BAEBLE CONCERTS: Mando Diao at The Bowery Ballroom

Ode to Ochrasy: If you find yourself struggling with the title blazed across the cover of Mando Diao's latest record, don't worry. The band coined the term all on their own. "Ochrasy is no tangible place. It's the bleak, bleary swirls of hours between gig end and sunrise…the haze of fuzzy bars in fuzzier cities. It's where the criminals, freaks, and fuck-ups hang out and, prowling in their midst, there's Mando Diao hunting for fresh songwriting meat." Some might consider the Swedish band a bit bold for engaging in such a sonic, anthropological study of those who make the nighttime such a dangerous, down, and dirty adventure at times. But when anyone spends a few years of their life working until 1am, it can't really be considered a study…it is life.

Filmed at New York City's Bowery Ballroom, this performance shows what years spent living in "Ochrasy" have done for Mando Diao. Marrying a tightly knit sound with sinister slanted lyrics, epic song writing, and a celebratory stage presence, Mando Diao are a boisterous bunch of Swedes worth believing in. They may be a robust looking pack. But behind their irresistible style lies an artistic substance all their own that has gone critically overlooked throughout the years. - David Pitz