Joel-joel & co

-Joel, om du någonsin vill bli framgångsrik inom sången måste du sluta röka och dricka. Annars kan du lika gärna lägga ner.
-Det tänker jag inte göra. Jag ska bli rockstjärna. Vet du om NÅN rockstjärna som inte röker och dricker?

Och vem VANN????

9.11.07

The Bombhappies

The Swedish music scene is literally bursting at the seams, but that's good, right? It's exciting to see the country's people to be going through such an intensely creative phase. Here's to it not ending!

The Bombhappies (MySpace) are my latest Stockholm find, and what a find they are. Although the five-piece was brought into this world nearly twelve years ago, they sound terribly fresh, energetic, and instantly-likable. If anything, their tenure as a band has only weathered them to an aged, perfected form. They know exactly how to write contagious hooks; they know exactly how to arrange their songs; they know exactly how to pen a chorus bound to get stuck in your head and refuse to leave.

Additionally, the Bombhappies aren't so easily classified as a typical "Swedish pop" group. Sure, they've the clean and crisp guitar pop jangle that instantly brings to mind bands like Shout Out Louds, Peter Bjorn & John, and the Concretes, but there's something more mature, something rockier about the quintet. Bass lines and guitar melodies tend to climax into a sort of 90s alt-rock thrash -- think the Pixies or Pavement or something -- and Joel Bergqvist (the vocalist) has the chops of any bona fide chart-topping rock singer. Imagine the merging of Interpol, the Hives, and Orange Juice. Maybe something like that ...

The Bombhappies recently released Ok ok ok ok ok ok ok, which you might be able to pick up here. Anyway, it's a fantastic album ... a knee-jerker, a spasm-inducer, a head-bobber, a foot stomper, a head banger. It's solid, man.