Upcoming dates for finnish folk-act Värttinä have been announced:

02/14 - Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome (IT)
02/21 - Umeå Folk Festival, Umeå (SWE)
03/02 - Schouwburg, Kortrijk (BEL)
03/03 - CC Westrand, Dilbeek (BEL)
03/04 - CC Ter Vesten, Beveren (BEL)
03/05 - CC Ter Dilft, Bornem (BEL)
03/06 - CC Achterolmen, Maaseik (BEL)
03/07 - CC Leopoldsburg, Leopoldsburg (BEL)
03/08 - Oosterpoort, Groningen (HOL)
03/09 - Tivoli de Helling, Utrecht (HOL)
03/10 - 013, Tilburg (HOL)
03/11 - Paradiso (La Nuit), Amsterdam (HOL)
03/13 - Kulturbrauerei, Berlin (GER)
03/14 - Abaton, Praha (CZ)
03/15 - Cankarjev Dom, Ljubljana (SLO)
03/16 - Szene Wien, Wien (AUS)
03/17 - Divadlo ARENA - Theatre Arena, Bratislava (SL)
03/18 - Moods, Zurich (SWI)
03/19 - Schlachthof, Bremen (GER)
04/22 - April Jazz, Espoo (FIN)

In between all of these dates, the group says they will still be doing rehearsals for the upcoming Lord of the Rings musical. Also, on the Belgium dates, substitute vocalist Karoliina Kantelinen will replace Johanna Virtanen as she will be returning home to care for her newborn son.

finnish indie label If Society has posted a couple updates on their activities: https://www.ifsociety.com/news.php
The upcoming Viola CD "Tearcandy" is still on track for April and they expect big things from it.

Dusted reviews the new album "Guillotine" from finnish psych/post-rockers Circle: https://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/1220

Dusted interviews finnish electronic artist Luomo: https://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/166

finnish metal act Nightwish has confirmed a number of upcoming US/Canada tour dates:

08/16 - Opera House, Toronto, ONT
08/17 - Metropolis, Montreal, QUE
08/20 - Palladium, Worcester, MA
08/22 – BB Kings Blues Club, New York, NY
08/23 - Phantasy Theater, Cleveland, OH
08/25 - House of Blues, Chicago, IL
08/26 - Quest Club, Minneapolis, MN
08/30 - Cajun House, Phoenix, AZ
08/31 - House of Blues, Anaheim, CA
09/02 – House of Blues, West Hollywood, CA

Look for dates in Seattle, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and Denver to be added soon. A more comprehensive US tour is already in the works for 2005 as well.

finnish deathmetal supergroup Chaosbreed has set April 26 as the European release date for their new album "Brutal" on Century Media.

Amaran guitarist Ronnie Backlund fractured his right arm and subsequently will be unable to participate in the band's upcoming European tour with After Forever and Nightmare as well as their finnish support dates with Katatonia. Esa Orjatsalo of Dreamtale will be filling in.

finnish goth-metal act HIM will be shooting new videos in both Philadelphia and Los Angeles this weekend for the songs "And Love Said No" and "Solitary Man". The first new single is scheduled for a mid-February release in Europe and will be followed by a compilation album sometime in March. No doubt, I suspect that comp is being used to give the band a much-needed international publicity push as they try to expand their reach worldwide.

The Kaiku 02 sound and video art festival has been confirmed for February 21 in Kulttuuritalo Wiljami, Rovaniemi in finnish Lapland. So far Biosphere (NOR), Petri Kuljuntausta (FIN) and Esa Ruoho aka Lackluster (FIN) have been confirmed for the event and you can get more info here when it's announced: https://valotalo.com/kaiku/

finnish electronic act Lackluster is one of the many artists featured on the new comp "101" from free netlabel One: https://one.dot9.ca/2/releases/one01.html

"Sky Pilots", the latest album from finnish rock n' rollers The Flaming Sideburns, is now available on 180g vinyl in a special gatefold cover from Bitzcore. There's also a special bonus track of a previously unreleased radio session included, too.

finnish rockers Sunride are heading out on tour across Europe in 2004:

01/09 - Semifinal, Helsinki (FIN) (Rock 'n' punk Festival)
01/17 - Lutakko, Jyväskylä (FIN) w/Disfear
02/05 - Eldorado/Alcazar, Stockholm (SWE)

Eurotour with Good Witch of the South (GER):
02/06 - Westwerk, Osnabrück (GER)
02/07 - White Pig, Bad Frankenhausen (GER)
02/08 - tba
02/09 - Feierwerk, München (GER)
02/10 - tba
02/11 - Le Club, Nancy (FR)
02/12 - tba
02/13 - Sedel, Luzern, Switzerland
02/14 - Depot, Idar-Oberstein (GER)
02/15 - The Frontline, Gent (BEL)
02/16 - Hellmut, Saarbrücken (GER)
02/17 - 11er, Frankfurt (GER)
02/18 - Rosenkeller, Jena (GER)
02/19 - day off
02/20 - Talschok, Chemnitz (GER)
02/21 - The Church, Dresden (GER)
02/22 - tba
02/23 - Wild At Heart, Berlin (GER)
02/24 - Hafenklang, Hamburg (GER)
02/25 - Zwischenfall, Bochum (GER)
02/26 - Mikrokosmos, Magdeburg (GER)
02/27 - Club Hafenstrasse, Halle (GER)
02/28 - KFZ, Marburg (GER)

Scandinavian tour with Sparzanza (SWE) and Stonegard (NOR):
05/06 - 05/08 - Norway
05/13 - 05/15 - Sweden
05/28 - 05/30 - Finland

Finland's If Society records has announced that they'll be doing a 7" for Abnormi in January. "8 song assault of vintage finnish hardcore mayhem of the rawest and most primitive kind" is how they describe it. The label is also coordinating a split 7" with Hero Dishonest and Mukeka Di Rato of Brazil. That's more raging hardcore, if the name didn't already tip you off. HD will also be doing a full length and touring Scandinavia in February. Labelmates Echo is Your Love and Fun will be recording new records in the spring, too. And lastly, Viola will release their debut CD of "northern melancholy and stargazing" music in April. "11 tracks that play your heart-strings and provide a soundtrack to discovering the beauty in your life."

finnish deathmetal supergroup Chaosbreed have announced after much speculation that they have signed with Century Media for a 2-record deal. Their first album "Brutal" will see an April release in Europe with the US to follow shortly thereafter. The band's statement:

"We are very enthusiastic about collaborating with one of the biggest record companies within the metal genre. As the name Century Media is very much associated with quality due to its merits, we are very happy and proud of this contract. We wish that this partnership is fruitful for both parties concerned."

Via pHinnWeb: "Yleisradio (YLE), finnish Broadcasting Service, has decided to stop all Internet transmissions of YLEX, YLEQ and Yle Radio Extrem channels because of the argument with Gramex (Copyright Society of Performing Artists and Phonogram Producers in Finland [think ASCAP/BMI]) over copyrights. Yleisradio thinks Gramex has proposed a system which would lead to unbearable copyright fee levels. Furthermore, Gramex has proposed such restrictions to operating areas of these channels, that YLE finds them unsuitable to the principles of Internet distribution." American radio has gone through similar issues recently and quite a few online streams were shut down as a result. This is especially sad because it's one of the easiest ways for an international audience to hear finnish/Scandinavian music. Hopefully it won't spread.