Komeda

Named in honor of Krzysztof Komeda, the late jazz musican/film composer best known for his work with Roman Polanski and Ingmar Bergman, the Swedish kitsch-pop outfit Komeda originated in 1991 as the pit band for a Buster Keaton festival. A series of other festival performances followed, with the quartet — comprised of vocalist Lena Karlsson, guitarist Mattias Nordlander, bassist Marcus Holmberg and Holmberg's brother Jonas on drums — often renaming themselves Projektor 7 for their cinema-related work. In 1993, they issued their debut album Pop På Svenska, which they followed with the Plan 714 Till Komeda EP two years later. The full-length The Genius of Komeda arrived in 1996, with What Makes It Go? appearing two years later. Komeda gained more acclaim with their appearance on 2000's Heroes and Villains, the soundtrack to Cartoon Network's popular Powerpuff Girls series, and the following year saw a burst of activity from the band, including reissues of Pop På Svenska and Plan 714 Till Komeda on Minty Fresh. Nordlander departed the group before the release of their fourth album Kokomemedada, which came out in Europe in 2003 and was issued in the U.S. in 2004.