Swedish Music: And The Delusions of Jenner

There are few things I love more than being proven to be the genius that (only) I think I am. Consider this article from The Local, about Swedish music. If you've read this blog with any regularity, YOU KNOW that I am ALWAYS going on and on and on about how great Swedish music is, and how much great stuff is coming out of that country. I'd go back through the archives and find all the posts in which I've stated this, to PROVE my geniosity (I'm totally making up words, but I CAN, you know?) but I am very lazy, so I cannot be bothered (us geniuses have MUCH more important things to worry about, oui?) SO I have put together a collection of songs that I love, as well as a couple that are mentioned in this article. I am not including MY FAVOURITE SWEDISH BAND The Knife, because even if you DON'T read this blog regularly, I AM SURE you are already WELL AWARE of my obsession with The Knife, so I don't feel any need to include them in this particular post (read: I'll spare you - THIS ONE TIME.) There are many bands I could include here, but I'm only including these few. The article does mention many others, so if you want to discover them on your own, here's a good place to start.



Melodic Swedes heading for world domination

Published: 5th October 2006 16:20 CET

Online: http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=5122

It is summer in Ireland and an incredible song comes on the car radio. An infectious whistled melody and some rattling maracas casually meander into the vocals as the car winds its way along a mountain road. Two voices begin to sing about the early, tentative stages of a relationship.



There is something very familiar and vaguely Nordic about the whole thing. When the song fades out the DJ confirms my mounting suspicions: 'That was the fabulous Peter Bjorn and John with 'Young Folks', currently the most requested song on Irish radio.'



Currently the most requested song on Irish radio! The rental car almost winds up floating in a picturesque lake. Peter Bjorn and John are regulars on the Stockholm live circuit. I have seen them perform several times but had no idea that their music led a duplicitous life of its own beyond the shores of this oblong land.



Mind you, it is not the first time Swedish musicians have sprung such a surprise. Last year Gothenburg guitar man Jose Gonzales was all the rage from Galway to Gloucester with his cover of The Knife's Heartbeats. At that stage few people outside of Sweden had any idea that the song that launched a million colourful rubber balls in a Sony commercial was in fact a cover version.



But now The Knife too have broken into the Anglosphere, and you are nobody in the indie clubs of Blighty if you are not tuned in to The Concretes or Radio Dept. continue reading Melodic Swedes heading for world domination...



Peter, Bjorn and John: Young Folks



The Cardigans: Iron Man



Jens Lekman: Pocketful of Money

The Concretes: Say Something New



Radio Dept: Worst Taste in Music



El Perro Del Mar: Coming Down The Hill