noisedfisk

Records Make Great Pets

2005.09.23

— Music

When I first visited the Stereo Test Kit Records website, I thought this was a new Swedish label : their bands were Audrey, Chasing Dorotea, Club 8, Laurel Music and we are soldiers we have guns. And they had released a compilation about… Swedish indie, of course, with a funny title, “Records Make Great Pets”. So well, it was enought for me 1. to order online this great compilation and 2. to ask Huw Rees, the nice guy who runs the label, what was going on the the Swedish side of indie…

The bands you’ve signed on your label are Swedish. Is Stereo Test Kit based in Sweden too?
Stereo Test Kit was started by myself a couple of years ago in London. I can understand why you’d think that about my nationality, but I’m Welsh! There’s certainly not a policy for only releasing Swedish music, that’s just the way it’s turned out so far. I began by licensing a few acts from Labrador records, then got hooked onto other Swedish sounds. I’m sure there’ll be non-Swedish artists released at some point in the future, but we haven’t found each other yet.

You decided to start the “Records Make Great Pets” compilation series to “highlight the strength and depth of independent music from around the world”. The first opus is dedicated to Swedish indie. Does it mean that you think, you too, that something special is happening in Sweden at the moment?
I don’t think that there’s anything new or special happening at the moment, or at least nothing more than has been happening for some years already. There’s certainly more awareness of independent Sweden now and the internet has been a huge aid in gaining smaller bands more exposure and record deals outside of Sweden. I suppose that the consistent level of quality does still surprise me, even though I’ve come to expect it. As a vast generalisation, perhaps there’s a higher level of musical integrity in Sweden. It seems that bands are less likely to follow the prevailing ’scene’ than in the UK or USA – though historically that’s as much the fault of the bigger record labels in those countries as the bands themselves. Having a government that makes some effort to be supportive of musicians must help too.

Let’s talk about the compilation itself, now, and the bands. Some of them are more or less well known by indie kids (such as sambassadeur, Heikki, Audrey, Club 8…), others are totally unknown. How did you choose those 15 bands and why?
Five of the tracks are from releases on the label, so they were the easy ones to choose. Then it was simply (!) a case of finding another 10 songs that I loved and thought would fit well on the compilation. I listened to a lot of Swedish music over a couple of months, then chose the remaining tracks and asked the bands if they wanted to be included. Luckily everyone agreed. Even though some of the bands are less well-known, their tracks are just as strong as those by the more well-known bands. Hopefully some people will discover a few new names and then go and search out more music by those bands.

I guess you won’t reply to this one, but what are the 3 highlights of the compilation, to your opinion? Or the 3 best surprises?
I’m not sure about just 3 highlights, but I could give you 15 (insert tracklist here!). Actually, I can give you a highlight that ISN’T on the compilation. I’d loved to have included Leafless by Boy Omega (featuring Emelie from Audrey), but it’s a new song, so wasn’t available at the time – you can hear it here though.
There were a few surprises – the Iamuse song took a few listens to take-hold, but then became one of the first tracks that I wanted for inclusion, similarly for the Music 77 song. I’m surprised every time that I hear an El Perro Del Mar song, because I forget how much they sound like musical medicine. I’m surprised too that Caroline Soul and Melpo Mene aren’t more widely appreciated, because they’ve both got some great songs. The compilation is released as a mid-priced CD, so maybe more people will be more willing to take a chance and have their own surprises.

So you started with Swedish indie. Are you already working on the next compilation?
Volume 2 in the Records Make Great Pets series will feature bands from Canada. Next maybe Scotland, then Australia, then who knows. Before that, the new EP from we are soldiers we have guns is released in October, then the Audrey album will be out early next year. For me, those are two bands that epitomise the qualities that I regard so highly in a lot of Swedish music – they’re doing it for themselves in the first instance, without pandering to others, or worrying about what style will sell records …. and that helps to create some fantastic music.

The track listing of this compilation and links to each of the compilation bands’ websites can be found at: www.stereotestkit.com/pets.htm

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