Billie Vision & The Dancers - "I'm Pablo" (Sweden)
Marit Bergman - "Walcott" (Sweden)
Real Ones - "Lonesome Town" (Norway)
Radio LXMBRG - "Feel the Heat" (Sweden)
The Radio Dept. - "Freddie and the Trojan Horse" (Sweden)

There's nothing better than Scandinavia. They've got volcanoes, Vikings, a buttkicking luge team and a drink known as "Glogg." Oh, and they have awesome, fun pop music, most of which will be spinning at St. Ex tonight at Hej Hej (which means "Hi! Hi!" in Swedish.)

Hej Hej is D.C.'s only all-Scandanavian dance night, founded by DJs Natalya Minkovsky and Melissa Gilmore Vivari after a trip to Iceland.

» Cafe St. Ex, 1847 14th Street, NW, Tue., 10 p.m., free; 202.265.7839. (U St.-Cardozo)

The Whitest Boy Alive - "Done With You" (Norway)
The Sound of Arrows - "Danger!" (Sweden) [download]
The Moonbabies - "Take Me to the Ballroom" (Sweden)
Club 8 - "Everlasting Love" (Sweden)
Laakso - "Italy vs. Helsinki" (Sweden)
Mew - "Special" (Denmark)
The Raveonettes - "You Want the Candy" (Denmark)
Real Ones - "Disharmonic Ears" (Norway)
Bang Gang - "Like Whoa" (Iceland)
Jens Lekman - "Into Eternity" (Sweden)

Datarock - "Princess" (Norway)
Teddybears - "Cobrastyle" (Sweden)
David & The Citizens - "Let's Not Fall Apart" (Sweden)
The Mary Onettes - "Void" (Sweden)
Sally Shapiro - "I'll Be By Your Side (Rude 66 808 Remix)" (Sweden)
The LK - "Tamagotchi Freestyle" (Sweden) [download]
Husky Rescue - "Nightless Night" (Finland)
Gus Gus - "Starlovers" (Iceland)
Love Is All - "Make Out Fall Out Make Up (Chicken Lips Remix)" (Sweden)

ABBA - "Dancing Queen" (Sweden)
Ace of Base - "Beautiful Life" (Sweden)
Ace of Base - "Cruel Summer" (Sweden)
a-ha - "Take on Me" (Norway)
Envelopes - "Party" (Sweden)
Robyn - "Handle Me (Bjorn Remix)" (Sweden)
The Knife - "Silent Shout"  (Sweden)
Shout Out Louds - "Normandie" (Sweden)
Mando Diao - "Amsterdam" (Sweden)

A Smorgasbord of Nordic Pop

By Lavanya Ramanathan

In a town filled with Prince face-offs and Britpop/indie dance nights (what does that even mean?), Hej Hej, the all-Scandinavian DJ night, arrived at Cafe Saint-Ex a year ago like a blast of fresh, Nordic air.

Hej Hej (pronounced hey hey, it's Swedish for "hi!") became the place to go for Washingtonians of Scandinavian descent. Then came the masses, the connoisseurs of Scando-pop who wanted to hear Jens Lekman, the Shout Out Louds and Ida Maria.

The event's fans are " really on their game," says Natalya Minkovsky, who with Melissa Gilmore Vivari founded the dance night following a trip to Iceland and a for-kicks all-Nordic set at their old Black Cat dance party Bluestate. They say they're struck by the cultures of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland, not just the music of that part of the world.

Behind the DJ booth, the frosty ladies (who, oddly, don't dress like Abba, don't seem to love Ikea and only occasionally don viking hats) say they play what they like -- upbeat pop, though they note that Norway has a strong heavy metal scene, and Sweden has its own hip-hop. To stay up on the scene, they visit sites such as http://www.itsatrap.com.

On Tuesday, they return to Saint-Ex to celebrate the first anniversary of their ever-growing, ever-evolving bash. They'll take requests and generally keep the crowd moving (in return, they're requesting that guests dress up like Bjork, for fun, of course). And down the road, the ladies of Hej Hej are among the sponsors of a concert by Sweden's the LK on March 8 at the House of Sweden in Georgetown.