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“...and the tunes are<br />
100 percent pop”<br />
Frida Hyvönen<br />
myspace.com/fridahyvonen<br />
A charismatic and expressive pianistcum-singer<br />
from Robertsfors in northern<br />
<strong>Sweden</strong>. Frida Hyvönen has been<br />
likened to Laura Nyro and Joni Mitchell,<br />
even though she herself has never<br />
been comfortable with these references.<br />
Contracted to Secretely Canadian<br />
in the USA and to The Concretes’s<br />
company Licking Fingers in Europe.<br />
Toured the USA with Jens Lekman.<br />
I’m From Barcelona<br />
myspace.com/imfrombarcelona<br />
The little town of Jönköping is known<br />
for two things: The Cardigans and its<br />
nonconformist churches. Jönköpingbased<br />
I’m From Barcelona combines<br />
both. With its 29 members, most of<br />
whom are in the chorus, they are like<br />
an ecstatic church choir, but the attitude<br />
and the tunes are 100 per cent<br />
pop. The band has attracted much public<br />
and critical attention abroad, particularly<br />
in England. Contracted overseas<br />
to Mute.<br />
The (International) Noise<br />
Conspiracy<br />
myspace.com/internationalnoiseconspiracy<br />
Singer Dennis Lyxzén started in Refused,<br />
one of the world’s most influential<br />
hardcore bands. The title of<br />
their swansong, The Shape Of Punk<br />
To Come, proved prophetic. Dennis<br />
Lyxzén’s other band, The (International)<br />
Noise Conspiracy, has been<br />
taken underwing by Rick Rubin. The<br />
band’s latest two albums were recorded<br />
by Rick Rubin in Los Angeles.<br />
Jens Lekman<br />
Jenslekman.com<br />
Singer-poet-songwriter from Göteborg<br />
who let the whole world into his<br />
kitchen. Jens Lekman combines sunshine<br />
melodies with beats borrowed<br />
from African soul music and American<br />
soul music with lyrics on everything<br />
from, to quote a review on Popmatters.<br />
com, “eating bananas at 7-11, Jehovah’s<br />
Witnesses interrupting birthday parties,<br />
breakups at protest rallies, and<br />
cosy houses in the dead of the Scandinavian<br />
winter”.<br />
José González<br />
myspace.com/josegonzalez<br />
Since releasing his debut album Veneer<br />
in 2003, José González has been<br />
on a non-stop world tour. Everyone<br />
from punks to Hollywood stars have<br />
found themselves enchanted by the<br />
Gothenberger’s almost whispering<br />
music, which has featured in several<br />
TV series, including The OC and Friday<br />
Night Lights. And who could ha ve<br />
missed the advert for Sony Bravia, in<br />
which 250,000 colourful balls bounce<br />
down a street in San Francisco to the<br />
strains of his rendering of The Knife’s<br />
Heartbeats?<br />
Katzen Kapell<br />
myspace.com/katzenkapell<br />
With accordion and fiddle upfront,<br />
veterans Katzen Kapell play music<br />
that’s just as evocative of Argentina and<br />
Eastern Europe as it is of their Swedish<br />
homeland. It says something that<br />
one of the band’s most well-known<br />
songs is called Bukarest. The band lists<br />
amongst its diverse influences Astor<br />
Piazzolla, Kurt Weill and film-score<br />
legends Nino Rota and Bernard Herrmann.<br />
Toured the USA in the autumn<br />
of 2007.<br />
Kent<br />
myspace.com/kentsweden<br />
The biggest rock bank in <strong>Sweden</strong> this<br />
past decade. After attempting an international<br />
breakthrough by producing<br />
bilingual versions of two of their<br />
albums, Isola (1997) and Hagnesta Hill<br />
(1999), Kent has dropped the English<br />
and has gone back to singing exclusively<br />
in Swedish. Ironically, this has made<br />
the band more interesting overseas.<br />
Swedish Kent encapsulates the national<br />
character and landscape in the same<br />
way as Sigur Rós captures the spirit of<br />
Iceland. Their music is a combination<br />
of Nordic melancholy, modern electronics<br />
and timeless melodies. In the<br />
autumn of 2007, the American TFT<br />
label launched a reissue of all of Kent’s<br />
Swedish language albums.<br />
The Knife<br />
myspace.com/theknife<br />
The unique electronic brother-andsister<br />
duo of Karin Dreijer Andersson<br />
and Olof Dreijer, who always perform<br />
behind masks. Ultramodern production,<br />
with influences of everything<br />
from Eurotechno to southern state<br />
hip hop, combined with expressive<br />
vocals reminiscent of Siouxsie & The<br />
Banshees and Kate Bush. The Knife’s<br />
Göteborg neighbour, José González,<br />
recorded an acoustic version of the<br />
duo’s Heartbeats.<br />
Little Dragon<br />
myspace.com/yourlittledragon<br />
Singer Yukimi Nagano was first noticed<br />
as the guest performer with the<br />
critically acclaimed Swedish new jazz<br />
duo Koop. With Little Dragon she has<br />
formed her own fine-tuned combo that<br />
navigates between soul, jazz, and oriental<br />
music. The rhythmic palate they<br />
use to paint their moods has earned<br />
them comparisons with Bristol outfit<br />
Portishead. Little Dragon have also<br />
played with José González.<br />
Hit Facts <strong>Sweden</strong> |