Wednesday 9 December 2009

Week 16 - Scandimania part two

I don't think it will be much of a surprise to find out that this is a follow up to last week's Nordic love-in.

Therefore I won't disappoint you.

This week ventures deeper into Scandinavia than just the Polly Tones, but thankfully not into the regions of Abba, A-Ha and the Rasmus. Instead it's a mixture of haunting folk covers and awesome modern psych, just the way I like it!

But anyway, on with the show.

Remember German synthpop act Alphaville? If you do, you'll definitely remember this, practically their only hit - certainly their only one of note. This version, however, is a beautifully chilled cover by Norwegian singer/songwriter Ane Brun. She's got a great voice and this version of Big in Japan sounds like it could almost have been done by Joanna Newsom. But it wasn't, and Brun does it very well indeed.

Next up is another track that the Bees inspired me to listen to. It's on their wonderful Sound Selection album, on which they present a load of tracks which have inspired them, from funk to rock and reggae to psych. It's the last category that this song falls into.

This time we move to Sweden, with Gustav Ejstes's Dungen.

Jämna Plågor is a rollicking dark psych tune that stunned me when I first heard it, not least for the fact it was created in Sweden in 2005 and not Brazil in 1968! It's one of those songs that you kind of forget is instrumental as you get sucked in to the beats. Cracking, and once again, thank you Bees.

You know I said some would be haunting folk covers? Well, two are. Also, you know that John Lewis Christmas advert with the nice cover version of Guns n Roses' Sweet Child O' Mine? Yeah? Well, my final song is not that.

However, it is by the same artist. From Mr and Mrs Bergsman came Victoria Bergsman, from her came The Concretes and from them Victoria split and named herself Taken by Trees.

Digressing a tad, The Times voted Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion their album of 2009. Animal Collective are one of those bands like Flaming Lips, for me anyway - the songs I like, I love, but the other stuff I can take or leave. One of the tracks on MPP is My Girls, and that is good.

But what is better than the original is Taken by Trees' version of it. She changed the title to apply to her gender and called it My Boys.

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