« Quarterly Report: First Quarter of 2007 Podcast | Main | OKC-NVMD: And what would the kids think? »
April 10, 2007
MS picks: "Kyss Mig, I'm (very) Swedish"
As I was posting about Pelle Carlberg last weekend, it occurred to me: I've been neglecting our fair-haired "broders" and "systers" of the Swede pop world. Thus, while OK Computer v. Nevermind is in halftime, I thought I'd take a moment and give you the latest imports from our favorite purveyors of crash-safe cars, low-cost furniture and bright, contagious sound.
THE FAINTEST IDEAS - What Goes Up Must Calm Down
The Faintest Ideas (formerly the Javelins) sometimes seem like just that: an idea that hasn't quite come to fruition. What Goes Up Must Calm Down is a scrappy thing. Sometimes it sounds like straight-up C86. Others? Like something twice derivative: a Swedish Interpol. But what the album lacks in evenness, it makes up for in sheer mania and full-speed exertion. The songs are as blinding as a flashbulb and over just as quick. And the stabbing guitar strokes on this track really might bloody your nose.
The Faintest Ideas - Nosebleeders on the Track
// The Faintest Ideas - What Goes Up Must Calm Down - Buy.
// The Faintest Ideas - Site.
// The Faintest Ideas - Myspace.
LOVEKEVINS - Vs. the Snow
Lovekevins' debut album is a shining example of what makes Swede pop more addictive than trans fats and bad television combined. Make no mistake about it, this is indie electro-party-pop with a straightforward rhythm and loads of loop-d-loops. Oh yes, all the pop-reference cornerstones are represented here: friends, love, rainbows, Hollywood and disco. But it's supposed to be from a cat's perspective. And that makes it vaguely Murakami.
Lovekevins - Private Life of a Cat
// Lovekevins - Vs. the Snow - Buy.
// Lovekevins - Site.
// Lovekevins - Myspace.
MAIA HIRASAWA - Though, I'm Just Me
Maia Hirasawa is the Swedish Regina Spektor. She's a pouter, a piano key-pounder. And sure, she lacks a little bit for Regina's lyrical whit. (And just like our native songstress, sometimes this Stockholm equivalent veers too far into T. Amos theatrics.) But this track is a precursor to love--all hearts, stars, joy, horns and a stomachful of butterfly-flutters.
Maia Hirasawa - And I Found This Boy
// Maia Hirasawa - Though, I'm Just Me - Buy.
// Maia Hirasawa - Site.
// Maia Hirasawa - Myspace.
SAKERT! - S/T
When I first heard Säkert!, the first Swedish-sung album by Annika Norlin of Hello Saferide, I was prepared to approach it like Under Byen. Which is to say, I was gonna listen like the dumbest girl in the Swedish immersion program, not understanding so much as a pronoun and not really making an effort to. (I mean, what difference do lyrics make anyway? When there's a swingy Scandinavian tempo and a video where baby animals keel over dead?)
But in Säkert's case, even the laziest bit of translation brings the whole project into a new light. It's important to know, for instance, that Säkert! means "Certainly!" or "Sure!" It's an agreeable band name, isn't it? And an apt title for what appears, at least to American ears, to be amicable, good-natured pop?
Wrong. Some of the song titles on Säkert's new self-titled album are as macabre as an "End is Nigh" sign. "Vi kommer att dö samtidigt," for instance, means "We will all die at the same time." "Det kommer bara leda till nåt ont," translates to "It will only lead to something bad."
Just knowing this juxtaposition exists--doom-and-gloom lyrics to a light-as-air melody--is to sense there's complexity here. And it makes me want to invest in Swedish Rosetta Stone software, just so I can appreciate Norlin's foreboding in full.
Säkert! - Vi kommer att dö samtidigt
// Säkert! - S/T - Buy.
// Säkert! - Site.
// Säkert! - Myspace.
THE CONCRETES - Hey Trouble
So, the Concretes don't pack quite as much punch as a band like Love Is All. But I make the comparison, I think, because this 7-piece aims to strike the same mood. In it's best moments, Hey Trouble is peppy naiveté, with the tiniest bite of sex appeal at its Tootsie-Pop-center. There are panting vocals. There are basslines so simple you'll swear they're either braindead or cunning... Oh, and for whatever reason, the über-cute, double-trouble video for "Kids" reminds me of that Sedmikrasky film Daisies.
// The Concretes - Hey Trouble - Buy at Licking Fingers.
// The Concretes - Site.
// The Concretes - Myspace.
Posted by Koren Zailckas at April 10, 2007 09:00 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.merryswankster.com/movabletype/mt-tb.cgi/842
