Oslo’s Spielbergs are a great example of the everyday heroes we all need sometimes – a group to look to for some reassurance that there is more beyond the confines of the lives we can feel trapped in. Working nine to five jobs, while simultaneously pursuing their passion, wrapped in their hyped-shoegaze indie-rock, are tales of feeling lost but never giving in. Their latest record, Vestli (and first for Big Scary Monsters), bears the same exuberance of their debut, while pushing the needle of breathless abandon further into the red. It is another collection of sing along anthems for those disorientated by the modern age.

Ahead of its release we caught up with guitarist and vocalist, Mads Baklien, to get his Sound & Vision picks.

Three favourite albums:

Let me pick three albums from three different periods of my life –

Malady – Malady

I never hear anything about this band or album from anyone! And I can’t understand why. Some very dear friends I knew a long time ago in my post-hardcore days showed me this album, and I have never gotten over it. I may have praised this album before on some other occasion searchable on the internet, but that’s just fair. This band, and this album, has the perfect blend of screaming and melody, brutality and harmonics, vulnerability and attitude, like I have never heard in any other recording ever since. It makes me want to riot, and it makes me want to cry. The guitar work is impeccable. I love it so much. If you have never heard of it, and think it might be something for you, do yourself a favor. It RULES. If you have heard it, and agree: SKÅL (cheers in Norwegian). 

Diarrhea Planet – I’m Rich Beyond your wildest dreams

My best friend showed me this band at the perfect time of my life. I was making the first sketches on my Mac that would in the end become the first Spielbergs songs. I had recorded a bunch of guitar solos and stuff on the tracks, and felt a bit ashamed, as I had evolved into a guitar player that strictly and only played RIFFS and CHORDS. He encouraged me to party on with my axe in my hand with this brilliant, sprawling, guitar-overloaded feast of absolutely genius rock songwriting and execution. The band no longer exists, and for that I am sad. But I thank them for ever existing. And their music will live on forever. 

Alex G – House of Sugar

This album made a big impression on me when it came out. You know you have some albums in your life that leave a mark on you. When you’re young it can happen quite easily, but at least for me, as I get older, these kinds of moments are rare. I check out a lot of new music all the time, and a lot of it I can quite like. But House of Sugar is now a part of my musical consciousness, I believe, until I die. It’s a schizophrenic listen, from tender folk ballads, through harsh glitchy electronic things, to glossy saxophone solos, it contains multitudes, as Bob Dylan would say. And tracks like Sugar come in and colour the whole album with post-apocalyptic desert landscapes, with blood red suns, and steel fortresses with giant all-seeing robot eyes on top. And I worry about the future. And I am thankful for the natural beauty that still exists on our dear home planet.

Favourite film:

Ratatouille

I have tried to get my kids hooked on this modern classic for a long time now, but they just don’t get it, man! It speaks to me on so many levels. I love Paris, and Pixar absolutely nails the ambience and vibe of Paris here in my opinion. I love cooking, these kids of mine eat my dinners every goddamn day! And my brother used to own a rat. Its name was Splinter (RIP). I used to visit my brother, and we would watch movies and eat chocolate. We would have the bar of chocolate on the table, in its wrapping, and I remember very vividly that Splinter’s little claws would suddenly appear at the far edge of the table. He was lurking on his prey. He didn’t mind us I think. He didn’t give a fuck. He was slowly crawling towards it, and suddenly he would pounce like a vicious leopard on its prey, sinking his razor-sharp fangs through the wrapping and into our bar of chocolate. We would break off the piece he had killed, and he would drag it with him and hide it under the couch. The day Splinter died, my brother was in bed and could hear him struggle with his breath, he had asthma or something. He struggled his way into my brother’s bedroom, climbed up his blanket and died in his lap. We will never forget you Splinter. Also, at the end of Ratatouille, when Anton Ego tastes Remy’s ratatouille, and he has a flashback to his childhood, that gets to me every time. 10/10.

Favourite book:

The Morning Star – Karl Ove Knausgård 

OK, I am a librarian and I don’t know what book to write about here. I am actually trying to get my kids into Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, which I do believe is the mother of all the pirate lore that I have been fascinated by growing up. Like the legendary computer games of Monkey Island. But you know my kids. They are not interested in my wisdom, so I am reading it to ‘myself’ instead. 

Therefore, I’m going to recommend a Norwegian author that you may already know outside of Norway. Karl Ove Knausgård and his novel, The Morning Star. If you have read the My Struggle books, you may agree with me that Knausgård is a master of making the mundane quietness of reality shine like a brilliant diamond in the morning sun. If you do not agree or have not read them, never mind. My point is that in this novel, he balances this same vibe and clarity with fantastic and terrifying scenes. Like a giant ominous star appearing on a bright summer sky, horrifying creatures lurking at the edge of your sight, death and darkness. At least that is how I experienced it.

A song that means a lot to you:

Townes Van Zandt – If I Needed You

This summer, I have orbited back to an old love of mine – Townes Van Zandt’s If I Needed You. I don’t have anything to say about it other than that it’s perfect, but you have to listen to this particular recording:

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