Photo:Henrik has posted new pics of Peter, Bjorn and John and The Plan: http://www.photohenrik.com/

Willowtree has confirmed that they will be working with producer Ronald Bood (The Plan, Mando Diao, Niccokick, Keane) on their upcoming album. The group has spent the last few months doing preproduction and will enter the studio in February.

The Soundtrack of Our Lives have rescheduled their UK dates:

02/21 - Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth (UK)
02/22 - Rescue Rooms, Nottingham (UK)
02/23 - King Tuts, Glasgow (UK)
02/24 - Liquid Room, Edinburgh (UK)
02/26 - Univ Stanley Theatre, Liverpool (UK)
02/27 - Cockpit, Leeds (UK)
02/28 - Concorde 2, Brighton (UK)

The new single "Heading for a Breakdown" comes out February 9 and an animated video from directors Andreas Nilsson and Johannes Holm (The Knife, The Plan, Hell On Wheels, Silverbullit) will be airing shortly.

Here's the first list of names confirmed for the upcoming P3 Popstad fest in Stockholm on February 3-5: Bergman Rock, Christian Walz, The Latin Kings, Eric Prydz, Teddybears STHLM, The Concretes, Caesars Palace, Infinite Mass, Sophie Rimheden, Weeping Willows, Steve Angelo, Two Times The Trauma, Ison & Fille, The Killers, The Baboon Show, Ayesha, Peter Bjorn and John, Petter, The Sunshine, Axwell, The Plan, Andreas Tilliander, Richard Reagh & wwnb2, Anna Ternheim, Medina, Hanky and Panky, Florence Valentin, I Love You Baby!, The Nomads, Ted, Revlon 9, Tiger Lou, Suburban Kids with Biblical Names, Tobias Lindén, Tristes Tigers, The Happiest Girl in The World, Hundarna från Söder, Nadie Affecta, Stella Rocket, [Ingenting], Midnight Monkeys, Sebastian Ingrosso, Johnossi, Fatfred and the Superfast Truckers and Damn!.

Here's this week's top 20 Swedish album chart:

01. Lars Winnerbäck - Vatten under broarna
02. Benny Anderssons Orkester - Bao!
03. Lisa Ekdahl - Olyckssyster
04. Europe - Start from the Dark
05. Lena Philipsson - Det gör ont en stund på natten men inget på dan
06. Björn Skifs - Skifs Hits!
07. Anna-Lotta Larsson - Känn en doft av kärleken
08. Alcazar - Dancefloor - Deluxe
09. Christian Walz - Paint by Numbers
10. Rebecka Törnqvist - Travel Like in Songs
11. Mando Diao - Hurricane Bar
12. Mats Bergmans - Vänd dig inte omo
13. Sugarplum Fairy - Young and Armed
14. Gyllene Tider - Finn 5 Fel
15. Vikingarna - Bästa Kramgoa Låtarna
16. Stefan Sundström - Hjärtats melodi
17. The Plan - Embrace Me Beauty
18. Maja - Hemligheter
19. Anders Johansson - When I Become Me
20. Raymond & Maria - Vi ska bara leva klart

Mp3 blog Music for Robots posts about Norwegian goth/doom/metal band Theatre of Tragedy: http://music.for-robots.com/archives/000563.html

Check out an e-card for The Plan's new album "Embrace me beauty": http://www.emi.se/artists/theplan/emb/index.htm

Streaming playlist: Old stuff

The new single "Young and armed" from The Plan hits Swedish radio today. The new album is due out September 16.

Big news! Håkan Hellström has signed on as the new drummer for The Plan, featuring another ex-Broder Daniel member Theodor Jensen. As some of you may recall, Håkan played drums with indie rockers Honey is Cool way back when, the band of Karin Dreijer before she started The Knife.

Ronald Bood (The Plan, Mando Diao) has been enlisted to mix the new Empire Dogs record.

Theodor Jensen is following in the footsteps of Håkan Hellström and taking leave from Broder Daniel to concentrate on his own project The Plan. The band's sophomore album is due out later this year.

José González makes an appearance on the upcoming Niccokicks EP joining them on the Andreas Söderlund song "I want you back". The record was produced by Ronald Bood whose previous work includes records with The Plan, Mando Diao and Shout out Louds. Look for it in September.

Finally! The Motorhomes have a new website up and they report that they've record three new songs for their next album and have enlisted both Niklas Korssell (ex-The Plan) on drums and organist Henrik Carlsson. Can't wait for a new record, "Long Distance Runner" was easily one of 2002's best IMO. They've also got a few tour dates lined up for the near future so check em out:

08/28 - Kulturbolaget, Malmö (SWE)
08/29 - Sticky Fingers, Göteborg (SWE)
08/30 - Debaser, Stockholm (SWE)
08/31 - So What, Oslo (NOR)

BREAKING NEWS: A reformed Union Carbide Productions will be playing the Hultsfred Festival next year. The band broke up many years ago and members went on to form The Soundtrack of Our Lives, but they've decided to come together again in celebration of their upcoming box set release. More news about Hultsfred here. No time has been set yet for the box set's release, but we're hearing that an April or May date is expected.

Speaking of TSOOL, here's some photos from their recent tour with Oasis. (Text in Swedish)

Watch a video of The Ark's performance from Faddergalan over at the Arkfreaks website.

Mustasch is in the studio once again. Jakob Hellner (Rammstein, Clawfinger) is producing and it is expected to be out late 2003.

The Plan are working on their next album. Ronald Bood is producing once again and it should be out by Autumn next year.

Darkthrone managed to record and mix their new album in 26 hours. That's pretty damn fast! Described by singer/guitarist Nocturno Culto as "spontaneous black metal with spirit", it will be released on Moonfog in February.

The tracklist for the upcoming 2xCD Emperor greatest hits and rarities collection "Scattered Ashes - A Decade of Emperial Wrath" has been revealed. Here it is:

Disc One:
01. Curse You All Men
02. The Tongue Of Fire
03. The Majesty Of The Night Sky
04. Cosmic Keys To My Creations & Times
05. Wrath Of The Tyrant
06. The Loss & Curse Of Reverence
07. An Elegy Of Icaros
08. I Am The Black Wizards
09. Thus Spake The Nightspirit (live)
10. Ye Entrancemperium
11. In The Wordless Chamber
12. With Strength I Burn
13. Inno A Satana

Disc Two:
01. A Fine Day To Die
02. Aerie Descent
03. Cromlech
04. Gypsy
05. Funeral Fog
06. I Am
07. Sworn (Ulver remix)
08. Lords Of The Storms
09. My Empire's Doom
10. Moon Over Kara-Shehr
11. Witches Sabbath
12. Ancient Queen
13. In Longing Spirit

Sanctum is scheduled to play the Cornerstone Festival in the US in July. They're also working on booking a west-coast tour to follow. The band is also said to be demoing material for their next album, with the goal of getting started in the studio around February. In related news, the Crescens Collective is doing another collaboration with the dance group Agnes. The topic will be "choices" and they are expected to finish around March.

Backyard Babies frontman/guitarist Dregen is recovering nicely from his mugging injuries and the band has resumed rehearsals and preparing demos for their upcoming album. In other news, the band has also made their first foray into the world of sports by becoming an official endorser of their local hockey team, Njckey Club. The endorsement consists of the BB skull logo being stenciled onto one of the face-off circles.

Remember to watch Conan O'Brien on November 26 to see The Soundtrack of Our Lives perform.

Sweden student radio top 20:

Leaving the chart:
(10) The Crash "New York"
(11) Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Machine"
(13) Peter Bjorn And John "I Don't Know What I Want Us To Do"
(17) The Distillers "City of Angels"
(18) Marit Bergman "This Is the Year"
(20) Adam Green "Dance With Me"

The Knife (ex-Honey is Cool) has got a new record coming out. The first single and video "Heartbeats" will drop January 7 with the album "Deep Cuts" following on January 27.

After a rare concert appearance on Halloween, Notre Dame frontman Snowy Shaw went straight back to Fredman Studio in Sweden to record the next album from Dream Evil. The planned title is "Evilizer" and Snowy contributed four tunes. Work Notre Dame's next album will continue soon.

Watch the video for "The Band" from Mando Diao:

Real: High / Low   Windows: High / Low

Listen to Peter, Bjorn and John play live on P3 here and here. For those that don't know, the members of PBJ have connections to artists such as Caesars Palace, TSOOL, The Plan, Marit Bergman, and Nicolai Dunger among others.