Release writer Sebastian Hess went to the outskirts of the tiniest village outside a tiny town in the south of Sweden to find coziness enough to last a lifetime. Read his report on the underground electronic music festival Kalabalik på Tyrolen here. [more...]

Do you know the connection between actor Hugh Grant and Depeche Mode? Do you know the reason 10 000 people with tickets turned up to a 3 000 capacity show with Depeche Mode in Sweden in 1984? If you know the answers, you are either a walking Depeche Mode encyclopedia. Or maybe you’ve just read Martin Sernestrand’s new book “Depeche Mode i Sverige 1982-2016″. Release writer Sebastian Hess has read the book and talked to the author. [more...]

Release writer Sebastian Hess got to experience a rare live show during the Corona pandemic. Niklas Karlsson, who uses Niels Gordon as his artist persona, is a passionate fan of electronic music and the machines that you use to make it.

To celebrate the release of his new album “Land”, a live show in Gothenburg was planned but as with all other live events it had to be cancelled and Niklas decided to put on a small show in his garden instead. He invited 20-30 people to experience it live and the show was streamed live on YouTube for others to see. [more...]

In 2015 Sebastian Hess and Henrik Wittgren from Release interviewed Nicola Sirkis in Stockholm, which resulted in our ”Indochine – The Swedish Connection” feature. In 2021 Indochine will celebrate 40 years as a band and we got the opportunity to talk to Nicola again. We also talked to Swedish drummer Ludwig Dahlberg to hear how he ended up in the biggest band in France. 

And as if this wasn’t enough, some early photos of Indochine in Sweden surfaced through a newly started Swedish Facebook group. Check them out towards the end.

 The 40 year celebration will include two compilation albums (the first one is out now), arena shows in France and a couple of new songs of which the single ”Nos Célébrations” is the first one. [more...]

Release writer Sebastian Hess talked to Adam Anderson, one half of Hurts, about their 5th album “Faith”, partly recorded in Release hometown Gothenburg, struggling like Depeche Mode and the fact that singer Theo spent the first two weeks of lockdown in the company of only an octopus named Arnold. 

Singer Theo Hutchcraft has said that the new recordings were driven by the “darker elements of pop” and that the lyrics were inspired by “isolation, desperation and mania”. 

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40 years after their self-titled debut album Duran Duran is still going strong with their 15th studio album ”Future Past” (October 22, 2021). The new album features collaborations with artists as diverse as Swedish pop star Tove Lo, Blur guitarist Graham Coxon and Japanese punk band CHAI. Erol Alkan and the legendary Giorgio Moroder helped out with production.

Release’s Sebastian Hess had a nice video chat with founding member Nick Rhodes while the band was preparing for a performance at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. They talked about how the pandemic made the album better, favorite collectables, Swedish connections, Nick’s side project and they even had time for a mini quiz.

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