Swede-licious

Just to sum up, Miike Snow was probably one of the best musical experiences of my life. Not to sound too gushing or anything. The gig was held at the Bristol Thekla, a grimy old boat down on the Bristol quay and the perfect setting for an intimate concert which didn’t feel too crowded or stuffy. What’s better, we soon realised that most of the people there were far too edgy to act bothered about being at the front. All the better for me and my shameful groupie ambitions then.

Following on from a fantastic synth laden support (no jokes. There were about 5 massive keyboards on stage) complete with lead singer who spent the last song wrapping his orange pashmina around his head, Miike Snow didn’t so much erupt on stage so much as ooze on in a crescendo of music and masks. For the first three songs as the music seeped on I felt like an extra from a Scream film as all band members moved menacingly about the stage, their razor sharp cheekbones and intense eyes shrouded behind blank white masks redolent of serial killers.



However, as the final plinks of “Black and Blue” faded away the masks were flung aside and the night belonged to the euphoric sounds erupting from the crowded stage, a magical mix of the instrumental with some serious onstage mixing treatment. Each track was begun in its usual fashion and then spun into a fantastic psychedelic further interpretation; the ethereal “Silvia” swirled into ecstacy whilst “Animal” radiated into endless guitar solos and a cacophony of sound.

Lead singer American Andrew Wyatt (formerly of The A.M) kept the audience transfixed as he quite literally jumped back and forth from reticent piano playing to lunging into the crowd clutching his guitar, much to my friend’s delight, who had just decided A) he looked like Jesus and B) she’d always had a thing for Christ.




Basically, it was dead good.

I was even more ecstatic to find this on my regular trawl of hypemachine; the UK “Animal” Bonus track. It’s a standardly amazing Snow tune; slightly dark and mournful yet still deliciously poppy. Savour it.




What with Miike Snow, Lykke Li and Peter Bjorn and John I’ve really been feeling the Swedish pop (although ABBA not so much) over the last year, and yet another one popped up on my radar during my visit to Briz; sweet Swede singer Erik Hassle

“Hurtful”, along with its angst laden pretty colour scheme and enviably lush velvet leggings, just screams James Morrison mating with Air Traffic. If I were a man I’d definitely want to be called Erik Hassle; looks-wise I’d probably want to look more like Matthew Goode or Cory Monteith than Napoleon Dynamite, bless his heart. Thanks Woz for that.




Here are two of my other favourite SWEDELICIOUS sounds:

Peter Bjorn and John “Nothing To Worry About”. Their album “Living Thing” is fanbloodytastic and this is a little cracker; galumphing drums and wailing children = winning combination



Lykke Li “Possibility” offof the “New Moon” soundtrack.
Still not seen the latest in the Twilight shenanigans, still not decided if I am Team Jacob or Team Edward. However, I do know this is immense.



One final thing. I just tried listening to the new Lil’Wayne album “Rebirth” on Spotify. Thoughts? I think I need to start drinking again. He’s gone all rock and left the rolling rap behind. Gutted.

© Miranda Thompson 2010

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