Pet Sounds #2

Abba, Henrik Larrson, vikings, dirty great metallers, Sven Goran Eriksson, Ace Of Base, meatballs and, erm… nope, that’s it, I’m all out.

When I first started to plan ‘Svenskt’, a compilation of Swedish music we released via Big Scary Monsters Records in October 2007, I must admit my knowledge of the country was fairly lacking. We’d previously put out a couple of Jeniferever CDs and through them I’d discovered a small number of other incredible Scandinavian bands, but as it turned out, the surface had barely been scratched.

By the start of October I’d assembled a cast of 18 varied and wonderful bands, discovered that Sweden is 53% covered in forests and that King Carl Gustaf XVI ruled it all. Oh and the equivelant of 577 football pitches would fill the worldwide area covered by IKEA stores. That’s a lot of cheap furniture. Just before the release of the CD I travelled to Stockholm to deliver copies to some of the bands, attend four gigs including one in a mental hospital, meet many amazing people and eventually end up being interviewed on national televesion, much to my dismay when I noticed they’d misspelt and mis-pronounced my name!

No, that wasn’t a sketch from The Fast Show.

Yes, I really was very hungover.

Following on from my previous column about five of my favourite current iPod monopolisers, I thought I’d take a bit of a trip down memory lane and tell you about five of my favourite Swedish bands. Enjoy.

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Jeniferever
The obvious first port of call, the instigator of this obsession and the producers of some of the finest, most beautiful post-rock I’ve ever heard. Jeniferever have since gone on to release one incredible album, with a second just around the corner, and raise an army of fans spread across the world. They have the ability to charm the birds from the trees one minute and chop their wings off the next. Not literally, obviously. They’re not animals.
www.myspace.com/jeniferever

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Audrey
A girl band but not in the crappy pop sense, not only are Audrey a collection of the sweetest, most stunning women you’ve ever seen, but you get the feeling that they’d destroy you in a pop quiz, too. They’re probably all Bond girls in real life. ‘Views’, with all of its lucious vocals and dramatic strings sits well within my all-time top 40 songs, if such a list really existed. www.myspace.com/audreyswe

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Aerial
One of my favourite new discoveries during the Svenskt campaign. Aerial sound like The Appleseed Cast experimenting with their angry side, but with a typically brilliant Scandinavian edge. Highly recommended to anyone with ears.
www.myspace.com/aerialmusic

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The Sound OE
Our gracious hosts during the Stockholm trip, The Sound OE show how brilliantly post-punk and pop can be merged to create thrilling, catchy songs which will get your booty shaking and your head spinning. Their self-titled album was one of my favourite of ’07.
www.myspace.com/thesoundoe

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Rednex
If it hadn’t been for Cotton Eye Joe, I’d been married a long time ago, where did you come from, where did you go? Where did you come from Cotton Eye Joe?
www.myspace.com/therednex

If you’re interested in checking out more of Sweden’s finest, all of the bands Myspace links can be found here, where, delightfully, you can also buy the Svenskt CD.