You can now listen to sound clips of the new Paragon album at the Hemmalaget website: https://www.hemmalaget.nu/

Swedish stoner-rockers Truckfighters on tour in Germany and Austria:

09/01 - Flower Power, Liepzig (GER)
09/03 - Gleis 1, Eisenach (GER)
09/05 - Arena, Wien (AUS)
09/06 - tbc, Innsbruck (AUS)
09/07 - Gebäude 9, Köln (GER)
09/08 - Rosenkeller, Jena (GER)
09/09 - Museumskeller, Erfurt (GER)
09/10 - Knaack, Berlin (GER)

Delusions of Adequacy selects The Perishers as one of their picks of the week: https://www.adequacy.net/review.php?reviewid=5814

Musicgeek.org interviews Swedish indietronica act My Enemy: https://www.musicgeek.org/?action=interviews&id=43

Opeth and Extol on tour together in Europe:

09/06 - Academy, Birmingham (UK)
09/07 - Academy, Manchester (UK)
09/08 - Mean Fiddler, London (UK)
09/09 - Hof Ter Lo, Antwerp (BEL)
09/10 - Underground, Köln (GER)
09/11 - 13, Tilburg (GER)
09/13 - Locomotive, Paris (FRA)
09/14 - Melkweg, Amsterdam (NL)
09/15 - Zeche Carl, Essen (GER)
09/16 - Colombia Club, Berlin (GER)
09/17 - Grunspan, Hamburg (GER)
09/18 - KB, Malmö (SWE)
09/19 - Rockefeller, Oslo (NOR)
09/20 - Sticky Fingers, Göteborg (SWE)
09/21 - Klubben, Stockholm (SWE)
09/23 - Helsinki, Tavastia (FIN)
09/24 - Helsinki, Tavastia (FIN)
09/25 - Nosturi, Helsinki (FIN)

Jens Lekman will be playing the 'B yr own boss' Plan B Magazine-sponsored fest at Mono in Glasgow on August 28. See the flyer: https://www.planbmag.com/glasgow/

Download the new Naglfar video for "The perpetual horrors": https://www.naglfar.net/site/downloads/downloads.html

Renown Swedish musician/producer/engineer Dan Swanö on progress with his new project Second Sky and the reopening of his recording studio Unisound: https://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=40446

Norway's Helldorado will release their new album "The ballad of Nora Lee" on September 5 via Checkpoint Charlie Audio Productions (CCAP).

Finnish artists Jori Hulkkonen, Cleaning Women, Huoratron and Ovali Virta will be touring China together as part of the 'Sounds Like Suomi' project put together by Myymälä2 and sponsored by the Finnish Ministry of Education, Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, LUSES (The Foundation for the Promotion of Finnish Music) and ESEK (The Finnish Performing Music Promotion Centre) along with a number of corporate donors. Dates so far:

09/09-11 - Europe Street Festival, Beijing
09/09 - Tango, Beijing
09/10 - Club Yu Gong Yi Shan, Beijing
09/15 - VIP Room, Shanghai
09/16 - Age of Red, Chengdu
09/17 - True Color Club, Shenzhen

More info: https://www.soundslikesuomi.com/

Disagreement.net interviews the brilliant Desert Planet: https://www.disagreement.net/interviews/interview_desertplanet.html

Download some demo tracks from Swedish indierockers Peace in Our Time: https://www.peaceinourtime.tk/

Finland's Kirlian Crossing has posted an excellent gallery of photos they've taken using homemade pinhole and Kirlian cameras: https://www.verdurarecords.com/kirliancrossing/gal/gallery.htm
There's some really exceptionally cool images there, so I highly suggest checking it out. The band also has a new video posted online, should you be interested in the music as well: https://www.verdurarecords.com/kirliancrossing/media.htm

Once again I'm gonna turn over the reins to Simon Tagestam for this week's Friday pick. Take it Simon:

I'm an album man, I'm not into compilations or singles. When I check out a band that has been around for a while I rather get one of their albums than a best of compilation. Nothing too crazy about that, huh? And since I work five days a week, I like to listen to new albums when I get the time, not the radio or some crazy mp3 mix (although there's a time and place for those as well). So what about those excellent singles that feature on crappy albums? Well, I never got time for them, which is a shame. A band that made one of these songs that I never listen to, but when I do my heart melts is The Plan which is the side project of Theodore Jensen who normally plays bass in Swedish indie darlings Broder Daniel (he, at the end of 2003, left Broder Daniel to concentrate fully on The Plan, although he has now returned). The Plan's self titled debut album (from 2001) is a nice little affair (their second album is a botched affair), with a few good songs on it, but most of them are overshadowed by the monster hit "Mon amour". But ignore "Mon amour" for the moment, and allow me to be bit snobbish and point out the brilliance of the acoustic version of the song "Stay right here", which I believe is a b-side. The original version is fine, but it got too much of a tropicana vibe, and whereas the acoustic version is dark and haunting the album version takes the first lines "The sun it shines. I've been drinking all day" and conjures images of pina coladas at the beach, rather than uselessness and despair, which is of course to prefer. Now, this is a very sad song, but more in "screw-you-I'm-alone-and-strong-and-depressed-but-I'm-fine"-sort of way. Now listen to the pretty song, please.

The video for "Protest life" from international all-star act Scum has been posted: https://www.tubarec.com/scum/