Blod. Blod is Gustaf Dicksson. Blod are from Gothenburg. I think I first became aware of Blod in 2016 and the 7" "Käre Jesus" on the I Dischi Del Barone label. By this time IDDB had been releasing some of the finest 7" singles of the century by the likes of No Intention, Krube, Kostis Kilymis, Arv & Miljö, Leda and Sarah Mary Chadwick to name a few. When I read of the announcement of a new release by Blod I sent off the € straight away.
I first became aware of Blod in 1999 and their excellent 7"EP on Segerhuva called "Romantic And Deranged". Blod are from Sweden. I bought records by Blod ending in 2008 with the three album compilation box set "Red Light Companion", again on Segerhuva. I was surprised to find them turning up eight years later ... and on IDDB. I commented so to Matthias (Andersson) the head mandarin of IDDB. "It's not that Blod" was the reply.
In the magazine "Discreet Music" (Issue #2) Matthias writes "People in the know of course got dizzy and spilled their gruel when Gustaf took the name Blod for his solo stuff, as there was already ANOTHER Blod (In fact there's plenty of Blods'). In Gustaf's defence, he has no connection to the 'noise scene' whatsoever and I guess he got guilty by association as he happened to hang out with freaks like me and Dan* around the time. And frankly I just don't think he cares". (* Dan being Dan Johansson of Sewer Election). It became apparent that I already have Gustaf in my ears as he is a member of the group Enhet För Fri Musik and appears on the excellent album from 2015 "Document 1: Improvistioner Och Bandmusik För Vilt Dansande Själar" on Holidays Records.
Just as a side note and a bit of a ramble ... a few years ago I was invited (as Dieter Müh) to play The Venn Festival in Bristol alongside Anenzephalia and Antivalium. We were all having a drink in a pub across from the venue when this guy introduces himself saying he is in the band Hunting Lodge, a hardcore noise band from Bristol. I did tell the chap there's quite a famous US post-industrial band from the 1980's with the same name. He knew this but didn't care. That annoyed me and probably still does. Also, why is Christoph Heemann calling his drone project In Camera? Doesn't he know????
Any ramble over .... back to Blod.
So, 2016 was the time to start discovering Gustaf's Blod and associated projects. I managed to get hold of the self released "Livets Ord" cassette in 2018 and the split single with Arv & Miljö (again another I Dischi Del Barone release) in 2019. These are great releases and regular sounds at MuhMur HQ.
The albums "Tusen Bitar" and "Missväxt" were released in the following months, and Blod became a regular on the MuhMur Radio playlist. There was a shift in direction at the start of 2021 with the two CDR releases on Förfall, Gustaf's own imprint. The sounds were less 'musical' and more introspective, field recordings, loose meanderings and personal. This carried through to the double album "ABBA" which Discreet Music put out towards the end of last year. A very lo-fi recording of introspective material which sometimes verges on the unlistenable.
I went back to the earlier releases, the tapes and 7" singles and decided to step backwards with Blod. I have travelled from A to B, so now I shall try from B to A and catch up on Blod's back catalogue. Fortunately the Belgian Aguirre Records have just re-issued two Blod albums from 2017 and 2018 and I managed to pick up a copy of the 2015 cassette "Exotic Sounds" from Discogs (at a reasonable price). So the journey begins ... back in time ...
"Exotic Sounds" was first released in September 2015 on a C60 cassette by Blod, a self-release, no label information. A month later the Swedish label Zeon Light re-issued the cassette in an edition of 40. Two pieces, one a -side. Side A, entitled "Exotic Sounds" is a thirty minute swirl, a hypnotic trance-like journey involving Moroccan Souk rhythms merging and melging with Appalachian Mountain music and Voudon chanting. Side B is titled "Eyes Marked Red" and has a spoken introduction and outroduction in Swedish. Again, the piece deals with repetition and creates a very hypnotic state as sounds of the accordion, banjo and wind organ (maybe it's a quartet of bowed instruments) socialise with each other keeping the bells, drums and vocal wailing on the outside of the party. As the piece builds there is very clever tape manipulation by Gustaf, slippin' and slidin'. Classic Blod. The plan to discover the back catalogue is working ... but why the naked teenager on the cover?
In 2017 Förlag För Fri Musik released the Blod LP "Leendet Från Helvetet". ("The Smile From Hell"). The LP has a great cover of graduating Swedish students with their mouths covered in red smiling lipstick.
The cover, and pictures on the accompanying LP insert, it takes me back to a time when I was playing a gig in Mäntsälä Finland in 2000. It was at a venue called The Seurojentalo where Dieter Müh played alongside Putrefier, Grunt + Cloama, STROM e.c. and Temple Of Tiermes. (What a night!). It was after the gig that myself, Mark Durgan (Mr. Putrefier), Steve Underwood (tour guide and bottle catcher) and various members of Grey Park and Tiermes decided to investigate the bars of Mäntsälä only to discover it was 'Graduation Night" and the town was full of partying students dressed in gear resembling the Navy Guy from Village People. Oh what fun we had ... Mark and I danced the night away. Great memories .. Great LP sleeve. Apparently the Navy / Sailor attire is a Scandinavian tradition.
"Leendet Från Helvetet" is a very melancholic album, the opening tracks on side A feature melodies played on saxophone, flute, glockenspiel and (cardboard) drums. It sounds like a funeral dirge for toys. The title piece has a more sub-velvets vibe that plays into a reprise that brings to mind Coil's "Is Suicide A Solution?" with it's talk of family death and concern translated through phone calls. Wonderful stuff. The B-Side starts with piano and blurts, I could be listening to a Borbetomagus album. "Tro, Hopp & Kärlek" brings the album back to listenable (not a big free jazz Borbeto fan) ears, an instrumental piece with a beautiful melody played out on flute and guitar and accompanying bass-line, the track merges (again) in to a "Reprise" with a low-end market sampler keyboard and cardboard drums.
In 2017 Förlag För Fri Musik released the Blod album "Knutna Nävar". (Which I think means 'fists' .. could be wrong though).
In opposition to the previous album this one plays with an uplifting summer vibe verging on Swedish traditional folk music with flutes and bells played with a childish charm, there's some communist propaganda, choirs and guitar all in the mix too. Brilliant. "Inmarsch" opens side two sounding like an old Velvets jam played at 16rpm instead of 45. The whole of side two plays at a slower tempo to side one. Again, simple melodies played with flutes, drums and glockenspiels. Funnily enough the last album I played before putting "Knutna Nävar" on the turntable for the first time was the (Jim Jones) People's Temple Choir "He's Able" and the musicianship, especially on the last track "Utmarsch" is very similar, church organ and all. Did Gustaf learn his craft playing in a church band and/or choir? His most recent album "Pilgrimssånger" takes inspiration from the Swedish Christian Parish culture.
There is still more from the Blod back catalogue to discover .. I am hunting out a copy of the 2015 album "Unga Röster" ... maybe Aguirre Records will re-issue?
