Different sound
Last Century, music trends originated in the USA or UK. Now the most exiting bands on the world stage hail from scandinavia
words by Sophy Grimshaw
“The wave of high-quality bands coming out of Sweden today rivals anything since the big UK music movements,” announced Scott Greenstein, entertainment president of Sirius, last year as the American satellite radio giant launched a regular Scandinavian music show. He’s right: Scandinavian (not just Swedish) bands are the ones that international music fans are increasingly excited to seek out and download online.
“We’re looking at a second wave of Scandinavian bands who are winning wider fan bases abroad now,” agrees Inge Colsen, of music marketing firm Girlie Action, who has helped to showcase Scandinavian and Dutch acts internationally. “A few years ago bands like The Hives and The Soundtrack Of Our Lives became huge and their fans in Europe and the US were interested to hear more Scandinavian groups.
“MySpace is a big part of that as people look to see who the band’s friends are online and listen to their music too. Licensing music to commercials has made a huge difference to some of the artists. People are turning their heads to Scandinavia.”
The MySpace effect, including the instant music and video downloads on iTunes and YouTube, can’t be underestimated in creating international buzz. And while lending your music to a commercial was once street cred suicide, today’s new music seekers are more forgiving, bands more pragmatic – and some of today’s advertising execs have a real ear for talent. Now music fans worldwide, from Europe and the US to Asia, are hearing what the band Teddybears call Scandinavia’s “different sound”. Below, we’ve picked 10 acts that are making waves…
The Concretes Stockholm
They were onboard for the Hives-era of Scandi exports, and the UK liked them so much that You Can’t Hurry Love launched a new BBC radio station four years ago. But after tumultuous times that included departure of singer Victoria Bergsman in the middle of a TV performance, The Concretes have dramatically reinvented themselves for this summer’s Hey Trouble album. Drummer Lisa Milberg has taken over vocals in what sounds like a near seamless transition (whatever happened behind the scenes). The Concretes’ lush yet low-fi 1960s aesthetic is amped up on Hey Trouble to suggest a band whose music could have bounced off the silver walls at Warhol’s factory or inspired an approach from Phil Spector. After a release date of 4 June was announced for Hey Trouble in Scandinavia, their MySpace page was deluged with release date requests for other territories.
www.theconcretes.com
Jens Lekman Gothenburg
“I liked The Hives in the beginning and now I’m listening to Jens Lekman, José González and The Knife,” says Kirsten Dunst, a girl with her maincured finger on the pulse. González and Lekman go way back: they went to the same kindergarten. They’ve shared bills in Sweden and in New York, helping to raise Lekman’s profile overseas. Shy, funny and articulate, Lekman shares his secrets in songs layered with strange and beautiful samples. His poetry is charming, too: “It’s autumn in Gothenburg… She said we were just make-believe / But I thought she said maple leaves,” he muses on Maple Leaves. And try listening to Black Cab, a tale of alienation and missing the last tram, without thinking of The Velvet Undergound and Nico’s best moments.
www.jenslekman.com
The Sounds Helsingborg
There’s more than a touch of late ’70s, early ’80s New Wave about The Sounds, who straddle both the old and new Swedish invasions, having had a following outside the country for some years. It’s not as lazy as it seems to reference spunky blonde frontwoman Maja Ivarsson back to Debbie Harry; The Sounds have made deliberate allusions to Blondie, especially on debut Living In America, though they owe more to the scabrous CBGB era than the velvety smooth Chrysalis years. Can another band conquer the world this way? Maybe! Current album Dying To Say This To You is packed with more spluttering, urgent punk-electro songs belying great pop chops. www.the-sounds.com
Under Byen Hinnerup
No one in Europe is pronouncing Under Byen properly, but that’s okay. Henriette Sennenvaldt founded the band with former member Katrine Stochholm in 1995 after coming up with the idea on a bike ride. Casting a spell with their delicate classical-electronic blend, it’s not hard to hear why the group’s been big with Sigur Rós and Björk fans for some time. David Fricke of Rolling Stone dramatically widened their reach by proclaiming Under Byen “probably the best band in the world” in 2003, after hearing them at the SPOT Danish showcase in Åarhus. Fricke’s comments then drew the European and US press to the band’s festival gigs, helping to break them globally. Fourth album Samme Stof Som Stof is out now.
www.underbyen.dk
Teddybears Stockholm
Nobody else sounds like Teddybears. The men behind the masks are Patrik Arve, Joakim Åhlund and Klas Åhlund and the beats and bombastic lyrics of their heavy pop songs nod to dancehall, post rock and techno. With their second album Soft Machine Teddybears stepped onto the global stage, thanks to guest vocalists including Iggy Pop, Elephant Man and Neneh Cherry and advertisement deals in Europe, Asia, the US and Canada for songs like Different Sound and Cobrastyle. It started with an ad for Denmark’s BRF Kredit in 2005, and now Teddybears are heard on overseas commercials for Intel, Heineken and Virgin. The soaring rock song on which Iggy Pop guests, Punkrocker, is even shifting Cadillacs in the States.
www.teddybearsrock.com
Mew Hellerup
Snowballing international interest in the ethereal “space pop” sounds of Mew prompted a re-release this year of 2003’s Frengers, their first with new label Sony, so fans who missed the initial buzz in Denmark can catch up. With the twists and turns of Jonas Bjerre’s delicate vocals layered deep in the mix, Mew are winning friends as Europe’s best experimental-yet-accessible music makers. Last year’s album, And the Glass Handed Kites is their strongest yet. On Mew’s MySpace page the band post video diaries of the recording process, “a little sitcom narrated by me in a politely spoken manner,” says Jonas.
www.mewsite.com
The Knife Stockholm
Uncompromising brother and sister duo Olof Dreijer and Karin Dreijer Andersson won Pop Group of the Year at the 2003 Swedish Grammis and their song Heartbeats won Best Video at the Swedish Hit Music Awards the same year. Three-and-a-half years later, everyone in Europe is talking about Heartbeats and it’s the number one download at the Rolling Stone Music Store. It’s largely down to José González singing the song, electro-upholstery stripped away, on a Sony TV commercial last year. “It’s not fun to sell music for commercials but it gives us money – to help our label,” admits Karin. Owning their own label, Rabid Records, allows The Knife to retain creative control, and they’ve now chosen licensing partners to meet the huge demand from foreign territories.
www.theknife.net
Datarock Bergen
Bergen is back on the musical map: Röyksopp have a new compilation album, and europopstrel Annie upped her game with her lastest effort, The Crush. Annie’s sometime collaborator Fredrik Saroea is one half of Datarock, together with Ketil Mosnes. The too-funky pair wear a uniform of tracksuits and shades and, in the vein of Fischerspooner, a rotating troupe of additional members appear on stage. Current album Datarock Datarock is finding its way onto turntables outside Norway thanks to the band’s European festival touring and all the drooling accompanying reviews. Support from Britain’s commercial radio hub BBC Radio 1 was a milestone, but the band are not nearly as big overseas as they’re about to be.
www.datarock.no
Shout Out Louds Stockholm
The Swedish music industry was built on punchy pop songs and Shout Out Louds update the tradition, proving that all that jangles is not necessarily innocent and twee. And it turns out you don’t have to hail from Stockholm to relate to the band’s new song about leaving the place, the bittersweet Tonight I Have To Leave It. Shout Out Louds remain Swede-centric in their touring and release schedules and they maintain a bilingual Swedish-English website, but their European fans have hunted them down on MySpace and iTunes. The band recently signed to the same label as indie favourites Arcade Fire for representation in the States. Album Our Ill Wills hits the US market later this year, too.
www.shoutoutlouds.com
Robyn Stockholm
An eponymous album eight years into one’s career always signals a reinvention for a new audience. Robyn first appeared on the europop radar in the 1990s, with hits including Max Martin collaboration Show Me Love. While Martin went on to write Britney Spears’ cultural watershed of a pop hit …Baby One More Time, Robyn’s new album is more Lil’ Kim than lil’ cutie. Electro-pop with plenty of sauce, lead single Konichiwa Bitches was embraced by a savvier generation of young European music fans this year. And it’s written in the stars that this July’s single, dance-pop ballad With Every Heartbeat, will catapult her to yet wider fame.
www.robyn.com
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