The Consulate General of Sweden in NYC is putting on a special seminar on Swedish jazz entitled "Swedish Jazz Now!" to take place June 13 at Scandinavia House. In addition to a panel discussion, Peter Asplund Quartet and Midaircondo will perform live: https://www.swedenabroad.com/Page____61234.aspx

The Eardrums music blog on It's a Musical, a collaboration between Swedish artist Bobby Baby and Robot from German act Lady Boy: https://blog.eardrumsmusic.com/2007/05/its-musical.html

The much-anticipated "Excess of Evil" European tour featuring Marduk, Enslaved, Keep of Kalessin, Goatwhore, Melechesh and Pantheon I has been cancelled at the last minute by booking agency Metalysee. Read Enslaved's statement on the matter: https://www.enslaved.no/

Statler & Waldorf will release the new album "I can take more" from Danish electronica group Printer on June 29 and you can preview some of it at their website: https://www.printermusik.dk/
Adrian Recordings will continue their foray into electronic music and will also be releasing an EP from the group later this year as well.

PopMatters reviews the new Dimmu Borgir record: https://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/33780/dimmu-borgir-in-sorte-diaboli/
For all the supposed anger this band provokes out of tr00 kvlt black metallers, I find the new record sounds an awful lot like later-era Emperor, 'cept slightly dumbed down - simpler riffs, more chugga parts. "Elite symphonic black metal" indeed.

Norwegian rockers Silver will travel to Chicago to record basic tracks (drums + bass) for their new album with renown engineer Steve Albini. Overdubs will follow in Oslo with a projected finish date of October.

That saucy little tart Miss Li has a couple tracks from her new album on myspace: https://www.myspace.com/experiencemissli

Swedish indiepop artist Montt Mardié will make his UK debut on May 16 at Bush Hall in London supporting Lucky Soul and Johnny Boy. Tickets/details: https://www.wegottickets.com/event/17566
I wasn't expecting to like his new double album "Clocks/Pretender" all that much, but it's actually quite nice. I'd say he's actually done a great job at accomplishing the kind of sound he aspires for.

Peter Andersson is holding a Raison d'etre remix contest - simply use the sounds at this location to create a 3-6 minute track, record it, and send the results to raison.detre@coldmeat.se via your favorite file service (yousendit, skickafilen, etc.). No post-processing, no additional sounds. The winner gets a copy of the forthcoming Necrophorus album "Imprints", due out May 21.

El Perro Del Mar will be the opening act for two TV on the Radio gigs in Spain this July:

07/03 - Apolo, Barcelona
07/04 - Joy Eslava, Madrid

Millencolin frontman Nikola Sarcevic is taking his solo act to Canada:

06/01 - Call The Office, London, ONT
06/02 - The Drake Hotel, Toronto, ONT
06/03 - The Underground, Hamilton, ONT
06/04 - Café Dekcuf, Ottawa, ONT
06/05 - Club Lambi, Montreal, Quebec
06/06 - Imperial Theatre (The Casbah), Quebec

This week's It's A Trap! Last.fm listening group top 10 albums of the week:

01. The Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
02. The Radio Dept. – Pet Grief
03. Bright Eyes – Cassadaga
04. José González – Veneer
05. The Bear Quartet – Ny våg
06. Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank
07. Dinosaur Jr. – Beyond
08. The Shins – Wincing The Night Away
09. The Knife – Silent Shout
10. Shout Out Louds – Howl Howl Gaff Gaff

Do you listen to music on your computer or with an iPod? Join us! Go here to learn more: https://www.last.fm/help/

Ondo, the doom sideproject of IAT.MP3 artist Pacta (nee Pacta Sunt Servanda), will be releasing a split LP with French artist Meny Hellkin this fall via Tetedemort/213records.

Danish act Barra Head will be heading to Hamburg in June to record a new album with producer Tim O'Heir(Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr, Radio 4, Morphine). No idea when it will be out, but I'd expect a late 2007 release via Play/Rec.

Fat Planet revisits Icelandic artist Steed Lord: https://www.fatplanet.com.au/blog/2007/05/07/steed-lord-iceland-2/