It's difficult to put Kristoffer Ragnstam simply. He is a Swedish rock musician who is at home in most parts of the world and within any musical genre, a drummer who was a born frontman. He's a singer-songwriter in the most literal sense of the designation: he writes the songs he sings, but the similarities between guitar strumming self-absorption and Ragnstam's extroverted observations that bound over the confines of genre end there. Labeled the Swedish Beck, the comparison is helpful in both musical eclecticism as well as the studio alchemy both musicians perform. Ragnstam specializes in an exuberant type of rock, with strains of everything he's ever heard - musical and otherwise -- found like footnotes in his songs.

Hungary's Amber Smith was formed in 2000 by singer-songwriter Imre Poniklo as a temporary project. After several member changes the band took its final shape in 2004.

From humble beginnings as the resident band at the notorious Hungry Duck club to signing with a British record label and playing with some of the biggest names in modern rock, the career of Russian band Blast has been a roller coaster and one that shows no sign of slowing down.