Pettersson, Ulf – Schizo [IMPORT] – New 12"

DIY "cosmic disco" and "DIY funk psych" from the Sweden 1978-1979.  "Schizo (Frog Funk/Collobrakis) was developed from the remnants of the band Empire. I started with Empire in early
1977. When summer came, we found ourselves in the drummer Peter Lundgren's house rehearsing new songs. A little symphonic, a little fusion and simply some odd music. We hadn't scraped together any major repertoire, so we rehearsed some cover material. We only played local gigs, at youth centers and schools. Once a year Kjell 'Hagge' Haglund, who ran the club Wroom on Östra Berget, was nice enough to let us play on the big stage. The band lasted a year or so, until 1979 when the remnants of Schizo became the group Flakes.

"Summershores/This Kinda' Shit was originally recorded and released as a privately pressed single in 1979. Here's the liner notes from the original release:

"SUMMERSHORES": Sit down in your favourite armchair and light your pipe (!?). When you've leaned back and made yourself comfortable. Enjoy this melodious hit on headphones (stereo) for 4 minutes and dream of our summer beaches, soon we'll probably have none left...

"THIS KINDA SHIT": When the weekend comes and you happen to be hit by the 1950s disco wave, I recommend that you invite your friends to a party. And when everyone is gathered and the mood is at its best, you flip the record a few times until the number 2 stares at you. Then you turn up the volume until you can't hear the neighbours yelling:” this kinda shit". Then fly away to an alien planet with the help of: "This Kinda Shit". The recording was made in the Moraträsk studio on August 26, 1979. Roland Johansson was responsible for the recording technology, and the music was performed by: Ulf Pettersson on synthesizer bass, fake flutes and strings and a lot of other cool effects. Peter Lundgren played the drums. And here's the background story to the "Summer Shores" single:

"During a summer break from the band Flakes (formerly Schizo, Empire), in 1979, I transported my keyboard instruments home to my boyhood room. I spent the summer recording mostly experimental songs. At the end of the summer, I had made a dozen or so of works and there were two songs that stood out. It just so happened that a relative who had gone to school with Leif Walter, one of the mainstays of the group Mora Träsk, and knew him well, offered to arrange studio time for me to record in Mora Träsk’s studio in Gävle. In late summer of 1979, the drummer Peter Lundgren and I headed to Gävle on a rainy August Sunday and recorded these two songs, which were Summershores and This Kinda Shit. We hadn’t rehearsed at all. I remember that Peter hadn't even heard the songs previously to us speeding away from Söderhamn in a borrowed, rusty Volvo 142. In the car we listened to a cassette of my lousy demo, to say the least, and planned the arrangement on the way to the studio. The technician Roland Johansson welcomed us and after just a couple of runs the songs were recorded, which took maybe 4-5 hours in total. The master was sent from the studio directly to the record pressing plant, and 500 copies saw the light of day just in time for Christmas 1979. Most of the singles were sold at my dad's work, a local shipping company, of all places. Which was mainly because I was wearing the shipping company's shirt on the record cover. I think maybe 450 copies were sold over a two-year period and then forgotten. 40 years later, I started receiving messages on Facebook from various DJs, individuals, record stores and record labels who showed a sudden, almost desperate, interest in the old single and the very last copies of the original pressing were sold out in 2024."