When did No Modest Bear form its shape? Why?
Sometime in the spring of 2009. I don’t really know exactly because when I first registered the blog on blogspot, I had no intention of starting a music blog. I had very little knowledge about the music blogosphere actually, I just wanted to share what I thought was cool at the time, no matter the context. Then, as I started to learn more about the music on the internet thing, I slowly realized that this is what I wanted to do.

Do you remember your first post? What was it?
For the reasons stated above and because my first posts have been deleted (sorry), no, but it was probably a Youtube clip or a funny/cool picture or some childish thoughts on the society or a Douglas Coupland quote (I was very much into Douglas Coupland back then).

How would you describe the music of No Modest Bear?
Music you never knew you needed until the moment you pressed play. Sort of.

Why the bear?
Besides being very much into Douglas Coupland, I had a song by the Scottish singer-songwriter Malcolm Middleton stuck in my head. And that song is called, yep, No Modest Bear. You can listen to it here . I just thought it sounded cool, it doesn’t really mean anything to be honest. Although I do love animals.

Proudest moment of the blog?
I co-presented (together with the ever amazing Veronica from Cream Team) an official showcase at the Hype Hotel at this year’s SXSW. We had Taken By Trees, Korallreven, Blouse, Jonquil, Caged Animals and Young Man on the bill, and even though I couldn’t attend in person, it was an amazing experience. I love you, Dev from the Hype Machine!

What’s your secret source to finding good new music?
It’s not really a secret, but I always keep an extra eye out for what artists I know (or know of) listen to. Artists would make the best bloggers, hands down.

Why do you think Swedish music is so successful nowadays?
I could think of 100 people who could answer this question better than me, some of whom are not even Swedish, but I’ll give it a try. I think that tradition has a lot to with the Swedish music wonder. For as long as I can remember, there has always been amazing musicians around for aspiring talents to look up to. I think it creates a “if they can make it, I can make it” mindset among musicians. And this tradition also give Swedish artists a head start internationally because of the great reputation we’ve gained throughout the years. Also, we are given the opportunities to learn both English and music in school from an early age, so writing music and internationally viable lyrics comes naturally to many Swedish artists. I think? And then there’s the political side to it all, but I’ll leave that to the pros.

Favorite Swedish bands right now?
These are all well worth your time right now (and forever): Jonas Lundqvist, Badlands, Duvchi, VED, Korallreven, IKONS, Bobby Bell, Niki & The Dove, World Tour, Taken By Trees.

How would you describe this mixtape?
It’s Swedish. Some tracks are non-Swedish though but those tracks have been remixed and/or edited by Swedes so Swedes have made them what they are on this mix – Swedish. It’s a Swede mix! Made by a rambling Swede…

If you would attach a feeling to this mixtape, what would it be?
A sense of well-being.

When is the best time to listen to this mixtape?
When out and about enjoying nature.

In addition to running the blog, is NMB doing something else to spread fantastic new music?
I am the co-editor of Ja Ja Ja, a London based blog and club night organizer focusing on spreading the best new Nordic music.
Also, I started a disco/nu-disco/re-edits/balearic/deep house/dames tumblr quite recently, because I also love disco, nu-disco, re-edits, balearic, deep house and dames (ps. don’t worry about the dames thing, you’ll see more skin in a gossip magazine). It’s the year for it, and it’s what I play when I’m DJing. Anyway, it’s called World Class Disco Club, go follow.
I haven’t really been doing the parties thing, at all, because I’ve been studying/living in a small city called Halmstad for three years, and it’s just not the place for my kind of music, sadly. Sweden sucks in that regard.

But it’s with Fever Ray’s “Keep The Streets Empty” that really Conjunction made a name for themselves. The black-and-white clips communicate solitude and sadness and beautifully conceptualize Fever Ray’s music. The video has been described as ‘neo noir’. Even here you can clearly trace Conjunction’s surrealistic signature. “We wanted to continue the journey that started in the former videos and our ambition was to catch the feeling in a very direct and true way and create a video where dream and reality intertwine.”, Conjunction explain

By Lydia Kellam

MOTOBOY
Formerly known as The Motorcyle Boy, Moto Boy aka Oskar Humbelo makes beautifully serene, love-drenched atmos-pop.
Moto Boy’s anguished coos and falsetto weeping are hypnotizing. On “When My Heart Was High,” conjures similarities to Morrisey’s sad, solemn delivery. On other tracks, including “A Differnet Kind of Love,” Moto combines the stylings of Rufus Wainwright and Jonsi Birgisson.
Recorded in Malmö, Moto’s current hometown, the passionate and memorable songs from “Lost in the Call” bleed with longing emotions, including the moving “If Only Your Bed Could Cry,” which was originally released with Titivo. At the times, Moto’s latest release is full of boldness and hope, as with the lead single, “The Heart is a Rebel.”

With wide-ranging, breathtaking songs that also shine with an admiration for pop, Lost in the Call is a a distinguished collection of tracks which are both delightful and poetic. For the pop lovers and romantics, Moto’s album is an absolute must.

By Kamni Kieran

NAKKNA
The darker and poetic undertone of Swedish melancholia is clearly demonstrated in Stockholm based fashion label Nakkna’s collections. The brand emerged in 2003 by designers Claes Berkes, Ella Soccorsi and Camilla Sundin who met at Beckmans School of Design in 2001. Soon after its launch Nakkna received attention for the label’s adventurous and mystifying character, and became the bolder extension of Swedish minimalistic fashion scene. With avant-garde expressions, complicated cuts, unisex details dressed in somber shades from the achromatic color scheme Nakkna is one of the most progressive brands in Swedish fashion today.
Nakkna’s brilliance in contemporary fashion led to collaborative projects with different brands and companies. The label designed cocktail glasses for Absolut Vodka, bags for Sony Playstation, stamps for the Swedish postal service and last year Nakkna shared their melancholic style with brand Weekday, home of denim label Cheap Monday, when they did a underline for them.
The Nakkna label is sold throughout stores in Sweden, Finland, New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, as well as the Nakkna flag ship store in Stockholm.

By Lydia Kellam

METROPIA
Metropia was created by the Swedish documentary film maker Tarik Saleh (Gitmo – New Rules of War and Sacrificio – Who betrayed Che Guevara?), the founder of progressive production company Atmo based in Stockholm.
Metropia is an animated futuristic movie that carries a mysterious and slightly uncomfortable atmosphere as the stories enfolds. This dystopian visual piece takes place in the year of 2024. Big brother sees you. A dark, heavy and moody color palette reflects a rather depressing environment where an intricate subway system is connecting Europe. The main character Roger (voice by Vincent Gallo), is a somber desk working guy suffering from a paranoia that escalates as he meets a woman (voice Juliette Lewis) and we follow them in a harsh function-driven world where lives are taken over by media.
The characters odd movements, as an affect of using cut out technique, adds to an unpredicted feeling. The characters live in a visually convincing detailed industrial world created as montages of photos as well as illustrations.
The film was nominated to several prizes such as Nordic Council Films 2010 and as well as winning 2009 Venice Film Festival: Future Film Festival Digital Award.

What would you say your current job title is?

Concept developer and process designer. Basically I construct the frame work for where others can develop or work in.

You’ve worked on many interesting projects, could you tell us about one of your favorite projects?

I studied project management at the university of Malmo. Once I finished my studies I got a job at the university. I thought a few classes in Event Production, Project Management and Cultural Policies. Event Production course was very practical and had about 20 students. During the course,their task was to arrange a club night at a venue which held about 800 people they were responsible for all aspects and had only one month to produce. It was actually one of my best memories in relation to work. The event was extremely successful, there were 800+ guests and the students were extremely happy with their accomplishments. And I, consequentially happy for them. That was something that helped me realize what kinds of roles I like to take.

Could you tell us a bit about what the Lunchbeat concept is and how it started?

It started with my love for dancing and my love for work. I love work but find it very frustrating to go out at night, and if I go out at night I find it very frustrating to go to work in the morning. So what if we could have the club at lunch time? and by having that, it could  help me with motivation through out the rest of my day. A win win situation!

The first lunch beat was in June 2010, in the car garage at my job.  We had the keys to the garage and we had a boom box. So we sent out some invitations.  Our first club had 14 people.

If you could have any DJ or musician play at Lunch Beat who would it be?

On an international level I would love to have Busy P playing at Lunchbeat. If I should go more local or into the not-yet-super-famous-but-should-be genre, I had my best dance experiences to Mattias Almlund (aka. Tiaz) sets in Malmö.

Where else could you see the Lunch Beat concept working as successfully as here

in Stockholm?

It has to be cities that have a concentrated “lunch area” and cities that have a lunch gap in common. They’ve done it in Malmö where the business area and lunch areas are quite spread out, so the impact was lesser than the one we had here in Stockholm.

With experience in the electronic music scene could you give us your take on the overall Swedish Music scene today?

I’ve actually reached a stage where I get really bored when I enter unwelcoming clubs. Those clubs that live strong on having an attitude. I’ve acquired a different experience from clubbing abroad. When you are used to everyone embracing you, and you’re at clubs that are build solely on happiness and dancing. I would like to have that here in Stockholm.

However, I love the live acts here in Sweden. Sweden is very welcoming to live acts for example acts like Little Dragon, This is Head, and Wildbirds and Peacedrums. That scene is a much better scene than the club scene.

What changes could you make to Sweden’s music scene?

Something I would like to see more of here is musical experiences presented in a way where they can be enjoyed by larger groups and different situations. Rather than always at a concert.

What are the next steps for The Lunch Beat?

Well, for me the next thing is to try to build Lunch Beat as a self structured organization that would let me step back and let it run on its own. As of now, I’ve received a lot of attention about being the one “behind” Lunch Beat but I can get a bit uncomfortable with the attention. Because as I said before my ambition is to work kinda “behind the scenes” creating a framework for others to create and build. And I would love to see that someone else would try it out in Stockholm.  I would like it to became something like the flash mob trend, where people wouldn’t have to ask me for permission to do it

How would you describe your work and style with three words?
details, fashion and fairy tales.

When did you realize you wanted to be an illustrator? 
since I was a baby and got my first crayons. I used to draw big imaginary worlds with people and dream horses and tell stories from it to my little sister.

What has been your favorite project/assignment so far? 
Almost everything is fun in their own way, but I love to work at a project for a long time and really get to sink in to it. Like last spring when I made “Dreams of Salikon”, a big project that ended up in an exhibition with my illustrations, a fashion show and live music.

What never fails to inspire you?
Nature, specially underwater worlds. Different types of textures. The idea of the old world.

Which living person do you most admire?
It varies a lot, no one in particularly.

Which is your favorite color and why? 
My color scale is quite mild, in lack of a better word.

In your portfolio we see some beautiful illustrations of women.  How do they inspire you to draw? 
I think it has to do with identification, in some way all the women are me or parts of me. On the other hand I love to draw details and structures, and in fashion illustration I really get to do that. Besides from that I love great, powerful poses, it really inspires me.

What’s your plan for the 2012?
2012 is the year of the books, I have two in the back of my head only waiting to get the time to come out on paper. Other than that I will work a lot, get an old summer house and have a big 30s birthday party!

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