Swedish 101 #14

March 29, 2010

Artist of The Month: Stina Lofgren

FIRST AID KIT / KLARA & JOHANNA SÖDERBERG
Born in the early nineties and with voices spun of gold, these sisters are the leading stars in a Swedish version of a musical The Little House on the Prairie. In the same way that a medical first-aid kit contains everything you might need in an emergency, the band First Aid Kit encompass essential elements of the times we are living in: American Folk, YouTube, Al Gore, Fever Ray and youth wise beyond it’s years. A Fleet Foxes cover of two teenage girls, an EP named after climate damaged trees and released by Karin Dreijer of the Knife, has now led to this year’s full length album The Big Black & The Blue. Once you thought swindie pop was the country’s main export, heartbreakingly beautiful acoustic folk is up next to swoon American ears. The longhaired ladies just left SXSW to tour Europe during the spring and the rest of the US in early summer.
http://www.myspace.com/thisisfirstaidkit
By EA

MARCUS SÖDERLUND
Director, Marcus Söderlund is a marked man. He has shot videos for the buzz heavy The XX, Sweden’s Sahara Hot Nights, Miike Snow, Air France and others. Currently, he is the go to for indie acts seeking videos that are meaningful and intellectual. Even Pitchfork has recognized Söderlund’s work by naming Tough Alliance’s “Silly Crimes” video as one of the best 50 music videos in the past ten years. As a director Söderlund takes a less is more approach, which leads to the creation of beautiful videos that may as well be called films.
Nature and monolithic man made spaces are frequently represented within Söderlund’s work. At first glance Air France’s video for “No Excuses” seems as if someone who took the easy way out may have executed it. However; as the video progresses the viewer realizes the larger statement Söderlund is making – “man” as small was we may be are willing to go up against nature although it is large and all encompassing. Throughout the video, the ocean’s changing moods and personas are shown — it is relaxed, beautiful, nourishing, powerful and deadly at different instances.
Söderlund is also the maker of “Taweel Safar-The Long Journey”, a short film highlighting the inspirational trip Victoria Bergsman a.k.a Taken By Trees made to Pakistan last year. The piece follows Soderlund’s tranquil and moderate aesthetics and is a brilliant portrait of the bold search for Pakistan Sufi musicians Victoria Bergsman did in 2009. The short film is being screened at Taken By Tree’s performance as an introduction to her inspirational and courageous trip to the land in Far East.
http://www.marcussoderlund.se/
By KG

FÄRGFABRIKEN
Färgfabriken is a creative outlet for contemporary art with two locations in Sweden. In the capital of Stockholm and one in the northern areas of Sweden,Östersund. The gallery works in three different principal areas: art, architecture, and society. Färgfabriken’s goal is to connect the public space with the art space, so the gallery is constantly putting together various events such as discussions, seminars, workshops and parties – open for everyone to participate in.
The Stockholm location also host a lovely coffee house where art lovers and gallery goers can enjoy music festivals, pancakes bouffet, dance parties, bingo nights, facial painting and much more.
http://www.fargfabriken.se/
By LK

DAG FÖR DAG
Dag För Dag is something we can call honorary Swedes. Yet, even if their debut album Boo has clear signs of sweet Swedish pop, it keeps one foot firmly placed in a messy, American rock basement. The Snavely sibling’s, Jake and Sarah, take turns singing on tracks that comprise beautiful love songs, punk history, humor and dancing. After three years in Stockholm, the Snavely’s should be considered pioneers in what we hope to be an American respond to the Swedish musical invasion in the US. It is already clear that they complement their new Nordic land with a well needed dose of attitude, cool girls and bearded boys.
Check out this fabulous Dag För Dag video by Ted Malmros (moviemaker, Miss Snavely’s boyfriend and bass player in Shout Out Louds):
http://www.dagfordag.com/
By EA

RÄTTVISEFÖRMEDLINGEN
According to the Global Gender Gap Report in 2009, Sweden is the world’s fourth most equal country in terms of gender. Great news! – But it doesn’t mean that we’re satisfied.
The equality project Rättviseförmedlingen (Corporation of Justice) initiated by Lina Thomsgård, is a brand-new affiliation working for balanced opportunities between men and woman. Its main mission is to steer people away from tiresome and repetitive everyday choices, and make way for new possibilities.In their own words they “help those with difficulties of finding women to participate in their projects; interviews, tv programs, lectures, musical events, award shows.. etc.”

Right now the website provides long lists of female artists, copywriters, directors, comedians and DJs – and more content is added by the minute! And speaking of DJing, besides working for equality, Lina is also a member of the award-winning DJ collective Chapel Hill Crew. It’s just a crying shame that they’re called a “female” collective.
While guys? Well, they’re just “DJs”. These are exactly the kinds of boring labels that Rättviseförmedlingen is trying to get rid of. Let’s do this one time for all shall we?
http://rattviseformedlingen.se/
By ETS

Written by: The Swede Beat