The Blacknuss collective was born amid the heyday of Acid Jazz in 1990, when the club that bore that name throbbed with sauna-like retro-heat on the dancefloor. The musicians and DJs behind the club later went on to form the band that has now released two albums of the very best dance music ever made in Sweden. Which, coincidentally, was the name of their first album in 1995, an improvisational debut built around the Sly & Robbie-style playing of drummer Martin Jonsson and bass man Christian Falk. It included the hit "It Should Have Been You".

The second album, "Allstars", lived up to its title, with the cream of Swedish soul involved; names like Robyn, Titiyo

Blacknuss

and Stephen Simmonds. But whoever the guest, the music keeps the homogenous sound that identifies it as a Blacknuss product. Highlights on an album full of them are Titiyo's "Seventh Heaven", "Dinah" and the superb reworking of the seventies' classic "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life"

The third album, nicely called "3", shows Blacknuss grooving more smoothly than ever. It opens with the superb single "Don't Break My Heart", with guest artists David's Daughters, Mic Mulee and Swedish rapper ADL. Other guests on the album are Jocelyn Mathieu, Kerima, Fourway and Nai-Jee-Ria, but the backbone is once again Martin Jonsson and his immaculate collection of r'n'b talent. Soul, r'n'b, funk, whatever, this is modern dance music of top international quality, as recognised by the Swedish music industry when they awarded Blacknuss a Grammy for Modern Dance in 1997. Getting the entire band together for a live gig is a real adventure, but when they manage it, be sure you're there too!