Here are the winners of this year's Rockbjörnen prize in all the Swedish categories:
Female artist: Amanda Jenssen
Male artist: Lars Winnerbäck
Newcomer: Amanda Jenssen
Album: Håkan Hellström - För sent för Edelweiss
Song: Ola Svensson - Feelgood
Live act: Håkan Hellström
Group: Takida
Myspace prize: Billie The Vision And The Dancers
The Sounds will be supporting No Doubt on tour later this year. Dates and details soon.
Hopefully you read her analysis of Alphabeat's lyrics, but now it's time to check out Elisabeth Vincentelli's full report on the music of Swedish metal legends Bathory: http://www.emusic.com/features/spotlight/2009_200901-ug-bathory.html
Ronnie Sundin's upcoming CD on Fang Bomb will be called "Seven year silence". Expect an April release.
Totalt Jävla Mörker are back in the studio working on their next album.
Swedish acts Parker Lewis and New Decade are heading to Italy in May:
05/08 - Morya, Cellatica (BS)
05/09 - Lego Cafè, Cesena
05/10 - Zuni, Ferrara
New North American dates for Peter Bjorn and John:
04/21 - Fine Line Music Café, Minneapolis, MN
04/22 - Pabst Theatre, Milwaukee, WI
04/23 - Metro, Chicago, IL
04/24 - Southgate House, Newport, KY
04/25 - Phoenix Theatre, Toronto, ON
04/26 - Capital Music Hall, Ottawa, ON
04/27 - Le National, Montreal, QC
04/28 - Paradise, Boston, MA
04/29 - Webster Hall, NY, NY
04/30 - Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
05/01 - World Café, Philadelphia, PA
05/02 - 9:30 Club, Washington DC
Norwegian artist Ida Maria will support Scottish hype act Glasvegas on tour in North America:
03/23 - The Parish, New Orleans, LA
03/24 - The Loft, Atlanta, GA
03/25 - Cat's Cradle, Carrboro, NC
03/26 - Black Cat, Washington, DC
03/27 - The Note, West Chester, PA
03/28 - Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
03/30 - Webster Hall, New York, NY
03/31 - Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
04/02 - La Tulipe, Montreal (CAN)
04/03 - Mod Club, Toronto (CAN)
04/04 - Magic Stick, Detroit, MI
04/06 - The Bottom Lounge, Chicago, IL
04/07 - Varsity Theater, Minneapolis, MN
04/09 - Bluebird Theater, Denver, CO
04/10 - Avalon Theater, Salt Lake City, UT
04/12 - Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver BC (CAN)
04/13 - Neumos, Seattle, WA
04/14 - Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
04/16 - Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA
Skambankt's new album "Hardt regn" is now streaming at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/skambankt
In case you haven't been following the thread on site updates/recommendations, I have now enabled custom RSS feeds for user watchlists. So go ahead: use the handy tooltip mouseovers to add your favorite bands/your bands/your label's bands to your watchlist (or browse the Resource Library) and then visit your watchlist page for your new feed URL. You can even narrow it down by tag, if that's how you want it. Of course I don't have every single Scandinavian act in my database yet, so feel free to leave a comment if I'm missing someone important and I will do my best to get them added.
This week's top 20 Norwegian album chart:
01. Frøya - Jenta fra landet
02. I Was A King - s/t
03. Marit Larsen - The Chase
04. Tommy Tokyo feat Starving for My Gravy - Smear Your Smiles Back On
05. Karpe Diem - Fire vegger
06. Vamp - St. Mandag
07. The September When - Judas Kiss
08. Ida Jenshus - Color of the Sun
09. Maria Mena - Cause & Effect
10. Bjørn Eidsvåg - Pust
11. Helene Bøksle - Morild
12. Torstein Sødal - Torstein Sødal
13. Erlend Bratland - True Colors
14. Vidar Johnsen & Peter Nordberg - Mål & Mening
15. Sie Gubba - Hemafrå
16. Low Frequency In Stereo - Futuro
17. Madrugada - Madrugada
18. AF1 - Alle For En
19. Madcon - An Inconvenient Truth
20. Odd Børretzen/Lars Martin Myhre - Syv sørgelige sanger og tre triste
MIC Norway profiles the up-and-coming postrock/chamber-pop artist Bellman: http://www.mic.no/mic.nsf/doc/art2009012210373730842755
The long-running Nordic Music Days (since 1888!) is combining forces with the more avant Happy Days festival for Happy Nordic Music Days, a new event celebrating all sorts of modern Norwegian music. The theme this year: "Contemporary Music in the Welfare State". Read more: http://www.happynordicmusicdays.no/
Discobelle has a new track from Swedish artist Henok Achido featuring guest vocals from Sophia Somajo: http://www.discobelle.net/2009/01/22/pusher/
Of all the various artists I've worked with through my netlabel, Pacta (nee Sunt Servanda) has been the sleeper. His "A trap it is" EP is a fantastic example of elegant ambient/experimental music and his more recent work continues solidly along the same path, whether or not you decide to pay attention. What I like best about it is that it's never noise for noise's sake -- there's always a faint melody or at least some sort of melodic component that gives the music weight and balance. And the ingredients are often simple, too, the layers don't go too deep as to overwhelm. "Sketch" from his latest 3" CD "Fragments" inherits the qualities of both titles: small bursts of sound are set upon the landscape and made to dance, flutter and spin. They overlap and swirl around, but never collide. Eventually a singsong tune emerges, but it's easy to miss if you don't follow as it gets passed from tone to tone, or from player to player in an orchestral sense. I can almost imagine it being performed on more traditional instruments actually - now that would be something to hear.
Pacta - Sketch