Radio Dept. Explore Dub on New EP

Over the last decade, the Radio Dept. have excelled at hyphenated pop genres: indie-, twee-, jangle-, synth-, etc. On its new EP, 'Never Follow Suit,' the Swedish trio adds "dub-" to the mix, exploring reggae rhythms on three of the disc's five songs. The band also big-ups hip-hop, outfitting the title track with a sample from the 1983 graffiti film 'Style Wars.'

That song also appears on the group's third album, this year's critically revered 'Clinging to a Scheme,' which Radio Dept. founder and lead singer Johan Duncanson has said was heavily influenced by hip-hop. As multi-instrumentalist Martin Carlberg tells Spinner, he and his songwriting partner prefer old-school rap to the modern-day jams so popular in their country.

"It's mainstream," Carlberg says. "It's one of the biggest genres here, I think. It's like saying 'pop.' It's popular. It's more like an era of hip-hop [we listen to], like early-'90s hip-hop, and maybe early-'80s pop music [are what] we're into."

If Duncanson and Carlberg are culturally and geographically removed from the subject matter of most of today's hip-hop, they find in the older records something that intrigues them musically and translates to their lives.

"It's just the feel -- the aesthetic, everything about it," Carlberg says. "I think it's a weird image that we have from here, from Sweden, of early-'90s hip-hop. It's different. The next day, maybe, we like early-'70s rock music. It's different from day to day. It's not heavily produced hip-hop. It's very bleak in comparison to today's artists. It's kind of cool, but compared to the hip-hop now, it's kind of uncool. It's like a nerdy version of hip-hop. And I like that feeling. We can relate."

As for dub reggae, a sound the band fully embraces on the new EP's closing track, 'Never Swallow Fruit Dub,' a remix by Pistol Disco, Carlberg says it's simply a style he and Duncanson -- firm believers in making pop without limitations -- felt like trying.

"It's not a big thing for us," Carlberg says. "Whatever inspires us at the moment, we just head on. The dub thing felt right for that moment. We've listened to dub music, but not that much, really. It's just inspiring. We're not big fans, but I think we have a different way to make music compared to other artists. We do everything ourselves, but we don't have a problem just exploring other sounds just for the moment."