A    Drop the deal
B1  Drop the deal (Rough percussion dub_mix)
B2  Drop the deal (Rough beat-box mix)

Another project by couple and founders of R & S Records, Renaat Vandepapelier and Sabine Maes. With Code 61 they teamed up with Jack Mauer and Rony Brack. Drop the deal was released in 1988 and one of few New Beat tracks to have success on dance charts outside Belgium.

It's a very cheesy track and the band adds additional cheese with their goofy performance of the song (see video). But it also has a descent beat and a very catchy melody. Contains samples of the pope? and spoken words from the tv-show Miami Vice.

The b-side doesn't add anything. Boring remixes that have been done only to have some grooves on both sides of the record.

Found at the Emmaus-Björkå charity shop at a cost of 1,15 €.

A1  Synergy
A2  Sweet young thing
A3  Raspberry infundibulum
A4  War prayer
A5  Adam Strange
B1  Jesus loves Amerika (Fundemental)
B2  Transcendental
B3  Misinformation
B4  Raptyouare
B5  In Gorabachev we trust

There was a Shamen before Ebeneezer Goode, Progen '91 and rappper Mr C. The group was founded in Aberdeen Scotland and released there first album Drop in 1987. The band then played psychedelic rock.

One of the members, Colin Angus, became interested in the growing dance scene and pioneering house gruops such as S-Express and M/A/R/R/S. The Shamen soon started to interpret those influences in their own music, and the electronic aspects was allready prominent in their second release, In Gorbachev we trust from 1989.

In Gorbachev we trust is a really interesting album. The mix of psychedelic rock and electronic dance music makes quite a nice concoction. I also like the political aspects of the lyrics wich talks about the cold war that was coming to some kind of closure at the time of the records release.

My favorite tracks are Jesus loves Amerika, Transcendental and Synergy. I found this album at the store Skivhugget in Göteborg and payed 7,49 € for it.

A  Mandate my ass (New beat mix)
B  Mandate my ass (Ghentlon acid mix)

This was also found at the Emmaus-Björkå charity shop. The words New beat and acid made me pick it up. At 1,15 € per record it doesnt hurt your wallet that much if it turn out to be a miss.

It's not a great record, but it's a very typical New beat release. I prefer the Ghentlon acid mix on the b-side. It has more interesting noises going on and a better groove. Sadly it's not interesting enough for 6 minutes, and becomes a bit boring after a while.


Renaat Vandepapeliere (founder of R & S Records) with Daniël Holderberg and Patrick Degraeve are responsible for writing the track.

A1  Terror
A2  Brain death
B1  To live in peace
B2  Innocence of death

This is a gem that I found at the Emmaus-Björkå charity shop for 1,15 €.

The Terror E.P. by Nautilus was written and produced by Arndt Pecher, Markus Pecher & Rolf Maier-Bode back in 1990. It has a very old-school techno sound. There are alot of acid noises flying around hard beats and steady rythms. The voices are samples releated to the Gulf War, and you can hear George Bush Sr and Saddam Hussein in the mix.

This was released by Suck me plasma, a label created by Andreas Tomalla (Bigod 20, Robotiko Rejekto and label Zoth Ommog).

It's a very cool EP and you get four very strong songs. My favorites are To live in peace and Brain death.

A1  Håll mig hårt
A2  Vad tänker du på
A3  Jag är så rädd
B1  Jag orkar inte mer
B2  Maskiner
B3  Känner så få

Mögel (mold) was a swedish punk band from Farsta. The band started back in 1978 and was part of the early punk movement in Sweden. They played alot of gigs (ca 500) in Sweden, Belgium France and former Czechoslovakia. Unfortunatly they were a bit reluctant to record their music as they thought their music was supposed to be heard performed live. That is supposedly the reason why they did'nt realese more then 6 songs and that it took until 1981 for their first and only release.

Mögel was Ulrika Malmgren on vocals, Gitte Lilja on base, Marie Wrengler on drums and Eva Bergström on guitar. Theyhad a very specifik sound that differed alot from other bands during the era. In fact they sounded very post-punk years before the new wave and had a very edgy and strutty way of playing.

The label Massproduktion did a re-release of the record on CD in 2009, wich also included som demo's and live-recordings. The band reunited for the release and did a few gigs. Marie Wrengler unfortunatly struggled with cancer at the time and died in 2011 only 49 years old.

The really cool artwork for the cover is by French painter Olivia Télé Clavel. I found my copy at Tradera and payed 4,68 €, a real bargain.

Also check out this awesome documentary from Swedish televison of the early Swedish punk scene. Mögel is featured along other bands as Incest Brothers, Ebba Grön and KSMB.
http://www.oppetarkiv.se/video/1124436/faderneslandet-och-punkrockarna

Thought I should write a little about the records I miss in my collection. My record collecting is mainly very haphazard and I usually pic up whatever I fanzy and like at the moment. I am not really restricted to any genres or time periods, alltough I seem to favor the 80's, punk and electronic music.

There are a few labels that have caught a special interest from me and I try to get their whole catalogues. One of those labels are Mamma, an independent record label from Gävle that existed between 1979 and 1986. This is from my home turf growing up and I have seen some of the bands perform live in my youth.

Di Leva's first release with his band The Pillisnorks was released on this label and they also housed swedish punk pioneers P.F. Commando for there second release Jag en duva. I also would like to mention the band Quiet's two single releases Monopoliserade sanningar and Rastafuskrock. The band The Vertex also have a very special place in my heart since they came from Ockelbo where I grew up.

All in all the label had nineteen releases and I am only three records away from having a copy of them all.

The total catalogue:

Still missing from my collection is the album Svarta Rosor from Grenzfall, Svart Guld from Bangkok and the single Midnight dream from the band II Shy. You are very welcome to contact me if you have any of these releases and want to sell them. Especially the single from II Shy, since I havent seen that one for sale anywhere.

For more information about the label you can visit the site Musikon.se. They are working on a catalogue of swedish music released  between 1965 and 1995.

A  Naughty Miranda (Club Mix)
B  Miranda

"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore..." No, we have taken the Tardis back to 1983 and stumbled upon one of the weirdest synth pop tracks out there. Indians In Moscow was launched upon the public by Jools Holland from a public lavatory on the program The Tube (see video).

Naughty Miranda is a song about a disturbed girl who murder and eats her father. All described in a catchy pop song with an electronic calypso beat. A really odd piece that you can't help but fall in love with.

The A side is a longer club mix and the b-side is the original version from the 7".

A  Fetish
B  Spooky

Vicious Pink, vocalist Josephine Warden and keyboardist Brian Moss started out as backing vocalists for Soft Cell. The band were active between 1981 and 1986 and released a handful of singles. Their songs were mainly targeted at the club scene and never really broke into the main streem.

Fetish / Spooky was released in 1985 and not as succesful as their earlier releases. In my opinion this is quite strange since the song Fetish is a really strong song that should put smiles on faces on dance floors even today. And the theme of the lyrics should also work very well with the fetish- BDSM-clubs. Sexy song with a pounding high energy beat.

The b-side Spooky is sadly the opposite of the a-side. It has a really outdated sound and is a boring track that feels very stuck in the 80's.

A1 Monday
A2 Dare
B1 The new force
B2 Fire burns
B3 Children of today

Dare is the first (mini) album by Vomito Nergro. Mario Vaerewijck has left the band, wich leaves Gin Devo and Guy Van Mieghem. They team up with A Split Seconds Chrismar Chayell as producer again (he also produced the EP Stay Alive) and records five new tracks.

Chrismar's input on the first track Monday is very apperant, as it is very similar in sound to Crismar's solo projekt Chayell in sound and style; very New Beat. A great instrumental track, but a bit odd for Vomito Negro.

The title track Dare is much more typical Vomito Negro; dark and groovy, with lyrics whispered by Gin Devo in his trademark style.

The new force is like a mix of classic Vomito Negro and new wave. This is as upbeat and catchy as the band will ever get, but still with a sinister touch and a big pinch of darkness.

Fire burns is back to familiar Vomito Negro grounds. Agressive and effective EBM with alot of industrial feel to it. My personal favorite on this release.

The ending Children of today is another track that kind of strays from the Vomito Negro formula. This is in my opinion a very gothic and dramatic song with a different kind of vocals compared to the other songs.

This album contains five great songs that are very diverse in style. It's very accessible and has none of the ambient industrial tracks that can be found on some of Vomito Negro's releases. This is a real favorite of mine and if you are interested in checking out some of Vomito Negro's earlier releases, this album is a good one to start with.