The Virtues will be throwing a free record release party for their new EP "Idiot box" at Club Thorells Syndrome at mondo in Stockholm on march 17. Well, free if you show up before 9pm.

The world premiere for the stage adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings" has been set for Toronto in Spring 2006 to coincide with the 70th anniversary of J.R.R. Tolkien beginning to write the trilogy and follows the 50th anniversary of the publication of said trilogy. As mentioned before, this is revelant to IAT because Finnish folk group Värttinä cowrote the music for the production with A.R. Rahman and Christopher Nightingale. Press Night is set for march 23, 2006 at Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre, with preview performances from February 2 througn march 22, 2006. Public tickets go on sale on may 16, 2005 via m/" target=_blank>lotr.com. The London premiere is now set for Autumn 2006.

Swedish hard-rockers United Enemies have a new website: mies.com/" target=_blank>https://www.unitedenemies.com/

Rockfoto.nu is updated with a ton of pics from the Diesel (035-festivalen).

Denmark's experimental noise collective Noisejihad now has a netlabel for live recordings. The first two splits from mag Necro/Ultimate Combat Noise and Ryfylke/Danny Kreutzfeldt are already up for download: m" target=_blank>https://www.noisejihad.dk/netlabel/index.htm
Up next is a release from massaccesi, Drop The Lime, End and Pol mod Pol.

Updated tourdates for Kristofer Åström:

04/08 - mejeriet, Lund (SWE)
04/14 - Nebraska, Gävle (SWE)
04/15 - Droskan, Umeå (SWE)
04/16 - Pinkerton, Skellefteå (SWE)
04/21 - Klubb Jukebox/Harrys, Eskilstuna (SWE)
04/22 - Hugo, Norrköping (SWE)
04/23 - Kulturhuset/Studion, Jönköping (SWE)
04/28 - Garage, Oslo (NOR)
04/29 - Nalen, Stockholm (SWE)
04/30 - KF Roxy, Visby (SWE)
05/04 - Klubb Kaliber, mariestad (SWE)
05/05 - Katalin, Uppsala (SWE)
05/07 - Sticky Fingers, Göteborg (SWE)
05/08 - Klubb Söndag, Örebro (SWE)
05/10 - Logo, Hamburg (GER)
05/11 - De Helling, Utrecht (NL)
05/12 - Botanique, Brussels (BEL)
05/13 - Gebäude 9, Köln (GER)
05/14 - Karlstorbahnhof, Heidelberg (GER)
05/15 - Nachtleben, Frankfurt (GER)
05/16 - ISC, Bern (SWI)
05/17 - BOA, Luzern (SWI)
05/18 - Atomic Café, munic (GER)
05/19 - magnet, Berlin (GER)
05/20 - KB, malmö (SWE)
05/21 - The Tivoli, Helsingborg (SWE)
05/29 - Popaganda Festival, Stockholm (SWE)

Cult of Luna has a new flash-heavy website: m/" target=_blank>https://www.cultofluna.com/

Dolores Recordings will be putting out a ton of vinyl in April. First up on April 15 comes the gatefold LP version of The Caesars' latest "Paper tigers" in a 500 copy limited run. On that same day they'll also release a trio of singles: Björn Olsson - "Partille", Robyn - "Bum Like You" and Broder Daniel - "Luke Skywalker (Demo'93)". And that's not all - Dolores will also be releasing vinyl editions of both their "Who will buy these wonderful evils?" compilations on April 25. Only 300 copies of those, so you might need to act fast if you want one. As always, order 'em through Hotstuff.se.

Norway's Annie will have her acclaimed album "Anniemal" released in the US on may 24 via Big Beat/Atltanic.

Aftonbladet reviews the new Kent album and offers up quite a few streaming samples: ml" target=_blank>https://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/noje/story/0,2789,617085,00.html

JR Ewing's upcoming major label debut album "maelstrom" has been confirmed for a may 23 release. The first single "Fucking & Champagne" comes out on April 11.

Tons of new reviews posted this past weekend. Be sure to check 'em out: m/index.php?article=71">[click here]

Today's new mp3 is a bit of a treat. It's a cover of the Weezer classic "Across the sea" as done in Swedish by Björns Vänner. The song was originally recorded to be included on the band's upcoming album due out in April or thereabouts, but unfortunately the big label people who own the song rights have said no. Who wants those crazy Swedes singing in their native tongue, right? That so obviously cheapens the value of the original work. Anyhow, "Pinkerton" was totally my jam back in my freshman year of college, so listening to this cover brings back sweet memories of a time when I was free of responsibilites and my future was wide open. Good times, good tunes, what more do you need?

Some of the members of The Sounds will be taking a break from recording to come over to the US for some DJ gigs:

03/17 - Speakeasy @ SXSW, Austin
03/18 - Redbull house @ SXSW, Austin
03/24 - Fucking Awesome @ Beautybar, LA
03/25 - Swedepop @ Tribeca Grand, NYC
03/26 - misshapes @ Luke and Leroy, NYC

The Dutch Scandinavian music site Ratatosk has posted a couple live video clips from mando Diao and Enslaved: https://ratatoskonline.net/