Trad Gras Och Stenar bootlegs

i believe this was thomas mera gartz youtube channel, its got a lot of videos by him and featuring his music
http://www.youtube.com/user/Meramorr

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spvxUKZeibw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qcRS587VN8

this has some early footage of live trad gras och stenar @ 1:02

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXqDKV4MOFA

Stephen Malkmus was given a live album with Träd Gräs och Stenar by some Swedish friends - and it knocked him off his feet.
So when Malkmus appeared in Sweden for concerts in Stockholm and Gothenburg, he asked the old progg dudes if they wanted to be his support act. "Of course," they said.
Sonic asked, of course, if Malkmus wanted to interview his Swedish heroes. "Sure," he said.
Stephen Malkmus, former frontman of lo-fi pioneers and slacker kings Pavement, was amazed by Träd Gräs och Stenars progressive improvisations as soon as he heard them, on the album "Gärdet 06.12.1970”.
- I've always liked groups like Velvet Underground and Can. And Trees, Grass and Stones sounds like a Velvet Underground with traditional Swedish tunes. Some of their stuff is just astonishing, he says.
It's after the concert at the Göta Källare in Stockholm and in the provisory back stage area a quite peculiar combination of American indie rock musicians about thirty and Swedish prog veterans in their fifties are squeezed in.
For Torbjörn Abelli, Jakob Sjöholm, Bo Anders Persson and Thomas Mera Gartz in Trees, Grass and Stones the gig was special. They had not been committed to an American artist/band since they were called International Harvester and played the support slot for The Doors Concert Hall in 1968.
- The first time I heard about Stephen was when he talked about us in "Musikbyrån" about two years ago, says Torbjörn Abelli. I only have his latest album. First, I didn’t get it. The songs are so modest, it does not seem to matter if you play a bit off in terms of lo fi. But the album grows with each listening and now I love it.
Malkmus smiles at the praise and seems to completely forget to live up to the media image of himself as a difficult and cool indie intellectual. Instead, he seems almost childishly delighted by the chance to interview his favorite Swedish band. Cause that's why we're here.
A half-empty bottle of Finlandia is on the table, a few cans of Fanta is passed around, the tape’s rolling.
Stephen Malkmus (SM): The live album from that concert you did outdoors, which was released on CD not long ago, there is a picture of a girl who does this (waving his arms). Who is it?
Thomas Mera Gartz (TMG): That’s Sonja, used to be Bo Anders wife.
SM: Did she live in your commune?
TMG: Yes, Bo Anders had a little house in the south of Stockholm, where I and my girlfriend, he and his girlfriend and some other friends lived. And some other people.
SM: You just hung out there, cultivating vegetables?
TMG: Yes, but it was also a community characterized by music, art, literature and film.
SM: Did you ever play music to the films?
TMG: Absolutely, we even made our own movies.
Bo Anders Persson (BAP): We used them when we jammed, Super 8 movies.
TMG: We had a light show of slides and served food. People could use our instruments and we arranged a lot of happenings. We tried to live as our audience.
SM: OK, which of you was in the group Harvester?
TMG: I, Bo Anders and Torbjörn and a few others that we do not have contact with.
SM: I have that album too. I got it from a guy in Malmö. It’s very expensive in the U.S., a real collector's item.
TMG: (Laughs flattered) Harvester resembled Pärson Sound.
SM: Yes, about the same guys playing in both groups, right? Pärson Sound sounded very primitive too, almost ancient.
TMG: So you have an album of Pärson Sound?
SM: I just got hold of it. Awesome. How was that thing with Jimi Hendrix? I've heard that you jammed with him.
BAP: Yep, it was Thomas who did that.
SM: Was he cool?
TMG: Yeah, very. I was in a group called Mecki Mark Men in those days and we did some gigs with Jimi in Sweden. As a support act, of course. Off stage, he was very calm and relaxed. Jimi talked alot, especially at night.
BAP: He played as effortless as we speak, it was as natural as birdsong.
SM: Yeah.
BAP: I remember one time. Jimi played under a remarkably beautiful, big, open sky and he looked up at it and ... it was like he disappeared off into the sky. He just flew away. Whoossshh!
SM: Yeah. Well, what did you see in the Rolling Stones? You’ve done a few covers of their songs. One was "Satisfaction" and the other was "The Last Time." "The Last Time" is great.
BAP: Nah, you know what, we probably shouldn’t have done that.
SM: Was it the blues of the Rolling Stones music that appealed to you?
TMG: Nah, it was their proletarian-rock'n'roll.
SM: What?
TMG: They made music for the working class.
SM: Once upon a time, yes. But then they turned into something completely different.
TMG: That is correct. But for a while their music was of the English working class and the Stones were more appealing than the Beatles art pop.
SM: Do you like the Beatles now?
TMG: Well, yes.
BAP: There are many Beatles albums that just sweeps you away.
TMG: But back then, at the time, I felt they were not for me.
SM: I can see what you mean, but sometimes you're amazed at how much the Beatles could get out of a song.
TMG: They were nice, wrote wonderful songs, but they lacked focus.
SM: Did you ever tour abroad?
TMG: We toured Scandinavia only. Denmark, Finland…
Jakob Sjöholm (JS): But we toured a lot.
SM: Oh, so you could make a living off your music?
TMG: We tried. It worked occasionally but mostly we were very poor.
BAP: But professional. Professional, poor people on the left. Poor lefties (laughs). We grew our own food that we took with us everywhere.
SM: What did you grow? Beans?
BAP: Beans, potatoes, onions, carrots ...
TMG: Especially carrots. They are easy to grow.
SM: What was it that made your commune fall apart? Was the food too bad?
JS: (Laughs) No, the ideals faded away. This was around 1972.
TMG: The political situation worsened and became more difficult to manage. Heroin and speed became more common, and it destroyed a lot. Police and drug pushers, that combination eventually became unsustainable. It was a disaster. The ”progg movement” also became more involved with populist tendencies in politics and eventually died out.
SM: Hmm.
BAP: I actually thought that your set was best in the beginning, when it was a bit more stripped down and simple.
SM: Huh? Oh. Well, we went in and ran through some pop songs in the beginning after your experimental set. Four or five "ba-ba-ba"-songs for the kids you know.
BAP: I think it saved the evening.
SM: Oh, stop it, you got good response from the audience.
BAP: You had a very nice attitude, but the bass was too loud. It erased the nuances and almost ruined the over all impression. Boom-boom-boom...
SM: Blame it on the sound engineer.
TMG: Your guitar playing was good.
SM: Thank you. Some things are rehearsed, others I make up along the way. I don't care if I miss a note or two.
TMG: The thick bass meant that I could not hear as much of your singing though.
SM: It gets a little loud at times.
TMG: In Sweden, your music’s usually called lo-fi.
SM: Yeah. At least that’s what it was called when I was in Pavement. We recorded ourselves - without really knowing how it was supposed to be done - and apparently that became lo-fi. You really ought to come and play in the U.S., you would probably go down really well in New York.
JS: Maybe we should, do you think it would work?
SM: Sure.
BAP: Nah, it's time to go home. My wife’s waiting. Do you know the way to dance the old Swedish folk dance ”polska”?
SM: No.
BAP: Then I'll show you how. Tomorrow.
SM: Really looking forward to that. Rock on.

^that's nice
Just listened to Mors Mors. Their cover of "The Last Time" is great.

It's unfortunate that it took his death to call my attention to his music, but I've listened to Thomas 'Mera' Gartz's album that I posted about upthread so much this year. It has brought me a lot of happiness. His vocals still remind me a lot of Bill Fay, but with a more ecstatic/joyful sound to the music and songs, generally speaking. Shamanjobbarens Sång only has 8 listeners on last.fm :(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGTaPTSMOjI

http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=433399

Thomas Mera Gartz is one of the two drummers on the upcoming Fire! Orchestra album Exit! on Rune Grammofon. I think it might be his last recorded appearance. It's a great record, too; large-scale free jazz (31 people in all) meets Krautrock.

nuh uh
that sounds GREAT, can't wait to hear it. too bad he has to be dead :(

thinkin about these guys today while i cleaned the kitchen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrkCgwtNtE4&feature=youtu.be

hey i had a terrible/great idea yesterday
TG&S-esque cover of Don't Fear the Reaper -- slowed down, spaced out, -cowbell/+me
thomas mera gartz was really a fantastic drummer. RIP.

i'd be down for that

aaaaawesome
i'll keep practicing it!
i totally love their approach to classic songs

hmmm
http://photos-g.ak.instagram.com/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t51.2885-15/10246129_1634159286812134_1828689062_n.jpg
posted on endless boogie's instagram acct

just trying to imagine what they'd do with the mighty quinn (would love to hear this!)

I know! Hard to imagine. Hopefully it is being prepped for release.

Seriously! I don't even like that song very much but this band slayed everything so

holy guacamole!
http://www.anthologyrecordings.com/albums/box-set/

That works!

ugh just saw that the unreleased stuff will only be on the $$$$ vinyl set? UGH.

that description makes no sense, refers both to 3xLP and 6xLP, refers to the unreleased one as a double so that would mean a 4LP set?!?!?

yeahh
seems like it's
Djungelns Lag = 2LP
Mors, Mors = 2LP
Kom Tillsammans = 2LP
?
and then the CD version is just Djungelns Lag + Mors, Mors?
lamesville, I can't afford these vinyl box sets!

Phil F. suggested that it means the vinyl set is the only way to get the unreleased stuff ON vinyl, whereas the CDs for each release will be sold separately. It is pretty damn strangely worded.

hmm yeah maybe!

Actually, I don't think the CDs will be individually packaged, either - I think it's just a 3CD set. I'm in, though. (I've emailed the label about getting an advance so I can pitch a review to The Wire, of course.)

that's fine - if it's a 3CD set w/ everything for $20, it's a steal.

Absolutely. And I'm as excited about the remastered albums as the new material - my copies of those are MP3s sourced from old vinyl.

that's fine - if it's a 3CD set w/ everything for $20, it's a steal

Completely agreed. Just finally got the Parson Sound comp properly a couple of months back as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftvzatGoytc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qa3n02pNB-I

neat!

Been making my way through the box for several days, off and on--so far (heard about 3/4), about an hour's worth really grabbed me, but the rest either starts well, then loses the momentum, or fades out too soon, or seems utterly predictable, in that jam band way, from any era--or just seems inconsequential, at least to non-specialist ears (that nevertheless have listened to lots and lots of jams, in my case). But I'll keep listening; it ain't painful (I've heard much, much worse).

^ i thought i was the only one

cool, I can't afford that thing anyway

http://battellemedia.com/images/fox03f.jpg

cd version much more affordable, like $32 w shipping

Is there anything on the box as good as this? Because this is all I've ever wanted / needed by *Trad Gras:

www.discogs.com/Träd-Gräs-Och-Stenar-Live-1972/release/1090659

*(International Harvester and Parson Sound is another matter)

i just bought the 3CD set from mexican summer/archive for 20 bucks. i felt like that was the nice price. the two 2-album sets are almost 30 each and the box is like 80 bucks. viva CD!

with u my man

huzzah for cheap compact discs! can't wait to grab this one.

mine is in "the post" as the european shipping confirmation email said

I guess CD version has like 30 minutes less of music than the LPs/mp3s, but otherwise CD is a steal.

I guess CD version has like 30 minutes less of music than the LPs/mp3s, but otherwise CD is a steal.

Yeah, I was wondering about this - the publicist sent me the full digital package, but it would have been a 4CD set for sure if everything was available physically.

Yeah it's a little bummer that CD loses out on the 17 minute version of "The Last Time", but nearly four hours seems like plenty of music to me.

does the LP set have split tracks (i.e spread over 2 sides) like the Parson Sound 3LP?

It does.

thanks, I hate that

Did that extended Last Time already appear as bonus material on a previous version of Mors Mors? Cos I think I have at least one extended version of it. Not sure where my cd is though.

i think the 3CD thing will be plenty of jammage for me.

apologies if this has been covered already but is the sound better on the CDs?

The remastering of the old albums definitely improves the sound where it's possible to improve it - however, some of the recordings are barely above bootleg quality, and always were, so you get what you were gonna get there.

True. Sound quality of the promo digital is very reasonable considering the sources. Music quality, like I said upthread: less could def be more. But it's good to be able to choose your own keepers and sell the originals (not xpost $80-worth good though; jeez)