
Nepal Death – With Her (Kali the Mother)
Genre: Psychedelic Rock
I love psychedelic rock music, especially if it promises to be inspired or tied to some exotic spiritual movement. Do you know who the only ones who love this more than I do? Wealthy westerns. Upon returning from a recent visit to Peru, I can tell you that unless you want to wrestle American and Swedish tourists for a place in an ayahuasca ceremony or a yoga class, don’t bother!
Why the interest? It’s not really about what these places actually bring to one’s life as what they could bring. They are mysterious, they are very far away, and they’re born out of a real sense of spiritual seeking. With spirituality and religion now permanently eradicated from rich parts of Europe and the U.S.A., there needs to be something to fill that void. And, believe me, psych-rock music needs that fuel more than anything.
Nepal Death’s “With Her (Kali the Mother)” are spiritual tourists with a record collection. They love seeking out secrets that downtown Stockholm does not possess and trying to turn those travels into psych-rock jams. They play music for their souls and for audience members who are looking to enrich the worth of their own. It all makes sense when you try to feel it and not think about it. Just don’t ask how much the plane trip back costs!
Sólstrauman – Kvitevind
There’s been a lot of talk about cultural appropriation recently, and I think we’ve heard enough. Why blame pop artists from the U.S. for taking inspiration wholesale from South Korea? That is just how pop music was started. That’s in the DNA of modern, non-classical music. You see something your neighbor has that they do well, and you grab it.
At the end of the day, the audience’s sense and their taste will regulate everything. There’s plenty of laughable Jamaican-inspired pop, but only one The Police. There are plenty of people making Kosmische Musik or Black Metal who have no intention of ever visiting Europe, but there are also exceptions of bands doing this well.
Ideally, however, you want to stick to something you understand. Norwegians tend to understand the beauty of nature, long winters, and loneliness. Unlike the Irish, people are also plagued by terrible weather; their music is not dynamic but slow, mysterious, and designed to describe the fog and what fishing for cod in freezing waters feels like. And, yes, they do this better than most non-Nordic people.
Sólstrauman’s “Kvitevind” has all of these qualities. It’s meditative Northern ambient pop. It’s camping music. And it’ll make you want to get a better job, save your money, and ride on the fjords. You should!