Customer Reviews

Genius of Komeda

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My bro put me on to Komeda, he said they sound a little like his old band and they are swedish. This album is everything from gorgeous and beautiful to rockin' and fun. Hard to classify, they are a little loungey, very pop rock, but something really brilliant shines through their music. The lead singer's voice is fragile, strong and smooth like glass. This album is full of catchy lyrics, and is bound to get you singing along... They really know their stuff musically as well. Their riffs and solos can go on in your head for days. This album is one to play and play... I have scratched the cd and had to replace it from playing it... Doesn't really take over unless you want it to, great background music too... It is a universal favorite among friends here. Can't say enuf good things, the whole cd will gets you shakin' from beginning to end. I have watched people have musical revelations after borrowing and listening to The Genius of Komeda. A great album for musicians.

Komeda is the most brilliant pop group of the past 10 years. Their meticulous high-concept brand of `60s cheesiology is an endless enigma of sheer delight. Although similar in some ways to their minty-fresh label mates the Cardigans, Komeda are really in a class of their own, and ultimately one of a kind. Komeda's progressive-pop isn't "just one more plastic hassle, man," (as Dean Stockwell so eloquently summarizes a certain predicament of Jack Nicholson's in the 1968 film "Psych-Out") it's one more plastic monument to the power of great pop music.

I originally picked up on Komeda completely by chance, because they had the same name as one of my all-time favorite film composers Christopher Komeda, the guy who wrote the music for Polanski's "Knife in the Water," "Cul-de-Sac," and "Rosemary's Baby." To say that I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement; I was completely blown away by their sophisticated simplicity and they have since become one of my favorite bands.

I was in a record store in Cincinnati in 1996, when all of a sudden I noticed the music playing in the background. I stopped and listened closer. I asked the person behind the counter what it was he was listening to. He held up the CD case. It was KOMEDA. The album, The Genius of Komeda. For a song to jump out and grab me like that, I knew they had to be a great band, and they are!

I didn't buy the album that day. Instead, I walked around in a daze for a few days with that song in my head (More is More). I wound up ordering the album directly from the record label.

Fun lyrics, great catchy music played by talented musicians, The Genius of Komeda is an undiscovered masterpiece.

I stumbled across Komeda while researching another former Minty Fresh label band, The Cardigans. If you enjoy the Cardigan's quirky pop tunes, you'll love Komeda. Hailing from Sweden, the quartet cranks out more of their wonderful (sometimes nonsensical) lyrics to some of the best alternative pop music ever written (of course, Scandenavia has always had a certain grip on well written pop songs (ABBA anyone?)). While "Genius" is certainly an exceptional album, their earlier release "What Makes It Go?" is missing the few clunkers that inevitably appear on "Genius". If you don't find yourseslf singing along with songs like "Rocket Plane", and "Top Star", as the song says "Like the psychiatrist says: there's something wrong in your head". Tounge in cheek lyrics abound ("you are the hell-fire of hell, and the sunshine of my life"), and of course the real genius of Komeda: cool harmonies, hooks, and retro-sounding instrumentation. (By the way, note the sample lifted from the beginning of "Fire" for Massive Attack's song "Man Next Door" on "Mezzanine") Great fun had by all!

I picked up this album almost at random one day, intrigued by the title which I thought was surely a jest. Perhaps it was meant as one, but to my surprise, the album turned out to be genius after all. At first one might be apt to dismiss this as typical european alt-rock, trying to be ironic about the modern world in obvious fashion, but two things clued me in that there was a lot more going on here. One was the fantastic voice of the lead vocalist, a woman who is able to convey power and subtlety while at the same time showing no overt emotion whatever (the antithesis of the overblown singers on "American Idol"); if this sounds like a rare feat, it is, and must be heard to be believed. Even when singing deliberately meaningless lyrics ("boom ba boom boom") her voice is captivating. Then there is the band - a tight, tight rock combo who are able to throw in unusual rhythms and textures with the ease of fine jazz musicians. It soon occured to me that the songs themselves are not simply striaght attempts to be ironic about pop culture - they go so far as to be ironic about irony about pop culture, and there is where some of the genius lies. Just another euro alt rock band? Not at all. These folks are way ahead.

Let me start this off by saying that I am huge Komeda fan. I have all their cd's, including their newest album not yet available in the U.S. I have nothing but love for these guys, and they would be the perfect band if they could just get a hold on their damn drummer. He's a great drummer for the band, but the songs he sings on bring this entire album down. This album is very good (not as good as What Makes It Go), and the first time I listened to it, I could not believe that they would let a song like Boogie Woogie Rock n' Roll be put on the album. Also, Jonas' scat solo practically ruins Frolic, a great song otherwise. Why let this guy sing when you have, in my humble opinion, one of the best, sexiest singers in the world in your band? And there is one on every album! (Campfire on What Makes it Go, and many more on the new album). Buy this album, but be forewarned about those tracks. I would tell you that they might be your style, but I have no idea who that stuff is geared towards.

Jonas, do everyone a favor, and the next time you step up to the mike, step away.

I saw the video made for Track #3 four years ago, and only once at that. This band, whom I discovered was named Komeda only today, resembles The Cardigans so much that I hypothesized they were from Sweden as well. And with a little net surfing I am now reunited with the imaginary sounds of an obscure band from the mid 90's. I guess I'm a fan of non-US alternative pop (Sloan, Blur, Supergrass), but what I like about the samples from this album is how sultry and mature the singer's voice comes across, with the sounds of my imagination as her backdrop. I love The Cardigans, but today Nina has been reunited with her older Swedish sister!

This Dutch band makes some great fun pop music with a sense of humor. The arrangements and production are skillfully done, and although there are some clever musical bits hidden here and there, they don't obscure the sweet bouncy pop songs. Things I'm reminded of a little when listening to Komeda are Stereolab and old Brian Eno.

This should be the last Komeda album you buy.

Instead buy WHAT MAKES IT GO, and then KOKOMEMEDADA.

There are a few good songs. In fact the more I listen to it the more I like it. But there are also more songs where Lena is not the lead singer (I really dislike the male singer, is it Jonas?)

Also, these songs are not as soothing/pleasant to listen to as some of their others. Theer is more of a rock influence or at least a "loud" backgraound that I think detracts form the songs.

I still very much like the Album, but I can easily see people disliking it.

A better title would have been "The Madness of Komeda." This lot are so strange that I think I would think twice about letting them into my home to use the toilet...I'm afraid they would paint it green or blow it to pieces. The lyrics are silly...it sounds like their grasp of English on this outing was tenuous at best, and some of the songs are so unbelievably silly, I can't listen to it with a straight face. My friends all hate it, and there are only three songs on it that I like myself. It's just too strange for me. Often these sorts of adventurous voyages into the world of odd instrumentation leave me cold rather than excited, and this album is a perfect example of very ambitious songwriting and arranging going irritatingly wrong.