Once again Sham Recordings brings forth the best of electronic music from the swedish underground. They have previously released 7" EP:s with EBM-samplers and an album with No Sleep by the Machine.This time it's another sampler, but this time a full album with 10 songs devided between four bands.

The only band I knew about before is Sturm Café wich has two songs on the album. It seems like the band drifts away from the EBM style towards pop and more funky and danceable beats. Voodoo sex has a slow but very groovy beat. I love the sound of chiming bells that breaks through the analogue soundscape and gives the song it's character. Meistermann is more upbeat with a very catchy melody. Two very nice songs to add to the Sturm Café catalogue.

Monotone DC is a very interesting projekt from Dan Melin and Curt Östlund. As with all the bands on this compilation it seems like the influences stems from the electronic music of the 80's. With Monotone DC I belive that Depeche Mode is an especially important influence. All three tracks from the band are really strong and sound great. The slower track Zombies come is my personal favorite for the whole record.

Soundburger is Per Thorsell and Mats Wigerdal. Mats have done great music for a along time and were a member in Ubangi, Kitchen & the Plastic Spoons and Oven and Stove. I belive that Per has been a guitarist in Robert Johnson and Punchrunks. This is maybee the most original projekt on the record and makes me think about band such as DEVO and even B-52's. Flying pollinator is my favorite song from the band.

Johannes und der Täufer makes the same move as Sturm Café and sings in german. The band is Jonathan Eklund and Niklas Edvall. They are influnced by the neue deutsche welle (the german new wave scene) and has a very cool and old school sound with a bit of punky attitude. The song Berühre mich is a favorite and impossible to sit still to. Would love to hear this track on the dance floor or performed live.

3D Pop is such a cool record in so many ways. The most important thing is that the music is awesome and sounds great. It's also a bit nerdy and cool with a 3D cover with oldschool 3D-glasses. As a collector it's also nice with the limitied edition of only 135 copies. The downside is that this great music might not reach the broad audince it deserves.

You better hurry if you like your own copy.
Sham Recordings store.

A1 Autodafeh - Make us belive
A2 Hatbrott - Horse
B1 Restricted Area - Bulldozer
B2 Container 90 - Maggots

This is the third EP in the Swedish Old school series from Sham recordings, ltd edition of 130. It's about time this one made it to the blog, since I bought it almost a year ago at last years Bodyfest.

Autodafehs song Make us belive is funky in the same tradition as early Front 242. Sticks in your mind like chewing gum beneath your shoe.

Hatbrott is full speed ahead with a nasty bass on the song Horse. Strange melody with something that sounds like a thumb organ.

Peter Elm  made a comeback this year with Restricted Area and the release of the double CD Core excess. The hard hitting song Bulldozer made it both to this vinyl and to the CD. Really good song sounding like Nitzer Ebb or Spetsnaz.

The biggest surprise on the EP is Container 90s contribution Maggots. Alot more industrial sounding then we are used to from this band. A really interesting song that became an instant personal favorite.