August 12, 2004

Hans Edler: From Teen Idol To Oddball Electronic Noodler

For much of the late 60’s, Hans Edler had been the teen idol front man of chart-topping Swedish band, The Ghostriders. (As the name suggests, they were heavily influenced by The Shadows.) In 1969, however, a newspaper article about the Electronic Music Studio, a state-of-the-art studio in Stockholm equipped with room-sized computers built to make music, attracted his attention. He immediately enrolled in some courses there and, in the space of two years, had recorded Elektron Kukeso, one of the first computer programmed records in history… And what a strange record it was… If a Nordic baritone-voiced Brian Wilson decided to compose electronic hymns for a rock opera about a Robot Church it might sound something like this… Needless to say, it was a commercial flop and Edler abandoned his electronic dabblings to focus on a far more stable career recording children’s records.

Now, some 33 1/3 years later, this album has been reissued by Boy Wonder Records. (Hopefully, the recording-buying public finds it a little more digestible this time round...) The record can be purchased through Aquarius Records and here, to whet your appetite, is the opening track, Jag soker efter karlek.

Posted by Warren at August 12, 2004 11:09 PM | Electronica