Scandinavian Culture Viewed, Reviewed & Interviewed
2005.12.29
— Music
Warning: the book i’m going to talk about is very addictive, if you start reading it, it will ruin everything else you are supposed to do because you won’t be able to stop reading until the very end.
I bought this book last summer in sweden, i wanted something scandinavian translated in english. I found this one, Popular Music, by Mikael Niemi. I read the synopsis: a novel about music in nothern sweden in the seventies. Sounded perfect ! It’s very well written, quite easy to read, even if your english isn’t perfect. The story takes place in the lonely town of Pajala in nothern sweden, near the Finnish border. The book is semi-autobiographical because the author lived and still lives in this town, and the main character could be him: a teen finding out about rock n’ roll when it finally spread in the north.
Half of the novel is about rock n’ roll, how you first hear it with your sister, then you want to play the guitar and finally make your own rock n’ roll. The other half is, to me, the most interesting, it’s like a documentary about nothern sweden, the traditions, the civilisation aspect, their history, etc. It’s hard to live up there, and you won’t believe your eyes when you read about how they find happiness and what they do to entertain themselves.
Once again, the book is very addictive, the characters are so adorable, you want to know everything that happens to them. This book ruined a big concert I attempted, I prefered reading the book rather than watching the performance ! It’s the perfect book to read this winter. The european version had a much better cover I think.
You can get it the version with the cute cover HERE and the normal version HERE
2005.12.20
— Music
A couple of days ago was presented in London Screaming Masterpiece (Gargandi Snilld in Icelandic), a film celebrating the musical history of Iceland with exclusive live footage and interviews from the artists that put the country on the map: Björk, The Sugarcubes, Sigur rós and Múm among others. At least that’s what’s the One Little Indian website is currently announcing…
The DVD is apparently (already???) available through the Icelandic Smekkleysa website. Here is what they write about it: “Screaming Masterpiece captures all the energy of the world’s hottest indie music scene in Iceland’s cool capital city of Reykjavik. There are masterful performances by international superstars like Björk, Sigur Rós and Múm , as well as insider looks at the music being played in local clubs by a host of other bands with unpronounceable names but unforgettable music. The film journeys through Iceland’s breathtaking landscape and back down the centuries to Viking times in search of an answer to the question, asked again and again by the music press and eager fans: Why is this music so hot? This is a feature-length powerhouse film, throbbing with musical energy and fast-moving visuals. If you have ever wondered at the distinct and captivating music of Iceland, this is the film that will take you to the source and show you where it’s all coming from. An inspirational rock-documentary, Screaming Masterpiece is a piece of music history. The DVD includes more than two extra hours of indepth interviews with the artists who explain their own theories of what the music is all about. ”
[Visit the official website of the film]
[If you don't feel like spending 40$ on such a DVD, you still can buy the soundtrack, available everywhere.]
2005.12.18
— Music
A trio of indie bands from Sweden has just released, for the Euro X-Mas website, a cover of “Last Christmas“, which you’ll find here. Those bands are Le Sport (formerly known as Eurosport), Montt Mardié and Mr. Suitcase. And, to top it all, Le Sport was nominated in the “Best newcomer” category in the Swedish national radio award “P3 Guld”. Well… I’m still wondering why, to be honest: I’m not into this kind of Eurodiscopop music at all, and I’ll let you make up your own mind.
George Michael seems very popular in Scandinavia. You may remember that Erlend Øye, the lead singer of that charming Norwegian duo, The Kings Of Convenience, had already covered “Last Christmas” on a special christmassy compilation, “Seasonal Greetings”, released on the German label Mobilé Records in 2002. This version was, to my humble opinion, must better than Le Sport’s. Acoustic, calm, just perfect.
Acoustic (well, not always), calm (yes) and just perfect (oh yes). These are the words that come to my mind when I think of this unsigned* band I’d never heard of before: Kuryakin. Petter Gjöres (vocals, guitar, computers) and Johan Norberg (guitar, computers) met at the university in Uppsala in 2002 and started playing together a year after that. Kristina Dahlman (background vocals, computers) joined them recently. Petter lives in Stockholm nowadays and Johan and Kristina live in Uppsala. The music is put together mostly by Johan and Petter who mail samples and ideas to eachother and then play together a few times a month. And that makes great indie-pop, even if the songs I’ve heard are only demos in mp3 format, probably recorded in their bedrooms or kitchens (see picture). Have a listen to Fought A War, you’ll probably be convinced. Then discover four of the songs they’ve recorded on their website. These are probably the most promising songs I’ve listened to for a long time. Songs that will make you forget this crappy version of “Last Christmas”. If we keep the faith in 2006, it will probably be thanks to Kuryakin and gems such as “A Parade“.
[To finish with, have a look at this December Tangents article: you'll see that we're not the only ones to be astonished by "sweet Swedish pop"...]
* Update: Kuryakin are signed to Series Two Records. To listen to songs from the bands of the label, go to www.myspace.com/seriestworecords
2005.12.18
— Music
The tenth annual SATELLITE Awards were held saturday in Los Angeles by the International Press Academy. The finnish-swedish film “Mother of mine” received one as the best foreign film.
Mother of mine (orig. “Äideistä parhain”) is written by Heikki Hietamies and directed by Klaus Härö. The film is about a 9-year-old child from the world war II, who increasingly feels abandoned by his biological Finnish mother and yet not attached to his Swedish surrogate mom. When he is returned to Finland, his confusion intensifies.
I haven’t seen it myself, but I’m pretty sure it’s worth checking out! :-)
Related linkage:
2005.12.16
— Music
I do like Swedes. A couple of days ago, I posted a short article about the P3 Pop radio show and sent an email to Hanna Fahl to ask if she would accept to answer a few questions for Noisedfisk. A few hours later, I got her (rather funny, witty and interesting) answers. Things are so simple and straight forward with Swedes…
You’re very young and yet you already have a great show on the swedish radio. How did it happen?
Oh, but I’m not all that young! I’m 27, and I started doing the show almost four years ago. When I got the job, I think they were actively looking for someone quite young, since most of the hosts for the other genre shows at my station (there’s also P3 Rock, Soul, Hip Hop, etc) are middle aged men. I hadn’t done any radio at all before I started doing P3 Pop, actually. I was fresh out of my journalism studies at the university, and had been writing a bit of music criticism before, but P3 Pop is my first real job, believe it or not.
Do you think that you’re recognised, now, as some kind of “Swedish John Peel” (without the beard, and without the “Fahl sessions”)?
Haha, not really… Like I said, there are many other great dj:s at my station, and I think maybe a couple of them have a more “Peel-like” reputation. However, I do get some recognition, or rather, the show does: it’s the ONLY ether media in Sweden that plays this kind of music, and P3 Pop does have some really dedicated fans.
I have done “Fahl sessions”! I didn’t officially call them that, but me and my friends would joke about that title! I used to have bands play three songs live in the studio, and then do an interview in between. But unfortunately my job deal has changed a bit, and I don’t have access to the studios enough to do that kind of thing anymore. That’s a shame!
You say on the website that you’ve been into indie-pop for a long time, that your best pop moment was the Benno festival with My Favorite, Fosca, Montgolfier Brothers and Trembling Blue Stars in Sweden. What was so special then?
I have been into indie pop for a long time, yes! My brother first introduced me to bands like The Go-Betweens and The Smiths and Prefab Sprout when I was just ten or eleven. When I was a teenager I was really into the brit pop scene, haha! And then I started discovering more obscure stuff. The past year or so I’ve been more and more interested in house music and dance music and electronic stuff. (I’ve also done a show called P3 Klubb – P3 Club – that plays house/techno/electronica).
The Benno festival was just… perfect. It’s probably one of my fondest memories of all time! It was really tiny, maybe 300 people. The setting was beautiful, it was right by a small lake. Everyone went swimming in the middle of the night. There were no security guard, no fences, nothing. The band line-up was amazing – imagine having all those bands, Fosca, My Favorite, Trembling Blue Stars, Montgolfier Brothers, playing right in the middle of the forest, at sunset. The Embassy, one of my favorite Swedish bands, did their first-ever gig there as well. Oh, great memories!
Have you ever played in a band yourself?
I have played in bands, yes! I started my first band when I was fifteen. We made three cassette ep:s that we copied on our parents’ tape recorders and then we painted each cover by hand with felt tip pens. Since then I’ve been in a couple of other bands. Right now I’m in a group called Kissing Mirrors, and that’s something I’m really excited about! We’ve just recorded our first single, and it will be released early next year.
It seems indiepop has always been pretty popular in Sweden since the 1990s (or even before). And something special is happening in Swedish Pop at the moment, with great bands signed on Labrador, or the success of the Concretes… Which swedish bands do you think are the most promising? What kind of advice could you give to our readers who feel like discovering new bands from Sweden?
The Swedish indie scene really had some sort of peak in the very early 2000s. There was a fanzine called Benno (the same people who did the festival mentioned above) in the late 90s/early 00s, that I think kickstarted a whole movement here. They wrote about music in a way that no-one here was used to. And so suddenly there were all these kids who grew up listening to obscure twee from the 80s! 15-year-olds starting bands, making their own fanzines, etc. I don’t think indie pop was ever that big here during the 80s, there was a punk scene of course, but the pop side of it never really broke through back then.
Swedish pop now is… well, I don’t know, the guitar pop scene doesn’t seem so exciting to me at the moment. Most of the bands just sound the same. There are lots of good bands – but most of them have been trying to make something new, something original, bringing in new sounds and new concepts. Swedish bands I love right now are (among others): The Embassy, The Radio Dept., Differnet, The Flow Flux Clan, Nicolas Makelberge, Friday Bridge, Testbild!. Foreign readers should check out a label called Friendly Noise , that’s the best Swedish label in my opinion. They have a great compilation with Swedish bands coming out soon. I also think that Service have some good bands, and Bedroom and Hybris .
What about the other scandinavian countries? Do you think there is something special happening as well in Norway, in Denmark or in Finland?
Norway has a pretty good pop/electronica scene nowadays. People like Annie, Röyksopp, Lindstrom & Prins Thomas, Kings Of Convenience. But Denmark and Finland don’t seem to have the same tradition of pop music. It’s weird, I don’t know why. I do try to find stuff from the nordic countries. I think the last Finnish band I played on the show was Ultrasport. The last Danish… hm, probably Junior Senior.
Okay, I won’t take too much of your time. Do you have any plans for the next few months/years?
I’m looking forward to next year with P3 Pop! I haven’t had any real vacation for two years now, so I’ll probably try to take some time off early next year and make some new plans for the show. I’m spending Christmas in Norway with my sister’s family. She had a new baby a few months ago that I haven’t seen yet, so that’ll be fun. As for New Year, I don’t know! Any invitations to parties are very welcome, haha. My plans for next year? I’ll try to make it to New York for a vacation, I’ve never been there. I’ll hopefully be playing a lot with Kissing Mirrors and if all goes well we’ll be making an album. I’ll be trying to spend some more time with my friends (some of which I see way too rarely!). And hopefully I’ll be blown away by some new marvellous bands!
Tack så mycket, Hanna! Puss och Kram!
2005.12.14
— Music
Most of you must have heard of Christiania before. Depending on your political opinions, your way of life, your philosophical views of freedom and tolerance, you’ll either like this introduction:
Christiania was founded in 1971 when a group of hippies took over an area of abandoned military barracks and developed their own set of rules, completely independent of the Danish government. (from www.visitcopenhagen.com)
or this: Christiania’s over 30-year history is a long and tangled tale of struggles, victories and defeats. Many of the people who were in on the start of the experiment are no longer with us. But the dream of a life in freedom, and the idea of a city ruled by its inhabitants, is still alive. (from www.christiania.org)
Anyway, today is not the day when I’m supposed to discuss the political, ethical and philosophical issues underlying the foundation of this city inside the Danish city (maybe later, though…). Today is the day when I put a danish sticker on my own bike, to pay a hommage to Danish bikes… and to show how great it is to cycle around town… and to show how much I feel like moving to Copenhagen.
That’s probably why I visited websites dedicated to those weird bikes they have up there, Christiania Bikes. Don’t you think they look gorgeous?
2005.12.13
— Music
In Sweden, Denmark, and in parts of Norway and Finland, Lucy (called Lucia) is venerated on December 13 in a ceremony where a woman portraying Lucia walks with candles attached to her head ahead of a procession of other women holding candles. The candles symbolize the fire that refused to take her life. The women sing a Lucia-song while entering the room, either Natten går tunga fjät (The Night walks in heavy footsteps) or Sankta Lucia, ljusklara hägring (Saint Lucy, Bright Illusion). Nowadays, there is also an easier text for children: Ute är mörkt och kallt (Outside it’s dark and cold). The three songs share melody, but differ in the lyrics, although they all describe and cherish the light with which Lucia overcomes the darkness. After finishing this song, the procession usually continue by singing christmas-carols or more songs about Lucia.
There are nowadays also boys in the procession often dressed in the same kind of white robe but with a coneshaped hat decorated with golden stars, dressed up like Santa Claus carrying lanterns or dressed up as gingerbread men. They participate in the singing and also have a song or two of their own, usually Staffan Stalledräng. The tradition with boys accompanying Lucia is rather new and the result of compounding yet another pre-Christian tradition to the annual celebration of December 13.
The Swedish celebration has an old tradition. In the Catholic time, the night of Lucia was celebrated just as many other saints’ days were. However, the tradition would continue to live on even after the reformation in the 1530’s. According to the julian calendar the night of Lucia was the longest night of the year. This is likely to be the reason why the tradition has lived on in the Nordic countries in particular, as the nights in November and December are very dark and long before the snow has fallen, and the idea of light overcoming darkness is thus appealing.
The modern tradition of the Lucia procession was started in 1927 by a newspaper in Stockholm that elected an official Lucia for Stockholm that year. The initiave was then followed around the country through the local press. Today most cities in Sweden appoint Lucies every year, schools elect a Lucia and her maids among the students, and a national Lucia is appointed through an election, first in newspapers and then on national television. The regional Lucias will usually visit local gallerias, old people’s homes and churches, singing and giving free ginger snaps. Recently there was some discussion whether it was suiting if the national Lucia was not a blond Caucasian, but it was decided that ethnicity should not be a problem and in 2000 an adopted non-white girl was crowned the national Lucia.
Although St. Lucia’s Day is not an official holiday in Sweden, it is a popular occasion in Sweden. The Lucia evening and night is a notoriously noisy time. High school students often celebrate by partying all through the night.
[From Wikipedia]
[More information on the official Sweden website: read news about the 2005 Lucia and general information about the celebration]
Photo by Linda Plaisted under CC License
2005.12.12
— Music
In Sweden, John Peel has no beard, has got blue eyes, is 28, is still alive and is a girl. Her name is Hanna Fahl and you can listen to her programme of indie pop every monday, from 10pm to 12pm (local time), on Sveriges Radio P3. For those of you who try desperately to understand a few words in Swedish (i’m one of them), it’s a nice start: she doesn’t talk that much after all since her programme is about music and even if you’re a beginner you’ll still catch a few words such as “Belle and Sebastian”, “Lambchop”, “Pipettes” or “The Clientele”… ;-).
‘Cause yes, that’s the kind of music she’s playing every monday, along with many scandinavian bands obviously. Tonight (Dec 12) is a special programme with Nicolas Makelberge (a swedish duo I’ve never heard of, to be honest) and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (who are not swedish at all but play great tunes). If ever you miss it, don’t worry, you can always listen to it the week after.
2005.12.10
— Music
I’d never thought I’d write one day about the Miss World election, probably one of the least interesting and cheesiest event in the world… And yet there was a comment posted about it on Noisedfisk yesterday, and that’s even something I read about on various icelandic weblogs and websites… So Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m pleased and honoured to announce that Unnur Birna Vilhjálmsdóttir (who’s Icelandic, in case you’re too drunk or sleepy to notice) has just been elected Miss World 2005 among 100 contestants! Great news, isn’t it? ;-)
I would have loved to find something funny in her biography, but well… She was “born in the Capital Reykjavik but grew up in a small town called Seltjarnarnes. For the past year Unnur has been studying anthropology at the University and next fall she will commence her studies in Law as she plans to graduate as a lawyer as well as an anthropologist. She is chairman of the college social club and teaches dance, she also enjoys acting, singing, all types of dancing, snow-boarding, hiking, camping, horsemanship and has a special talent for choreography and playing the piano. During her summer holidays this year Unnur was working as a police officer at the airport. Her favourite motto is ‘You are what you do’ or ‘You are what you make’.” Is that all? Well, yes…
To tell you the truth, she’s not exactly the kind of girl I find sexy or even handsome… And to be honest, I’d rather visit some other websites to glance at pretty (or just natural) icelandic girls… Not only because they’re more handsome, but also because of the quality of the pictures. To this respect, I like the 66 North ads. You definitely should have a look at their official website, and at the Jonsson & Le Macks advertising company’s (they produced and made some of their TV-ads, which are just ace…). This is the Iceland I’m fond of.
2005.12.09
— Music
Forget those so-called “next big things” who pop up every week in the wonderful world of indie music, usually coming from the UK. Forget the Editors, Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys. Be curious. And discover this great band from Denmark, Figurines…
Honestly, I simply don’t understand why they’re not more famous outside their home country. They’ve got everything you need to sell out and become something big: they’re four cute boys playing pop tunes with energy and passion, some kind of music that sounds -sometimes- like the Shins. They rock, undoubtedly.
Figurines were formed sometime in the mid 90s by the three childhood friends Christian Hjelm, Andreas Toft, and Claus S. Johansen. Their first album, “Shake a Mountain”, was released in April 2003 in Denmark and in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria in the spring of 2004. The album contained, among others, the song “Bright”, which was #1 on the Danish Alternative Chart for a couple of weeks in August 2003 (download the video here). That same year the band also had their debut on the Roskilde Festival.
Two years after the release of “Shake A Mountain”, in 2005, Figurines released their second full-length album “Skeleton”. The album was recorded in Tambourine Studios in Malmö and Destruction Studios in Aarhus. The song “The Wonder” was #1 on the Danish Alternative Chart for a couple of weeks in April 2005 (mp3 here and video here). Skeleton was released in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria in June 2005 on German record label Pop-U-Loud. Both a 7″ vinyl and the Skeleton album will be released in Canada and the US in January and April 2006 respectively on American label The Control Group.
Okay, maybe time will help. If you just can’t wait the next american release of this terrific album that will make you dance till the end of night, you still can order it at Vibrashop, for instance.
