THE MODERNS - Suburban Life 2021

Sweden's first and best mod-revival band The Moderns mixed the love of 60's pop with the intensity of Punk and had the big breakthrough around the corner during the short but intense career. Based in Malmö, the Moderns existed from late 1978 to 1981 and founding members were Mats (vocals/guitar), Tony (guitar), Jan (bass), Rickard (drums) and early 1979 they released their first self-financed 7Inch The Year Of Today. The record gained a lot of publicity due to the freshness of the sound and the fact that nobody else did this kind of music in Sweden at the time. Some line-up changes followed and eventually another single plus an album was released in the early 80's but the album didn’t sell as much as was anticipated, partly due to switch to the Swedish language, and so the band broke up shortly after. Busy Bee Production has once again created a real highlight on vinyl and along with the second single, songs from a couple of compilation albums and some completely unreleased tracks, this record is the definitive collection with The Modern's first line-up. Limited edition, 600 copies (400 black & 200 blue vinyl). Grab a copy if you get the chance, because this is interesting stuff for all outsiders & undergrounders.

- Great Thx to Fredrik -

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STRINDBERGS - Bibeln 1983

Interesting band (named after Swedish author August Strindberg) from Stockholm that create a nice New Wave sound with a guitar flashing here and there that also sounds punkie at times, but the most part the tracks stay true to the three-minute framework. At first I was a bit skeptical because of the cover and the band name, but when converting the files I became friends with them and even listened twice, you see... the stuff works. You need food: Strindberg's original members consisted of the former KSMB drummer Johan Johansson on guitar & vocals, the former the Moderns bassist Janne Borgh on vocals & bass and Johan Carlén on drums. The latter stopped after the recording of the album Bombpartyt to concentrate on art studies. He was replaced by Pär Lundström, who started playing with the band during its last tour. During Strindberg's short time, they managed to release three albums & three singles. The first album was though to be a live album from a concert @ the Ultra house in Stockholm but a mistake by the sound technician led to that nothing was recorded that day and the album Bibeln was instead recorded in studio. The mini-album Med Strindbergs Ur Tiden came about as a result of a couple of days of studio time when a new single was to be recorded, but instead the group had time to make a whole album. The sound on the album is simple and raw, and sounds more like the band could sound live. The last album, Bombpartyt, was recorded six months later. Hard tour life and private problems led a little later to the split of the band. There were two compilations released on CD: Strindbergs (1990) and Släktklenoder 82-84 (2005).

In 2009, the band reunited at the Peace & Love festival and on the roof of Kulturhuset together with the drummer from Hellacopters, Robert Eriksson. The gigs were so much fun that there were repeats in 2010 with two gigs @ Kulturhustaket and one @ Ögir in Köping, and 2011 with a gig again at Kulturhustaket. 2012 was the international year of Strindberg and the band then played a few exclusive gigs around Sweden, including at a sold-out Nalen in Stockholm and @ Sticky Fingers in Gothenburg. The line-up consisted of Johan Johansson, Janne Borgh and again drummer Robban Eriksson from Hellacopters. Since then, the band has repeatedly played single gigs with the same line-up.

I think, a nice record that is good for stress relief.

- Great Thx to Fredrik -

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V/A - Class Of 81

"The Class Of 81 is a collection of the vast numbers of new and unrecorded bands around New Zealand, and Auckland in particular, at the end of 1980. The bands themselves were inspired by the anyone-can-do it attitude that the punk and post punk global revolution had encouraged. By the end of 1980 there were hundreds of young bands playing gigs all over the country, and, in particular, every garage on Auckland's North Shore seemed to be home to an aspiring bunch of pop stars. The album as such held together fairly well, partially because there was a definite generic New Zealand sound developing, a sound not a long way removed from what, a few years later, became known as the Flying Nun sound. There was an angular quirky feel, almost jangly, to much of this. But unlike the Nun sound, the Auckland bands had a slightly more dubby, a looser & funkier feel. The album, despite plans and a steady stream of requests over the years, has never made it to CD. Regardless of that, Class Of 81 has attained a rather legendary status now as an album that clearly defined its era in New Zealand, and in particular, Auckland, Rock & Roll." (Simon Grigg)

1.Danger Man - THE AINSWORTHS

2.Dance - BOMBERS

3.Five Miseries - THE NEWMATICS

4.The Man Inside - REBEL TRUCE

5.I'm Normal - THE KILLJOYS

6.The Day Has Ended - THE MODERNS

7.All Dressed Up - SCREAMING MEE MEES

8.Oh Yeah Queee Baby - YOUTH FOR A PRICE

9.Motivation - BLAM BLAM BLAM

10.Carousel - RHYTHM METHOD

11.New Way - THE NEWTONES

12.Let's Go To Australia - VIVID MILITIA

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V/A - Break The Rules #9 1999

Out on Insekten Records, here's another cool LP with tons of rare punkrock tunes from 1978 - 1982 and so it's my fuckin' duty to follow up with Number 9 after the post before And again a pretty collection of songs which should not disappear in the immensity world of Punk-Music. If you like the old goodies sound then this is again a must have. Ripped from glorious vinyl (with lots of help by Franziskaner, hehe..) for our addiction & sick deaf ears. Especially cool is the cover version of  Buzzcocks 'I Don't Mind' by Ratsia. Sounds 1000 times better..aahhhh. I added all the artwork in the file with lots infos to every band. And now you come!!

1.Ikuinen Rakkaus - RATSIA
2.Päästäkää Mut Irti - RATSIA
3.Grown Up Age - THE BUREAUCRATS
4.Livin' Downtown - The A.D.'s
5.Fixed Up - THE OUTSIDERS
6.Kill Me - ROGER C.REALE
7.Nazi - NIVEAU NULL
8.Ambulance - PAIN
9.Churchyard - PAIN
10.Paskaa - LAME
11.Genetically Stupid - JETSONS
12.Betonikolossit - VANDAALIT
13.Now We're Through - RICHARD & THE TAXMEN
14.Butler Did It - TREND
15.Zink Tabletz - TREND
16.Toy Section - TREND
17.I Like You - SUSSED
18.Got To Have Pop - THE MODERNS
19.Reason For Treason - THE LAW

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V/A - Hemliga Vågen 1980

Another rare swedish compilation is this 12'' which was released by Hemliga Bolaget Records. Six Bands, each with two songs. A perfect mix of '77 punkrock, reggae, powerpop and rock'N'roll. No failure on it. I'm always amazed how many really good bands are from Sweden and they always inspire me. Who wants to know more about the Swedish punk rock scene, I recommend Peter Jandreus's book The Encyclopedia of Swedish Punk 1977–1987 which is well written, with extensive details, all cover artworks, discography and collectors values. A real asset for every Punkrocker - And now sit down, finished the download and enjoy the music.

1.Paris - AKTIESPARARNAS ÅRSMÖTE

2.Helldriver - ZION STEPPERS

3.When The Time Comes - THE MODERNS

4.Ingen Känsla - SKANSTULL

5.Fristat - CELLSKRÄCK

6.Got To Have Pop - THE MODERNS

7.Lycka Till - AKTIESPARARNAS ÅRSMÖTE

8.Zion Steppers Dub - ZION STEPPERS

9.Ett Och Två Blir Tolv - SKANSTULL

10.Vad Ska Vi Göra - CELLSKRÄCK

11.Huldas Bod (Del 1) - CORNFLAKES

12.Huldas Bod (Del 2) - CORNFLAKES

- Huge Thx again to Mr.Fredrik -

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