Guest Blog: World Tour Of Bands-Stop 1: Sweden

Today's guest blog comes from Asheem who writes regularly at his own blog Enjoy The Static


Here's Asheem:


Hello everyone (or should I say "Hej")


Let me start with saying a big 'thanks' to Kevin, Matt and Pat for letting me post something on their blog.  I am very excited to share one of my passions with a new group via inter web technology.  Music.  I know that Matty has the market cornered on music awesomeness, but hopefully I can bring some new sounds, bands, etc to your attention.  (or bring back some memories by mentioning a band or two that you haven't heard from in a long time)  Either way, I'm looking forward to this and hope you enjoy.


I was asked by Kevin to provide a guest blog post and while I have heard many great things about Kevin, I have never met him.  I have known Matt and Pat for a while.  (I believe I met Matt in 2001 right after I met Liz...I think our first meeting was a New Years Eve party with a bunch of former JV's)  I credit Matt with getting me back into music while living in the Bay Area.  (I remember quite a few nights of listening to and talking about music with him in Berkeley)  Crazy enough, the conversations began with Radiohead (I know, shocker, right?)  Pat I met a three or four months later during a visit to Boston and have seen him a couple times since.  Like I said, I had heard some great things about Kevin and was very surprised for the guest blog ask, but am thrilled to do so.  So, thanks guys!


So, the next question for me was what to post?  I typically post on my own blog weekly with a set of new songs that hit me during the week, album reviews and 'best of' lists.  I had considered a review, but Kevin challenged me to come up with a list of sorts.  I finally decided to go a different route.  A 'World Tour', if you will.  I am going to give you a list of my favorite bands from a certain country.  The first post is going to be about one of my favorite countries in the world...Sweden.

I was lucky enough to visit Sweden twice in 1999 and 2000 to visit friends I had met while attending college (a commuter school in Dayton, Ohio -- Wright State University).  I was in a class with one of the exchange students and we were placed on a team together.  Once we started talking I realized he had a thick accent and when I asked where he was from, Sweden was the answer.  (funny enough, I thought he was 'American' and he thought I was 'Foreign', so we laughed about it later)  Through him I met a large group of Swedish exchange students and made some lasting friendships.  Those friendships are what took me to Sweden.  To this day, Sweden is a place I would love to live and I hope to go back again someday soon.


I am amazed at the amount of great music that comes out of such a small country as Sweden. (the population is approx. 9.4 million)  There are all types of music that they 'export' (or that I Import).  The styles range from dance, to pop, to alternative, to indie/folk.  I have found some great artists in all the genres mentioned.  Some you will have heard of, some not.  If you like any of the bands/artists mentioned I hope you will check them out some more.  If not, that is cool.  That's what I love about music.  Everyone has a right to listen to what they like.  I will never ridicule one's music taste because as I have said to others in the past, "I might think the music you listen to is crap, but you probably think what I listen to is crap as well."  But, give it a chance...dare I say:




What??  I am writing a blog post about Swedish music and you think I WON'T put something by ABBA?  Come on!!!  (I will say, that I do enjoy ABBA from time to time...sorry)


Ok, now that I have gotten that out of my system, let's shift to some other great bands/artists from Sverige.


Kent
Some of you may know of Kent.  This was one of the first bands that I REALLY got into during and after my first visit to Sweden.  Kent is an alt-rock/indie/electropop band that has quite the following in Scandinavia.  I was introduced to them when I walked into a record store in Stockholm and asked a clerk for some good Swedish rock bands.  They actually released most of their first albums in both Swedish and English, which worked out great for me since I was...how do I say this....not good at speaking/understanding Swedish.  (I was dangerous because I do know German and they have similarities)  So, at the recommendation of the record store worker I picked up the album 'Isola'

I remember putting the cd into my cd player (yes, I said CD player) that night while going to bed and while I was tired I actually stayed up for the entire album because I was so taken by it.  There was something about frontman Joakim Berg's vocals that really spoke to me.  And, to top things off, the last track '747' is just amazing.  (to my day it is still one of my all time favorite tracks)  I know Matt can attest to this because one of those nights in Berkeley I brought over a Kent CD and had him take a listen and his words were something like, "That last track rules...I wish it would go on forever."  My thoughts exactly.  Sadly, the released this as a single and cut a lot of the extra music out of it to make it 'fit' onto radio.  (you see, the track is actually 7:47 long...see what they did there?)  Well, I was going to post the 'cut' music video version, but I decided against it.  Below you will hear a YouTube 'still' of the un-cut track.  It's in Swedish, but you don't need to understand the words to get this song.  Seriously, from about the 4:00 mark on it is pure bliss for someone that loves music.  


One of the other things I love about Kent are the layers that they build in their music.  I am a big fan of this type of song writing (it's something that makes Radiohead so awesome)  You can hear it in 747 above and they carry this on with most of their songs.  So, after I bought and listened to Isola, I went back to the same record store the next day and purchased everything from their catalog to that point in time: their self titled debut from 1995, Verkligen from 1996, Isola above from 1997 and Hangsta Hill from 1999.  They have since released 5 additional albums and are set to release a new album this year.  I have had to purchase imports of all the albums since my last visit (in fact, I had to re-purchase Hangsta Hill a few years ago when I stupidly left my cd's on a flight...that was a sad day for me...I lost a hell of a lot of music on that flight.  The only thing that gave me some solace was that someone was able to hopefully listen to some awesome music at my expense.  I could really go on longer about Kent, but I fear I have already bored you, so I will move on.


Jose Gonzalez
Yes, this is a proper Swedish name.  I can't tell you how many people with the last name 'Gonzalaz' I have come across from Sweden.  Actually, Jose is Swedish-Argentinian.  You see, his family moved to Sweden from Argentina in 1976 and Jose was born in 1978.  I came across Jose a couple years ago while listening to 91.9 WFPK (Radio Louisville) and I REALLY liked his stuff.  He is really an indie-folk singer and he has quite a unique voice.  He has released two full length solo albums (Vaneer in 2003 and In Our Nature in 2007)  One of my favorite tracks is 'Down the Line':




In addition to his solo work, Jose is part of another Swedish group....


Junip
Junip is a group made up of Jose Gonzalez, Elias Araya and Tobias Winterkorn.  They released an EP in the mid 2000's and one of my favorite records from 2010 - Fields.  If you like Jose's solo stuff I am pretty sure you will dig Junip.  They have very similar sounds with the only difference being Junip has a bit more 'polished' sound (meaning: it is more than just acoustic as most of Jose's solo stuff is)  The track below made my 'best of' 2010 mix and I still LOVE this song.  Check out 'In Every Direction':




I'm From Barcelona
So, this is a pretty new band (to me).  Have you heard of the term 'Super Group'?  Yeah, well, I'm From Barcelona is a Super Group.  Not because they have members from 'well known' bands joining forces to put out awesomeness.  Instead, they have 29 band members.  Yes...29!!  I am still getting into this band, but I really dig their eclectic sounds.  They have released 4 albums since 2006 (the latest being 'Forever Today' in 2011)  I'm not going to lie, listening to their latest album just makes me happy as it is very upbeat.  I have included the video below for the track 'Battleships'




The Radio Department
This is another band that has been around for a while (2002) that I recently discovered (recently being in 2010)  One of the music blogs I frequent posted a couple songs from them and I really liked what I heard so I checked them out some more.  The track I included on my best of 2010 mix was titled 'The New Improved Hypocrisy' and it is a slam on the Swedish Government.  (this non-album track was released at the time of Swedish government elections...you can really tell they are not happy with things if you listen to the lyrics)  They also released a greatest hits collection called 'Passive Aggressive: Singles 2002 - 2010' and I highly recommend it.  The stand out track for me was the very last one titled 'The One'. (I have shared this below)




Shout Out Louds
Together since 2001, the Shout Out Louds are yet another great Indie Swedish band.  They have released a number of albums (three to be exact) and their latest 'Work' (from 2010) was pretty strong.  At times you would think you were listening to the Cure, or the Smiths/Morrissey.  They continue to put out some great indie pop with each release, so are definitely worth a listen (or two)  Take a listen to 'Fall Hard' and try not to think the Cure has released a new single.




Peter, Bjorn and John
Alright, raise your hand if you can't help but whistle along to 'Young Folks'.  Ok, those without your hand raised....LIARS!  I am sure everyone knows of PB&J.  They hit the scene pretty hard when Young Folks was released a few years ago.  It seemed to be on every tv show, commercial, street corner, etc.  It is kind of sad in some respects that that song got so much exposure because I will be honest, I got really sick of the song.  But, it really was a strong song and that particular album was strong as well.  They actually had released two albums prior to that and have since released another three albums. (the latest being 'Gimmie Some' in 2011)  It doesn't hurt that Gimmie Some was one of my favorite albums of 2011.  Below is a track from that album 'Tomorrow Has to Wait':

First Aid Kit

First Aid Kit is a band I just started to get into in January of this year and I will say at this point their album 'The Lion's Roar' is my favorite album of 2012.  First Aid Kit are sisters Johanna and Klara Soderberg and they are YOUNG.  (Johanna is 22 and Klara is 19).  One of their influences is the band Fleet Foxes and in fact it was a YouTube video of a Fleet Foxes song that got them noticed and landed them a spot playing the song alongside the Fleet Foxes in a concert.  

I have actually noticed a bunch of different sounds in their songs ranging from the Fleet Foxes to Neko Case and She & Him.  I chose to include two tracks from this amazing album to give you an idea of just how talented these sisters are.  The first is 'The Lion's Roar' and the second is 'Emmylou'  Both are amazing and I am looking forward to hearing more from this band for years to come.  (they are also playing at Bonnaroo this year so that should get them some more exposure)

I know there are WAY more bands/artists that I am missing, but these are the ones that stick out to me and that I really dig.  I look forward to hopefully hearing about others that I have missed, so please leave a comment if there is someone you feel I should check out (I am always looking for new music, or perhaps I just completely blew it and forgot to include an amazing band)


Peace! 

Guest Post: 12 Tha Hard Way

I am so excited. Today's guest blog post is brought to you from Kate, friend and fellow blogger over at Punch It In. Full disclosure: I've known Kate since high school. This also sort of self-serving because I really love to read these sorts of lists especially by people I actually know, and I thought: "Well, one way to do that is, of course, to get them to write a guest post." I also love it because it brings such a wide array of experiences (and opinions) to the table. And in this case there is a couple movies I don't really like, and I have a different favorite Indiana Jones movie, but like Stuart Smalley used to say, that's okay, in fact it's awesome.

Also, I might have her back to to do a TV post as well.

So without further comment here's Kate's entry:

 12 tha Hard Way

Admittedly, I’m a TV girl – I will pick the small screen over the silver screen at almost every opportunity. I’ve never seen the full Star Wars trilogy. I’ve never watched “The Godfather.” Just a couple months ago I got heckled for never having sat through all of “Mary Poppins,” not even as a little girl. But I can relate just about every moment in life to an episode of “Friends” and talk at length about the childhood crush I had on a random “Punky Brewster” guest star.

When Kevin asked me if I wanted to write a guest post on my 10 favorite movies, I was stoked. I like writing and I like Kevin and I thought the task wouldn’t be too difficult. As it turns out, I was wrong. Coming up with a list of movies that I deem my favorites – especially when 98 percent of the DVDs I watch lately are TV on DVD – was ROUGH. And then I started overthinking and getting all literal about it because I wouldn’t be Kate Wade if I wasn’t the most literal goddamn person on the planet.

Anyway.

What I decided to do was list 12 (because I am a fucking rebel) movies that I can watch – and have watched – over and over and over again. Are they all Academy Award winners? GAWD no. Still, they have made a huge impact on me. I can remember where I was when I first watched some of them, certain situations bring others to mind and some … well, some have impacted me so much that I named my own blog after them. So, without further ado and in no particular order, here are 12 of my favorite movies of all time.

Heathers

The thing about pop culture in my house growing up is that nothing was really banned. I don’t know if that’s because my parents felt like censorship was whack or because they didn’t have a lot of time to check in on what my brother and I were watching and reading. Regardless, I ended up watching movies like “Porky’s” when I was probably a little younger than I should have been. “Heathers” was another one of those movies I might have been a little young to be watching when it first made it to the pay cable channels, but it has stayed with me my whole life. The dark comedy of it all spoke to me in such a hard core way. I wanted to endlessly make out with Christian Slater. I wasn’t altogether unhappy when Heather Chandler bit it. CORN NUTS FOREVER.

American Beauty

It’s rare I can repeatedly watch a movie without there being one scene that annoys the shit out of me. “American Beauty” is that rare movie. It’s perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing. And the older I get, the more it speaks to me. I have an extended family member who is probably around 40 now, and a couple years after the movie came out he went on this tirade about what a disgusting character Kevin Spacey played. Whenever I think back to that situation, I wonder if my family member remembers it whenever a 17- or 18-year-old girl inevitably catches his eye these days.

The Goonies

If you tell me you don’t like “The Goonies,” I’ll tell you you’re un-American. It’s just one of those movies that every person my age who grew up in white middle-class America can appreciate. For all of us who had a tight-knit group of friends in elementary school or junior high, we recognize the Chunks, the Mouths, the Datas. We saw the adventures they went on and wished we were going, too – especially that waterslide, amirite? And the feeling of vindication at the end of the flick, where The Goonies win and those other assholes have to go home and pound sand, it’s just the best. I still don’t like Baby Ruths, though. Just putting that out there.

Say Anything

There’s not much to say about this movie that hasn’t already been said. Lloyd Dobler is every teenage girl’s dream boyfriend, or at least he was before all these fucking vampires fell into the mix.

Home Alone

Every Christmas I spend some bonding time with little Kevin McCallister. These days I want to tell him to put down the drugs and eat a sandwich, but back in the day we were homies. I first saw this movie in the theater and from the first note of the intro music and the opening credits, I was hooked. It is just a damn good movie – funny and silly while still tugging on your heart strings just enough.

Dances With Wolves

I have to confess that my dad made me watch this in the movie theater not long after it premiered. I was 12 or 13 and it was painful. Sooooooo painful. Too long and boring and oh my god. I wanted to kill my dad, right after I woke up from my theater nap. Then my dad moved to Wyoming and I started visiting him during summers. He took me all over Wyoming and Montana, showing me the countryside and helping me learn about Native American history. After that, “Dances With Wolves” spoke to me a lot more. I had such a better appreciation of the beauty of the landscape and a deep respect for the Native American people. Now that my dad is living in Tennessee, I watch this movie probably two or three times a year to take a trip back to the wonder of the West. 

Brighton Beach Memoirs

When my mom and dad first separated, I lived with my dad and family friends of his for a year. I was about 12. I loved watching the huge old TV set in the living room of that house. One weekend day when everyone else was busy, I had the TV on and one of those weekend movies started. It was “Brighton Beach Memoirs.” For as long as I can remember, I have been in love with WWII-era books and movies, and I’m a huge fan of music from the ’30s and ’40s. I thought Jonathan Silverman was hilarious as Eugene, and all these years later I’m still singing “Good Morning Glory,” a song I’d never heard before and even have a tough time finding now on the Interwebz.

Fried Green Tomatoes

This movie gets pegged as a chick flick, and it sort of is, but my husband loves it, too. It’s a mystery and a love story and it makes you laugh and it makes you cry and it pretty much does everything a good movie is supposed to do. I also have a major crush on Mary-Louise Parker and a mild obsession with the Deep South so I’m probably a little biased.  

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

This one is pretty self-explanatory. It’s the best movie in the series (COME AT ME, BRO), and my favorite part is when Indy has to figure out how to get to the knight so he can find the Holy Grail. All those puzzles, all that pressure – so awesome to watch.

Dolores Claiborne

Kathy Bates does the sickest Maine accent in this flick. It sounds stupid, but that’s half of it for me right there – just listening to her talk. So much of what’s great about “Dolores Claiborne” is the acting itself. Judy Parfitt is killer as Vera Donovan and David Strathairn’s performance is so amazing that I’m not convinced I would let him near me in real life.

Uncle Buck

This is hands down my favorite John Candy movie. Every kid needs an uncle like Buck.

Cape Fear

The newer one with Robert De Niro scares the absolute bejesus out of me. He is a crazy motherfucker in the movie and I love how Juliette Lewis plays her role, too. By the time they make it on that houseboat, my nerves are so bad I’m almost peeing myself. Also, I’ve never thought of piano wire the same way again after seeing this.  

-Kate