KRAMP – Kramp (Subliminal Sounds, 2026; rec. 1978)

 
Instrumental
International relevance: ***

Unknown and previously unreleased recordings from a three-piece with members from Hallstahammar and Västerås in the middle of Sweden. Kramp were founded in 1975 and kept going until the mid 80s without releasing a single note, leaving only rehearsal tapes behind finally unearthed and released as a digital album by Subliminal Sounds. All longhaired, instrumental power trio jamming, they sound like a heavier and darker Rävjunk at their very jammiest. It's definitely wanky with a clear influence from Hendrix during his Band Of Gypsys days, but it's also incredibly energetic with a pronounced basement feel in over the top distortion fidelity. Melody takes the back seat with the massive chunks of Erik Åström's lead guitar being Kramp's sole raison d'être. Fucking annoying or an indispensable fire spitting take no prisoners blow-out depending on your mood. If you think Terry Brooks & Strange are too held back and Id's 1976 underground six string wanker classic ”Where Are We Going?” is too mawkish, this will blow your mind to smithereens. Especially the first track (simply entitled ”Jam 2”) which is so intense it will sever your limbs if you can withstand its full 23+ minutes running time.

Full album playlist (Bandcamp)

ÅKE SANDIN – Förlorad i toner (Subliminal Sounds, 2002; rec. 1965-70)

 Swedish vocals
International relevance: -

I don't have many rules for this blog, but one unwritten law is to include all artists mentioned in Tobias Peterson's ”The Encyclopedia Of Swedish Progressive Music”. That includes the 100 artists mentioned as ”suggested further listening”. Some inclusions in the book, especially among the extra 100, are puzzling. Sometimes I wonder what Peterson's selection criteria was.

That certainly goes for Åke Sandin. True he was a solitary original, recording his weird songs with idiosyncratic vocals and strange lyrics and releasing them himself. But the musical style was a remnant from the popular songs of the second world war and after. His songs, including those from his sole album ”Rariteter i kokäkta konvolut” with an album cover made of cloth and released in 1968, fit the Incredibly Strange Music tag. I can appreciate such myself as it's often so weird and off that you sort of have to learn to listen anew. And yes, I'm somehow fascinated by Sandin, but progg it is not. Not even with my otherwise generous definition of progg. So this post is merely to fulfill my own blog law.

Subliminal Sounds released "Förlorad i toner" in 2002 which collects everything Sandin recorded between 1965 and 1970.

Full album playlist

ÖBACKA SÅGVÄRCK – Haru nånsin varit död (Subliminal Sounds, 1969-1972, released 2023)

Swedish vocals

International relevance ***

I don't know where this notion comes from that if something has gone unreleased for decades, that's enough reason to finally put it out there. Or for that matter where this misconception originates that if something is crappy-sounding and the musicians can tell an instrument from a muckrake by nature should be better than music performed in a comprehensible fashion. Sometimes a reissue label hits pure gold, as Subliminal Sounds did with the amazing Great Ad album, but very few archival releases can match that one. So I took Subliminal Sounds' blurb for ”Haru nånsin varit död” ”a mind-bending musical discovery” with a huge pinch of salt. But perhaps they weren't entirely wrong this time after all?

A shortlived Umeå band, Öbacka Sågvärck only existed between 1969 and 1972. During that period they managed to create some surprisingly forward-looking heavy rock several years ahead of its time. It might be that they even beat November, consensually hailed as Sweden's first proper hard rock band, to the punch. Only that Öbacka Sågvärck were a far dirtier, sleazier, grittier combo judging by these underground tapes.

And underground it is, for better or for worse. Let's start with the bad. The longest track, the closing medley of ”A dä lä dää” and ”Centralgården”, has a horrendous sound, so bad it sounds like a severe hearing disorder. Another drawback is that two tracks are repeated (including ”A dä lä dää”), so if you chop these out, you're left with merely half an album (more precisely side one). It suggests that there wasn't too many usable recordings to choose from, and that fillers were needed to flesh out the running time.

The good thing is that the remaining half is rather impressive. This is how I want my hard rock: a loud, nasty, low-down, take-no-prisoners ruckus, with an authority that can easily out-do several better-known bands in the genre. It's not quite that promised ”mind-bending musical discovery”, and it's not on the same level as Great Ad, but the good parts are indeed valuable and until now unknown pieces in a historic jigsaw puzzle. Regardless of my objections, that justifies this release that deserves to heard and appriciated accordingly by fans and historians alike.

Full album playlist

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Grammofon-missionen: A Collection Of Swedish Jesus Music 1967-1982 (Subliminal Sounds, 2023)

Featured artists: John Three Sixteen / The Vergers / Heaven Liners / Beryllen / Höjeteamet / Glorymen / Carina / The Destination Of Life / Fågel Fenix / The Aaltos / Young Deacons / Mums / Ekot / Dolos / The Smusics / Music Males / Sven-Olof Nilsson / Size Boys
Swedish vocals, English vocals
International relevance: *

A digital-only release by Subliminal Sounds, this might at a first glance look like a follow up to Subliminal Sounds's excellent ”Frälst!” compilation of Swedish Christian music in the 70s. But those who expect a second volume of psych inclined religious grooves will likely be disappointed. ”Grammofon-missionen” is a musical addendum to the book ”Grammofon-missionen: Swedish Jesus Music Aesthetics 1960-1990” written by Carl-Henrik Olsson and Stefan Kéry, documenting the domestic Jesus music movement from three decades. Much of the music here is way more primitive (not in a good sense) than what's on ”Frälst!” and has a less accomplished feel. Bordering on outsider music, this takes a different listening approach, but even then, I don't find much, if anything, to match Subliminal Sounds's previous and successful attempt to document the Swedish Jesus music. Some of it is very influenced by bad Swedish commercial 60s pop but with substandard even terrible execution. I'm not against outsider music but it has to have at least something more going for it than bad playing to be interesting,

The striking exception here is Finnish band active in Sweden Aaltos, and also the only band here featured with two songs. The Aaltos has gained some reputation among record collectors and charity shop scavengers over the years, and both their tracks, ”Känner du en vän” and ”Pray”, explain why. They have a peculiar dissolved feel, especially on ”Pray” which steer right into the psychedelic domain with its unearthly harmony vocals and brooding, ominously breathing organ.

Still, I appreciate this compilation on an historic/academic level. Swedish Jesus music has long been neglected and categorically dismissed – so much of it is indeed painfully terrible, and it takes someone dedicated to find the exceptions. ”Grammofon-missionen” is an attempt at just that, so it gets an A for ambition but a facepalm for content.

Full album playlist

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Swedish Meatballs Vols. 1 & 2: The Psychedelic Hard Rock Underground 1970-1977 (Subliminal Sounds, 2022)

 
Featured artists: Älgarna / Högtryck / Styv Kuling / Rabatt / Strike / Jan & Bert / Frozen Fire / Fire / Tranz / Paul Edoh's Class Breakers / Mogens Klyvare Hose Band / Olhssons Grova / I Blomm
Swedish vocals, English vocals, instrumental
International relevance ***

Long before these two compilations were released, I was hoping that someone would get their hands dirty and get the work done. Who else would but Subliminal Sounds? Two volumes of Swedish 70s hard rock singles ranging from the rare to the impossible, some names completely unknown to me and most likely to a lot of others too. Some of it has been available in crappy rips on Youtube, but who the hell were Jan & Bert (Resonans), Paul Edoh's Class Breakers, Mogens Klyvare Hose Band and I Blomm? Among the better known names I spot Älgarna, Rabatt, Högtryck and Ohlssons Grova.

Released as two separate volumes but they should really be considered one entity. The first volume covers 1970 to 1977, the second 1971 to 1977, i.e. the golden age of Swedish hard rock, the years before squealing heavy metal washed over Sweden from the UK. Not to say that there wasn't any good heavy metal during the NWOBHM era and the Swedish counterpart FWOSHM (the First Wave Of Swedish Heavy Metal) because there was, but if I have to choose I'd go for the pre-HM years. (Those who want to dip their toes in the more obscure waters of FWOSHM might want to try ”Jobcentre Rejects, Vol. 4”.)

As always the case with comps like these, there are tracks you'd rather have swapped for something else, but the duds are few here and not that terrible so it's not really something to get hung up about. I'm more than delighted to see both tracks from Rabatt's exceedingly rare 1971 single here, ”X:et” and ”Look Till You Find”, which also happens to be the most psychedelic sounding on offer. Älgarna's ”Crowned King” sounds almost like Nature on a dark night (and better than Nature if you ask me), while Jan & Bert's ”Kan ljuset vända åter” is a tasty blend of psych, heavy rock, West Coast singing, jazz and progressive. Olhssons Grova's ”Strange Infection” is a marvellous piece of blues-inflected heavy rock, while ”Mäskaktigt” by I Blomm is a proto-doom instrumental that hints at Black Sabbath and the underworld shadings of Bobby Liebling's Pentagram. I could go on naming names, but you get the drift: These are two volumes unmissable to anyone into 70s heavy rock, and to others as well.

Full album playlist (both volumes)

ALEXANDER LUCAS – Alexander Lucas (Subliminal Sounds, recorded 1969-1976, released 2022)

English vocals, Swedish vocals
International relevance: ***

One of the 'lost' bands of Swedish 70s hard rock, with only one seven-inch released in 1973 on the Efel label. And what a seven-inch it is! Especially the 'B' side ”Svarta skogen” is a full-blooded hard rock classic. The other track, ”Speed”, might be weighed-down by embarrasingly poor English pronunciation and some flat vocals but the song itself is still good. So my interest peaked when Subliminal Sounds announced an archival release of Alexander Lucas. Especially following the label's powerhouse release of Great Ad which will stand as one of the best Swedish tape archive clear-outs for many years to come.

There's a lot to like on ”Alexander Lucas”, but it also reveals the band's shortcomings – the vocals in particular were obviously a constant problem that unfortunately weakens the impact some. The adolescent machoisms occasionally occuring are downright cringeworthy even for a hard rock band, and the material is somewhat inconsistent too. Inferior tracks include ”Race To Heaven”, ”The Saint”, a completely pointless cover of ”Johnny B. Goode” and – worst of all – the absolutely dreadful ”You're Gonna Die” that not only has seriously embarrassing lyrics but also the silliest attempt at ”scary” vocals ever. The compilation would certainly have benefitted from a less allowing selection – it would have presented Alexander Lucas in a generally better light and the listener would have had fewer annoying moments. Nothing here is as good as the 45 tracks that open the album, but there are still a few things here that stand up fairly well and deserve to be heard. The guitar playing is pretty great too, with a nice bite and quite a few Eastern influences. I can also sense small bits of Black Sabbath, Pentagram, November and even Deep Purple scattered among the tracks. ”Free To Ride” even comes off as an early blueprint for a Motörhead that hadn't yet made their debut on record! 

I wouldn't call this essential to the casual listener, but if you're interested in obscure 70s hard rock, this will surely be a welcome listen, especially if you harness your expectations and are prepared for a couple of duds along the way.

Full album playlist

GREAT AD – Deep Down Death (Subliminal Sounds, recorded 1975-1976, released 2022)

 English vocals, instrumental

International relevance: ***

Malmö trio Great Ad only managed to release two 45's during their existence, both on the Scam label famous (or infamous) for Solid Ground's exceedingly rare ”Made In Rock” LP. With the singles issued in tiny editions of 100 each, in 1975 and 1976 respectively, they too are gargantuan rarities. Both singles are featured on Subliminal Sounds' archival release ”Deep Down Death”, fleshed out with more primitive but for the most part OK sounding recordings (especially in the 'basement' category) made before the band broke up as an even more confident five-piece due to military draft.

The four singles tracks open the compilation with classic mid-70's hard rock with progressive moves. But it's the unreleased material that truly reveals Great Ad's potential and explains why they once were dubbed 'Northern Europe's most violent band'. Tough riffing and unhinged-to-the-point-of-transgressive guitar soloing, plus: surprisingly convincing vocals! The fidelity even emphasizes the band's inherent rawness that sets them apart from several other hard rock bands of the era that may have had weight but not necessarily grit. Great Ad had both, and at times they could whip up a menacing, intimidating sound that almost makes me think of Blue Cheer in their heyday. Not in style, but in power.

There are plenty of albums that should have been kept forever hostage by oblivion and not being reissued. And there are many archival tapes that should never have been excavated from whatever putrid abyss they originated from. That's certainly not the case with ”Deep Down Death”. The question here is not why this was released. The question here is why this wasn't released before. Hadn't fate had other plans for Great Ad, they could have been legends. In a way they were. It only took us almost 40 years to find out.

Full album playlist (Bandcamp)

INFRA / TREKLÖVER – Infra/Treklöver (Subliminal Sounds, 1972/1974, released 2022)

English vocals, instrumental

 International relevance: ***

Two names, but basically the same band. Beginning as Treklöver, they recorded a demo for EMI in 1972 which lead nowhere. After recruiting singer Eddy Kristiansen, they changed their name to Infra, taped a 1974 demo for UK label RSO which faced the same fate as their first, leaving two studio sessions left unheard by the public for four decades.

The Infra demo takes up the major part of the album with seriously progressive rock with symphonic aspirations, which for the sake of clarity means plenty of neurotic time signature changes. They indeed aim high, and although they're accomplished musicians, there are split seconds where especially drummer Jörgen Nordgren slips. OK, so it's a demo, but the clean and conspicuously modern-sounding production is too revealing at crucial moments. Eddy Kristiansen in turn is way too operatic and pretentious, but it gets even worse when he tries to 'rawk out' in the busy bordering-on-hysterical ”Keep On Truckin'” in which he gets absolutely unbearable. 

All in all, it's everything I absolutely hate with progressive rock.

Not that the Kristiansen-less two-song Treklöver tape is much better. The production gels a bit better here, and while hired-gun vocalist and organ player Ann-Marie ”Ami” Henning's voice is a bit weak, it's still way more pleasant to listen to than Kristiansen's self-important bombast. But already in the band's early stage, they suffered from time signature Tourettes and it takes me a fair amount of death defiance to get through eight minutes of ”Saturn” (one of their two tracks here).

”Infra/Treklöver” will probably give folks who enjoy playing their Trettioåriga Kriget albums at 45 rpm a boner, but my self-mutilation session with this nonsense is forever over.

Full album playlist (Bandcamp)

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Frälst! A Selection Of Swedish Christian Grooves 1969-1979 (Subliminal Sounds, 2022)

 
Featured artists: Dunkersgruppen / Shepherds / Tomas Ernvik / Sånggruppen LIV / Sambandet / Birgitta Yavari / Siw Sjöberg / Alea Jacta Est / "Boppe" Bengt-Olof Perhamn / Humlans Funkykapell / Tillsammans / The Vergers / Obajda / Kyrkans Ungdom I Osby / Janne - Roberth - Willy / Mission Possible / Vatten / Ingamay Hörnberg / New Creation
Swedish vocals, English vocals
International relevance: ***

The American Xian (Christian) underground has been pretty well documented with several reissues of key albums and compilations extracting the best examples of what the Jesus Folk movement had to offer musically. A lot of work in that direction is still needed, but this once so neglected musical area has gained more attention in recent years than ever before. True that a lot of Xian music is absolutely dreadful to listen to, every bit as bad as it's said to be, but there are indeed albums from especially the 70s that are quite stunning, and tracks scattered on other, more uneven LP's that are worthy of resurrection. Some truly strange and bizarre music lurks in the world of Xian vinyl; fuzzed out garage rock, brain-dizzying psychedelia, singer/songwriters that are just as talented as better-known non-religious ones... and there are albums that are so weird that almost no readymade tag applies.

I don't think anyone really knows how many Xian albums were released in Sweden during the Jesus era of mainly the 70s, but with Jesus having a strong hold of Sweden during the decade, and with the Swedish Jesus movement being selfsufficient as far as recording studios, pressing plants and distribution go, a guess at several hundreds – perhaps even thousands – isn't at all laughable. Many of those turn up in the most ignored charity shop crates, and most of them remain ignored too by most flea market vinylnauts. I say most, because in some places, those maligned albums have caught more interest as the years have gone by. Somewhere on some album with a particularly appalling cover, an absolutely mindblowing track might hide. Don't forget New Creation's devastating psych anthem ”He Is There”, first brought back to life by the third volume of ”Who Will By These Wonderful Evils”! Finding just one other such track is what keeps the most hard-headed flea market hunters going despite an obvious health hazard doing so. Because bringing home ten, twenty, fifty albums of rosy-cheeked, psychotically smiling Bible thumpers, you make yourself prey to a blah-blah-ga-ga-da-da condition that may take years or more to recover from. Sanity is a fragile thing. Be careful out there.

Therefore, a compilation like ”Frälst! A Selection Of Swedish Christian Grooves 1969-1979” has been much needed for quite some time by anyone with a gnawing suspicion that they might miss out on some real goodies if you don't willingly put your health at risk. I'm somewhere in-between those who don't want to go deeper into the deep end, and those who never once betray their mission to find the next ”He Is There”, and so ”Frälst!” (meaning ”Saved!”) comes in very handy as a rough guide to the netherworld of Xian vinyl.

Compiled by Subliminal Sounds, known for their endless quest for buried treasures, the label has done some death-defying work looking in places few sane people dare to tread. It has to be said that ”Frälst!” isn't the be all and end all release -- after all, its subtitle clearly says "a selection". Thomas Ernvik is featured on all versions, but Vatten only on the vinyl version of the album; Vatten being one of the most heralded Xian Swedish bands, thanks to their hard rock sound championed by many a collector around the globe. And there are other bands that have come up with quite decent tracks too, such as Christallen, that are missing from the selection. And as always, some might questions the track picks. But the interesting thing isn't what's not here but what is. Although not every track in this collection is a winner, ”Frälst!” successfully paints a picture of a 'genre' that thoroughly contradicts the common view of it. While the sometimes over-zealous vocals and in-your-face sermonising can remain a bone of contention, there are some real fiery guitars and relentless grooving going on here, and that's what you have to focus on if you allow yourself step outside any stale preconceptions to be surprised at the width and depth of the 'genre'. I say 'genre', with quotation marks, because it's of course not correct to speak of Xian music as a heterogeneous genre: “Frälst!” contains heavy rock, tracks that head in a slight funk direction, folk, and things that can't be named anything but psychedelia.

Artists include Siw Sjöberg, Sambandet, Kyrkans Ungdom i Osby, The Vergers, Mission Possible, Obadja and Shepherds. Some of them are slightly better known, such as Tillsammans (on Kompass) and the aforementioned Tomas Ernvik, but most of them are virtually completely unknown outside the religious world – and some probably also within the Xian community. At least nowadays. Thanks to a carefully crafted running order, “Frälst!” comes off as surprisingly consistent. Highpoints include the quirky “I Am Free” (Sambandet), the brooding “Kom till mej” (Tillsammans), the strangely ethereal “Halva världen svälter” (Shepherds) and the marvellous “Mission Possible” (Mission Possible) that rounds off the digital version in a doomy organ-driven fashion that easily makes it the best track in this entire lot. The vinyl version has a slightly different tracklist and ends with an even bigger bang, the aforementioned "He Is There" by New Creation. 

I can only imagine what a massive task it must have been to find these gems. Subliminal Sounds deserve all credit possible for not only excavating them, but to construct an album that is, for the most part, rewarding to a point basically no original Xian album is. It's perfectly fine to settle for “Frälst!”, but if you dare going trawling through the flea market crates that God forgot to find more of this stuff, it's a brilliant starting point to set you off.

Full album playlist on Bandcamp

BABY GRANDMOTHERS – Baby Grandmothers (Subliminal Sounds, 2007; recorded 1967-68) / Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out (Premium Publishing, 2007; recorded 1967)

A crucial psychedelic pre-progg band with future Mecki Mark Men and/or Kebnekajse members Kenny Håkansson, Pelle Ekman and Bella Linnarsson (then Bella Ferlin). Baby Grandmothers were part of the Club Filips circuit along with Hansson & Karlsson to name one of the best known acts associated with the club. Baby Grandmothers only released one single during their existence, the legendary ”Somebody Keeps Calling My Name”/”Being Is More Than Life” on the Finnish Forward! label, produced by the illustrious M.A. Numminen. Baby Grandmothers have reunited in later years.

Baby Grandmothers (Subliminal Sounds, 2007; recorded 1967-68)
English vocals, instrumental

International relevance: ***

Compiling both sides of their lone 45 and a couple of live recordings made at two 1967 Club Filips dates and in Finland in 1968, this Subliminal Sounds release is the most important artefact documenting the original Baby Grandmothers and a truly grand and illuminating example of the Swedish psychedelic underground at its most intimidating. Kenny Håkansson's guitar sound is so evil it eats gerbils for breakfast and horses for lunch.

Without the restrictions that came with only seven inches of vinyl (they pushed the limits of the format with ”Somebody Keeps Calling My Name”), they could stretch out for however long they wanted in front of an audience. Two of the three Filips tracks move towards the 20 minute mark – the uninhibited Grandmothers in full flight. And the sound quality is impressive for the time.

The two tracks from Finland in March 1968 (around the time of the 45 sessions) make a lot of noise but not so much sense, basically being snippets.

Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out (Premium Publishing, 2007; recorded 1967)

International relevance: ***

Instrumental

This disc features a different live recording from Club Filips, made about a month prior to the one found on the Subliminal Sounds set. It finds Baby Grandmothers in a looser mode which is code for less focused. True they work up a frenzy during this half hour set but it's really pretty straggly. Also, ”Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out” is very hard to find, originally only available as a bonus disc with early copies of the ”Encyclopedia of Swedish Progressive Rock 1967-1979” book.

Baby Grandmothers reunited in the 2010's and released a comeback album called "Merkurius" in 2018.

Baby Grandmothers full album playlist

Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out full album