condition (record/cover): EX / EX
Insert included.
A Swedish curiosity from 1978: the only LP by the short-lived Stockholm-area collective Psynkopat, released as the third title on the Mistlur label, the home that would soon issue Ebba Grön, Brända Barn and other key Swedish post-punk material. Har Vi Någon Stil… ("Do We Have Any Style…") slots Psynkopat into the European avant-RIO conversation while keeping a distinctly Swedish absurdist humour: mostly instrumental, anarchic, jazz-inflected, with sudden pratfalls into spoken word, farting noises and assorted household-implement percussion ("Husgeråd och mycket mer…" in the credits).
The instrumental vocabulary moves between dissonant King Crimson-style ensemble guitar work, Zappa-influenced ostinato pieces, free-jazz interludes and outright skronk. Imagine the more madcap moments of Henry Cow crossed with The Ex at their funniest, but sung and spoken in Swedish, with a strong sense that the band is laughing at the technical-virtuoso conventions of progressive rock as it deploys them. The sleeve runout cheekily declares (in Swedish): "PSYNKOPAT E' BALL! Jävligt maxad platta, asså!" ("Psynkopat is the balls! Damn maxed-out record, no kidding!")
The original vintage Mistlur Swedish pressing on MLR 3, with the glossy insert containing band photos, drawings and additional credits. A notable obscure Scandinavian RIO-adjacent statement, a record that becomes more interesting the more it refuses to settle into any one genre.
