Jari Haapalainen of the Bear Quartet is working as producer on the next album for British singer/songwriter Ed Harcourt. It comes out sometime this summer.

Groover Recordings is working on a new "Jeans and Summer" compilation to come out later this summer. So far the only artist I know who'll be on it are The Flu. More soon?

A new web diary entry from Sondre Lerche: https://www.sondrelerche.com/diary.asp?id=53
Sondre also reports that Sgt. Petter will opening on the Norwegian tourdates and his most recent album "It's a Record" will be getting a US release soon. Lastly, some recent reviews of Sondre's new album: https://www.sondrelerche.com/reviews.asp

The Sounds and The Legends are two of the Swedish bands featured on the playlist for the program Dead-air from LA's "indie" 103.1 fm. Well, as indie as you can be when you're owned by Clear Channel. Anyhow, check the full list: https://indie1031.fm/deadair.html

Denmark's Mew will be working with famous producer Michael Bienhorn on their next record. Michael's previous credits include Korn, Marilyn Manson, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden and more. Mew will fly out to LA in June to record and the album should be done for a November release.

Ack! Interscope Records will be releasing The Rasmus album "Dead Letters" over here in the US this coming spring.

Kristofer Åström's upcoming acoustic album "Loupita" has been confirmed for a May 26 release. Full tracklist and other details coming soon.

Morten Abel has updated his website with a bunch of new live and backstage pictures: https://www.mortenabel.com/gallery.shtml

Here's this week's top 20 Swedish albums from Aftonbladet:

01. Tomas Ledin - Med vidöppna fönster
02. Weeping Willows - Presence
03. Europe - Med vidöppna fönster
04. Sara Löfgren - Starkare
05. Per Gessle - Mazarin
06. Sophie Zelmani - Love Affair
07. Lisa Miskovsky - Fallingwater
08. Stefan Andersson - Strangers house
09. Jill Johnson - Roots and wings
10. The Mo - Night at the zoo
11. Peter LeMarc - Det som håller oss vid liv
12. Mikael Wiehe - Kärlek & politik
13. Carola - Guld platina & passion
14. Patrik Isaksson - Vi som aldrig landat
15. The Cardigans - Long gone before daylight
16. Svante Thuresson - Bästa
17. Backyard Babies - Stockholm Syndrome
18. Lars Winnerbäck och hovet - Söndermarken
19. José González - Veneer
20. Evan - The other side

Hell n' Diesel is entering the studio today to record a new three-song promo. The songs they plan on doing are "Ride Away", "Fallen Angel" and "Brand New Eyes".

Erebus Odora, the label of Arcana and Sophia, has a new website: https://www.erebusodora.net/

As mentioned before, Tiger Tunes has been given the opportunity to open for Wir Sind Helden on tour and I can finally pass along those dates:

03/12 - Stadthalle, Göttingen (GER)
03/13 - Stadthalle, Saarburg (GER)
03/14 - Phönixhalle, Mainz (GER)
03/16 - Longhorn LKA, Stuttgart (GER)
03/17 - Reithalle, München (GER)
03/18 - Orpheum, Graz (AUS)
03/19 - Orpheum, Graz (AUS)
03/20 - Bierhübeli, Bern (SWI)
03/21 - Schüür, Luzern (SWI)

Some new pics of The Haunted in the studio: https://www.the-haunted.com/doc/studio_report.htm

Pitchfork reviews the "Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do" EP from Iceland's Sigur Rós: https://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/s/sigur-ros/ba-ba-ti-ki-di-do.shtml

Göteborg is playing host to a brand new metal festival on June 19 at Bananpiren called Metaltown. Scheduled to play so far are Scandinavian acts Turbonegro and Mustasch along with Brides of Descruction (feat. Nikki Sixx from Mötley Crüe) and Alice Cooper.