Ratata - Ögon Av Is 7" 1982

A highly underrated single. Ratata started out as a very charming synthpopband in the early eighties, later to evolve into a boring slab of mainstream music. but the two first singles is a real treat, here is their second and best work ever. ögon av is (eyes of ice) is a great song with some great guitarwork possibly falling into the minimal synth genre. the b-side however features great vocoder voice and silly, silly lyrics about a young man who thinks hes seen all the world has to offer. ignoring this gives you a fantastic song which should dwarf their later work and give them somewhat of a cult status. it does help that the single is produced by johan vävare.
JAG RÄKNAR MINA DAGAR: EN TVÅ TRE

Viva! - Flykten LP 1982

On this, their second album, viva drifted towards a more atmospheric sound, relaying more on synths than smart guitarwave. perhaps mikael fölschs technical fascination is to "blame" for this. however, it is a very nice album with moody textures which still reminds me of simple minds but also ultravox and similar bands. i cant say that its an absolutely original album but no other band in sweden or even north europe encapsulated the sound produced by ultravox et al. and viva didnt even have a top-producer like contemporaries strasse had in midge ure. a great effort!
VIVA

Mercedes Prata TAPE 198?

To follow up my post with their fantastic 7": heres the tape! a fantastic excursion into no wave territories with a cheap drummachine and four people playing weird, weird music. a pity if you dont know the swedish language as the lyrics featured here is great. did anybody say dada? i have no idea who these people were so please, any information would be much appreciated! and as you can see theres no date on the tape (no cover either). almost 40 minutes of brilliant post-punk-jazz-wave-experiments!
STALON KRAPP

V/A - Cosa Nostra TAPE 1981

Another rare as hell obscurity! This tape is a fantastic oddity in the swedish history. not to be mistaken for an ordinary compilationtape, as a fantastic bonus henrik franzén (from grisen skriker, 22 för många) reads small spoken word bits between each track as to present them. short totally weird utterances about him working in a museum where each band performs, all in line with his poetry at the time. theres even two commercial jingles for local stores that helped produce this tape! but when you get to appreciate these little odd touches you can start listening to the fantastic music. i mean, with bands like odd stories, kitchen and the plastic spoons, di leva, dom dummaste etc. it cant go wrong. most tracks are exclusive to this release, but sadly not the kitchentrack as it also can be found on the dansa med fig lp. however, the more unknown band here are really great. schnabel released two singles of powerpop then changed name to fahrenheit and released two more, here playing a song inbetween both stages in the bands transformation. döende dandies plays a fantastic cold wavetracks (any info would be appreciated). i think jack mazo were the bassplayer in kitchen and the ps, but im not sure. this is essential stuff for minimal synth, postpunk, coldwave etc collectors. DO NOT MISS THIS!
and yes, i didnt want henriks spoken bits disrubted so i ripped it as two files, side A and B.
COSA NOSTRA

Gregor Samsa - Sexplosion 7" 1986?

I love the sleeve for this one. Gregor Samsa probably formed in the mid-eighties in the stockholm area and only released two self-financed singles and at least one demotape (if anyone have the tape please contact me!). they took the name, of course, from the character in one of kafkas most famous works and played excellent post-punk/goth. in this, their first single, they probably listened to brända barn a lot and so their influence is very strong. the b-side is great and probably has the best title ive ever heard. im not so sure about the date as its not written on the cover and the labels are white, so if anyone can pinpoint the date for this release it would be great, im guessing 86. this is great stuff!
HERE

Stjärnfångarna - Svarta Hajar 7" 1981

Another obscure swedish band that i know next to nothing about. all i know is that they were from Kalmar, only released this single and two tracks on a pang-compilation. the reason i bought this is that the great Henrik Venant produced the single! so the three members in the band does their best to imitate henriks sound in tt-reuter, the singer really tries to sound like venant and the bass player tries to get the same sound as peter ivarss. although its quite silly with a group trying to be somebody else i think they did a great job, both tracks portraying excellent wavepunk. i also included the two compilation tracks in the archive. and yes, jimmy cyklon from cosmic overdose designed the labels for the single. enjoy.
HERE

Viva! - I Splitter Av Ljud LP 1982

I had not listened to this for some years now and i gave it a spin yesterday. what a record! on this album viva! managed to take all the great stuff simple minds did and take the sound to a new and unique level. this is high class new wave with fantastic songs. i especially like "du som ingen förstod", which they released as a single as well. apparently they got quite a lot of critical acclaim for this record and were praised as a new swedish musical hope, and i can understand why. sadly, after this release they never got the big commercial break and remained in obscurity. i guess this was their artistic and commercial peak. and by the way, dont miss the new blog with radio recordings of swedish bands, where you can get a fine liveshow with viva.
VIVA!

Stormavdelningen - Stormavd. 12" 1987

Another band i dont know much about. I think they were from stockholm, formed in the mid eighties and only recorded two singles and two tracks on a compilation. Stormavdelningen played hard hitting post punk in the same regions as killing joke, almost bordering on metal. but they did it quite well, as you can hear on this, their debut 12" ep. four tracks with slashing guitars, smart basslines and lyrics about a cold society. and yes, if you like this, im selling one on ebay right now. what a coincidence!
YEAH

Mercedes Prata - Hemmen Får Impulser 7" 1984

Heres a really rare one! I dont know much at all about this band, four people and a drum machine playing what must be considered no wave or free jazz into post punk brilliance! the lyrics are great and must be either improvised or heavy dada influenced, with lines like "jag är en jordgubbe!" (I am a strawberry!). the weird thing is that this single was released by danish postpunklabel replik muzick, although the band was swedish. i have no idea why denmark saw this music more fitting than the swedish labels at the time. they also released a cassette which will follow soon. any info about this great band will be much appreciated. fantastic stuff, dont miss it!!!
HERE

Viva! - Delfiner 7" 1981

As requested, heres swedens answer to simple minds: viva!. viva formed in the late seventies in gothenburg, gigged a lot and built up quite an impressive sound that owed much to simple minds and similar bands. this is their first single, released on stranded rekords. apparently they had plans in 1980 to release a single with their track "tysk höst" but i suppose they never got round to it. this is the only viva-release where Peter Stridh does the vocals, as he after this one tried to go solo and released a silly, silly album of bad eighties sound. this however is two fantastic tracks of new wave brilliance, with the b-side as the best track. after this they released four lps and a bunch of singles, possibly to follow soon.
HERE

COMMERCIAL

Sorry for this, no retro-stuff this time. Its the first release of a band im managing and i think the poster says it all. if anyone outside sweden is interested just drop me a mail.
KÖP KÖP KÖP (BUY BUY BUY)

Stadion - ST LP 1983

And finally Stadions first and only LP. here they continued the great standard of their early work and took it to a new level. some tracks have that certain pop-sensibility of the early eighties and other track broods with cold landscapes and desperate relationships. i believe this is the perfect soundtrack to a visit to swedens capital, Stockholm, as it perfectly sums up all the cold and warm life in a major city. i dont really know what happened to stadion after this release, but i can assume they split soon after the recording of the lp. a pity, they were such a good example of great emotional music, and with an almost original sound too. get this
HERE

Stadion - Kan Inte Se 7" 1982

Yes, its another one of those BEST RECORDS EVER MADE! as i said, stadion der jugend dropped the der jugend and became stadion, switched vocal duties between the drummer and singer and made Bosse Löthen (now a radiohost in swedish national radio) singer. a very wise choice i believe as he has that cold touch to the words that fits so well into stadions quite cold wave-music. this is their first effort as stadion, and what a single it is. kan inte se has wonderful slabs of electronic cello and modern synthflavours but what makes this a real stunner is the b-side alaska. funky, electronic and one of the best choruses ive ever heard. its amazing that this record never got the attention it so well deserved. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
HERE