MP3: Kalle J - Burt Ward
As the Swedish indie-dance/electropop music scene gets more and more crowded, it's becoming increasing hard to sift through all the crap. I believe that eventually the cream will all rise to the top, but right now the genre is overloaded with also-rans and wannabees. To be completely honest, I have a hard time getting into any of it. It's not hard to make crap dance music and even some of the best stuff still sounds pretty damn weak once you leave the club, so it's rare for me to find a record I can really get into. Part of that is also due to the fact that it's just a genre well-suited to the extended-length format. I can think of many examples of artists who released great singles and EPs only to crash and burn when they tried to do an album. Sadly, Kalle J is no exception. I really dig his "Some old friends and a glimpse of the future" EP. A lot. Great beats and production without any unnecessary pop singer/songwriter aspirations. His new full-length "Om du lyssnar noga"? Well, it's pretty hot once you get past the first four songs. The single "B.G.I.T." (see the video here) proves that Kalle is capable of making vocal-based pop, as do the subsequent tracks that close out the record (as you can hear from the one I've posted today), but you'd never know it if you didn't get past the halfway mark. So listen, here's my proposal: stop making albums. Put out as many EPs and singles as you want. Embrace the 'long tail' theory - less of more. We'll all be happier.
Buy Kalle J CDs/mp3s: [click here]
Kalle J - Burt Ward