REUTERS: PACIFIST COUNTRY INVADES IMPERIALIST USA!

So we've all heard the buzz about so-called swedish bands and their new rock antics, meandering across the atlantic with their hooks, and their sass, and their rock guitars. One might listen, stop, and wonder...is that english they are singing in? Yes it is. Cultural imperialism is a two timing tramp (non gendered of course) and thus, english is needed for the propagation of sweet tunes from the worlds second largest music exporter (Sweden) to the worlds first largest (USA)... From the (international) Noise Conspiracy to Ceasar's (Palace) and now, The Sounds
... but their accents are cute, and so are their clothes, so we can call them our own, right? Hmm... and their politics speak to that rebel in all of us, which happens to be commonplace over there...

But as we stare at the MTV screen, we miss something... 

I had the pleasure of appearing in a music video (... go to "olikheter" and then find the link for the video called "kvar på film"... then you figure it out). My time across the pond, in the land of blonde has served me well, but a bit of my time has been in front of a tele, where one in scandinavia can engange in swedish television culture, and a little music/pop culture channel called ZTV. On this channel one might encounter some pop music videos, and since this is a scandinavian channel, most of these videos will have bands that sing in swedish. You see, Sweden is a self conscious country, and as much as they hate to see their Socialist Democracy get crapped on by American Capitalism, they hate to see their sweet indie pop get crapped on by American language, english. So they saved it from themselves, but I am going to let you in. SO PAY ATTENTION!

There is a little revolution happening. Something thats not too exciting, but it makes me happy like a boy in a field. Sarcasism is rampant in this well-to-do middle class society the size of California with the population of LA, and the bands in Sweden share this characteristic with the rest of their land. So a band called Raymond&Maria put out a record and wrote a ditty called "Ingen vill veta var du köpt din tröja." YES their name is a Belle and Sebastian parody, and Yes the title of the song is translated to mean "Noone wants to know where you bought your jumper." (a jumper is a sweater-like shirt, kind of like a woman's cartigan)... their mean little song berrates a poor girl to the tune of two tall blonde pixie-voices in harmony and the 16 strings of their three equally attractive male counterparts. The song is so cheery that one that speaks swedish can hardly believe that the chorus of the song reads: "Noone will mourn when you die, noone will miss that what you do, noone wants to know where you bought that jumper..."

The stylish and sassy little girls of Raymond&Maria rival the style and sass of Sahara Hot Nights, but in some expressionless whimsy of flourishing acoustic guitars with orchestral embellishments, rather than the 4/4 boom boom of the 5 piece drum kit, and the howl of Gibson SGs and distortion pedals. So while your TV is tuned into the american-rip-off swedish showcase of the same bands born and reborn but with akwardly tall new band members, me, and some other on-the-in folks will sit back and listen to the noo-indiepop invasion thanks to high speed modems and swedish-origin website movie clips... I hear its huge in Sweden, but then again, so is Socialism.

* Mike Lewinski