Before I get to the music tonight, I want to share a few things I wrote over at that other site. I put up a review  of some recent game music releases, wrote a thing about how I’m done with horror movies for now, followed that up with a hella bizarre piece about Kiki’s Deliver Service, Amazing Grace and Chuck and the lack of human empathy (I was having a strange week), did a quick write-up of another Nirvana re-issue, put together a sadly relevant piece about a movie that predicted America’s mass shooting problem, and then closed out with a piece on STP.
Been busy. Anyways, some weird shit for the holiday season.
I’m consistently impressed by the oddball shit I find in Japanese record stores.
This is Life In The Future, a bootleg compilation of obscure Swedish post-punk.
Quick, ask me anything about Swedish post-punk.
Okay, I’m going to be honest and tell you that I don’t know shit about Swedish post-punk. I didn’t know the Swedes had post-punk. I thought they only had two genres in Sweden, ultra-poppy and cheery dance-pop and hardcore death metal. Shows you what I know.
But I wished I knew more, but because damn, this is a really great record. It does kind of get off to a rough start with the intentionally abrasive “Forlast Javel” by HörförstÃ¥else, but it picks up soon after that, with all flavors of post-punk getting due mention here. Like dissonant, depressing post-punk ala Joy Division? Then check out “Vanda Inat” by Unter Den Liden. Into quirky dance-punk with an electronic bent? Be sure to play the utterly manic “Happy Funeral” by the wonderfully named Kitchen & The Plastic Spoons. If you like darkwave synth-pop with a touch of New Order you’re more than covered here with great tracks like “East People” by Vitality and “The Gift” by Reasons To Live. And if you like weird shit that would make most people’s head explode, skip straight to the utterly bizarre “I Throw Punches” by one Friz Be.
As I said before, most of the stuff on this record is incredibly obscure. Most of the acts here didn’t even release a full album, and instead just offered a single or two before vanishing completely. Of the acts on here, the most well-known is probably Cortex, who get their material re-issued on a semi-regular basis. I couldn’t tell you much about them though.
Keep in mind, this is a vinyl rip of a bootleg record that was in itself most likely sourced from vinyl. So don’t expect killer audio quality with this one. Still, good stuff overall, so if you’re like me and have exhausted nearly every post-punk act that England and America had to offer, check it out!
Complete Tracklisting (Download Link)
- Forlast Javel - Hörförståelse
- Tristess No. 3 – GPJ
- Happy Funeral – Kitchen & The Plastic Spoons
- Envy – Modern Art
- Jesus I Betong – Cortex
- Chinese Junkies – Njurmannen
- Dance – Odd Stories
- Rekordmagasinet – Mats Olofsson
- The Gift – Reason To Live
- I Throw Punches – Friz Be
- Vanda Inst – Unter Den Liden
- East People – Vitality
- She’s A Waitress – Elektriska Cellskapet
- Operator – Tres-Operator
Wow, thanks for posting this! This is a solid record indeed. I can’t believe I have made it this far in life having never heard this song “Operator” – I would have been playing that on repeat had I heard it back in the 80s. I may or may not be doing that right now. I dug “I Throw Punches” too – is it just me or do you think it’s some kind of statement about domestic violence? Anyhow, this is a lot of great synthpop goodness.
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