(For the next ten days, I’ll be counting down the list of my 20 favorite albums of 2008. Obviously I didn’t hear every album that came out–although I did hear quite a lot of them–and obviously personal taste factors into this quite a bit, so I can tell you now that if you’re looking for gospel or metal recommendations this isn’t the list for you. But let’s not squabble, let’s just appreciate all the nice music that folks are making. I’ll be posting about two albums a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, from now until next Friday. Although yes, now I’m a post behind. Damn it anyway.)

15.
Dungen
4
Kemodo Records

Imagine, if you will, that you are having a dream. And in this dream, you’re at the Factory, hanging out with Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick and maybe Candy Darling and that one crazy one that Martha Plimpton played in that movie that time. The Velvet Underground are on stage, but tonight they’re joined by a special guest. It’s crowded and there’s lots of trippy lights and film projections and stuff, and obviously you’re on something, but it looks like… Could it be? Yes, it is… That’s Schroeder playing the piano! Schroeder’s playing on this hour-long version of Sister Ray!

It’s so much to think about that you have to step outside for a minute, maybe get some air. But you’re still in that dream, and in that weird dreamy location-changing way when you step outside you’re in the middle of the woods. It’s cold, and there’s some hippie people there drinking PBR and talking about records. “Wait a second,” you think. “How did I get to Northhampton!” But the folks seem nice, and you like their beards, so you sit down by the campfire and crack open a Pabst and ask somebody to pass you the vegan cookies.

And then all of a sudden, it’s the seventies. You’re on a game show, and there’s lots of blinky lights. The sets move around and the host is wearing a red suit. He’s holding a really skinny microphone. He asks you about the places where you’ve made whoopie. But you don’t know what he’s saying because he’s speaking Swedish. Strangely, you are happy about this, as though having something in Swedish makes it all somehow less embarrassing.

And then you wake up, and suddenly you know exactly what the new Dungen album sounds like.

Listen! Dungen, Ingenting är Sig Likt

Tags: albums of the year, dungen, sweden

comments feed for this post

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.