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With ‘Box Office Poison’, Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks continue to break down all resistance

Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks

For over thirty years, Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks have been world leaders in the surf rock genre. Over the years, they have become less puritanical yet more incisive. ‘Box Office Poison’ is a fascinating work from a band that just keeps evolving.

Depending on whom you ask, the band Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks came into being either in Solna or in Stockholm more than thirty years ago. But it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that it is frontman Robert Johnson who has been at the centre of most things over the years, and his creativity and dedication that have carved the band’s history in stone. Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks don’t follow other people’s trends or the whims of the times; they are stubbornness personified.

As a record label, of course we like the artists we release — who wouldn’t? — but one has to be amazed by an artist who is so stubbornly independent. And continues to develop. Finds new paths and breaks new ground. Even if it goes against the expectations of their fans and risks losing their loyal supporters’ love. For Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks, there is no alternative. It’s their way or no way at all.

On ‘Box Office Poison’, Robert Johnson and the band’s former bassist take centre stage. The album sounds the way it does and the songs are constructed the way they are largely thanks to Tobias Einestad.

The result is impressive. Not least on vinyl. Rarely has pressed black vinyl crackled with such weight as on ‘Box Office Poison’. We have a vested interest in saying so, of course, but it’s still true. Bear in mind that there are only 300 copies of the vinyl. Once they’re gone, they’re gone for good.

This is a gift from the gods to all self-respecting rock DJs. ‘Box Office Poison’ is also a godsend for radio sports broadcasts. You know what I mean.

Buy the album today!

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Could this be a future Swedish classic? “2017–2022” with KC BABY

KC BABY: '2017-2022'

The duo KC BABY are releasing a summer single that packs big emotions into a condensed format. ‘2017-2022’ has the potential to become a Swedish classic.

When KC BABY formed in 2017, it was the result of two people’s intense shared passion for music. However, it was also a natural consequence of sound artist Kajsa Magnarsson and Bob Hund icon Conny Nimmersjö becoming a couple. When they parted ways five years later, they chose to maintain and develop their shared bond in the form of KC BABY.

The single ‘2017-2022’ is now being released from their second album, ‘Nästan perfekt’.

When a relationship ends, the reason is rarely clear-cut. In ‘2017–2022’ by KC BABY, Conny Nimmersjö sings his own lyrics. Jan Gradvall wrote in Dagens Industri: ‘In the clinical “2017–2022”, Conny Nimmersjö sings about a summer when they “suddenly were done with each other”, without a hint of bitterness.’ He gave the album a rating of four.

This is arguably the most powerful song ever written in the Swedish language about divorce. Additionally, the song has a memorable melody and arrangement. It is no exaggeration to suggest that ‘2017–2022’ will be considered a Swedish classic.

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KC BABY – back with even more pop for adults

KC BABY (Photo: Emily Frick)

When Kajsa Magnarsson and Conny Nimmersjö formed KC BABY around 2017, their motto was ‘the small band with big feelings’. Although the duo’s sound and focus have changed, their vulnerability remains. On 9 May, Fanfar! will release their second album, Nästan perfekt (Almost Perfect), on vinyl and streaming services.

The album took more than five years to make,” says Conny Nimmersjö. ‘Not because we had a creative crisis. There was a pandemic. We had children. There was a war. We separated. The album is a soundtrack to all that.’

Kajsa Magnarsson: ‘Everything that is sung is true. I am very grateful that it was finished. It might be a bit messy in form, but that’s okay. It came out that way, like so many other things.’

On ‘Nästan perfekt‘ KC BABY are joined by Mattias Alkberg and Insomnia Taxxi, who both sing on ‘Till Berlin’. Amanda Werne (known by her stage name Slowgold) plays the accordion and sings backup on ‘Nu är det så’.

It’s hard to resist ‘Nästan perfekt’. Lyrics, music and expression vibrate close to the nerves. It’s pleasant and disturbing. At the same time. That’s what KC BABY are all about. What we hear is pop music, but the lyrics – which move between tender observations of everyday life and bitter reckonings – give the music a more mature tone than we’re used to.

Conny: ‘When Kajsa and I started playing together, I was convinced that it was only a matter of time before Kajsa’s singing voice would become one of the most popular in the country. And it’s still only a matter of time.’

Photo

Photo of KC BABY taken by Emily Frick.

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“Till Berlin” is a strong return for KC BABY

KC BABY: "Till Berlin" ('To Berlin')

Finally, new material from KC BABY. Kajsa Magnarsson and Conny Nimmersjö follow up their strong debut with a single featuring Mattias Alkberg and Insomnia Taxxi.

The band KC BABY release the digital single “Till Berlin” (‘To Berlin’), a prelude to the album to be released in May. The song features guests Mattias Alkberg and Insomnia Taxxi. The latter is a pseudonym for Iryna Novikova, an experimental musician from Charkiv, Ukraine, with a style somewhere between Nico and Sisters of Mercy.

“Till Berlin” is a song about movement – away from something, towards something. The verses are about being stuck and looking for a way out – to a friend, to another place, to a better state. The lyrics could have felt out of date. They don’t.

The album “Nästan perfekt”, which will be released on 9 May, has evolved over five years – through a pandemic, separation, war and the toddler years.

“The songs have become a soundtrack to all this”, says Conny Nimmersjö, who forms the core of the band with Kajsa Magnarsson.

“Everything that is sung is true”, says Kajsa. “The record might be a bit noisy in its form, but that’s okay. It came out that way, like so many other things.”

Guests on the forthcoming album include Amanda Werne (Slowgold) on accordion and choir.

Release date for “Till Berlin”

“Till Berlin” is released on 4 April 2025. The song will initially be released as a digital-only track, but will be included on the LP to be released later this spring.

Listen to “Till Berlin”

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A powerful swing from the Swedish kings of surf rock

Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks (photo: Pär Wiksten)

Since 1992, Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks have been internationally recognized as the undisputed kings of surf rock. Now the band’s twelfth album is out, and the group shows no signs of stagnation – quite the opposite. Always challenging and confounding their own genre and audience, Robert Johnson and his punchdrunks twist and turn b-sides and obscure references until you’re dizzy. And you’ll love every second of it.

The new album “Pills, Thrills & Acting Smart” contains twelve powerful original songs. The band features Conny Nimmersjö of bob hund and Finnish guitar legend Pekka Laine of The Hypnomen. Conny Nimmersjö also has been involved in the recording and mixing. The album will be released digitally only.

A few words about some of the songs:

“Flamboyant Persona” features Robert’s son Gordon Presley on drums and Lady Murena on vocals. A return to the pure surf we know from the band’s early records.

“Unitar Swag” is exactly what it sounds like – a tribute to the strange instrument unitar. Here it is Conny Nimmersjö who plays lead guitar.

“Cooling Board”. Hawaiian music has long been unexplored territory for Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks, although the band has touched on the exotica genre a few times. Now the band is taking the plunge and going all the way with the help of the Nordic region’s foremost expert in the field – Pekka Laine. Although Robert Johnson and Pekka Laine have been walking side by side musically since the 90s, this is their first collaboration.

“Pills, Thrills & Acting Smart” is the only surf rock album you’ll ever need. Okay, keep the ones with Link Wray, Davie Allan and Ike Turner. But you can throw the rest away and you won’t miss them.

It’s all here and then some.

Read more about “Pills, Thrills & Acting Smart”.

Photo

Photo of Robert Johnson taken by Pär Wiksten.

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No need to compromise – “One Eyed Band” is yet another magnificent album with The Mommyheads

The Mommyheads: One Eyed Band

The Mommyheads releases their new album “One Eyed Band” on the 8 November 2024. After delving deep into concept record territory with last year’s “Coney Island Kid”, they’ve come back to push the boundaries again, but still sound like they’re having a great time, not worrying about genre or pigeonholing in the slightest. Seven LPs in six consecutive years has only strengthened their commitment to staying active and original in an ever-changing landscape. Well-crafted songs, deft musicianship and progressive arrangements keep them sounding fresh and relevant after 37 years together.

“Chicken Soup” opens with a swirling barrage of 12-strings and synths, setting the stage with a bittersweet yet rebellious undertone found in all those dusty record collections from the late 70s, early 80s. Adam begins the conversation with a mantra of “Breathing, Searching, Failing, Dreaming”, leaving the listener wondering what Genesis would have done if they had made ‘Duke’ Part 2. Complexity mixed with simplicity, akin to the concept of chocolate mixed with sea salt, is the strength of One Eyed Band. The influences are strong, but never clashing with originality or sentiment. “Life is a Dream” kicks in the door with a dissonant, passionate assault of guitars, disco-inspired horns and string arrangements that would make any Elvis Costello/ABBA fan proud. Sonic exploration mixed with storytelling is prevalent from the first acoustic guitar note of ‘Season of our Sound’ to the last strum of ‘Human Being’.

Side 2 kicks off with the reggae-inspired “Risk It All”. Has anyone ever played a reggae groove in 7/8 time? The lyrics were inspired by recent events involving Russian political prisoner Alexei Navalny. The lyrics “They want to silence you ‘Cause they see that many can be changed by one” seem more true than ever. “The Gift” could be at home on a modern version of The Who’s “Tommy” soundtrack. Over-the-top horns and synths shift between serene acoustic verses as the band pushes through to the final uncompromising note.

“One Eyed Band” defines the band’s ongoing quest for originality, which ebbs and flows like a river making its way through our cultural landscape. You never know where the journey will take you, but you know that the journey is as fruitful and fun as ever; at this point in their career, The Mommyheads feel no need to compromise musically, and we are the beneficiaries.

Order the album now

Listen to “One Eyed Band”

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Solen Skinner’s ‘The Lathering’ is extreme music’s brightest newcomer

Solen Skinner: The Lathering

Solen Skinner has released their debut album ‘The Lathering’. The LP takes us straight to hell and shows that there is hope for experiences on the fringes of extreme culture.

Finnish trio Solen Skinner is as much a performance group as a band. Where the boundaries lie is not that significant, and perhaps the thing about Solen Skinner is that they dissolve boundaries. Gender, person, genre, artist, audience. Nothing is important and everything is important.

Solen Skinner is a relatively young constellation. When they played at the Norberg Festival in 2023, they were still in their infancy. Yet their performance, in an almost deserted industrial memory, seemed incredibly finished. Maybe it’s silly to compare today’s bands with industrial pioneers like Throbbing Gristle, but Solen Skinner have got there – to the same core.

The beautiful and the brittle lure you into their yarn, the brutal knocks you to the ground just when you’ve relaxed the most. And who the hell is that hissing at the end of ‘A Drop Falling’? Is it the Devil himself, peering out of the pit? ‘The Lathering’ is a testimony to something big that happened in the crushing plant on the 7th of July 2023. Something that finally made everyone who was there scream in happy ecstasy.

Listen to “The Lathering”

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Lychgate Threnody – forty years since the gates of hell opened in Södertälje

Detail from the original cover of "Lychgate Threnody" with Enhänta Bödlar

At the time of writing, it is exactly 40 years since Enhänta Bödlar recorded the cassette album “Lychgate Threnody” in a terraced house in Södertälje. The world may not have shaken, but hell appeared in the form of industrial music.

Enhänta Bödlar was one of the first Swedish bands to explicitly devote themselves to the then budding genre of industrial music. The band was formed in Ljungby in 1982 by Uddah-Buddah, or Valiant Dunkeldäld as he is actually called, and over the years he has been the backbone of the band. But from time to time, collaborations have arisen. In the 1980s, industrial music was a truly obscure underground movement in Sweden, and the few people involved in the genre made sure to keep in touch with each other.

Uddah-Buddah got to know Conny Nimmersjö, who would later become a member of bob hund, KC BABY and other well-known bands. But at this time, Conny was in college and spent his time recording a strange and angst-ridden kind of industrial music on his own. One summer day Uddah-Buddah came to visit and in Conny’s room at home in Pershagen they recorded what would later become the cassette album “Lychgate Threnody”.

The conditions were primitive. The vocals are said to have gone through a pair of headphones and the bass rumbles through ordinary gramophone speakers.

This could be dismissed as two teenage outsiders trying to be odd (which it may well be), but 40 years later the feeling is even more obvious than when the cassette was first released. There is a total presence and energy, not least in Uddah-Buddah’s vocals. Welcome to pure hatred, pure obsession. Welcome to the 40th anniversary of the opening of the gates of hell in Södertälje.

On the 40th anniversary on 19 July, Fanfar! releases a restored and remastered version of “Lychgate Threnody” on digital streaming services. Fanfar! will also release “Lychgate Threnody” on vinyl in the autumn, in a very limited edition.

Jonas Siöström at Dynamic Audio is responsible for the master. The original cover is made by Valiant Dunkeldäld and the vinyl edition is by Daggan Stamenkovic.

Enhänta Bödlar: Lychgate Threnody
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“Shockingly good” — 22 för många’s debut on vinyl after 43 years

22 för många: Yrkesmördare i livets tjänst

It’s time to present 22 för många’s first cassette LP. On vinyl. After 43 years. ‘Shockingly good’ was the headline when Jan Gradvall wrote about the album in Dagens Industri Weekend.

It has been a long journey. Twenty years ago, we started discussing the promotion of 22 för många and their influential music. 22 för många were the band that challenged everything and everyone at the dawn of post-punk. 22 för många had been undeservedly forgotten. Even Wikipedia questioned whether the group had ever existed.

Conny Nimmersjö from Fanfar! and Mikael Söderlund from 22 för många therefore embarked on a quest to climb mountains of master and reel-to-reel tapes in various containers and warehouses, inherited from record companies such as MNW and Mistlur. Unfortunately, there was no trace of 22 för många’s legendary recordings.

However, Micke Söderlund then found two mysterious tapes in his attic.

‘3/5/81’ was written on the box of one of the tapes, indicating the recording date. We sent the tapes to the Swedish Sound Migration Centre in Gamleby for restoration. Much to our delight, the tapes were in good condition and actually contained the entire first cassette LP. It’s a cassette LP so obscure that only two users on Discogs claim to own it.

Ten songs, recorded and mixed in just two days, 43 years ago.

The vinyl will be released on 9 February. It has been lavishly produced and processed using analogue technology at every stage, as if it had been released on vinyl when it was recorded 43 years ago. And it sounds fantastic!

You can find ‘Yrkesmördare i livets tjänst’ with 22 for many here.

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Coney Island Kid – a strong theme album with The Mommyheads

The Mommyheads: Coney Island Kid

Fanfar! releases the new LP with The Mommyheads. The band’s fifteenth studio album is their first theme record.

In the back streets of progressive pop, New York’s The Mommyheads are kings. Although the band has been around, with an extended break after their big break, since the 1980s, few people have heard or heard of them. This may be due to the band’s strong integrity or something else. In fact, those of us who have followed them closely have seen an amazing evolution; there’s no end to the desire to explore and experiment.

On the new Coney Island Kid, the band’s frontman Adam Elk returns to his childhood and growing up in Coney Island. Simply put, it’s something of a theme or concept album.

The record is also a natural follow-up to last year’s LP, the fantastic Genius Killer, which sneaks up on the listener and quite unnoticeably attaches itself to the heart. Coney Island Kid has the potential to be the same milestone.

You can order Coney Island Kid directly from us or ask for it at your local record store.

Video from Coney Island Kid

The Mommyheads: Why Aren’t You Smiling