This week's Norwegian top 20 album chart:
01. Bjørn Eidsvåg - Nåde
02. Vamp - I full symfoni (med KORK)
03. Sivert Høyem & The Volunteers - Exiles
04. Sissel - De beste 1986-2006
05. Odd Nordstoga - Heim te mor
06. Jan Werner - Stronger
07. Øystein Sunde - Sundes verden
08. Kristin Asbjørnsen - Wayfaring Stranger - A Spiritual Songbook
09. Espen Lind, Kurt Nilsen, Alejandro Fuentes og Askil Holm - Hallelujah - Live
10. Morten Abel - Some Of Us Will Make It
11. Åge Aleksandersen - Snöharpan
12. Malin - Malins Jul
13. Arve Tellefsen/Nidarosdomens Guttekor - Aria
14. Christian Ingebrigtsen - Paint Christmas White
15. Elisabeth Norberg Schulz - Hellige natt
16. Thomas Dybdahl - Science
17. Paal Flaata - Christmas Island
18. Diverse artister - Jul i Svingen
19. Leif Ove Andsnes - Horizons
20. 120 Days - 120 Days
This week's top 20 Swedish album chart:
01. Markus Fagervall - Echo heart
02. Björn Skifs - Andra Decennier
03. Laleh - Prinsessor
04. Moneybrother - Pengabrorsan
05. Martin Stenmarck - Nio sanningar och en lögn
06. Nils Landgren - Christmas with my friends
07. Peter Jöback - Flera sidor av samma man
08. Darin - Break the news
09. Magnus Carlsson - Spår i snön
10. Bo Kaspers Orkester - Hund
11. Vikingarna - Bästa
12. Frans - Da man
14. The Refreshments - It's gotta be both rock & roll
15. Jill Johnson - The woman I've become
16. Abba - Number ones
17. Orup - Faktiskt
18. Agnes - Stronger
19. Lisa Miskovsky - Changes
20. The Boppers - Jingle bell rock
DigitalMetal has the press release for a new Death Breath EP due out next spring: https://www.digitalmetal.com/news.asp?cid=7914
I've been listening to the album "Stinking up the night" a lot recently and look forward to more material. It's good to hear death-metal that harkens back to the day when the genre was more fun.
Little Big Adventure (nee Penny Century, one of many) has a new two-song single posted for free download: https://www.littlebigadventure.se/
Check out Angels in Jail, the new project of ex-Monkeystrikes/Souls frontwoman Cecilia Nordlund: https://www.myspace.com/angelsinjail
I've been wondering what she's been up to - it's been awhile since we've heard anything new and that last (well, only) Monkeystrikes album was so good.
New European tourdates for Swedish singer/songwriter Kristofer Åström:
01/09 - Ampere, München
01/10 - Flex, Wien
01/11 - Treibhaus, Innsbruck
01/12 - Grabenhalle, St. Gallen
01/13 - El Lokal, Zürich
01/14 - Kaserne, Basel
01/15 - Rockhouse, Salzburg
01/16 - Posthof, Linz
01/17 - Schlachthof, Wiesbaden
01/18 - Forum, Bielefeld
01/19 - Kino im JZE, Essen
01/20 - Objekt 5, Halle
01/21 - Moritzbastei, Leipzig
01/23 - Palais in der Kulturbrauerei, Berlin
01/24 - Gleis 22, Münster
01/25 - Prime Club, Köln
01/26 - Römer, Bremen
01/27 - Knust, Hamburg
Kris will also be going into the studio in February to record a new album, hopefully due out around April.
I figure that since I've already dug myself into a bit of a hole with yesterday's Bamse post, I might as well continue on with another song that'll have most every Swede who reads this thing rolling their eyes. I'm telling this to you as a straight-up fact: Basshunter is onto some serious next-level shit. I cannot believe something so unbelievably, undeniably nerdy has made it as a huge success. A song about a love affair with an IRC bot set to some of the most boneheaded, formulaic technopop ever? Genius! Follow it up with a song about pwning n00bs in a mmorpg? My mind is blown! How the fuck did this find pop crossover success? It's the kind of thing I thought only Something Awful goons and the like could appreciate. However, it's so damn ridiculous, I can't help but love it. The comparison might be lost on some of y'all, but I see it like this: Basshunter is kind of like the geek version of Hatebreed. The music is so predictable, yet so good. They've got their act down to a science. Now if you want to get even more next-level, check out the "DotA" video with l33tsp34k subtitles. I could watch that all day on repeat laughing stupidly to myself. Seriously: Basshunter is brilliant. I'm not kidding. And since I hate Christmas, I've got his version of "Jingle bells" for you today. Enjoy! Or don't! I don't care!
Basshunter - Jingle bells
Why the hell hasn't anyone told me about Bamse before? C'mon guys, we have so much in common! Not only am I also the world's strongest, most kindest bear, but I too have four children: three boys and one girl. Okay, so they're all dogs and my boys aren't triplets from the same litter, but my youngest little baby girl is blue-eyed and retarded, just like Brumma (she was recently diagnosed with severe hydrocephalus, a condition she can live with, but one that will definitely shorten her lifespan). One and the same, see? I recently came across "Bamses dunder-hits" and was blown away. I know, the songs are all just Bamse-fied versions of earlier pop hits, but screw it! I actually like "Kapten Busters sång" a whole lot more than the original "Wild dances". Yeah, that "ooga-chakka" refrain is a wee bit Hasselhoff, but doesn't that just make it better? Seriously. I don't care what anyone says, I love it. If you don't agree, at least be happy I didn't post the "Hej Monika" track "Hej, hopp, Minihopp!". I'll save that one for another day.
Bamse - Kapten Busters sång
Today's top 10 is courtesy of Iisole, one of the most promising, up-and-coming bands I've heard in 2006: [click here]
Kning Disk has posted details for "Farväl Falkenberg", the new album from Stockholm-based composer Erik Enocksson: https://kningdisk.com/02_releases_kd020.asp?id=01
It comes out January 22 and is limited to 550 handmade copies. "The album has all the ingredients of eerie, woodland-influenced sounds (see: chiming bells, heavy organ use, perpetual dusk) as well as enough ethereal vocals to bring rustic porch culture to anyone's mind."
New I'm From Barcelona live dates:
01/23 - La Maroquinerie, Paris (FRA)
01/24 - Academy 3, Manchester (UK)
01/25 - ULU, London (UK)
01/26 - De Nachten Festival, Antwerpen (BEL)
01/27 - The Grand Mix, Tourcoing (FRA)
Norwegian rockers El Caco have finished their new album and confirmed it for a March 5 release.
Various peeps from Luger Booking list their top picks for 2006: https://www.luger.se/_nyheter.asp?PK_Id=677
Denmark's Efterklang has just released a new LP on US label Burnt Toast as part of their one-sided LP series: https://posteverything.com/artists/release.php?id=17532