Swedesplease

Detektivbyrån used to be the best under discovered band in Sweden. Anything this good (regardless of its lack of mass appeal, limited commercial potential or even the fact that it lacks lyrics) will find a place in the world. Whether this gets discovered through placement in advertisements, film soundtracks, or hopefully written about on countless blogs, Myspace profiles or Twitter updates (I’m looking at you James Gunn, and don’t try to hide Alexandra I can see you too) is up to you. All it should take is a little bump to put this band into the consciousness of the right people that will enable them to reach a broader audience.

I’ve been writing about the band for years, but amazingly their upcoming release, Wermland, is their debut LP. So this is not one of those bands that comes from nowhere only partially formed (Cold War Kids, Vampire Weekend). The songs on Wermland don’t stray far from what got them here. And that is a combination of traditional folk, gypsy, circus and world sounds combined with modern (and not so modern) electronics (often home rigged). It’s so hard not to compare this band’s music to film so I won’t bother restraining myself. “Om Du Moter Värg” starts out like music from the next Tim Burton production, but rather quickly becomes something you’d expect to hear in a Wim Wenders or Werner Herzog film. And that’s because it’s music of dreams. And dreams are what the films of those three visionaries are closest to.

A release date of September 3rd has been set for Wermland, but you can pre-order the record now here (Sweden) or here (Int’l).

Om Du Moter Värg

P.S. If you liked this there’s an ever so slight chance that you’ll be smitten with Kirsty McGee’s “vaudebilly” over at Songs:Illinois (sorry for the shameless cross promotion).

I’ve only written about Swedish jazz a handful of times. That’s primarily because the jazz community hasn’t fully accepted the mp3 as promotional tool argument the way independent rock (for want of a better term) has.

So I’m excited to present The Bluebridge Quartet to you today. They recorded and released their first ep, Adjusted for low noise tape, on the netlabel Aerotone. This is experimental free jazz at it’s finest. The pieces are without a formal structure, but the band consistently creates a cohesive sound. The band is anchored by a deep acoustic bass and an at times blurting saxophone. As it said somewhere in their bio, download this even if you don’t like jazz.

Download the whole 4 song ep plus artwork here.

Spektrum
Landet

P.S. I gave you a link to the abridged piece that ran in the Courier Mail yesterday that named Swedesplease one of the top twenty places to get free music online. Here’s a link to the complete article.