Why Sweden Is Better Than You: Eric Malmberg
Monday, September 10, 2007 at 08:28PM 
This is a bit of a tangent for us, but guess what—we're really not sorry. Not this time anyway. Why, you ask? Because awesome is awesome. And Eric Malmberg? Well, he's a special brand of awesome. His awesome is so special that it eclipses even A-plus-B mash-ups and VMA pictures of an oddly muscley Dr. Dre.
Malmberg got his start as one half of the now-defunct organ-plus-drums duo Sagor & Swing. His debut 2005 full length, Den Gåtfulla Människan, saw him culling sounds exclusively from his trusty Hammond organ, a staple instrument in Swedish prog rock. Today he is at the forefront of an exclusive clique of Hammond-hugging Swedes led by Bo Hansson, who set the genre into motion in the '70s.
Amazingly, Malmberg brought Hansson (pictured above, second from right) out of the woodwork for his new album, Verklighet & Beat, which will be released tomorrow (aka 50 vs. Kanye Day) on Häpna. Hansson apparently plays synth on the record, while Malmberg sticks to the Hammond. From the sound of it, I'm sure it will end up making quite a few end-of-year lists. I, for one, have my hopes up enormously. Here are two tracks from the album:
Download
"Finalen"
Download
P.S. Anyone remember when I reviewed the first Malmberg album? I do. Kinda.