Peter Bjorn and John

Americans have long had a fascination with Sweden's exports (ABBA, bikini teams, Swedish fish, etc.), but for once there is something that doesn't seem so tongue-in-cheek (ABBA) or outright idiotic (bikini teams) or likely to leave a bad aftertaste. Peter, Bjorn and John are the best band you have maybe never heard of that you have actually heard several times. Taking bits and pieces from '60s pop, new wave, and a tinge (just a tinge, honest) of grunge, they mix it all up and create something wholly separate from any of those aforementioned genres and sound rooted firmly in the now—there is no "revivalism" going on here, no wistful glances to a past that they might view as superior (instead, it's just a barely discernible nod). In fact, they have streamlined all of it into ultra-catchy, beautifully melodic, just-plain-great pop songs in somewhat the same vein of Erland ye, without all the fidgety angst. And try, just you try, not whistling their hit, "Young Folks" for days afterward. With the Clientele. 18+.
Mon., Sept. 24, 8 p.m., 2007