About the new album, the same can be said as of the previous - 89. On the one hand it has all the typical ingredients from the bands career up until now. On the other, it sounds like nothing they’ve ever recorded before. The Bear Quartet never looks back and never stands still. By the end of the 90’s they were through with pop music. They just weren’t that interested in it anymore. They just couldn’t look themselves in the mirror any longer, knowing they created another sentimental gem like, there classic tracks, “Mom And Dad” or “It Only Takes A Flashlight to Create a Monster”. They just wanted something new.

So they made “Ny Våg” in 2001, had somewhat of a relapse to old sounds in 2003 with “Angry Brigade”, although there were a couple of songs heading in the direction that was to come. The band has gone from the noisy, literary rock of the debut through the more arranged still literary, followers via the orchestrated pop and country/easy-listening tinged era of “Everybody Else” and “Holy Holy” that grew into the rock beast that is “Moby Dick” and its sister “Personality Crisis”. Then they made “My War” and “Gay Icon” and they evolved more than developed and it all lead up to the two albums “Saturday Night” (2005) and “Eternity Now” (2006) that people still striving to understand. That was the end of The Bear Quartet Mk 1 and they took a break since they felt they had fulfilled every single musical aspiration they’d ever had.

All this was needed to bring us up to...

The new album by the legendary The Bear Quartet, entitled “Monty Python”, was initiated straight after the recordings of the former “comeback” album “89”. The band even played a couple of tracks from it on their follow up tour to the album. “89” was the beginning of new creative phase. It all started with a label switch from their original label A West Side Fabrication to Malmö based Adrian Recordings. And in the rush just seems to keep going on.

About the new album, the same can be said as of the previous. On the one hand it has all the typical ingredients from the bands career up until now. On the other, it sounds like nothing they’ve ever recorded before.

This is the first single from the album. It is called “Fist Or Hand”.

The track is very well reflected in the bonus track that comes with it on the single. Here we get a sweet soft reggae version from Jamaican artist Desmond Foster. Desmond that was brought up in England, now live in Stockholm Sweden and has released one solo album. He is also a well sought-after studio musician that has played with artists like Aswad, Boy George and David Byrne. On vocals we find Gordon Cyrys.

www.thebearquartet.com
www.myspace.com/desmondfoster

Fist Or Hand
W: Mattias Alkberg M: Mattias Alkberg & Jari Haapalainen

My flame is tamed and now it’s yours, if you follow the beat. Yes, there have been palms attempting before but they couldn’t stand the heat. What’s the matter nervous lover? Are you a chicken or a man...

20 years ago, the Berlin wall fell. At the same time, in the great big cold and dark nowhere of northern Sweden, The Bear Quartet was born. The band has ever since combined an impressive productivity – 14 albums and 16 EP:s – with not only musical unpredictability and pathological integrity, but also consistent acclamations and praises from the critics.

This is an EP consisting of the second single from the album “Carry Your Weight” accompanied by 3 versions of the same track.

• Carry Your Weight (The Bear Quartet Original Single Version)
The title track and the original version is the last to one track of the album. It lures in the background but here enters the main stage both with scent of incense and slow caressfull dancing.
www.myspace.com/thebearquartet

• Carry Your Weight (M.A. Numminen Cover Version)
Second track is a legendary meeting between two up north legends. The Finnish cult singer M.A. Numminen and his accordion playing supporter Pedro has made a completely unique version.
www.myspace.com/manumminen

• Carry Your Weight (Strange Maps Remix)
Petter Granberg is usually a member of the excellent indie outfit Park Hotell, but he also makes slow Norwegian/Brooklyn influenced disco under the moniker Strange Maps. This version is made for forest dancing and attic parties.
www.myspace.com/strangemaps

• Carry Your Weight (VED-remix)
There is a new scene growing in Malmö, Sweden. It is nothing you have ever heard before and is derived fro...

This is the new album by the legendary The Bear Quartet. Without questioning the most influential band of the Swedish indie scene. The Bear Quartet never look back and never stand still.

“We've made this new album, 89, and it totally rocks, man. We recorded it in Stockholm over the course of five days and it's a big record, there really is no other way to describe it. It spans effortlessly over metal, kraut, Finnish tango music, afrobeat and punkrock without once losing focus or becoming pretentious. Art but not arty. Great songs with great lyrics. And danceable. The Best.”
- Matti Alkberg

090909 the new album from the legendary The Bear Quartet is released. This is the first single from it. It is called “Millions”

It is presented together with two versions of the same track. Both deeply rooted in the top of the Swedish creativity.

The mighty The Skull Defekts has made a cover version, a low ominous rock version, a dull threat of a distant fall. Andreas Tilliander has made a version that is closer to his moniker Mokira than what he presented on his more clubbier album “Show” earlier this year. You can hear echoes of artists like Pan Sonic, Cabaret Voltaire and Chris & Cosey in the experimental and cold sound landscape. This might also be the first remix ever of a The Bear Quartet track.