Also in the works from Häpna is the third and final installment of Nicolai Dunger's A Taste of Ra trilogy "Morning of my life". That one comes out September 19. That's not all either, there will be also be new releases from Anna Järvinen and Tenniscoats (JPN) in October.

Check out A Saga, a new act on West Side Fabrication featuring singer/songwriter Anna Lindén along with help from Jari Haapalinen, Nicolai Dunger and Thomas Tjärnkvist: http://www.myspace.com/ensaga

The playlist for this week's all-GBG radio show:

01. Maia Hirasawa - Gothenburg
02. TALK 1
03. Hemstad - Sommar i Göteborg
04. Division of Laura Lee - We are numbers
05. Håkan Hellström - Kom igen Lena!
06. TALK 2
07. In Flames - Everything counts
08. Pistol Disco - Walking with Jesus
09. Viktor Sjöberg - W/nothing
10. TALK 3
11. Kristofer Åström - Just a little insane
12. The Knife - Listen now
13. Broder Daniel - Dark heart
14. TALK 4
15. Samuraj Cities - All along the shoreline
16. MPTP - Jim Morrison
17. At the Gates - Cold
18. TALK 5
19. The Book of Daniel - The camels parade
20. Silverbullit - Magnetic city
21. The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Nevermore
22. TALK 6
23. Nicolai Dunger - What tomorrow
24. The Kid - Portion control (Fatsuit haze/Zlatan wins the World Cup remix)
25. The Idealist - The knives are my eyes
26. C.Aarmé - Visions
27. TALK 7
28. Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - I could have sworn I heard them SING
29. Junip - Official
30. Diabolique - Catholic
31. TALK 8
32. Convoj - My timekeeping heart
33. Tsukimono - Dear sister
34. Eric Beyond - Step off
35. TALK 9
36. Björn Kleinhenz - Out of style
37. Detektivbyrån - E18
38. TALK 10
39. Bad Cash Quartet - Too bored to die

The playlist for my radio show this week:

01. Death By Kite - Scared of heights
02. TALK 1
03. Kompjotr Eplektrika - Crakkin zombees...
04. Monomen - Asian spacestation
05. José González - Hints
06. TALK 2
07. I Am Bones - Backpackers
08. Ellen Beach - The widespread acclaim
09. Moder Jords Massiva - Ingenting
10. TALK 3
11. Iisole - The words
12. Kornstad - Sweden
13. Cortex - Mind of darkness
14. TALK 4
15. Silverbullit - Run
16. [ingenting] - Hollywood dreams
17. In Flames - The jester race
18. TALK 5
19. Nicolai Dunger - Soul rush
20. Existensminimum - Changing lines
21. Echo Is Your Love - Peace song
22. TALK 6
23. Laakso - The death of us
24. Christian Kjellvander - Words in the wires
25. Mustasch - Double nature
26. TALK 7
27. Tellevika + Firefox AK - Eric
28. Tape - A spire
29. C.Aarmé - Golden retriever
30. TALK 8
31. The Bear Quartet - Put me back together
32. Susanne Sundfør - Walls
33. The Hellacopters - Like no other man
34. TALK 9
35. Aerial - You will all die, all things will

This week's top 20 Swedish album chart:

01. Ingmar Nordströms - Ingmar Nordströms Saxpartyfavoriter
02. Erik Segerstedt - A different shade
03. Timbuktu - Oberoendeframkallande
04. Sophie Zelmani - Memory loves you
05. Salem Al Fakir - This is who I am
06. Caroline Af Ugglas - Joplin på Svenska
07. Lena Philipsson - Lena 20 år
08. Calaisa - Calaisa
09. Weeping Willows - Fear & love
10. Lasse Stefanz - 40 ljuva år!
11. Tomas Andersson Wij - En introduktion till Tomas Andersson Wij
12. Veronica Maggio - Vatten & bröd
14. Nisse Hellberg - Snackbar blues
15. Laleh - Prinsessor
16. Säkert! - Säkert
17. Helena Josefsson - Dynamo
18. Nicolai Dunger - Rösten och herren
19. Moneybrother - Pengabrorsan
20. Martin Stenmarck - Nio sanningar och en lögn

Björn Norestig
Hello inside
A West Side Fabrication

This album has struck me as being an interesting mix of styles, melding Neil Young with turn of the century Nicolai Dunger and 60s lounge - how does one even come up with the idea to do so? Of course, Björn's pop sensibilities are in all the right places, which is prevalent on the track "Come take a shine" and in the smooth lounge sound of "Hold on". The music is played quite well and the vocals are all in place, but it doesn't grab me and shake me up. Again, this album can come off as a bit 90s sounding and dated (see "Why oh why" amd "Character song") and I'm trying to figure out if it's a sign of what's to come in music, but I'm also confused as to why that style is coming back, as it was only a decade ago! Anyway, the song craft is definitely here, but this whole 90's vibe just seems a bit strange to me.
- Matt Giordano

Top 10s for 2006: Staff picks

Video mix: Minilogue, I'm From Barcelona, Breach, Nicolai Dunger, Anja Garbarek, more...

Some new live dates for Nicolai Dunger:

11/30 - Irving Plaza, NYC w/Mercury Rev
12/02 - The Tralf, Buffalo, NY w/Mercury Rev
12/12 - Southpaw, NYC
12/15 - Stadsbiblioteket, Göteborg (SWE)

Paper Thin Walls on Nicolai Dunger sideproject A Taste of Ra: http://www.paperthinwalls.com/singlefile/item?id=287

Prolific Swedish singer/songwriter Nicolai Dunger will release yet another new Swedish-language album early next year entitled "Rösten och Herren". Dunger produced it himself with assistance from Björn Yttling (PB&J, Montys Loco, etc.).

Details and sample track for the new A Taste of Ra (Nicolai Dunger) album: http://www.hapna.com/H30.html

MP3: Thomas Dybdahl - Cecilia

There's always way too many things to do the day before going on vacation, so I'm going to have to make this short, especially since I'm going to try to write a few extra mp3 posts for next week before I leave. Thomas Dybdahl could probably be considered the Norwegian equivilent to José González 'cept that instead of José's excellent finger-picking you get a young man with a sweet, smokey voice whose songs tend to be on the more soulful side of things. I imagine a lot of indier-than-thou types will probably find his music a bit too MOR, but to me good music is good music and I really like Thomas' style. He never overdoes it like, say Nicolai Dunger for example (I'm a fan, but he definitely oversings sometimes) - instead, he keeps things chill and lowkey. I imagine him melting hearts everywhere he goes. It's unbelievable it took some three odd years for him to get a US deal. I can't imagine him being a hard sell at all. This particular song I've posted today from his 2003 album "Stray dogs" is about as uptempo as Thomas gets and happens to be one of my favorites as well. Catchy, but in an extremely subdued way. Good to calm the nerves on a day when I feel manic.

Thomas Dybdahl - Cecilia

Nicolai Dunger sideproject A Taste of Ra will release a new self-titled album on October 2 via Häpna.

Interview: Jonas Skybakmoen (Johndoe)