Sweden Is the New New York

I don't know if it's the chilly North Atlantic, the complex mythologies or the relience of a rich diet of fish, but for whatever reason Sweden and Norway have been birthing the most wonderful pop music in the world. Not a week goes by that I don't hear about some awesome new band out of Scandanavia. But for those of us in the states, it's kind of hard to keep up on all the happenings over there. That's where "It's a Trap!" comes in.

For those of you who don't know, It's A Trap is a webzine following the Swedish music scene. Editor Avi Roig has been putting together a fascinating site. This year they even put out a compilation album, and at six dollars it's a total steal. Both these tracks are off of that album, called Reader's Companion Vol. 1 [Buy It]. Each track is pretty different, and through my ignorance I hadn't really heard of any of the bands on there (aside from Jose, whose cover of Heartbeats was one of my favorite songs from last year).

I love the PB&J track. It's an awesome way to kick off an album. The song has great melody and perfect tempo, with just a dash of rockabilly (sort of like what Frank Black was doing with the Catholics, or Elvis Costello). It's the type of song that's begging to be in the opening credits of a movie. I think it's the xylophone that does it.

Jose's track is from his Veneer album put out last year. Any fan of brooding, acoustic pop with double-tracked vocals and interesting rhythms should definitely check out his work.

Usually magazine compilations are total garbage, but you can tell that this one was a labor of love. Avi has put together a wonderful snapshot of the current Swedish scene, and I wish more people would do this for the world's other musical pockets.