I'm From Barcelona - "Charlie Parker"

Not enough Sweden in today's glut of posts.  Let's see if we can fix that.

I'm From Barcelona - "Charlie Parker"

Veronica Maggio - "Jag Kommer"

I feel like we've been slacking on the Swedish girl pop a little bit lately.

Veronica Maggio - "Jag Kommer"

Lykke Li - "Love Out of Lust"

Lykke Li - Love Out Of Lust by LykkeLi

Acid House Kings - "Would You Say Stop?"

Acid House Kings - "Would You Say Stop?"

Steam My Sweden Mix, Part Two

And here's the other one. This is what happens when I try to work on a Saturday.

Stream My Sweden Mix, Part One

Experimenting with a new (to me) online music toy called 8tracks. For my first mixes, I'm going back and putting up my Sweden mixes from almost a year ago. I hope to add the dinner and dancing mixes I did for Kathryn and Jeremy's wedding, too. Anyway, I think this is pretty cool. Let me know if it works for you.

The Ark - "Breaking Up with God"

The Ark - "Breaking Up with God"

Lykke Li - "I Follow Rivers"

Lykke Li - "I Follow Rivers"

Peter Bjorn and John - "Second Chance"

Peter Bjorn and John - "Second Chance"

I'm From Barcelona - "Get In Line"

Sweden!

I'm From Barcelona - "Get In Line"

The Knife - "Colouring of Pigeons"

The Knife - "Colouring of Pigeons"

Probably the weirdest great song of 2010.

Where would this song have ranked on 100 Songs for 2010 had I been paying attention?

Probably between 55 and 60.

100 Songs Outtakes: Sweden

(It's Day Five of our look at some quality songs that couldn't crack the Top 100.  The full list of my 100 Songs for 2010 will be available December 6.) 

I bet some of you think I stack the deck when it comes to Swedish bands in the Top 100.*  Not true.  It's just that, year after year, there are a huge number of great songs from Sweden. To prove it, here's five more of my favorites that didn't make the list.

*I don't really think that. I bet most of you don't put any thought at all into my methodology. Which ... why would you? You shouldn't.

Robyn - "Dancehall Queen"

I know, I know ... I thought I could find a way to get four Robyn songs into the Top 100 as well. This one was a late cut. I feel guilty already.

Junip - "Always"

Junip is the side project of singer-songwriter Jose Gonzalez, known for his excellent cover songs and a few sweet originals as well.

His music was also featured in the most beautiful commercial of all time.



The video for "Always" doesn't hit quite the same cinematic heights, but ... it does feature a guy who makes guitars disappear. So that's something.


JUNIP - Always (Official Video) from City Slang on Vimeo.

Shout Out Louds - "1999"

My favorite Swedish band fails to crack the Top 100 this year, but still put on one of the best shows I saw in 2010. Everyone there was very tall. I felt right at home.

Britta Persson - "Some Girls Some Boys"

An eerie, textured slow burn of a song. This was literally song #101 on my overall list for a long time.

Tove Styrke - "White Light Moment"

All I can tell you is that she finished third on Sweden Idol in 2009. If you're wondering at what point Swedish girl pop gets too cheesy even for me ... well, it's somewhere pretty close to here. This song manages to stay on the right side of the line. But barely.

Tallest Man on Earth - "Like the Wheel"

"I said oh, my lord, why am I not strong?"

I'm torn here. On the one hand, I really like this song, and I would absolutely make it a Song of the Day.

On the other hand, Curt HATES Tallest Man on Earth, hates with the fiery passion of a thousand suns, and he's the only person who actively listens to these. If you remember, in response to my original "King of Spain" post, he said "You've lost all credibility. This song is horrible. It's so bad it makes me want to unfriend you on facebook." To his credit, NO ONE seemed to like that song. When it came in at number 42 on my Halfway Point 100, Jerry said "I really want to punch that guy in the face and I don't know why."

So this is just a bonus song. Works with today's emerging Sweden theme.

It's really good. Isn't it?  Isn't it?

Tallest Man on Earth - "Like the Wheel"

Teddybears - "Crystal Meth Christian"

Swedish weird (Teddybears) meets American weird (Flaming Lips) to create the weird that will inevitably come to rule the world.

See, what you do is ... you take a diamond ... with me so far? ... you take a diamond ... are you writing this down? ... maybe you should be ... you take a diamond ... and you make it sand ... yes, sand ... I know, I was confused, too ... you take a diamond and make it sand.

You take a diamond and make it sand.

You take a diamond and make it sand.

Now good luck getting that out of your head for the rest of the day.

Teddybears - "Crystal Meth Christian"

Jens Lekman - "The End of the World Is Bigger Than Love"

Jens Lekman - "The End of the World Is Bigger Than Love"

As Jens himself describes this song:

It was the day before the american election 2008 and I was filled with a hopelessness that only a McCain supporter could have shared with me at the time. I was in Washington DC to perform for swedish TV, sitting in the couch with a profesional smile on my face, joking with the hosts and discussing the lobster with the TV chef. I saw the clips online sometime ago, it's amazing what an actor I can be if I really make an effort.

I lived in America back then, up in New York. At the time I felt like everything I touched was turning to shit and I had decided to put everything on one card. Subconsciously I knew I needed to hit the bottom so I could work my way up again. I needed confirmation, I needed someone to tell me it wasn't going to work out, not this way. Yes, there was a girl involved in this. I was very much in love with her.

Some things you just go through. You don't write about it, you don't turn it into art because it can't be turned into art. I didn't write any songs that year because you can't pour manure into an espresso machine and expect a cappucino to come out. When they announced the results and the streets filled up with people celebrating I felt happy to be part of something bigger than myself. It was a feeling that lasted me until the very last days of December 2008 when I finally sat down in my old teenage room at my parents house and I wrote this song. Then the year ended.

It's a song of hope. When love turns it's back on you it's nice to know there's a world out there that doesn't give a shit about your problems. That forces you to keep your head held high and move on. A world that is fragile and beautiful. Maybe it can sound cold to some of you, but let me make it clear that I believe in love, I just get so wrapped up in it sometimes that I need to put it into proportion. It's something you have to do a lot when you're Jens Lekman.

Robyn - "Hang with Me"

Well, I didn't post any new music during the Halfway 100 run, so I guess it's time to get to some of that now.

Robyn's Body Talk Pt. 2 isn't out until next month, so no MP3s yet, but there is this video for the brilliant "Hang with Me," which I've watched probably 50 times in the last two weeks.

Robyn - Hang With Me official video from Robyn on Vimeo.

Robyn - "Hang with Me"

Contenders Series #36: Shout Out Louds - "1999"

(see also:  Aaron Goes to Concerts!  Again (sadly) without Ilana.)


May 18 - Shout Out Louds - Great American Music Hall

Ilana was a little under the weather, so I hit this one with and handful of concert-going people from work (Meg, Eric, Gene).

Freelance Whales (who I had just seen weeks earlier) opened, and sounded largely terrible.  Tinny and distant.  Their songs are good enough to be pleasant under any circumstances, but most people around me seemed disappointed.  Also, following up on an earlier theme, one of the Whales was wearing a shirt of former tourmates Bear In Heaven, lending credence to my theory that the band only owns clothing it has been able to steal from other merch tables.  Now that is punk!

*

I know the "hipster" stereotype is useful and fun for everyone, but the audience at indie rock shows actually varies quite a bit from band to band.  True to their Swedish heritage, the crowd at this show was exceedingly tall and blond.  I assume they were also very polite, but I didn't really interact with anyone.

*

As soon as the first rumbling bass note of the Shout Out Louds set hit ... everything was immediately different.  I listen to a lot of music, but I really don't understand much of how it is produced.  I am a music nerd, but not really a SOUND nerd.  I can enjoy songs on cheap computer speakers.  I can listen to a top of the line stereo system and wonder what all the fuss was about.

This show, though, is one that I can honestly say was defined by the incredible sound quality.  Deep, rich sound.  Warm, detailed sound.  It enveloped everyone.  It had me smiling for no reason.  I didn't even realize I was doing it until my cheeks started to hurt.  It was glorious.

And the band, to their credit, lived up to the technical brilliance surrounding them.  Four songs in (on "Tonight I Have to Leave It"), lead singer Adam Olenius was already wandering into the crowd, passing the microphone to anyone who wanted to sing.  During the encore, he even attempted to use the mic stand to hoist the mic into the balcony.*  It was a show full of onstage smiles, full of band members breaking into giggles as songs started.

*This failed, but he was surprisingly close.

And the crowd was equally receptive.  I was surprised by how well everyone knew songs from the first album, cheering in recognition far before I caught on.*  There were at least three "we can't start the next song until you stop cheering, and now we're just kinda standing around awkwardly" applause breaks.

*And I know that sounds self-important, like I'm somehow the barometer of music knowledge and appreciation, but ... I like Shout Out Louds a lot.  They are my favorite Swedish band, and I really like Swedish bands.  It was great to see so many people sharing (even exceeding) my fandom.

Before the encore, I thought, "I don't think they'll play three songs, but I'd really like to hear "You Are Dreaming," "Impossible," and "Walls."  And I assumed they'd play the latter, since it's their current single, but I was blown away when they played all three.  I know those are three of their biggest songs, and maybe I should have expected it, and it's not like I believe the band set up their whole performance just for me, but ...

I don't know.  Reading this blog, I hope you get the impression that I love pretty much everything.  Because I do.  But I know that kind of outlook can become exhausting, too.  I know it can be hard to differentiate.  So let me put it this way:  I go to a lot of concerts that I enjoy, but at the same time, I also go to a lot of concerts where I'm glad when it's over.  I had fun, band sounded great, lived up to my expectations, great memories ... time to go.  And there are a lot of bands that I'm pretty much content to see once and never again.

Shout Out Louds, though ... I would see them again.  Tonight.  And again tomorrow.  I would see them wherever, and whenever.  Maybe every show wouldn't be like this one.  But I would have to go find out.

Download:  Shout Out Louds - "1999"

Contenders Series #16: Tallest Man on Earth - "King of Spain"

(see also:  Aaron's Sweden Mix, Part Two)

Moving on, here's an example of a Swedish artist recording on an American label, namely Dead Oceans (home to, among others, Bishop Allen and Dirty Projectors).  On the upcoming The Wild Hunt, the Tallest Man on Earth (who I assume is just one guy, though I guess that could be a really awkward band name), sticks to a formula that's worked for him in the past:  Bob Dylan-ish folk songs (his voice is almost a dead ringer for Dylan's) with open-chord tunings that occasionally recall a rootsier Nick Drake.  In lead single "King of Spain," though, he does an admirable job of summing up Dylan's entire career in one line:  "I am a native of the North Pole, and that could mess up any kid."  Preaching to the choir, Tallest Man on Earth.

Switching gears, here's Part Two of my Sweden mix.  While Part One focused on more uptempo rock songs, this one has a little more of a chill, acoustic feel.

Aaron's Sweden Mix, Part Two

(1) The Radio Dept. - "Heaven's on Fire"
(2) Jose Gonzalez - "Crosses"
(3) Air France - "Collapsing at Your Doorstep"
(4) Hello Saferide - "Anna"
(5) Tallest Man on Earth - "King of Spain"
(6) Those Dancing Days - "Those Dancing Days"
(7) Jens Lekman - "The Opposite of Hallelujah"
(8) Sambassadeur - "Kate"
(9) Loney, Dear - "I Am John"
(10) jj - "From Africa to Malaga"
(11) Tough Alliance - "Lucky"
(12) Concretes - "You Can't Hurry Love"
(13) Fever Ray - "Dry and Dusty"
(14) Orphan Songs - "America"
(15) Bored Man Overboard - "Love is a Lie"

Download:  Tallest Man on Earth - King of Spain

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