Special feature today on Carpet People! The new album "More Bad Weather Coming Out of the Rain" was released yesterday and I got an mp3 of the first single "A Road Leading into the Sun" for you. Great melancholic pop as only the Swedes can do. Fans of artists such as Hederos & Hellberg should take note - I think you'll dig it. But that's not all! I also have a photo album of pics taken from the record release show last Friday at Scharinska Villan in Umeå. Check it out!

Also coming out soon from Chalksounds is the new single from Soviac. The song comes off the forthcoming album "Triology Sexlife Rodeo Friscotti" and is called "Boogie Woogie", but best of all - it's FREE! I kid you not! Beginning on May 1 you'll be able to download the song plus the artwork from the Chalksounds site. I haven't really heard anything from these guys myself, but I've been told that it's gonna blow some minds. Wait and see, eh?

The kind folk over at Firesideometer.com have posted the very first reviews of the new Fireside album in English. They also review the new Kristofer Åström EP, so check that out, too.

The Caesars have finally confirmed a release date for "39 Minutes of Bliss (In An Otherwise Meaningless World)", their new collection to introduce them to the world outside of Sweden. It'll be out April 22 in the US on Astralworks, April 21 in the UK on Virgin and elsewhere around Europe around the same time, also on Virgin. They've also got a bunch more shows lined up. The dates:

4/16 - UK, London w/80s Matchbox B-Line Disaster, for XFM contest winners.
5/9 - UK, Glasgow Cathouse w/French Kicks
5/10 - UK, York Fibbers w/French Kicks
5/11 - UK, Oxford University w/French Kicks
5/12 - UK, Leicester The Charlotte w/French Kicks
5/13 - UK, London The Garage w/French Kicks
5/14 - UK, Manchester Roadhouse w/French Kicks
5/18 - Austria, Vienna Flex
5/20 - Germany, Hamburg Molotow
5/21 - Germany, Berlin Magnet
5/22 - Germany, Cologne Underground
5/23 - Holland, Utrecht Ekko
5/24 - Holland, Amsterdam Paradiso

Entombed's new label Threeman Recording just put out their very first releases, both Entombed side projects. First up is "Ravenous Murderous", Murder Squad's 2nd album. Expect old-school Swedish death metal ala Bloodbath. Next we have a live album recorded in Finland from The Project Hate who are industrial-flavored metal, if I remember right.

And speaking of Entombed, those guys are still wrapping up work on the new album "Inferno" (produced by PMA Gunnerfeldt of Fireside) but have still found time to do a couple gigs down in South Africa. Check this flier for details.

The Sounds will be filming an appearance for Last Call With Carson Daly on May 10 which will air the following week. They've got a couple gigs lined up in Germany, too:

5/5 - Berlin, Magnet
5/7 - Köln, Gebaeue 9

And as I'm sure you can guess from the Carson Daly appearance, the band will indeed be playing more shows in the States, apparently supporting The Ravonettes for most of em. Here's what I can confirm so far:

5/19 - San Francisco, CA, Bottom of the Hill (headlining)
5/24 - Minneapolis, MN, 7th Street Entry
5/25 - Cudahy, WI, VNUK's Lounge
5/27 - Chicago, IL, Double Door
5/28 - Cleveland, OH, The Beachland Ballroom
5/29 - Detroit, MI, Magic Stick
5/30 - Toronto, Canada, Horseshoe Tavern
6/2 - New York, NY, Bowery Ballroom
6/3 - Boston, MA, Paradise Rock Club
6/4 - Philadelphia, PA, North Star Bar

Christian Kjellvander is playing at Mosebacke in Stockholm on April 29.

Children of Bodom will be doing a couple dates in Sweden later in April:

4/18 - Stockholm/Arenan
4/20 - Göteborg
4/21 - Lund/Mejeriet

The new EP from Jettie entitled "Some Stories We Trust" comes out April 15 on Black Star Foundation who are distributed through Kasual Records. Check 'em out on tour while you're at it:

4/15 - Uppsala - Café Genomfarten
4/16 - Göteborg - Jord
4/17 - Gislaved - Gisleparken
4/18 - Uddevalla - Café Hvidtfeldt
4/19 - Oslo - Café Mono
4/20 - Sandviken - Kungen
4/21 - off
4/22 - Stockholm - Kaffé 44
4/23 - Lund - Smålands Nation
4/24 - Malmö - Blackstar Foundation
4/25 - Trollhättan - ML5
4/26 - Karlstad - HBFG
4/27 - Eskilstuna - Kaka Releaseparty

I neglected to mention it yesterday, but The Confusions will also be heading out on a few more dates besides those Baltic ones I already posted:

05/16 - Underground, Sundsvall, Sweden
06/02 - Underworld, London, UK, TBC
08/11 - Pärnu, Estonia, TBC

Division of Laura Lee has just announced that they will be cancelling their scheduled appearance at the upcoming Coachella Festival along with the additional US dates they had booked around the event. The full statement from singer Per Stalberg:

I'm very sorry to say Division of Laura Lee cancels Coachella festival + additional dates in the U.S.
Due to the fact that I've been suffering from grave throat-infection, coughing for the last three weeks and have been totally feeble in my body. I've been having fever for the last weeks and as I went to the doctor today for the second time in two days he adviced/ordered me to cancel the trip to U.S. as I need to recover from my illness, or this will lead to further injuries & I would seriously risk my health.
I'm indeed very sorry that we need to cancel, not only due to all the fans that bought tickets to our upcoming shows, but also it feels unfortunate towards my band comrades Hakan, Jonas & David, as they also were very excited on coming back to the U.S. on tour & especially excited about Coachella festival, meeting a lot of new people, receiving new vibes.
We'll definitely be back in the U.S. and by this fall we'll record our second album which will turn out to be The master-piece [sic]. Again I'm sorry that we had to cancel the tour, we'll be back soon.
I also want to take the chance & say THANKS to all the people that came out to our shows, bought our records and supported us in amazing letters, emails, phone-calls, live-conversations, it's been the year of my dreams.
We'll recover and come back more powerful than you could ever imagine.
Take care

Earache Records has posted the uncensored 'controversial' video for the song "D.O.A." from The Haunted on their website.

From nubreaks.com via the pHinnweb mailing list:

Riku Pentti aka Infekto comes from Finland, and when I say Finland, I mean right up in the north of Finland where it is bloody cold!. I remember travelling to a gig he was doing where we guested and it was one helluva mission to get there. Bandits on the road ready to rob you. Big ugly bears taking potshots with their paws at passing cars. Police openly taking bribes for you to proceed on your journey. Naked women just dancing in the undergrowth smeared in Marmite... okay, that was all crap, but it still was quite a drive!!!

Read the full interview: www.nubreaks.com/?dir=features/infeat0406&section=infekto_feature. Some interesting discussion on the Finnish electronic music scene, among other things.

Entombed have selected Pelle Gunnerfeldt, one of my favorite engineers/producers to work on their next album. Besides playing guitar for Fireside, Pelle has recorded many fine albums from bands such as The Hives, Randy, T(I)NC and Last Days of April.

The lead singer/guitarist of the Backyard Babies got carjacked the other night in Stockholm. Dregen had just finished DJing at Club Debaser and was on his way home when he was robbed and assaulted. Dregen was then rushed to hospital where he was treated for a broken jaw. No word yet about how this will impact the current recording of their upcoming album. Read more about the incident in Swedish here.

Hederos & Hellberg will have a new EP available around Christmas-time.

The Confusions' 4th album "Trampoline" is out now in Scandinavia. Listen to the first single "The Pilot" in RealAudio here. See the video here.

The Ark just put up a new website design.

It looks like Universal Records finally got their act together and has started to update the new U.S. TSOOL website. The big news is that they'll be the musical guest on the Conan O'Brien show the 26th of November. Otherwise, there ain't nothing new worth noting.