Sweden has one of the best music scenes in the world. That's not hyperbole. Yes, ABBA tends to suck the air out of the room when the conversation turns to Sweden's aural history, but a quick trip to the nation's capital, Stockholm, proves that Sweden's more than just Dancing Queens.
Head to Stockholm Music and Arts Festival this August and you'll hear tracks from Swedish-Japanese singer-songwriter Maia Hirasawa and the Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit, and pop into Fade Records, Alley Stuff, Papercut or any of the other record shops in Sodermalm, a central neighborhood, and you'll catch bubblegum tunes from the likes of Suburban Kids with Biblical Names and The Cardigans, dance tracks from Lykke Li and Robyn and old favorites from Europe, Ace of Base and 80s-era duo Roxette. Jazz great Lars Gullin remains a national favorite, and so do the more recent electronic jazz duo Koop. Old hard rock legends Meshuggah and Entombed will play on the radio waves, and up-and-comers Kate Boy and The Deer Tracks fill days and nights in this land of tattoos, hornets and fire.
These acts and many of their compatriots are here, in this 43 track playlist for your trip, real or imagined, to Stockholm, one of the most gay-friendly and certainly bumping places on earth.
Don't have Spotify? Download it here. It's one of the few things in this world that's free and easy, present company excluded.
