Listen to the new Eskju Divine single "So high": http://www.eskjudivine.com/media/So%20High.mp3
The new album with the impossibly long title "Come and join, close your eyes become blind, we're on our way to Eskju Divine" is out this week on Imperial Recordings. I'm still digesting it, but I like what I hear so far.
Björns Vänner will be doing an acoustic set at Lark in the Park in London on November 5. The event is being on by the people at Sweden Made Me and more info can be found here: http://www.swedenmademe.com/
The nominees for the 2005 Nordic Music Awards have been announced:
Best Norske Artist:
Bertine Zetlitz
Bjørn Eidsvåg
Madrugada
Ravi & DJ Løv
Thomas Dybdahl
Best Swedish Artist:
Daniel Lindstrøm
Kent
Lars Winnerbäck
Lena Philipsson
Magnus Uggla
Best Danish Artist:
Big Fat Snake
Johnny DeLuxe
Nik & Jay
Sanne Salomonsen
Saybia
Best Nordic Artist:
Kent (SWE)
Lisa Ekdahl (SWE)
Röyksopp (NOR)
Saybia (DK)
Timbuktu (SWE)
Best Nordic hit:
Amy Diamond - "What’s In It For Me" (SWE)
Ana Johnsson - "We Are" (SWE)
Christian Waltz - "Wonderchild" (SWE)
Eric Prydz - "Call On Me" (SWE)
Infernal - "From Paris To Berlin" (DK)
Lilyjets - "Going Blind" (NOR)
Best Nordic Musikkvideo: coming soon.
Winners be announced at an event ceremony to take place October 29 at the Forum in København. More info: http://www.nordicmusicawards.no/
Madonna has been bestowed with the honor of being the first person legally allowed to sample Abba. The song "Hung up" from the upcoming album "Confessions on a dancefloor" features a snippet from the Swedepop classic "Gimme gimme".
Gigs.no will be streaming the Arcturus show from the Sonic Solstice Festival at Rockefeller in Oslo this Saturday, September 24. The show will also be taped for eventual release as a DVD.
But is it Art? has announced the signing of indiepop act Friday Bridge and will be releasing a full-length album with the label in the near future.
The Refused movie finally had its premiere in Umeå last night and, sad to say, the reports are not good. It's a shame that something so many people have waited so long for has turned out to be a pretentious, laughable mess, but I can't say I'm terribly surprised either. So it goes. On the brighter side, the movie they showed immediately afterwards "Umeå the hardcore city" is supposed to be much, much better. The film covers the Norrland punkscene and features bands like Step Forward, Garbage Pail Kids and Randy as well as interviews with many people active during the height of the scene in the 90s. Of course I suspect I'll have to wait three years for a subtitled version on DVD, but who knows?
MP3: Pello Revolvers - One man duel
As announced yesterday, it's demo week here at It's a trap! and today's featured artist is Pello Revolvers. The band plays indierock with a strong traditional folk influence. Think a Northern European version of The Pogues mixed with a bit of The Clash. The can definitely hear the latter's influence on the song I've posted today. The group's latest EP "No spare tyres" was released just a few months ago and you can hear a couple more tracks at the band's website or their myspace page. I'm a big fan of bands that inject new life into old roots music and these guys are a perfect example.
Pello Revolvers - One man duel
I'm going to do something a little different this week and post tracks from a few up-and-coming demo acts. A lot of them have already made their music available for free download, but since it's so easy to miss stuff, I'm gonna take the time to highlight some recent favorites. First up today is Samuraj Cities from Göteborg. They've got kind of a fuzzy-Radio Dept. thing going on, but with a darker sense of melody. And hey, if you like this song, there's five more over at their website. Enjoy!
Sibiria's new single "(Jag kunde ha varit) vem som helst" is now available for downloat at Hybris: http://www.hybrism.com/3/index.php
The new full-length "Norrlands inland" comes out September 28.
Stockholm based emo/hardcore act Promise Divine (ex-A Fairytale of Goodbye) has posted the video for the song "This time" on their website: http://www.promisedivine.com/
If Society will be releasing the next album from Finland's Black Audio. Entitled "Iron rhino", the disc is set to drop on January 13, 2006. If you've been thinking "gimme funky eeee-lectro beats mixed with some Karelian redneck country n' blues with pop-hooks aplenty," then well, Black Audio is the band for you.