It's a Trap! Scandinavian music journal

Swedish rapper Organism 12 will release his new single "Sångfågel" in February. The track comes from his forthcoming album "Petar På Döda Saker Med Pinnar", due out in March on Streetzone.

Jim Stärk is releasing a special limited edition double-vinyl edition of their two albums "Ten Songs and Hey Hey" and "No Time Wasted" this week. The former was much-revered by Norweigan critics and received a Spellermann nomination while the latter is quite nice, too. I'm still gathering my thoughts for writing a full review, but don't listen to me - go and listen yourself at the band's website. Upcoming dates for the group:

12/06 - Frelsesarmèens Julemusikanter, Egertorget, Oslo
01/15 - Rockefeller, Oslo w/Magnet

On Thursday, December 4, Finnish electronic/experimental label Abflug will travel to Rub al Khali (aka The Empty Quarter), the world's largest sand desert, in the United Arab Emirates to put on a show. Artist Karri O. will be performing a live set of all-new material, surrounded by 200m+ sand dunes. While it's probably doubtful that most of you will be able to attend in-person, audio and video clips will be posted online at the label's website following the event, as well as pictures and a full report of what went down.

Finnish retro videogame pop group Desert Planet have a quirky interview up at French electro-based netzine Coolbpm. If listening to oldschool Nintendo music sounds appealing, be sure to check these guys out because they're great at what they do.

The Sewergrooves have left Low Impact Recordings and signed a new deal with Wild Kingdom. The band plans to enter the studio soon to record their debut on the new label.

Danish rockers D.A.D. (Disneyland After Dark) will be entering a studio in Sweden next week to begin work on their ninth album.

It's a 4-day vacation weekend because of Thanksgiving, so there's just another quick update for today.

The Concretes got a very buzzworthy review in NME this week and you can read it reprinted over at Rocket.fm's site.

The Soundtrack of Our Lives will perform their brand new single "Ecstasy" at Filmgalan (the Swedish Oscars) on January 26. And their record company is now saying the single will be released in January too, not before Christmas as previously reported.

Sophie Zelmani's new album "Love Affair" comes out December 22. The first single will be for the song "To Know You".

European tourdates for Arch Enemy:

02/17 - Live Music Hall, Cologne (GER)
02/18 - RockIt, Aalen/Stuttgart (GER)
02/19 - New Backstag, Munich (GER)
02/21 - Cesena, Vidia (IT)
02/22 - Motion, Bergamo (IT)
02/24 - Razzmatazz II, Barcelona (SPA)
02/25 - Caracol, Madrid (SPA)
02/27 - Elysee Montmartre, Paris (FR)
02/28 - Lantaarrn, Hellendoorn (NL)
02/29 - Effenaar, Eindhoven (NL)
03/02 - Logo, Hamburg (GER)
03/03 - Works, Osnabruck (GER)
03/04 - Zeche Carl, Essen (GER)
03/05 - Hof Ter Loo, Antwerpen (BEL)

Here's this week's top 10 Nordic video chart from YLE/Morjen:

01. Glitz - Away from you (FIN)
02. Technicolour - Fireflies (FIN)
03. Nina Rochelle - Taxi 43 (SWE)
04. The Rasmus - The first day of my life (FIN)
05. Garbo - Won't be in your way (DK)
06. Xantom - Miss you (DK)
07. Johnny Deluxe - Elskovspony (DK)
08. Zen Café - Piha ilman sadettajaa (FIN)
09. User - To feel (SWE)
10. Jonna - Kaikki talossa (FIN)

Challengers:
01. The Latin Kings - Cashen dom tas (SWE)
02. Klovner i kamp - Konger i kamp (NOR)
03. Fintelligens - Vaan sil on väliä (FIN)

Here's the top 20 Swedish albums of the week, as reported by Aftonbladet:

01. Peter LeMarc - Det som håller oss vid liv
02. The Refreshments - Rock 'n' Roll X-mas
03. Markoolio - I skuggan av mig själv
04. Peter Jöback - Jag kommer hem igen till jul
05. Lisa Miskovsky - Fallingwater
06. Carola - Guld platina & passion - det bästa
07. Per Gessle - Mazarin
08. Backyard Babies - Stockholm Syndrome
09. Lasse Stefanz - Det här är bara början
10. Lars Roos - För de som älskar
11. José González - Veneer
12. Bo Kaspers orkester - Vilka tror vi att vi är
13. Mauro Scocco - La Dolce Vita
14. Carola - Jul i Betlehem
15. Christer Sjögren - För kärlekens skull 14 visklassiker
16. Helen Sjöholm / Anders Widmark - Genom varje andetag
17. Mats Ronander - Bästa
18. Bamse - Bamses dunder-hits
19. Broder Daniel - Cruel town
20. Lisa Ekdahl - En samling sånger

By way of Dagensskiva, here is thist week's Swedish student radio top 20:

Leaving the chart:
06. Paris "Rainy Day In London"
13. Bring Me The Fucking Riot...Man "Lolita Riotta"
14. The Legends "There And Back Again"
16. Guided By Voices "The Best Of Jill Hives"
17. Slow Train Soul "In The Black Of Night"
19. Primal Scream Ft. (Kate Moss "Some Velvet Morning"
20. The Bear Quartet "Ask Me, Don't Axe Me"

As you've probably already heard, the first couple bands for next year's Hultsfred fest have been confirmed: Broder Daniel, C.Aarmé, Rocky Dennis, The Legends, Snook and The Kid. The show isn't until next July, but tickets go on sale at the end of December. Details: www.rockparty.se

Happy turkey-day to all you Americans! Here's just a short update on a few things today:

Dead Frog Records has signed the band Waver. You might've heard em before, as their song "The Things You Told Me" was featured in the 2002 movie "Den Osynlige" (The Invisible). Bandmember Andreas Alfredsson also composed the score. The duo, which is made up of songwriter/musician/producer Alfredsson and singer/songwriter Josefina Andersson, is said to utilize "sweeping melodies and delicate guitar lines" that sound like "the soundtrack to Swedish winters." But don't take the official bio's word for it, download some songs yourself right here: http://www.deadfrogrecords.com/artists/waver/

The group has been busy recording throughout the past year at numerous studios around Sweden, including Umeå's famous Tonteknik Recordings and plan to release their debut album for DFR in April, 2004.

Entombed guitarist Uffe Cederlund has joined Disfear on second guitar. That means he'll be doing double duty with both bands during the Close-Up Made Us Do It tour which kicks off on December 3 and also features Raised Fist. As mentioned before, Disfear is another in the long line of dis-core bands (see Discharge) and features ex-At the Gates vocalist Tomas Lindberg.

Opeth has been forced to cancel their upcoming gig in Jordan for a number of reasons. Go here for the official explanation from guitarist/vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt. (via Blabbermouth)

Satyricon is finally solidifying the details for the release of their latest album "Volcano" in America, Asia and Australia on Sony Music imprint EatUrMusic, the label of System of A Down guitarist Daron Malakian. Both the American and Asian versions of the CD are promised to include bonus material and tour details for the US are being worked on.