New music today: Motorpsycho and Ulver from Norway plus super-hype band of the moment, The Sounds. Look to your right.

Believe it or not, but The Haunted are set to appear on the MTV show "Cribs". Apparently MTV newsman Iann Robinson is a big fan of the band. So yeah, if you want to see a tour of the band's homes, check out the show on December 4.

Finnish doom band Shape of Despair has a new bassist, Sami Uusitalo. The band is scheduled to enter the studio early next year to record their next album. Expect a late 2003 release on Spinefarm Records.

Crystal Committee (ex-Starmarket) will have their debut album out in February on Chalksounds Records. Entitled "Forever Overhead", it was recorded at Studio Gröndal. I'm not positive, but I assume it was produced and engineered by studio owner Pelle Gunnerfeldt of Fireside.

Also out on Chalksounds in the near future is the new album from Moonbabies. The band is still working hard in the studio, so a release isn't expected until around March.

Export Music Sweden (ExMS) reports that net earnings for exports from the Swedish music industry grew 37% in 2001 from the year previous for a total of 500M euros. And that wasn't even all that great, they say as sales weren't quite as good as hoped for. 2002 looks to be better though. with good sales coming from TSOOL, In Flames and others.

The Ark, Håkan Hellström, Robyn, and The Sounds will be performing on the Swedish TV show Faddergalan on December 9th.

See the new Madrugada video for the song "Majesty" here: High or Low. The band has also put up a tour diary on their website. Check it out.

Rumor has it that The Soundtrack of Our Lives will be back to tour the U.S. in February and March with a stop at South by Southwest along with Citizen Bird/Silverbullit and Isolation Years. Look for them on Late Night With David Letterman in late January, too.

Håkan Hellström's single "Kom Igen Lena!" is being pulled from stores because of the legal troubles discussed on 10/09. It will be reissued with a new B-side. He's also going on tour in November and December, not that he's coming anywhere near N. America. Dates posted on www.hakanhellstrom.com.

Isolation Years just got back from Åträsk bygdegård (50 km west of Umeå), where they recorded 7 new songs for their upcoming record.

Watch Bob Hund play live in Norway here. (Windows Media)

Listen to Klas Östergren of the The Bear Quartet on the Swedish radio program Boktornet right here. They discuss Klas' book "Gentlemen" and even play some of BQ's music. (In Swedish, Real Audio)

Ulver now has an official website up and running. As for their upcoming releases, here's what they have to say:

1.
A collection of transformations from the ULVER catalogue by artists such as Christian Fennesz, Jazzkammer, Kevin Drumm, Kid 606, Martin Horntveth (Jaga Jazzist), Merzbow, Neotropic, Pita, Bogdan Raczynski, Alexander Rishaug, Stars of the Lid, Third Eye Foundation, Upland, V/Vm and others. Both classic and current ULVER material will be remade through contemporary noise, glitch and electronic frolic

2.
A new album, Utopian Enterprises, with texts and images in one grand package (the size depending on our sponsors). A return to vocals and violations with maximum manipulation and understanding of audio technology, beauty and - predicting the misunderstanding - pretence. We've killed too many darlings to please the police. When hurt, we reflect, the failure. Fuck you.

Randy is getting ready to record a new album. According to Burning Heart they will be entering the studio in late October and the new material is supposedly "rougher and more punk rock than ever."

If you've been paying attention you may have already heard that "Inland Traveller", the great debut album from Isolation Years, is set to receive a U.S. release in the near future. The label will be Galaxy Gramophone, an offshoot of Parasol. There doesn't seem to be a release date announced yet, but I highly recommend picking it up when it does finally come out.

I already posted this info over at Indieworkshop, but I think it's worth passing on again:

Nicolai Dunger's new album, "Tranquil Isolation", will be released October 7th on Virgin Sweden. Recorded in Kentucky with the help of Will Oldham (Palace, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, etc), the album displays a new "relaxed musical playfulness", or so his updated bio states. The US won't see it until early 2003, when it's released on Overcoat Recordings.

Aside from also doing a few select gigs around the states during November and October, Nicolai will also be doing pre-production work with Mercury Rev, for their collaboration on his upcoming album.

Official site: http://www.nicolaidunger.com/
Fan site: http://www.nicolaidunger.tk/

Watch the video for Håkan Hellström's new single "Kom Igen Lena!" here. (Requires Real Player)
The single comes out Oct. 7th on Dolores/Virgin Sweden with the album following at the end of the month.

The August issue of Tower Record's Pulse! magazine has a decent article about Swedish rock here. They actually name-check a few really cool bands such as Silverbullit (Citizen Bird in the U.S.) and Isolation Years so check it out.