Drummer Lisa Millberg of The Concretes talks to Canada's National Post: http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/artslife/story.html?id=4c0dfc67-2dee-47da-8103-d5790c9d5aa4
Anyone know if Jari Haapalainen is touring with them over here in the US?

Peter, Bjorn and John's new album "Falling out" has been confirmed for an October 20 release via Planekonomi. The first single "It beats me every time" came out earlier this summer and is the kick-off track on my upcoming comp. The new single is an older song by The Concretes called "Teen love" and should be hitting radio soon. There will be a special record release show at Svenska Musikklubben on October 13. More info here: http://www.svenskamusikklubben.se/

Fluxblog has posted the Avalanches remix of The Concretes: http://newflux.blogspot.com/2004/09/geometric-grid-of-little-squares.html

The Concretes and The Rasmus are just a few of the bands up for the BT Digital Music Awards: http://www.nme.com/news/109986.htm

Check out The Concretes doing an in-studio session on BBC6: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/6music_aod.shtml?6m_gorman_thu
They are at about 1.5 hrs into the show.

Here's this week's MTV Up North Nordic video chart:

01. The Rasmus - Guilty
02. Snook - Mister Cool
03. Johnny De Luxe - Drømmer jeg
04. Kemopetrol - My Superstar
05. Saybia - Brilliant Sky
06. The Hives - Walk Idiot Walk
07. Beats And Styles - Dance Dance Dance
08. Ayesha - Fire
09. The Confusions - Window
10. Melody Club - Take Me Away
11. Sondre Lerche - Days That Are Over
12. The Solution - I Have To Quit You
13. Moder Jords Massiva - Out of My Hands
14. Empire Dogs - Oh Lord
15. Tiger Lou - Sell Out
16. Erik Faber - Yesterday´s Call
17. Venke Knutson - Kiss
18. Maria Arredondo - Mad Summer
19. Kleen Cut - Hands Up
20. The Concretes - You Can't Hurry Love

Challengers:
01. Maria Mena - Just A Little Bit
02. Christian Walz - Wonderchild
03. Brimstone Butterfly - Tunnelvision
04. Tungtvann - Plan B
05. Ana - We Are
06. Lake Placid - Is This Love

Go to the MTVE.com site to watch and vote for your favorite.

The Concretes will be touring the UK as support for The Thrills:

11/17 - Northumbria University, Newcastle
11/18 - Academy, Glasgow
11/20 - Octagon, Sheffield
11/21 - Academy, Bristol
11/22 - University Great Hall, Exeter
11/24 - Brixton Academy, London

In other news, the group's new single "Seems fine" will be released in four different formats. First, a three-track CD including the video by director Johan Renck, the Wernham Hogg Remix of "Chico" by The Avalanches and a cover of "Just Locals", originally by The Bear Quartet. Next is a two-track CD without the remix. Third is a two-track 7" on red vinyl, again without the remix. And for completists, there will also be a one-sides etched 7" with only the remix. Pretty snazzy, eh?

Here's this week's MTV Up North Nordic video chart:

01. Snook - Mister Cool
02. The Rasmus - Guilty
03. Johnny De Luxe - Drømmer jeg
04. The Hives - Walk Idiot Walk
05. Kemopetrol - My Superstar
06. The Confusions - Window
07. Beats And Styles - Dance Dance Dance
08. Moder Jords Massiva - Out of My Hands
09. The Solution - I Have To Quit You
10. Ayesha - Fire
11. Sondre Lerche - Days That Are Over
12. Tiger Lou - Sell Out
13. Empire Dogs - Oh Lord
14. Venke Knutson - Kiss
15. Lambretta - Kill Me
16. Erik Faber - Yesterday´s Call
17. Dadafon - My Brother´s Comeback
18. 21st Century Noise - Let´s Leave
19. Maria Arredondo - Mad Summer
20. Maria Solheim - Too Many Days

Challengers:
01. Melody Club - Take Me Away
02. Vidar Vang - Happy
03. The Concretes - You Can't Hurry Love
04. Saybia - Brilliant Sky
05. Kleen Cut - Hands Up
06. Stonebridge feat. Therese - Put Em´ High

Go to the MTVE.com site to watch and vote for your favorite.

"Seems fine" from The Concretes is MTVE's pick of the week: http://www.nordic.mtve.com/features/cms/index.asp?id=1006000000000308&type=1&page=1

Finally, here's a complete list of upcoming international tourdates for The Concretes:

10/01 - Bommens Salonger, Göteborg (SWE)
10/02 - Garage, Oslo (NOR) w/Stars
10/03 - KB, Malmö (SWE)
10/11 - Lee's, Toronto (CAN)
10/13 - TT's, Boston, MA
10/14 - Bowery Ballroom, NYC, NY
10/17 - Neumos, Seattle, WA
10/20 - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA
10/22 - Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA

Serpentine Music is the name of the a new music label collective being started by singer/songwriter Jenny Lundblad that's set to begin in September. The group plans to help promote up-and-coming artists by getting their music in stores and helping them with accounting, publishing and so forth. They're trying to emulate the success of other Swedish DIY artists such as The Concretes, The Knife and Marit Bergman and eventually they even hope to offer all sorts of related services such as radio promotion, photography, advertising and more - the musical equivilent to Ikea they say. It's obviously a promising idea, considering that indie labels don't appear to be suffering quite as much as the majors these days and the overhead will probably be kept quite low, but my concern is that the group will quickly become watered down with lesser talent. I'm not sure I would trust it, but then again, I barely trust anyone to take care of my business for me. The concept of the musical collectives is certainly viable at least (see Elephant 6 for example). Anyhow, read the whole article from MI: http://www.musikindustrin.nu/mi/smpage.fwx?page=198&NYHETER=4787

The Concretes will be playing a special New Year's Eve party in London, England, London with Saint Etienne and The Magic Numbers at Shepherds Bush Empire.

It has finally been revealed that the upcoming Bear Quartet tribute album from A Tenderversion Recording/A Westside Fabrication will be called "Money Talks" and will be released on September 22. Once again, here's the tracklist:

01. Laakso - Blizzard
02. The Concretes - Just Locals
03. Junip - Carsick
04. Håkan Mild - Hunchback
05. Andreas Mattson - Machine Gun
06. The World - Euthanasia
07. Seven Shells - Old Friends
08. Erik Devahl - Straw
09. Kåre Vernby & Dibaba - If You Have A Heart
10. Boy Omega - Last Ball
11. Reverend Big O - I'm Slow
12. Kristofer Åström - Twinreceiver
13. Monastir - Ghosts For Laundry
14. Bad Cash Quartet - Put Me Back Together
15. They Stole A Million - Speedy
16. Audrey - Helpless

I'm starting to see some dates listed for a US tour with The Concretes:

10/13 - TT the Bear's, Cambridge, MA
10/11 - Lee's Palace, Toronto, ON
10/20 - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA

If anyone hears of more, please let me know so I can get it posted. What kind of booking agency doesn't list their act's tourdates?

Rolling Stone reviews The Concretes: http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album?id=6086784