Scandinavian Pop

a-ha: Scoundrel Days

Review by David Quantick, NME, October 1986

HERE THEY are again. Norway's finest and the group who cleaned up after the chart fragmentation of Culture Club, Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran, a-ha ...

Sugarcubes, The: The Sugarcubes: Ladies and Gentlemen, The Icecubes from Sugarland

Interview by Mat Snow, Sounds, December 1988

Paying the price of fame and fortune, The Sugarcubes have talked and I smiled themselves through a seemingly endless round of interviews and gigs. Now ...

Sugarcubes, The: Sugarcubes: Yule Never Björk Alone

Interview by Chris Roberts, Melody Maker, December 1988

THE SUGARCUBES' BID FOR WORLD DOMINATION IS ALMOST COMPLETE. FOR CHRISTMAS THEY'LL BE RETURNING HOME TO ICELAND TO START RECORDING THE FOLLOW-UP TO THE LIFE'S ...

Björk: Björk: Björking Girl

Interview by David Bennun, Melody Maker, June 1995

NOW HERE'S what you know
 about Björk. She's tiny, elfin, mad as a rabbit, childish, arty, trendy and Icelandic. ...

Björk: Björk: All Together Now

Interview by Stuart Maconie, Q, September 1995

ICELAND, OR Lydvelid Island to give it its native name, is the westernmost state of Europe. It is a land of magnificent geo-physical architecture; three ...

Sigur Ros: So good they make you vomit

Report and Interview by Andrew Smith, Observer, The, April 2001

ON THE OTHER side of the door is a sprawling south London estate gathered round an old factory turned business park, as oppressive an environment ...

Sigur Ros: Barbican, London

Live Review by Ian Watson, Yahoo Music, September 2002

YOU OFTEN hear the invisible when you go to see Sigur Ros live. As the bowed white noise fades into an eerie serenity or the ...

Björk: Björk: 'This Time It's Intuition Only – No Brain, Please'

Interview by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, August 2004

Icelandic singer Björk has made a compelling new album that contains not a single musical instrument and is named after the Latin for 'marrow'. Robert ...

a-ha

Interview by Stephen Dalton, Times, The, November 2005

IN 2005, there are few cooler pop names to drop than a-ha. Coldplay and Travis are not just avowed fans but sometime collaborators with the ...

Stockholm Syndrome

Report and Interview by Jude Rogers, Guardian, The, September 2006

SWEDEN'S INDIE BANDS are invading the UK, armed only with talent, style, ambition and government grants. Time to surrender, says Jude Rogers ...

Raveonettes, The: The Raveonettes: Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

Interview by Ken Scrudato, SOMA, February 2008

THEY WERE a glorious sight, appearing gorgeously on the horizon. Modern day Vikings, they came from the land of Hamlet, pastry and strikingly progressive politics ...

Annika Norlin, Hello Saferide: Modern Stories from Östersund: Annika Norlin

Interview by Lindsay Hutton, Rock's Backpages, December 2008

YOU MAY NOT be familiar with Annika Norlin's name yet but I hope that one of these days you will be. The organic rise of ...

Robyn , Röyksopp: Robyn, Röyksopp: "There's This Idea That You're An Oddball, Far Up At The Top Of The World"

Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, Guardian, The, June 2009

Love songs to robots, cement-mixer music, trios with houses on their shoulders… No wonder Scandinavian artists get noticed. Jude Rogers kicks off our Scandipop special ...

The Concretes, Cardigans, The, Fever Ray: Sweden: State-sponsored Rock Valhalla

Overview by Nick Hasted, Independent, The, July 2009

IN POP MUSIC at least, Britain still imagines it rules the world. The Beatles, Kinks, Bowie and Blur are looked on as an unassailable heritage ...

a-ha: Even Better than Spinal Tap

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Music Week, September 2009

FOR 25 YEARS, Norway's pop gods have harboured a deep, dark secret that even the most dedicated News Of The World smut-sleuth would never have ...

Björk: A New Map to Björk's Music

Report and Interview by Evelyn McDonnell, Los Angeles Times, October 2011

IT'S A SAD IRONY: The digitization of music has impoverished the average listening experience. Not only do compressed files sound meagre compared to the sonic ...