It Will Burn Out Your Heart

I have been on a literal Sweden binge as of late. Maybe it is their ridiculously high standard of living (that inevitably stems from their ridiculously homogeneous population, but that is an argument for another day) that endows them with some preternatural ability to create perfect pop gems. It seems as if each track is a 101 course on the positive aspects of the democratization of music in the post-appropriation era, where it is perfectly acceptable to pick and choose from a veritable buffet of world genres (most notably afro-pop, balearic, reggae, hip-hop, etc.). I have literally had to create an entire playlist called "summer" to keep track of their warm-weather appropriate jams, a small bit of which I have provided below along with a timeline of my Swedish exploration.

mp3:Fever Ray - When I Grow Up (Version By Lissvik)
mp3:Studio - Life is a Beach
mp3:Taken by Trees - Sweetness
mp3:The Crepes - What Else?
mp3:JJ - Africa to Malaga

A few months back D.Lissvik, one-half of the Swedish duo Studio, did a fantastic remix of Fever Ray's "When I Grow Up". I just finally dug into their 2007 release West Coast and have been happily working along to it all week. Coincidentally, around the same time I came across Victoria Bergsman's latest project Taken By Trees, whose new album East of Eden is produced by D.Lissvik. (Check over at GvB for a very worthwhile National Geographic doc on her experiences in Pakistan recording the album) In a similar vein, while exploring Studio's label Inf000, I found another recent release by D.Lissvik under the moniker, The Crepes; a slightly less airy, more straightforward take from the apparently highly prolific producer/DJ. During all this, I have been reinforcing my Swede-love with frequent spins of JJ's recent Sincerely Yours release that does a great job of exemplifying everything good about this thriving style of music.

Sorry to dump all this on you at once, each one of these artists deserve their own post, but I have neither the time nor the patience! So just grab a frozen drink and enjoy! The pic above is pulled from visitsweden.com, seriously.