Quickies:
- From Gothenburg, Sweden
- Band members: Håkan Johansson, Per Stålberg, Jonas Gustavsson, David Ojala
- Formed in 1997

Albums:
Pretty Electric – released November 13, 2001 – Burning Heart
Black City – released February 19, 2002 – Burning Heart/Epitaph Records
Das Not Compute – releasing May 11, 2004 – Epitaph Records

Recorded at Svenska Grammofon Studio in Gothenburg, Sweden by Kalle Gustavsson and Don Ahlsterberg, Das Not Compute takes DOLL to atmospheres only hinted at on their first album with groovier guitars and four on the floor rhythms. This time around they aren’t afraid to strip things down even more to create a diverse album that goes from huge walls of guitars to ultra minimalist keyboard/vocal songs.

Das Not Compute pushes the conceptions of rock and punk with an equal nod to British psychedelia and Washington, DC post-punk. Their lyrics claw at the state of the world and the human condition and after listening to this fiery sophomore album, DOLL will have you questioning everything yourself. Upon the end of this musical journey, when the dust settles and the pillars of heaven have been shook, you will find then yourself standing in the midst of the current state of chaos and hyperactive media. At that moment the words of these four Swedes will ring true… that something truly “Das Not Compute”. DOLL is no where… DOLL is now here.

Bio:
“We set out to do our best and make a really good record and that’s about it.”
- Per Stålberg

The Division of Laura Lee doesn’t get much more serious, and singer-guitarist Per StÃ¥lberg’s comment isn’t just hot air from one more band with one more new album. Rather, it’s a statement of intent and achievement. The actual record itself, which the Swedish quintet has dubbed Das Not Compute, is the exclamation point. And, uh, kind of a question mark.

You may remember their album of two years ago, Black City, and its groovy murk. If you don’t, it somehow slinked underneath your table, it’s not for lack of attention. It came like a thief in the night and rocked some souls out of a sameness-induced slumber. The band likewise toured, and fans enlisted in droves as DOLL’s vastly-realized rock n’ roll (a blend of Love and Rockets, U2, the Stones, the MC5, Minor Threat, Spiritualized and the Jesus and Mary Chain) reminded them why they liked music in the first place: because it was stirring emotionally and physically—it could make you rock, writhe, cry, laugh, or puke. And the problem with current music is that it just does not compute.

“I grew up listening to guitar rock,” says StÃ¥lberg, “but sometimes I get really fed up with rock. And I’m bummed by the punk scene; it used to be pretty good. I don’t think Division is really a punk band, but that’s what we base our beliefs in. We want to just try to change things that we don’t like. It’s getting worse every day.”

Much like a lot of other music fans, StÃ¥lberg is genuinely despondent over the state of music, and it shows on the record. Each time he sings “There’s a last time for everything” on DNC’s apparent final track, while steady and unwavering, he is incrementally more bummed. But that’s only one track, and counts nothing for what precedes it and what follows.

Das Not Compute, recorded over three months at Svenska Grammofon Studio in Gothenburg, Sweden with Kalle Gustavsson and Don Ahlsterberg, is a dark, depressing album. It’s also a happier, hopeful album, utterly bipolar in that it swings either way—not just from song to song, but within a song. “Does Compute” commences the record in a fuzzy, funky hail with StÃ¥lberg announcing, “I just wanna be nothing” then pleading, “Tell me what to do to please you/how to be good/’cause I want to… I just wanna be different/bring me back my wisdom.”

Henceforth, Division embarks on a journey to make sense of their existence, the world and their work. The dance-revolt rocker “We Are Numbers” is bleak, but exhilarating in both its assertion that we are numbers (”…feeling leftover…/I am nothing”), and insistence that something be done about it. “Breathe Breathe” is the album’s “Comfortably Numb,” a song as soothing (”nothing here to fear, nothing to be scared of/I promise I’m your shelter when it’s bad/Breathe, breathe, breathe/I’ll help you through…you can trust me”) as it is subtly loud. The album continues on the despair/hope trip until it culminates not in “There’s A Last Time for Everything” but a sublime, Bowie-esque hidden track, “Quiet = Silence” (a quietly resolute call to arms).

Stålberg reveals, perhaps unknowingly, the source of the dichotomy/dual message.

“The last record was very dark,” says StÃ¥lberg , “but it was about how it was to grow up… how hard we had it growing up. We didn’t have it very easy, any of us. There was lot of drugs and violence and shit like that. I guess [Das Not Compute] is even darker… but (bassist/songwriting partner) Jonas, he thinks it’s a happier record. I don’t know why, though.”

He reconsiders his take, and adds: “I think the whole record has got more brains than the last one. It’s one more step in our mission to destroy sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll, the whole scene. And I think we’ve succeeded and we’re proud of it.”

Indeed, they have and, while they continue to carry some degree of bleakness, they’re en route to figuring things out. In crafting their extremely genuine, thoughtful, inspired rock n’ roll, they’ve steadily carved a niche for themselves that is independent of any movement or label. And in doing so, they’re satisfying their own craving for something more, something that makes sense, heading for the day when everything suddenly das compute.

Then again, maybe it’s something altogether simpler.

“Division has really tried, and reached so many goals,” says StÃ¥lberg . “But we’re not ruling the world yet. When we do that, we can quit.”

Similiar Artists: The Hives, The Make-Up, The Mooney Suzuki, Mando Diao, Jet, The Datsuns, Weird War, The Agenda, The Librarians, The (International) Noise Conspiracy, The Hellacopters

Links:
Official Website: divisionoflauralee.com
DOLL on Epitaph.com: epitaph.com/bands/index.php?id=364
Black City e-card: epitaph.com/goodies/ecard.php?id=99

Downloads: “Does Compute” from Das Not Compute