| Little Dragon | |
| Background: | group_or_band |
| Origin: | Gothenburg, Sweden |
| Years Active: | 1996–present |
| Current Members: |
|
Little Dragon are a Swedish electronic music band from Gothenburg, Sweden, formed in 1996. The band consists of Yukimi Nagano (vocals, percussion), Erik Bodin (drums), Fredrik Wallin (bass) and Håkan Wirenstrand (keyboards).
Little Dragon's first release was the double A-side seven-inch vinyl single "Twice"/"Test", released on the Off the Wall label in 2006. The following year, the band signed with the larger British independent label Peacefrog Records and released their eponymous debut album in August 2007.[1] Their second album, Machine Dreams, was released in August 2009, and gathered favourable reviews. The third album, Ritual Union, was released in July 2011 and was ranked at number 41 on Rolling Stone list of the 50 Best Albums of 2011.[1] [2] Clash placed it at number 31 on its list of The Top 40 Albums of 2011.[3]
The band's fourth studio album, Nabuma Rubberband, was released in May 2014 by Because Music and was met with critical acclaim. It received a nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. The band's fifth studio album, Season High, was released on 14 April 2017. New Me, Same Us, the band's sixth studio album, was released on 27 March 2020.[4] Their most recent album, Slugs of Love, was released on 7 July 2023.
Little Dragon formed in 1996 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Yukimi Nagano was in her first year in high school when she met seniors Fredrik Wallin and Erik Bodin. The three of them would meet up after school to jam and play records by De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and Alice Coltrane.[5] The band's name was inspired by the "Little Dragon" nickname Nagano earned due to the "fuming tantrums" she used to throw while recording in the studio. "It's a little exaggerated, but there is some truth in it", Nagano said. "But we've grown up a bit, and I realised you can't have a fit every day because otherwise you won't be able to stand each other."[6]
Little Dragon have toured throughout Europe and has also made music videos for the songs "Test", "Twice", "Constant Surprises", "After the Rain" and "Fortune". The video for "Twice" was directed by award-winning Swedish filmmaker Johannes Nyholm. The double A-side single "Fortune"/"Blinking Pigs" was released in the UK on 26 January 2009.
Little Dragon were chosen as one of Beyond Race Magazines "50 Emerging Artists" in late 2009, resulting in a spot in the publication's 11th issue as well as an exclusive online Q&A on the magazine's site.[7] On the recommendation of his wife, Damon Albarn invited Nagano and her bandmates to feature on Gorillaz's 2010 album Plastic Beach, appearing on the tracks "Empire Ants" and "To Binge".[5] Albarn then asked Little Dragon to join Gorillaz on their Escape to Plastic Beach Tour.[8] [5] In September 2011, former keyboardist Arild Werling rejoined the group on support keys during live performances.[9]
Little Dragon's fourth studio album, Nabuma Rubberband, was released on 12 May 2014 in the United Kingdom via Because Music and on 13 May in the United States via Loma Vista Recordings.[10] The album was inspired by Janet Jackson's slow jams.[11] "Klapp Klapp" was released as the album's lead single.[10] The second single, "Paris", debuted on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 programme on 8 April 2014.[12] Nabuma Rubberband received a nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards.[13]
The band's fifth studio album, Season High, was released on 14 April 2017 by Loma Vista Recordings. It has spawned the singles "High" and "Sweet".[14]
| Details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SWE [15] | AUS [16] | BEL (FL) [17] | IRE [18] | FRA [19] | NZ [20] | SCO | SWI [21] | UK [22] | US [23] | |||
| Little Dragon |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Machine Dreams |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Ritual Union |
| 47 | 91 | — | — | — | — | 61 | — | 22 | 78 | |
| Nabuma Rubberband |
| — | 44 | 125 | 84 | 118 | 33 | 46 | 61 | 14 | 24 | |
| Season High |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 173 | |
| New Me, Same Us |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Slugs of Love |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||
| Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [31] | BEL (FL) Tip | MEX [32] | UK | UK Indie | US Bub. [33] | US Dance/ Elec. | ||||||
| "Test"/"4ever"[34] | 2006 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Little Dragon | |||
| "Twice"/"Test"[35] | 2007 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "Constant Surprises"/"Scribbled Paper"[36] | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "Recommendation"[37] | 2008 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "Fortune"/"Blinking Pigs"[38] | 2009 | — | — | — | — | 25 | — | — | Machine Dreams | |||
| "Feather"/"Stranger"[39] | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "My Step"[40] | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "Runabout"[41] | 2010 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "Nightlight"[42] | 2011 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Ritual Union | |||
| "Ritual Union"[43] | 16 | 22 | 26 | 76 | 7 | 12 | — | |||||
| "Little Man"[44] | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "Sunshine"[45] | 2012 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "Klapp Klapp"[46] | 2014 | — | — | 45 | — | — | — | — | Nabuma Rubberband | |||
| "Paris"[47] | — | — | 36 | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "Let Go"[48] | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "Pink Cloud"[49] | 2015 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "High"[50] | 2017 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Season High | |||
| "Sweet" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "Peace of Mind"[51] | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | rowspan="4" | ||||
| "Sway Daisy"[52] | 2018 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "Best Friends"[53] | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "Tried"[54] | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "Lover Chanting" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Lover Chanting EP | ||||
| "Hold On" | 2020 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 35 | New Me, Same Us | |||
| "Are You Feeling Sad?" | — | — | — | — | — | — | 25 | |||||
| "Where You Belong"[55] | — | — | — | — | — | — | 33 | |||||
| "The Other Lover" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||
| Year | Peak chart positions | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEL (FL) Tip | MEX | US Dance | |||||
| "Empire Ants" | 2010 | — | — | — | Plastic Beach | ||
| "Wildfire"[56] | 2011 | — | — | — | SBTRKT | ||
| "Scale It Back"[57] | 43 | 28 | — | The Less You Know, the Better | |||
| "Light"[58] | 2015 | — | — | — | In Return | ||
| "Bullets"[59] | 2016 | — | — | — | 99.9% | ||
| "Spontaneous"[60] | 2019 | — | — | 50 | Flamagra | ||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||
| Year | Peaks | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FRA | ||||
| "Pretty Girls" | 2014 | 172 | Nabuma Rubberband |
| Title | Year | Other artist(s) | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Empire Ants" | 2010 | Plastic Beach | ||
| "To Binge" | ||||
| "If You Return" | Maximum Balloon | Maximum Balloon | ||
| "Thom Pettie" | 2012 | Big Boi, Killer Mike | Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors | |
| "Descending" | Big Boi | |||
| "Higher Res" | Big Boi, Jai Paul | |||
| "Wanderer" | 2015 | Welcome to Los Santos | ||
| "The Festival" | Mac Miller | |||
| "Mountains Have a Face Too" | Billion One | Minerva[61] | ||
| "Bullets" | 2016 | Kaytranada | 99.9% | |
| "Take a Chance" | Flume | Skin | ||
| "Drawn" | De La Soul | And the Anonymous Nobody... | ||
| "Stuck with Me" | 2018 | Tinashe | Joyride | |
| "Pressure" | 2019 | Little Simz | GREY Area | |
| "Spontaneous" | Flying Lotus | Flamagra | ||
| "Presence" | 2021 | Brittany Howard | Jaime (Reimagined) |
| Title | Year | Director | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Twice" | 2007 | Johannes Nyholm | [62] | |
| "Test" | [63] | |||
| "Constant Surprises" | 2008 | Fredrik Egerstrand | ||
| "Fortune" | Hideyuki Katsumata | [64] | ||
| "Swimming" | 2009 | Yusuke Nagano | [65] | |
| "After the Rain" | François Vogel | |||
| "Runabout" | rowspan="2" | |||
| "Looking Glass" | ||||
| "Never Never" | 2010 | Ulla Tomtom | [66] | |
| "My Step" | 2011 | Matthew Scheuerer | [67] | |
| "When I Go Out" | Emanuele Kabu | [68] | ||
| "Brush the Heat" | Yusuke Nagano | [69] | ||
| "Brush the Heat" (AVA remix) | Eleanor Brown | |||
| "Crystalfilm" | 2012 | Daniel Wirtberg | [70] | |
| "Sunshine" | Dave Ma | |||
| "Klapp Klapp" | 2014 | Taylor Cohen | [71] | |
| "Paris" | Trevor Kane | [72] | ||
| "Pretty Girls" | Nabil | [73] | ||
| "Underbart" | Grant Singer | [74] | ||
| "Mirror" | 2015 | Florian Joahn | [75] | |
| "High" | 2017 | Ossian Melin | [76] | |
| "Sweet" | ||||
| "Celebrate" | [77] | |||
| "Strobe Light" | Kristin-Lee Moolman | [78] | ||
| "Peace of Mind" | [79] | |||
| "Lover Chanting" | 2018 | Jack Whiteley & Joe Wills | [80] | |
| "Where You Belong" | 2020 | Chris Saunders | [81] | |
| "Rush" (Lil Silva Remix) | 2021 | Timothy O’Driscoll | [82] | |
| "Frisco" | 2022 | Broken Int | [83] |