There's a new electronic music fest in Sweden called Static that will happen on March 13 next year in Kolingsborg. So far Statemachine, Colony 5, Alice in Videoland and and Germany's Karl Bartos have been booked, as well as a few DJs. Details: http://www.static.se/
Upcoming Supersilent-related live events next year:
01/31 - Pistol & Motorsykkel [Helge (treatments) & Jarle (drums)] in Bergen, Norway
02/07 - Arve (solo) in Bergen, Norway
02/13 - Supersilent in Rome, Italy
04/01 - Supersilent in Paris, France
04/03 - Supersilent in Voss, Norway
Here's another article from NRK on Motorpsycho's trip to Japan, but this one focuses on Japanese Scandinavian music lover Akane Nakamura. Akane runs a great bunch of Nordic music fan sites in Japanese, such as this one for singer/songwriter Askil Holm who is also on tour over there.
Here's this week's top 10 Nordic video chart from YLE/Morjen:
01. The Rasmus - The first day of my life (FIN)
02. RobinCosmos - Having a good time, all the time (FIN)
03. Glitz - Away from you (FIN)
04. Technicolour - Fireflies (FIN)
05. Zen Café - Piha ilman sadettajaa (FIN)
06. Nina Rochelle - Taxi 43 (SWE)
07. Xantom - Miss you (DK)
08. Johnny Deluxe - Elskovspony (DK)
09. Axis - Varför (FIN)
10. Fintelligens - Vaan sil on väliä (FIN)
There's no challengers this week as the chart will be taking a break until January 15 when they add new videos.
Dagens Nyheter has published a piece about that Olof Dreijer (The Knife)/Moose Dance Company collaboration that I posted about yesterday. (in Swedish)
Here's the top 20 Swedish albums of the week, as reported by Aftonbladet:
01. The Refreshments - Rock 'n' Roll X-mas
02. Markoolio - I skuggan av mig själv
03. Peter Jöback - Jag kommer hem igen till jul
04. Carola - Guld platina & passion - det bästa
05. Per Gessle - Mazarin
06. Peter LeMarc - Det som håller oss vid liv
07. Jill Johnson - Roots and wings
08. Ulf Lundell - En eld i kväll
09. Lisa Miskovsky - Fallingwater
10. Barbados - Hela himlen
11. Miio - På vårt sätt
12. Carola - Jul i Betlehem
13. Lars Roos - För de som älskar
14. Bo Kaspers orkester - Vilka tror vi att vi är
15. Björn Rosenström - Var får jag allt ifrån?
16. Helen Sjöholm / Anders Widmark - Genom varje andetag
17. Lasse Stefanz - Det här är bara början
18. José González - Veneer
19. Christer Sjögren - För kärlekens skull 14 visklassiker
20. Backyard Babies - Stockholm Syndrome
Download the mp3 for "The Sweetest Gift" from Gusto, "Sweden's finest blend of dancehall and roots": http://www.gusto.nu/originals/The_Sweetest_Gift.mp3
The write-ins have been tabulated and the nominees for the 25th annual Rockbjornen have been announced. Here's the categories I care about:
Best Swedish male:
Per Gessle
José González
Moneybrother
Timbuktu
Lars Winnerbäck
Best Swedish female:
Carola
Lisa Miskovsky
Pauline
Robyn
Elin Sigvardsson
Best Swedish group:
Alcazar
Backyard Babies
Broder Daniel
Kent
The Cardigans
Best Swedish song:
Per Gessle - Här Kommer Alla Känslorna
Lisa Miskovsky - Lady Stardust
Backyard Babies - Minus Celsius
Timbuktu - The Botten Is Nådd
Broder Daniel - When We Were Winning
Best Swedish album:
Moneybrother - Blood Panic
Broder Daniel - Cruel Town
The Cardigans - Long Gone Before Daylight
Per Gessle - Mazarin
Lars Winnerbäck - Söndermarken
Best Swedish newcomer:
José González
Jamie Meyer
Moneybrother
Pauline
Elin Sigvardsson
Finland's The Rasmus is also nominated in the best international song, group and album categories. Go here to vote: http://www.rockbjornen.se
Christian Kjellvander will be releasing his last album "Songs from a Two Room Chapel" on vinyl in February. The first 500 copies will include a bonus single with the cover songs "Over and Over" by Neil Young and "Waiting Around to Die" by Townes van Zandt.
Here's some mp3 remixes of various Desert Planet tracks, as done by France's Puyo Puyo and Eight BT from Sweden. DP also returns the favor by doing a "Horror Disco remix" of Puyo's track "Play Skip Stop".
As luck would have it, there's even more going on with the current Stratovarius drama. Seems that the two Timos (Tolkki and Kotipelto, gutiar and vocals respectively) even went as far as to get into a real fist-fight. There's more to it, of course, but the icing on the cake is that the most recent band lineup is already booked to play a bunch of big summer festivals. It's doubtful that any of them really want to go through with it, but can they afford to cancel?
Chalksounds has put together another festival, this one taking place at Debaser in Stockholm on January 16. Moonbabies and The End Will Be Kicks will be playing and DJ Norrland and Fredrik Brändström (Crystal Committee, Starmarket) will spin records. The first twenty people through the door will receive free copies of the new Moonbabies CD, too.
Also from Chalksounds comes word that US label Minty Fresh is working with Soviac trying to get their music into the movies. No word yet on whether they've been successful yet, but I'll let you know.
In today's Q&A from the Uncle's Institution Christmas special countdown, Egil Olsen quotes the mighty Manowar. Don't think that these things go unnoticed! He may play pop music, but now I know there's a metalhead lurking in there somewhere.
This week's MTV Up North Nordic video chart:
01. The Rasmus - First Day Of My Life
02. Lisa Miskovsky - Lady Stardust
03. Tim Christensen - Whispering At The Top Of My Lungs
04. Redrama - Hang It Up
05. Erik Faber - Century
06. Backyard Babies - Minus Celsius
07. Outlandish - Aicha
08. Fintelligens - Vaan Sil On Väliä
09. Moneybrother - It's Been Hurting All The Way With You Joanna
10. Paperboys - Hey Man
11. Beats & Styles - Dynamite
12. Christian Kjellvander - Portugal
13. The Fashion - Let´s Go Dancing
14. The Knife - Pass This On
15. C21 - One Night In Bangkok
16. Negative - The Moment Of Our Love
17. The Latin Kings - Cashen Dom Tas
18. Hardcore Superstar - Still I´m Glad
19. Nina Rochelle - (Happy) Jag hatar att det e så
20. Nicolai Dunger - Hunger
Challengers:
01. Slow Train Soul - In The Black Of Night
02. Koop - Baby
03. Eskobar - Love Strikes
04. Carpark North - Wild Wonders
05. Fattaru feat. Masayah - Ton för ton
Go to the MTVE.com site to watch and vote for your favorite.
Synth-pop group Alice in Videoland has a new all English-language website up and running. They also report that keyboardist Anders Lundgren is taking a break from the group. No word on if he's being replaced or who will be covering, but the band does have quite a few gigs lined up:
12/12 - Mondo, Stockholm (SWE)
12/13 - Bastun, Mariehamn (Åland) (SWE)
12/18 - KB, Malmö (SWE)
12/19 - Radium MF, Karlstad (SWE)
12/20 - Peace & Love, Borlänge (SWE)
12/26 - Playground/Pustervik, Göteborg (SWE)
01/21 - Plan 9, Oslo (NOR)
01/29 - Blå, Eskilstuna (SWE)
01/31 - Adrenalin, Sundsvall (SWE)
02/13 - Kulturkammaren, Norrköping
03/06 - Blekingska/Neostalgia, Lund (SWE)
04/02 - SAMA, Göteborg (SWE)
05/22 - Beat Goes On, Lund (SWE)
Updated tour schedule for The Moonbabies:
12/26 - Droskan, Umeå w/The End Will Be Kicks (Chalksoundsfest 3)
02/12 - Loppen, Copenhagen (DK)
02/19 - Fredericia, Ungdom.hus (DK)
03/04 - Neustrelitz, Moskito (GER)
03/05 - Rostock, MAU (GER)
03/06 - tba (GER)
03/07 - Köln, Blue Shell (GER)
03/08 - tba (GER)
03/09 - Nürnberg, Klüpfel (GER)
03/10 - tba (GER)
03/11 - tba (GER)
03/12 - Esslingen, Jugendhaus (GER)
03/13 - München, Orangehouse (GER)
03/14 - Feldkirch, Sonderbar (AUS)
03/15 - tba (GER)
03/16 - tba (GER)
03/17 - Würzburg, Cafe Cairo (GER)
03/18 - tba (GER)
03/19 - Berlin, Bastard (GER)
03/20 - tba (GER)
Look for more dates in Sweden and Denmark around January/February and maybe even a US tour sometime later in the year.