Swedish acts confirmed for EuroSonic: I'm from Barcelona (official opening act for EuroSonic 2008), Detektivbyrån, Those Dancing Days, Promise and the Monster, Lykke Li, Cult of Luna, Miss Li, Little Dragon, Moonbabies, Taxi Taxi, Friska Viljor, Burst and Andi Almqvist. The festival, one of Europe's preeminent platforms for new music, will feature a special focus on Sweden and takes place in Groningen, the Netherlands, on January 10-12. More info: http://www.noorderslag.nl/

Swedish doomsters Cult of Luna are currently busy working on new material, as are their Finnish compatriots Callisto.

More fresh content for you today in the form of an interview with Magnus Lindberg of Cult of Luna: [click here]
Check it out!

This week's playlist for my show on Sirius:

01. Kristofer Åström - The dark
02. TALK 1
03. Amandine - Better soil
04. Christel Alsos - What you gotta do
05. Tarantula - Two arrows
06. TALK 2
07. Kristin Asbjørnsen - I'm on my way
08. Thomas Denver Jonsson - Dreams at the film club
09. Tenderloud - Texas down
10. TALK 3
11. Hyacinth House - Ghost town
12. Strayfolk - I'll be a-goin'
13. The First Miles - Bottle, don't let me down
14. TALK 4
15. Hello Saferide - I was definitely made for these times
16. Hederos & Hellberg - I can't hold myself in line
17. Two Times the Trauma - I fell in love with an ocean
18. David Sandström Overdrive - The Fatville Treaty
19. HGH - Stupid song
20. TALK 5
21. Gorgoroth - Procreating Satan
22. Enslaved - The voices
23. Invocator - Breed of sin
24. TALK 6
25. Seance - Post mortem
26. Watain - Underneath the cenotaph
27. Dark Tranquility - Icipher
28. TALK 7
29. Eucharist - The Eucharist
30. At the Gates - Slaughter of the soul
31. Wolfbrigade - EU (European Union)
32. TALK 8
33. Katatonia - Had to (leave)
34. Bloodbath - Soul evisceration
35. Cult of Luna - The revelation embodied
36. TALK 9
37. Finntroll - Slaget vid blodsälv

New tourdates for Cult of Luna:

04/17 - KFZ, Marburg (GER)
04/18 - Les Vents Du Sud, Toulouse (FRA)
04/19 - Kafe Antzokia, Bilbao (ESP)
04/20 - Louie Louie, Gijon (ESP)
04/21 - Theatre, Coimbra (POR)
04/22 - Corroios Theatre, Lisboa (POR)
04/23 - Moby Dick, Madrid (ESP)
04/24 - Be Cool, Barcelona (ESP)
04/26 - Siddharta Club, Prato (ITA)
04/27 - Spazio 211, Torino (ITA)
04/28 - Rockplanet Club, Pinarella Di Cervia (ITA)
04/29 - Mochvara, Zagreb (CRO)
04/30 - Orto Bar, Ljubjana (SLO)
05/01 - Starclub, Dresden (GER)
05/02 - Smålands Nation, Lund (SWE)

The winners of this year's Swedish Radio P3 Gold Awards:

Best group: The Knife - "Silent Shout"
Best female artist: Anna Ternheim - "Separation Road"
Best male artist: Timo Räisänen - "I'm Indian"
Best newcomer: I'm From Barcelona
Best song: Mando Diao - "Long Before Rock'n'Roll"
Guldmicken (Best live act): Mando Diao
Best pop:: Studio - "West Coast"
Best hip-hop/soul: Max Peezay - "Discokommittén"
Best rock/metal: Cult of Luna - "Somewhere Along The Highway"
Best dance: The Knife - "Silent Shout"

Top 10s for 2006: Staff picks

The nominees for this year's P3 Gold awards have been announced:

Best female artist:
Marit Bergman - "I Think it's a Rainbow"
Veronica Maggio - "Vatten och bröd"
Lisa Miskovsky - "Changes"
Linda Sundblad - "Oh My God!"
Anna Ternheim - "Separation Road"

Best male artist:
Darin - "Break the News"
Håkan Hellström - "Nåt gammalt, nåt nytt, nåt lånat, nåt blått"
Max Peezay - "Discokommittén"
Petter - "P"
Timo Räisänen - "I'm Indian"

Best live (Guldmicken):
In Flames
The Knife
Mando Diao
Snook
Anna Ternheim

Best song:
Basshunter - Boten Anna
I'm From Barcelona - We're From Barcelona
Veronica Maggio - Dumpa mig
Mando Diao - Long Before Rock'n'Roll
Snook - Längst fram i taxin

Best newcomer:
Asha Ali
Salem Al Fakir
I'm From Barcelona
Veronica Maggio
Sebastian

Best group:
Fibes, Oh Fibes! - "Emotional"
The Knife - "Silent Shout"
Mando Diao - "Ode to Ochrasy"
Snook - "Är"
The Sounds - "Dying to Say This to You"

Best rock/metal:
C.Aarmé - "Vita"
Cult of Luna - "Somewhere Along the Highway"
The Haunted - "The Dead Eye"
In Flames - "Come Clarity"
Snuffed By the Yakuza - "Everybody's Gonna Die Tonight"

Best hip-hop/soul:
Fattaru - "Mina drömmars stad"
Max Peezay - "Discokommittén"
Promoe - "White Man's Burden"
Ramjac - "Transfusions"
Up Hygh - "The Venus Album"

Best pop:
Sir Eric Beyond and the Avant-Garde - "Sir Eric Beyond and the Avant-Garde"
Love is All - "Nine Times That Same Song"
Nicolas Makelberge - "Dying in Africa"
The Radio Dept. - "Pet Grief"
Studio - "West Coast"

Best dance:
John Dahlbäck - Collected works
The Knife - "Silent Shout"
Minilogue - Collected works
Studio - "West Coast"
SUMO - "The Danceband"

Go here to vote: http://www.sr.se/p3/p3guld/

New tourdates for Cult of Luna in 2007:

02/06 - Scharinska, Umeå (SWE)
02/07 - Mittwoch/Gamla Teatern, Nyköping (SWE)
02/08 - John Dee, Oslo (NOR)
02/09 - Pustervik, Göteborg (SWE)
02/10 - Stengade 30, Copenhagen (DK)
02/11 - Magnet, Berlin (GER)
02/12 - Firlej, Wroclaw (POL)
02/13 - Island, Leipzig Conne (GER)
02/14 - Arena, Wien (AUS)
02/15 - Isc Euro, Bern (CH)
02/16 - Le Romandie, Lausanne (CH)
02/17 - La Loco, Paris (FRA)
02/18 - Corporatio, Sheffield (UK)
02/19 - Academy, Newcastle (UK)
02/20 - Musicbox, Manchester (UK)
02/21 - Joiners, Southamton (UK)
02/22 - Underworld, London (UK)
02/23 - Charlatan Club, Gent (BEL)
02/24 - Bolwerk, Sneek (NL)
02/25 - 13, Tilburg (NL)
02/26 - Die Stadtmitte, Karlsruhe (GER)
02/27 - Haffenklang, Hamburg (GER)
03/01 - Debaser, Stockholm (SWE)

The new Cult of Luna video for "Back to chapel town" is now online: http://www.cultofluna.com/

Cult of Luna has a new website: http://www.cultofluna.com/

Cult of Luna has posted a special version of the song "Marching to the heartbeats" on myspace, now retitled "Heartbeats (Elektroniskt Balanserad)" and performed by drummer Magnus Lindberg and keyboardist Anders Teglund. It will only be available for a limited time so get it now: http://www.myspace.com/cultofluna

Profile: Iisole

Khoma
The second wave
Roadrunner Records

With a new giant label backing them up and a new letter in the bands name, the guys are back with the follow-up to 2004's best album, "Tsunami". The hype has started again with "The second wave" and, for once, it's well-deserved. With a sound that can tear down walls, Khoma's mix of post-rock, indiepop and metal seem to appeal to a wide range of people. Influences from Radiohead are heard in the vocal arrangements, but not to the extent that it becomes annoying. What really makes this band so interesting is that they sound like no other. With members from great acts like Cult Of Luna, The Perishers and old Plastic Pride, it's bound to come out sounding good. They spill their hearts out for us with songs about the great strike in Sweden ("1909.08.04"), feminism and animal rights. But the political aspects are never taking over, it's always the music that's in focus. And I somehow feel that that's exactly how they want it to be. However, there's a negative side to this record and by that I'm talking about focus. Some of the ballads should have been excluded to make the album a total blow-out. And I must say that the decision to include three already released songs, "One of us must hang", "Stop making speeches", "Like coming home", is somewhat boring. But in spite of this, hat's off to Khoma and I look forward to Metaltown in Gothenburg in July. 'Cause if you like them on their records, you should really try to see them live!
- Jonas Appelqvist

Lords of Metal e-zine on the new Cult of Luna: http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/showreview.php?id=7510&lang=en