Mando Diao
Paralyzed

Sweden has never sounded so NYC. What with the currency of rock n roll (as in classic leather jackets, tatty jeans and slightly greasy hair rn'r) being at it's most bankable for a good 35 years, it's perhaps not too surprising.

Mando Diao are four unencouragingly attractive men who thrash at and grip their instruments in the most iconic of ways, offering little to the imagination. There it is; Rock n roll. In front of you. Don't worry about doing anything like wondering, or thinking. Far too strenuous. A big, nice photograph right in your eyeline; relax and stare.

It all sounds rather like the Velvet Underground covering the Monkees in the style of Johnny Borrell. A surreal thought indeed, but a tenable one, given that fact that I hold the CD in my hand. But possibly not for much longer.