(Ipod speakers) Indie Music is Pretty Swede - The Swedish Indie Music Empire
No commentsBy Ian Dougherty
When it comes to indie music, there are many hotbeds of talent but Sweden isn’t normally one you would naturally think of. Unfortunately, the music history of that nation appears to start and end with Abba for many people, but over the past decade or so, there have been a growing number of bands from Sweden impacting on the indie world.
The most noticeable would be The Cardigans who achieved massive worldwide fame with their ‘Lovefool’ single and blend of charming and slightly tween indie-pop. Perhaps as a reaction to their fame, The Cardigans changed their style, their music got harder and Nina Persson went from blonde to brunette. They may not feature on the radio as much today as they used to but the band still draws a fairly large crowd to any festival they perform at.
If that was all that Sweden contributed to indie music, it would be a poor return, but when you consider the following acts, you will realise just how many of your favorite tracks have hailed from Sweden: The Wannadies,
Peter, Bjorn and John, The Hives, The Concretes, Love Is All, The Shout out Louds, I’m From Barcelona, Jose Gonzalez, The Knife.
For such a short space of time that is an impressive list of bands and you may be familiar with some of these songs:
Young Folks by Peter, Bjorn and John
You may not know the title but as soon you hear the whistling section of ‘Young Folks’ you will know exactly what the song is and recall what a phenomenon it was at the time. The track came second in the NME’s list of best songs of 2006 and fifth in the Pitchfork review of tracks from 2006.
Hate To Say I Told You So’ by The Hives
Not many bands could announce themselves as your new favorite band and keep a straight face but The Hives aren’t like many other bands. Filled with a confidence that no other band seems capable of matching this track captured the garage rock revival of the early 2000’s to perfection. The snarling guitar riff and stop-start sections provide the perfect accompaniment to Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist’s trademark yelps and screams.
You Can’t Hurry Love by The Concretes
Starting off with a guitar riff that could almost have come from the Jesus and Mary Chain, it is a shock when the sweet vocals of Victoria Bergsman kicks in and transforms the song into a delightful and melodic upbeat number. The frantic drum build up to the payoff line for the chorus is joyous and although the band has ploughed on since this 2003 release, they have been unable to match its overall quality.
Heartbeats by Jose Gonzalez
Although this song was written by fellow Swedes, The Knife, Jose Gonzalez brought the track to a wider audience. The almost mourning feel of Gonzalez’s downbeat vocals mixed with a quiet acoustic backing ensures this is a song equipped to tug at your heartstrings.
Appearing in a major commercial gave the track worldwide exposure and Jose’s brilliant cover of Kylie Minogue’s ‘Hand on Your Heart’ proved he could take any song and turn it into a downbeat classic.
This is by no means all that Swedish indie has to offer the world but it does offer a fantastic place to start checking this vibrant indie scene in Scandinavia out.
Ian Dougherty is a freelance music writer from the UK. Dougherty has written for well known music magazines, Ezines, and websites for over fifteen years. For the latest in indie bands and indi album reviews, visit MadeLoud.com, where bands keep more from each digital music download.
Rap Music - History and Facts Revealed
By Sayid Aksa
Rap music worked its way to mainstream music around the late 70s to the early 80s. Those who study history would trace rap musics roots way back in American history when Griots or West African folk poets used to deliver their stories in a rhythmic tone accompanied by drums and other sparse instrumentation. Today, the art of rapping has evolved into something that spans cultural and lifestyle dimensions.
Folk roots meet Jamaican-style
Rap music combines the poetry of the Griots with Jamaican-style toasting. Toasting is used by Jamaican disc jockeys or DJs in dance parties to coax people to dance to their music. DJs are the first rappers or MCs (short for master of ceremonies). They would speak over their music to shout out slogans like Work it, work it and Move it to keep encourage continuous dancing on the dance floor. Soon, toasting became longer and became less about dancing and more about life and having fun. Contextually, these raps can be insult raps, news raps, message raps, nonsense raps, and party raps.
This early way of rapping was soon enhanced to include manual manipulation of the sound system to heighten the dance experience. It has been said that people dance because of the beat and not of the lyrics. And so, DJs soon incorporated other techniques like dubbing and scratching to the rap music appeal. Dubbing enhanced Jamaican toasting by cutting back and forth between vocal and instrumental tracks and isolating the beat for danceability. Scratching, on the other hand, is done by moving the record in the turntable from one direction to another and back again while the needle is still in the groove.
Rappers deluxe
Rap historians cite young Jamaican Clive Campbell as one of the proponents of rap music when he migrated to the Bronx and brought with him the art of Jamaican toasting. In the Brox, Campbell was known by his monicker, Kool Herc (short for Hercules). Other early rappers rappers were Jamaican toasters such as U Roy, Duke Reid, Sir Coxsone, and Prince Buster. They were followed by the next decade of rappers like MelleMel, Fatback Band, Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash, and Run-D.M.C.
The early nineties saw the entry of white American rappers like Ice Cube to the African-American-dominated world of rap music. Even women rappers surfaced in the mainstream rap music scene. Women rappers like Salt N Pepper, Monie Love, and Queen Latifah rapped over R&B melodies and expressed lyrics that touched on women-related issues.
The look of rap
From its origins in the gang dominion of Bronx and the dancehalls of downtown ghettos, rap music soon found its way into the mainstream music scene. Soon, not only African-Americans were dancing to rap music. Rap music evolved into lyrical reflection of urban life. Rastafari-clad youth wore oversized shirts and jackets paired with low-riding oversized jeans that exposed their underwear. Heavy chain accessories also became part of the rapper look.
Rap music, while considered by some to be a fad that would eventually lose its appeal, is really a form of musical art that has become a way of expression. Modern mouth percussion, vocal improvisation and stripped down melody, these elements of rap music make it a unique musical experience.
Sayid Aksa is the author of http://musicmars.com
You can watch best rap music videos and other cool music videos from various genres on his site.
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Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 8:10 am and is filed under music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
