Great news! Oholics and Cresendolls have been selected to perform at the Jack Rock´s final in Stockholm in 3 weeks time. Jack Rocks is an unsigned competition where the bands pit themselves against the scrutiny of a panel of heavy duty judges. From the hundreds of bands who entered the competition, the panel select 30 to go through to the next stage, then 8 go to the semifinals and play live in 2 seperate events. The 4 who impress the judges the most are invited to perform at the finals, to be held in Stockholm at Skyddsrummet on the 26th November. Both Oholics and Crescendolls will be taking the stage and Record Union will be there to support them in full force.

The winner of this years competition will get the chance to record a 3 track EP at Aldeheim studios, play 2 major festivals (Sweden Rock festival and another as yet to be announced), recieve a gift voucher at JAM worth 30,000 SEK and be provided with a selection of merchandise as well as 100 proffesionally designed and printed CDs.

Hans Selander a.k.a “Hasse”, the Record Union A&R who is responsible for recruiting both bands, is ecstatic and confident both Oholics (who have a reputation for their raucous live performances) and Crescendolls will give the judges something they will never forget. Its going to be wild.

Listen to:

Cresendolls on Spotify

Oholics on Myspace

Hasse Selander is a self confessed music addict – however, we wouldn’t dream of prescribing him anything for his addiction. Back in the day he played in the infamous Swedish punk band “Rabies” (who simultaneously got banned from all the youth centres in the Gothenburg area for smashing up their instruments in typical “The Who” behaviour). Now he spends his time scouring the internet for fresh sounds. He also promotes artists from his MySpace page and other online channels. His music knowledge is encyclopaedic. Hasse has always listened to a wide spectra of music styles, even when a hardcore punkster he was listening to Kraftwerk, DAF, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Beastie Boys and so on. However, one genre which he claims formed him the most is the is Punk and the DIY attitude. We caught up with Hasse and asked him about some of the artists he has been bringing to Record Union.

Which artists would you like to tips us readers on today? I have managed to sign up quite a few great artists/bands but today I would like to give some extra attention to some of them with albums released on Spotify and to my new favourite indie label Ziekte-NL an Underground label in The Netherlands. The bands are Sterile Hermaphrodite, Stolen Policecar, and The Junkies (not on Ziekte-NL)

Sterile Hermaphrodite (Ziekte-NL) was the first band I signed up and the first thing about them I liked was the cocky humorous attitude they show on their MySpace page and in their music. Their album “Walking Like A Reptile” is a totally amazing debut, loads of energy with an unbelievable honest desperation in the vocals. Their sound can be described as Stoner-influenced raw-Grunge mixed with the energy of the 80’s Punk-Rock. Imagine that blended with some Garage, Surf, Jazz, Pop, 50’s and a tiny twist of Metal. Listen on Spotify.

Stolen Policecar (Ziekte-NL) is a band full of scream and shout, talent and potential, but also loaded with bitter resignation and not giving a shit. This can actually be my new favourite band, the jury is still out. But since their album “Oh No!! It’s A…” was released on Spotify I’ve been coming back for more. So much energy, desperation and attitude! I just love it! Listen on Spotify.

Junkies (Unsigned) Yet another great band with energy, attitude and honest desperation, but what makes The Junkies special is the melodies. The music is a mix of many influences, all the way from soft acoustic tunes to raw distorted noise, always with the melodies in focus and always trying to reach those moments when nothing else matters. These guys are down to earth modest not yet aware of their own greatness. Listen on Spotify.

You can keep up to date with Hasse´s Record Union roster here.

You may have noticed the A&R section of the Record Union website, and been a little curious what it´s all about. Well! Record Union gives people the opportunity to become part of our global “A&R network”. Now, traditionally A&Rs (which stands for “Artists and Repertoire”) act as talent scouts for Record Labels. Record Union is not a Record Label, but members of our A&R network perform a similar role.  It´s the A&Rs job to help us find aspiring new artists who will benefit from digital distribution, and recruit them to Record Union so that we can liberate their music!

We think it is important that everyone enthusiastic about music should be able to get the chance to participate in what music makes its way onto the global market. Also important is that people all over the world should be able to take advantage of the new distribution possibilities that the internet offers.  We are pleased to say that since launching the Record Union A&R network has been expanding rapidly and A&Rs have been responsible for bringing a diverse selection new music to Record union. We now have A&Rs all over the world in countries ranging from the UK, Canada, Jamaica and Spain. We are also pleased to see that people from every corner of the music industry have become involved,  ranging from artists, producers, recording studios, independent labels, managers, venue owners, bookers and others all united by their passion for music.

We will begin to feature more of this new music on the Dog Blog, and may even interview a few of our A&Rs so they can tell you all what they have been up to recently and what artists they have been working with. Watch this space!

If you are interested in becoming an A&R, why not head over to the A&R page and apply. You will find more information about the A&R on our FAQ page.