Details and cover art for the new "Say Something New" EP from The Concretes: http://www.lickingfingers.com/discography.php?discno=10

Heikki, the group featuring Jari Haapalainen from Bear Quartet and Maria Eriksson of The Concretes are doing a few dates in Sweden:

05/21 - Debaser, Stockholm
05/27 - KB, Malmö
05/28 - Playground/Pusterviksbaren, Göteborg
05/29 - Rock Sensation @ Herrgår'n, Linköping

Hemmalaget now has the track "Ny dag samma skit" (even with my rudimentary Swedish skills I know that's "new day, same shit") from Sabo Hoosam Gurmo's new mix CD "Radio 127" up for download: http://www.hemmalaget.nu/music/ny_dag_samma_skit.mp3

Cut the Chord with "Three Reasons You Should Move To Sweden": http://www.cutthechord.com/minimain.html (scroll down for reviews of José González, Hip Whips and The Concretes)

Some news from A West Side Fabrication: http://www.cabal.se/westside/news/index.htm
Most importantly, the new single from Heikki (feat. Jari Haapalainen from The Bear Quartet and Maria Eriksson from The Concretes) is called "Former Hero" and will be out March 31. The new album "Heikki 2" comes out soon, too.

The rumors are true! The Concretes are indeed getting in bed with the majors and will be releasing a new EP over in the UK with the help of EMI as the distributor. It will feature the single "Say Something New" along with three so-called lost gems: "a b-side, a lost single and a little number called Sugar that has been hiding in Seattle for way too long." It comes out on April 12. And that's not all - the much hyped band is heading over there themselves to help spread the word. Dates:

04/21 - The Zodiac, Oxford
04/22 - The 100Club, London

Lisa from The Concretes was recently a guest on Sean Rowley's BBC radio show 'The Joy of Music' where she got to program an hour of her favorite tunes. Listen here (until next Saturday): http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/blues.shtml?seanrowley

A bit of Planekonomi news...

Monkeystrikes is getting ready to shoot a video for the first single "Lost on the Lawn" from their debut EP "Angry Knees". Henry Moore Selder (The Hives, The Knife, Jimi Tenor) will direct. Also, on the same day the EP is released on March 31, the band will hit the road for a couple weeks. Dates and details soon.

The next Mattias Alkberg BD single from his album "Tunaskolan" will be "Don Quixote" and it will be released in April. As for the album track "Levande Begravd" ("buried alive"), look for a special limited edition 7" of that coming soon from Hot Stuff. It's a cover of Swedish punk legends Liket Lever just in case you were unaware (like me).

Lastly, the label would like to welcome Stockholm-based band Stella Rocket to the family. Their debut album was produced by the ever-talented Jari Haapalainen of Bear Quartet and will be out soon. In case you didn't know, Jari's previous credits include bands such as The Concretes, Laakso and Moneybrother.

Rolling Stone columnist David Fricke lauds The Concretes in his Out There column:

"The Concretes are a splendid, peppermint pop octet from Sweden fronted by a pair of flaming lips: singer-lyricist Victoria Bergsman, whose heated coo is a winning blend of Nico and the mid-Sixties Diana Ross. Bergsman pays literal homage to the haughty Supreme in two originals ("Diana Ross", "You Can't Hurry Love"), although the garage-rock organ and acid-fairground brass sound more like Mercury Rev at play."

Despite the proliferation of their name on the label workers' top ten lists, I have confirmed that Sub Pop is not signing The Concretes as one might expect. Perhaps they really are holding out for a major?

Sub Pop posted a hilarious take on Pitchforkmedia.com today on their website. Why is it relevant? They list their top 10s for 2003 and The Concretes come up quite a few times! Check it: http://www.subpop.com/features/pdork/news.html#story3 (scroll down)

Streaming playlist: Guest DJ: Orosco

Lake of Tears will enter the studio on February 13 to begin work on their new album, tentatively titled "Black Brick Road". An August release on Noise Records is expected.

German radio show "45 minutes", broadcast every second sunday at 7.30 pm on Radio Blau Leipzig, recently published their best-of-the-year lists and they contain a ton of Nordic acts. Here's some highlights:

Top 100 LPs 2003
01. The Bear Quartet "angry brigade" (A West Side Fabrication)
03. David & The Citizens "until the sadness is gone" (Adrian)
05. The Legends "up against the legends" (Labrador)
06. The Radio Dept. "lesser matters" (Labrador)
08. The Embassy "futile crimes" (Service)
10. Wan Light "let's wake up somewhere else" (Labrador)
12. Mew "frengers" (Sony)
13. Monastir "the modern sound for a loser generation" (A West Side Fabrication)
16. Peter Bjorn And John "s/t" (Beat That!)
17. The Crystal Committee "forever overhead" (Chalksound)
18. Dub Sweden "welcome to our world" (Silence)
21. Franke "optimismens hån" (Service)
22. Club 8 "strangely beautiful" (Labrador)
23. Komeda "kokomemedada" (Sonet)
32. The Concretes "s/t" (Licking Fingers)
42. Broder Daniel "cruel town" (Dolores)
50. The Cardigans "long gone before daylight" (Stockholm)
57. Laakso "miss you, i'm pregnant" (Adrian)
58. The Raveonettes "chain gang of love" (Dragnet)
73. Paola "stockcity girl" (Dolores)
83. Burek V "s/t" (A West Side Fabrication)
85. Carpet People "more bad weather coming out of the rain" (Chalksound)
88. Isolation Years "it's golden" (Stickman)
89. Douglas Heart "douglas heart" (Labrador)
93. Mando Diao "bring 'em in" (Majesty)
94. The Knife "deep cuts" (Rabid)
97. Ariel Kill Him "in the pyramid" (Kasual)
99. Edson "every day, ervery second" (Labrador)

For the rest of the list, as well as their singles chart, go here: http://www.pop-on-paper.de/

Next year:
So far, I'm looking forward to new releases from Kristofer Åström, Cobolt, C.Armeé, Sahara Hotnights, Soundtrack of Our Lives, Tiger Lou, Weeping Willows and of course, KVLR to name a few. There's also an album in the pipeline from The Hives that's sure to be hyped beyond belief. And then there's the international promotion of José González and The Concretes to look out for, as well as who knows what other flavor-of-the-month they might try to sell you. As always, you know where to come if you want to hear about it first.

Top ten: 2003

From the rumor mill comes word that the latest UK-hyped Swedish act The Concretes will be signing a deal with EMI.