Bring 'Em In - Mando Diao

This album's the debut from Swedish rockers Mando Diao, and one of the most exciting indie albums for a long time.
The record's quite unusual in that it's actually made up of mostly tracks recorded by the band as demos, despite the fact it was released by a major label (EMI), but the rawness this provides works wonders.

From the first few moments you can tell this is no normal record, Opening track 'Sheepdog' starting with ...
...screaming vocals added, just in case it wasn't interesting enough already. The rest of the album continues in a similar vein, with 60s influences showing through just as much as those from recent bands such as The Libertines.

The opener mentioned above is one of many highlights from the album, 'Motown Blood' and 'P.U.S.A.' being undoubtedly amongst the others, though the real stand-out is probably 'Paralyzed', which deserves to be ... more

This album's the debut from Swedish rockers Mando Diao, and one of the most exciting indie albums for a long time.
The record's quite unusual in that it's actually made up of mostly tracks recorded by the band as demos, despite the fact it was released by a major label (EMI), but the rawness this provides works wonders.

From the first few moments you can tell this is no normal record, Opening track 'Sheepdog' starting with increasing feedback before an infectious guitar riff comes in, with screaming vocals added, just in case it wasn't interesting enough already. The rest of the album continues in a similar vein, with 60s influences showing through just as much as those from recent bands such as The Libertines.

The opener mentioned above is one of many highlights from the album, 'Motown Blood' and 'P.U.S.A.' being undoubtedly amongst the others, though the real stand-out is probably 'Paralyzed', which deserves to be held up as a true indie/garage rock classic.

Overall, the album easily betters most efforts by today's generic 'indie' artists (I realise they're on EMI, so not 'independent', but that's not the point), with genuinely exciting songs and catchy hooks, interesting basslines (as opposed to one note per beat, 4/4 root notes favoured by too many bands currently) and a sense of fun. It's not the most original, but it is arguably the closest thing today to real 60s-style blues rock'n'roll. 

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