I told you about the upcoming Diskoteket LP the other day, now I bring you a sample tune. Forget about the mediocre new Thåström album, this is the brooding Swedish darkness you desire. Echoes of Commando M Pigg, Tant Strul and other exemplary postpunk of the past, but with its own sense of urgency and vitality. "Mörka tankar" is only one of two songs I've been privileged to hear so far, but it went straight to the top of my wantlist.
Diskoteket - Mörka tankar
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU, 100% pre-millennium edition:
01. TALK 1
02. Honey Is Cool - Bolero
03. Beyond Dawn - Addictions are private
04. Commando M Pigg - Baby doll
05. TALK 2
06. Kent - If you were here
07. Fireside - Let Rasputin do it
08. CMX - Ainomieli 97
09. Docent Död - Bensin i blodet
10. TALK 3
11. Bitch Boys - Automobile
12. Nicolai Dunger - This town
13. Broder Daniel - I'll be gone
14. Starmarket - Ten seconds
15. TALK 4
16. Madrugada - Beautyproof
17. Breach - Black sabbath
18. Silverbullit - Thank you Mr.
19. Camouflage - Syster sol
20. TALK 5
21. Entombed - Lights out
Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers. Next week's show will feature tunes from my top 10 albums of the year.
80s postpunk act Commando M Pigg will grace the stage once more at the MNW 40th anniversary party at Strand Hornstull on October 14.
Here's the playlist for last week's radio show on 12/28, a special all-jazz program to close out the year:
01. TALK 1
02. Jan Johansson - Visa från Utanmyra
03. Saft - Marching for no. 1
04. Auton - El Dorado
05. TALK 2
06. The Splendor - Canary Islands
07. Kornstad/Opsvik - Happy house (live)
08. TALK 3
09. Yttling Jazz - Konstant krease
10. Jonas Knutsson - Glaciär
11. Moha! - Teknosangen
12. Oskar Schönning - Faustine
13. TALK 4
14. E.S.T. (Esbjörn Svensson Trio) - Leucocyte (ad initio)
And in case you happened to catch it, here also is my Sirius XMU top 10 most important albums of 2008 playlist:
#10 - Fucked Up - Days of last
#09 - Commando M Pigg - Baby doll
BEST COVER SONG - The Kid - Mayhem troopers (Cortex)
#08 - Katzenjammer - Le pop
#07 - Tobias Hellkvist - Wintervarm
#06 - The Goner - Field ceremony
BEST REMIX OF 2008 - Firefox AK vs Laid - Once I was like you
#05 - Haust - Ugly fucking Oslo
#04 - Eddy Current Suppression Ring - Which way to go
#03 - Sort Sol - White shirt
BEST LIVE ACT OF 2008 - Sex Vid - Cleansing
#02 - Montys Loco - Farewell Mr Happy
#01 - Lukestar - White shade
Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show:
01. Mimas - Cats on fire
02. TALK 1
03. Martin Vogel - Pick A D
04. Jonna Lee - The light
05. Abalone Dots - Over Georgia
06. TALK 2
07. Tobias Hellkvist - Ships of the North Atlantic
08. Lapko - Killer whales
09. The Social Services - The Baltic Sea
10. TALK 3
11. Hello Saferide - I wonder who is like this one
12. Boeoes Kaelstigen - Cecta
13. C.Aarmé - Tu puta mi casa
14. TALK 4
15. Pay TV - Fashion report
16. The Goner - The last folk song
17. Tomas Halberstad - Travel as I wait
18. Darkthrone - Raised on rock
19. TALK 5
20. Commando M Pigg - Att kasta spjut
Reminder: My show on Sirius Left of Center (channel 26) airs Sundays at 11pm ET with repeats on Monday at the same time.
How did I not hear about the Commando M Pigg gig at Debaser Slussen earlier this week? WTF people? Check it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSjiXJKnZOk
Saturdays in 2008 are devoted to the music of Göteborg. This week's guest: Patrik Bengtsson from The Kid. The band's new album "Transient blood" is out now on Hybris.
First off, the standard question: how long have you lived in Gbg, what brought you there and what keeps you around?
Johan is born here and the other three of us are from Småland and moved here to exchange the rich soil and the pine trees for education and nightlife. Then we found friends and love and decided to stay. Frida moved here in 1996 and me and Maja came in 2000.
I hear a strong lineage in The Kid's music that connects it to the Gbg post-punk scene of yore, bands such as Cortex (obviously), but it's more than that. Do you think that's an extension of living in the same city or is it more predetermined? Was that the sort of thing you grew up on or did you discover it later?
Freddie Wadling is an icon, all the things he has been involved in is great such as Blue for Two, Liket Lever, Lädernunnan, Rukorna and Fläskkvartetten, the original punkscene of Gbg was great with bands like Göteborg Sound and Slobobans Undergång. We were listening to punk and post-punk long before we moved to Gbg. The Swedish post-punk scene was great, with bands like Commando M Pigg, Brända Barn and Reeperbahn. As a new Gothenburger you become proud of Gbg when you understand what this town has giving the world in forms of music and bands, but our taste in music was already formed when we all moved here.
Do you think it's important to keep that musical heritage alive?
When it comes to pop music, no.
Putting aside nostalgia for the moment, how would you say The Kid looks toward the future? Are there any current movements/scenes/happenings in Gbg (or elsewhere) worth paying attention to, whether you are personally involved or not?
We will continue struggling with the band trying to combine the sound of the early 80-ies with the sound of the new new wave/the new new romantic. Make some shows and some new songs. No big plans, just nice to have the possibility to do this and get paid for it. We've been around for a couple of years now and we are quite bored playing for stiff students. It's time for the new Gbg-scene with people in their 20ies to do the studentclub-mayhem. I think the new Gbg pop-scene is some form of an antiscene. They frown at the old Service glory days. They spit on electronic stuff like laptops and iPods, they play instruments and wear hats and love Håkan Hellström instead of The Embassy and Claes Ohlson-stroboscope. And they've got authentic good self-esteem; that's good but it's the total opposite of the classic Gbg scene.
Don't think that I'm a silly old fart, I love changes. And some of these kid are guests at my monthly 77-punk club and they know the lyrics to all the old Gbg punk songs. So the future is saved. They know their heritage.
I understand that a number of you are involved in other art projects besides The Kid- what else are you currently working on?
We are constantly working with other art(y)/music projects.
You will find a couple of them on our myspace–site under top friends. Otherwise, we are still working as Artists and Architects, and when we run out of money we take care of old people, trees and flowers. You can also visit www.mermermer.com and click on Frida Sjöstam and www.patrikbengtsson.com for some aesthetic-experience.
Would you say that Gbg is an artist-friendly city?
I'm sure that Gbg is the best music-friendly town in Sweden. All the interesting bands from the last 10 years are from Gbg. And the mood between the bands is nice and friendly.
Lastly, have you got a song from the new album that you'd like to share?
I think "Let's go kid" or "Bloodmoon" are two nice songs, you could use one of them.
My personal preference is demonstrated below...
The Kid - Bloodmoon
Somehow I almost forgot to post this week's radio show playlist:
01. Bloodbath - Blasting the virginborn
02. TALK 1
03. Håkan Hellström - Långa vägar
04. Montys Loco - Farewell Mr. Happy
05. Victims - Bomben har fallit
06. TALK 2
07. Death By Kite - Sweet M
08. Ef - Thrills
09. The Bombhappies - Nothing at all
10. TALK 3
11. Motorpsycho - The alchemyst
12. Marybell Katastrophy - Hidden agenda
13. TALK 4
14. In Flames - Moonshield
15. Maskinen - Alla som inte dansar (100dirty remix)
16. The Social Services - Baltic Sea
17. TALK 5
18. Peter Morén - Social competence
19. Lack - Bombing the moon
20. Dmitry Fydorov - Signal
21. TALK 6
22. Looptroop Rockers - The building
23. Six Guns - Think positive
24. Nybakat! - Limu limu lima
25. TALK 7
26. Saft - Sizzling
27. Electric Retard - Greenvalley High
28. Lukestar - The shade you hide
29. Samtidigt Som - Constant in motion
30. TALK 8
31. Bad Cash Quartet - Monday morning
32. Monkeystrikes - I'm sorry, but I'm very dramatic
33. Commando M Pigg - Shoeshine boy
34. Weeping Willows - Touch me
35. TALK 9
36. Pistol Disco - Beat of the tune
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show:
01. Disfear - Deadweight
02. TALK 1
03. The Social Services - Up in arms
04. Kaka - The hotspurs (the less know the faster we go)
05. The Je Ne Sais Quoi - Manic panic
06. TALK 2
07. Tiger Lou - Patterns
08. Paper - My life is going under
09. Dreamboy - Stars
10. TALK 3
11. Lack - Watchmen
12. Don't Be A Stranger - Mon chi-chi
13. Ea Philippa - Heslenes sang
14. TALK 4
15. Ef - Thrills
16. Isolation Years - Yellow cross on blue
17. Frivolvol - Satellite kids
18. TALK 5
19. Enslaved - Eld
20. The Grand Opening - Secrets revealed
21. Ultralyd - Comphonie V
22. TALK 8
23. Firefok AK - Techno tears
24. The Indecision Alarm - Alienation process
25. Looptroop Rockers - Marinate
26. TALK 7
27. Markus Krunegård - Jag är en vampyr
28. The End Will Be Kicks - Exit ramps
29. Cadillac - Locomotive
30. TALK 8
31. Lukestar - Lake Toba
32. Commando M Pigg - Baby doll
33. Printer - Minds out
34. TALK 9
35. Seven Feet Four - Auto emotion
36. Tobias Hellkvist - Abomination
37. Barra Head - Undermine
38. TALK 10
39. Britta Persson - Happy hour
40. Anna Leong - Guillotine
41. Ted Gärdestad - Can't stop this train
42. TALK 11
In-stock and ready for order: Moto Boy - s/t
The debut album from Sweden's newest indie/pop hope! Also now available to order, though not quite in stock just yet:
Britta Persson - Kill Hollywood me (CD)
Commando M Pigg - Decenniet 1980-90 (CD)
Don't Be a Stranger - Frutti di mare (CD)
v/a - Svensk Punkklassiker vol. 2 (2CD)
Freddie Wadling - Klassiker (2CD)
Restocks of Hello Saferide and Laakso on the way too!
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show:
01. Britta Persson - Cliffhanger
02. TALK 1
03. Death By Kite - Sweet M
04. KVLR - Traitors and thieves
05. Anna Ternheim - Today is a good day
06. TALK 2
07. Don Juan Dracula - Take me home (Johan Angebjörn remix feat. Sally Shapiro)
08. Amorphis - Weaving the incantation
09. Thomas Denver Jonsson - Dreams at the film club (feat. Nina Kinert)
10. TALK 3
11. Don't Be A Stranger - Lonely together
12. Madrugada - Tonight I have no words for you
13. Majessic Dreams - Have to go
14. TALK 4
15. Pavan - The bird
16. Bröderna Lindgren - Om en guldfisk (feat. Kristofer Åström)
17. The Tarantula Waltz - Where I end and you begin
18. Adam Tensta - They wanna know
19. TALK 5
20. Commando M Pigg - Mot stjärnorna
21. Gravy - Rock scientists
22. Jonas Game - ADHD
23. TALK 6
24. Linus Larsson & John Roger Olsson - In the shadow
25. Idiot Kid - Go to sleep
26. Mats Öberg - Cool water - på Den Gyldene Freden
27. TALK 7
28. Pascal - Längtar efter dig
29. The Bear Quartet - I would be poor
30. Peloton - Aranburu
31. Royal Downfall - Lightning strikes twice
32. TALK 8
33. Made In Sweden - Winter's a bummer
34. Erik Enocksson - The state the sea left me in
35. Asha Ali - Coward heart
36. TALK 9
37. A-ha - Celice
If you've peeped in on the msgboard and seen this thread, you'll note that I've been listening to a lot of Swedish postpunk these past few months, slowly learning about more and mire bands. I'm still very much a novice in navigating the scene, but I've managed to accumulate a ton of great music so expect me to be posting about it regularly for many Fridays to come. Today's featured act is TT Reuter, a Lund-based act formed in 1978 following the breakup of New Bondage. They only lasted until '81, but released two albums and a few singles, one of which is today's featured track "2000 år". It's worth noting that guitarist Peter Puders went on to play with Commando M Pigg as this song features a similar "Waiting room"-esque riff as this song here. Coincidence? I dunno, but it's not as if those intervals (minor-third riffing on a IV-I progression) are anything extraordinary. Anyhow, the thing I like most about this one is the weird schizophrenic quality it has, switching between clean funk strumming and heavier, distorted parts. It's the kind of thing that shouldn't really work, but somehow they pull it off. And then there's the wacky rocked-out solo section with dual whammy-bar action. Again, it shouldn't work, but it does. I chalk it up to their great live energy - just listen to how the bassist starts hammering out chords near the end to hear what I mean. I can't say this is one of my favorite postpunk picks, but it's worth hearing because it takes risks and embraces the element of surprise. That's reason enough for me!
TT Reuter - 2000 år
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show, a special feature on 80s punk/postpunk:
01. Cortex - Warrior night
02. TALK 1
03. Docent Död - Solglasögon
04. Dansdepartementet - Wankers!
05. Camouflage - Syster sol
06. TALK 2
07. Di Leva - The single man
08. The Leather Nun - No rule
09. Lolita Pop - Salta diamanter
10. TALK 3
11. Ståålfågel - Något senare
12. Secret Service - A flash in the night
13. Tant Strul - Hela mitt guld
14. TALK 4
15. Kitchen & the Plastic Spoons - Happy funeral
16. Reeperbahn - Främling
17. KSMB - Jag vill dö
18. TALK 5
19. En Halvkokt i Folie - Röda rattor
20. Dom Dummaste - John
21. Unter Den Linden - Film noir
22. TALK 6
23. Ebba Grön - 800°
24. Black Uniforms - F.O.A.D.
25. Lustans Lakejer - Begärets dunkla mål
26. TST - No government
27. TALK 7
28. Sator Codex - Leech
29. Strasse - A stairway to you
30. TT Reuter - 2000 år
31. Syster Lycklig - Drömgränd
32. TALK 8
33. Odd Stories - Dance
34. Stadion Der Jugend - Väktare av mörkret
35. Samedi - Between two hearts
36. TALK 9
37. Ur Kaos - Loved missile
38. Adolphson & Falk - Blinker blå
39. Abcess Exil - Hav av hat
40. Commando M Pigg - Att kasta spjut
41. TALK 10
42. Cortex - Arkham
More Swedish postpunk? Sure! Why not? Commando M Pigg were a female fronted act that formed in 1980, dropped the "M Pigg" around '86 and eventually released a grand total of seven albums before finally calling it a day in 1990. I'm not familiar with the group's later English-language material, but the first three albums or so are fantastic. Today's track "Svenska fötter" is actually the first track of their very first self-titled album. The main feature is definitely Eva Sonesson's vocals, but I also love the way the rhythm section holds things down so the guitarist can freak out and wail on his whammy-bar. And that main verse riff! That's some proto-"Waiting room" shit right there. I love it.
Commando M Pigg - Svenska fötter
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show:
01. Sahara Hotnights - Visit to Vienna
02. TALK 1
03. José González - Down the line
04. Anna Ternheim - Girl laying down
05. The Bear Quartet - The supremes
06. TALK 2
07. New Decade - I guess you ran from something
08. Commando M Pigg - Allt genast
09. Mikkel Metal - Bano
10. TALK 3
11. Johan Hedberg - Nygubbe4
12. Mikko Singh - Toisella puolella
13. Mimas - Thought discuss
14. Fattaru - 100:-
15. TALK 4
16. Sista Sekunden - Jag är aldrig nöjd
17. E.S.T. - Tuesday wonderland
18. Syster Lycklig - Drömgränd
19. TALK 5
20. The End Will Be Kicks - Ass of a friend
21. The Grizzly Twister - Tigers made of paper
22. Samuel Jackson Five - Easily misunderstood
23. Grande Roses - Dead town
24. TALK 6
25. Thomas Dybdahl - B A part
26. Njurmännen - Cold meat industry
27. Tobias Hellkvist - Moment at ven
28. TALK 7
29. David Sandström Overdrive - Here's for summer
30. Randy - Freedom song
31. Kalle J - Vart stack du?
32. The Flaming Sideburns - Bad trip
33. TALK 8
34. The Bell - I am history
35. Lack - Pessimist poetry
36. The State of Floral Beings - Andy
37. Fireside - Problem (to you)
38. TALK 9
39. Firefox AK - Love to run
40. Manes - Cinder alley
41. Lukestar - Untitled
42. TALK 10
43. Oskar Schönning - S