The Hives will play a special show in celebration of frontman Howlin' Pelle's birthday on May 26 at Proud Larry’s in Oxford, Mississippi. More info: http://www.hivesmusic.com/popup/party.aspx

Just an average week in the lives of The Hives: http://www.hivesmusic.com/journal/?did=1000

Check out the microsite for the new comp "Ge Fan I Våra Vatten", a benefit to raise money for fish/water restoration: http://www.sportfiskarna.se/gefan/
Many of the contributing acts such as Erik Ohlsson from Millencolin and Kimmo Kirvesmäki of Voice Of A Generation/The Accidents are sport fishermen themselves, so consider this a labor of love. Other contributing acts include The Hives, The Hellacopters, Millencolin, Soundtrack Of Our Lives, Backyard Babies, Moneybrother, Weeping Willows and Randy. It comes out on May 18.

The Hives check in from Mississippi where they are working on their new album: http://www.hivesmusic.com/journal/?did=997

Canadian mag Exclaim! has a big feature on Swedish music: http://www.exclaim.ca/index.asp?navid=16&csid1=109
Pretty much the same sort of thing that was common a few years back when The Hives and Soundtrack of Our Lives were riding high, but still done fairly decently I suppose.

The Hives have started to post various festival dates they will be appearing at this summer: http://www.hivesmusic.com/tour/

The video for Johndoe's new single "Hardt som faen" is now online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1UtvoxrJmY
The clip was filmed live by fans at a show in Oslo and the live sound was mixed by Swedish producer/engineer Pelle Gunnerfeldt (Fireside, The Hives, etc.). The track is the third single from "Dødvinkel", one of my favorite records from 2006.

Send your friends a Christmas card from The Hives: http://www.hivesmusic.com/ecard/xmascard.asp

The Hives are back at Gröndal Studios recording a new album.

Moneybrother
Pengabrorsan
Hacka Skivindustri

Not really sure why Burning Heart Records didn't want to release Moneybrother's Swedish album. It seems idiotic to me, but who am I to judge, huh? Maybe they didn't think it would sell enough or something. The album consists of ten covers, all interpreted by Anders Wedin (aka Moneybrother) in Swedish, and one original song that features the Swedish rock legend Jerry Williams. It's an interesting premise and Moneybrother manages to keep it exciting most of the way through. Being a fan of Operation Ivy, "Jag skriver inte på nåt", with The Hives' own Howlin' Pelle, appeals to me a lot and so does "Under bordet" which is a cover of My Morning Jacket's "Off the record" (one of my favourite songs of 2005), even though these are not the strongest songs on here per se. Most of the tracks have got that Bruce Springsteen vibe that Wendin has embraced and plugged away at since his first single "Reconsider me". Now, I'd like for Broder Daniel's Henrik, Randy's Stefan, etc, to step up and release their own Swedish cover albums. Preferably within the next 3 weeks. PS: The album's title is a Swedish translation of "the moneybrother".
- Simon Tagestam

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

Word has it that The Hives will be making a guest appearance on Timbaland's forthcoming solo album.

Moneybrother will be releasing a new album of cover tunes sung in Swedish next month. The record is called "Pengabrorsan" and the official release date is December 6 via Hacka Skivindustri (what happened to BHR?) with the first single "Dom vet ingenting om oss" being posted for streaming at moneybrother.net tomorrow. Some of the artists covered include Donna Summer, Operation Ivy, My Morning Jackets and Otis Clay and there are duets with both Jerry Williams and Howlin' Pelle (The Hives).

[ingenting]
Mycket väsen för ingenting
Labrador

This is the second album from [ingenting], and they still sound a bit like Kent and a lot like Velvet Underground (the guitar riffs!). The Swedish press hasn't really taken to this album, something I don't really understand since these songs are highly infectious and the more I listen to them, the more I want to go on a road trip with them playing on the stereo. The lyrics are wonderful and the music's ace. [ingenting] are terrific at doing slower ballad-type of songs ("Bergochdalbanan" being my favourite 'slow song' on here), but what they really do best is fast and catchy (such as "Punkdrömmar", "Suzanne", "Släpp in solen" – listened a lot to this last summer, and "Hollywood dreams", the latter being the strongest track on "Mycket väsen för ingenting"). This is Swedish indie at its very best, even if [ingenting] have taken some obvious references points to create their sound like The Hives, instead of being more original like someone such as The Knife.
- Simon Tagestam

Swedish music show Musikbyrån celebrates 10 years with a marathon of programming on October 20, including many classic performances from bands such as Refused, Bob Hund and The Hives. Read more: http://svt.se/musikbyran