Magnet is heading out on a tour of Norway:
09/24 - Kvarteret, Bergen
09/26 - Rust, Ørsta
09/27 - Høvleriet, Haugesund
10/01 - John Dee, Oslo
10/02 - Kroa, Bø
10/03 - Blæst, Trondheim
10/10 - Checkpoint Charlie, Stavanger
10/10 - Meieriet, Sogndal
10/10 - Luftslottet, Grimstad
10/09 - Energimølla, Kongsberg
10/10 - Markens, Kristiansand
Updated tourdates for various Rec90 artists:
Costar
08/11 - Barfly, London (UK)
08/27 - Waterrats, London (UK)
Lorraine
08/14 - Hoppegarden, Hamm (GER)
08/15 - Underground, Cologne (GER)
08/16 - Festival, Munster (GER)
08/18 - Barfly, London (UK)
08/19 - Barfly, Liverpool (UK)
08/20 - Barfly, Glasgow (UK)
08/21 - Courtney, Manchester (UK)
08/22 - House of Live, Paris (FR)
08/23 - House of Live, Paris (FR)
09/25 - Hulen, Bergen (NOR)
10/02 - John Dee, Oslo (NOR)
Sister Sonny
09/11 - Mono, Oslo (NOR)
09/12 - Garage, Bergen (NOR)
Magnet
09/15 - Club Quatro, Tokyo (JAP)
09/16 - Club Quatro, Osaka (JAP)
Added a new mp3 today from Norweigan singer/songwriter and current UK press darling Magnet. I'm not totally enthusiastic about the album myself, but it's far from bad. Then again, what do I know? Download the track and make your own decision.
Okay, so the label was misinformed and it really is true that Immortal is breaking up. The label's message, straight from the Nuclear Blast website:
Well, sad news.. Although stated differently earlier as it seemed as if the band only wanted to take a long break, here’s the 100% official news, directly from the band and management:
"After 13 years and 7 albums we have decided to stop working with Immortal due to personal reasons. A great thanks to all our fans worldwide who helped us making Immortal superb through all this time.
Abbath, Demonaz, Horgh"
Those of you in the UK are probably already well aware, but singer/songwriter Magnet aka Even Johansen has been racking up quite a portfolio of gushing reviews. Check out this profile from MIC Norway.
Recently hyped Norweigan artist Magnet is making quite a few UK appearances in the coming month. The new album "On Your Side" just came out and is getting a lot of nice press.
07/08 - Glasgow Fopp, Union Street 12.00 pm
07/09 - Glasgow Borders - Buchanan Street 6.00 pm
07/10 - Bath Fopp, The Corridor 12.00 pm
07/10 - Bristol Borders, Clifton Promenade 7.00 pm
07/11 - London Virgin, Wimbledon 2.00 pm
07/11 - London Borders, Oxford Street 6.30 pm
07/13 - Cambridge Fopp, Sidney Street 12.00 pm
07/14 - Nottingham Fopp, Queen Street 12.00 pm
07/15 - Sheffield Fopp, Division Street 6.00 pm
07/19 - Bridgewater Hall, Manchester w/Bebel Gilberto
07/22 - Shepherds Bush Empire, London w/Bebel Gilberto
Via DJ Martian, comes these two reviews of up-and-coming Norweigan artist Magnet, first from the Independent, second from the BBC Collective.
Magnet's new album "On Your Side" comes out June 30 in Norway and July 7 in UK. They'll be heading over to the latter to support Bebel Gilberto on the following dates:
07/19 - Manchester Bridgewater Hall
07/22 - London Shepherds Bush Empire
07/30 - Bristol Academy
The band also has a feature in the June issue of The Fly magazine along with a four-star review of the new album. They also received quite a nice write-up in Q who describe them as "blissed out electronic pop that sounds like Simon & Garfunkel restructuring Radiohead's most fragile moments." Head over to their website for more details.
Madrugada has added two new festivals to their summer tour plans:
06/29 - Nel Nome Del Rock, Palestrina ,Italy
08/30 - Bizarre Festival, Flughafen Niederrhein, Germany
Check this link out to view and listen to performances and interviews from Spain's Sonar Festival including Bjorn Torske, Jaga Jazzist and much much more.
Here's the schedule for the Uppsala Summer Hardcore Fest. Doors open at 17:00 both days.
06/23
22:30 - Tear it Up (New Jersey, US)
21:45 - Between Us (Stockholm)
21:00 - Regulations (Umeå)
20:15 - Last Hope (Linköping)
19:30 - The 21st Impact (Uppsala)
18:45 - Labour (Cästerås)
18:00 - Rabid Grannies (meå)
06/24
22:30 - What Happens Next? ("Canada", acutally from the SF Bay Area, CA)
21:45 - Second Thought (Stockholm)
21:00 - Victims (Nyköping)
20:15 - The Jam Session (Mjölby)
19:30 - Bruce Banner (Stockholm)
18:45 - One Step Ahead (Nyköping)
Sleeping arrangements at the fest can be booked for 20sek along with your ticket purchase. For more info go here: http://uahc.diskonto.org/festival
Bands confirmed for the MegaWakeFestival at Kajen in Fjällbacka on July 4-5: Looptroop, Satirnine, USCB Allstars, Sparks of Seven, Venue Kids, DJ Kaah, Mist, The Orchestra, Cdoass, Gkss, Kitty and the K, and DJ Punky. More info: www.megaevents.com
Monotone Records reports that Daniel Loefgren is just about to sign with Tenor Records and he's already started recording his debut album for the label "In Where Cold Hands Might Separate Us". Daniel will still continue to release records with Monotone, too. Another Monotone band moving on is In Memory of Me who will be working with Lawnchair Records on their next release, a split CD with Common Effect from the US.
Cdoass should probably considering renewing their domain name before some unscrupulous person steals it.
For more info on that upcoming Burning Heart 'Heart Attack' tour along with the lists of who'll be there, samples from the bands and more, go here: www.heartattack.nu
Darkane guitarist Christofer Malmström recently married his longtime girlfriend Jennie on June 14. Congrats. Check out pictures from the wedding at Chritofer's personal site.
StyleWar has finally got their page up and running with videos for Junior Senior, Whyte Seeds, Looptroop, The Hives, Koop and much more.
DigitalMetal.com has posted an interview with Swedish death metal band Grave. In it they reveal that they have plans to work on a new record later this year or early 2004 and will be touring Europe this coming October.
Union Carbide Productions have now been confirmed for Norway's Øya Festival on August 7-9. Those of you who missed the Hultsfred reunion will now get another chance. Magnet, White Birch, and Mormones have been added to the Øyakickstart show at Rockefeller/John Dee. And lastly, Mando Diao, Minor Majority and Furia have been confirmed for the Øya Club Day on July 23. For all the details, go here: www.oyafestivalen.com
The Sounds recently did a webchat over at MTVE.com. Here's the transcript.
"There is a clear lack of skills and knowledge co-ordination within the Nordic music industry. The level musical and artistic skill is very high throughout the Nordic, but this level is not matched by complementary business skill."
"Behind the Music - Profiting from sound: A systems approach to the Dynamics of the Nordic Music Industry" is the title of a comprehensive report on the Scandinavian music scene that offers quite a bit of insight into the workings of the biz. Read this for a good synopsis of the report or go here to read it for yourself.
Jocke Berg of Kent is becoming a father. Read more. (in Swedish)
The Confusions have solidified the schedule for their upcoming jaunt to the UK in celebration of the 10-years anniversary for their first CD-EP releases "Split" and "Forever". The dates:
07/01 - Brixton Windmill w/Ludes
07/02 - Camden Underworld w/Non of the Above/Girlinky & Lux
07/03 - Crown & Two Chairmen, Soho w/tbc
The Confusions' latest album "Trampoline" just came out in Taiwan this last March and will be released in Japan in July, France in late summer.
Fresh from the rumor mill is news that Last Days of April will indeed be heading over to America to promote the US release of "Ascend to the Stars" on Crank! Records. No exact dates yet, but I'm hearing they'll be doing something like six weeks, so they'll be sure to play nearly everwhere. More news when I get it.
Scratchie Records recently relaunched their website including a page dedicated to their darlings The Sounds. And in case you didn't know, the band cancelled those rumored headlining gigs they had scheduled before their upcoming Ravonettes/Vue jaunt. Oh, and Rolling Stone recently did a feature on the band, too.
Hell n' Diesel will be holding a release party at Timmerstugan in Falköping on May 30 for their new single "Tears for the Wicked".
Mean Street Magazine recently did a short interview with Sahara Hotnights. They also did a feature on TSOOL for last month's Coachella fest issue.
Some of the recent Norweigan bands added to the Quart festival lineup: Tonka, Gaute Drevdal, Bjørn Berge, Panzer, Splitimage, and Guardians of Time.
The Gatethering recently released "You Learn About It", the first single from their newest album "Souvenirs". They also did a video for the song with 13-year old director Tim Blok. Apparently, he's the youngest music video director ever which is kind of cool, I guess. Anyhow, fans of atmospheric rock music should definitely investigate the album. I know I'm really enjoying it.
America's The End Records has announced that it will reissue a remastered version of Ulver's first demo "Vergtatt" (or isn't it "Bergtatt"? not sure if it's a typo) on 10" vinyl. They'll also be doing quite a few other great releases in this new series which they are dubbing 'Infinite Vinyl' such as "Tommorrow Will Never Come", a 7" from Agalloch that will include two unreleased acoustic tracks from the original "The Mantle" sessions. The full list of scheduled releases so far:
IVS 001 Agalloch - Tomorrow Will Never Come 7"
IVS 002 Ulver - Vergtatt 10"
IVS 003 Katatonia - Viva Emptiness
IVS 004 Emperor - As The Shadows Rise 7"
IVS 005 Samael - Blood Ritual
IVS 006 Arcturus - Constellation / My Angel 10"
IVS 007 Katatonia - Saw You Drawn 10"
The Swedish MIC reports that Swedes seem to prefer their own domestically-produced music versus international imports. The latest charts show a 54% dominance in albums and 52% in singles and that data is significant of a trend that has been ongoing all year.
Moneybrother's new album has been generating all sorts of positive reviews, such as this one from Aftonbladet and yesterday's Dagensskiva review. Personally, I think the single ("Reconsider Me") is fantastic, but I'm not sold on the entire album just yet. Anyway, it's up to you to decide for yourself. Aftonbladet has a couple sound samples for you to hear, too.
This week's MTV Up North Nordic video chart:
01. The Rasmus - In The Shadows
02. HIM - Funeral of hearts
03. Outlandish - Guantanamo
04. A-Teens - Perfect Match
05. Jennifer Brown - Weak
06. Darude - Music
07. Kwan - Shine
08. Equicez - Live From Pass It
09. Mew - Comforting Sounds
10. The Sounds - Rock n´ Roll
11. Paragon - Försök Förstå
12. The Jessica Fletchers - Let´s Go
13. Timbuktu - Ett Brev
14. Kashmir - Surfing The Warm Industry
15. Moon Gringo - Buzz Aldrin
16. Nik & Jay - Elsker Hende Mere
17. Bertine Zetlitz - Girl Like You
18. Surferosa - Neon Commando
19. Melody Club - Cover Girl
20. Pauline - Runnin´ Out Of Gaz
Challengers:
01. Homy - Bus Stop
02. Kristofer Åström & Hidden Truck - One Good Moment
03. Magnet - The Day We Left Town
04. Monastir - Teenage Years
05. Stephen Simmonds & Dilba - For Father
Go to the MTVE.com site to watch and vote for your favorite.
Here's something interesting that came to me by way of the pHinnweb list: www.radiofetthode.no. Streaming Internet radio featuring all sorts of various Scandinavian artists + more. Very cool.
Speaking of yesterday's Cdoass signing news, it has been pointed out to me that they used to be a demowebben band. Check out some old tracks from the band right here.
Finland's Amorphis has completed work on a video for the song "Evil Inside", their first single from the upcoming album "Far From The Sun". Taku Kaskela directed. The record comes out in Scandinavia on May 26 from Virgin Records and you can listen to streamed versions of a couple from their web jukebox, located here.
Did you realize that Turbonegro's new album "Scandinavian Leather" went straight to #1 on the Norweigan charts, selling twice as many copies as Madonna's "American Life" at #2? Pretty crazy, eh? They also added one more date to their current tour itinerary: May 30 in Fredrikstad, Norway. For those still unfamiliar with the band, perhaps this e-card will help.