Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Let your dAdA flow!, May 5, 2004
By A Customer
Way up north in the Swedish town of Umea, the winters are dark and almost never-ending, and the summers are a short explosion of midnight sun and constant activity. This is where Komeda has hibernated, frolicked and made a life-long passion out of creating smart pop music.
In 1991, Komeda-named after jazz musician and film composer Krzysztof Komeda-got its start playing festivals in Sweden. In 1993, the band released its debut, Pop På Svenska ("Pop in Swedish"). An EP, Plan 714 Till Komeda, followed, and in 1996, The Genius of Komeda-the band's U.S. debut-arrived. Playful title aside, the album revealed intelligent puzzle-piece arrangements of bass, drums, synths, guitars and horns (on the heartbreaking "If"). The sound was beautiful; restrained; locked in a groove; and, with Lena Karlsson's mesmerizing contralto voice, easy on the ears. With What Makes It Go?, released in 1998, Komeda continued along the path of mature, thoughtful pop guided by experimental influences such as Philip Glass and Suicide. As a result, Beck, No Doubt and Can's Holger Czukay are big fans of Komeda.
It's been a long, dark six-year wait in anticipation of Komeda's fourth full-length album, Kokomemedada. But Komeda has hardly been sleeping its winter months away. Lena Karlsson (singer and sometime guitarist, keyboardist and drummer), Marcus Holmberg (bassist, guitarist and sometime singer) and brother Jonas Holmberg (drummer, guitarist and sometime singer) have been rocking steadily. Guitarist Mattias Nordlander left the band, and the remaining three built their own recording studio, Superstudion, in Umea and recorded Kokomemedada themselves (with a little help from Jonas' 7-year-old son Ivan, who sings backup on "Catcher"). Having its own studio gave the band freedom to let out a flurry of creativity, making music for four theater productions and several films, including Heroes & Villains: Music Inspired by the Power Puff Girls. In the meantime, Lena and Marcus produced local bands while Jonas made music for art exhibitions. The band also gained two guitarists for the stage, LoveGun (aka Lars Eriksson) and Astrask (aka Nicklas Rudolfsson).
Mixing engineer Ollie Olson, known for his work with Tupac Shakur, mixed Kokomemedada at Tonteknik studios. The hip-hop connection ends there, but, lyrically, Tupac and Komeda have something in common. "Most of the songs are in one way or the other connected to a feeling of anger or anger management," Lena Karlsson says. "It's not about being a victim but to act despite hopelessness."
Self-described as RTM (Revolutionary Traditionalistic Music) and PD (Popular Dada), clearly, Komeda is entrenched in art as a whole. "I have always thought of Komeda as a pop band, but pop doesn't really mean pop anymore," Karlsson says. "So Komeda is avant-traditional, easy-complex, music for happy stupid dancers, spectral-boogie, anemic cinema soundtrack and hooked-on-a-feeling. Komeda is not math-pop, academic underground, ABBA 2.0, The Cardigans with a twist or smorgasbord-lounge muzak."
It's a lot to digest. And while you take in the beautiful sounds and bittersweet lyrics of Kokomemedada, Komeda is in Umea looking for a science-fiction film to score, awaiting a U.S. tour that they hope will this time include New Orleans and Tulsa, and chasing the summer sun. "The winter is so long and dark, and the Scandinavian chronic depression is the fuel of many great artists," Karlsson says. "We dream of sun and endless summers."
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I love this album, January 5, 2005
I just wanted to offset the only review for this album so far, which gave it only two stars. I love all of Komeda's albums, including this one. Why there was a one year gap between its European and U.S. release is beyond me. I wouldn't say this is their best album, but I will say this: I don't skip ANY tracks when I listen to this. I love all of the tracks. Their prior albums, particularly their first two, are indeed brilliant, but even they contain songs I don't necessarily like and I always skip over. Yes, they lost their guitarist, but I don't think it compromised the quality of their music at all. Best tracks: "Victory Lane," "Nonsense," "Elvira Madigan."
I believe this is a fantastic album.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
a welcome addition, March 31, 2005
(I don't give out five stars, so this is the best recommendation possible)
this album is not "What Makes It Go? Service Pack 2".
this is not the komeda of 1998.
"The Genius Of..." was the dark side of this group. WMIG? was the light side. This album lives between those two extremes.
if you read between the lines of WMIG? you might have sensed that there were some changes afoot within the organization. 'nuff said and left alone. not sure what they meant by opening this album up with "Nonsense", but to my mind it sounds like final closure to some internal business. you can hear both sadness and strength in Lena's voice.
two things about this album: the production as a whole and the sequencing of the tracks themselves.
the production is more "flat" than the other albums. this is to the advantage of the myriad of ambient sounds that float in and out of many of the tracks. the only place where I was left wanting was in the break section of "Victory Lane". quickly gotten over. be a good netizen and look up info about how they made this album. the "drums-made-out-of-concrete" technology is in and of itself fascinating.
the track sequencing is, well, jarring at first listening. but only if you listen to the album from start to finish. after many relistenings, it became apparent that this album is essentially two eps interleaved into a larger whole. the nice thing about modern audio playback technology is that we, as listeners, can build our own mixes for our own purposes.
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ok; so now say "B L O Double S O M" in your best AhNold/Terminator voice while riding an elevator with your fellow citizens. when they look at you in puzzlement, look them in the eyes and say "I want to make a better day" in the same voice. Dada in effect, y'all. c'mon, if I can do it, so can you...
"Elvira Madigan" is a sweedish movie made in 1967. I got a copy of it after hearing this album and have not yet connected the movie to the song. if nothing else, the movie is a great introduction to what svenska sounds like.
"Fade In Fade Out" is worth the price of admission. a bargain at twice the price.
"Catcher" is classic komeda tongue-in-cheek genre meddling.
you might also check out Krzysztof Komeda's body of work. I'm listening to "Astigmatic" right now, during the daily commute.
and there is much more. support these folks by purchasing this album.
now turn off your computer and go out into the real world and do good things.
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