Folke Rabe "What??" (1967) / Pärson Sound (1968)

A double post for those precious days:












"What??" (or "Was??" if you prefer the original) is an assemblage of extended, harmoniously related, electronically generated tones that was realized in 1968 by Swedish Avantgardist Folke Rabe. Some of the tones throb, others decay, others are just there; individually they’re pleasant and appealing, together they add up to a dense, complex drone that (as far as I’m concerned) could go on forever. The piece appears twice; the original is 25 minutes long, while the second is the first one slowed down an octave and stretched out to about 50 minutes.

The album is one of the groundbreaking works of its genre, and though many works utilizing extended timbres and drones have appeared since, this particular piece retains a very special place of artistic originality and hallucinatory sonic illusions, placing it in a quality of its own.

Get it here: Folke Rabe "What??" (320Kbps)













And this anthology from 2001 revealed an unreleased Swedish band of late 60s called Pärson Sound. This collection is drug-addled psychedelic mindfuckery at its best. And that's just the beginning. Successfully marrying the ideas of rock, jazz, and drone experimentalism, this Swedish quintet sounds like it wasn't just trying to break free of the limitations inherent in each genre; at times, it sounds like they were trying to blow the doors off the hinges.

The time elapsed since their active years have seen a number of acts such as Amon Düül, Acid Mothers Temple, Bardo Pond and Taj Mahal Travelers traverse the same paths, garnishing accolades and international success. For a fan of any of these bands, or anyone fascinated by psychedelic, acid-blasted madness, this is ground zero.

Get it here: Pärson Sound - "Pärson Sound" (192Kbps)

Special stuff - enjoy !