David & the Citizens will be doing a special one-off show at Musikenshus in Göteborg on December 13 to celebrate the release of their new single "Graycoated Mornings". This is the first place the single will be readily available for sale, but you can also email annette@adrianrecordings.com to preorder a copy. As mentioned before, the b-side is the timely "Christmas Eve". Read more about that track and hear a streaming version right here. (in Danish)
MTV's "Fresh" pick of the week is "Walou" from Denmark's Outlandish. Check out this feature on the song and video.
"Turning pages, Jazz in Norway, vol. 4: 1960 – 1970" and "Footprints, Jazz in Norway, vol. 5: 1970 – 1980" are the titles of two new comps from the Norwegian Jazz Archives and Herman Records. For more info about them and an article on that period of Norweigan jazz history, go here: http://www.mic.no/mic.nsf/doc/art2003120909595855894712
The Soundtrack of Our Lives and Jens Lekman (aka Rocky Dennis) are among the first acts confirmed for next year's Avrika festival in July. More info: http://www.galaxen.se/
Go here to read a short report from the recent Candlemass reunion show in Stockholm with fellow doom legends Trouble and Force of Evil. (via Blabbermouth)
If you're curious about those Tiger Lou pics from the show on Sunday, be sure to scroll down to yesterday's postings.
As mentioned here before, The Gathering is heading out on tour in support of their new semi-acoustic live album "Sleepy Buildings". Here's the dates they have so far:
01/08 - Huize Maas, Groningen (Eurosonic Fest.) (NL)
01/30 - Groene Engel, Oss (NL)
03/02 - Paradiso, Amsterdam (NL)
03/04 - Bosuil, Weert (NL)
03/05 - Lux Theater, Nijmegen (NL)
03/06 - Lux Theater, Nijmegen (NL)
03/07 - Oosterpoort, Groningen (NL)
03/08 - Zeche Carl, Essen (GER)
03/09 - Markthalle, Hamburg (GER)
03/10 - Passionskirche, Berlin (GER)
03/11 - Gewerkschaftshaus, Erfurt (GER)
The band is still waiting to confirm shows in North America during the period of February 12-16 and is also planning on playing Mexico and South America February 21-28, but nothing is confirmed quite yet.
By way of Chalksounds comes this video clip of The Crystal Committee being interviewed and playing live at the Umeå Open festival earlier this year. (in Swedish)
Finnish old-school death metal supergroup Chaosbreed reports that they are currently negotiating a deal with a "well-known metal label" and will post details once the ink is dry. Otherwise, the band will be playing a gig at Stella Star Club in Helsinki with Omnium Gatherum, The Wake and Cause for Effect on December 19 as part of the 'Club Rock Hell-event'. Tickets are 6euro and the band plans to hit the stage at 10pm.
Manhattan Skyline is a new Norweigan band featuring ex-members of Kaospilot that plays "tech-chaos-metal something" akin to (older) Switchblade or Dillinger Escape Plan. They recently put a couple new mp3s up on their website from their upcoming 3", so head on over if that's the kind of stuff that you're into.
Pål Waaktaar of A-ha recently spoke to Dagbladet about his work with sideproject Savoy and their upcoming album. They've been working with Frode Jacobsen of Madrugada producing, so the sound may be a bit darker than their previous efforts. There's no release date yet, but the group is already confirmed for a big comeback special at next year's Øya Festival in Oslo in August. Read more: http://www.a-ha.com/index.php?id=4444&cat=417
"Nostalgia Locomotive" is the name of the new single from The Mo, due out December 10. Download an mp3 sample here: http://www.themo.nu/images/upload/213.mp3
Dagbladet's top 10 Norweigan albums of the year:
01. Magnet - On Your Side
02. Equicez - State Of The Emergency - Generation Equiz
03. Ephemera - Air
04. King Midas - Romeo Turn
05. Thomas Dybdahl - Stray Dogs
06. Sergeant Petter - It's A Record
07. Atomic - Boom Boom
08. Turbonegro - Scandinavian Leather
09. Vidar Busk - Love Buzz
10. Kaizers Orchestra - Evig Pint
Now the question is whether any of these will hold up to international scrutiny, now that Norway is said to be the "new" Sweden, whatever that means. I'm sure frantic record execs are busy scrounging for someone to place their bets on now that the buzz has been started. I'm not sure any of these guys fit the bill either. Kaizers Orchestra is my own personal favorite of the bunch, but they sing in their native tongue, so you can scratch them from the list. Turbonegro is great, but they have waaaaaaay too many homosexual undertones for middle America. But what do I know? We'll see what happens. Read more: http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2003/12/09/385705.html (in Norweigan)
Pics of Cato Salsa Experience on tour in Japan: http://www.bpop.no/CatoSalsaExperienceTourPictures.htm
I just knew this was gonna happen: Kristofer Åström's new EP "There For" won't actually make it into stores before Christmas as he said before, but will actually be released sometime in January. Tracklist posted yesterday.
Yesterday NRK had a feature on Motorpsycho's tour in Japan, today it's Norweigan singer/songwriter Askil Holm: http://www.nrk.no/musikk/3337656.html