John Roger Olsson, the man behind The Grand Opening, will be releasing an official solo album a bit later this year. I'm pretty excited to hear it as I'm (obviously) a big fan of his work. Also new for Roger is that he's joined his pal Chris Öberg from What Happens In Vegas Stays In Vegas and I Stray in the project Hearts No Static. More info on that here: http://www.heartsnostatic.com/

Top 10s for 2005: Roger Olsson (The Grand Opening)

Top 10s for 2005: Teemu Lupatarkastaja

Finnish music blog Lupatarkastaja posts his top 25 records for 2005: http://lupatarkastaja.samizdat.info/category/10/top-25-2005/
Plenty of interesting Finnish selections, as to be expected. Also, I'm happy to see The Grand Opening's IAT.MP3 release made the list at #9. Nice!

IAT.MP3 recording artist The Grand Opening (download EP here) reports that they are currently recording their debut album at Roth Händle studio in Stockholm with producer/engineer Mattias Olsson (Pineforest Crunch, Vijaya, Two Times The Trauma). In other news, the band's old CDR releases will be reissued by TGO mainman Roger Olsson's new CDR label Suitcase Music alongside new releases from Yamon Yamon and Will Gambola Sing. And lastly, TGO plans to tour Germany the second half of February 2006. If you are interested in booking them, contact norrlands-booking@gmx.de.

Swedish upstart indie label Sing Your Life! has posted a new EP from Lionlove for free download: http://www.singyourlife.se/
Lionlove in indiepop duo sideproject for Charlotte and Daniel from Vijaya and Spider & I respectively. The eventual live band will feature Anders Ljung and Roger Olsson (The Grand Opening, Vijaya).

Download the track "Oh, mutineer!" from ex-The Grand Opening guitarist Leif Elverstig: http://www.tgomusic.com/songs/leif_elverstig-oh_mutineer.mp3

The lineup for the En Ljummen i Gräset Festival has been posted: http://www.ljummen.com/
Both IAT netlabel acts Björn Kleinhenz and The Grand Opening are playing on July 23, so that's definitely something to not be missed. I'd be there myself if I could.

If you haven't already checked it out, don't forget the download that free EP from The Grand Opening that's posted over there on the right. It's the second release from the IAT netlabel and, as always, is distributed free in accordance with a Creative Commons License.

Hooray! If you look to the right, you'll see that the time has finally come for the second installment of the IAT.MP3 series. The Grand Opening is the musical alias of Roger Olsson from Stockholm, Sweden. If you're at all into melancholic slowcore acts like Idaho, Low, Early Day Miners, American Music Club or maybe also countrymates Logh, you're sure to love the "Location" EP. I know it's probably not all that cool to admit it, but some of the music reminds me of early/mid-90s midwestern emo rock, the kind of thing I used to listen to before the genre became synonymous with garbage. Anyhow, you don't have to take my word for it - download it and listen for yourself. As always, all IAT.MP3 releases are distributed under a creative commons music license, so it's free to share. Enjoy!

Streaming playlist: Spring is in the air

The Grand Opening
Demo
Suitcase

Dramatic, atmospheric pop with tons of soaring melodies and long, dreamy instrumental passages. Great songs, great recording and production, just well-done in every way. Definitely one of the best new things I've gotten in the mail recently.
- Avi Roig

The full list of bands for the Blow Up a Panda Fest has been confirmed: Florence Valentin, Östermalm, Yukon AK, The Hommos, The Dontcares, Dreamboy, Coyote, Chloe, Andres Stellan, Captain Murphy, Dialog Cet, Logh, Sick Oakes, Tubular Bells, Moder Jords Massiva, The Grand Opening, Carpet People, The Je Ne Sais Quoi, Fraction of My Former Self, Isolation Years, Nebos, Endivia, The Leeches, The Heartattacks, Satirnine, Slagsmålkubben, The Micragirls, Satriel, Ane Brun, Sewergrooves, Dirty Savants

The event takes place July 26-27 at Levande Zon in Stockholm. More info: www.deck13.nu/blowupapanda