Possibly the best kept secret in rock (or at least in California), the Blondes kick out the kind of tunes that are reminiscent of an era when you could turn on the radio and hear really great power pop unencumbered by prog-rock claptrap or fake-sounding, forced crescendos like today's average bin-clogging indie rock/emocore mewl. Following the 2001 release of a 7 song E.P. on the L.A.-based Shipwreckords, the band -- who were known at the time as Eagle -- became instantly entangled in a bitter lawsuit with Don Henley, changed their name to the Blondes, and struck a deal with Germany's Middle Class Pig Records, who reissued their debut and, the following year, the full-length Summer Strut. Unleashed smack dab in the middle of summer 2003, Swedish Heat compiles the best songs from the two German releases: Thirteen tunes teeming with crunchy guitar-driven melodies; some with blast-furnace production, others with a sun-kissed Southern California vibe. From the blistering Redd Kross-meets-Big Star opener "I Just Wanna Stay At Home" to the breezy, '60s West Coast vibe of "So Far Away" to their blissed-out cover of "Igen" (by Hungarian psych rock band Illes) to a trio of self-explanatory power pop paeans to Teenage Foxes, Suzi Quatro, and California Sunshine, the Blondes serve up the sizzling soundtrack to your next summertime makeout party on one start-to-finish masterpiece of high-octane, So. Cal-flavored rock 'n' roll.