So, maybe you haven’t heard of Sweden’s Bear Quartet before. No big deal. They didn’t make any effort to lure you into their world, even if they worked their asses off to make their music available. That’s part of their thing. Integrity and hard work. The type of thing one would expect of an honest indie band from the northern parts of the country with a real punk ethos; you are always welcome to participate, to congregate, to listen, to get into them. To dig them.

These indie stalwarts have redefined themselves as often as they feel like; taking new paths to keep things vital and interesting. Good on them, I would say. If they would have buckled and listened to the words of others, they probably would have folded a long time ago. Or they would have been rich. Who knows?

All I can say is that they’ve made this gem of a pop song on their latest record – “89” – that we love and now get to release on a 7” together with a cover version of the same song. The flip side is by amazing Swedish noiseniks Skull Defekts. Terming it a pop song is of course debatable, but still, there’s no other good way to explain it. It’s direct, it’s catchy and it should be popular.

Skull Defekts is a band that has stripped music to its core and then built it back up again, only using the necessary parts. With their roots in bands like Kid Commando and Union Carbide Productions – amongst a ton of others – they’ve had some time to figure this out. Their music is repetitive, somewhat tribal and industrial, often in an organic way. They’ve turned this song into somethig heavier and darker. A song that builds from hushed vocals and low-key drumming into a more evil tune.

One amazing song. Two great bands.