The Concretes

The Concretes are a Stockholm-based, Swedish pop collective composed of eight members, and up to an additional twelve members (the "honorary concretes") on strings and backing vocals.

The group was formed in 1995 by vocalist Victoria Bergsman, guitarist Maria Eriksson and drummer, Lisa Milberg. Over the course of the next three years they added a further four members to the band proper, bassist Martin Hansson, organist Per Nystrom, trumpeter Ulrik Karlsson. In 1998, the band released their first EP as "the Concretes", entitled, simply, EP #1 in 1998 (five songs, limited edition of 487 copies). EP #2 (aka"the Lipstick Edition) followed in 1999 (six songs, limited edition of 1000 copies). With the release of EP #2, something unexpected happened for the Concretes; a US record label heard the EP and loved it. Chris Takino of Up Records contacted the Concretes and combined their two EP's into a full-length album for release on his label, Up Records, in the US., and so in mid 2000, "Boy, You Better Run Now" was released on Up Records in the U.S.

Tracklisting:

1. Teen Love
2. Sunsets
3. Be Mine
4. Other Ones
5. Vacation
6. Recover
7. Give A Little
8. The Jeremiad
9. Cabaret
10. The Thief (Tjyven)
11. Contamination

Unfortunately, Chris Takino died after a long battle with leukemia in October 2000. And the Concretes again found themselves without a label. In 2001, the Concretes released the "Nationalgeographic EP' (six songs, US release only) on the "Above Ground" label, however, problems with the label made this EP nearly impossible to find. As a result of these problems, the band formed their own label, "Licking Fingers" in 2002, and released their single "Forces"(2 songs) in 2002.

Along the way, the Concretes added a second guitarist, Daniel Värjö, and a saxophonist, Ludvig Rylander to make up the eight members of the official band line-up.

In 2003, the Concretes released two more singles, which gained international recognition for the band. These singles were "Can't Hurry Love", and "Warm Night". The bands eponymously-titled debut album was released in 2003 to much critical acclaim, on their own "Licking Fingers" label in Europe, and on the "Astralwerks" label in the US.

"The Concretes" Tracklisting:

1. Say Something New
2. You Can't Hurry Love
3. Chico
4. New Friend
5. Diana Ross
6. Warm Night
7. Foreign Country
8. Seems Fine
9. Lovin Kind
10. Lonely As Can Be
11. This One's For You

Their single "Seems Fine" was released in 2004, followed by the singles "Lady December", and their Christmas EP (Warm Night/Seems Fine Shuffle) at the end of 2004.

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