Member Since: 9/27/2005
Band Website: mattiashellberg.com
Band Members: The Tourette Baboons
Influences: "Don't hate the black Don't hate the white If you get bit Just hate the bite Make sure your heart is beatin' right" -Sly Stone
Sounds Like: WELL IT USED TO SOUND SOMETHING LIKE LIKE THIS..... MATTIAS HELLBERG Mattias Hellberg (Silence) Sweden's Mattias Hellberg has been knocking around the edges of the Nordic music business for several years now, as a member of the Wayne Kramer-endorsed Nymphet Noodlers, before finding a measure of success in the covers duo Hederos & Hellberg. Now he's finally stepping out on his own with his self-titled debut album, and it's a knockout. Hellberg's works boasts a strong traditional streak, with straightforward, verse-chorus-verse songs that draw from rock & roll, C&W and folk sources. Couched in deliberately ragged arrangements revolving around an acoustic/electric guitar mix evocative of the Rolling Stones at their best, tunes like "A Sight Supreme," with its Neil Youngesque leads, the waltzing "Where Did You Go" and the folk-rocking "Walking Restless" revivify rock & roll traditions some idiots argue have been played out. His lyrics cut "Deep Into the Bone" of relationships gone wrong, with just the right mix of defiance and regret. "You could have reached for me/But you didn't and you're not to blame," he sings on "Could Have Reached For You," before delivering the punch line: "I could have reached for you/But I didn't." Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Hellberg, though, is his voice. Cracked, wobbly, imperfect, it oozes honesty and feeling; he's capable of delivering lines like "Who's to believe in a world so weird/When the one you once loved/Turn out to be a pain in the ass" without a trace of a smirk. Stripping down to just guitar and that ravaged voice gives even a hoary chestnut like Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion" a new relevancy. "Songs made out of blue keys/And love in blue eyes/These are things that always stay in style," Hellberg croons in "True," and he's right. Mattias Hellberg fearlessly upholds truths that should be self-evident, and does it as well as any of the classics to which it's sure to be compared. Michael Toland/www.highbias.com..................................... ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................A few months ago, this listener was lucky enough to discover the music of the Swedish duo Hederos & Hellberg when she heard their second album, Together in the Darkness.The album is a collection of covers from seemingly disparate artists and originals penned by the duo. What holds it together is a deep sense of melancholy and understanding of the human condition. These are tales of alienation and love, presented in the frankest terms, stripped down to their bare essentials. Mattias Hellberg's voice is a revelation. Smoky and self-assured, it alone could command a room. Martin Hederos' delicate piano and organ-playing form the ideal backdrop.Above all, Hederos & Hellberg excel at cutting to the emotional heart of the songs. They've taken the sneer out of the Stooges' "No Fun", transforming it into a meditation on loneliness. Bob Marley's "Concrete Jungle" echoes with despair, and the Rolling Stones' "Shine a Light" glows with compassion. The originals are uniformly strong, with "Endless Exile" being particularly devastating. It all adds up to a superlative study in Scandinavian melancholy.The duo released but one EP after Together and then ceased to be so that Martin Hederos could concentrate on his keyboard-playing for the Soundtrack of Our Lives. Fortunately, we have not heard the last of Mattias Hellberg, who released a self-titled album in March of 2005.
Record Label: none
Type of Label: None