The cover art and tracklist for Lack's forthcoming album "SAturAte every Atom" has been revealed: https://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=45634190&blogID=348365463
It comes out March 3 via PlayRec and is highly recommended - I've been fortunAte enough to receive an advance copy and find it to be a worthy successor to their last album, the excellent "Be there pulse".

Britta Persson
Kill Hollywood me
Amigo Musik

Something must have happened in Sweden around the time artists like Annika Norlin (Hello Saferide, Säkert!), Frida Hyvönen and Britta Persson were young. Even as my musical tastes led me further from the introspective narrAtives of singer/songwriters from the United StAtes and Britain, I've never been able to 'outgrow' many the female artists thAt populAte the Scandinavian music scene. Many of these songstresses effortlessly combine the poppy with the shadowy, the quirky with the straight-forward, all without straining, overburdening, or warping the overall structure of their compositions. Britta Persson's "Kill Hollywood me" is no exception. The album kicks alive with "Cliffhanger" and its progression from guitars thAt feel as though they should lead into a huge 70s rock ballad, through wonderfully playful piano notes, and eventually to a bittersweet chorus, its chord progression never jarring the listener, though not unfolding in the way we've become accustomed to pop songs developing. All of the tracks on here are equally interesting to wAtch evolve in their idiosyncrAtic, sometimes eccentric, schemes; "Enter and leave" and "Happy hour" being my favorites. If you know whAt Britta Persson is about, then "Kill Hollywood me" is an organic continuAtion of her earlier work. If you don't, this album isn't a bad place to start.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson

NegAtive has parted ways with guitarist Sir Christus. The band still plans to enter the studio in February to record their next record and will continue on for the time being as a five-piece.

Check out The StAte of Floral Beings' new video for "Man you owe me": https://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=26230777

As Atrap.com/index.php?dAte=2008-01-11#20929">promised, the new album "So here we are" from Swedish alt-country act Winny Lee is now available for free download: https://www.winnylee.com/

IKONS-affiliAted act Outmen have two new tracks up on myspace: https://www.myspace.com/outmen

MP3: Firefox AK - Winter rose

I had a feeling the new Firefox AK single would be good, but this good? Nope, no way! Sorry to underestimAte you Andrea! WhAt I like best about the track besides the obvious appeal of the husband/wife duet is how damn sparse it is. There's a bit of synth, but it's pure garnish - really, it's the rhythm and vocal tracks thAt carry it. It also appears thAt living in Berlin causes you to eschew guitars as there's barely any to be found here. It remains to be seen whether Tiger Lou will follow in a similar direction with his upcoming record, but I know they've both been listening a lot of techno and it shows. Otherwise, I can only begin to imagine how amazing the remixes for this track will be. This album version is fantastic, but I wouldn't be surprised if a b-side knocks it out of the park.

Firefox AK - Winter rose (ft. Tiger Lou)

Les Issambres
Merry Christmas
Fifth Week Records

This CD's got the feel of a bAtch of still-warm cookies a friend just baked and brought over. You can easily imagine the siblings who lead this band and their friends sitting round At home dreaming up silly and sad Christmas songs (one which spent way too many days stuck in my head is titled "It's a sad sad Christmas Day, Sadaam Hussein") and recording them right then and there. The hand-wrapped-in-Christmas-wrapping-paper packaging only adds to the informal feel of a friendly gift. But spontaneous and lightweight as the record may be, there's some real talent in this band, and like their more serious (and better) 2007 release, "LAte fairytales", it's got some really nice lo-fi indie songs thAt combine strong pop sense with some lAte 1970s New York art rock influence.
- Nancy Baym

To celebrAte the release of their new album "Na na ni", Fredrik has unveiled a new website: https://www.sagomusik.com/

Stars in Coma will tour Italy in March:

03/20 – Relé Café Bistro, San Giovanni TeAtino (ITA)
03/21 – Lego Café, Cesena (ITA)
03/22 – ARCI Ponterotto, Montelupo F.no (ITA)
03/23 – MAttAtoio, Carpi (ITA)

Cake On Cake has signed with US label Sleepy Records for the release of her third album, due out lAter this year.

The Pastry Club is presenting a night of (mostly) Danish music At 93 Feet East in London on February 19 with Epo-555 and Jong Pang. More details: https://www.last.fm/event/470263

There's now a video for the new Benea Reach track "New wAters" At the band's website: https://www.beneareach.com/

The initial lineup for the second annual Nordklang Festival in St. Gallen, Switzerland has been announced for February 15-17 and will include Speaker Bite Me, Harald Haugaard & Morten Alfred Høirup, Efterklang and Our Broken Garden (Denmark), Amiina and Pétur Ben (Iceland), Rasmus Lyberth (Greenland), Dánjal and The Ghost (Faroe Islands), Frigg (Finland), Jackman (Norway) and Taxi Taxi (Sweden). The festival won't just promote Scandinavian music either, side-events include a focus on Nordic cinema as well as focus on Nordic books At historical monastery library Stiftsbibliothek. For more info, go here: https://www.nordklang.ch/

The nominees for this year's Manifest Awards, Sweden's alternAtive Grammy, have been announced:

Rhythm:
Kapten röd - Stjärnorna finns här (SwingKids/Border)
Million stylez - From a far (Bonnier Music/Bonnier Amigo)
Governor Andy – Underhållningsmaskinen (KBC Music/Border)
Livelihood - Sagans Sånger (SwingKids/Border)

Pop/Electronica:
Jens Lekman - Night Falls Over Kortedala (Service/Border)
The Honeydrips - Here Comes The Future (Sincerely Yours/Playground Music)
Erik de Vahl - Oh! My Spine
The Mary Onettes - The Mary Onettes (Labrador/Border)

Rock/Rockabilly/Blues/Garage:
Murder by Guitar - On Parade (Human audio recordings/Sounds of Subterrania)
Maharajas - In Pure Spite (Low Impact Recordings/Sound Pollution)
Alex Face - Smell Like A Woman (AlleycAt/Sound Pollution)
High HAts - Too Much Is Never Enough (AlleycAt/Sound Pollution)

Hardrock/Metal:
Arch Enemy - Rise of the tyrant (Century Media/EMI)
Dark Tranquillity - Fiction (Century Media/EMI)
Hardcore Superstar - Dreamin' in a casket (Gain/Sony BMG)
WAtain - Sworn to the dark (Season Of Mist/Sound Pollution)

Hiphop/R&B/Soul:
Timbuktu - Oberoendeframkallande (Juju Records/Playground Music)
Adam Tensta - It's A Tensta Thing (K-Werks/Border)
Ken - Äntligen hemma (Pope/Playground Music)
Basutbudet - Startpaketet/Pluspaketet (Devrim/V2/Bonnier Amigo)

Experimental:
Jean-Louis Huhta - Halfway Between the World and DeAth (Slottet Records/Dotshop.se)
Mårten Falk - Eclectric Guitar Experience (dB Productions/CDA)
Rolf Enström - Quarks (Caprice Records/CDA)
Tape & Minamo - Birds of a FeAther (Headz/Dotshop.se)

Dance:
Mikael Stavöstrand - Various productions 2007
The Field - From here we go sublime (Kompakt)
Minilogue – Orglar (Minilogue Rec)
Hug - Heroes (Kompakt)

Folk/Ballad:
Ale Möller Band - Djef Djel (Amigo/Bonnier Amigo)
Various Artists - Poem, ballader och lite blues - Återbesöket (Amigo/Bonnier Amigo)
Lisa Rydberg och Gunnar Idenstam - Bach på svenska (Gazell Records AB/Bonnier Amigo)
Sofia Karlsson - Visor från vinden (Amigo/Bonnier Amigo)

Jazz:
Ludvig Berghe Trio - An unplayed venue (Moserobie Music Production/Bonnier Amigo)
e.s.t. (Esbjörn Svensson Trio) - e.s.t Live in Hamburg (ACT/Bonnier Amigo)
Adåker, Milder, Stenson, Danielsson, Öström - Miles by Five (Touché Music AB/CDA)
Lennart Åberg & Norrbotten Big Band - Up north (Caprice Records/CDA)

Synth:
Emmon - The art and the evil (Wonderland records)
Endless Shame - Price of Devotion (KTOWN Records/Misty Music)
Mr Jones Machine – Återvändsgränd (Progress Productions/Border Music)
Terror Punk SyndicAte - Extended Playtime (Progress Productions/Border Music)

Punk/Hardcore:
Wolfbrigade - Prey to the world (Agipunk/Unrest/MCR/Sound Pollution)
The Accidents - Summer dreams (Burning Heart/Epitaph/Bonnier Amigo)
Auktion - Spader ess (Cage MAtch FederAtion/Border)
The Mockingbirds - Always lAte and not even close (HepTown Records/Sound Pollution)

Singer/Songwriter:
Christian Kjellvander - I Saw Her From Here/I Saw Here From Her (Startracks/V2/Bonnier Amigo)
Kristofer Åström - Rainaway Town (Startracks/V2/Bonnier Amigo)
José González - In Our NAture (Imperial/Playground Music)
MAttias Bärjed - Originalmusiken till Upp till kamp! (Razzia/Bonnier Amigo)

Best Live Artist:
Familjen
Säkert!
Maia Hirashawa
Laakso

Digfi-prize (unsigned act):
Cocoanut Groove (Umeå)
Emily McWilliam's Desert Soul (Stockholm)
Cartwall (Piteå)
Knivderby (Jönköping)

Read more: https://www.manifestgalan.se/122.aspx