Lately I have been discovering all kinds of great rock music from Sweden. Every day it seems I discover something new and different. Why is there so much great music being made in Sweden right now?

One of the qualities that I am attracted to is the simpleness of much of the music coming from Sweden. Perhaps it reminds me of my punk rock youth where knowing how to play three chords was enough and any more than that seemed pretentious.

In many ways it seems Swedish bands are in a musical time-warp, sounding like many of my favorite bands of the 70’s and 80’s. Or perhaps they are just leading us back to our rock ‘n roll roots as periodically happens. What ever it is, there is an unusual number of Swedish bands getting back to rock basics.

At the beginning of the decade several Swedish bands broke through with indie hits: The Hives, Sahara Hotnights, and Soundtrack of Our Lives.

Part of this first wave were garage bands The Caesars (who provided the soundtrack to the very first iTunes commercial), Division of Laura Lee, Mando Diao, Shout Out Louds, The Sounds, The Hellacopters, The Wannadies (one of my favorites) and Dungen. Of all of these, only Dungen sings in swedish. The others all sing in english. Of course I must mention Kent, which is one of the most popular bands in Sweden.

While many of these bands are working on their 3rd or 4th albums, the last couple of years has brought an even larger group of Swedish bands. They include José Gonzáles, who many ranked as one of their favorite artists of 2006. My list of favorites also include The Concretes, Jens Lekman, The Knife, Teddybears, The Mary Onettes and Loveninjas, but I am sure I have only begun to find all the good Swedish rock music that is being made today.

So how do you keep up with all this great music? Lots of it is hard to find here in the US, but if you are patient you can find lots of places online to listen and then buy. I start by following several music blogs dedicated to Swedish music. Perhaps my favorite is Absolut Noise, which is written by a French guy (mostly in english) who loves swedish rock music. There is also Swedesplease, It’s A Trap and Hellosurprise. Don’t forget to check out the swedish rock label labrador.se which has lots of free downloads available. There is also the Ultimate Swedish Band List.

I hope this gets you started! Let me know if you discover any new blogs or sites dedicated to Swedish rock music.