Playlist: Endless Boogie & Träd Gräs, Och Stenar

We are so excited to welcome Träd, Gräs och Stenar and Endless Boogie to the Wex and Columbus on Wednesday, October 3. Hailing from Sweden, Träd, Gräs och Stenar is a collective of musicians who have been playing since 1969, where they were pioneers of DIY culture—namely, instrument making, record making and what would come to be known as the psychedelic sound.

As meditative and explosive jammers, they took inspo from ancient Swedish folk songs, fusing the influence with covers and post-melody improv. It’s important to also note that TGS came into fruition following two previous groups, Persson Sound, then International Harvester (later shortened to Harvester). Both fronted by Bo Anders Persson, who made electro-acoustic music in academic settings going back to 1965 under the tutelage of Terry Riley for a time. If you listen to the mix, it’s easy to imagine the art-circuit musical “happenings”, involving innovative tape-manipulation and drones of which these songs were the cornerstone. It’s also easy to see how rock music would enter the lexicon of these performances as a participatory and connective tissue as well. Within the two Harvester and Persson Sound records the clues of what is to come when Träd, Gräs och Stenar is formed in 1969: stripped down riffs, minus tape manipulation, and with the barest boned drones, created not by oscillators, but by the most deadly musical combination known to our kind: guitars, bass and drums. There was little fanfare and celebration of this massive and profound body of work surrounding the band in the states until the release of the six-LP boxed set.

A force to be reckoned with in their own right, TGS will be joined by Endless Boogie, who can only be described as an international treasure. These psychedelic blooz-hounds have continuously spread the gospel all over country and all over the world, and are legendary heroes of the underground wherever they setup and let the jams run free. These epic jams sound straight out of the late 1960s to mid '70s, making this tour a brilliant pairing.

Another thing, is that Endless Boogie is fronted by the one and only Paul Major (pictured above), a collector and dealer of extremely rare private press LPs, zines and other cultural ephemera. Paul is a living legend who was born in Louisville, Kentucky and moved to New York City in 1978, and who has been steeped in the music scene ever since. He is an authority of rare/weird/outsider music and culture and all things eminently rock and roll. In 2017, the book Feel the Music: The Psychedelic Worlds of Paul Major was released, which traces Paul’s singular trajectory from his early days in the Midwest, through his years in the New York punk scene, and headlong into his trailblazing career as a connoisseur of the weirdest records of all time. Later in the year, the book release was accompanied by the release of a LP comp of private press rarities and “real people” music—or artists operating outside the established music industry. Let me just tell you that this is a collection of tunes that will really get some asses shakin'.

Only because of the connections and underground friendships of some employees at the Wex is this all possible, and we are beyond stoked to also welcome Paul Major and Columbus spirit animal Ron House, (Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments, Psandwich, Moses Carryout, and celebrated crate-digger/collector in his own right) who will lead what promises to be a fascinating conversation in the Wex Store at 6 PM on the same night as the TGS and Endless Boogie show. I am personally requiring the attendance of anyone reading this.