin on Thursday 19 April 2012 !!!!!

This time, guitarist Tommi Holappa (Dozer) and bassist Bengt Bäcke are joined by Oskar Cedermalm (Truckfighters) on vocals, and Erik Bäckwall (ex-Dozer drummer) on drums.

Take note: this is what rock bands should sound like — a righteous kick in the ass and a testament to the almighty riff!

It’s basic and self-directed drunken cruelty that has me closing out this week with an awesome Swedish band that will likely never come to the States. I don’t really feel like getting into it, but the short version is I applied for a Fulbright to go to Sweden and write about rock bands and didn’t get it. Wait. No. That’s the long version. The short version is I’m going to live in New Jersey forever. There you go.

Ugh. What a week.

I didn’t even get to post the Black Pyramid interview. I’ll do that Monday. White Hills is playing Manhattan on Tuesday, but I don’t know if I’m actually going to make it out. They’re the Eastern Seaboard’s Farflung and all, but still, they might be too cool for me. Feeling awfully outclassed by life lately. Not sure if it’s the being old, the balding or the fat, but something’s doing it. At least I finally wrote on that Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats record. Great to be part of the crowd on that one.

Reviewing Alcest this week and I don’t know what else. Packages came in today from Electric Moon and Bushfire, so maybe them, but I’ve got a backlog of stuff and a bunch of digital-type promos that need organizing. Every CD I get is appreciated. Links less so. It’s a hard truth, but there it is. I can have 30 folders on my desktop from bands who want their shit written on, but if I can look at a cover like on The Hedons‘ disc, I’m gonna reach for that every time. Effort is met with effort. That’s science.

I’ve also decided to stop bolding place-names as of right now. Tired of seeing “Brooklyn” in bold on this site, and I’m pretty sure when I say “UK” people know I’m talking about the United Kingdom and it doesn’t need to be bold to get the point across. Either way, I’m sure you were very concerned about my fucking stylistic decisions.

New music this week from Brokaw (a full album stream on Monday) and something very special for Wino Wednesday that I’m not even gonna say yet because I don’t want to jinx it. It’s going to be really cool though, so tune in for it.

And the week after this one coming, if all goes to plan, I’ll be premiering a series of new columns written by people who aren’t me. More on that to come.

Alright, enjoy the weekend and be safe. See you on the forum and back here Monday for more Jersey-based hopelessness.

The basic assumption on the part of filmmakers Joerg Steineck and Christian Maciejewski going into their rock-doc Truckfighters is that, if you’re watching it, you already know who Truckfighters are. Honestly, that’s probably the best approach, since if you’ve tracked the feature-length movie down, you’ve probably done so on account of your fandom of the Swedish outfit, but I’d imagine that even if your interest was based elsewhere – even if you were just watching it for the story or because you have a documentary fetish or whatever else – Truckfighters would still satisfy on that level. Billed as a “fuzzomentary,” it’s a human story rather than rock and roll glorification, and that is bound to expand the reach of its appeal, and apart from the humor and sadness, and yes, the fuzz, it’s also incredibly visually stylized and holds the attention that way as well. Shot on Mini-DV and Super 8, its look is a big part of what ties everything together – along with spectacular editing and a few cartoonish or otherwise humorous montages – and though the retro visual feel doesn’t necessarily mesh with Truckfighters’ actual sound, which however influenced by ‘70s rock it might be is more modern, it still works. Narrated by original Kyuss bassist Chris Cockrell, who also shows up late into the film under his alias Vic du Monte, the story is broken into nine increasingly loosely presented chapters that wind up intertwining to tell the tale in a manner not nearly as fractured or disorganized as life actually is when dealing with a group of people working together toward a common end.

Steineck and Maciejewski (also responsible for the documentary Lo Sound Desert) don’t insert themselves into the actual film, instead leaving it to the band to talk about their lives in and out of Truckfighters, touring, recording, family, etc., with additional setup from Cockrell’s narration at the start of each chapter and at various points in between. Live footage features heavily, as one might expect, and since Truckfighters put on such an energetic show, it adds to the classic rock feel of the movie. At home, though, it’s quiet, and that’s where we start. Following an opening narration from Cockrell – who seemed to have in mind what Sam Elliott brought to The Big Lebowski as The Stranger in his reading voice — the film first shows us vocalist/bassist Oskar “Ozo” Cedermalm going to work at a ski shop in what looks like a cold Swedish winter. Chapter one is called “Common,” and it’s not long before guitarist Niklas “Dango” Källgren is seen in the studio recording a local hardcore band from Örebro, also Truckfighters’ hometown backdrop, which they discuss as boring and Ozo compares to The Matrix even as they splice in footage from a show with Witchcraft and Graveyard. It’s not until chapter two, “How to Get Things Done,” that drummer Oscar “Pezo” Johansson is introduced as being perpetually late, and the band’s shaky relationship with him is made apparent for the first time. He winds up being sympathetic and likeable, as do both Ozo and Dango over the ensuing two contradictory chapters, “Road” and “Home.” Stylized live footage and discussion of the hardships of van travel for touring should be pretty familiar to anyone who’s seen this kind of band-based documentary before, but a timeline montage takes us quickly through the history of Truckfighters and the past members of the band, Fredo and Paco – the latter who came in as a replacement for Pezo, whose drug problem, leaving the band and subsequent return and conversion to Christianity is touched on but never really explored deeply; although later we do see him discuss prayer as the band warms up for a show – and proves necessary for anyone who might not have followed them over the course of their years together and their three albums, Gravity X (2005), Phi (2007) and Mania (2009).

It turns out to be the making of the latter that Truckfighters is chronicling in part. We see the band in their Studio Bombshelter at various points recording, later on dealing with Pezo’s lack of dedication to the project and the band as a whole. Some of the most compelling footage, however is in the “Home” chapter. We meet Ozo’s and Dango’s sons and find out Ozo is a single dad. Dango’s son is an infant he calls “Mini-Dango,” and as we watch them cooking, doing dishes, cleaning up holiday wrapping paper – there’s even a shot of Pezo vacuuming spliced in to drive the point home – it’s clear the interest of Truckfighters is in portraying the band as human beings rather than rockstars. That said, they do admit to partying some, and a pretty funny semi-psychedelic montage of drunk antics ensues, leading to chapter five, “Issues,” which discusses van breakdowns, missed flights and tells the story of Ozo throwing a loaf of bread during a playful “bread fight” with the guitarist of Valient Thorr and hitting his eye, causing some apparently temporary damage. Both bands were on tour with Fu Manchu, which is also discussed later as the movie begins to veer away from the chapter narrative to take in the whole picture. In the midst of that bread-fight story, chapter six, “Family Fights” – which Cockrell can’t finish introducing without laughing – begins, and over the course of that and “The Body Burden,” which follows with a look at the wear and tear of Truckfighters’ high-impact gigging (already in the film we’ve seen Dango jump up and down on stage a number of times) and how they prepare for shows, stay fit, eat well, etc., the Pezo story really begins to develop. In the midst of watching Dango warming up and a funny scene of he and Ozo jogging while eating fruit (soon contradicted by footage of them drunk), we shift to the band in the studio and as Pezo records drum parts, it becomes clear all isn’t well within the band.

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Well, they’re from Sweden, and they rock, so I guess they have my vote. It doesn’t take much time to head over to the link below and cast a quick vote for Ponamero Sundown — whose Rodeo Eléctrica album was released earlier this year — to play the Sweden Rock fest, so I figured I’d post the news in case anyone has a spare second and a half to help out.

Dig it:

Great news from Ponamero Sundown camp! The band has been picked out for an ongoing competition to play at Sweden Rock Festival next June. The three bands who get the most votes get to play at the festival and Ponamero Sundown are among the 100 out of 1500 who got picked! Now we need your help in order to get this awesome stonerfuzz rock expedition spreads the riffage at the festival. The link where you can submit your votes is below, anyone can vote once a day, no registration needed. Thanks!

http://www.swedenrock.com/index.cfm?lg=2&pg=574

While we’re doing super-news day, I read this a couple minutes ago in an update from Ghost Road Touring on Thee Facebooks. Obviously still kind of vague, but even if this is rumor at this point, it’s the kind I’m happy to help spread:

Legendary Viral Fuzz Lords, Truckfighters (Sweden) and Very Special Guests, Instrumental Mountain Rock Pioneers Karma to Burn (US), have announced plans for a full American tour for March 2012.

Please don’t miss this opportunity to see one of the best US club shows of 2012!

Ultra-Satanic Swedish creepers Ghost have just announced a North American tour. It’s a quick run, just a couple weeks, but it’ll take them from coast to coast in the US and includes a couple dates in Canada as well. You’ll note in the release from the PR wire below that Ghost‘s vocalist has donned the moniker Papa Emeritus — doubtless a direct result of getting tired of being called Evil Pope Guy on this site all the time. Papa Emeritus it is.

If you’ll recall, Ghost was supposed to tour a couple months back with Enslaved and Alcest, and couldn’t get their visas. One can only hope the dark lords of Homeland Security grant them passage this time around. Here’s the news:

Mysterious Swedish buzz band Ghost has announced that it will embark on its first ever North American headlining tour in January, 2012. Ghost cult leader “Papa Emeritus” (who takes the stage in the form of “a satanic pope”) and his anonymous ghouls will team up with doom rockers Blood Ceremony and Ancient VVisdom for a two week trek dubbed the “13 Dates of Doom” tour that will launch on January 18 in New York City.

“It is with an evil haunting chuckle that we are announcing that we are finally coming to North America,” states Ghost‘s Papa Emeritus. ”In the name of Satan, we will conduct thirteen rituals in thirteen different cities throughout the United States and Canada and now we are summoning all of our devotees to partake in these blasphemous eves of black magic.”

The itinerary for the Ghost/Blood Ceremony/Ancient VVisdom winter North American tour is as follows:
 01/18 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
 01/19 Washington, D.C. Rock N Roll Hotel
 01/20 Boston, MA Middle East (downstairs)
 01/21 Montreal, QC Corona Theatre
 01/22 Toronto, ON The Mod Club
 01/24 Chicago, IL Bottom Lounge
 01/25 Saint Paul, MN Station 4
 01/27 Denver, CO Marquis Theatre
 01/28 Salt Lake City, UT The Vertigo (The Complex)
 01/30 Seattle, WA El Corazon
 01/31 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theater
 02/01 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill
 02/02 Los Angeles, CA The Roxy

Just by the time our poor American asses will be beginning to recover from the onslaught of terribleness known with cruel irony as “the holidays,” the irresistible urge to renew the hangover will come swinging through town in the form of Graveyard. The ultra-swagger of Hisingen Blues made it one of this year’s best records, and as the PR wire informs, they’re finally bringing the show Stateside for a tour. Can’t wait.

More dates to come, but here are the preliminaries:

After months of overseas arm wrestling plus a little bit of back-island voodoo shenanigans that we can’t even begin to comprehend, we’re proud to announce that the Graveyard guys are finally back. Here. As in “gonna play the States again.”

Graveyard drummer Axel Sjöberg checks in about the band’s eminent return:

“At last the circumstances of life and the music industry has allowed us to return to the land of infinite highways and corrupt bankers. Of mighty nature and excellent thrift stores. Of microbreweries and good Mexican food (which you can’t find in Gothenburg). Yes ladies and gentlemen, the boys in the ‘yard are returning to the U S of A in January, 2012. A good way to start the new year and an excuse to get fucked up and enjoy some good rocking music.

“With us on our travels across the nation are the very skillful musicians of Radio Moscow. With natural talent and relentless touring they are bound to leave jaws hanging and people wondering what just happened. Blues rock the way it’s meant to be played.”

The first 13 shows of the Graveyard & Radio Moscow trek through the US are:

01/12/12 Bowery Ballroom New York, NY
01/13/12 Middle East Boston, MA
01/14/12 Northstar Bar Philadelphia, PA
01/16/12 DC9 Washington, D.C.
01/17/12 Strange Matter Richmond, VA
01/19/12 Asheville Music Hall Asheville, NC
01/20/12 Exit/In Nashville, TN
01/21/12 Masquerade (Hell Stage) Atlanta, GA
01/22/12 Hi-Tone Café Memphis, TN
01/24/12 Fitzgerald’s Houston, TX
01/25/12 Mohawk Austin, TX
01/31/12 Doug Fir Lounge Portland, OR
02/01/12 The Tractor Seattle, WA

Well, I’d been on the fence pretty much since Orange Goblin was announced for it, but Greenleaf seals the deal: I’m going to do everything in my power to head to the UK the weekend before Roadburn to catch Desertfest in London. Sorry (and yes, that apology is directed specifically to The Patient Mrs.), but I can’t miss it. More info on the fest is here. I hope to have more on the lineup as it develops.

The excellent news continues with the update that showed up on the forum yesterday that Greenleaf will also have a new record out next year. Check it out:

We have some Greenleaf recording updates (from Small Stone HQ). The band will start recording their new album this Friday (November 4th) in Sweden, with a target completion date being sometime in February of 2012. With that said, you can look for a new Greenleaf album out on Small Stone late Spring of 2012… On all formats: CD, Digital, and the LTD 180g LP.

And here’s the confirmation of their Desertfest slot:

Here at Desertfest we have been working hard and have lots of exciting news in the coming weeks. We are kicking it off in style. We can confirm that Swedish super group Greenleaf is to play Desertfest London. With a mix of Dozer members and Ozo from Truckfighters on vocals this is a festival must see.

After a few initial listens, the core contrast of Mortui Vivos Docent – the Night Tripper Records debut album from Swedish heavy/doom rockers Obrero – begins to sink in. It’s the vocals. Even before doing any research at all on the band or its personnel, there was something about them that seemed pulled right out of classic metal, right out of the thrash era. It wasn’t until I went so far as to (gasp!) read the liner notes that I discovered the man behind the mic in Obrero is Martin Missy of the once-and-apparently-again German thrash unit Protector. In Obrero, he partners with guitarists Fredrik Pihlström and Mathias Öjermark (the latter also the occasional keys), bassist Magnus Karkea and drummer Calle Sjöström — who would all seem to be the Stockholm contingent in the band, if names are anything to go by – to nestle the sound of Mortui Vivos Docent somewhere between Euro-style stoner metal and doom. If the band represents a side-project for Missy from the reactivated Protector, he’s not the only one; everyone in the band either was or is active in the thrash or speed metal genres. Karkea and Sjöström are both members of Talion, as are Missy and Pihlström, who’s also been in Melting Flesh and Bloodbanner, among others. The only member of Obrero not also found in Talion’s lineup is Öjermark, who was both in Melting Flesh with Pihlström and an outfit called Ruins of Time with Missy, so everyone’s connected here multiple times over, all seem to be familiar with each other’s playing – Obrero’s relative ease of execution backs that theory – and all are stepping outside of the styles in which they’ve made a home to explore new ground.

They’re not the first from thrash to do so (at times Obrero reminds of a less directly blues-derived version of The Cursed, which featured vocalist Bobby Blitz of OverKill and Hades’ Dan Lorenzo), but one of the factors that most stands Mortui Vivos Docent out among the throng of heavy rock and doom out there is how seamlessly it blends the two. Where “Svantovit” – particularly in Sjöström’s drums, but also in the guitar – reminds at first of something Kyuss might have done in their middle period, it soon moves into Trouble-styled classic guitar-led doom, the synth from Öjermark adding class and melody behind Missy’s mostly-rhythmic verse, which follows the guitar line well in metallic tradition. That song is among the high points of Mortui Vivos Docent (which translates from the Latin to “The Dead Teach the Living”), but it has plenty of company in its quality level. The center portion of the album’s total eight tracks finds one of its smoothest transitions in that between the riffy “The Fourth Earl” and the darker, more doom-derived “Octaman.” Both songs are led by Pihlström and Öjermark with Karkea and Sjöström underscoring the groove in the rhythm section, but they take different approaches, showing more stylistic diversity between them than, say, the earlier “Son of Tutankhamun,” which seemed to take the time to meld the two styles into one song. Both approaches are valid on their own – either combining doom and stoner rock or keeping them separate – but by utilizing both methods, Obrero show they are not only well versed in their genre, but in songwriting too, which ultimately is going to help them more than any amount of fandom or intricacy of influence could.

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I guess I never got the email or whatever — or else I’ve posted the clip three times by now and just forgotten — but at some point Örebro fuzz heroes Truckfighters put out a video for “Con of Man” from Mania, and it’s hitting the spot perfectly tonight. What I like best about it is it’s not their most accessible track, not their most immediate single, but I dare you to not have it stuck in your head after even one listen. The underlying political implications of the video I consider a bonus.

Thanks to everyone who downloaded the podcast this week and who entered the contest to win the Moth Eater/Black Thai split. The running for that is over, and I fully plan on selecting names out of a hat to get the winners list this coming Monday, so that should be fun. For the time being, it’s been a tiring week in terms of work and class, and I’m glad to see it come to an end.

It was also my birthday this week (please don’t say “happy birthday”) and I always have trouble with that, but that really was only one factor to add to the overall stress. It was a relief tonight to come back to the valley after work, go to dinner with The Patient Mrs., drink some wine and enjoy the evening. I know it was something, but I honestly don’t even remember what was happening this evening in Brooklyn, and I’m just fine with that. Sometimes life turns out to be what we most need it to be at that moment. I’ll take it.

Again, appreciation to everyone who checked in this week. Starting Monday, I’ll be taking a look at records from Generation of Vipers, Morbid Wizard, The House of Capricorn and Ogressa. I’ll also hopefully have my interview with Black Cobra posted by the end of the week, and barring disaster, on Tuesday we’ll have a new track premiere from Rue as well, so stay tuned for that. It’s interesting to see the hierarchy of blog prominence come into play with that kind of thing — at some point, I’d like to write an essay about it, but I probably won’t — but I’ll continue to have new audio as often as possible to the best of my dictated ability. I guess some sites’ hipster cred has to pay off somewhere. Ha.

But anyhoo, this curious fuckall corner of the interwebs wishes you the best and safest of weekends. I hope if you choose to alter your consciousness, you do so in a wholesome and friendly environment, with appropriate aural accompaniment. See you in the Dingerhaus and back here on Monday for more silliness.

Releases like The Satanik Magiik always serve to underscore the differences in my mind between the American and European heavy rock markets. Where in the current American scene, the thing is heavy hipster swagger or post-rock-influenced psychedelia, the Night Tripper Records debut full-length from Swedish rockers El Camino reminds just how metal Europe can get and still be commercially relevant. El Camino don’t have much going for them in terms of originality; the double-guitar/stand-alone vocal five-piece hinge back and forth between straightforward stoner metal and screamy sludge, but what’s important to remember is that’s enough. That’s all they need to be doing. Cuts like “We are the Dark” and “Hail the Horns” are familiar in both theme and methodology almost to the point of cliché, but you can do that in Sweden and still offer a viable product. It must be amazing to witness, but that doesn’t help my American ears adjust to the record, the crux of which feels lost in translation (not literally, the songs are in English). To me, The Satanik Magiik – aside from reveling in its metallic imagery of snakes, horns, the devil, etc. – sits somewhere between its overly clean production and stoner rock influences. The songs follow a classic pop structure and vary the pacing enough, and will be easy for anyone who’s had even limited experience in the genre to grasp, but apart perhaps from the innuendo-riffic “Rise of the Snake” and the near-Weedeatery of “Family Values” which follows, they come in a wash of elemental riffing and rhythms.

The important distinction to make, though, is that they’re metal, which most (no rule is absolute) American heavy rock is not. El Camino – who keep their personal info limited to initials only; JS and NH on guitar, T on bass, M on drums and D on vocals – are a metal band, and The Satanik Magiik follows a metallic course immediately from the instrumental opener “Prelude to the Horns.” Perhaps to the album’s credit, it doesn’t get locked musically in the doomly tropes of modern occult metal, instead presenting Satan more as the dark overlord you want to have a beer with than who you want to overtake humanity in some grainy ‘70s horror film. That stylistic choice also speaks to the central issue with the album though, because although El Camino don’t worship Electric Wizard or Pagan Altar (at least not outwardly in their music), the clear-cut musical path they follow is one well if not overly trodden by other bands before them. Even the band’s name, which evokes images of Californian sands, Fu Manchu and party rock, runs in conflict with what the band is actually doing. Along with the burl of songs like “Mountain Man,” it’s an example of how El Camino are trying almost to do too much at the same time they’re trying to keep everything simple, which makes The Satanik Magiik even more confusing. Even as I groove out to that song, I can’t help but wonder what the hell is going on. Couple that with the fact that even at their most rocking – on that song, on “Rise of the Snake,” and on “Family Values” – the songs aren’t really about anything discernible (the chorus to “Rise of the Snake” is “Hellbound/Rise up” repeated), and it seems almost like El Camino have all the rock and none of the aesthetic.

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Swedish doomers Isole have a penchant for the epic. The Gävle four-piece will issue Born From Shadows — their third album for Napalm Records following two earlier full-lengths on their countryman imprint I Hate Records — on Oct. 25 in North America and Oct. 28 in Europe. The album follows the strong progressive Eurodoom of 2009′s Silent Ruins (review here) and continues a prolific streak for Isole, who’ve now put out five albums in six years.

More important than the number of releases, though, is the fact that Isole have carved an identity for themselves in the course of that time. Guitarist/vocalists Christer Olsson and Daniel Bryntse began playing together under the name Forlorn in 1990, and the clarity of vision and maturity they’ve gleaned in the time since shows itself in these songs. They bring in a few of the epic/Viking elements they also explore as members of Ereb Altor, but it’s Isole‘s careful handling of melody that really makes their material stand out.

At nine and a half minutes, there’s plenty of room for it to do so on the title-cut of Born From Shadows, which the label was kind enough to let me host for streaming. In the song, you’ll also find some growls and screams and heavier influences at play, which give the track even more heft. Check it out on the player below, followed by some bio info from Napalm‘s website. Hope you dig:

Isole’s fifth release Born From Shadows is the continuation of a story that began in 2005 with Moonstone on the debut album “Forevermore” and then “Shadowstone” on Bliss of Solitude. On Born From Shadows the two stones symbolize two opposites that finally come together to become one: darkness meets light, death meets life, and good meets evil.

With their first releases, Isole was able to secure an excellent reputation within the doom metal underground. They have now elevated their status even further with their last two albums, Bliss of Solitude and Silent Ruins. Their current work, Born From Shadows, impressively maintains their well-earned position and lays any doubts as to their superiority to rest. The Swedish quartet understands more than any other band how to effectively merge hypnotic melodies with viscous guitar lines. Once again the album was recorded and mixed by Isole at Apocalypse and Gustavo Sazes (Arch Enemy, Firewind) provided his artistic know-how to convey a feeling of mysticism and darkness through his symbolic artwork, while Jens Bogren (Opeth, Katatonia, Enslaved) took on the mastering responsibilities. 

True to form for the Stockholm jammers’ penchant for open structures and extended spontaneous interludes, there is a whole host of guests on their new live album, Root Jam. That’s nothing new for Siena Root, who even on their own number anywhere from a four- to a six-piece band, and whose last studio offering, Different Realities (2009), lived up to its title in terms of its diversity of approach and melding heavy riffs, jams and excursions into psychedelic and subcontinental-Asian songwriting.

Root Jam leaves space for plenty of that as well, and at nearly 92-minutes, the album is a two-disc beast. A cut like the organ-heavy “Words” reaches well over 12 minutes to end the record/set’s first half, and the whole midsection of the song is Eastern instrumentation met with killer guitar leads. There are several such passages throughout, and Siena Root know how to keep it flowing and cohesive, despite the variety they bring out of the music.

Transubstans Records was kind enough to let me host the more straightforward “The Rat” for your streaming pleasure. If you’ve never heard Siena Root before, it’s a pretty good place to start, the guest vocals adding soul to the bluesy groove of the riffs. Hope you dig it:

Root Jam is out in October on Transubstans Records. More info available at the label’s site. Here’s what they have to say about it:

Above all else, this extensive double live album is a resume of Siena Root‘s early years. This album features all the elements of the band, from their debut up to recent days. They have managed to pour the band’s dynamic energy from the stage right into this box of 91 minutes root rock. You will for sure find the good old heavy riffs, side-by-side with psychedelic vibes and groovy jams.

But there is more, much more to experience in this magnificent album. There are no less than nine guest artists featured, with a range from classical violin by Martin Stensson from Swedish radio symphonic orchestra, to legendary blues guitarist Maxi Dread. You will also find a lot of Siena Root family from the past such as Tängman and vocalists Oskar and Sanya performing songs on a new level. On top of it all you get previously unreleased material and two rare acoustic tracks that reveal a new side of the band. The album will also be released on LP by Headspin Records.

If you count live albums, limited CDRs and studio offerings, the combination Danish/Swedish outfit Øresund Space Collective have a total of 25 releases under their belt since 2005. Being a fan of the ridiculously prolific in general, it’s hard not to stand in awe of that level of output and that kind of commitment to making music. So far in 2011, they’ve released four studio records.

A rotating cast of a lineup featuring members of Gas Giant, Siena Root, Sula Bassana and countless others means each Øresund Space Collective offering is going to have a different edge to it, and since the music is always instrumental and always improvised, you’re bound to run into some variation on the traditional Hawkwindian space rock theme.

In terms of the inevitable “where to start?” question, I don’t think there’s any other way to go about it except to dive right in. They’ve got five full records streaming and available for purchase on their Bandcamp page, but I was granted permission to host a couple tracks here from 2011 albums Dead Man in Space and Entering into the Space Country, so I figured 40 minutes over the course of two songs should be enough to give some impression of what Øresund Space Collective are all about. Hope you dig it:

“Space Jazz Jam 2.2″ is taken from Dead Man in Space, was recorded in October, 2008, and released April, 2011. “Born Between Stars” comes from Entering into the Space Country, was recorded September, 2010, and released August, 2011. More info on Øresund Space Collective and their epic discography is here.