Nya Vågen #1

MFMB / Photograph by Emma Hartvig

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The first in our new series all about the burgeoning Swedish music scene; Nya Vågen (or The New Wave) sees Victor Svedberg disect what is happening right now in Gothenburg, Stockholm and Malmö.

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What’s that noise? It’s the sound of young Sweden. A Sweden more creative and alive than it’s been for a long time.

Ok, really. What IS that noise? Well, it’s Pistol Disco, of course. A duo consisting of Alexander Palmestål and Mikael Enqvist. Their kraut-rock influenced music is a facinating experience. Listening to them is a journey through history, passing acts like Neu!, Spacemen 3, The Jesus and Mary Chain and Silver Apples but it all leads to something truly unique and beautiful. A dreamy world of noise and rhythm.

Having released two records, Pistol Disco are have just finished working on their third album Evergreen wich will be available on vinyl and as a free download in early March.

Alexander wrote the following in a text message to a friend in Stockholm:
“The record is more or less done, its amazing. A modern day fusion of good and bad. Its my baby. I’ll defend it like Kevin Rowland, its not a record, its personal.”

In the wait for Evergreen, listen to their remix of ‘Guns’ a minimalistic rock track by Ikons, a band that not too long ago signed to the highly influential swedish label Service. Ikons are a great new act, currently working on their debut album. If I am to guess what the album will sound like, I’d say a cross breed of the krautrock grandfathers in Hawkwind and early Manchester post punk.

Ikons take the most basic things of rock music and repeat it over and over again. In a way like The Field, acclaimed techno artist from Stockholm, who use layers of cut up samples to create very interesting electronica. Ikons seem to work in the same way, only its rock music. Ola Borström, label boss of Service, describes Ikons as ”The sound of atom fusion” wich is a brilliant description. Ikons were the opening act for Spiritualized when they did three shows in Sweden, wich of course was totally appropriate.

A band that recently played with Ikons is MFMB, a new band with members in Stockolm and Malmö. MFMB released their first EP The Fine Detail for free on their website. However, their new song ‘Heat Like This’ is something else, it’s an amazingly catchy post punkish conga track that give us all a reason to wait for more new material. MFMB recorded the EP in Studio Möllan, the same place where Malmös finest, This Is Head, record their songs.

If MFMB draw influence from early post punk and shoegaze, This Is Head take theirs from funk and monotone rock. The result is nothing but groovy. This Is Head haven’t released any records (yet) but apparently they are an amazing experience live.

Another act, a slightly newer one, is PWR or Rasmus Svensson. Friend of Pistol Disco and the man behieind their stunning artwork. Rasmus is, truly, an artist. Believe me on this one.

Having released music behind various alter egos such as Chaos Trough Programming, Smycken (feauturing the equally as talanted girlfriend Hanna) and Full På Folköl his latest two projects are him flying solo as PWR. He is also working on another project with Hanna Nilsson called Night Piano.

Rasmus is the kind of person who seems to have an endless amount of creativity. Apart from making music he produces various zines, posters, prints and runs his own recordlabel Push The Button Multimedia. PWR is psychedelic dance music, not too far away from some of Animal Collectives work, only it sound younger and a lot more exciting, to say the least.

So, we have covered Gothenburg and Malmö, finally we have Stockholm left.

Gothenburg gives us both the dreamy, the intelligent and the experimental new kraut music. Malmö the funky and the dancable, while Stockholm gives us the more new wave and punk influenced new kraut rock.

I think of two bands in particular, Audionom and Paper.

Audionom have been around for some years but they haven’t released an album for four years, that’s why I’m glad to announce that ther new album Superior is to be released in the end of February. Audionom is a classic band to me, just as 1999, another variation of the band that sounds a little less kraut and a lot more post punk. Audionom have an energy and power that is truly rare. The new single, ‘Inside’, is a new waveish pop punk anthem, desperate and mad.

Members from Audionom can also be found in Paper, a band that draw more against a more punk take of kraut. It’s repetitive, it’s loud and it’s addictive. Calle Olsson of Paper also makes music solo under the name Paddington DC, and has also appeared in The Bear Quartet, a classic swedish indie pop band.

So there you have it. A small scene. The scene doesn’t have a name yet. What should we call it? Nu Kraut? Noise Pop? Whatever. No time to waste. Let’s just listen, shall we?