Fat Planet on Danish electro artist Birk Storm: http://www.fatplanet.com.au/blog/2008/03/19/new-danish-electro-funk-birk-storm/
Foxy Digitalis gives high marks to Ljudbilden & Piloten's new album "One hundred fifty-five": http://www.digitalisindustries.com/foxyd/reviews.php?which=3246
Ex-Dødheimsgard/DHG vocalist Kvohst has started a new, far more traditional death/grind act called Gangrenator. Listen to a demo track at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/gangrenator
Check out the new Chords video for "Luckiest man alive": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVi9PCH9GzI
Decent, but not nearly as good as I was hoping for.
Delusions of Adequacy weighs in favorable on Swedish act The Bell: http://www.adequacy.net/review.php?reviewID=8572
Danish hip-hop act Outlandish will come to the US for a few gigs this spring:
05/31 - The Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA
06/06 - Centro Austuriano de Tampa, Tampa, FL
06/08 - Fox Theate, Detroit, MI
06/13 - The Majestic Theater, Dallas, TX
06/14 - Rosemont, Chicago, IL
06/15 - New Balance Center, New York, NY
The new Gentle Touch album "In memory of Savannah" is streaming at myspace: http://www.songsiwish.com/gentletouch
RIYL early Depeche Mode or other 80s synthpop.
Lukestar's album "Lake Toba" is out now in Japan via Thistime Records and you can check out an ecard for it right here: http://www.thistimerecords.com/ecard/lukestar/interface.html
Look for Japanese live dates to be announced for early fall.
Updated live dates for Robyn:
03/29 - V Festival Gold Coast: AVICA Resort, Gold Coast, Queensland (AU)
03/30 - V Festival Sydney: Centennial Parklands, Sydney, New South Wales (AU)
04/02 - The Forum, Sydney, New South Wales (AU)
04/03 - The Prince, Melbourne, Victoria (AU)
04/18 - Camden Crawl, London (UK)
06/06 - The Arches, Glasgow (SCO)
06/07 - Carling Academy, Birmingham (UK)
06/08 - Astoria, London, London (UK)
06/10 - Academy 2, Manchester (UK)
06/11 - UEA, Norwich (UK)
06/12 - Carling Academy, Bristol (UK)
Check out a tour film from Finnish bitpop superheroes Desert Planet: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4rg4e_short-tour-movie-by-desert-planet_music
It was filmed during the group's extensive 2006-07 tours in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France and Finland and includes a few new songs performed live plus a new video for the track "Green fireballs" off their new record "Moonrocks".
MP3: Astrid Swan - Sea/e life
As if it wasn't totally obvious from the cover, Astrid Swan's new album "Spartan picnic" is far quirkier than her debut "Poverina". It looks like something I might expect from Stina Nordenstam, though the "Spartan" of the title is entirely misleading as Ms. Swan readily embraces a full, big-band sound. However, her quirk only extends so far. There's nothing here quite as out-there as Marybell Katastrophy or As In RebekkaMaria, especially not in lead single "Sea/e life". I like it a lot more than anything on the first album, but I'm having trouble finding a strong melody to hold on to. Elsewhere on the album she fares far better, such as on the bombastic title track, so despite my misgivings about this particular song, I wouldn't write her off. And don't forget her work with Treeball either (together with producer Nick Triani). It's kinda like how Neko Case is at her best when performing with New Pornographers, Astrid Swan can be the same way with her other band. All about context.
Astrid Swan - Sea/e life
Check out the video for the new They Live By Night single "Endless summer": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peZ6spX0nws
Finnish indiepop act Cats On Fire will travel to NYC for the NYC Popfest in June: http://www.nycpopfest.org/
Other confirmed Scandinavian acts include Friday Bridge, Oh! Custer and Love Is All.