A KLIPPAN PROGG SCENE SPECIAL – Tors Hammare / Heta Drömmar / Svenn Kruse / Christian Brandt

Klippan is a small mill town in the northwest part of the Skåne county in the south of Sweden. Way back in time, Klippan was known for their wool production, and later (and to this day) for their paper industry. But they did also leave an indelible mark on Swedish rock history in the late 70s and early 80s when local record label Svenska Pop Fabriken (and their various sublabels) began releasing singles and albums that gained nationwide attention from both media and record buyers. Responsible for the first ever Swedish punk single ”Vårdad klädsel” by Kriminella Gitarrer, they soon added bands like Torsson, Kommissarie Roy, Noise, The Push, and Wilmer X to their roster. Being a very Swedish label, none of the bands (mostly singing in Swedish) are known outside our borders, although Kriminella Gitarrer have indeed earned a belated international reputation as interest in local punk scenes has grown around the world. Most of Svenska Pop Fabriken's output may be called rural rock'n'roll with a strong sense of pop melodicity, but to someone like me who pretty much grew up with in their golden era 1978-1985, their legendary status is carved in stone.

However, Svenska Pop Fabriken's history goes further back in time to the music association Bombadill who took the homegrown music very seriously. Not only did Bombadill function as a local network for the bands, Bombadill also built their own studio. Plenty of recordings were made there from the mid 70s and on. One album and a couple of cassettes of Bombadill recordings were released at the time. Although Klippan is best known for the pop/rock of Svenska Pop Fabriken, a few of those early bands and artists represented a more progressive and experimental style. 

Tors Hammare: Ska du med på disco 

Tors Hammare went through several line-up changes, but important members in their fledgling days were Örjan Mjörnheden (guitars, vocals), Svenn Kruse (guitars, vocals) and Christian Brandt (percussion, violin). The so called Mk I only ever released one official track, ”Vägen till Valhall”, on the first Bombadill cassette. It's a surprisingly heavy, guitar infused, folk tinged instrumental, as was the five-part suite ”Ska du med på disco”. Among their true confessed heroes were Träd, Gräs Och Stenar and similar bands, plus the latin rock of most prominently Santana. There's strong psychedelic overtones with wailing wah-wah leads on the shambolic ”Hästen” as well as on their slightly revamped take on Träd, Gräs Och Stenar's ”Sommarlåten”.
 

Tors Hammare: Demo 1

The Santana influence grew stronger when Kruse and Brandt left the band, as proven by a surviving 1980 demo by Tors Hammare Mk II, but the demo also shows they developed a stronger grip of their progressive ambitions as on ”Myrornas flykt” and ”Nattens drottning”.

Meanwhile, Svenn Kruse and Christian Brandt made their own recordings in the Bombadill studio. Judging by those, they were the real avantgarde force of Tors Hammare Mk I. Their joint recording ”Kretsloppet” mixes field recordings, electronics and tiny slices of more organized music – it's almost like a nine minute condensate of Thomas Mera Gartz's ”Luftsånger”. ”Vernissagemusik del 1” (=”music for an exhibition”) is based around an extended organ drone before turning into a summery piece for acoustic guitar and synthesizer. A second part of ”Vernissagemusik” was recorded as Heta Drömmar (=”hot dreams”), which is pretty close to the lyricism of Anna Själv Tredje. The lyrical side also comes to the fore on ”Hjortronguld”, a 27 minute piece with guitar and violin, while their Träd, Gräs Och Stenar admiration is obvious on their very strange cover of ”Sanningens silverflod” with sped-up vocals similar to those on Kebnekajse's debut and Mikael Ramel's first album, a trick also used on Svenn Kruse's solo recording ”Tomtar på loftet”.

Christin Brandt & Svenn Kruse: Vernissagemusik 1

Other short Kruse tracks further emphasized his infatuation with Swedish folk progg and psychedelia – ”Svens psykedeliska ögonblick” (=”Sven's psychedelic moment”) gives it away already in the title, while ”Säkkijärven polka” (a Finnish tune popular in Sweden at the time) sounds like some lost demo for Kenny Håkansson's ”Springlekar och gånglåtar” album.

When Tors Hammare transformed into Mk 3 in the early 80s, they had lost just about all of their original underground charm. They got better at playing for sure, but their watered down takes on ska, funk and fusion simply suggest a band without a vision. They really could have used Brandt's and Kruse's experimental spirit.

There's also an 'all-star' recording of several Bombadill artists coming together as The Bombadill Chosen Few, "Latino Blasfemia" that mixes latin with Swedish folk.

All these recordings (and more) have thankfully been digitzed for the Bandcamp age. Although a lot of the music is admittedly sloppy, it has a youthful energy and explorative desire. More importantly, it reveals a part of the local Klippan scene that has previously been only fond memories in the minds of those who were there, but only tales and legends to those who weren't. It adds several fascinating pieces to the ever so nebulous jigsaw puzzle called Swedish progg. 

Bandcamp links:
Tors Hammare
Vägen till Valhall / Ska du med på disco - Svit i fem delar / Hästen / Sommarlåten / Vinternatt i Klagshamn / Demo 1 full album playlist 
Christian Brandt & Svenn Kruse
Vernissagemusik del 1 / Kretsloppet 
Heta Drömmar 
Vernissagemusik del 2 / Hjortronguld / Sanningens silverflod / Tomtar på loftet  
Svenn Kruse 
Hymn / Svens psykedeliska ögonblick / Säkkijärven polka / Långt ute 
The Bombadill Chosen Few 
Latino Blasfemia  

SCHÜLDT – Schûldt (Schüldts Förlag & Studio, 1979)

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

It baffles me that it's still possible to find albums that are more or less unheard of, unknown, unheralded. After all, Sweden is a small country and after running this blog for such a long time, probing, digging, scrutinizing what feels like every inch of the progg soil, it seems so improbable that there are any albums left to excavate. But it does happen, and it happens more often than should be statistically possible. (Not to mention the amounts of long gone, buried 45s – is there even an end to it?)

I can honestly say I had never heard of Schüldt before I came across this private pressing from 1979. Although the front cover shows only the richly bearded Björn Schüldt, it's actually a duo album recorded with his wife Heléne who was highly involved in the songwriting and vocals, played guitar and autoharp, as well as creating the tapestry used for the album's artwork. She has a rather nice voice and a vocal style steeped in both British and American traditions. Björn's vocals are closer to a singer/songwriter style – I can even trace a bit of Ola Magnell here and there. I like Heléne better – Björn's voice is a bit dry with a slightly numb sort of timbre. Their voices blend rather well though on the tracks with both of them singing.

Surprisingly enough, it's all original material, but just like the vocals, the songs themselves display a deep love for the traditional material of both the UK and the USA. Heléne is a tad closer to the Brits, and she also wrote the best song. Her ”Nattlig frost” opens the album and is pretty great in a style that would have worked well on Lal & Mike Waterson's masterful ”Bright Phoebus” album. Björn leans a bit more towards blues and Appalachian country folk.

The lyrics are split between Swedish and English, but the couple's English pronounciation isn't the best why the native language tracks work best. Apart from that, the whole album is elaborate enough both in terms of execution and sound. Especially for being recorded in their own studio which was obviously well equipped for the mainly acoustic framework. Despite the sparse arrangements, the music sounds satisfyingly rich thanks to the couple's tactful and tactile mixing work capturing the rural quality of the songs.

”Schüldt” isn't a 'lost classic', but with some lesser shortcomings aside, it's still rather pleasant and pleasing. And better yet, it suggests that there might be more and perhaps even better albums out there, still undiscovered.

Nattlig frost  
The Wish Of A Bird  

PER CUSSION – Per Cussion (MNW, 1981)

 

Instrumental, other languages

International relevance: **

Per Cussion's real name is Per Tjernberg who used to be the percussionist in Archimedes Badkar and several other rhythm happy bands. This was his first solo album, and he brought along several friends from Peps Blodsband, Egba and of course Archimedes, such as Bosse Skoglund, Bengt Berger, Babatunde Tony Ellis, Ulf Adåker, and even Peps himself. It's a kindhearted, friendly album bringing together all Tjernberg's influences from Jamaica, Trinidad, Cuba and various African countries. It's pleasant and joyous, a festive get-together of friends easy on the ear, but it doesn't have the oomph to really grab you.

Full album playlist

FILARFOLKET – Utan tvekan (Amalthea, 1982)

Instrumental, Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

The second album from Filarfolket is an overall better effort than their debut ”Birfilarmusik från Malmö”. The format is largely the same: folk music with an open-eared approach, but they had become a stabilized unit by this time, and as a result, they had earned a greater self confidence which in turn made Filarfolket's vision clearer. It's emotionally more compound, with a few darker accent colours that makes ”Utan tvekan” a fuller experience. The high point is the vocal ”Magdalena” which would have fitted nicely on any Folk & Rackare album of your choice, in an arrangement featuring the deep, scary sound of Dan ”Gisen” Malmquist's contrabass clarinet.

If you choose between this one and the debut, the answer is hands down ”Utan tvekan”.

Gryningspolska 
Bosse Buses marsch  
Solpolska 

GRUS I DOJJAN – Friska grustag (Sonet, 1976) / Efter kaffet (Amalthea, 1981)

 
Swedish vocals, English vocals, a cappella, instrumental
International relevance: *

Grus I Dojjan were a band of surprising longevity. Formed in 1970, their album debut came the following year which kicked off a ten year long career on record. They existed much longer than that but didn't release another album until 2002. Also, they backed Thomas Wiehe on his 1980 album ”Fågeln i mej” under the moniker Hullimullan Band.

I've reviewed Grus I Dojjan's other albums before, and these two LPs are the last remaining to appear on Swedish Progg Blog (unless they release a 10 CD box set of previously unreleased private tapes...). There's nothing I can say about them I haven't already said before. It's goodtime music, a cheerful mix of old Swedish dance tunes, various country music styles including bluegrass, and Irish folk. All their albums are basically interchangeable; they remained true to their style over the years, and if you like it you like it, but I don't.

I can just add that ”Friska grustag” (with a nice looking sleeve) was recorded live which was the perfect setting possible for the band, and that ”Efter kaffet” was their last album from the original era. ”Efter kaffet” actually has the best track I've ever heard from them, ”Rakkniven”. It's a genuinely great track; dark, doomlaiden and paranoid – completely unexpected coming from Grus I Dojjan! Too bad it took them ten years to come up with something on that level.

No links found 

ENERGIOPERANS KÖR & ORKESTER – Den femte naturkraften (Lilla Räven, 1980)

 
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

This is the most unusual anti-nuclear album I've heard. A real one-off thing on a private, one-off label. The music were made for a street theatre performance in 1980 called "Energioperan" and involved 23 musicians and 46 singers, collectively known as ”The Energy Opera's Choir & Orchestra” in translation. The best known names are probably Anita Livstrand (Vargavinter, Bitter Funeral Beer Band, solo), Margareta Söderberg (Arbete & Fritid) and Catarina Abelli (Hot Boys, and Torbjörn Abelli's half sister -- she also did the cover art for this album).

It ought to be a well established fact that I have serious problems with political albums where a thousand singers insist on singing their slogans all at once, and true that ”Den femte naturkraften” (=”the fifth force”) has its share of appalling tracks. But a fair bit of it is actually rather captivating. The choir provides an ethereal feel to some of the numbers, and a few selections are really toned down with Oriental and Balkan folk shadings. Especially the bewitching ”Siarens sång”, sung and co-written by Anita Livstrand with a snaky melody framed by flute, tablas and 'acid folk' acoustic guitars. (I don't like that term, but it's highly applicable here.)

So if you navigate past the odd rock track and one or two dreadful political shouties, there's quite a few moments well worth investigating here. And with an Anita Livstrand runaway track like ”Siarens sång”, it's definitely worth spending some loose change on it. 

No links found

THE CORBIES – The Corbies (Four Leaf Clover, 1977) / Fire Raisers (Four Leaf Clover, 1979) / Härtappat (Four Leaf Clover, 1981)

 
English vocals, instrumental
International relevance: *

If you didn't know it, you could swear The Corbies were an authentic Scottish band. But they were only a bunch of Swedes that nail the Scottish folk moves right down to the accent (at least a lot of the time). They pick trad's greatest hits, go through both vocal and instrumental tracks like ”Cam Ye O'er Frae France”, ”Mason's Apron”, ”Johnnie I Hardly Knew Ye”, ”Loch Lomond”, ”The Blantyre Explosion”, ”High Germany” and, sigh, ”Whiskey In The Jar”. The instrumentation is traditional, i.e. mainly acoustic, and the arrangements are meticulously faithful to Scottish folk bands from the 60s and 70s. And that's the crux of the matter: They're so true to their role models it's ridiculous. I'm sure The Corbies were a hit with the beer soaked pub crowds of the day, but give me one good reason why I should listen to their albums when there are probably hundreds of genuine Scottish albums out there, ranging from the mediocre (and less) to the excellent, from the dead cheap to the absurdly expensive.

The Corbies are a skillful charade, but a charade just the same. They put on an act, and no matter how well they do it, it's an annoying fake.

They also released one 45 in 1982, and another one in 1983. In 1997 they reunited for another album, plus one further three-track EP in 2020. Which only makes them even more annoying -- did they really had to tell the same joke over and over again when it wasn't funny the first time around?

The cover art of the debut album is great though.

The Corbies full album playlist (Spotify) 
Fire Raisers full album playlist (Spotify)  
Härtappat full album playlist (Spotify)

BROMANS ÖVERTONSKAPELL – Luther på axeln och fan i fötterna (Krokben, 1981)

 

Instrumental, Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Krokben was a label closely connected to Fred Lane. Their output was small, but included Lane's album with Spjärnsvallet, ”Till soluppgång och lycka”. He was of course part of Bromans Övertonskapell as well – they were something of a miniature supergroup also consisting of Lane's compadre from Låt & Trall, Kjell Westling, plus previous members of Hemkört and Södra Bergens Balalaikor. As one may suspect from the personnel, this one-off group were firmly rooted in folk music, and most of their repertoire came from the traditional field, with the occasional tune written by Lane and others. Lane's accordeon is at the centre of the music, but hurdy gurdy and Westling's bass clarinet take a prominent part in the execution as well. The songs are usually short around the the 1-2 minutes mark, good-natured and sometimes with a humurous stroke. The playing is as fine as expected with such musicians, but the music itself isn't too interesting. It's of limited general interest, but fans of upbeat Swedish folk music will most likely find this most delightful. 

No links found

EMIGRANTORKESTERN – Nylonrock och mollskinn (Folksång, 1982)

 
Swedish vocals
International relevance: -

Emigrantorkestern's first album had some documentary value, but it's hard to find any value at all in their second one. Way too heavy on the humour, ”Nylonrock och mollskinn” sounds like a free-for-all between Skäggmanslaget, Grus I Dojjan and Aston Reymers Rivaler. Best track is the melancholy ”Gengångare”, but that is completely overshadowed by an idiotic rock'n'roll pastiche, fake cajun and plastic bluegrass. And oh, it was released on Fria Proteatern's label Folksång. That surely didn't help their cause.

Two album tracks were also released as a single, and Emigrantorkestern made one further album, "Rårivet" in 1983.

Full A side  
Full B side 

STINA NORDSTRÖM – Blandade känslor (Wisa, 1980)

 

Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Second full length album from Stina Nordström. The first one was released on Kjell Höglund's Alternativ label, whereas this was out on the Wisa imprint.

The Turid similarities established on her debut ”Skugga i din pupill” persist on ”Blandade känslor” (=”mixed feelings”). There's no clear highpoint here on the level of ”Vildöga, grönöga” on the first album, but there's a couple of rather appealing tracks including the folksy ”Vem e' du” and ”Hildas hemliga visa”.

The album in general displays a wide range of styles including blues, jazz and rock but not to great results. Tracks like ”Röda gubben” and ”Flytvästblues” are downright terrible much because of Nordström horrific vocal overacting. Best neglected.

Full side A 
Full side B  

FILARFOLKET – Birfilarmusik från Malmö (Amalthea, 1980)

Instrumental, Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

Originally named Birfilarna, they released one album as such, ”Än svänger det” in 1978. After reorganizing the group, they adopted their new name Filarfolket, and eventually enjoyed quite some success in the 80s. Maybe they're best known for properly launching the career of multi-instrumentalist Ale Möller who for a long time has been a go-to musician when you've needed any odd stringed instrument. Other notable Filarfolket members include Dan ”Gisen” Malmquist and for a while also first class fiddler Ellika Frisell.

Filarfolket have always been a good-natured lot, rarely digging into the darker side of Swedish traditional music. Instead they've always had a broad musical outlook, gladly interweaving musical elements from the entire world, from the Balkans all the way to Africa and Asia. Their curiousity for how musical traditions are connected and compatible was seemingly endless, and with high level skills to combine them seamlessly, they truly were a creative outfit.

With ”Birfilarmusik från Malmö” being their first album under the Filarfolket moniker, they hadn't yet developed their unprejudiced approach in full, but the typical Filarfolket moods are already set. The music's extremely well played, enthusiastic and warm at heart, but as I refer my folk music darker, it gets a bit too rosy-cheeked and cheerful for me.

Opp å ud å å

ISTID – Istid (Urspår, 1980)

 
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **

I don't know what put the misconception in my head that this was an album on the heavier side of things as it's clearly not. Istid's only album, released on the electic Urspår label (home to Kräldjursanstalten, Lars Hollmer, Von Zamla, Rena Rama, Lokomotiv Konkret and several others), is a rather spacious sounding effort in a folk influenced singer/songwriter vein. Two of the members were in other bands: singer/guitarist Lennart Lundgren used to be in Mendoza who cut one memorable CBS album in 1972, while bassist Christer Höglund made his presence known in two other low profile bands, Musikgruppen ACP that released one rare privately pressed single-sided LP, and the blues inflected Frontalrock and their self-released 7” ”Nattens Barn”.

Istid's capacious sound pretty much comes from them substituting regular drums with hand drums including tablas on a couple of tracks. Acoustic instruments are predominant, although best track ”Havet” adds a fuzz guitar solo to good effect. The rest of the material here is quite mediocre. 

Also, I don't like the vocals that often sound like a testosteronic Lasse Tennander. The songs are what they are, but ”Istid” would be more appealing had they skipped the vocal mannerisms. The album does have some nice characteristics but they are overshadowed by less attractive features. 

Väggen 

HAPPY BOYS BAND – Bush (MNW, 12”, 1980)

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

Happy Boys Band has strong progg connections as three of their members were formerly in Kebnekajse: Hassan Bah, Thomas Netzler and Rolf Scherrer. Netzler was also part of the Tillsammans collective and Scherrer used to be in Steampacket with Mikael Ramel in the 60s. Scherrer and Netzler wrote one of the 12” EP's three tracks with the other two being Bah compositions. The tracks all have a different feel to them. The instrumental ”Song To Maria (Smulan)” is unexpectedly spacey in a semi-fusion way, while ”Saturday Night” shows a clear inspiration from African high life music. ”Na Jo Na” is closer to afrofunk. Out of Kebnekajse's ouvre, ”Bush” is obviously closest to ”Ljus från Afrika”. What you think of it depends on your tolerance for African music, but even if it's not your thing, just listening to these guys play is satisfying. They're a really tight lot, and the solo contributions are top notch. Scherrer (or possibly Mats Dahlberg) delivers quite a few tasty guitar runs, especially on ”Song To Maria”.

If you're into them, you might also want to check out Happy Boys Band's Tonkraft gig from early 1981, a rather short but fiery set that at times is pretty close to Archimedes Badkar's most Afro flavoured efforts.

No links found 

THOMAS WIEHE & HULLIMULLAN BAND – Fågeln i mej (Silence, 1980)

 
Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: *

One of Thomas Wiehe's later albums recorded with backing group Hullimullan Band which is Grus I Dojjan in disguise. They're better here than on their own albums, but don't sit too well with Wiehe's songs and vocal style though. He often sounds a bit lost among all the instruments. It's not unlikely that he got a few of the ideas from The Incredible String Band's last few albums – ”Fågeln i mej” sometimes sounds like what Mike Heron's ISB songs from the 70s would have sounded like with Robin Williamson singing them. The best selection here is by far the brooding, country flavoured title track which could have been a good one by Wiehe's brother Mikael. A quite tasty number that clearly outshine everything else on the album.

Full album playlist 

J.P. NYSTRÖMS – Kallvattudans (Manifest, 1980)

 
Instrumental, Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

J.P. Nyströms' second album and similar to their first, meaning skimpy, rosy-cheeked traditional tunes from northern Sweden. A few, very few, tracks have a touching melancholy and those tracks are the best, including ”Visa från Nattavaara” and the bittersweet ”Brudmarsch från Malmberget”. Both those songs have a deep running strain of Norrlåtar in them, but with several generally much better Norrlåtar albums out there, you simply don't need any album by J.P. Nyströms.

Full album playlist 

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Så här är det... (Frihets Förlag, 1975)

 
Featured artists: Eld I Berget / De Nya Gesällerna / Trots Allt / Mats Fjanters / Röda Röster / Tabasco
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

As if it wasn't bad enough with the torturous number of records on the Social Democrat label A Disc, their youth division had their own outlet in Frihets Förlag. Thankfully, their catalogue is slim with only two singles and two albums between 1974 and 1977. (At least that's all I've seen proof of, but I hope it's correct.) ”Så här är det” (=”this is how it is”) was their first full length release and features six acts, three of them coming together on the Victor Jara penned closing track ”Ett enat folk” (=”a united people”). Not that you could tell them apart, because they all sound just like the guitar strumming, bongo beating, slogan shouting typical to albums such as this. Formulaic songs with awkward melodies to lyrics insensitive to details such as singability and syllable amount. The only tracks that remotely recalls some actual musicality is ”Fantasi” by De Nya Gesällerna, an unusually toned-down track with soft guitar picking and flute. 

Eld I Berget - Det var längesen 
De Nya Gesällerna - Deltar oundvikligen
Trots Allt - SKUMLr eller Baude och 
Trots Allt - Rotlös 
Eld I Berget - Än är det inte för sent

PETER WARTIN & CLAES NORDENSKIÖLD – Claes Nordenskiöld & Peter Wartin (PETCLA, 1978)

 

Swedish vocals, instrumental
International relevance: *

Claes Nordenskiöld isn't a too familiar name, but Peter Wartin was in semi-hard rockers Baron Bult who released two 45s, and later still in the imperatively ignorable synth poppers Super Tele Group.

This duo album shows only little of what was to come in only a few years. The foundation is vocals and acoustic guitars – no drums – with some electric guitars, piano, soprano sax. One track even have a fusion violin that sounds like a garage take on Jean-Luc Ponty. The few short (semi-)instrumental tracks scattered across the album has a slight relaxation music vibe, but there are in fact a couple of boogie styled numbers that reveal that Wartin had some premature Baron Bult inclinations already at this stage. But apart from those, there's very little resembling actual rock music here. 

Being recorded in the internationally renowned Decibel Studios in Stockholm the sound and production is on a high level, but the album nevertheless retains a slight underground feel I can't quite put my finger on (I guess the homemade looking album cover helps). The songwriting is indistinct, some lyrics lightly political, and the album as a whole feels vague and unsharp. And with neither Wartin nor Nordenskiöld being particularly memorable singers, the album just passes more or less unnoticed.

Hur mycket är lagom 
Väntan 

GAARDA BAND – Vi bygger landet (A Disc, 1980)

  
Swedish vocals
International relevance: *

Another A Disc album to test your patience. This time by Gaarda Band, an acoustic three-piece stylistically somwhere between hootenanny folk singing and jolly Swedish visa. All lyrics are in Swedish and rich with the usual bland political platitudes typical to A Disc releases. Bad to begin with it gets even worse with embarrassing stabs at ”humourus” portrayals. ”Om det händer mig nåt” is surprisingly enough a pretty good song, but there's no way it can outweigh the otherwise ropey songwriting and singalong message ditties.

Full album (poor sound)

ORIENTEXPRESSEN – Orientexpressen (Urspår, 1979)

  
Instrumental, other languages
International relevance: **

Orientexpressen may not be the most imaginative name (meaning, as easily guessed, ”the Orient express”), but it gives as rough although not perfectly accurate idea of what they sound like. Founded in 1975, they've made quite a few albums over the years with members coming and going. For this debut album they consisted of one Turkish born flute and darbouka player and five members Sweden born and bred, of which several also played with Södra Bergens Balalaikor. Add to that two guest singers. They performed traditional music from Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Serbia and the Balkans, a mix that was far from unique in those days. ”Orientexpressen” isn't as good as the less authentic but marvellous Ramlösa Kvällar but much better than the unsatisfactory and polite Radio Balkan. Performances are passionate, and the music has that certain rawness I want from recordings such as this.

The instruments are of course adequate to the music, upright bass, accordeon, fiddle, flutes from near and far, tamboura, clarinet, gajda (bagpipe)... Not to mention the thunderous drum sound of tapan and darbouka. There can never be enough of thunderous darbouka!

All in all, a convincing debut from this long standing band. 

No links found 

LÖTSJÖN – Live 1978-1979 (Holmia, 2013; rec. 1978-1979)

 English vocals, instrumental
International relevance: *

Lötsjön released two albums in 1976 and 1982 respectively, and this EP released on streaming platforms some 35 years later shows what they did inbetween, i.e. the same thing they always did. That means playing covers of stuff like ”California Dreaming” and ”Hello Stranger” and the occasional original tune in such a sexless manner they make Peter, Paul & Mary sound like Motörhead. I mean, this is a bunch of gals and pals that would be kicked out from a campfire party for spoiling the mood by being too mawkish. So unprovoking its provocative.

Full EP playlist