MOVITS!

swing-jazz // balkan // swedish hiphop

“Django guitar, windy street swing; music for both art directors and for your mother” is how MOVITS! describe their sound. Well-known in Sweden, but unheard of elsewhere, they fold together elements of 1930’s big band swing, roma swing and rhythm & blues, then drop hiphop vocals on top for some serious energetic firepower. The ability to seamlessly interweave a number of genres reminds me of The Cat Empire, but while MOVITS! could relax on their catchy beats, they expertly drop variations (i.e. 2:00 in the video above) that’ll keep you smiling throughout the song.

Music for art directors and your mother
MOVITS! – Äppelknyckarjazz
MOVITS! – Swing För Hyresgästföreningen
+ Purchase/Visit

31 Responses to “MOVITS!”

  1. Paul Irish :

    Thx to Vishal for the find on this.

    Btw- Natasha found the CD available on Hepcat. They ship internationally. (It’s also available inside europe at CDON.eu) I do recommend you get it, as the entire record is a beauty.

  2. Hybernaut :

    Irresistible! Great find, Paul.

    Aurgasm looks and feels better every time I visit.

  3. Andrée :

    Great description, one addition though: Must be heard!

  4. Peter :

    Hey! There -is- intelligence in the universe after all.

    That’s a quick pick-me-up. Thank you.

  5. Natasha :

    Fantastic!

    I found this site to purchase the album, which seems to ship worldwide.
    http://www.hepcat.se/index.php?manufacturers_id=371

  6. Paul Irish :

    Natasha, great find! thanks. <3

  7. Vlad :

    Thank you so much for introducing me to this (and many other) artist. They’re so much much fun!

  8. JK :

    It relies a bit too much on voices for me, but it’s still great! Now I just have to go learn the language so I can tell what they’re saying…

  9. Benji :

    This is an awesome find! My swedish friend had not heard of them. One problem…the hepcat site doesn’t seem to have the album available anymore. :-( Maybe I can persuade my friend to buy and mail me a copy. :-D

  10. Lia :

    I don’t understand a word but it sounds great. That’s the wonder of Music! Cheers.

  11. HÃ¥kan Larsson / hepcat.se :

    MOVIT, Back in stock soon. We only had a hand full that we got when they where playing at Club HepCat in Lund and fore some reason we suddenly ran out :O) . Thanks for refuring to us”¦ and I will eminently order more and get them back in stock next week.

    You can already order and we will ship as soon as they arrive:
    http://www.hepcat.se/product_info.php?products_id=4608

  12. Paul Irish :

    Whoa! Thx for the stock update Benji.

    And thanks HÃ¥kan for hooking us up with more product! Kickass. :)

  13. Julie :

    I’m with Lia, I can’t understand a lick of what they’re saying, but the vibe is undeniable. I’ve got it on repeat…

  14. Jason :

    primo stuff man. i need more upbeat stuffs like this. :)

  15. maybelately :

    amazing! these guys are brilliant, if unintelligible.

  16. no :

    beginning is very similar to this:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6VrgPMLsiE

  17. HÃ¥kan Larsson / hepcat.se :

    FINALLY! We got some MOVITS CDs. Sorry for the delay. The label and distributor where all out but I managed to get some directly from the band. Pre ordered CDs will be shipped today and a small number is again available at hepcat.se. More available as soon as the re-press arrive, but I don’t dare to promise any date.

  18. windshallah :

    Always nice to hear something new – and this sits square in the middle of that category for sure. Good stuff – thanks

  19. Lars :

    Really great find.
    Just for completion: You can find another song on their myspace-page
    http://www.myspace.com/movits
    And by now you can order their album (for a small fortune) on Amazon.com – though they’ll probably just order it from their record label for you.

  20. SwedishTom :

    Cool that you like this! I´m from Sweden and I´ve been a fan of this band for some time now.

    They are incredibble live!

    Thanks for a good blog!

  21. Garymon :

    Crazy fun. I must have.

  22. Krissi D :

    Just saw Movits! on Colbert; they’re awesome! Glad I found your site, so I can find their CD.

  23. kc :

    These guys are great! I found some of the songs here:

    http://uploading.com/files/5MG94KHN/MOVITS.rar.html

  24. tk :

    YES!! As a reasonably rabid Cat Empire fan, I say right on to the analysis. Good for Colbert, and hopefully, good for them.

  25. Isaac :

    Wow. Six-string banjo?

  26. Ian :

    Just saw that the album is on Amazon for download now:

    http://www.amazon.com/%C3%84ppelknyckarjazz/dp/B002JS7Z3Q/ref=sr_shvl_album_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1249089922&sr=301-2

    And it’s # 8 on Amazon’s Digital Albums chart. Whoa! Go Movits!

  27. Yvonne Connasse :

    Wonderful. Thank you so much for posting this! And a beautifully filmed video at that! Sad, that the lighting in this short clip is better than the lighting in the past five “Independent” films I’ve seen in theatres.

  28. tk :

    Just received the CD from Sweden (Hepcat) — smost excellent!

  29. Chris Johnson :

    very nice indeed!

  30. Thos Weatherby :

    As Zappa would say, “Shut up and play your banjo son”. Mono tone never sounded so . . . mono.

  31. Jennifer :

    going to see these guys in Seattle tonight! SO STOKED. Thanks for introducing them!