Tag: Eddie Bengtsson (Page 3 of 3)

Lost Albums: S.P.O.C.K Five Year Mission

During their ‘Star Trek’ careers, both William Shatner and the late Leonard Nimoy made various excursions into the musical world with mixed responses. Nimoy gave the world ‘The Ballad Of Bilbo Baggins’, while Shatner’s melodramatic cover of Elton John’s ‘Rocket Man’ had to be heard to be truly believed.

But one noted musical offshoot inspired by the long running franchise were a bunch of Swedes who traded under the moniker of S.P.O.C.K

Alongside bands such as PAGE, ELEGANT MACHINERY and SISTA MANNEN Å JORDEN, they were to become key players in the Swedish electronic pop scene. The project started in 1988 when Eddie Bengtsson of Svenske synth trailblazers PAGE put together some ‘Star Trek’ themed songs for his friend Finn Albertsson to perform at his birthday party; another friend Alexander Hofman provided the vocal accompaniment.

Calling themselves MR SPOCK, the performance was well-received and unexpectedly led to further local live bookings with Bengtsson now also incorporated into the line-up. Formal approaches were made to Paramount Pictures to use the name of the Vulcan Science Officer, but unable to reach agreement with the studio giant, the trio opted to call themselves STAR PILOTS ON CHANNEL K, otherwise abbreviated to S.P.O.C.K.

Releasing their debut single ‘Silicon Dream’ in 1990, the S.P.O.C.K crew adopted character personas with Hofman, Bengtsson and Albertsson calling themselves Android, Captain Eddie B Kirk and Cybernoid respectively to fully immerse themselves into their conceptual vision.

1992 saw the release of their signature song ‘Never Trust A Klingon’ on Energy Rekords. A frantic robotic synthpop number with a hypnotic dance feel, Hofman’s detached but theatrical vocal style told the message loud and clear. A magnificent blip splurge in the middle eight was further enhanced with samples of Captain James Tiberius Kirk from ‘Star Trek III: The Search for Spock’.

‘Never Trust A Klingon’ bordered on nerdiness, but presented with a straight face and accompanied by a brilliant synthetic backing track, it strangely came over as a work of genius even with lines about “evil barbarians” who “if you ever give them a helping hand… can be sure they’ll chop off the arm”. Klingons on the starboard bow? THE FIRM’s 1987 novelty hit ‘Star Trekkin’ this most certainly wasn’t and ‘Never Trust A Klingon’ became an alternative club favourite in both Sweden and Germany.

The parent long player ‘Five Year Mission’ appeared in 1993. Predominantly based around the cult of ‘Star Trek’, it began by exploring the ‘Neutral Zone’ in a steadfast ERASURE-ish recollection of a mission where the USS Enterprise responded to a distress call sent from the no-man’s land dividing The Federation from The Klingon Empire.

Continuing the Trekkie theme, ‘Mr Spock’s Brain’ utilised Android’s processed Numan-esque drone with some enjoyably daft lyrics, while the bleeps and chattering drum machines on ‘Charlie X’ accompanied the story of a disturbed teenager who appeared in a first season episode causing mayhem aboard the Enterprise while stalking one of the female crew members. But it was a story that could be related to any aspect of society, not just in outer space.

The deadpan drama of ‘Black Hole’ saw the USS Enterprise trying to get more warp speed to prevent being sucked into oblivion, while ‘Edge Of Forever’ with its distinctive tones of mechanical vocal expression was great spacey Eurocentric synthpop.

Despite the concept of ‘Five Year Mission’, not all the tracks were based around ‘Star Trek’ but most were still Science Fiction based. ‘Space Race’ borrowed from Vince Clarke-era DEPECHE MODE and S.P.O.C.K were later to pay tribute to Basildon’s most famous sons when they recorded ‘Ice Machine’ for the Svenske DM tribute ‘Sometimes I Wish I Was Famous’.

Meanwhile ‘E-Lectric’ celebrated future technologies in a typically Kling Klang fashion and the HG Wells inspired ‘Time Machine’ told of a trapped time traveller whose survival supplies were running on empty.

‘Five Year Mission’ ended appropriately enough with ‘Last Man On Earth’, a dystopian doomscape about machines taking over the earth. “The robots are now out of control” muttered Android dispassionately in a tone that could have easily come from TUBEWAY ARMY’s ‘Replicas’.

S.P.O.C.K’s music could on first impression be seen as bordering on parody. But expanding on the sly deadpan humour of KRAFTWERK and combining it with Bengtsson’s melodic synth laden compositions, S.P.O.C.K’s music possessed enough authentic weight to complement Hofman’s amusing wordplay.

In a period when the UK had more or less given up on synthpop and Britpop was rearing its ugly head, Sweden and Germany were still keeping the genre alive on ‘Planet Earth’. Rather fittingly, the inter-galactic adventures of S.P.O.C.K would later lead them to reinterpret that same titled DURAN DURAN track for the ‘To Cut A Long Story Short’ synthpop covers collection in 1995 alongside ELEGANT MACHINERY and PAGE.

In the end, everyone comes back down to earth…


‘Five Year Mission’ was released as a CD by Energy Rekords

http://www.subspace.se/spock/

https://www.facebook.com/StarPilotOnChannelK


Text by Chi Ming Lai
9th August 2017

PAGE Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld Men Det Råkar Vara Så Det Ser Ut

Formed in 1980 in Sweden by Eddie Bengtsson and Marina Schiptjenko, PAGE marked the entry point of synthpop into the Nordic country, leading to decades of producing the best pop acts in Europe.

Quickly influencing the masses and creating a cult following, the group released numerous singles before finally the first album in 1991; they have been active on and off since then.

Returning with their new album ‘Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld Men Det Råkar Vara Så Det Ser Ut’, which translates as “There’s No Beautiful World But It Happens To Look Like That”, the veteran boy / girl combo ensure that they are still very valid, even 37 years on.

‘Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld Men Det Råkar Vara Så Det Ser Ut’ promises its building blocks are based on a “classic pop concept”, and the opening ‘Krasch’ certainly fits the analogue blueprint of the Swedish essence. ‘Spottar Långt’ carries on the idea of simple, yet wholesome electronic noise, while ‘Lågger Av’ speeds everything up.

‘Sånt Som Inte Går’ introduces the feel of underground synth with an alternative sound, at times reminiscent of the works of GARY NUMAN. Talking of Numan, his ‘Tracks’, translated into Swedish ‘Spår’, finds its way onto the opus, as well as now soiled glam classic ‘Hello Hello I’m Back Again’ in the form of ‘Så Skönt Att Va Här’.

‘Låt Det Gå’ melodiously invites to the classic disco meets with extravagant synth while ‘För Någon’ rocks grit-tingly onto ‘Tid För En Kyss’, originally released in 2015. ‘Det Var Ingenting’ tells us that “it was nothing” with busy sequences and droning repetitive rhythms. The only track performed in English is ‘I Know You Know’, which closes the outing with the additional dose of ear friendly synthpop and a positive dose of dancebility.

PAGE are back with an album which will take you back to the classic years of synth with a twist. If Swedish is one of the languages you speak, you will understand the reflection on the things going on in today’s world. If not, you will revel in the classic signature sound of PAGE.

Not for everyone, this is a good, alternative take on synthpop, clearly very sought after since 1980.


‘Det Är Ingen Vacker Värld Men Det Råkar Vara Så Det Ser Ut’ is released by Energy Rekords as a CD with bonus tracks and vinyl LP, available from http://hotstuff.se/page/x-7640

PAGE perform at Electronic Summer 2017 in Gothenburg on Saturday 2nd September, details at http://electronicsummer.se/

https://www.facebook.com/PageElektroniskPop


Text by Monika Izabela Trigwell
1st July 2017

SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN, VILE ELECTRODES + JOHN FRYER Live at A Secret Wish

Following the success of ‘An Evening With The Swedish Synth’ in March 2014, Nordic friendly blog Cold War Night Life presented ‘A Secret Wish’, No2 in their occasional live series at The Lexington.

As with many quality events, it was attended by luminaries from the music scene. Among those present were Sarah Blackwood and Jonathan Barnbrook, the designer whose artwork has adorned recent releases by David Bowie, John Foxx and Hannah Peel.

The audience had an international flavour too, with attendees coming from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Italy, France and the United States.

While not wholly Swedish in line-up this time round, there was a definite Scandinavian slant with Swedish synth veterans SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN making their debut UK appearance and the now Norwegian based studio legend John Fryer spinning a variety of music from his illustrious career. Representing the home crowd were VILE ELECTRODES, now more than fully established as the UK’s best independent synth exponents.

John Fryer cut his teeth with Daniel Miller and Eric Radcliffe at the legendary Blackwing Studios and his opening DJ set covered his wide ranging work for the 4AD and Mute labels.

With live enhancements, this included FAD GADGET’s ‘Back To Nature’, MODERN ENGLISH’s love song to accompany the nuclear apocalypse ‘I Melt With You’, M/A/R/R/S ‘Pump Up The Volume’, COCTEAU TWINS ‘Sugar Hiccup’ and the first DEPECHE MODE single ‘Dreaming Of Me’.

In an exclusive UK performance, Sweden’s SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN (SMPJ – translated as “The Last Man on Earth”) gave an energetic performance that showed why they have been a cult live attraction in Sweden. Led by Eddie Bengtsson, best known for his work with S.P.O.C.K. and PAGE, he was accompanied by his faithful sideman by Christer Hermodsson.

Opening with the steadily building ‘Leonov’, a tribute to the Cosmonaut who was the first man to walk in space, the spacey floating vibe more than fitted in with SMPJ’s regular space travel and Sci-Fi themes. ‘Stanna Kvar’ followed and was a wonderfully immediate slice of melodic synthpop in the Vince Clarke vein, while last year’s single ‘Stadens Alla Ljus’ continued the enjoyable momentum.

While all of SMPJ’s songs are voiced “i Svenska”, Eddie Bengtsson was game enough to sing a few choruses in English. ‘All The City Lights’ from the new ‘Translate’ EP was a particular highlight.

“Are you impressed?” joked Eddie while glancing at his hand scribed lyric sheet. Bengtsson’s intense but charming personality certainly won the audience over as he led the odd ad-libed singalong and even joined the crowd down on the main floor.

The swung Schaffel of ‘Vem Gör Det Då’ gave some rhythmical variation, but there was one brilliant surprise towards the end of the set. It was what Bengstsson referred to as SMPJ’s “ULTRAVOX tribute” and it came in the form of ‘Allt Är Klart’, effectively a Swedish vocal version of their instrumental B-side ‘Alles Klar’. The hard, staccato synth bassline remained from the original, but the track was bolstered by a superb whirring solo from Hermodsson firmly in the ARP Odyssey tradition.

Climaxing ‘A Secret Wish’ were VILE ELECTRODES who played a fair percentage of fresh new material to give a taste of their much anticipated second album.

The mesmerising new single ‘Captive In Symmetry’ with its nod towards ‘Twin Peaks’ sounded sublime. Meanwhile, ‘Last Of The Lovers’ pointed towards the dreamy, but danceable Nordic soundscapes of RÖYKSOPP. Live favourites ‘Empire Of Wolves’, ‘Damaged Software’ and ‘Proximity’ provided everyone with some references of familiarity.

But the funereal ‘Dead Feed’ proved that Anais Neon and Martin Swan could do unsettling experimentation too. The old new number ‘Real 2 Reel Love’ closed proceedings, having been reworked from its original sub-NEW ORDER disco incarnation into a much darker, more progressive proposition.

Some of the audience at ‘A Secret Wish’ were overheard questioning whether VILE ELECTRODES were adding anything new to electronic pop, yet failed to categorically state any examples of what could be considered progress in the genre.

While VILE ELECTRODES may not be playing with ethereal dubstep and glitch techniques like PURITY RING, what Neon and The Swan do produce are memorable songs presented in an artistic, yet accessible manner.

In fact, the line-up of JOHN FRYER, SMPJ and VILE ELECTRODES at ‘A Secret Wish’ had a common thread running through ie good tunes. No matter that Elizabeth Fraser sounds like she’s invented her own language, Eddie Bengtsson rants in Swedish or Anais Neon intonates with a very English Home Counties accent… there is intuitive melody and soul.

Now if melody and soul is what’s making modern electronic pop music sound old-fashioned, then great; ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK and no doubt Cold War Night Life would like to have some more of that!

Cold War Night Life recently coined the term poptronica to describe VILE ELECTRODES and SMPJ. With the dedication and care that they have taken in their live projects, what they have proved is that the best electronic music events are those curated by genuine electronic music enthusiasts.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Simon Helm at Cold War Night Life


SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN’s ‘Translate’ CD EP and ‘Stadens Alla Ljus’ CD single are available from http://hotstuff.se/sista-mannen-på-jorden/x-9189

The albums ‘Tredje Våningen’, ‘Luft’ and ‘Ligg Tyst Ett Tag Med’ are available as downloads via Amazon

http://www.moonbasealpha.space/


VILE ELECTRODES ‘Captive In Symmetry’ EP can be downloaded from https://vileelectrodes.bandcamp.com/album/captive-in-symmetry-ep

The CD EP is available from http://vileelectrodes.bigcartel.com/

https://www.facebook.com/vileelectrodes

http://www.vileelectrodes.com/


John Fryer has two new musical projects. SILVER GHOST SHIMMER’s debut album ‘Soft Landing’ is released on 1st May 2015. Meanwhile MURICIDAE’s ‘Tales From A Silent Ocean’ EP is available now via the usual digital outlets

https://www.facebook.com/John.Fryer.Official

https://www.facebook.com/silverghostshimmer.official

https://www.facebook.com/muricidaemusic


Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Richard Price
22nd April 2015

SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN Interview

Following the success of ‘An Evening With The Swedish Synth’ featuring PAGE last March, Nordic friendly blog Cold War Night Life have announced their next live event ‘A Secret Wish’ on SUNDAY 19TH APRIL at The Lexington in London.

It is headlined by SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN (SMPJ), the solo project of Svensk synth mästare Eddie Bengsston from PAGE, while VILE ELECTRODES and John Fryer will also be on the bill.

SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN (translated as “last man on earth”) were formed back in 1986 by Bengtsson and Matts Wiberg. Wiberg left the band in 2004 and was replaced on stage by Christer Hermodsson. The first EP ‘Först I Rymden’ (‘First In Space’) was released in 1998 as a limited edition of 500. It featured songs such as ‘En Blå Planet’ and ‘Jag Kommer Ner’, all of which were based on a space travel theme.

After that, SMPJ released several albums including ‘Ligg tyst ett tag med’, ‘Luft’ and ‘Tredje Våningen’, with most of the songs having Swedish lyrics. The band have attracted a very loyal fanbase in Sweden and people of all ages can be seen enjoying their live performances. More recently, SMPJ released the single ‘Stadens Alla Ljus’ (‘All The Lights Of The City’) backed with ‘Vem Gör Det Då?’ (‘Who Does It Now?’) via Electronic Sound Sweden.

With ‘A Secret Wish’ just a few weeks away, SMPJ mainman Eddie Bengsston chatted to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK

SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN is a unique and special name for a band. Please tell us the story behind it?

The name we got from the single ‘Being Boiled’ by THE HUMAN LEAGUE; the B-side ‘Circus Of Death’ mentions “the last man on earth”. THE HUMAN LEAGUE offshoot HEAVEN 17 got their name from the movie ‘A Clockwork Orange’, those names appear on a ‘billboard’ in the record shop that Alex in the movie is visiting. And since we also were fans of that movie, we wanted to do the same but most of those names were already taken. As only ‘Ed Molotov’ was unpicked, we went for tributing THE HUMAN LEAGUE instead… to make a long story short.

The single from last year ‘Stadens Alla Ljus’ was very well received by the fans as was the B-side ‘Vem Gör Det Då?’ – Are you working on some new material now, maybe for a full length album?

Right now, I’m not working on any new SMPJ material, contrary to what I’m expected to answer. At the moment, I’m collecting ideas, some for PAGE and some for SMPJ. I’m also working with another band from Sweden called MY GOD DAMN TERRITORY. I’m producing an album for them and it’s planned to be released this coming autumn. I have also been asked by NAKED LUNCH to work on an EP for them, but the details concerning that aren’t all set yet.

Last year played as PAGE in London with Marina Schiptjenko. What was that like and how was your music received by the audience?

That gig in London was amazing. I met so many friendly music loving people there. And judging by their reaction to us when we played, I think they liked it very much. I do hope SMPJ will receive the same warm welcome as PAGE did. It’s going to be wonderful to play in London again.

What is the status of PAGE right now?

The status is, as I said I’m collecting ideas. Apart from that, PAGE is resting at the moment. If all goes well, I think there will be some new PAGE stuff before next winter.

What do you think of the other artists performing at the Cold War Night Life’s ‘A Secret Wish’ event, VILE ELECTRODES and John Fryer?

I have never seen VILE ELECTRODES live, only on YouTube. But what I’ve heard and seen, I like very much. They are doing great electronic pop and they are presenting it in a very tasteful way with all that gear on stage. John Fryer is a legend himself, and that says it all.

Christer Hermodsson has been on stage with you for rather a long while now. Will he become a permanent member of SMPJ and will he join you in London?

Hermodsson will perform live with SMPJ as always. The answer to if he is a permanent member in SMPJ is harder. He is a part of SMPJ and in a way he is a guest performer. I think that’s the way he himself wants it to be. It would be hard, if not meaningless to do SMPJ without him, to tell the truth.

He is SMPJ’s producer and main keyboardist. And yes, he is in the band, when he not focusing on his own band BIOMEKKANIK.

Last year you were part of making the Swedish punk covers album ‘Electronically Up Yours’ where both PAGE and SMPJ did covers with a bunch of other great electronic acts. How was the album received?

To do covers of my favourite punk songs has been a thing I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. It’s only that I never had the time to do it. So when I asked the Swedish electronic music collective ‘Electronically Yours’ if they wanted to help me make it a reality, they all agreed it was great idea! If I had done it by myself, it would have taken a lot of time and the result wouldn’t have been as diverse as it became. As far as I know, ‘Electronically Up Yours’ was very well received, even though I think it hasn’t reached as many as I would have wished for. Then on the other side, the album is far from dead so it still has a chance to reach more people. Punk never dies!

You did a great Svensk cover of OMD’s ‘Stanlow’. Why the choice of that song?

The answer to that is very simple, it’s a wonderful song. And it’s always fun to take a favourite English song and make a Swedish version of it. And this one turned out very well.

Do you have any other musical projects going on right now? Maybe something with Ulrika Mild, who you performed with at the Electronic Winter event in Gothenburg last December?

Sometimes it feels like I have too many projects going on. But I try to limit it. The ‘project’ with Ulrika Mild from COMPUTE is called THE VOLT and we are currently recording an EP. Right now we are focusing on doing covers from The Atom Age (50s). Some kinda post nuclear-tronica.

Ulrika Mild is a fantastic singer and a very good songwriter. I enjoy very much working with such a talented person like her.


‘A Secret Wish’ featuring SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN, VILE ELECTRODES + John Fryer takes place on SUNDAY 19TH APRIL 2015 at The Lexington, 96-98 Pentonville Road, London N1 9JB. Doors open at 6.00pm

Tickets are £10 in advance or £15 on the door, available from https://billetto.co.uk/asecretwish

A special, limited edition EP will be available to mark the UK debut performance by SMPJ.

http://www.moonbasealpha.space/

https://myspace.com/smpj

http://www.coldwarnightlife.com/

For regular updates on ‘A Secret Wish’, please visit the Facebook Event page


Text and Interview by Sophie Nilsson
2nd April 2015

PAGE Hemma

The Swedish synthpop band PAGE have a long history in making music and have a cult following at home in Sweden.

In parts of Europe, they are known for a particularly impressive version of OMD’s ‘Electricity’ for the 1995 synth covers tribute album ‘To Cut A Long Story Short’ that also featured ELEGANT MACHINERY and ATTRITION.

The two band members Eddie Bengtsson and Marina Schiptjenko first started playing together in 1980 and released their self titled debut album in 1991. But they have also been involved in other musical constellations

Bengtsson was in S.P.O.C.K. and SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN (Last Man On Earth) while Schiptjenko has been involved in BWO, VACUUM and more recently JULIAN & MARINA. They made a comeback with their last album ‘Nu'< (Now) in 2010 and are now back together again making new fresh tunes as PAGE. ‘Hemma’ contains of 11 songs and one remix. The sound is very much familiar and PAGE like but yet so fresh and up to date. There are also a lot of influences from schaffel to disco.

On ‘Hemma’ (At Home), they have worked with the producer Håkan Hultberg to enhance the sound. It is electrodisco, glam rock, synthpop and electronica all in a pleasant and genial mix! There are both songs with a darker side along with the happy sounding songs which that combine into a great mixture. Some of the songs have catchy tunes and choruses that really stick in a positive way. All the songs have been written by the singer Bengtsson and the first single ‘Som Ett Skal’ (Like a shell) is a naked and bare song with lots of emotions but yet simple in structure.

The songs are about reflections from daily life, thoughts about love, lust and how different things are these days compared from back when we were all young.

PAGE 2013‘Lyssnade På Min Radio’ (Listened To My Radio) for example starts with a burst of THE SEX PISTOLS ‘Holidays In The Sun’ before it launches into something quite Vince Clarke! There’s also a song about a girl on a motorbike, ‘Motorcykel-Sussi’ (Motorcycle Susie) that features a lot of the traditional PAGE sound.

This is not a mainstream album at all and will not be played a lot on the radio but it is for sure, it is an album that their fans will keep on playing over and over again. A lot of the songs are destined to become classic live numbers. ‘Hemma’ will not disappoint old PAGE fans, that is a given success!


‘Hemma’ is released by Wonderland Records on CD and download

It can also be purchased as a download from http://whorehero.bandcamp.com/album/hemma

You can read more about PAGE and their earlier releases here: http://synthpop.se/page/

https://www.facebook.com/PageElektroniskPop

The blog Cold War Night Life recently interviewed PAGE


Text by Sophie Nilsson
22nd September 2013

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