Dungen - Ta Det Lungt (2004)

Hearing that somethings from Sweden and labeled as psychedelic rock makes for some funny images of a country getting backlogged images from 1970's American culture. At least thats what I thought. Swedish Psych? They must be ripping off Zeppelin or Floyd. Right? Well, a little, but damn it if wasn't SO good! They may rip off some of the best sounds of the freewheeling seventies. They may not be playing the most original music. But if they were around in those mythical times of sex, drugs and rock and roll, we might have a different band that influenced current musical culture. There are a few things that will make this appeal to many people that probably havent heard it. For one, the sounds of the guitars they use range from old school fazed out gutiar fuzz to thick heavy grungy guitar sounds from Soungarden and the like. Even though all the lyrics are in Swedish (yes thats right - no english) the singer has a wonderful voice that sounds like the best of the Beatles the Byrds and alot of current popular indie rock bands of today. Which brings me to another point. They also use so many of todays indie rock sounds which brings their classical rock sound forward about thirty years. Coupled with their mastery and depth of songwriting (and their penchant for getting trippy) this couldve been a huge hit among many different genres of fans. From rock and rollers, to your hippie parents, to those kids that sweat everthing on pitchfork.com (yes I am one of them) Check this album out and spread the word, because its not often we get to hear so much goodness on one record.

The above review is one I worte for Amazon in 2004, and I still feel the same about this album. I noticed while searching for my old review that alot of people were slagging this record as being just a generic rip-off and the hype was way too much. Honestly, if your a hype oriented person, then get the hell out of my blog right now. HAHA! No, really, if you are a fan of classic rock, or even just in general a fan of rock, then you should approach this album without the pretense of hype or what pitchfork said, or whatever anyone said. The sounds are all familar, but the thing that really makes this stand out is the songwriting. If you are looking for indie cred, go somewhere else, if you are looking for good rock and roll with great production and psychedelic touches than give it a spin.

Dungen Website
Subliminal Sounds Records
Dungen's Myspace