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[3W4D] Swedish music
May. 9th, 2011 10:31 amFOR THE RECORD: Super video-heavy post.
So the topic for today is Swedish music, which I'm afraid is one I'm spectacularly unqualified to talk about in many ways.
Branch asked, basically, what the Swedish music scene is like right now.
I do at least listen to P3, which is the younger-people national radio station, because it has shows like Tankesmedjan (that one which Liv Strömquist is often on), and am by proxy exposed to current music, but to be honest, it mostly doesn't stick. One does notice, basically, that:
1. almost everyone sings in English, presumably in the hope of making some kind of international breakthrough. If they do not sing in English, they are Kent, who gave up on such hopes about 10 years ago. (No, OK, there are others who sing in Swedish right now. But not that many who're showing up on the radio!)
2. there are lots of girls singing very hesitantly/softly. I do wish the ladies in mainstream music would just go for it a bit more often, you know? Prettiness is all well and good, but damn. It seems to be the only option!
3. Unless you're Robyn I guess. Who has a robot fetish. Your mileage on this may vary, but I am kind of endeared by the robots, even though I am pretty sure all my music cred will be taken away the second I admit to liking anything about Robyn. (Here is the thing: I do not care about my music cred. I think I acquired it completely by accident anyway.)
[Video embed: Robyn singing Robotboy, no actual video image, just music & stills]
So, you know, so much for my pop culture awareness.
Also: although I spent my childhood playing instruments and was pretty good at some of them I'm really not that musically inclined, which means that I can listen to music without the same kind of analytical approach I often have to reading - which is lovely, I can just listen. It does mean, though, that I tend to file things as "like this" or "don't like this" without much deeper thought about technical skill etc. This will make detailed thoughts tricky; I'll mostly be presenting artists quite briefly and then giving out some music links.
But! I do listen to quite a bit of Swedish music. Let's start by just pulling a list from my profile, and I'll work from there!
Ane Brun
Oops - Ane Brun is actually Norwegian, not Swedish, ( but she lives in Stockholm )
Anna Ternheim
( Read more... )
Broder Daniel
Valborg describes Broder Daniel as "the best worst band ever". ( Read more... )
P.S. In association with posting about Broder Daniel I feel the need to point out that Fucking Åmål is a brilliant film. About growing up in a tiny shitty town and already feeling trapped and then you are also a lesbian! AND IT'S NOT ONE OF THOSE TRAGEDIES WHERE EVERYONE DIES! It's brilliant. Sometimes uncomfortable, since, you know, teenagers, but it left me pretty :D :D :D.
Ebba Grön
Oh look! The first band on the list to actually sing in Swedish!
( Read more... )
Frida Hyvönen
I actually have posted about Frida Hyvönen before. But. ( Read more... )
Kent
Right, well, Kent I've posted a lot about before. ( Read more... )
Maud Lindström
Maud Lindström is, well. Let's take her own words. "Sweden's only official love-critical bisexual feminist singer, writer and poet!"
( You can already tell why I love her, right? )
Nationalteatern
( Read more... )
The Knife
( Read more... )
This post is basically really long now already, damn.
OK, I'll just leave you with a couple more.
The Ark, since they're so iconic among Swedish bands and one of the few current ones that's really well-known overseas. Although they did recently announce that they're quitting this year. And then they released a single.
The single is called "Breaking Up With God".
This strikes me as very representative behaviour.
( Breaking up with god )
Jakob Hellman only released one album, at the end of the 80s, but has been influential for Swedish pop. Kent are fans; you can catch a lot of references back to him in their songs.
( Vackert väder )
Which traces of can be found in a bunch of different early Kent songs! (Kent love referencing stuff, for the record. I think it's a hobby.)
Monica Zetterlund - jazz icon!
( Some other time )
Fidget were a 90s indie band I think? I don't listen to them all that much generally but I have this one song which I love:
( Stop Losing )
Håkan Hellström
( Read more... )
Make of all this what you will! That's a range of music, though nowhere near definitive, from several different genres and decades. (I will note that I'm pretty sure that Swedish music cannot actually be this overwhelmingly white, since Sweden isn't this overwhelmingly white, damn it, but... *headscratch*)
& if anyone wants to rec me more Swedish musicians that I really should be listening to, then please! Go for it!
So the topic for today is Swedish music, which I'm afraid is one I'm spectacularly unqualified to talk about in many ways.
Branch asked, basically, what the Swedish music scene is like right now.
I do at least listen to P3, which is the younger-people national radio station, because it has shows like Tankesmedjan (that one which Liv Strömquist is often on), and am by proxy exposed to current music, but to be honest, it mostly doesn't stick. One does notice, basically, that:
1. almost everyone sings in English, presumably in the hope of making some kind of international breakthrough. If they do not sing in English, they are Kent, who gave up on such hopes about 10 years ago. (No, OK, there are others who sing in Swedish right now. But not that many who're showing up on the radio!)
2. there are lots of girls singing very hesitantly/softly. I do wish the ladies in mainstream music would just go for it a bit more often, you know? Prettiness is all well and good, but damn. It seems to be the only option!
3. Unless you're Robyn I guess. Who has a robot fetish. Your mileage on this may vary, but I am kind of endeared by the robots, even though I am pretty sure all my music cred will be taken away the second I admit to liking anything about Robyn. (Here is the thing: I do not care about my music cred. I think I acquired it completely by accident anyway.)
[Video embed: Robyn singing Robotboy, no actual video image, just music & stills]
So, you know, so much for my pop culture awareness.
Also: although I spent my childhood playing instruments and was pretty good at some of them I'm really not that musically inclined, which means that I can listen to music without the same kind of analytical approach I often have to reading - which is lovely, I can just listen. It does mean, though, that I tend to file things as "like this" or "don't like this" without much deeper thought about technical skill etc. This will make detailed thoughts tricky; I'll mostly be presenting artists quite briefly and then giving out some music links.
But! I do listen to quite a bit of Swedish music. Let's start by just pulling a list from my profile, and I'll work from there!
Ane Brun
Oops - Ane Brun is actually Norwegian, not Swedish, ( but she lives in Stockholm )
Anna Ternheim
( Read more... )
Broder Daniel
Valborg describes Broder Daniel as "the best worst band ever". ( Read more... )
P.S. In association with posting about Broder Daniel I feel the need to point out that Fucking Åmål is a brilliant film. About growing up in a tiny shitty town and already feeling trapped and then you are also a lesbian! AND IT'S NOT ONE OF THOSE TRAGEDIES WHERE EVERYONE DIES! It's brilliant. Sometimes uncomfortable, since, you know, teenagers, but it left me pretty :D :D :D.
Ebba Grön
Oh look! The first band on the list to actually sing in Swedish!
( Read more... )
Frida Hyvönen
I actually have posted about Frida Hyvönen before. But. ( Read more... )
Kent
Right, well, Kent I've posted a lot about before. ( Read more... )
Maud Lindström
Maud Lindström is, well. Let's take her own words. "Sweden's only official love-critical bisexual feminist singer, writer and poet!"
( You can already tell why I love her, right? )
Nationalteatern
( Read more... )
The Knife
( Read more... )
This post is basically really long now already, damn.
OK, I'll just leave you with a couple more.
The Ark, since they're so iconic among Swedish bands and one of the few current ones that's really well-known overseas. Although they did recently announce that they're quitting this year. And then they released a single.
The single is called "Breaking Up With God".
This strikes me as very representative behaviour.
( Breaking up with god )
Jakob Hellman only released one album, at the end of the 80s, but has been influential for Swedish pop. Kent are fans; you can catch a lot of references back to him in their songs.
( Vackert väder )
Which traces of can be found in a bunch of different early Kent songs! (Kent love referencing stuff, for the record. I think it's a hobby.)
Monica Zetterlund - jazz icon!
( Some other time )
Fidget were a 90s indie band I think? I don't listen to them all that much generally but I have this one song which I love:
( Stop Losing )
Håkan Hellström
( Read more... )
Make of all this what you will! That's a range of music, though nowhere near definitive, from several different genres and decades. (I will note that I'm pretty sure that Swedish music cannot actually be this overwhelmingly white, since Sweden isn't this overwhelmingly white, damn it, but... *headscratch*)
& if anyone wants to rec me more Swedish musicians that I really should be listening to, then please! Go for it!
