album of the week: 5.4

Slagsmålsklubben

The Garage

(2012)

why you'll love it: Unconventional arrangements doing catchy dance music.

why you'll hate it: Predicable and simple. Some may find it too cartoony.

I'm going to assume everyone reading this has heard stereotypical Scandinavian clubbing music before, if not, parodies of it. At first glance, Slagsmålsklubben seems to be at least one of the two. At second glance, probably the latter. If you can be bothered to give them a third opportunity, it sort of comes off as both.

Slagsmålsklubben first caught my attention with the 2007 album, Boss For Leader! It was a strange release to me at the time. I never even bothered reviewing it here, because I didn't know what to take away from it. It was an obvious Electro-pean formula, but wrung through a strange Willy Wonka / Charlie Caplin wringer. Their instrumentals are goofy and take away the pretentious or serious edge that comes with that kind of music, but without sounding like joke songs.

Slagsmålsklubben returns this year with The Garage: a less overt, but all the same twisted, take on predictable club music. There are not as many glossy hyperactive melodies here. This is more of a dirty, messy, percussion heavy style. As a result, some of this sounds like an honest effort to come off as cool and hip. SMK turns out some catchy stuff. "Come on Anybody", "Tuktuktack" (is that a vuvuzela?), and "Stora E" could probably be played at a party without confusing the hell out of people. Only the song "Sväng om du kan" sounds like something possibly cropped from the Boss For Leader! sessions.

Being a more subtle release can be taken as a good or bad thing. If you take this as fun background music, rather than go on my theory that Slagsmålsklubben is this secret ironic "anti club" dance band, it will probably impress you more. It's subtle enough for the background, but if you ever take a moment to really listen to what's going on, you'll instantly grab onto something catchy and fun.