Stadion Der Jugend - Väktare Av Mörkret 7" 1982

Stadion Der Jugend formed from the ashes of several punkbands from the stockholm underground. Bosse Löthen and Nils Fagerberg previously played in legendary punkband Skabb and later joined the loose collective Psynkopat together with, among others, Petter Brundell (ståålfågel) and Hans Thunberg (elegi). Psynkopat released one lp and a single and then disbanded. After that Bosse and Nils started Hjärnstorm with Jan Bergstrand and Bengt Lilja, recording one 12" and participating in recording some songs with solo artist Johan Lindell. I guess hjärnstorm eventually developed into stadion der jugend, adding celloplayer sebastian öberg. having an electronically treated cello instead of guitar gave them a totally unique sound, a desperately cold air well displayed here on their debut single. one of the top gems in swedish music history. after this release they dropped der jugend and became stadion, releasing even better music which will soon follow. enjoy
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VA - 37 Minuter I Stockholms City LP 1982

As requested, heres the 37 Minuter i sthlm city compilation released in 1982 on the infamous Stranded Rekords. This shows some of the more wave-oriented acts on the Stranded label, most famous for bringing Lustans Lakejer to a swedish public. Zzzang Thumb does two great pop tracks, a quite large band with, among others, the two twins Idde & Irma Schultz, later to have solocareers in the 90s (boring, ofcourse), Iodine Jupiter (from Kitchen and the PS etc.) and Latte Kronlund, which i think were the mastermind of the group. They play a funky take on new wave with almost nonsense-lyrics about military actions. They also released three singles, a 12" and a quite brilliant LP produced by John McGeoch from Magazine! Helikoptern only released one single besides the track on this comp. Standard new wave pop in the same vein as Reporter, also presented here. And then Kitchen & the Plastic Spoons, who dont need any introduction. They play their best track ever, Filmen, with Iodine Jupiter on vocals and its just fantastic. Silhuetterna is also an unknown new waveband, a bit charming but bordering on the standard take on wave. Demian D is an interesting figure, he released a single, also on Stranded, and then changed his stagename and musical output to a more traditional songwriter-take. He now performs as Lars Demian and has become quite famous thorough the country. Mockba Music were Tom Wolgers of Lustans Lakejers' soloproject. the track presented here is a charming instrumental track from his first single. its good but the rest of his recordings are endlessly dull. Finally, Tango, were Iodine Jupiter and Johan Vävare, the stockholm super-producer, doing a song about a modern city cowboy. iodines voice is very different and i find it very interesting. all in all a great compilation, showing what was going on in stockholm at the time of its release.
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VA - Dikt & Lögn TAPE 1984

Fantastic cassette-compilation from 33-45, a music organization based in Malmö. They organized concerts and once a year released a tape with various bands from the south of sweden. this is the best of the five tapes they released, with wonderful contributions from great bands. Ulf Bergström kicks it off with a wonderful spoken word piece with nice synthsounds in the background. the majority of the bands plays great wave/postpunk, with Tibet as a standout. they really sounds like TT-Reuter, or at least the singer tries to imitate Henrik Venant. great track though. Nyfiken Gul also released a single on Pärla records, which isnt as great as the track presented here. Unter Den Linden does an unreleased track live, with a more hardcore feel, which they developed after the first LP, still great though. Bullshot babies, from Lund, plays quite mediocre music but still gets me interested. they released an mp on their own label. i cant decide if its crap or great. ill probably have to post it here so you can decide for me. Besökarna, of course, fronted by the great Stry does a live track of Can-Can flickor which he later recorded with Garbochock. fantastic bands. the other bands is all unkown for me. le cadavre also appears on one of the other 33-45compilations, with the same track as this one but that one is a live recording. all is summed up by Svappavaara Homofilharmoniska, silly name and silly music indeed. dont miss this, its one of the best swedish tapecompilations!
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Zon 6 - Som En Tiger 7" 1983

I think this is as close to no wave sweden got. Zon 6 were a kind of follow up to Elegi, a fantastic female-fronted jazzpostpunkband from Stockholm and Uppsala. Make sure you download their only LP from tystforfan HERE. This single were the bands only release and its a shame because its a great postpunk brew of freejazz, some nice synthplaying and more 80's standard rock. Hans Thunberg (who produced Unter Den Lindens debut LP, also in Elegi) later formed Underland, a more banal history... Marie Samuelsson, also from Elegi, would after this single concentrate more on her work for dance productions and studies on composing. An often ignored gem of the postpunk era:
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Kabbala Kitsch - 3 X Herman Hesse 7" 1981

Kabbala Kitsch were another great band from Malmö. Heavily inspired by the late magician Aliester Crowley and in their own words played "magic shit". Formed in 1977 as Skunk, then played as Zakkes Armé until 1980 when they changed their name to Kabbala Kitsch. This single is interesting in many ways. First its three takes on poetry by Herman Hesse, and it was released by now famous litterature publishers Bakhåll, being the second release of music by that "label". And of course its great dark punk with some leanings to more traditional rock. Get it
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Biljardakademin - Fallbilder 7" 1984?

Ok, time for some promotion. Biljardakademien were a band from Gotland, an island off the east coast of sweden. They existed in various loose constellations thorough the eighties being the brainchild of Niklas Söderberg and Kjell Hägglund. They were heavily inspired by the more poporiented scene of the post punkscene with bands like Monochrome Set, Dilocation Dance and even Burt Bacharach and its kind of fun to watch the new indie bands of today and realize Biljardakademin did all that 20 years ago. This single were given away for free with malmöfanzine iD in about 1984 i think and is one of the best popsongs ever. I dont think ive ever heard a band like this. Now for the promotion: they have a CD out with material from their entire career. buy it! get more information about that on their myspace HERE. then you can read a short history about them, in swedish HERE. and after youve done that you can also support me by buying this wonderful single HERE. and of course you can download these two of-the-best-pop-songs-ever-tracks
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Klinik - Östern Är Röd 7" 1979

Here's another obscure minimal synth rarity from sweden. I dont know anything at all about this band, save that they also released at least two self-produced cassettes and this fantastically weird single. Strange, instrumental blip-blop with cheap drummachine and a nice communist china-title, just the way you like it. If anyone have their two cassettes or any information about them, do tell me.
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