By Johan Jacobsson, Sonic At the office, June 7, 2002. A celebration of the independent swedish music scene in general and The State of Samuel in particular. - I'll lend you this cassette, if you promise to return it. - The State of Samuel? "At the Movies"? What's this? - I think you're going to like him. My friend Christian was wrong. I went home, popped the cassette in my boom box, pushed play and absolutely, unconditionally, loved the music that begun blasting through the speakers. Rewind a couple of years. 1993. Summer. In Varberg, a town och the west coast of Sweden, a young man called Samuel Petersson is spending his days at the beach, listening to "Slanted & Enchanted", the brilliant debut album from Pavement. ...late nights watching documentaries on the Discovery Channel, reading about the fate of Atlantis, running around causing commotion - generally acting the teenager in a confined space, playing punk rock in a band named after his wood shop teacher... Fast forward. 1999. Samuel moves to a suburb outside of Stockholm, the swedish capital.Home is where the four track is and songs are created, one after the other. ...more TV, more books, weird women, staring at a computer screen all day, stand tall... One day he sends a copy of his second full length cassette to my friend Christian. Stop. And then we meet. First through that release, later in person. ...at Samuel's first gig, in a bar with room for twenty people, then at small festivals, through his other cassettes, in clubs, at 24 hour cafés, on vinyl... Change tape. Rewind. 1993. Summer. In Viksjö, a suburb outside of Stockholm, a young man called Johan Jacobsson is spending his days on his parents lawn, listening to "Slanted & Enchanted", the brilliant debut album from Pavement. ...late nights watching documentaries on the Discovery Channel, reading about the fate of Atlantis, running around causing commotion - generally acting the teenager in a confined space, playing punk rock in a band named after a line in the movie "Watership Down"... Fast forward. 1999. Johan moved into Stockholm a couple of years ago. Home is where the word processor is, but no articles are being written. Although the swedish music scene is booming, Johan can't help to feel a little bit sad that only one band - By Coastal Café - is currently practicing the music that was his first love, lo-fi. ...more TV, more books, weird women, drinking too much, going to University but not caring about the results... One day his friend Christian lends him a cassette. Stop. New blank tape.