HEMÅT

Hippopotamus' Hoe-down

Continuing the Swedish Krautrock adventure, International Harvester lost the "International" part of their name and continued to fine-tune, push and redirect the confines of their brand new invention. Hemåt (Homewards) is the second and last album of theirs, and it is quite a shame because I for one would have loved to hear what could've, should've might have been. Instead they morphed into an altogether new act called Träd, Gräs och Stenar, which went even further with a certain tool shed production...

What I really like about this album, is the fact that they have evolved the intimate and minimal chug rock of their debut into something infinitely more solid, grooving and rocking. There are tracks here that just ooze wild tribal fury and fire with rumbling Cream like drumming and the apt guitar and bass visions to accompany such a thing. What those tracks turn into as a whole (and as a result of this saucy cooperation) are these magnificent raw creatures of sound tearing up the very soil with Neanderthal music stamping through the airwaves like a regular hippopotamus' hoe-down. It's primal and largely based around simple monkey like rhythm schemes, but it works wonders just as well. The second track Kristallen den Fina is a fine example of this remarkable style.

Jumping straight to my favourite cut off Hemåt - I'd like to speak a bit about the rendition of Everybody (Needs somebody to Love). This track is completely torn apart in these mellow skewed psychedelic surfaces - sounding almost like mantra like chants emanating from your local opium den. Wah wahing guitar along with the tribal tom work again points a finger back towards Cream, but this is just so much more loosey goosey and jello based. If you've heard the original song before, then don't hold your breath for anything recognisable other than the steaming vocalisations in the back... So why only 3 stars you say? Well this album's got some serious issues as well. One of them being the horrifically bad sound quality there is to some of the tracks. Audiophiles of PA take cover - you're most likely going to hate these with every inch of your body. Tracks like Nepal- Boogie and Bacon Tomorrow(HA HAH!! Gotta love that title though...) sound like they were recorded from the insides of a shed by a drunk toddler with a 1940s microphone down his nappy. Whatever qualities there are to either of these tracks are lost in complete marmalade overkill. Everything sounds muffled and gagged - like listening to a psych jam from the other end of a telephone. Too bad, because one of these sounds like an acid drenched take on Canned Heat's bobbing boogie style.

Finally, I find it pretty mesmerizing that the title track Hemåt is a bonus track that originally was left off the record. The only reason I have it is because I purchased the reissue cd, and to top it all off - the tune is actually one of the best psych jams on this outing! Maybe the guys had completely gone fishing - smoked too much space tobacco and injected the wrong kind of medicine, but I think it speaks volumes about the whole mental state of the times(and band), that a track like this was binned in favour of either of the earlier mentioned toddler recordings. Sheer madness! Still, when this album is good - it is very good, and I feel instantly shot back into those Neanderthal grooves with the hypnotic tribal drums, the occasional saxophone toots and the see saw guitars sloshing away - and then everything else just diminishes and turns into mindless concerns of the nitpicking people. 3.5 stars. 

One of the most confusing bands to come out of Sweden's psychedelic 60s went by many names but featured the same lineup of Torbjörn Abelli (bass), Arne Ericsson (cello), Thomas Mera Gartz (drums), Bo Anders Persson (guitar), Thomas Tidholm (vocals, saxophone) and Urban Yman (violin). This group of musicians first got together in 1967 as Pärson Sound and recorded some of the earliest true psychedelic sounds that removed the catchy pop elements in order to focus on a truly lysergic and mystical mix of psychedelic rock, raga rock, noise, post-minimalism and droning. Although under this band name a double album's worth of material was recorded, it was a bit too far ahead of its time and would have to sit in the vaults for a few decades before finally finding an archival release in 2001.

Next stop for this lineup found the band changing its name to International Harvester which did release one album in 1968 titled "Sov gott Rose-Marie." This project continued the psychedelic folk and rock but drifted more into the world of progressive rock and what would be later named Krautrock. This version of the band proved to be highly influential for all those true trippers who would make the Nurse With Wound List however this band just couldn't decide on a style to settle upon and then once again dropped the "International" part of the moniker and simply carried on as HARVESTER. Under this name the band once again released a single album in 1969 only this time crafted its droning and jam based psychedelic rock around Swedish folk music.

This band would only last for one album before carrying on as Träd, Gräs och Stenar in 1970 after adding some new members. That band would release two albums in the early 1970s before going on hiatus for several decades and reforming at the turn of the millennium. As HARVESTER the band released HEMÅT which jettisoned the more structured compositional style of "Sov gott Rose-Marie" and reclaimed the hypnotic jamming style of Pärson Sound. While some lump this into the world of raga rock for its transcendental freeform flow, the only ethnic influences are homegrown with moments of traditional Swedish folk music. The music for the most part sits comfortable with the Pärson Sound noise jams that offered some of the earliest true psychedelic tips. The Germans would pick up on this and create a fertile music scene of it.

Despite the seemingly detached escapism that the album exudes, HARVESTER was very much a band that promoted Swedish nationalism that tackled the sticky wickets of politics and environmentalism. The album itself was recorded in the Kafe Marx which was owned by the Swedish Communist Party. Consistintg of seven tracks, HEMÅT captured the sounds of the 60s heavy psych world with fuzz guitars, heavy bass and pronounced percussive beats. The addition of the horns, fiddles and cello offer the local folk flavors and the incessant repetitive grooves off minimalist composiitons that for the most part are instrumental but off a few muddled vocal performances such as on "Everybody (Needs Somebody To Love)."

This is decent but less compelling than the psychedelic otherworldliness of Pärson Sound or the much better compositional charm of International Harvester. This is this team's least known album as it has been eclipsed by what came before as Pärson Sound and International Harvester as well as the Träd, Gräs och Stenar that followed and there is good reason for that as this one sounds like an impromptu jam with minimal production and mixing having taken place. While it perfectly exemplifies the wild and experimental psych scenes that were quickly taking over much of European rock, it is hardly essential but a decent lysergic detachment that is well worth the experience once you have checked out the other versions of the band's frequent name changes.