ROBERT JOHNSON AND PUNCHDRUNKS TASTE THE WHUP AT OKI DOG ALBUM NILROY, BORDER RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 21, 2005 REVIEW: OCTOBER 14, 2005

If you are familiar with the Swedish instrumental surfpunk outfit Robert Johnson and Punchdrunks, this album might come as a shock to you. Instead of howling guitars, the now two-man band lead by Robert Johnson, has let loose a pack of friends on the tracks and allowed them to remix the music, making this an almost totally electronic affair. When I say that the friends include electronica wizard Håkan Lidbo, Johan Skugge (formerly of Yvonne) and long-time pal Thomas Öberg of Swedish indierock legends bob hund, you can imagine this is a very special album.

But not that peculiar, the thought strikes me when first track – Lidbo remixed "Odball" – pulsates through the room. The feeling of Neu! and repetitive kraut rock is overwhelming, combined with an almost John Carpenter-ish touch. The image of long autobahns, travelled by night, and silent, grey and brooding Eastern block cityscapes come to mind. No, this is not mind blowing, but a hell of a lot more contemporary than the Link Wray style of surf rock Robert Johnson and his men have played for over a decade.

Before, they where surfing the waves. Now they are surfing the net to a soundtrack of quirky guitars, electro, kraut beats, with the radio dial stuck between a cuban channel and a strange interplanetary broadcast.

This is still surf rock, but now of another kind. Highly recommended, although all the components feel strangely familiar. And yes, sometimes it feels like an "Attack on decent culture". The western guitar-based music of the last 50 years gets "Strip searched and destroyed" and something very stylish and cool rises from the ashes, hair in a very 50’s greasy look, Ray Bans on, but with red digits racing across.

KALLE MALMSTEDT