Eskobar will be releasing a new single at the end of September for the song "You Got Me" from their latest album "A Thousand Last Chances". It will include three songs, one of which will be a remix. A video for the track will be filed in Stockholm next week with director Daniel Börjesson.

Finland's On a Solid Rock has a new webdesign up: https://www.fireinsidemusic.com/solidrock/index.html

Svenskunderjord is reporting that the Swedish hip-hop gala scheduled for October (first reported on 08/05) is a sham. Or at least, that's what the people from Streetzone are saying - they're upset that others are moving in on their turf, especially considering the McDonald's and NRJ sponsorship of the event. Read more: https://www.svenskunderjord.com/visaNyheter.asp?id=666 (in Swedish, notice the foreboding news id#)

It has finally been revealed that the upcoming Bear Quartet tribute album from A Tenderversion Recording/A Westside Fabrication will be called "Money Talks" and will be released on September 22. Once again, here's the tracklist:

01. Laakso - Blizzard
02. The Concretes - Just Locals
03. Junip - Carsick
04. Håkan Mild - Hunchback
05. Andreas Mattson - Machine Gun
06. The World - Euthanasia
07. Seven Shells - Old Friends
08. Erik Devahl - Straw
09. Kåre Vernby & Dibaba - If You Have A Heart
10. Boy Omega - Last Ball
11. Reverend Big O - I'm Slow
12. Kristofer Åström - Twinreceiver
13. Monastir - Ghosts For Laundry
14. Bad Cash Quartet - Put Me Back Together
15. They Stole A Million - Speedy
16. Audrey - Helpless

The new album "High Crimes & Misdemeanor" from Swedish all-female hard-rockers Misdemeanor has been confirmed for a September 15 release through GMR Music. The 11-track album was recorded at DogPound Audio studio with producer Alex Hellid from the band Entombed.

Swedish label Delicious Goldfish finally has a new website online: https://www.dgr.se/

Aversionline.com has posted new reviews from Switchblade and Wolfbrigade.

The latest Aquarius Records new release list features samples and reviews from Circle, the "Who Will Buy (These Wonderful Evils) Vol II" comp from Dolores, Avarus, The Hives, Kings of Convenience and tons more: https://www.aquariusrecords.org/cat/newest.html

Via pHinnWeb:

The godfather of 1960s Finnish underground, M.A. Numminen (b. 1940), will release a limited edition 7", which includes a reggae(?) version of Andrew Sisters' calypso classic "Rum & Coca Cola". The B-side features a dub version called "Rum & Dub". This single is taken from M.A.N.'s forthcoming long play, "Scratching". This is M.A.N.'s first foray into modern rhythm music since 1995's "M.A. Numminen Goes Tech-No".

More info on Numminen can be found here: https://www.ma-numminen.net/ / https://www.phinnweb.org/early/

Vocalist Pasi Koskinen has left Amorphis. His final appearance with the band will be at the Kontu Rock festival on August 21. As for the upcoming US tour with Type O Negative, fellow Finns Charon will lend frontman Juha-Pekka Leppäluoto for the trip. Dates scheduled so far:

10/07 – Toad's Place, New Haven, CT
10/11 - Irving Plaza, New York, NY
10/12 - Crocodile Rock, Allentown, PA
10/15 - Theatre of Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA
10/30 - Eagles Club/The Rave/Eagles Ballroom, Milwaukee, WI

As for a permanent replacement or an official statement from Pasi, nothing's been announced yet.

This week's Scandinavian music reviews from German webzine Sellfish:

Sweatmaster - Songs with no words
Venus in Flames - Notes of tenderness

Go here to download some free music from Finnish electronic artist Lackluster: https://www.lackluster.org/free/
Be sure to also check out his upcoming release list to see what's coming on the horizon: https://www.lackluster.org/?page=discography&group=1

The top Scandinavian videos streamed last week at on-demand video service Musicbrigade.com:

01. Ana - We Are
02. Gunther & Sunshine Girls - Teeny Weeny String Bikini
03. Kings Of Convenience - I´d Rather Dance With You
04. Nightwish - Nemo
05. Alcazar - This Is The World We Live In

Requested Videos: 130,143
Number of titles requested: 4,467 different titles
Total Streams: 192,364

Keyboard and drum duo Mats/Morgan Band is coming to the US on tour in September:

09/05 - Progday Festival, Chappel Hill, NC
09/07 - The Attic Bar, Detroit, MI
09/08 - Wilbert's, Cleveland, OH
09/09 - Montage Grill - Prog 90, Rochester, NY
09/10 - Berklee College Of Music, Boston, MA
09/11 - NJ Prog House - Metlar Bodine, Piscataway, NJ
09/12 - Tribeca Rock Club, New York, NY

Drummer Morgan Ågran is known for his collaborations with Frank Zappa on albums such as the 1994 Grammy Award winning "Zappa's Universe" and has toured as a member of the Glen Hughes band as well. The group's new album "Thanks For Flying With Us" comes out soon.

As my friends already know, I'm not much of a fan of the much-hyped Concretes. However, I do enjoy the sideproject Heikki featuring Concretes guitarist Maria Eriksson and producer/Bear Quartet guitarist Jari Haapalainen. Of course, I prefer BQ more than both of them, but that's another story. Anyhow, there's a new mp3 from Heikki available for download on the right.