The nominees for the 2008 Danish DeeJay Awards have been announced: https://ddja.dk/2008/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=36

The nominees for Finland's music industry awards, the Emma-gaala, have been announced: https://www.emmagaala.fi/artistit/

Motorpsycho's new album is reportedly delayed due to "technical reasons" and will probably not be ready for a March/April release as planned.

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

Congratulations to Jason Fleming, Joakim Näslund and Nimrod Hazan for winning the Universal Poplab CD giveaway. Your prize will be in the mail shortly, courtesy of Wonderland Records. For info on more Wonderland Records acts and a whole bunch of free downloads, check this out: https://www.wonderlandrecords.com/ex/

The cover art and tracklist for the new In Flames album "A sense of purpose" has been made public: https://www.inflames.com/
It comes out in Europe on April 4 via Nuclear Blast. A US release will be confirmed soon.

Timo Räisänen's new single "Sixteen" will be released on January 30. The previously unreleased track "About you now" is the exclusive b-side.

Norwegian jazz/world music label NORCD is firming up their 2008 release schedule. Here's what they have so far:

01/28 - Norchestra - Supreme trio
02/17 - Gabriel Fliflet - "Rio Aga"
Mar - Rolf men Rolf - "Filleflabben syng"
Apr - Per Jørgensen & Terje Isungset - "Agbalagba daada"
Jan 2009 - Arve Henriksen & Elling Vanberg
tba - Åse Teigland
tba - Tromsø Kunstforsyning
tba - Karl seglem & Berit Opheim

The new Firefox AK single "Winter rose" (ft. Tiger Lou) is now officially confirmed for release on January 30. As mentioned before, it will feature remixes from Özgur Can, Tellevika, Assid and Jimmy O. There's also a video on the way from director Robinowich.

Serena Maneesh has posted some samples on myspace from their forthcoming "oldies" collection: https://www.myspace.com/serenamaneesh
Check out their website for more details: https://www.serena-maneesh.com/news.php

Peter Bjorn and John frontman Peter Morén reports that his debut solo album is done and being prepped for a spring release in both Europe and North America via two different labels.

Swedish indie act Out Of Clouds has reinvented themselves as Alibi Tom. Listen to two new tracks at myspace: https://www.myspace.com/alibitom
Their debut album will be out on UK-based indie Leon Music, Art & Fashion this coming April.

The best albums of 2007, as voted on by readers of Dagensskiva: https://dagensskiva.com/2008/01/12/arets-skivor-2007-besokarna/

Lukestar's next single will be for "The shade you hide". Listen at myspace: https://www.myspace.com/lukestar
I'll say it again: their album "Lake Toba" is the first great release of 2008. Very recommended.