Sounds of Sweden

Playlist:

Hell On Wheels - Dog On Wheels
Popundret - Shiver Gome
Monty's Loco - Leather
Hagga - Sing
Sambassadeur - Ice and Snow
Lacrosse - You Can't Say No Forever
Concretes - Seems Fine
Jens Lekman - Maple Leaves
Cardigans - Rise n Shine
Peter, Bjorn and John - Young Folks
Suburban Kids With Biblical Names - Funeral Face
Soundtrack of Our Lives - Sister Surround
Alf - Mitt i Malmo City
Heikki - Always Knew
Elias and the Wizzkids - Best Friend Blues
Loveninjas - Keep Your Love
My Darling You - Midsummer Party
The Tough Alliance - Make It Happen
Mr Suitcase - Ours Is A Time For Falling In Love
Le Sport - Tell No One About Tonight
The Second Band - Wild Is The Wind
Fine Arts Showcase - Shoplifter's Union
Adventure Kid - Robots Sing I'm From Barcelona
Monster and Maskinder - I Won't Stay
Streetwaves - Voids of Charm
The Knife - You Take My Breath Away
Mr Pedro - Please Don't Talk To Me I Fall In Love Too Easily
David and the Citizens - Graycoated Morning
Frida Hyvonen - Come Another Night
Springfactory - I Can't Get Out Of Bed

What others said:

From the <a href="http://beatcroft.blogspot.com/">blog</a> of BBC Radio Scotland DJ Tom Morton

Great time last night at the Hello Saferide gig - The Hold, in the basement of the Admiral Bar in Waterloo Street, Glasgow, is a great wee venue. Civilised. Which at my age is important. Though whether or not it was civilised to drink so much Knob Creek whisky is quite another matter.

Annika Norlin and her six-piece band were magnificent. Maia Hirasawa was one of the support acts (guess what? Swedish too!) as well as being (sorry, can't help but say this) the Agnetha to Annika's Anna-Frid in the Hello Saferide live manifestation. And Maia was breathtakingly good in a completely solo performance, dressed like some kind of prim Scando-pop schoolteacher. The Norlin songs - twisted, witty, bittersweet pop classics - work brilliantly live, especially given Annika's quite unexpected facial mugging and actor-ish timing. There's something very knowing about the whole thing in an early Blondie sort of way. I loved it in a way I haven't enjoyed live pop for years. Took me back decades, in fact.

But not as bizarrely as walking in to see support act The Poems (Glaswegian, not Swedish). Was there a Bobby Bluebell revival occurring? That look - the black polo neck, the glasses - could it really be back? Did it ever go away? Closer inspection revealed that this timewarped apparition was in fact the man himself, my old acquaintance Robert Hodgens, apparently unchanged in 20 years. After his set, we nattered away like it was 1986, shouting in each other's lugs in that time-honoured rock-club-deaf-as-a-post manner. 'You look just the same' said Robert. 'Aye, sure' I replied. Unwilling to say that he truly did look just like he did back in the days of, well Young At Heart...the Poems were very good, by the way. See that rock star lifestyle? Must be good for you. Or maybe it's the golf... (Just done a bit of checking, and it seems Poems lead singer Kerry is the wee sister of Karine Polwart.) Great too to see Grangemouth Guru of All Things Rocktastic, Lindsay Hutton, just as enthusiastic as I am about Hello Saferide, if not more so. We nod our grey heads sagely and predict great things: folks, make it happen for Annika!

From <a href="http://nextbigthing.blogspot.com/">The Next Big Thing</a>

All I’m gonna say at this point is that if you missed the recent HS shows, and you lived in the immediate radius of any of them then you blew it. Everybody who made the Admiral Bar scene last night knows what I’m talking about.

The Poems opened. Iain said they reminded him of The Paradise Motel and that’s not a bad shout.

Maia Kirasawa did a great set to a respectable relative silence. There were almost none of these nitwits that jaw through a person’s set disturbing the peace and tranquillity that this girl is packing.

The Hello Saferide combo came on, did their stuff and didn’t play anywhere near long enough but that was OK. That brass section is like an Action Combo for the 21st Century. Made me think about my old pal Gordon Spaeth.

The people from Sounds Of Sweden and Dolly Mixture deserve massive props for organising the show. It’s a great spot and these people are music fans. This is what shows should be like, untainted by corporate bullshit. It may be a tad off the radar but there are supposed “real” promoters that couldn’t attract a crowd like this. That fucking wish they had this kind of cred. You can't "buy" this kind of reaction, it only evolves through trust.