Johan Lindström with Tonbruket

Some very good music is coming out of Sweden these days, in the form of an instrumental quartet named Tonbruket. The brainchild of jazz bassist Dan Berglund, this band runs the musical gamut from rock fusion to dreamy jazz soundscapes. Pedal steel fans will be interested in multi-instrumentalist Johan Lindström's role in the band. His steel guitar is featured prominently on their new album Dig It to the End.

Tonbruket's unclassifiable nature has been wowing critics since their inception in 2009. Ron Netsky, a reviewer at the 2011 Rochester International Jazz Festival, wrote yesterday in the Rochester City Newspaper:

Tonbruket's music was like the soundtrack of a surreal dream. All of the group's instruments can be played in routine ways, but the members never did that. Pedal-steel guitar became a particularly ethereal expressive force. Drumming ranged from the subtlest of rhythms to dismantle-the-cymbal cacophony, but it was always perfectly on the beat. Several times I closed my eyes and couldn't discern any of the instruments. It just sounded like one gigantic, futuristic music machine.

Tonbruket has two more North American dates scheduled: June 22 at Yoshi's in Oakland, California and June 24 at Performance Works in Vancouver, Canada. For more information, visit www.Tonbruket.com.