TORBJÖRN "TOBBE" RÜSSLANDER – Tobbe med egna låtar (no label, MC, 1978)

 
Swedish vocals, English vocals
International relevance: *

A very obscure and almost entirely undocumented cassette-only album, privately issued in 500 homemade copies in 1978, with songs written from 1974 up to the release date. Torbjörn ”Tobbe” Rüsslander was a singer/songwriter and a pretty good guitar player who recorded these twelve songs in his rehearsal room.

Recorded on a 4-track TEAC machine, the album shares the sound characteristics heard on several American private pressings from around the same time. Although the portastudio has its obvious limitations, I've always liked the dryness of it, as if the music was registered onto a chunk of wood. Rüsslander is quite good at using the technical limitations to his advantage. 

Most of his songs are melodic, and a couple of them have a more pronounced proggish feel, like ”Fredagsnatt” and ”En vän i nöden”, the latter nicely decorated with understated flute lines. Otherwise, the progg feel lies mainly with the sincere DIY vibe, not unlike Per Forssell. 

I can't quite put my finger on what, but there's something about ”Tobbe med egna sånger” that occasionally reminds me of U.S. underground legend D.R. Hooker whose 1972 album ”The Truth” is highly regarded by psych fans and collectors, even if Rüsslander doesn't have quite the same off-beat outsider vibe. At any rate, I enjoy listening to it. It may have its shortcomings, but those are overshadowed by the merits.

Rüsslander later re-emerged briefly with his band Zvenska Muskler who released one single in 1981. He still performs, and he also works a guitar teacher.

Full album  

VARIOUS ARTISTS – MUSIKFESTIVALEN 1978 (no label, MC, 1978)

 
Featured artists: Magnum Brus / Trycket / Harline Blue / Handkraft / Staffan Pettersson / Kylans Rockorkester / Horny Band / Inferno
Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: *

An incredibly rare cassette, home copied on standard TDK tapes and privately released locally in the northern town of Örnsköldsvik in 1978. The compilation was recorded live during a benefit festival for Örnsköldsvik youth club that needed renovating. Several local acts performed at the festival, the best known being Kylans Rockorkester along with several bands that never made it beyond the city limits. Apart from Kylans Rockorkester, only Hairline Blue got as far as to have a 45 out under their own name, although a couple of the performers also appeared on ”Musikfest 80 Örnsköldsvik”. There's heavy rock, bebop, jazz fusion, and funk, and the level of playing varies almost as much as the musical styles. Some bands are pretty skilled while others are not. The sound quality isn't great but OK for a 70s audience recording. Neither is the music. The best selection is ”Spränga hela skiten”, the first-ever released Kylans track, atypically dark in mood coming from them and not as bluesy as their better known stuff.

”Musikfestivalen 1978” is definitely of interest to collectors of local releases, but the average listener need not bother.

Full album playlist 

THE AUDIENCE / DEDE – Världsvan nervositet (He He Production, MC 1982)

 

Swedish vocals, spoken word

International relevance: -

Mysterious and bizarre, this tape-only split release was released locally in Gothenburg in assumingly extremely small numbers in 1982. It's hard to say what genre it actually is except that DeDe's 10 minute portion is poetry reading. DeDe (real name André Carlsson) was reputedly a regional underground legend of sorts, but his poetic talent is limited. His poems here (some of them recorded in front of an audience) concern the bleakest side of a grey concrete society, but he fails to come up with much apart from clichés about a pitiful suburbian life in Sweden in the early 80s. Some long 10 minutes right there.

Part one of the tape is wasted on The Audience, apparently a duo consisting of Hans and Edgar (”the true mods” according to the tape card). One of them beats anti-rhythmically on drums (occasionally anti-rythmically strumming an acoustic guitar) while the other one recites seemingly improvised lyrics about... what exactly? A whopping 32 tracks are listed on the cover (one of them written by Lou Reed, or so it says) but running for a mere 24 minutes, it's hard to call them actual songs. It's more like a fatiguing flow of complete nothingness, like a cross between Malaria and an Imp.Ink totally devoid of any tension, talent or musicality. A vaporous miasma from the lowest sediments of underground culture.

Sometimes dubbed ”post punk”, sometimes ”electronic”, ”Världsvan nervositet” is neither. The true genre name is ”utter rubbish”, and I'd be thrilled to hear why the guy on Discogs who paid almost 80 quid for this shit paid almost 80 quid for this shit. Grab a random artifact at your nearest garbage dump and it will be both better and cheaper.

Full tape

4 LOCAL V/A COMPILATIONS: Musikpuls / Umeå Rocks Vol. 1 / Först Värnamo... sen världen... / Linköpingsrock '82

Region specific compilations are often very hit and miss, with more misses than hits. There might be some nuggets hidden away there, but it's admittedly a dirty work finding them. Also, their main purpose is often demonstrating the musical breadth of a region, meaning they're usually stylistically inconsistent. That certainly goes for the four discs presented here.

 

MUSIKPULS (Wisa, 1981)

Featured artists: Axels Misär / Gathering Freak / Exodus / Untermensch / P-Nissarna / Hellzephyrs Poporkester / Spader Madame / Decerth / Sunshine Explosion / Skilda Världar / Starglide

Swedish vocals, English vocals

International relevance: * 

From Dalarna in the middle of Sweden comes this ragbag collection of blues, punk, heavy metal, post punk pop,ska and FM rock. The best known bands are P-Nissarna (punk) and Hellzephyrs Rockorkester (pop/rock with Janne Goldman and Arbete & Fritid connections). Gathering Freak's ”Skywalker” is a slightly under-rehearsed heavy metal track but still probably the best cut on the album, featuring future metal band Six Feet Under's vocalist Björn Lodin.

 

UMEÅ ROCKS, VOL. 1 (Brute Force, MC, 1981)
Featured artists: Steve Roper Band / Döbelns / The Pinheads / Arrows / Ma Connection / Nylle & Nallarna / Peppes / Vampires / Europa / Street Level / Boi Top / Checkpoint Charlie / Caligulas Barn / La Machine / Incontinents / Unknown artist
Swedish vocals, English vocals, instrumental

International relevance: **

Probably the most interesting item in this quartet of V/A's, but also the one hardest to find as it was released on tape only. It was the first issue ever on Brute Force Records that later would morph into Garageland Records. Some names wellknown to progg heads here, most notably Steve Roper Band, Ma Connection and Checkpoint Charlie, while The Pinheads might be the most widely familiar name overall. As expected, ”Umeå Rocks, Vol. 1” is all over the place genre-wise but there's a couple of interesting tracks here. Ma Connection's ”Cascade Of Love” is a great slow blues that might be better and moodier than anything on their album ”8691” with some really heartfelt guitar playing from Jan Bjuhr. Vampires were a very obscure synth based band with bass and electric guitar augmenting the cold synthetic sound that (to my knowledge) only ever released this one track ”Stake At The Hard”, an ominous instrumental with faint krautrock traits, almost like a drowsy post-apocalyptic Cosmic Overdose. Incontinents are in a similar vein only with a lighter mood and more adept lead guitar. Not as good as Vampires but still one of the highlights of the tape.

The unknown band at the end of the tape is exactly that, an unknown band. Whoever they are, they deliver a pretty bad cover of The Who's ”Substitute”.

I don't think there ever was a second ”Umeå Rocks” volume.

FÖRST VÄRNAMO.... SEN VÄRLDEN... (Värnamo Musik, 1981)
Featured artists: Abcess / Paj-Cana / Snubbelfot / Omar / Luftgrop / Chronicle / Moder Jord / Akupunktur / Fladderhälarna
Swedish vocals, English vocals
International relevance: **

Värnamo is part of the Swedish bible belt, situated in the Småland region. Although all bands on this album are from Värnamo, there's not much religion to be found here. The best known group here is Omar featured with one of their better tracks, ”Opium”. They're actually one of the most accomplished bands in this lot too, as many of the other contributing combos surely would have benefitted from a few more rehearsal hours. The emphasis is on rock sometimes reaching into punk and hard rock, although there are occasional ska/reggae influences heard in Abcess and Luftgrop. The most ambitious track comes from hard rock/prog outfit Moder Jord – actually a bit too ambitious for their technical prowess. The curiously named ”Fiskmuskler” (=”fish muscles”) is nevertheless one of the best tracks in this generally pedestrian collection.

The album title means ”first Värnamo... then the world...” which obviously is intentionally ironic, or at least proved to be. Except for perhaps Omar, none of these bands reached very far beyond the city limits.

 

LINKÖPINGSROCK '82 (Studiefrämjandet, 1982)
Featured artists: Articats / DR/DR / Wallraff / Glamour / Axewitch / Midwinter / Dr. Pollon / Bulldogs / Bädda / DNA / Müsk / Skenet Bedrar

 Swedish vocals, English vocals

International relevance: *

Time to go to Linköping, home to Kultivator, Mendoza and Erik Aschan and an album released by the study circle Studiefrämjandet in 1982. Linköping has always been a musically active city keen to provide rehearsal spaces to young bands, and ”Linköpingsrock '82” is a testament to that. The bands are well rehearsed although the musical styles aren't particularly interesting. There's a bit of formulaic punk, dull funk rock, pedestrian pop rock and mediocre synth pop. Again it's the heavy metal kids that bring home the medals. Axewitch's ”Nightmare” has an effective riff, and they're the most professional sounding band in this collection. No wonder they actually had a career following this compilation, with several albums out during the first half of the 80s. Artifact didn't – ”A Tribute To You” is the only thing they released – but their mix of heavy metal and symphonic rock might appeal to some readers.

Musikpuls full album 
Umeå Rocks, vol. 1 full album   
Först Värnamo... sen världen... full album   
Linköpingsrock '82 full album

VARIOUS ARTISTS – 10 års kultur i partiets tjänst (Kulturföreningen Spartacus, MC, 1981)

 Swedish vocals, English vocals, other languages, instrumental
International relevance: *

Is this an endurance test, or what? A double cassette-only release named ”Ten years of culture at the service of the party”, with the party in question being KPML(r), the far-lefties best known on this blog for inhouse propaganda band Knutna Nävar. Needless to say, Knutna Nävar appear here with three tracks, including the otherwise unavailable ”Mortelslagen ekar i bambubyn” which is a rather suggestive and hypnotic track. Dan Berglund, Maria Hörnelius and Röda Ropet are other wellknown names. Also Viveka Seldahl and Knutna Nävar affiliate Sven Wollter; both later launched successful acting careers. And then there's the expected slew of marchings bands, Stalinist choirs, ideologically constipated singer/songwriters, and various other fistwavers. The few listenable tracks would have made a half-decent EP, but at almost 90 minutes, this is a study in nausea.

Full album

HELA HUSET SKAKAR – Complete releases 1978-1982

Hela Huset Skakar (”the whole house is shaking”) is one of the bands bridging progg and punk, with sentiments from progg and an energy similar to that of punk. (Sometime member guitarist Guld-Lars were also in one of the foremost Swedish punk bands KSMB.) They originated from Huddinge outside Stockholm, and shared the devil-may-care attitude with two confrontative Uppsala bands, progg pioneers Gudibrallan, and Rävjunk in their punkiest mode. Given Hela Huset Skakar's rhythm & blues stylings, I hazard a guess that the early Stones and Huset contemporaries such as The Count Bishops and Eddie & The Hot Rods also were among their main influences.

Ingenting blir bättre av sej själv/Mammas städskåp
(Sista Bussen, 7”, 1978)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

Hela Huset Skakar's vinyl debut came in 1978 with 7” ”Ingenting blir bättre av sig själv” coupled with ”Mammas städskåp” on the Sista Bussen label. The 'A' side a prime example of their revved-up R&B featuring rock'n'roll infused sax playing and abundant sloppiness that works in their favour. ”Mammas städskåp” is equally great, similar to what I imagine what it would sound like if Philemon Arthur & The Dung were in fact an electric band trying out Them's garage chestnut ”Gloria” and getting it all wrong. A statement debut!

 

Ner med gud/Spring undan borgare
(Sista Bussen, 7”, 1979)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

The 1979 follow-up 45 is even more frantic than its predecessor. On ”Ner med gud”, their abrasive R&B is pushed further into mayhem with singer Lennart Markebo going beautifully over the edge in his disdain for God and religion. ”Spring undan borgare” is a similarly spiteful, sax-fuelled assault on right-wing politics, with an amphetamine-soaked wah wah guitar bursting out loud at the very end of the track. This is a seven inch fire bomb in the face of suppressing authorities, both mental and social.

Moralisk upplösning
(Sista Bussen, 1980)
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

Hela Huset Skakar's sole LP ”Moralisk upplösning” was recorded around Christmas 1979, with additional sessions in June 1980. It was partly recorded live, with a similar sleazy basemount sound like their earlier singles. All new material except for a re-recording of ”Ingenting blir bättre av sej själv”. Most it is in the same vein as the first two 45s, but they stretch out a bit on a couple of more proggish and/or pseudo-psychy tracks. Side B is the winner, as side A has a couple of lagging tracks in a 'funny pastiches' kind of style. But like I said, most of it is high-octane to-the-point kerosene-spitting hard-to-resist rhythm & blues that no matter what was the band's foremost trademark and ultimate strength.

Hos Ultra
(Sista Bussen, MC, 1982)
Swedish vocals, English vocals
International relevance: *

The final release to fit within the time frame of this blog is a cassette-only release recorded live at Ultrahuset, a legendary punk hangout where most punk bands (and quite a few others too) performed from 1980 to 1988 when the place closed. It was run by the legendary Tompa Eken who not only offered a stage for struggling underground bands, but also baked cinnamon buns for the bands and audience alike to enjoy. Those buns are as legendary as Ultrahuset and Tompa himself and a mandatory snack for anyone who visited Ultrahuset!

Hela Huset Skakar's performance on 14 March, 1982 isn't that great. While it retains their infamous energy, their repertoire was slowly developing in a not too successful way. As with several Swedish bands around this time, ska influences began to creep in through influential British 2-Tone bands like The Specials, The Selecter and early Madness. Some bands could deal with it without losing their impact, but in the case of Hela Huset Skakar, those influences didn't feel authentic enough to sit well with their original crunchy R&B sounds. Among the best tracks on this rough-sounding document are the final two. One is a cover of Lag & Ordning's ”Nynnat & sjungit”, while the other one is a sped-up by-the-throat assault on ”Summertime Blues”, much closer to Blue Cheer than Eddie Cochran.

Hela Huset Skakar contributed several exclusive tracks to a couple of various artists releases: three are found on the "302:an från Fullersta" LP in 1980, one on tape only release "Mediokra hjärnor" in 1982, and a further three 1982 live selections can be found on the "Ultra lever eller lajv" cassette. They released another live tape (recorded on several later Ultrahuset dates), one further 7” and the ”Lite till” 12” in 1984, all on Sista Bussen. There are also a handful of post 1982 recordings on other various artists comps. In 1995, a compilation CD simply entitled ”1978-1995” was released, and the band reappeared with a comeback album in 1997, ”Ännu mer”. They were also featured on Sista Bussen comp tape "Andlig spiz" in 1984. Interestingly enough, two Huset members – guitarist Christian Wigardt and drummer Håkan Persson – hosted the Swedish Radio show Ny våg (”new wave”, airing punk, new wave and art punk) in the late 70s and early 80s.

"Ingenting blir bättre av sej själv"
"Mammas städskåp"
"Ner med gud"
"Spring undan borgare"
Moralisk upplösning full album
Hos Ultra full album