Opeth will tour with this year's Gigantour Festival alongside metal luminaries such as headliners megadeth and bands such as Arch Enemy, Lamb of God and my old teenage favorites Overkill.

Finnish Eurovision champs Lordi will bring the "Hard rock hallelujah" to Germany and the UK in the coming months: mic.fi/fimic/fimic.nsf/news/CC0DE069B7F66CBDC22571B50033F7A6!opendocument" target=_blank>https://www.fimic.fi/fimic/fimic.nsf/news/CC0DE069B7F66CBDC22571B50033F7A6!opendocument

Frontwoman Victoria Bergsman has left The Concretes to start a solo career. Hey, maybe the The Concretes will be good now. Read the band's official statement: m/news.html" target=_blank>https://www.theconcretes.com/news.html

Some mp3 clips from the new Teddybears album "Soft machine", soon to be released in the US:

01. mos.com/download/streaming/teddybears/cobrastyle_feat_madcobra.mp3" target=_blank>Cobrastyle (ft. mad Cobra)
02. mos.com/download/streaming/teddybears/punkrocker_feat_iggypop.mp3" target=_blank>Punkrocker (ft. Iggy Pop)

I've only had a chance to listen to the disc a few times so far, so I still need more time for it to sink in before I can comment on its quality. There's no doubt that "Cobrastyle" is a hot track though - it also appeared on the group's most recent Swedish release "Fresh" from 2004.

Pitchfork interviews The Knife: media.com/article/feature/37270/Interview_Interview_The_Knife" target=_blank>https://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/37270/Interview_Interview_The_Knife

Christopher Porter on Norwegian singer/songwriter Thomas Dybdahl, his pick for NPR's song of the day: m/2006/07/my-debut-piece-for-nprs-song-of-day-is.html" target=_blank>https://www.christopherporter.com/2006/07/my-debut-piece-for-nprs-song-of-day-is.html
I really hope that Dybdahl gets more attention in the US. He really is a gifted artist.

The UK release of the Datarock single "Fa-fa-fa" will be on September 4 and will be available in CDS, 7", 12" and of course, digital format. B-sides will include remixes from fellow Norwegian Bjørn Torske as well as Princess Superstar and Shakes.

Iisole, one of my favorite new acts, has made their most recent 6-song EP available for streaming: mbox.html" target=_blank>https://www.octopus-tv.se/iisole/streambox.html

Relapse has signed Swedish act Coldworker, the new band of ex-Nasum drummer Anders Jakobson. Read the details at Lambgoat: mbgoat.com/news/view.aspx?id=7116" target=_blank>https://www.lambgoat.com/news/view.aspx?id=7116

Pitchfork on JR Ewing's final album "maelstrom": media.com/article/record_review/37295/JR_Ewing_maelstrom" target=_blank>https://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/37295/JR_Ewing_maelstrom

Swedish singer/songwriter Jonna Lee has posted a new song from her forthcoming album on myspace: myspace.com/jonnaleemusic" target=_blank>https://www.myspace.com/jonnaleemusic

Norwegian singer/songwriter Kenneth Ishak (Beezewax) on tour in the UK:

07/25 - Vic Inn, Derby
07/27 - Basement Bar, Dundee
07/29 - The Insane, Southend
07/30 - Qubar, margate
07/31 - The Betsey Trotwood, London

MP3: The Hives - Main offender

Having mentioned The Hives in passing yesterday, I figure it's as good a time as any to to make them my Friday flashback post. I've only seen them once and it was on their first US tour supporting The (International) Noise Conspiracy. The band had already started to gather a decent amount of hype in the UK at that point, but were still mostly unknown in the States. A few radio stations had started to playlist them, but that's it. The crowd, outside of myself and a maybe a few other folks, were totally ignorant about the band. They were there for t(I)NC and never knew what hit 'em. All I know is that t(I)NC must've been majorly bummed that tour because I'm sure they got shown up each and every single night. No amount of mic twirling from Dennis could've saved things for them. The Hives ruled the night and, after that tour, everyone in the world knew it. So here's a live track from that era, recording live by Swedish Radio at the Brixton Academy in 2002.

The Hives - Main offender (live)

MP3: The Stores - The TV reminds me of what to be

Even though we haven't heard anything new from The Hives in awhile, it's not as if Scandinavian garage-rock suddenly went away. The scene has been going strong for a long time and was one of the first things I discovered once I started to venture beyond the realms of metal in the mid-90s (via The Hellacopters, of course). The Stores are a Danish threesome continuing the fine tradition. I love the mix of that cavernous surf-rock guitar tone over a driving rhythm section. The main hook riff is introduced and almost immediately abandoned while the bass and drums work hard to make sure to hold everything together. The band is so tight and on-fire, it gives the guitarist room to do pretty much whatever he wants. It doesn't matter if he's just wailing on chords or working out new ways to tear apart the main theme, it all sounds great. Funny to think that these guys are labelmates with Attrap, but it's true. As you should know, good music is good music, regardless of genre.

The Stores - The TV reminds me of what to be

Contest reminder! For the new few weeks I'll be giving away random packages of promos received here at IAT HQ. I get a lot of music and while most of it is quite good, I don't have anywhere to keep it. my loss, your gain m/special/contest.html" onclick="window.open(this.href,'contest','width=410,height=230');return false;">Click here to enter!