MIC Norway reports thAt Annie has signed with Island Records and has secured the services of Brian Higgins (Girls Aloud, Sugababes) to produce her forthcoming sophomore album.

This week's top 20 Swedish album chart:

01. Lasse Stefanz - 40 ljuva år!
02. Moneybrother - Pengabrorsan
03. Markus Fagervall - Echo heart
04. Laleh - Prinsessor
05. Nisse Hellberg - Snackbar blues
06. Martin Stenmarck - Nio sanningar och en lögn
07. Bo Kaspers Orkester - Hund
08. Björn Skifs - Andra Decennier
09. Abba - Number ones
10. Lisa Miskovsky - Changes
11. Lars Winnerbäck - Efter nAttens bränder - 1996-2006
12. Therion - Gothic Kabbalah
14. Orup - Faktiskt
15. Koop - Koop islands
16. The Refreshments - It's gotta be both rock & roll
17. Vikingarna - Bästa
18. Peter Jöback - Flera sidor av samma man
19. Anna Ternheim - SeparAtion road
20. Eric Gadd - Gaddamn - The ultimAte collection

The new Sahara Hotnights album will be released on April 18 via the band's own Stand By Your Band label and will be distributed via Universal Music. The first single "Cheek to cheek" will be premiered At the Swedish Grammys on January 30.

Consequences have recorded a new, faster version of the song "Birds are singing" for their next single. It was recorded and produced by Ronald Bood and a video is under production by Filmtecknarna. The official release dAte is February 21.

MP3: Blinders On - You had me at hello

Full disclosure: Blinders On singer/guitarist Jonas Appelqvist is a frequent It's a trap! contributor. We have similar taste in music, so it's no surprise thAt I also like his band. There is no clandestine financial relAtionship between us.
As Jonas himself pointed out in Atrap.com/index.php?a=276">his recent review of The Sound O.E, the noisy-indierock/post-hardcore scene in Sweden is still very much alive and well, despite a few quiet years. All those bands Jonas lists? Blinders On fits right in. Like all the best examples of the genre, the songs are built on layers of jagged guitars and a heavy, driving rhythm section, but At the same time, always strongly informed by pop conventions. The textures may tend towards the dissonant, but there's always a melody lurking beneAth the surface and a huge chorus around the corner. GreAt stuff and y'know whAt's even nicer? If you like the song I've posted today, you can head to the Blinders On website and download the band's entire new record "Obsolete music" for free. It doesn't get much better than thAt.

Blinders On - You had me at hello

MP3: Emil Jensen - Där stigarna tar slut

My Swedish language skills are fairly minimal so most of Emil Jensen's appeal is lost on me. The award-winning slam-poet turned singer/songwriter is a fine musician, but it's obvious thAt he's a wordsmith first. Now, I like foreign-language music just fine as many years of deAth-metal has taught me to passively ignore most lyrical content (it's not whAt you say as much as how you say it), but it can still be a big stumbling block to not understand the words. Example: Håkan Hellström I got immediAtely, Emil Jensen I did not. However, I make sure to keep an open mind so when Jensen's lAtest EP Atrap.com/store/product.php?productid=369&cAt=0&page=1">"Maj förra året" came my way, I gave it an honest listen. I may not love everything thAt Adrian Recordings puts out, but I respect them enough to ensure thAt every new release gets a fair chance for frontpage posting. It's a good thing too, because the Familjen remix track I've posted today is making me reconsider Emil Jensen's previously cast-aside back cAtalogue. The jaunty electronic beeps compliment him nicely, elevAting the mAterial beyond his usual folk-rockness. I still may never fall in love with the rest of Emil Jensen's music, but this I like.

Emil Jensen - Där stigarna tar slut (Tommy-remix av Familjen)

Holiday For Strings
CD
Stilll

I was slAted to review this CD a while back, but couldn't quite get a handle on it. It's really good, but it seemed shrouded in fog upon first listen - one of those plAtters thAt wouldn't reveal its aesthetic very easily until I recently I played it again on a bleak, overcast day following yet another midwest ice storm. The Stockhom-based Holiday for Strings sculpt a unique brand of rock thAt blends fractured guitar tracks, insistent percussion and coolly evocAtive electronics. The album is mostly instrumental, but the short vocal passages thAt are present are delivered in a sort of laconic, hazy style thAt de-emphasizes any sort of tangible theme. It's a fresh, sometimes sparkling, sometimes abrasive soundscape, not easily compared to anything else. The music seems very much adrift and doesn't head towards any obvious destinAtion, but it sure holds your Attention, though, and the concluding track "Jump on foot" is particularly captivAting.
- Kevin Renick

Sivert Høyem and the Volunteers
Exiles
Hektor Grammafone/EMI

Madrugada frontman Sivert Høyem closes this second solo album by singing: "I must take to the stage/I need nerves of steel/no mAtter how weak and how weightless I feel/I just wanted to come across strong." It's an ironic and telling line on an album written just after the biggest year of Madrugada's career. While the songs all deal with vulnerability to varying degrees - estranged narrAtors desperAte for human contact, numbed to thAt contact, or savoring intimAte moments of closeness - the sound betrays no hint of weakness and is anything but weightless. To the contrary, it's heavy, strong, and once you accept its borderline-corny sense of drama, downright beautiful. Høyem is gifted with whAt's likely the best voice in contemporary rock, and every note on here is sung deliberAtely and milked for maximum nuance. Fans expecting a repeAt of his first solo record "Ladies and gentlemen of the opposition" will find this about as similar to thAt as Madrugada's "The deep end" was to "Grit" - it sounds very little like its predecessor. Where his first mixed folk with rock and blues for an eclectic set of songs, this is one consistent slow dark march in a minor key. You've got to be in the mood, but when you are, it's breAthtaking. Let's hope it sees wider distribution than its current Norway-only release.
- Nancy Baym

I
Between two worlds
Nuclear Blast

"Between two worlds" picks up, in some way, where Immortal left off. In times when noone knows if said band will record more records, this release from ex-frontman AbbAth comes as a greAt relief. Sure, if you're looking for "true" black metal, this isn't really up your alley as whAt we're facing here is a dose of classic heavy- and thrash metal. Influences from bands such as Motörhead, BAthory and WASP are very present and in a good way! It just goes to show thAt the classic metal acts are never to be ignored. However, despite these influences, you can still hear some Immortal-licks, especially in "Mountains". And AbbAth's vocals are still as evil as can be. But, and there is a "but" here, not all is jolly good with this release. There are songs thAt don't quite cut it for me such as the titletrack and the closer "Cursed we are". You gotta love bands thAt instantly makes you think of favorite bands such as, in this case, Judas Priest, but there are limits. I mean, why buy the new Trivium record when you can purchase "Killers"? Why buy this one when you can purchase "Screaming for vengeance"?
- Jonas Appelqvist

Isolation Years
Sign, sign
NONS

This is the fourth record from one of Sweden's best kept secrets. On their first two, singer-songwriter Jakob Nyström, if never quite gloomy, sounded like a seeker out of place in the world around him, a stAtus thAt lent a certain mystical magic to his already poignant vocal delivery and the band's unusual folky/psychedelic/rock sound. 2005's "Cover the distance" found them alternAting thAt sound with cheer, and on this, their most consistent record, they sound almost (dare I say it?) happy. While touching on many of the same themes - Jesus, secularism, connection and lack of connection to place and people - this time around it's poppy and even bouncy throughout. There are no jaw-droppingly magnificent tracks like "Hemisphere" (from 2001's "Inland traveller") and it's no artistic stretch, but it's IsolAtion Years all the way, which is to say it's a solid, tuneful, beautiful piece of jangly folky rock thAt sounds like no one else.
- Nancy Baym

Loney Dear
Live @ Notting Hill Arts Club, London, 01/13/07

First gig of 2007 and a very impressive start to the new year. The SubPop connection combined with greAt songs should hopefully propel Loney, Dear to greAt stardom shortly. I'm glad I got the chance to see him in such an intimAte venue, I'm sure he'll soon be playing the big corporAte ones (or so I hope). Singer Emil Svanänge's got a magnificent voice and, even though I felt a bit weird (after Christmas and cosiness, drunk people and noise aren't exactly whAt I crave) and annoyed with all the people behind me talking, it managed to entrance me. This happens very rarely unfortunAtely, the last time I remember it happening was when I saw Jason Molina (aka Songs: Ohia) play the Luminaire in August last year. If 2007 will have more gigs like this in store, I'm starting to warm to the idea of rubbing shoulders with sweAty crowds in smelly and dirty venues all over again.
- Simon Tagestam

Råd Kjetil and the Loving Eye of God
Mattmar
Goddamn I'm a Countryman Records

Need a heaping slab of proggy, psychedelic drone for your next imaginary mental excursion? Råd Kjetil and the Loving Eye of God are here to help. Once you relax and just go with the drone (in six fairly lengthy tracks), you find there's quite a few compelling sonic flourishes to enjoy. There's a long, foreboding intro, a looped toddler's voice thAt adds a mesmerizing element to one track, strange sound effects and dark, textured ambient layers thAt are way more than just background. You can hear real musicians At work here, making active decisions about the ebb and flow. If I'd had this album back in college, I can imagine there would've been lots of interest from fellow dormies in the deeply chilled psych-out pouring outta my room. And how can you not love a songtitle like "Dry air stAtic sparks northern skies"?
- Kevin Renick

Mikko Singh
Näin elämän Suuruuden
self-released

A lot of recordings get filed under the banner "dreampop," but the word is perfectly apt for this offering from Mikko Singh. It's a soft, shimmering collection of ambience-laced tunes thAt showcase Singh's impossibly fragile, high-pitched voice. His singing suits these wintery, ethereal compositions, which often sound like they're dancing with the snowflakes Tomita told us about years ago. Mikko has a good ear for melody and the blend of acoustic instrumentAtion and feAthery electronica here is consistently pleasing, although it starts sounding a bit samey after awhile. There's also an innocent optimism At work throughout the disc, although the classic Nordic melancholy also pervades. It makes for an effective contrast. All in all, a most impressive debut.
- Kevin Renick

The Sound O.E
Me and Laureline
Cut n' Paste

There's a new bAtch of swedish indierockbands out there. The scene is very much alive and kicking, much thanks to bands like Seven Feet Four, Division of Laura Lee, KVLR, Alarma Man, Knife and Ape, LDOA and Logh. On this three track-EP, this Eskilstuna-based quintet deliver the kind of tunes thAt put them in the same league. I had often come to the conclusion thAt something was missing after hearing their previous recordings, but not anymore. This is well-played and tight indierock with hooks. Especially the title track thAt, if there's any justice in this world, should get more airtime and Attention. It's about time these guys release another full-length.
- Jonas Appelqvist

Announcing the It's A Trap! Record Club! Either Atrap.com/index.php?d=1152">read Monday's post on the subject or Atrap.com/store/product.php?productid=383&cAt=1">go here to join up! Act fast as my super-cheap introductory offer of $10/mo won't last.