I will dedicate my first post on this blog to the second annual Swedish Festival – Totally Swedish Festival – which takes place next week (26 Feb – 2 March) here in Dublin. There will be a mix of music, art, film and food on offer across several venues in the city. I really enjoyed last year’s festival and went to see a few gigs in the Village where the highlights were Salem Al Fakir and the unforgettable I’m From Barcelona! This year’s music line-up consists of two big names: Sahara Hotnights and Weeping Willows, as well as two upcoming names: Jonna Lee and Love Is All.
Personally I find Love Is All most interesting in the line-up, but if I was asked to choose the line-up (which I honestly think I should have been…) then I would fly the following bands to Dublin and let them do their thing for the Irish Indie crowd:
Marit Bergman
Jens Lekman wrote: “My friend Marit is the best dressed woman in Sweden. This may seem insignificant to some but it is a welcome addition to the whole picture and her music. It’s as if she’s always dressed up to attend a wedding, funeral, birthday party or any kind of ceremonial celebration of life, loss and love.”
Billie The Vision And The Dancers
Billie the Vision and the Dancers haven’t just played in standard clubs in Sweden. They have also toured at high schools and made a series of gigs at prison institutions around Stockholm. The entirety has always been important for the band, to offer something more than just text and music. The third album Where the Ocean Meets My Hand got released in April 2007 – still on their own label Love Will Pay the Bills.
Niccokick
At a visit to his hometown Båstad, Andreas Söderlund was beaten up for being too happy, and was looked after by Martin Stääv and Philip Hall when they found him in the gutter outside Pepes Bodega. As a thank you Andreas asked them if they wanted to join the best band in the world, and since that day the two friends have regretted saying yes.
Their new album “The Good Times We Shared, Were They So Bad?” was released in February.
Gabriel Munck
I didn’t mange to find any info on Gabriel Munck or the label BOW Music Production…
Club 8
Club 8 is a Swedish pop duo formed in 1995 by Karolina Komstedt and Johan Angergård. They’ve released six full length albums. The last one is called ‘The boy who couldn’t stop dreaming’ (2007) and was released by Labrador.
I’ve obviously excluded a few big names such as Jens Lekman and The Radio Dept. here, but hopefully you are familiar with them by now!?
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