This week's top 20 Swedish album chart:
01. Salem al Fakir - Ignore this
02. The Playtones - Rock'n roll dance party
03. Björn Skifs - Da capo
04. Sophie Zelmani - I'm the rain
05. Rigmor Gustafsson & Radio String Quartet Vienna - Calling you
06. Treat - Coup de grace
07. Melissa Horn - Säg ingenting till mig
08. Amanda Jenssen - Happyland
09. Kent - Röd
10. Torgny Melin - Dansbandsnatt
11. Neo - Human frontier
12. Bruket - En annan klass
13. Lars Winnerbäck - Tänk om jag ångrar mig och sen ångrar mig igen
14. Erik Grönwall - Erik Grönwall
15. Reeperbahn - Samlade singlar
16. Nordman - Korsväg
17. Zekes - En sån natt
18. Claes Lövgrens - Vi lever nu
19. Calle Kristiansson - Calle Kristiansson
20. Tomas Andersson Wij - Spår
Way more exciting than a potential ABBA reunion, but even still kinda underwhelming: renown recluse artist Jakob Hellman will once again grace the live stage on an 80s reunion tour under the banner "Forever Young" alongside Reeperbahn (and Alphaville): http://www.foreveryoung2010.se/
Still no plans for a new album and personally, I think it's better that way.
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show:
01. Familjen - Det snurrar i min skalle
02. TALK 1
03. QGMR - Pre-emptive retaliation
04. Theresa Andersson - God's highway (ft. Tobias Fröberg)
05. Mental Overdrive - Europa
06. TALK 2
07. Siena Root - Time will tell
08. Marybell Katastrophy - Lost ship
09. José González - Crosses
10. TALK 3
11. Peter Bjorn and John - Inland empire
12. Kompjotr Eplektrika - Skeleton gong
13. Sonores - 16th of June
14. TALK 4
15. Reeperbahn - Havet ligger blankt
16. Joachim Willumsen - Turning 24
17. Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - Heaven is the notion that all this will end
18. TALK 5
19. Promoe - Det ljusnande FRAmtid
Reminder: My show on Sirius Left of Center (channel 26) airs Sundays at 11pm ET with repeats on Monday at the same time.
More homemade vinyl rips yet again this week -- in case you missed it, I posted an old Bitch Boys track from their New Romantic period last week and if you head back a full month, you'll find a link for the full Viking Truckers album in the comments. Today's selection: Reeperbahn with "Havet ligger blankt" ("The sea is blank"), the first track off their 1979 self-titled debut, easily their finest hour. I do like their later, more postpunk years, but when they first hit the scene as a punky power-pop band, that's when they were at their best. There's definitely a bit of the spirit of '78 in this one too, though it's tempered by jangly guitars and a catchy chorus. No synths in sight and nowhere near as theatrical as The Rezillos, but still kind of the same vibe, especially in the bass playing. Know your history!
If people are interested in hearing more please let me know in the comments.
Reeperbahn - Havet ligger blankt
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show:
01. Anna Maria Espinosa - Everyday
02. TALK 1
03. Tobias Hellkvist - Vintervarm
04. The Bear Quartet - Needs vs. facts
05. The Social Services - Baltic Sea
06. TALK 2
07. Kristofer Åström - The dark
08. Honey Is Cool - You're a horse
09. Reeperbahn - Hjälte
10. Voices Break the Silence - The way
11. TALK 3
12. Hebosagil - River
13. Pan Sonic - Lähetys
14. Silverbullit - Only gold
15. TALK 4
16. Josè González - Down the line
17. Motorpsycho - Serpentine
18. NEI - Hello
19. Claws Costeau - Finnuggla
20. TALK 5
21. Hello Saferide - I thought you said summer is going to take the pain away
Reminder: my show on Sirius Left of Center (channel 26) airs Sundays at 11pm ET with repeats on Monday.
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
I got a lot of new music while traveling around Sweden, but the main thing I was on the prowl for was old Swedish postpunk vinyl. I only found one Cortex record (the "Animals" 7") as Nostalgipalatset in Stockholm (tack igen for the recommendation Joakim!), but I did manage to put together quite a stack of other albums from my list: Commando M. Pigg, Camouflage, Reeperbahn, Lolita Pop, Ståålfågel and so on, as well as the "För fulla segel" LP from Abcess Exil. They're not a band I know much about, but I know their tracks on the 4-way split with Cortex, Mystikens Vacuum and Bumsen Muss Mann are great, so I figured why not? It's not as if I'll ever stumble across it again here in the US. I'm glad I did too because it's pretty great classic dark Swedish postpunk/new-wave, though the record does veer a bit towards new romantic pop at times, sometimes even reminding me a bit of early INXS (not necessarily a bad thing). It's hard to pick a good song to represent the whole, but I like "Stormens öga", the first track on side two, because of that sinister synthbass pulse and the heavy percussion breakdown so that's the song you get today. However, should you be curious the hear more, I suggest you head over to Med Denna Verkliga Kniv because they just posted a quality rip of the full album a few days ago. Thanks for saving me some work!
Abcess Exil - Stormens öga
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