Dogsmile, the band founded by three ex-members of Swedish postpunk act Camouflage (aka Tapirerna/The Tapirs), hasn't released anything since their 1995 album "Hey, I just wanna say hello", but now they're back and have a bunch of new tracks on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/dogsmileswe
Definitely does not sound like the old stuff, but still worth checking out I think. Also, speaking of Camouflage, the excellent Swedish postpunk blog Tonkraft recently came back to life with an old live set from the band's later period -- check it out: http://tonkraft-sr.blogspot.com/2010/08/camouflage-1988-live-i-umea.html
Here's the playlist for this week's radio show:
01. Small - Sunshine lover
02. TALK 1
03. Prince of Assyria - What ever you want
04. Necrovation - Putrid evocation
05. Division of Laura Lee - LAX
06. TALK 2
07. Tomas Halberstad - Travel as I wait
08. Sophie Zelmani - Yeah, okey
09. Kite - Ways to dance
10. TALK 3
11. Thomas Denver Jonsson - Light of love
12. The Tapirs - My violet you
13. E.S.T. - Leucocyte (Ad initio)
14. TALK 4
15. Enslaved - Vertebrae
16. Imagine I Had Hands - Hellbent on holding out
17. Melpo Mene - Kling klang clock
18. TALK 5
19. Puffin - A dream it seems
Reminder: My show on Sirius Left of Center (channel 26) airs Sundays at 11pm ET with repeats on Monday at the same time.
Not all of the records I picked up during my Stockholm shopping extravaganza were guaranteed hits. Indeed, quite a few were quite dubious, but I figured what the heck, when else am I gonna come across something like Viking Truckers? How can I pass that up? It's not possible. Don't worry, I'll get scans and mp3s for that one eventually, but the record I want to talk about this week is The Tapirs, which is Swedish postpunks Camouflage singing på Engelska. I figured there was a pretty good chance it was gonna suck as some of the band's later material isn't so hot, but whatever, if I'm gonna pick up the rest of their discography (with some of the old postcards still in the sleeve too! awesome!), I might as well add it to the stack. Luckily, the gamble paid off as the record is actually the same old songs as before, just overdubbed with new vocals. In other words, the songs that were so-so to begin with are still generally so-so, but the best material is just as awesome as ever. Case in point: "My violet you", the new version of "Violetta du" off the band's self-titled debut album. For Swedish-deficient dummies like myself it's great to hear the song in a language I can understand, but what it really comes down to is that it's just a damn good song. I was concerned that vocalist Ola Jörhall's pronunciation might not be up to snuff, but he does the job just fine. I guess the goal of international success never panned out though, or I suppose I would've heard of this record by now. Anyhow, like I said, it's good stuff so check it out.
Note for the audiophiles/collectors: this vinyl rip ran a little hot, so if you're interested in getting more of the album, give me a holler and I'll redo it.
The Tapirs - My violet you