Space 1998:

A Gavin McNett Column

 

Figure One: Notes on the Viking Invasion

I've been trumpeting it for months now, but people think I'm crazy until they hear the records for themselves. Here, I'll say it again: While we're sitting here all smug and cozy, Sweden is building the best rock scene on the planet. They're doing Britpop better than the British, and besting America in our proper arenas of snaggletoothed trash-rock and indie-alternative. On the latter two, the Backyard Babies' EP is not only the best Dead Boys ripoff available, but almost the best conceivable. The Honeymoons', This Coherent Excitation manages to make middleweight bubblegrunge both palatable and satifying. On the former, there's Pinko Pinko and This Perfect Day, both of whom I'll deal with at some future date.

There's more, too. …God, is there. Every time I look in the mailbox and find one of those Europackages - the ones with the funny, thin paper -- bearing stamps of King Karl-Gustav, or King Oscar, or whomever they have officiating at soccer matches over there, I'll shake out the contents, unfurl a casual note by some alterna-label flicka saying, "hope you like this undistinguished record from our small, northern country…" or some such, and spend the next goddamn week telling EVERYONE I KNOW about this GLITTERING PRIZE that's somehow been diverted from its proper place among a superior people, and has fallen as a diamond to a jackdaw into my very beak. I call the troops in on it, in short - and everybody just mutters something like "Abba," or "Cardigans," and returns to his or her knitting, and there it stands.

I'll bring these records over to people's houses, and they'll say, "I don't want to hear any of that sugary Swedish pop that sounds like Abba or the Cardigans right now, thank you," forcing me to physically commandeer the CD deck, block their egress from the room, and COMPEL them to listen. It happens each time, Europackage after Europackage. And each time, the victim sits bolt, shock upright in his seat, goggles a bit, and goes, "Saaaay… That's a really good record, there. I thought it was going to sound like all those Swedish bands - like Abba and the Cardigans."

And then I shoot myself. No: I'm telling you - you've gotta hear this stuff, and I'm not going to be coming around to paste you down in your seat for it. This happened with Swedish hardcore too - back in it's day. I'd barrel over to someone's house with a Mob 47 or Huvudtvaat single, and they'd resist it with every power at their command. I found myself doing it recently with an old Ebba Grun album. Old punk-rock Gav thought he'd seen it all. "Ebba, huh? Spelled wrong, innit?" he thought he'd retorted, when it really wasn't so much a retort as kind of a thick-tongued idiot-noise -- 'cause two minutes later, I'm scraping my brains off the ceiling and wondering if I have a blank tape in my car. That's how it happens. You get all sluggy and sloppy, and stop keeping up with things for awhile, and before you know it, some little fighting-cock of a music scene on the outer fringe of Terra Cimmeria is bitch-slapping your shit up, down, and sideways.

So, you: Here's a brief discography of Gustav-stamp releases that've lately come my way. Most of these records are on the North of No South label, which apparently represents only northern Sweden (and not the more populous south. A scary thing, when you think about it), and which now has a Stateside office in Minneapolis.

Pinko Pinko - Traffic (NoNS)

Komeda - The Genius of Komeda and Pop Pa Svenska (NoNS)

Backyard Babies -Knock-Outs, EP (MVG)

Ray Wonder - Good Music (NoNS)

Eggstone - Somersault (Soap Records)

This Perfect Day - This Perfect Day, CD and all new releases (Soap Records)

Beagle - Sound on Sound (Polydor) [An old release, but new to these shores.]

The Honeymoons -- This Coherent Excitation (NoNS)

--GFMcN, gavin@mcnett.org

 

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