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The X-Files: The Album - Fight The Future  >>

According to the liner notes, 20 million people gather 'round the tube to watch The X-Files each week, so it's not a stretch to believe that the movie will be huge beyond belief. With that kind of hype, the producers were under a lot of pressure to put together an incredible soundtrack to back it up. At first glance, the disc looks aptly huge, featuring artists like Foo Fighters, The Cure, Bjork, and Sting. How does it stand up? Surprisingly, the smaller groups are the ones providing the best music within. Filter's reworking of Three Dog Night's "One" kicks the disc into high gear but the excitement plummets from there. The Foo Fighter's new track, "Walking After You," is a softly-sung mediocre pop song; Sting should be ashamed to be regurgitating yet another number ("Invisible Sun" with World Beat artist Aswad). It's also disappointing to see the inclusion of already-released cuts, like Bjork's "Hunter" and a forcibly altered version of Sarah Mclachlan's "Black." --Denise Sheppard

First Band on the Moon  >>

Gran Turismo  >>

Until now, the Swedish group the Cardigans were easily identified by their sunny, pop-friendly, melodic releases. Fearing being typecast as an act fluffier than a Nordic lamb, the band decided to head farther north for the winter. With Gran Turismo, their fifth release, you'll need your favorite, um, sweater, because the season has turned, the atmosphere is frosty, and, indeed, the nights are long and dark. Gran Turismo is a trip-hop album following the lead of grim meisters Portishead. The CD is punctuated with distorted, muted, uncomplicated guitar riffs and keyboard effects that often sound like a harpsichord played through a fuzz box. Nina Persson's slightly aching, sleepy little cutesy lead vocals sound as frictionless as rubbing two ice cubes together. Although the skies are grayer here, the one familiar musical element is their simple yet compelling rhythm structures, as evidenced in their jazz-informed drum patterns. If the Cardigans weren't competent musicians, this album would come across as nothing more than a career-sustaining maneuver. But with this solid, dark, and intriguing release, they've clearly demonstrated their ability to compose great songs, no matter what the weather. --Beth Bessmer

Long Gone Before Daylight  >>

Long Gone Before Daylight marks a shift in theme for the Cardigans. Their last album, 1998's Gran Turismo, was a masterpiece. With Peter Svensson's quirky, driving, ultra-modern pop backing Nina Persson's icy dissections of doomed relationships, it was a Love Album informed more by Bret Easton Ellis than any high romance. So catchy, so cool, and so incredibly bleak--exceptional, intelligent pop in the tradition of Soft Cell and ABC. Long Gone Before Daylight, then, comes as something of a shock when the opening "Communication" and "You're the Storm"--both lush and beautiful pop--find Persson struggling for love then, come the Doors-like "And Then You Kissed Me," actually finding it. Real love, too--not the fascinatingly twisted variety of before. It's a terrible shame, for love reduces the Cardigans to the level of other musicians. But then, unpredictable devils, they hit you with "Couldn't Care Less," as Persson loses it all again, in the following "Please Sister" begging for advice, succor, anything. And now you realize; it's a pop-rock opera, the tale of one heart's tortuous and tortured journey through the mill. And it's superb. Persson, the finest pop lyricist working today, is on peak form while the band's back-to-roots grand piano and grander acoustic guitars provide an appropriately magnificent backing. --Dominic Wills

The Best Of  >>

The Cardigans have sold over 5.6million albums worldwide. Their biggest sellers are "Gran Turismo" (feat. "My Favourite Game" & "Erase/Rewind") which has sold 2.1m, and "First Band On The Moon" (feat. "Lovefool") at 1.8m."Lovefool's" inclusion on the blockbuster Romeo & Juliet film soundtrack propelled them to superstardom - it was a No. 1 in both the UK and US airplay charts and was a top ten hit all around the world! The Cardigans are also known for their iconic video for "My Favourite Game" which was directed by the uber cool Jonas Åkerlund. More recently, Nina has appeared on the Manic Street Preachers album "Send Away the Tigers" (May 2007): providing guest vocals on the UK Chart #2 single 'Your Love Alone Is Not Enough'. This was also a hit also around the globe. Universal. 2008.

Super Extra Gravity  >>

Sweden's the Cardigans broke big in America in 1996 with First Band on the Moon and the hit "Lovefool." A slippery, slick pop tune, the song was also unmistakably twisted, as vocalist Nina Persson described a desperate, submissive affair in honey-flecked tones and happy-day hooks. The dichotomy was a neat little joke that went right over a lot of merrily nodding heads. A decade later on Super Extra Gravity, the band still likes to play with expectations of what a pop band is supposed to be. But while the melodic camouflage for Persson's dour lyrics once made for an effective disguise, Gravity struggles to maintain the illusion. The music here is self-consciously ambitious, constantly reshuffling and losing its momentum, leaving Persson in charge of connecting each song's too-disparate parts. It's a task for which her Chrissie-Hynde-meets-Harriet-Wheeler voice is not well-suited. "Drip Drop Teardrop," for instance, needs either a belter to accentuate the song's jagged edges or a chanteuse to smooth it out, and Persson can do neither. There are pieces of songs that still rope us in. The chorus of "Little Black Cloud," for instance, generates an exuberant energy that matches Persson's tale of a girl spinning and dancing her way toward a vaguely sinister conclusion, while "In the Round" mines an appealingly sparse and slow guitar drawl. However, the pieces don't add up to a convincing whole, and while this album is never quite boring, Gravity tries a bit too hard and ends up an interesting misfire. --Matthew Cooke

The Best Of  >>

Import. EU. International 2 CD Deluxe Edition. The Cardigans have sold over 5.6million albums worldwide. Their biggest sellers are Gran Turismo (feat. 'My Favourite Game' & 'Erase/Rewind') which has sold 2.1m, and First Band On The Moon (feat. "Lovefool") at 1.8m.'Lovefool's' inclusion on the blockbuster Romeo & Juliet film soundtrack propelled them to superstardom - it was a No. 1 in both the UK and US airplay charts and was a Top Ten hit all around the world! The Cardigans are also known for their iconic video for "My Favourite Game" which was directed by the uber cool Jonas Åkerlund. Nina has appeared on the Manic Street Preachers album "Send Away the Tigers" (May 2007): providing guest vocals on the UK Chart #2 single 'Your Love Alone Is Not Enough'. This was a hit around the globe. Universal. 2008.

Life  >>

These days it's getting harder to tell the real pop twerps from the hip parodists--both of whom make music sweeter and more dizzying than cherry wine. Take Sweden's Cardigans, for example: On one hand, they work the same delicious Bacharach lounge jazz and gooey '60s girl swoons as Pizzicato Five, a group whose retrokitsch is delivered with a big, fake-eyelashed wink. On the other hand, the Cardigans come from a land that gave us Abba and Ace of Base, sincere pop legends if ever there were. The Cardigans, it seems, could go either way, and their subtle blend of pop-for-pop's-sake with pop-for-joke's-sake makes their first American release, Life, all the more a modernist gem.

There's no use digging below the surface of Life's amazingly catchy opening quartet of tunes. All the joy to be extracted lies right on the surface: "Carnival"'s loopy organ and punchy beat is all cotton candy and merry-go-rounds; "Daddy's Car" is a fun-fun-fun ride to the up-up-and-away; "Fine" soars heavenward while "Rise & Shine" is mile-a-minute perk-me-up. From there, though, "Our Space" ventures deeper, into darker and moodier atmospherics and a trip-hoppy electronic shuffle. Singer Nina Persson's crystalline lullaby voice keeps it all sounding innocent as hell, but when she sinks her candy-coated teeth into a Black Sabbath cover ("Sabbath Bloody Sabbath") she exposes a few sinister cavities. By the time she closes the album, exulting "No one can be happier than me!" the effect is eerie enough for David Lynch. With Life, the Cardigans give us pop till it hurts. --Roni Sarig

Emmerdale  >>

Reissue of the hit Swedish pop quintet's 1994 debut with four tracks from the European edition of their 1995 album 'Life' added as bonus tracks, 'Pikebubbles', 'Travelling With Charley', 'Sunday Circus Song' and 'Closing Time'. A combined total of 16 tracks, with the album itself featuring the European hits 'Sick & Tired' and 'Rise And Shine', plus their unique cover of Black Sabbath's 'Sabbath Bloody Sabbath'. Double slimline jewel case. 1999 release.

Lovefool  >>

Tracks: Include Todd Terry Remixes - Tee;s Club Radio, Tee's Frozen Sun Mix, Puck Version and Radio Edit.