Retrosonic Podcast Swedish Music special with Spiders, Eken, Division of Laura Lee, MUG Music store, The Oholics, Side Effects, Samling and much more...

Continuing our series of Retrosonic Podcasts on Sweden, the latest Episode features a spotlight on Gothenburg's thriving music scene. And what better way to start than to kick off with The Troublemakers' classic anthem and tribute to the City, "Staden Göteborg". There are interviews with Ann-Sofie from the hotly tipped Spiders, where we discuss the release of their excellent debut album "Flash Point" and their upcoming European tour with Graveyard. We also talk to Wayne Lundqvist-Ford from the Ice Cream Man Blog about life in the city, including his thoughts on local bands, venues and the Gothenburg Scooter Club. We play a pick of recommended Swedish bands such as Division of Laura Lee, The Moving Sounds, The Early Days, The Wild Shore, Arvidson and The Movements. Next, it's a quick pop into the legendary MUG Music Store for a brief chat with the equally legendary owner, Bruce Emms. Then there is a feature on local Record Union digital A&R man, Hans Selander, and we play a selection of excellent bands on his roster including Långfinger, Eken, Side Effects, The Sympathy, Headons and The Oholics, who had their latest album reviewed very favourably by respected journalist Andrew Perry in the latest issue of Mojo Magazine. As if that is not enough, there's even more music crammed in, with songs by Samling, Swedish Brilliance and The Wonder Boys.

- Tracklist & Links (please click the highlighted names to visit each band's web-site).

Troublemakers "Staden Göteborg"

Division of Laura Lee "Need To Get Some"

The Early Days "Flowers"

The Moving Sounds "Never Follow Through"

The Movements "She Said"

The Wild Shore "Chinese Birds"

Arvidson "I'd Hate To See You Go"

Spiders "High Society", "Rules of The Game", "Fraction"

Spiders at Truckstop Alaska, Gothenburg - Photo by Anders Magnusson

Långfinger "Clap Your Hands For The Troubadour"

The Oholics "Wasted Youth"

The Sympathy "Get Away"

Side Effects "Let's Take a Walk in The Space Between Us"

Eken "Tanto, Min  Gröna  Fru"

Headons "Million Ways"

Samling "Stackars Lilla Värsting"

Swedish Brilliance "Another Day"

The Wonder Boys "Conspiracy Theory"

Bruce Emms of MUG Music Store - Photo by Steve Worrall

With many thanks to:

Bruce Emms at MUG Music Store (Musik Utan GRÄNSER), Kaserntorget 9, Gothenburg SE-411 18

Hans Selander at Record Union A&R and Selander Art

Ann-Sofie from Spiders
Wayne Lundqvist-Ford at Ice Cream Man Blog

Also, thanks to Anders Magnusson.

For all previous Swedish Special Edition Podcasts please check out the Retrosonic Podcast web-site on Soundcloud. All are available to download for free, here's a guide to all the Episodes so far.

Part 1: Ian Person, guitarist with The Soundtrack of Our Lives talks about the decision to call time on the band at the end of 2012. We also discuss his own music and play a selection of tracks from Ian's debut solo album "Diamonds In The Rough" and from the soundtrack to the new IFK Gothenburg movie "Football's Last Proletarians". We are also extremely delighted to include some brand new, as yet unreleased, songs from his forthcoming solo album.



Part 2: Thomas and David from one of Sweden's best psychedelic-garage-space-rock bands, The Movements, take us on a trip through the band's story which includes chapters as diverse as writing a theme song for a German football team, to being the first band that legendary Union Carbide Productions and Soundtrack of Our Lives guitarist Björn Olsson produced. From rehearsing songs in a hospital ward while singer David recovered from cancer, they ended up being the first band to have their very own Space Rock album taken to Outer Space by Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang! Generously sound-tracked by loads of great Movements songs, you can find out more in this fascinating special edition podcast!



Part 3: Movie Directors Martin Jönsson and Carl Pontus Hjorthén tell us all about their stunning new documentary, "Football's Last Proletarians" (Fotbollens Sista Proletärer), a fascinating look back at IFK Gothenburg's 1980's European adventures under the management of Sven-Göran Eriksson. We are also joined by one of the stars of the team, and of course the movie itself, ex-IFK, Liverpool and Fiorentina defender, Glenn Hysén. The Podcast features some examples of The Soundtrack of Our Lives' guitarist, Ian Person's excellent music from the film.
 

Our final Episode in the Swedish Series will be a special feature on Mattias Hellberg where we talk about his fascinating career from his early days in Karlstad to the present day as he prepares to release his latest solo album. Mattias talks about putting on gigs in the college canteen for Union Carbide Productions to forming his own bands such as Ugly Jake and later The Nymphet Noodlers with Martin Hederos, Mattias Bärjed and Jan Martens. We chat about his various collaborations and projects including The Solution, The Hellacopters, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, Hederos & Hellberg and more recently, with Nationalteatern. The Episode is generously soundtracked with lots of music from a selection of his many phases, including his solo albums and with The White Moose. We're also honoured to have some superb exclusive, unreleased songs from his forthcoming album. Please keep a check on the Retro Man Blog, Facebook page, Twitter feed @RetroMan65 or Retrosonic Podcast Soundcloud web-site for news of the release date of this great Mattias Hellberg Special Edition.

The Movements Podcast Cover Photo copyright Josefine Larsson 2012.

Ian Person Podcast Cover Photo copyright Paul Slattery 2012.

Spiders live Photo copyright Anders Magnusson 2012.

David Liljemark - "Jakten på Bernhard" Documentary

David Liljemark, the Swedish comic book illustrator, artist, author and musician with The Wonder Boys, has just had his excellent documentary movie Jakten på Bernhard (Traces of Bernhard) released on DVD. First of all here's the official press release: 

"Director and cartoonist David Liljemark tries to make contact with Bernhard Redenstedt, a mysterious 82 year old widower, who has been putting up little hand-written notes all over the streets of Lund for many years. David is deeply fascinated by these strange notes, and gets more and more curious about the lonesome man who writes them. However, Bernhard himself isn't as easy to find as his notes...At the same time as David is chasing him for an interview, Bernhard is threatened to be evicted by the local Council. When the time comes, David turns out to be the only person who is there for Bernhard, and things take a new turn. An unusual documentary about an unusual friendship..."

I thoroughly enjoyed this very moving yet ultimately life-affirming film about an unlikely bond forming between a Film Director and his subject. It is part road-movie, part detective story and part social commentary - a crusade for justice, as Liljemark takes on the ageing Bernhard's battle against the local Council who are trying to evict him. "Jakten på Bernhard" is available on DVD with English subtitles from Amazon. It is released by Silverosa films and produced by the award winning and internationally acclaimed Film-maker Lukas Moodysson.  The DVD has lots of extra features including short films and The Wonder Boys' music videos. A real gem however, is the documentary on Stockholm's very own Harmonica Man, Horst, or Munspelsmannen as he is more commonly known in Sweden. Horst has become a cult figure with a Facebook page dedicated to him and people posting  up various recordings of his performances on You Tube.

David Liljemark has been featured in major newspapers such as Dagens Nyheter and comic books such as Galago and the Swedish edition of Mad Magazine. He has also had a wide range of books published by Optimal Press including "Susanna & Bo", "Ritman Katz" and "Maxine". 

The critically acclaimed "Boltzius" published in 2009, was a superb historical graphic biography about the Faith Healer Fredrik August Boltzius, who was, in fact a distant relative of the author. 

David has also worked with The Soundtrack of Our Lives, illustrating the rare Vinyl/CD "Live with Randy Bachman" release.

  

The extremely rare and collectable 12" Vinyl Picture Disc and Picture CD pack featuring The Soundtrack of Our Lives and Randy Bachman with artwork by David Liljemark.