The winner of this year's Novell prize from the Swedish mag of the same name for excellent story-telling in music goes to Johan Duncanson of The Radio Dept. for the song "You stopped making sense". Read more: http://magasinetnovell.se/2010/12/15/och-vinnaren-ar-2/ (in Swedish)
A new song and video from The Lionheart Brothers plus a fan challenge to create their own version of the same: http://vimeo.com/17761903
MRR features Finnish act 1981 in their new band spotlight: http://maximumrocknroll.com/2010/12/15/new-band-spotlight-1981/
Female-fronted Norrland crust act Misantropic will have their album "Insomnia" released on vinyl via US label : http://blog.southernlord.com/?p=312
Preliminary dates are now confirmed for Miasmal's US tour:
05/17 - Austin, TX
05/18 - Dallas, TX
05/19 - St. Louis, MO
05/20 - Chicago, IL
05/21 - Cleveland, OH
05/22 - Providence, RI
05/23 - Boston, MA
05/24 - Brooklyn, NY
05/25 - Philadelphia, PA
05/26 - Maryland Death Fest
05/27 - Maryland Death Fest
05/28 - Maryland Death Fest
05/29 - Maryland Death Fest
05/30 - North Carolina
05/31 - Atlanta,GA
06/01 - New Orleans, LA
06/02 - Chaos in Tejas
06/03 - Chaos in Tejas
06/04 - Chaos in Tejas
06/05 - Chaos in Tejas
06/06 - El Paso, TX
06/07 - Phoenix, AZ
06/08 - Los Angeles, CA
06/09 - Los Angeles, CA
06/10 - San Jose, CA
06/11 - San Francisco, CA
06/12 - Oakland, CA
06/14 - Portland, OR
06/15 - Seattle, WA
06/16 - Olympia, WA
Hatred Surge and Mammoth Grinder will support the first run up until Chaos along with Innumerable Forms on some dates and then local (to me) death dealers Bone Sickness will bring them out west.
Finnish noiseniks Fun are heading back to Russia next month:
01/07 - Act Hall, Moscow
01/08 - Zoccolo, St. Petersburgh
01/09 - Somewhere, Novgorod
Doomsday Mag lists his top picks for 2010, albums and otherwise: http://doomsdaymag.blogspot.com/2010/12/bast-2010-listalistalista.html
Sin Fang nee Sin Fang Bous aka Sindri Már Sigfusson of Seabear will be releasing his new solo album "Summer echoes" this coming March with a 7" to precede it, featuring covers of "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac and "The only living boy" by Simon & Garfunkle.
The forthcoming Peter Bjorn and John album, confirmed for release on March 29, now has a name: "Gimme some".
New music from Finnish metalcore act Medeia off their forthcoming album "Abandon all", due out in April. Check out the straight-up WEAK crowd shots!
has announced that they'll be going back through 22-Pistepirkko's extensive back-catalog to do a number of limited vinyl reissues: http://www.bonevoyagerecordings.com/component/content/article/87
The new video for "In for the kill", the latest single from Swedish rockers Mean Streak. Not bad, but it probably sounds a heckuva lot better when you don't have to look at them.
is streaming a preview of the new Neghantil 2xCS "1990-1996" at SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/fang-bomb/sets/neghantil-1990-1996
Iceland's Ólöf Arnalds made PopMatters' best world music list: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/134393-the-best-world-music-of-2010/
Finally, new music from City, the hyped duo of Björn Nilsson (Slagsmålsklubben) and Tommi Levin (The High Fives). Direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTZoAbTXqiY