Speaker Bite Me

Speaker Bite Me, a Danish experimental pop group, sustained activity inside their homeland's alternative and indie rock circles from the late 1990s through the first years of the following decade. Across that span they issued multiple albums, some in Danish and others in English, on various labels, all of them warmly received and earning the band the label "the Danish Sonic Youth." After delivering their fourth full-length, 2001's 4 Days in September, the outfit embarked on an extended hiatus during which several members turned to solo work. Signe Høirup Wille-Jørgenson, already established as an artist, curator, and political columnist as well as a musician, became best known to English listeners through her vocal role in Luke Sutherland's Bows and released several albums under the name Jomi Massage; meanwhile singer, guitarist, and pianist Martin Ryum put out the solo album Uden Garanti in 2004. Speaker Bite Me resurfaced nationally with the 2007 release Action Painting, an album that fused off-kilter pop, dance, and avant-garde rock while weaving in lyrical hooks borrowed from Pink Floyd, Kate Bush, and Prince—a disparate yet telling collection of touchstones—and featuring a highly unorthodox rendition of Pete Seeger's "Where Have All the Flowers Gone." Later the same year a range of artists that included Junior Senior and Oh No Ono supplied contributions to an MP3-only mini-album of Action Painting remixes.