REVIEW: Samlas Mammas Manna - Klossa Knapitatet

If you’re at all familiar with the television program Star Trek: The Next Generation, then you would know of the story of Data. Data is a young ambitious android with dreams of become more human. One of the obstacles in his path to become more human is his inability to laugh. You see my friends, robots don’t have a sense of humour. What is more human than being able to laugh at others misfortunes? His human friends attempt to lend a helping hand by trying to teach Data what is funny. Week after week they would show him funny clips and tell him various jokes. The problem is that the rest of the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation were not very funny. This, I think, is probably the main reason Data never laughed.

Now, consider for an instance if Data happened to have in his collection a record or two by the Swedish band Samla Mammas Manna? This would have made his dreams of laughing so much more feasible. This is a very funny band. The album currently under review, Klossa Knapitatet is an amazing blend of Swedish folk music, jazz fusion and a wacky sense of humour. These guys are so much fun to listen to.

From the first track to last this is a very fun listening experience. Since Swedish is not a language I at all know I’m not going to name any track by name. I don’t really have to actually. Most of the songs flow into each other so it’s a complete listening experience.

Now you may be asking, “but Paul, if you don’t understand a word of Swedish, then how are you so certain of the comedic value of this record?” That’s a valid question my friends, and one that warrants explaining. You see, these songs are all, for the most part anyway, entirely instrumental. That means that it’s in the arrangement and composition that these guys will tickle your funny bone. That’s no easy task but it’s pulled off with the sheer silliness of the performances.

Featuring loads of accordions, bicycle bells and other strange sounding novelty items, as well as the occasional wordless vocal in a very silly falsetto, the things you hear on this album will surely make you giggle. I’m not trying to take away from the quality of the music here. Perhaps the most outstanding thing about this album is the fantastic musicianship and the absurdly complex compositions. Music of that quality, so it seems, can be quite funny. It’s serious music presented in a silly way.

In the futuristic world of Star Trek, it seems that this Swedish band has been forgotten through the sands of time. Thankfully the show is nothing but a fictitious estimate of what the future may have in store. Don’t let it be true. Pick up a copy of Klossa Knapitatet today and help all the androids of the future laugh. Because even robots deserve to have a sense of humour, don’t you think?

7/10