GENERAL INFO:
IT'S A TRAP! is a non-profit web publication devoted to Scandinavian music, exploring the subject from many angles including critical and historical perspectives. The countries we cover include Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland and we are updated Monday through Friday year-round excluding a few major holidays. Special feature items are posted on Saturdays such as our 2007 spotlight on Luleå-based artists The Bear Quartet and 2008's showcase on the music of Göteborg. For more detailied information regarding our intentions and goals, please see the website of our parent organization Norsound Project (www.norsound.org).

If you would like to receive an organized summary of the week's news via email, please sign up for the newsletter in the right-hand column. Newsletter subscribers sometimes also receive exclusive information not necessarily posted to the frontpage.

IAT! is constantly improved upon through the contributions of its readers. If you have a news item to submit, please send it over.

If you came looking for any Admiral Ackbar related garbage, you are obviously in the wrong place.

POSTING/REGISTRATION/PRIVACY
Registration is required for posting in the comments sections and on the messsage board. Each account must have a unique email address. Users may occaisionally receive emails from IT'S A TRAP!, but we will never ever hand over any personal information to a third party without your explicit consent.

Accounts at the IAT!/Norsound Project online store are kept independent for security reasons.

CREDITS/HISTORY:
IT'S A TRAP! was founded in 2002 by Chief Editor Avi Roig. Everything on the site is written, coded, conceived and designed by Mr. Roig unless otherwise noted. Avi currently resides in Olympia, Washington, a city approximately 60 miles south of Seattle. His brother, Jon Roig, wrote the basic code for the content management system which has since been heavily modified. Nick Forte designed the flytrap logo. The message board/comment code is based off an old version of the BCO system. The store runs on X-Cart. The streaming audio is handled by Jeroen Wijering's Flash Mp3/Media Player with a little help from James Heinrich's getID3() script.

Avi is 30 years old and married with four dogs and two cats.

WHY?/MEDIA COVERAGE
Ah yes- the inevitable, yet ultimately unanswerable question. The short version: Chief Editor Avi Roig became interested in Scandinavian music through the Göteborg/Swedish metal scene of the early/mid-90s and gradually branched out from there. The site was founded because, at the time (circa 2002), there were no other websites covering Scandinavian music written in English.

For more, please read these interviews/news stories:

Upsala Nya Tidning
ROSA (Danish Rock Council)
Dagens Industri
Dagens Nyheter
Vertex (Umeå University)
Internet World Sweden
Tofu Hut (meeting the neighbors)
Cut the Chord (Scandinavia's American allies)

MP3S:
The mp3s and podcast mixes are provided for evaluation purposes only. If you like what you hear, please support the artist and label by actually purchasing their music and/or merchandise and supporting them on tour. Nobody likes a leech. Everything can ordered quite easily either from this very site or one of the many vendors provided on the links page. Please don't post direct links to media files without asking. For downloaders with a conscience, please note that an overwhelming majority of the music posted here is legal and with permission. If you are the copyright holder of a particular track and would like to see it removed, please let us know.

Our standard posting schedule is new music from Monday to Thursday with older songs on Fridays. Saturdays are dedicated to a special annual focus, 2008 being the music of Göteborg, Sweden. Saturdays in 2007 were entirely devoted to legendary Swedish indie act The Bear Quartet.

REVIEWS/CONTENT SUBMISSION:
For general contact information, please see this page. Remember, this site appeals to an international audience, so we don't cover live events unless they involve an international tour or a special event, such as a record release show or festival.

If you want to submit a CD for review or mailorder consideration, please send it to the address on the contact page.

By submitting recorded material to IT'S A TRAP! you are implying the right to post mp3s. If you do not want to authorize the posting of your music without more explicit instructions, please include a short note stating as such.

THE STORE:
The IT'S A TRAP!/Norsound Project webstore caters to a niche audience and as such, it is not intended to be an all-purpose, one-stop shop for all your Scandinavian music needs. We carry a small, but high quality selection of items of whose quality we are willing to stand behind.

We work hard to bring you music at the lowest price possible, so we simply cannot afford to offer refunds. Exchanges however, are fine. If you are unhappy with a purchase you have made and would like to return it for something of equal or lesser value, get in touch and we'll work it out.

Labels and artists looking to join our growing list of partners are advised to send an introductory email along with physical promo materials.

As posted above, please note that store accounts are independent from posting profiles for security reasons.

IT'S A TRAP! CLUBNIGHTS:
IT'S A TRAP! sponsored clubnights at Debaser in Malmö, Sweden are currently handled by Jonas Appelqvist. Please contact him for more information and/or booking details.

HOW TO CONTRIBUTE/HELP WANTED!
IT'S A TRAP! is always seeking out new writers for our team. Please send an email with a sample review (or other writing examples) and a list of current musical favorites. We are particularly interested in people with specific genre expertise in hardcore/metal/punk, experimental, electronic, hip-hop or anything else that falls outside the typical "indie" canon, but any and all willing contributors are encouraged to apply. Considering our status as a small non-profit organization, we encourage the contributions of volunteer labor, but we do try to provide compensation as best we can.