Today's end-of-the-year top 10 list comes to us from Ola of the Moonbabies. Check it out! Their last album "The Orange Billboard" easily became one of my favorites last year and I'm eagerly awaiting new material which I hear should be ready sometime next year. Word on the street has it that the early demos are already mindblowing.
New Nicolai Dunger solo live dates:
01/17 - The Borderline, London (UK) (singer/songwriter festival)
02/11 - Norrlandsoperan, Umeå (SWE)
02/25 - Swedish American Hall, San Francisco, CA w/Joanna Newsom
02/26 - Swedish American Hall, San Francisco, CA w/Joanna Newsom
Download the video for "I wanna be your cat" from The Dusty Five: http://www.diapazam.se/video/dusty10.mov
Check out a stream of the new WE video "Sassy Zazie" featuring Norwegian model Aylar: http://www.werock.org/video/31_high.ram
Timo Räisänen has confirmed a February 16 release date for his debut solo album "Lovers are Lonely". The artwork will be handled by the very talented Henrik Walse, whose recent work includes album covers for artists such as Thunder Express, Melody Club and The Hives.
Official Ark fansite thearkworld.com is having a win Ola's beard competition. No, really. Apparently, his new look from the summer is over and done with, but we still have pictures: http://www.thearkworld.com/images/beard/index.html
Denmark's Quartermain Records has announced the signing of Jacob Faurholt and his band Sweetie Pie Wilbur. The label will release their debut album "Queen Of Hope" on March 10, 2005. The music is described as "saturated with a gloomy and dusty expression, characterized by a charming amateurism and musical playfulness which gives the quite traditional songs a personal expression" and features guest appearances from Kåre Rolf Hansen of Tiger Tunes and Torsten Larsen from Larsen & Furious Jane.
Moving Hands reports from the Bombs over Blekingska noise festival in Lund, Sweden: http://www.movinghands.net/articles/detail.asp?id=71
In honor of their 10th anniversary, Swedish industrial/noise act Sanctum has posted mp3s of their live show from the 2001 Cornerstone Festival: http://www.ratblast.net/cc/node/view/57
The event was one of last shows that Lena Robért did with the group and is considered to be a classic performance.
Jens Lekman gets an honorable mention on the somewhat lackluster, predictable and safe best-of-2004 list from PopMatters: http://popmatters.com/music/features/041206-best2004lundy.shtml
Christian Falk has been selected as the man to produce the debut album from CDOASS. Christian was a member of the band Imperiet in the 80s and has since worked with all sorts of various Swedish pop stars as a songwriter and producer and also released a 1999 solo album that won three Swedish Grammy awards. Still no official word on a label or release date, but obviously big names mean big deals, so I'm sure we'll see an official press release before too long. Don't forget that the group's latest single "Speak to me" is out now and is also available as a track on the "IAT reader's companion" compilation.
P3 Musikjournalen is saying that pop starlet Robyn will be with various artists such as Klas Åhlund and The Knife on a new album, tentatively due out around summer next year.
Norway's Madrugada has uploaded even more studio pics to their website from their recent recording sessions in LA: http://www.madrugada.net/
Vreid, the new band formed by the three surviving members of Windir, have been tapped to support Enslaved on their upcoming European tour. Dates:
02/09 - Loppen, Copenhagen (DK)
02/10 - Rosenkeller, Jena (GER)
02/11 - Lokschuppen, Rosenheim (GER)
02/12 - Tor 3, Osnabrück (GER)
02/13 - Headbangers ballroom, Hamburg (GER)
02/14 - Nachtleben, Frankfurt (GER)
02/16 - Vera, Groningen (NL)
02/17 - Doornrosje, Nijmegen (NL)
02/09 - Black Pes, Prague (CZR)
02/10 - Arena, Wien (AUS)
02/11 - Mochavara, Zagreb (CRO)
02/13 - E-Klubb, Budapest (HUN)
02/16 - Voxhall, Aarhus (DK)
I'm not totally impressed with Enslaved's new album "Isa", but I have no doubt that they'll still put on a great show.