What has happened to Erasure? They are currently writing new material due for release in the near future. In the meantime fans will have to settle with the "Tiny Tour" video release shot at the Oxford Apollo on their 1996 sold-out tour of the same name. The video is available only from Mute Records' mail order
service.
Swedish cult electronic weirdo Arvid Tuba has made come back after years of silence. He performed live in Falun, Sweden, in October.
- I might play live again soon, he says to Release. I also plan to record new material pretty soon, even if I haven't made any new songs yet.
The annual Venue festival will next year take place between January 28 and 31. The festival is Danish by origin, but does now involve both Norway and Sweden. Venue is a festival scattered over these contries with small tours under the festival concept. An artist may play at, for example, three different venues during the festival. In other words, Venue is an umbrella that covers artists and venues in around 15 cities over four days. More at On Stage.
Venue is connected to Scandinavia's largest rock festival, Roskilde Festival in Denmark. 1999 the Roskilde Festival will take place the first fours days of July and this year "only" 65 000 tickets are for sale. This is the second year the max limit grow smaller. The festival staff wants to ensure quality and the number of festivals in Europe has grown. The Roskilde ticket price is the same as last year (800 "kroner"). So far one (!) of around 150 acts is booked - Metallica.
De/Vision, who recently paid Sweden a visit, are now in the spotlight with their brand new collection "Zehn".
- The album is a summary of our years with Strange Ways Records. All of the songs are taken from our first three albums, except for a couple of live tracks and some B-sides, Thomas Adam, De/Vision's main song writer, says.
A new studio album is not that far into the future.
- We'll go into the studio some time in March next year, and estimate a May/June release for the new album.
Beborn Beton, the band that opened for De/Vision here in Sweden, have also plans for new material. Michael Wagner of the band tells me:
- We are very pleased with the way the new album is progressing so far. We begin recording early next year and hope for it to be released fairly soon after that. /Niklas Forsberg
Dark Side Cowboys' new album "Most" is out now. It was originally meant to be a single and is also sold for the price of a single even though it contains 19 tracks of 71 minutes.
Dark Side Cowboys' record company Nangijala have more plans for the future. They hope they can release party-ska-synthpoppers Plastic Planet's debut EP "A Single Record" in December or January. About the same time hopefully Lorelei de Lux' debut will show up as well - the album "Tigerkött". They play atmoospheric synthpop with lyrics in Swedish.
The new KMFDM album will be titled "Adios" and released by their old record company Wax Trax after all. It will be the last one on Wax Trax and the band is currently looking for a new record deal.
Swedish pop quartet Mobile Homes has called off their cooperation with Karl Bartos. They are working on a new, more electronic album on their own, called "Sport Olympics", just like the last album "Mobile Homes" was supposed to be called. We will not publish any release dates this time, since "Mobile Homes" was delayed over and over again. Their new video for the "Mobile Homes" album song "Definetely Wrong" was recently sent out to TV stations. Perhaps you have heard their last single "You Make the Sun Shine" in the latest SAS TV commercial.
Mute Records announces that they have signed the British trio Exeter. The first release will be an EP in February or March.
The drummer of London after Midnight, Douglas Avery, has left the band and they are looking for a new one.
The legendary electronic band Telex has released two compilations. The first is a best of-CD called "I Don't Like Remixes" and the other one a remix CD called "I Don't Like Music". People like Carl Craig and Ian O'Brien have re-made old Telex hits.