Here's the tracklist for the new Laakso EP "Aussie Girl":
01. Aussie girl
02. Truck driver
03. Sunday night
04. Words are worst
05. Good weather, stormy love
06. The union
The EP was produced by Bear Quartet guitarist Jari Haapalainen and is the second single from the album "I Miss You, I’m Pregnant". Look for it on March 3 from Adrian Recordings.
Here are some of the nominees for the Swedish Grammies:
Best Pop Female:
Jill Johnson - Roots and Wings
Lisa Miskovsky - Fallingwater
Miss Universum - Selfelected
Pauline - Candy Rain
Elin Sigvardsson - Saturday Light Naive
Best Pop Male:
Magnus Carlson - Ett Kungarike För En Kram
Per Gessle - Mazarin
José González - Veneer
Peter LeMarc - Det Som Håller Oss Vid Liv
Mauro Scocco - Beat Hotel
Best Pop Group:
Alcazar - Alcazarized
Bo Kaspers Orkester - Vilka Tror Vi Att Vi Är
Da Buzz - More Than Alive
David & The Citizens - Until The Sadness Is Gone
The Knife - Deep Cuts
Best Rock Album (solo):
Eagle-Eye - Cherry Sub Rosa
Christian Kjellvander - Introducing The Past
Lars Winnerbäck och Hovet - Söndermarken
Moneybrother - Blood Panic
Thomas Rusiak - In The Sun
Best Rock Group:
Bad Cash Quartet - Midnight Prayer
Broder Daniel - Cruel Town
The Cardigans - Long Gone Before Daylight
Fireside - Get Shot
Randy - Welfare Problems
Best Songwriter:
Karin & Olof Dreijer
Per Gessle
Lisa Miskovsky & Joakim Berg
Peter Svensson
Moneybrother (Anders Wendin)
Best Lyrics:
Timbuktu (Jason Diakté)
Per Gessle
Peter LeMarc
Nina Persson
Lars Winnerbäck
Best Producer:
Joakim Berg/Simon Norberg
Karin & Olof Dreijer
Pelle Gunnerfeldt
Jari Haapalainen
C. Öfwerman, C. Lundquist & P. Gessle
Best Hip-hop/Soul:
Advance Patrol - Utskrivna
Kaah - Jideblasko
Ken Det - Bortglömda
The Latin Kings - Omerta
Timbuktu - The Botten Is Nådd!
Best Hard Rock:
Backyard Babies - Stockholm Syndrome
Evergrey - Recreation Day
The Haunted - One Kill Wonder
Mustasch - Ratsafari
Opeth - Damnation
Best Jazz:
E.S.T. - Seven Days Of Falling
Rigmor Gustavsson - with I Will Wait For You
Nils Landgren and The Fleshquartet
Jonas Kullhammar Quartet - Plays Loud For The People
Oddjob - Koyo
Bobo Stenson/Lennart Åberg
Best Club/Dance Song:
Hundarna Från Söder - Hundarna Från Söder BAM
Koop - Waltz For Koop - Alternative Takes
Physics - First Flight NSD
Plej - Electronic Music From The Westcoast
Sophie Rimheden - Hi-Fi Mitek
Best Pop/Dance Band:
Barbados - Hela Himlen
Fame - Give Me Your Love
Jan Johansen - X My Heart
Jill Johnson - Discography
Lasse Stefanz - Det Här Är Bara Början
Go here for the full list: http://www.ifpi.se/02.images/01.top/02.subnav_pdf/08.grammis/pdf/Grammisnomineringar_2003.pdf
Swedish webzine The Cricket has posted even more best-of lists and 2004 outlooks from various music figures including Jari Haapalainen (Bear Quartet), Mattias Alkberg (also in Bear Quartet), Niccokick, Hell On Wheels, Labrador Records and more.
November 5 is also the date for the new album "I Miss You, I'm Pregnant" from Laakso. It was produced by Jari Haapalainen of Bear Quartet and was recorded at Christoffer Lundqvist's (ex-Brainpool) studio in Skåne, Sweden. Here's the tracklist:
01. Fight the Fight
02. Aussie Girl
03. Loista Laakso
04. Clear
05. Demon
06. Month of Mist (w/Maria from The Concretes/Heikki)
07. Russkaja Ballad o Detsva
08. Emmylou
09. Eyes of Lust
10. Baby Close
11. Nick Drake
12. Sensation at Five
13. Laakso – Laakso betyder dal
The first single will be "Demon" and the band will be heading out on the road to support the release soon.
Okay, I'm totally pissed off because my webhost fucked up and somehow erased all my database information from the last week. Whether or not they'll be able to bring it back remains to be seen, but I am obviously not happy about the situation. So yeah, if you see weird things happening to the site, chances are it is not my fault.
UPDATE: I managed to recover a bit of last week's info from Google's cache (with the kind help of DJ Martian), but not everything is back to normal. I've got the info stashed away somewhere, but I'm still hoping that my webhost comes through for me with the backup.
Sonic Magazine (www.sonicmagazine.com) has a large feature on The Soundtrack of Our Lives and Union Carbide Productions in its latest issue along with a free compilation CD of unreleased tracks for subscribers.
Deleted Art will put out a five-song EP from Threeminutepopsongs later this year that will "destroy everything that preceded it." Look for it around August.
Soviac's album "GMC Out in the Fields" will see a US release later this year on Florida-based Mom Pop Records. The trio also plans for a European tour sometime this fall, but no details are available yet. The latest single "Boogie Woogie" just recently came out and the next full-length "Trilogy Sexlife Rodeo Friscotti" is due out this fall, both from Chalksounds.
In related news, Mom Pop is also the label that will be putting out the post-humous Your Halo Is A Radar self-titled CDEP this summer on July 29. More info here.
The nominees for the twelfth annual P3/Rockparty scholarship award have been announced. The prize is for people or organizations who work hard behind the scenes to make music happen in Sweden. And they are: festival arranger Niklas Jonsson, label Redline Records, manager Stina Lorentz and club organizer Mattias Berg. Read more. (in Swedish)
Denmark's The Raveonettes will appear on David Letterman on July 16.
Statemachine is having a release party for their new album "Short And Explosive" on June 3 at Alcazar/Nalen in Stockholm.
Raised Fist has scored a couple dates opening for Sepultura:
06/10 - KB, Malmö, SWE
06/11 - Rockfeller, Oslo, NOR
06/13 - Loppen, Copenhagen, DK
NRK has posted a photo gallery from the recent Turbonegro show at the Oslo Spektrum.
Ison & Fille make a guest appearance on Kaah's new 'elektro-funk' track "Namnlös", the b-side for the new single "Innan Du Går". They also guest on "Operation : Sverige", a track from Advance Patrol's current album "Utskrivna". And all of Highwon (Ison, Fille, Sabo, Ju-Mazz and Hoosam) appears on the debut-EP from AFC (Allied Forces) on the track "Ögon I Nacken".
For your amusement: Thorsten Flinck on being a body-double in The Sounds's video for the song "Dance with Me" from Expressen. (in Swedish)
Aftonbladet talks with Tomas Ledin about summer touring. His new album I sommarnattens ljus" comes out this week.
"Moodier than a manic depressive 12-year-old girl from northern Minnesota." Delusion of Adequacy reviews the latest album from Ulver, "1993-2003: 1st Decade in the Machines".
There will a 'Swedish Folksongs' evening on June 4 at the Swedish Church in NYC featuring songs by the most popular Swedish composers and poetry from writers such as E. Taube and B. Andersson. The performers will be Asa Rydman (voice), Helena Liljeblad (voice), Eva Engman (voice), Christina Nylund (piano), and Renee Cruz (bass). Admission is $10 and includes post-show cheese and wine.
Adrian Records is going be quite busy this coming fall. David & The Citizens are working on their next album in Malmö and have about eleven or twelve songs ready to go. Laakso are at Christoffer Lundquist's (Brainpool) studio in Skåne with Jari Haapalainen (Bear Quartet) working on their debut full length tentatively titled "– I miss you. I'm Pregnant". And lastly, Björns Vänner is going into the studio in a week to record the follow-up to the "Kvar på film" EP. Christian Kjellvander will be producing and the working title is "Restaurang & Björns vänner".
Upcoming Pink Twins live dates:
06/06 - Galleria Allinna, Riihimäki, FIN (Riihimäki Experiment) w/M.A. Numminen and Kari Peitsamo
06/07 - Kipsari, Helsinki, FIN
06/13 - Sonar Fest in Barcelona, Spain
06/19 - Club DOM, Moscow, RUS (Finnexport 2003)
06/21 - Yaroslavl Art Museum, Yaroslavl, RUS (Finnexport 2003)
Finnexport 2003 events feature also Pan Sonic and Anton Nikkilä and Alexei Borisov. See more info here: www.nbresearchdigest.com/finnexport/
C.Aarmé has announced they will release a 4-song 7" on Big Brothel Records sometime this summer. The name of the record will be "The Gag" and tracks to be included are the title track plus "Aimless", "Worst Part", and "Gasmask".
Hypocrisy has offered up an explanation for why they decided to pull out of the upcoming X-Mass Festivals European tour which was set to start on December 7 in London:
"We sincerely apologize for the cancellation of the X-Mass Fest. The reason being Dimmu Borgir have offered us to tour with them worldwide. This means we'll be touring Europe from 30th September 'till 29 October and the U.S. from 7th November 'till 14th December. We hope to see you out there this fall or this winter! Tour dates will be posted as soon as they are confirmed."
Amorphis' new album "Far from the Sun" debuted on the Finnish charts at #7. Check out the new video for the song "Evil Inside" from here.
Dead Frog Records just put up a brand new website. The label's latest releases include Holden's debut self-titled album and the single "Hard To Be In Love" from Paste. In related news, Holden just signed a publishing deal with Stiggy Music & Management AB. "Holden has everything needed to become a huge success locally and internationally," says Stiggy's Stefan Egmar, "great songs, great look, great album and a fantastic live-act with a brilliant [vocalist] Jenny Öhlund!"
Aquarius Records has put up their latest new arrival list, featuring samples and reviews of artists such as Bjorn Olsson, Johan Berthling, Uton, Markku Peltola and much, much more.
NorthSide Records has announced the upcoming release of Väsen's new album "Trio", due out this August with a US tour to follow in October. The label will also be reissuing Värttinä's classic album from '96 "Kokko", just in time for their 20th anniversary US tour in November. Dates and more details soon.
After the initial success of the festival in Helsinki, the PikseliAHKY / pixelACHE fest is hitting the road for events in New York on June 2-3 and Montreal on June 5-7. The event is billed as "an international laboratory for creative experimenting with audiovisual technologies" and will consist "audiovisual performances, interactive cinema screenings and an exhibition of media art projects." Most of the artists scheduled to appear are from pixelACHE's hometown of Helsinki, but not all. Here's a list of the Scandinavian talent to be represented: Animaatiokone crew (FIN) (Ari Nykanen, Mikko Lindholm, Perttu Hamalainen), Amfibio.org collective (FIN) (Antti A, Halcyon, *Jen, Juhuu, Maippi, Mesq, Teemu K), AVCENTRALEN (SWE) (Olle Huge, Martin Malm, Johan Skugge, Andreas Tilliander), Beeoff (SWE) (Olle Huge, Tomas Linell, Martin Malm, Mikael Scherdin), /dev/null Research Labs (FIN), Helsinki Interactive Cinema Crew & KINO Helsinki (FIN), Jussi Angesleva (FIN) & Ross Cooper (UK), O Samuli A (FIN), Tero (FIN), Tuomas Toivonen (FIN).
More info here: www.pixelache.ac
The Klerks will be appearing on the MTV Nordic program Morning Glory on February 8, 9 and 11. They will perform the single "She, She, She" and do an interview.
Here's the dates for Opeth's upcoming Australian tour:
4/10 - Brisbane, The Arena
4/11 - Melbourne, The Corner
4/12 - Adelaide, Uni Bar
4/13 - Sydney, The Metro
Seen the video for "By the Grace of God" from The Hellacopters yet? Click here.
The Soundtrack of Our Lives has announced the dates for their upcoming US tour:
3/15 - Orlando FL The Social
3/16 - Ft. Lauderdale FL Culture Room
3/18 - Atlanta GA Cotton Club
3/20 - New York NY Irving Plaza
3/21 - Washington DC 9:30 Club
3/22 - Philadelphia PA Theatre of Living Arts
3/23 - Boston MA Paradise
3/24 - Providence RI Met Cafe
3/26 - Ottawa Barrymore's Music Hall
3/27 - Montreal Cafe Campus
3/28 - Toronto Opera House
3/29 - Columbus OH Little Brother
3/31 - Detroit MI Magic Stick
4/2 - Minneapolis MN 400 Bar
4/5 - Denver CO Bluebird
4/8 - San Francisco CA Bimbo's 365 Club
4/10 - Seattle WA Graceland
In a sign of big things to come, The Sounds have two songs featured in the upcoming movie "Final Destination 2", "Dance With Me" and "Rock'n'Roll". As stated before, James Iha's Scratchie Records will be releasing the album in the states. The movie hits US theatres tomorrow.
The Wannadies's full version of the video for "Little by Little" gets its TV premiere on MTV2 at 6:20. They may not be one of my faves, but the video's greatness is undeniable.
Kristofer Åström reports that Fireside has finished up with nine of the songs for the upcoming album and comments "it's turning out really good. I'm satisfied with how it sounds." Eh, not the boldest statement I've heard, but I'm still quite excited for when it finally comes out. Don't forget to download the new track "Throw it Away" if you haven't already.
Bad Taste Records has kindly put up the video for "Playerin" from Last Days of April. Check it: High / Low (Real Media)
Also, if you haven't already done so, vote for the band's video for "All Will Break" on the MTV Up North Chart or check out that mp3 I put up on the right.
Logh will be on P3 Live tonight at 9pm (12 noon Pacific). I plan on recording it, but you can also listen online at the P3 site. (click the link 'Lyssna' in the upper-right)
Hot on the heels of news of their StarEP release, Moneybrother has revealed they are working on a full length for Burning Heart Records. Mainman Anders Wendin (ex-Monster) says that him and producer Jari Haapalainen (The Bear Quartet) have twelve tracks ready to go for a summer release. He's also got an all-star lineup for the backing band: Fredrik Sandsten (The Soundtrack of Our Lives), Magnus Öström (Esbjörn Svensson Trio, Nicolai Dunger's "Soul Rush"), Björn Yttling (Peter, Björn & John, live keyboards for Ceasars Palace), plus Monster's horn section (Viktor Brobacke, Gustav Bendt and Patrick Andersson). The music is decribed as a mix of soul, reggae, and punk - not far from the sound of his old band.
Soviac reports they are finished with the second part of their new recording. They are working at Pelle Gunnerfeldt's Gröndal Studio with Johan Gustavsson (Randy) and Kalle Ohlsson (The Bear Quartet).
The new album from Crystal Committee is now available from Chalksounds and you can download the preview mp3s for "So Sinister" and the title track "Forever Overhead". Described by the label as "A true indierock masterpiece in the vein of Ride, early Starmarket", the band consists of Fredrik from the aforementioned Starmarket with help from Mattias Norlamder (Blithe, Komeda), Kristoffer Larsson (Cobolt) and Pontus Levahn (also in Starmarket).
Also from Chalksounds comes this mp3 from Carpet People. The track is called "A Road Trip" and it comes from the forthcoming album "More Bad Weather Coming Out of the Rain".
LOK has a live album called "Blästrad Levande" coming out on February 24. The recording is from a show in Göteborg last August 14. Preview the cover art here.
A number of Swedish artists will be coming together on February 20 at Club Debaser in Stockholm to honor the memory of Joe Strummer from The Clash. The list of names is long, but here they are: Infinite Mass, Weeping Willows, Thåström, Randy with Howlin Pelle (The Hives), Ian and Ebbot from Sountrack Of Our Lives, Joppe Pihlgren, Nomads, Dregen & Nicke Borg (Backyard Babies), Jocke Åhlund (Caesars Palace, Teddybears STHLM), Eggstone and Brända Barn. Wow. Tickets are limited, so act fast.
Opeth will tour Australia in April. Dates coming soon.
In Flames has lined up the following summer festival gigs:
6/14 - Provinsirock / Finland
7/25 - Piteå Dansar och Ler, Piteå / Sweden
8/23 - Summer Breeze / Germany
8/24 - Metal Fest Vienna / Austria
Melody Club seems to have gotten a favorable write-up in Aftonbladet for their live show. There's a decent video clip posted, too. (in Swedish)
Turns out the info yesterday about The Ark's trip to Belguim was false. Members Ola and Sylvester are actually spending today on a press mission in Amersterdam.
Here's the top 20 Swedish albums of the week, as reported by Aftonbladet:
01. The Sounds - Living in America
02. Kent - Vapen & ammunition
03. Melody Club - Music machine
04. Barbados - Rewind
05. v/a - Fame factory vol 2
06. Robyn - Don´t stop the music
07. Eric Gadd - Life support
08. Håkan Hellström - Det är så jag säger det
09. Christian Kjellvander - Songs from a two-room chapel
10. Roxette - Ballad hits
11. Hans Martin - Landet där solen ej går ner
12. Helen Sjöholm - Visor
13. The Hellacopters - By the grace of god
14. The Knife - Deep Cuts
15. v/a - Fame Factory volym 1
16. Mando Diao - Bring´em in
17. Joybells Gospel Choir - Oh happy day - 14 gospel klassiker
18. Björn Skifs - Ingen annan
19. Nicke & Nilla - Pannkakor med sylt
20. Kent - B-sidor 95-00
Swedish songwriter Jeanette Olsson wrote the single "Haven't Told You" for Kelly Rowlands' (Destinys Child) new album "Simply Deep", due out February 10. Apparently, Billboard magazine calls Jeanette "Sweden's best kept secret."
For those curious, Nicolai Dunger's backing band on his upcoming European tour will be as follows (dates in yesterday's post):
Jari Haapalainen (Bear Quartet, Kristofer Åström & Hidden Truck, Heiki) - drums
Jonas Kullhammas (Jonas Kullhammar Quartet, Nacka Forum) - saxophone, flute, clarinet
Thomas Tjärnkvist - guitar
Johan Berthling (Vega, Nacka Forum) - upright bass
Kjell-Erik Eriksson (Hoven Droven, Triakel) - violin
I'm not sure if the same folk will be continuing on with Nicolai to America, but I'll let you know when I find out. (tack Niklas!)
Norweigan singer/songwriter St. Thomas recently finished up with his recording session in Nashville for his next album. Mark Nevers (Lambchop, Will Oldham) produced 22 songs were completed, including covers of "Don't Believe In A Mushroom" by Ring and "Who'll Stop The Rain" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. And that's not all - quite a group of illustrious guests will appear on the album, too:
Tony Crow (Lambchop)
Matt Swanson (Lambchop)
Jeremy Barnes (Neutral Milk Hotel and Bablicon)
Howe Gelb (Giant Sand)
Espen Mellingen (Ai Phoenix and Poor Rich Ones)
Bosse Litzheim (Ai Phoenix)
Five of those tracks ended up the on just-released EP "A Long Long Time". Listen for the title-track single on Norway P3 Radio. A video will be coming out soon, too.
A new mp3 from The Knife this morning. Look to your right.
Rune Grammofon released the new Supersilent album "6" today. Featuring members of Motorpsycho among other bands, the label says the music will "attract followers of bands such as Goodspeed You Black Emperor!, Sigur Rós, King Crimson, (late) Talk Talk or Popol Vuh." Read more about it here or here. In other news about the band, Helge Sten aka Deathprod revealed in an interview with Mute magazine that the band will be releasing a 10 disc live box sometime around spring '04.
Backdraft's debut album "Here To Save You All" will finally be made available in the US on Febuary 18 from Abstract Sound USA.
Askil Holm has a new single called "Daydream Receiver" coming out January 21. The track was written by Askil with help from Martin Hagfors and Lars Horntvedth. Look for the new album in early March.
"We have never been better" declares The Cardigans is this short feature from Aftonbladet. The band has their big 'comeback' performance at the Rockbjörnen awards show next Monday. (in Swedish)
More from Aftonbladet: the E-Type metal show gets a mediocre review from Göteborg. (in Swedish)
Wilmer X has a new single called "Vi Som Blommar Sent" coming out February 10. The new album "Lyckliga Hundar" follows on the 24th. Get a preview here. They'll be doing some touring, too. The dates so far:
3/22 Malmö, KB
3/26 Stockholm, Göta Källare
4/3 Helsingborg, The Tivoli
4/4 Lund, Mejeriet
4/10 Göteborg, Trädgår’n
4/11 Kalmar, Palace
4/12 Uppsala, Katalin
The Punchdrunks have become a duo leaving just guitarists Robert Johnson and Per Thorsell. Of course the reason was music differences. It pretty much always is. Anyhow, the two will be working on the follow-up to Fried On The Altar Of Good Taste", tentatively titled "Atomic Powered Singing".
The Klerks are the band of the week over at MTVE.com. They describe the band as "the lost link between The Ark and Andreas Johnson." They remind me a bit of the first album from The Motorhomes. Anyhow,the band is getting a lot of hype so go ahead and read their profile and interview. The album comes out today and the third single for the track "Shame" will be out mid-February.
DVD plans for the Backyard Babies have been pushed back as the band is still hard at work on preparing for their next album. They promise it will come out eventually, but for now they rather concentrate on the new material. In other news, Nicke and Dregen will be in LA for upcoming NAMM show to promote their new guitar models. If you read guitar mags, maybe you've already seen an ad for them.
In Flames is gearing up to work on their next album by travelling to Denmark for preproduction. The band says they are still planning a few summer festival gigs, but otherwise this is their plan:
As we did for "Reroute to Remain" we will turn off our phones, put our personal lives on hold and disconnect our entire contact with the outside world so that we can focus 100% on making a great new album. Once again it will be the five of us, our equipment and the cheapest possible beer we can find - tons of it!!!
Some of you had some thoughts on what we can change with our music,and that´s always appreciated, but as always we will choose no other path than the one chosen by the 5 members of IN FLAMES!
Moneybrother (ex-Monster) has their debut EP called "Thunder in My Heart" coming out on StarEP/Startracks. It was produced by Jari Haapalainen (Bear Quartet) and will be out in February. The first single and video for the track "Reconsider Me" will be out in either February or March. Listen to a sample here. (Real Audio)
The details for P3 Popstad in February have been announced. Read more here or here (in Swedish). Some of the band playing include The Ark, Looptroop, Melody Club, Dub Sweden, The Sounds, The Haunted, Marit Bergman and Awa Manneh.
Recording for the new Fireside album is still coming along. Kristofer Åström reports the band just spent some time in the Silence studio this past weekend. A mid-April release date is the plan.
Before he heads out on tour, Nicolai Dunger will be continuing his pre-production work on his new album with the guys from Mercury Rev up in Kingston, NY. And also, I neglected to find out his backing band on said tour. It's gonna be Thomas Tjärnkvist, Johan Berthling, Jari Haapalainen (Bear Quartet), Jonas Kullhammar and Kjell-Erik Eriksson. Again, full dates are here.
After having various members experiment with solo projects such as A-Camp and Righteous Boy, The Cardigans are finally gonna have a new record out. "Long Gone Before Sunlight" is the title and it will feature guest appearances from Howlin´ Pelle Almqvist (The Hives), Ebbot Lundberg (The Soundtrack of Our Lives) and Nick Royale (The Hellacopters). Look for it in stores on March 24. The first single will be "For What It's Worth" and you'll be seeing that on February 17. For even more detail, read this interview with Nina Persson from MTVE.com.
E-Type to go heavy metal? Apparently so. Blabbermouth reports that E-Type mainman Martin Eriksson is indeed taking his music in a heavier direction for his upcoming tour. I had no idea, but I guess Martin used to drum for Hexenhaus way back when, but will not be behind the kit of course. That duty will be going to Motörhead drummer Mikkey Dee.
In celebration of Bathory's 20 year anniversary, Black Mark Records will be remastering and reissuing all of his albums on vinyl with enhanced layouts and full lyric sheets.