The Sounds

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• Genre: Indie/Alternative
• Hometown: Helsingborg
• The Sounds Website

About

Founded in 1999 in the remote town of Helsingborg, Sweden, the Sounds are a new wave-gone-punky-pop combo. Their 2002 debut Living in America, was released not long after the band members finished up with high school, rocketing up to the very top of the charts in Sweden and earning them a Swedish Grammy award (not to mention heaps of "best newcomer" accolades). In America, they were introduced to U.S. audiences when they toured with the Strokes and the Foo Fighters. Their second disc, Dying to Say This to You, was partly produced by Jeff Saltzman (credited for all the fuss surrounding the Killers' debut, and former Green Day co-manager) and recorded in Oakland, Calif., and in studios in New York and Boston. Despite their rather sneering, seditious attitude, when combined with a retro synthesizer sound and guitar hooks, the result is far from threatening: it's simply upbeat rock 'n' roll fun.

- Michele K-Tel