+++ music liberation front sweden opening new rooms in the head - this might be the device of the music liberation front sweden, whose debutalbum "though i wasn't doing much i felt more satisfied with my general situation than i should have been" is just released by saasfee*. the group (consisting of aon flux, son of piru, captain carpet, hela, g, jivaro, vince casino, slaughter joe plus guests) describes itself as an open collective of musicians with different backgrounds in music and influences working together under this name, and this collective nature thing of the mlf gives the jammy open feel to some of the tracks (listen to "innerspace", "all the colours are you" & "and other stories"). but 'the other side' of the mlf is waiting just around the corner to drag you into the electro terror punk cavern (where you have to listen for instance to "i'll follow you down" & "teenage punk sluts"). this album incorporates a whole variety of feelings from dreamlike-ness to dark scary moods, but with pop-appeal always mixed in. on the one side the mlf doesn't deny to be hard influenced by the vibrations of early krautrock with its open structures and playfulness, on the other it's the love for lo-fi electro and punkrock that gives sort of a clash of styles to this album. and there's a lot of pure ambient beauty mixed in between... that may sound as too much structures combined into one thing, however, with these roots in mind the mlf have shaped an organic mixture which takes the best out of these influences - hypnotic beats as NEU! would produce with today's equipment, exaggerated old school electro bleeps, shabby punk-patterns manipulated for the club and neo-psychedelic ambient loops hard to resist. probably the term 'retro-futurism' fits best as synonym to explain the visionary soundscapes of the mlf. the rare liveshows reach an even more experimental level with 15 members climbing the stage (incl. saw, theremin, metallophone, stylophone, horn section, 2 bass players, 3 guitarists playing a mass of feedback along with keyboards and electronic drums, real drums and percussion). quasi the first freak-out version of a psychedelic big band... there must be something in the water in malmö.