SOUNDTRACK: Dungen-4 (2008).
Vill du tala svensk?
Even if you don’t speak or understand Swedish, Dungen plays music that is pretty universally understood. The album feels more or less like an all instrumental affair. There are some songs with words, but they are all sung in Swedish. So, no, I have no idea what he’s singing about, and in that respect it feels all instrumental.
Like the previous discs, 4 feels like a blast from the psychedelic days. It is trippy, at times loud and raucous, (with some amazing guitar workouts) and even has flutes on a few tracks.
The big difference between this disc and the previous releases is that there’s a lot more piano. This has an overall calming effect on the music. And in some ways, I think I don’t like this disc as much as previous ones.
The piano really comes to the fore on track 2 “Målerås Finest” which to me sounds like a a tribute to one Zappa’s instrumentals (it reminds me of “Peaches en Regalia,” although I don’t mean to suggest it’s a rip off at all). “Samtidigt 1 an 2” are the major instrumentals of the disc. They also remind me of Zappa in that they feels like a snippet from some crazy guitar jam session. (Zappa releases a lot of “songs” like this on his …Guitar… albums. On this disc, we’re privy to about 3 minutes of wild guitar solo but since they fade in and then fade out at the end we have no idea how long the jam went on. The final track “Bandhagen” also feels Zappaeque, but maybe it’s just the staccato notes that Zappa also uses to such good effect.
“Fredag” has a feeling like some of the more otherworldly Flaming Lips songs. And “Mina Damer Och Fasaner” has a choppy heavy metal sound that really stands out from the disc.
Really there isn’t a bad song on the disc, but for some reason it doesn’t move me quite as much as the others. I don’t want to bring a negative vibe to the review. I’m sure if this was the first Dungen CD I had, I’d think it was amazing, I just got spoiled by them.
[READ: February 14, 2009] More Information Than You Require
John Hodgman is a man you will no doubt recognize from the Mac Vs PC ads (he’s the PC). He’s also a contributor and guest on The Daily Show. When this book was released he promoted it on The Daily Show, and on the Sound of Young America. It sounded really funny. And I was delighted that Sarah got it for me for Christmas. (more…)
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