Webzine Aversionline is updated yet again with their usual 100+ reviews: http://www.holyterror.com/aversionline/
Featured bands listed this month include Burst, Dead in the Water, Dogpound, Elenium, Kaaos, Ulver, Wolfbrigade, Zyklon and tons more.
Swedish webzine The Cricket has posted even more best-of lists and 2004 outlooks from various music figures including Jari Haapalainen (Bear Quartet), Mattias Alkberg (also in Bear Quartet), Niccokick, Hell On Wheels, Labrador Records and more.
Here's this week's MTV Up North Nordic video chart. The top 20 remains the same as last time, but at least there's new challengers to vote for.
01. The Rasmus - First Day Of My Life
02. Backyard Babies - Minus Celsius
03. Tim Christensen - Whispering At The Top Of My Lungs
04. Moneybrother - It's Been Hurting All The Way With You Joanna
05. Redrama - Hang It Up
06. Eskobar - Love Strikes
07. Erik Faber - Century
08. Outlandish - Aicha
09. Lisa Miskovsky - Lady Stardust
10. Fattaru feat. Masayah - Ton för ton
11. Paperboys - Hey Man
12. Beats & Styles - Dynamite
13. C21 - One Night In Bangkok
14. Christian Kjellvander - Portugal
15. The Latin Kings - Cashen Dom Tas
16. Negative - The Moment Of Our Love
17. Carpark North - Wild Wonders
18. Slow Train Soul - In The Black Of Night
19. Fintelligens - Vaan Sil On Väliä
20. Hardcore Superstar - Still I´m Glad
Challengers:
01. Eagle Eye Cherry - Don´t Give Up
02. Junior Senior - Shake Your Coconuts
03. Safri Duo feat. Clark Anderson - All The People In The World
04. Briskeby - Halleluja
05. Christine Milton - Superstar
06. Majid - Boys And Girls
07. September - We Can Do It
08. L.O.C. - Undskyld
Go to the MTVE.com site to watch and vote for your favorite.
Here's the top 20 Swedish albums of the week, as reported by Aftonbladet:
01. Peter Jöback - Jag kommer hem igen till jul
02. Markoolio - I skuggan av mig själv
03. Per Gessle - Mazarin
04. Carola - Guld platina & passion - det bästa
05. Lisa Miskovsky - Fallingwater
06. Peter LeMarc - Det som håller oss vid liv
07. Sophie Zelmani - Love Affair
08. Georg Riedel orkester - Barn på nytt
09. Miio - På vårt sätt
10. Bo Kaspers orkester - Vilka tror vi att vi är
11. Helen Sjöholm / Anders Widmark - Genom varje andetag
12. The Refreshments - Rock 'n' Roll X-mas
13. Jill Johnson - Roots and wings
14. Carola - Jul i Betlehem
15. Ulf Lundell - En eld i kväll
16. José González - Veneer
17. Bergman Rock - Bergman Rock
18. Mauro Scocco - La Dolce Vita
19. Lasse Stefanz - Det här är bara början
20. Björn Rosenström - Var får jag allt ifrån?
Aftonbladet looks forward to the big releases planned for the coming year: http://www.aftonbladet.se/vss/noje/story/0,2789,412712,00.html (in Swedish)
Dream Evil's next album will be called "The Book of Heavy Metal". In related news, Dream Evil drummer Snowy Shaw's other band Notre Dame has confirmed April 1 as the release date for their new opus "Demi Monde Bizarros".
Norway's Kurt Nilsen won the World Idol competition last night. Maybe that country really is up-and-coming in the pop world. Of course, there's a ton of articles to read about him over at NRK: http://www.nrk.no/magasin/musikk/ (in Norweigan)
Articles in English from the Norweigan press (Nettavisen) are here: http://pub.tv2.no/nettavisen/english/
Hell on Wheels has parted ways with manager Stina Lorentz. No reason was given for the split, but it's said to be a mutual decision.
Head over to the Weeping Willows website to get a chance to hear a preview of the new single "Stairs": http://weepingwillows.nu/
It doesn't appear to be working quite yet, but I assume they'll have it fixed soon.
Le Manchester writers Jonas Wååg and Niclas Björkdahl list their top songs from 2003: http://www.lemanchester.com/
Swedish webzine The Cricket has posted a number of short interviews with various Swedish artists concerning their favorites from 2003 and expectations for 2004. Some of the acts they talk to include Radio Dept., Dorotea and Yoshimitsu.
Anders Nunstedt from Expressen weighs in on his outlook for music in 2004: http://expressen.se/index.jsp?a=93015 (in Swedish)