Record Store Day is tomorrow August 29, 2020. We pay tribute to record store owners, who supply us listeners and collectors with not only the vinyl, as a media, but also the intense joy attached. To visit  a local record store is great fun. Always a good cup of coffee and a nice talk about a new release or an upcoming concert (these days mainly digital).

For a continued support of the musicians, we would like to strongly recommend Larkin Poe‘s latest album Self Made Man (Tricky-Woo Records, 2020). The two sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell are so greatly talented, that we have to apologize for not discovering their music until only recently. The blues rock coming out of the speakers is heavy and joyful. We are on our way to listen through and collect their previous albums.

Sky High, from Borlänge (SE), founded by Swedish guitar legend Clas Yngström celebrates 40 years with the gatefold double album 20 från 40 (Pike Records AB, 2020). A bit in the same style as Larkin Poe and the comparison is fun. Long experience contra not so long, but both bands sound so well, are fully comparable and world class.

A summer not like other summers with the home, as the base and with only day trips in the local area. In a way really nice, since it has led to a slower pace, more spontaneous meetings and nice talks…still with two metres distancing. I took the opportunity to read Trummslagarpojken (the Drummer boy, freely translated) by Anders Johansson (Bokfabriken, Malmö, 2017). Anders is one of two sons of legendary Swedish Jazz pianist Jan Johansson. He sadly died in a car crash 1968, when Anders was 6 and his brother Jens 5 years old. Jan Johansson’s Jazz på svenska together with Georg Riedel (AB Megafon,1964) is a rarity, found on a flee market trip this summer. Piano and base only, so balanced and simple and the starting track Visa från Utanmyra moves us back to our early years during the 1960s. Anders and Jens are today highly respected musicians. Anders: Yngwie Malmsteen, Hammerfall, Manowar and more. Jens: Stratovarius, Rainbow, Dio, Yngwie Malmsteen and more. Anders has formed and now runs the power metal band Tungsten together with his two sons Karl (bass guitar) and Nick (guitar), and Mike Andersson (song). The book, in case you are fluent in Swedish, is highly recommended. Anders here tells unbelivable stories from the co-operation with Yngwie Malmsteen. How can so good music come from so rowdy circumstances? Great fun!

Keep an eye on the Record Store Day drops 2020. There are a lot of interesting objects for an extended collection and a really great and joyful time!!