Apparently that hilarious Yngwie Malmsteen mp3 I posted about a couple days ago is actually kinda old, probably dating back around 10 years or so. For more info, read this from Blabbermouth.

Logh is gearing up to go back into the studio in January. They expect it to be done and ready for a release this coming spring. On January 27 the band will be releasing both the "Every Time" 12" and "Ghosts" 7". Actually, the 7" is already available directly from the band, but won't be shipped until that date. For ordering info contact logh@badtasterecords.se.

Look for the video for "Sister Surround" from The Soundtrack of Our Lives on MTV's 120 Minutes.

What are your favorite Swedish artist's listening to? Chili.se has got the scoop. Some of the people featured are Maria Andersson (Sahara Hotnights), Magnus Carlsson, Marit Bergman, and Robert Dahlqvist (Hellacopters) among others.

This week's Swedish college radio chart:

Leaving the chart:
(11) Jay Z Ft. Beyoncé "Bonnie And Clyde"
(14) Kent "VinterNoll2"
(18) Wilson Hospital "Call Me A.s.a.p."
(20) Jogi Med ADL"Din Hund"

The LA Times has recognized The Hives as one of the ten most promising bands in the world by including them on their "Freshman" list. Critic Robert Hilburn says the band "attack the idea that rock music has to be humourless in order to be real."

Opeth has finalized the track listing for the upcoming album "Damnation". Billed as the 'mellow' counterpart to the recently released "Deliverence", the songs on it are as follows:

1. Windowpane
2. In My Time Of Need
3. Death Whispered A Lullaby
4. Closure
5. Hope Leaves
6. To Rid The Disease
7. Ending Credits
8. Weakness

The band is also planning to do extensive touring in the future, with dates for America already announced. Europe is rumored for February, but here's what we've got so far (w/Lacuna Coil, Paradise Lost, and Tapping the Vein):

Jan. 17 - Montreal, QUE @ Foufounes Electriques
Jan. 18 - Worcester, MA @ Palladium
Jan. 19 - New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
Jan. 21 - Springfield, VA @ Jaxx
Jan. 22 - Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
Jan. 24 - Toronto, ONT @ Opera House
Jan. 25 - Cleveland, OH @ Agora
Jan. 27 - Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
Jan. 29 - Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre
Jan. 31 - San Francisco, CA @ Slims
Feb. 01 - San Diego, CA @ The Scene
Feb. 02 - Phoenix, AZ @ Mason Jar
Feb. 03 - Los Angeles, CA @ Key Club

Due to increased bandwidth concerns, I may have to limit the number of mp3 downloads on this site in the future. I'd rather not, but bandwidth is expensive and it's not as if I'm making any money here. Anyhow, I don't plan on taking them away completely so don't worry about that. If anyone is willing to remotely host files or has any other ideas, please let me know.

Nojesguiden has published their top 20 Swedish albums for 2002. The list:

1. Christian Kjellvander - Songs from a Two-Room Chapel
2. Håkan Hellström - Det är så jag säger det
3. Nicolai Dunger - Sweat Her Kiss
4. The Perishers - From Nothing to One
5. Koop - Waltz for Koop
6. Andreas Tilliander - Elit
7. Ison & Fille - Vår sida av stan
8. Mando Diao - Bring 'Em In
9. Sagor & Swing - Melodier och fåglar
10. Timbuktu - Watt¹s dö madderfakking dill?
11. Looptroop - The Struggle Continues
12. Stephen Simmonds - For Father
13. Masayah - s/t
14. Puss - We Are Puss
15. Johan Skugge - Objects and Buildings
16. The Embassy - Futile Crimes
17. Smyglyssna - We Can Fix It
18. Edson - Edson for Strength
19. Hans Appelqvist - Tonefilm
20. Mokira - Plee

Read more here at the bottom of the page. (In Swedish)

Remember those five songs Kristofer Åström recorded about a week ago? Well they are all gonna end up on that upcoming MCD after all. It's gonna be called "Dead End" and will be released in February (on Startracks, I assume). Here's what Kristofer had to say about it:

Personally, I think it's the best recording we've done so far. We recorded it live in studio and did some overdubs on a couple of songs. It's got an energy to it that I miss in the previous albums.

Hardcore Superstar is about to go back into the studio with producer Roberto Laghi to record the follow-up to "Thank You (For Letting Us Be Ourselves)". The planned release date is April 28.

Guess what I found? Check out The Soundtrack of Our Lives playing live on Conan O'Brien: Real / Windows
Look for em on Late Night with David Letterman January 16!

The Swedish jazz trio Esbjörn Svensson Trio (as heard backing Nicolai Dunger on "Soul Rush") recently won the German Jazz Critic Award for Best Album and the German Jazz Award for sales of 10,000 copies for their album "Strange Place for Snow". They also won the Choc L'Annee, an award from France's Jazzmagazine for making one of year's 12 best albums and the Guinness Jazz In Europe Award 2002 from Ireland.

The Finnish band HIM reports that they have been signed by Universal Records for distribution in the US. The band's upcoming album "Love Metal" will be out early next year and they plan on concentrating on touring Europe for awhile. They are also shooting two new videos coming up, one with Bam Margera of Jackass in LA and another with director Stefan Lindfors to be filmed in Finnish Lapland.

Looks like I neglected to note what songs Kristofer Åström recorded in yesterday's update. They are as follows:

One good moment
If you really wanna know
Satan (new version)
You are my sunshine (cover song, orignally written by Jimmy Davis and Charles Mitchell)
One more drink

There's also some new live music from Kristofer Åström and Hidden Truck available. Watch them play "Leaving Song" right here or check out part of their performance from the Crossing Border Fest in Amsterdam here. (Requires RealPlayer)

Backyard Babies frontman/guitarist Dregen is recovering nicely from his mugging injuries and the band has resumed rehearsals and preparing demos for their upcoming album. In other news, the band has also made their first foray into the world of sports by becoming an official endorser of their local hockey team, Njckey Club. The endorsement consists of the BB skull logo being stenciled onto one of the face-off circles.

Remember to watch Conan O'Brien on November 26 to see The Soundtrack of Our Lives perform.

Sweden student radio top 20:

Leaving the chart:
(10) The Crash "New York"
(11) Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Machine"
(13) Peter Bjorn And John "I Don't Know What I Want Us To Do"
(17) The Distillers "City of Angels"
(18) Marit Bergman "This Is the Year"
(20) Adam Green "Dance With Me"

The Knife (ex-Honey is Cool) has got a new record coming out. The first single and video "Heartbeats" will drop January 7 with the album "Deep Cuts" following on January 27.

After a rare concert appearance on Halloween, Notre Dame frontman Snowy Shaw went straight back to Fredman Studio in Sweden to record the next album from Dream Evil. The planned title is "Evilizer" and Snowy contributed four tunes. Work Notre Dame's next album will continue soon.

Watch the video for "The Band" from Mando Diao:

Real: High / Low   Windows: High / Low

Listen to Peter, Bjorn and John play live on P3 here and here. For those that don't know, the members of PBJ have connections to artists such as Caesars Palace, TSOOL, The Plan, Marit Bergman, and Nicolai Dunger among others.

Nicolai Dunger live on the radio mp3s to your right.

Rumor has it that pysche-act Dungen will be contributing music to the upcoming Disney film "Eat Your Heart Outs", but Virgin is denying it for now. However, you can listen to samples of the band here.

Katatonia just finished laying down the guitars for their new record and have moved onto vocals, the final stage before mixdown. If they manage to improve over their last album, the stellar "Last Fair Deal Gone Down", I will be quite impressed.

The Cardigans just put up a new entry in their recording diary. Check it out.

I added a guestbook today. Feel free to leave me a message.

On Nov. 8th, Nicolai Dunger did a radio interview for The Whole Wide World with Rita Houston on WFUV 90.7 NY. The archived broadcast isn't available quite yet, but when it is I will try to get an mp3 version to put up here.

Bob Hund got themselves a museum exhibit over at the Dunkers Kulturhaus in Helsingborg beginning November 21st. See some photos from the Stockholm exhibit here. The band also contributes to the new comp entitled "Friends of the Bumblebee", along with Thurston Moore, Jim O´Rourke, David Grubbs, Mats Gustafsson, Leif Elggren, Dan Fröberg, Mats Lindström and Daniel Rosenhall. It was produced by Dan Fröberg and Mats Gustafsson and includes an essay by Magnus Haglund.

Logh just back from their successful European tour and posted a couple new interviews and reviews on their website.

Sahara Hotnights are the band of the week over at fan2fan.com.

The A*Teens will be hosting MTV Up North next Monday and answering fan submitted questions. They'll also be doing a Swedish tour coming up soon.

Inge from t(I)NC also plays in the band Totalt Jävla Mörker (Total Fucking Darkness) whose debut album "Det ofrivilliga livets maskineri" was just released on Distortion. Fans of Discharge-style punk should check 'em out.

A new week and some new tunes to your right. The links page is good to go now, too.

The new issue of Rolling Stone (the one with the Simpsons covers) has a short blurb about the Flaming Sideburns in the 'New Faces' section.

The video for "Cloud Connected" from In Flames has reached the number 2 position on the Swedish video program Spinn (SVT 1). The band is currently taking some time off before they head out on a tour of Asia in December.

The new Håkan Hellström album "Det är så jag säger det" has gone platinum in Sweden, with over 60,000 copies sold. "Don't Stop the Music" from artist Robyn has gone gold with sales of over 30,000. Other big sellers on the Swedish charts include Roxette's "The Ballad Hits" and Kent's "FF/VinterNoll2".

Division of Laura Lee has dropped off the first week of the Burning Heart Records Heart Attack Tour. Labelmates The Peepshows, Bombshell Rocks, and Raised Fist will continue on without them as they proceed across Holland, Belgium and the UK. Here's what guitarist/singer Per Stålberg had to say about the unfortunate situation:

It came to a point where we could not even plug in our guitars without crying in pain, and therefore we have to cancel the shows. We have been having those troubles for a while, but carried on anyway as we hate the idea of cancelling shows. But after the first Heart Attack shows in Gothenburg, Stockholm and Örebro we realized we were not able to carry on as the injuries and illness did not only make us feel bad - it also affected our stage appearance so much that we cant continue doing this in consideration to ourselves and to our audience.

DoLL may rejoin the tour, pending a doctor's diagnosis to come later this week.

Randy finished up with the recording of 6 songs for their as-yet-untitled upcoming album. Jocke Åhlund of Caesars Palace helped out with production on a track, too. They plan to continue rehearsing new material with the goal of getting them recorded in December.

Sahara Hotnights just finished up with the filming of a video for the track "Alright, Alright (Here's My Fist, Where's The Fight?)" in Los Angeles with "Jackass - The Movie" director Jeff Tremaine. Members of the Jackass crew make appearances in the video.

The program "Musikbyrån" on SVT will show "The Hellacopters US Tour" documentary on Friday, December 6th. More info here.

Check out this VH1 Feature on The Soundtrack of Our Lives.

Nicolai Dunger will be making some appearances on Swedish TV coming up soon: 11.12 on Nyhetsmorgon TV4 and 11.15 on Riktig Talkshow SVT2.

The server switch is done. New music to your right.

Katatonia just entered a studio outside of Stockholm to record their 6th album. 15 tracks to be done in 4 weeks. The band promises it to be their darkness, heaviest album yet.

TSOOL in Fortune Magazine, October 28, 2002:

The singer could be mistaken for a lumberjack, and the band specializes in the zonked anthems you haven't heard since you cruised around in a van painted with a purple sunset. The album first came out last year in TSOOL's homeland, Sweden. Is the U.S. ready? Hell, yeah-since 1976.

There's a Swedish tribute to the Rolling Stones coming out on November 11th. Here's the tracklist:

Stefan Sundström & The Nümphettes - Down in the hole
Caesar's Palace - Get off of my cloud
Kristofer Åström - She smiled sweetly
Winnerbäck, Dregen & Nord - Dead Flowers
Diamond Dogs - Connection
Nicolai Dunger - Comming down again
AlmgrenGordonAndersson - We love you
Heikki - Worried about you
Love Olzon - You got the silver
The $1000 Playboys - Ruby tuesday
Mats Ronander - Till the next goodbye
The Concretes - Miss you
Swedehearts Together - Congratulations (Conny Bloom and Gyp Casino)
Darrel Bath & Brother D´s Testament - Flight 505
Johan Lindström - Play with fire
Sparta Stockholm - She's a Rainbow (Johan Johansson and Tomas Skogsberg with Sulo and Honk from Diamond Dogs)
Bubble - Wild horses
Hederos & Hellberg - Shine a light

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.