2004-08-21
Bingo Hand Job
Last night was one of those nights where everything was moving very fast and standing still at the same time. Celebrating the fact that the Akmomo album nowadays actually exists in physical form and my Friend Jenss 30th birthday kind of made last night an easy exercise. First time anyones asked me if I was planning on committing suicide. Maybe it sounds like an extreme thing to ask but anyone whos ever walked over Barnhusbron ( a bridge in central Stockholm ) with far too many beers, whiskeys and Jaegermesiters pingponging around your body knows that there isnt any place in Stockholm where the urge ( wether you have ever thought the thougt in your life or not ) to actually do it is stronger. Barnhusbron to me is always like Jesus´s walk with the cross. The bridge feels like its 150 m too long in both directions and its always windy and sinister.
Spent the entire day in bed feeling exacly the way I should...´orrible. Slept through Lois & clark, a documentary on Killer whales, Tellytubbies and never noticed when one programme started and another one ended. The all just bled into each other seamlessly...( is that really a word ? )
Today there are other things to celebrate I guess...The fact that you actually can read what I am writing on here for instance. The webpage has been more up and down than a six flags rollercoaster but hopefully it´ll be up for a while now....and I am also hoping to get some updates. The program I use for the news section Blogger allows me to post the news but there not up unless the page is up on the net ( obvious isn´t it ). So if you want to read about this last weks explosion of creative mayhem at Roth Händle please scroll down and see whats been going on...
Now I need to finish cooking the lasagna I started yesterday. Rent a movie, go out running and go to bed ( again ).
Now playing : American Music Club - Engine
Last night was one of those nights where everything was moving very fast and standing still at the same time. Celebrating the fact that the Akmomo album nowadays actually exists in physical form and my Friend Jenss 30th birthday kind of made last night an easy exercise. First time anyones asked me if I was planning on committing suicide. Maybe it sounds like an extreme thing to ask but anyone whos ever walked over Barnhusbron ( a bridge in central Stockholm ) with far too many beers, whiskeys and Jaegermesiters pingponging around your body knows that there isnt any place in Stockholm where the urge ( wether you have ever thought the thougt in your life or not ) to actually do it is stronger. Barnhusbron to me is always like Jesus´s walk with the cross. The bridge feels like its 150 m too long in both directions and its always windy and sinister.
Spent the entire day in bed feeling exacly the way I should...´orrible. Slept through Lois & clark, a documentary on Killer whales, Tellytubbies and never noticed when one programme started and another one ended. The all just bled into each other seamlessly...( is that really a word ? )
Today there are other things to celebrate I guess...The fact that you actually can read what I am writing on here for instance. The webpage has been more up and down than a six flags rollercoaster but hopefully it´ll be up for a while now....and I am also hoping to get some updates. The program I use for the news section Blogger allows me to post the news but there not up unless the page is up on the net ( obvious isn´t it ). So if you want to read about this last weks explosion of creative mayhem at Roth Händle please scroll down and see whats been going on...
Now I need to finish cooking the lasagna I started yesterday. Rent a movie, go out running and go to bed ( again ).
Now playing : American Music Club - Engine
2004-08-20
Please Kon-Tiki show me
Isn´t it always great when terrible mornings turn into great days ? This morning I woke up with a terrible headache ( No drinking involved probably just the weather ) and went into the kitchen to get some coffee and realized that we were all out. Had to go out in the grey Stockholm morning to get some and even that didn´t help...Oddly enough a Plate reverb and some really remarkable overdubs did.
I got picked up by Mattias from ( Two times the trauma, Celestine ) and we went to the music store Jam and picked up one big black stereo plate reverb, thank you very much. Drove out to Finnboda, put some fresh coffee on and before we knew the days first guest showed up at the door...Reine Fiske ( Landberk, Dungen, Turid )...Armed with his 1963 Stratocaster and his old tube Klemt Echolette he went to work on the Two times the Trauma songs Fail by Heart and In love with an Ocean. With Reine almost get the feeling he is one with his instrument...constantly adjusting the tone and volume pots while playing as well as the Tape echo...but what a sound and atmosphere he creates. Everything from fluid dripping Lanois-esque lines to complete eruptions sounding like....noone. And always in the background there is the sound of a misty swedish forest lake just as the sun rises...There is always a hint of swedish folkmusic in everything he plays...Both me and Mattias were completly floored by how sculptured and coloured the songs. As some of you might know by now I am not a big fan electric guitars sounding like electric guitars but when played right it is one of the most impressive and dynamic instruments out there...And boy...does Reine know how to do it. I am in awe.
But the day didn´t end there...going from elfin guitar playing to elfin presence and voice...Sofia Talvik came by to do some additional singing on the track 3am. Sofia is a really talented songwriter and singer who is on the brink of recording her solo debut album. Her songs are skilfully crafted pop gems with the odd lyrical and musical skip and jump her and there. Really good stuff...If you ever have the chance please check her music out. You won´t be disappointed. And I can say that from my own experience. She really blended in well with the mood of the song yet added her own peronality and charsima to the general mood and atmosphere of the track. Really, really good. And by recording her vocals I think we are finished with the track which I must say has probable one of the most exquisite line ups I have ever been fortunate to play in and better yet....record.
Mattias Eriksson : Lead Vocals, Acoustic guitar
Sofia Talvik : Additional Lead Vocals.
Gunnar Nordén : Bass ( and a truly amazing bass it is...I played the song to Olle and Tobias yesterday and they both asked within 30 seconds of the songs start....who´s playing bass ? )
Jakob Hellman : Electric guitar
Little ´ol me : Drums, percussion, Mellotron Vibraphone.
After finishing the track Sofia sang some harmony lines on the choruses of Fail by heart bringing an even more solemn and sad dimension to the songs lyrics. I am not completely sure on how to use it levelwise and placementwise in the production yet but it will be spine tingling.
How does one end a day like this...Well I did what I usually do around one o clock at night...Pick up some Yoghurt and bread from seven eleven as breakfast for the following morning.
Now playing : Landberk - one man tells another
Isn´t it always great when terrible mornings turn into great days ? This morning I woke up with a terrible headache ( No drinking involved probably just the weather ) and went into the kitchen to get some coffee and realized that we were all out. Had to go out in the grey Stockholm morning to get some and even that didn´t help...Oddly enough a Plate reverb and some really remarkable overdubs did.
I got picked up by Mattias from ( Two times the trauma, Celestine ) and we went to the music store Jam and picked up one big black stereo plate reverb, thank you very much. Drove out to Finnboda, put some fresh coffee on and before we knew the days first guest showed up at the door...Reine Fiske ( Landberk, Dungen, Turid )...Armed with his 1963 Stratocaster and his old tube Klemt Echolette he went to work on the Two times the Trauma songs Fail by Heart and In love with an Ocean. With Reine almost get the feeling he is one with his instrument...constantly adjusting the tone and volume pots while playing as well as the Tape echo...but what a sound and atmosphere he creates. Everything from fluid dripping Lanois-esque lines to complete eruptions sounding like....noone. And always in the background there is the sound of a misty swedish forest lake just as the sun rises...There is always a hint of swedish folkmusic in everything he plays...Both me and Mattias were completly floored by how sculptured and coloured the songs. As some of you might know by now I am not a big fan electric guitars sounding like electric guitars but when played right it is one of the most impressive and dynamic instruments out there...And boy...does Reine know how to do it. I am in awe.
But the day didn´t end there...going from elfin guitar playing to elfin presence and voice...Sofia Talvik came by to do some additional singing on the track 3am. Sofia is a really talented songwriter and singer who is on the brink of recording her solo debut album. Her songs are skilfully crafted pop gems with the odd lyrical and musical skip and jump her and there. Really good stuff...If you ever have the chance please check her music out. You won´t be disappointed. And I can say that from my own experience. She really blended in well with the mood of the song yet added her own peronality and charsima to the general mood and atmosphere of the track. Really, really good. And by recording her vocals I think we are finished with the track which I must say has probable one of the most exquisite line ups I have ever been fortunate to play in and better yet....record.
Mattias Eriksson : Lead Vocals, Acoustic guitar
Sofia Talvik : Additional Lead Vocals.
Gunnar Nordén : Bass ( and a truly amazing bass it is...I played the song to Olle and Tobias yesterday and they both asked within 30 seconds of the songs start....who´s playing bass ? )
Jakob Hellman : Electric guitar
Little ´ol me : Drums, percussion, Mellotron Vibraphone.
After finishing the track Sofia sang some harmony lines on the choruses of Fail by heart bringing an even more solemn and sad dimension to the songs lyrics. I am not completely sure on how to use it levelwise and placementwise in the production yet but it will be spine tingling.
How does one end a day like this...Well I did what I usually do around one o clock at night...Pick up some Yoghurt and bread from seven eleven as breakfast for the following morning.
Now playing : Landberk - one man tells another
2004-08-18
With one broken tone
Today was really good. Me and Olle have been getting to grips with the new Nanook material and yesterday we made some phonecalls to some old friends of ours and Nanooks and today we had the first guest on the new Nanook album, Tobias Ljungkvist from Reminder. I have known Tobias ( and Reminder ) since 1997-1998 when I helped them and Max Lachmann with some drums and percussion in a studio on Ekerö just outside of Stockholm. A few months later I was a member in the band Reminder.
We wanted to record bass on the track Who´s the Enemy...The only problem was that we hadn´t recorded any rhythm for it. So the day started with me recording a very british kind of shuffly sloppy rhythm. And naturally after that we felt that the Acoustic needed to be a bit more in rhythm with the the drums...And then Olle felt that the scrap vocal needed a bit more edge so we more or less redid everything we did on Monday plus drums in less than one and a half hour...which must be a record of some sorts.
And then Tobias showed up and being in a great mood he really added some energy and enthusiam to the song and the evening. Tobias playing is very beat oriented and has almost a loopy feel at times and then all of a sudden he´ll do a little fill that really changes and lifts the section. Very nice indeed. Tobias also played on the Täby tapes and is Nanooks premier choice on bass. Tobias used the Danelectro bass going through the Vox AC30 which even enhanced the british cute/clumsiness of the song. . After he swiftly recorded the bass we listened to the two old tracks we had worked on earlier this summer and decided to add some tremolo Baritone guitar to the track Oh englishman ( terrible working title ). Inspired by the sound Olle recorded a harmony part with the Baritone guitar as well.
After that Tobias played us a CD of some of the new songs that Reminder are working on...and it was really interesting to hear it from this new standpoint of not being in the band. So...how was it...Surprisingly mellow and sort of ambient sounding. They have started to record without a drummer and working on the songs while recording. As rhythms they are using drumsounds from the software that sound pretty dodgy but if they sort those out they have a pretty good demo on their hands. Interesting echoey intro on the second song reminiscent of Norwegian band A-ha. The third one is a really old one that I have even played on. Has a melody line reminding me of the theme songfor the falcon and the snowman with David Bowie, This is not America ( great song ! ). You can say what you will about Reminder but they don´t rush their output...Nicklas Sandström still sings amazing, good Simon & Garfunkel esque songs and harmonies, the atmosphere is really nice but ( surprise, surprise ! ) maybe a little bit too safe....But then again there must be a reason that I am not in the band anymore despite bickering over points and non existent royalties...All in all a good band though.
After we dropped Tobias off at the Bus me and Olle went back and recorded some cymbals played with brushes on the choruses of oh englishman and Olle recorded a doubletracked acoustic from the second verse out.
Now playing : Reminder - Demos 2004
Today was really good. Me and Olle have been getting to grips with the new Nanook material and yesterday we made some phonecalls to some old friends of ours and Nanooks and today we had the first guest on the new Nanook album, Tobias Ljungkvist from Reminder. I have known Tobias ( and Reminder ) since 1997-1998 when I helped them and Max Lachmann with some drums and percussion in a studio on Ekerö just outside of Stockholm. A few months later I was a member in the band Reminder.
We wanted to record bass on the track Who´s the Enemy...The only problem was that we hadn´t recorded any rhythm for it. So the day started with me recording a very british kind of shuffly sloppy rhythm. And naturally after that we felt that the Acoustic needed to be a bit more in rhythm with the the drums...And then Olle felt that the scrap vocal needed a bit more edge so we more or less redid everything we did on Monday plus drums in less than one and a half hour...which must be a record of some sorts.
And then Tobias showed up and being in a great mood he really added some energy and enthusiam to the song and the evening. Tobias playing is very beat oriented and has almost a loopy feel at times and then all of a sudden he´ll do a little fill that really changes and lifts the section. Very nice indeed. Tobias also played on the Täby tapes and is Nanooks premier choice on bass. Tobias used the Danelectro bass going through the Vox AC30 which even enhanced the british cute/clumsiness of the song. . After he swiftly recorded the bass we listened to the two old tracks we had worked on earlier this summer and decided to add some tremolo Baritone guitar to the track Oh englishman ( terrible working title ). Inspired by the sound Olle recorded a harmony part with the Baritone guitar as well.
After that Tobias played us a CD of some of the new songs that Reminder are working on...and it was really interesting to hear it from this new standpoint of not being in the band. So...how was it...Surprisingly mellow and sort of ambient sounding. They have started to record without a drummer and working on the songs while recording. As rhythms they are using drumsounds from the software that sound pretty dodgy but if they sort those out they have a pretty good demo on their hands. Interesting echoey intro on the second song reminiscent of Norwegian band A-ha. The third one is a really old one that I have even played on. Has a melody line reminding me of the theme songfor the falcon and the snowman with David Bowie, This is not America ( great song ! ). You can say what you will about Reminder but they don´t rush their output...Nicklas Sandström still sings amazing, good Simon & Garfunkel esque songs and harmonies, the atmosphere is really nice but ( surprise, surprise ! ) maybe a little bit too safe....But then again there must be a reason that I am not in the band anymore despite bickering over points and non existent royalties...All in all a good band though.
After we dropped Tobias off at the Bus me and Olle went back and recorded some cymbals played with brushes on the choruses of oh englishman and Olle recorded a doubletracked acoustic from the second verse out.
Now playing : Reminder - Demos 2004
Animal Engine ( turned later in to Little guardian )
was a working title that won´t be used for a completely magical song that Nanook of the north are working on at the moment. It is one of those songs that you hear played on an acoustic guitar and vocals and you can just hear the instrumentation unfold itself in your head as you hear it. What I am hearing at the moment is Orchestron choirs, kids glockenspiels, harp, Solina. The verses will be very pretty with...Mellotron Vibraphone, harp glockenspiels with or withou Orchestron choirs and the Choruses will be with real drums and bass...Possibly an organ bass. On the second verse we recorded a very simple waltz rhythm from the Bontempi Organ. It sounds very small & krauty. Has almost a Commodore 64 feel to it.
We had a remarkably impressive to-do-list when we started recording but the first idea of recording little guardian kind of hijacked the moment a bit.
Later on the same night we recorded drums on My Father & I which seems to be turning into a pretty dark song with distorted snaredrums. I recorded a very rumbling tumbling tom based rhythm that goes through the entire song. The choruses needs a bit of high end energy stuff, tambourines et.c
Now playing : Cardigans - Gran Turismo
was a working title that won´t be used for a completely magical song that Nanook of the north are working on at the moment. It is one of those songs that you hear played on an acoustic guitar and vocals and you can just hear the instrumentation unfold itself in your head as you hear it. What I am hearing at the moment is Orchestron choirs, kids glockenspiels, harp, Solina. The verses will be very pretty with...Mellotron Vibraphone, harp glockenspiels with or withou Orchestron choirs and the Choruses will be with real drums and bass...Possibly an organ bass. On the second verse we recorded a very simple waltz rhythm from the Bontempi Organ. It sounds very small & krauty. Has almost a Commodore 64 feel to it.
We had a remarkably impressive to-do-list when we started recording but the first idea of recording little guardian kind of hijacked the moment a bit.
Later on the same night we recorded drums on My Father & I which seems to be turning into a pretty dark song with distorted snaredrums. I recorded a very rumbling tumbling tom based rhythm that goes through the entire song. The choruses needs a bit of high end energy stuff, tambourines et.c
Now playing : Cardigans - Gran Turismo
We´re not leaving we´re staying
There is always with a bit of tension when you are about to start working on a follow up. Will it be as special as the first one ? Will it hold up ? And between you and me...Isn´t always the first and the third album the best ones ? So when Olle showed up with a full dictaphone tape of new songs from Nanook I think we both were a bit nervous. We had already started to work on two songs which were very strong and promising but we need nine more for an album ( personally I think an album should have 11 songs Olle on the other hand always argues that it should be ten...he always has the feeling that eleven songs is like ten....and then one extra especially for you (whispered in a weird James Last/Richard Clayderman accent )...
Well...all these worries vanished when Olle started getting the chords right to the songs...A lot of the material on the dictaphone is really distorted and there seems to be some pitch problems...Nanook has also started to experiment a lot with different guitar tunings which isn´t making anything easier. BUt we think we have got the chords right to atleast two new songs.
The first two new songs we started recording were My father & I and a song called who´s new army. My Father & I has a very strong fast pulse for a Nanook song and I think we will be looking for a fast rumbling tom beat. It has a very dark atmosphere to it and we will probably bu using a lot of dark horns and stings on this one. We started by adding some bass and Olles first reaction was to point to the Taurus pedals but I feel that in some weird way that they should rest for a while...I know I know they are great but it is such signature sound and I feel sometimes that when you play a song about Eskimos and Täby you want the listener to imagine dark cold nights and Ice bergs and not Geddy Lee from Rush...So the Taurus pedals had to sit this one out. We moved over to the Yamaha GX-1s pedal section and messed around a bit but the final choice landed on the Mini Moog creating a soft round bass sound with just a hint of Filter fizziness... We also recordeed two takes of the Vocoder Pluss Strings through the MXR phase 90 to give it some more space going into the choruses.
The second song is avery upbeat poppy tune and it will definitely be a shot of energy on the album. The lyrics are about how the perception of " alternative " is very fast at getting into rthe mainstream and how close political correctness and political incorrectness are linked and how the difference is often just a matter of time.
Also...on a more social matter...Rasmus from Celestine came by and picked up his Farfisa Transichord...He also posed for some pictures that I will hopefully getting up soon in some weird....Visitors section. He played me and Olle some songs from the new Sisu sessions and they sounded really interesting. Really good Juno sounds...to my surprisement. I am not a big Juno fan myself...but what do I know.
All in all a good day catching up and recording new songs...
There is always with a bit of tension when you are about to start working on a follow up. Will it be as special as the first one ? Will it hold up ? And between you and me...Isn´t always the first and the third album the best ones ? So when Olle showed up with a full dictaphone tape of new songs from Nanook I think we both were a bit nervous. We had already started to work on two songs which were very strong and promising but we need nine more for an album ( personally I think an album should have 11 songs Olle on the other hand always argues that it should be ten...he always has the feeling that eleven songs is like ten....and then one extra especially for you (whispered in a weird James Last/Richard Clayderman accent )...
Well...all these worries vanished when Olle started getting the chords right to the songs...A lot of the material on the dictaphone is really distorted and there seems to be some pitch problems...Nanook has also started to experiment a lot with different guitar tunings which isn´t making anything easier. BUt we think we have got the chords right to atleast two new songs.
The first two new songs we started recording were My father & I and a song called who´s new army. My Father & I has a very strong fast pulse for a Nanook song and I think we will be looking for a fast rumbling tom beat. It has a very dark atmosphere to it and we will probably bu using a lot of dark horns and stings on this one. We started by adding some bass and Olles first reaction was to point to the Taurus pedals but I feel that in some weird way that they should rest for a while...I know I know they are great but it is such signature sound and I feel sometimes that when you play a song about Eskimos and Täby you want the listener to imagine dark cold nights and Ice bergs and not Geddy Lee from Rush...So the Taurus pedals had to sit this one out. We moved over to the Yamaha GX-1s pedal section and messed around a bit but the final choice landed on the Mini Moog creating a soft round bass sound with just a hint of Filter fizziness... We also recordeed two takes of the Vocoder Pluss Strings through the MXR phase 90 to give it some more space going into the choruses.
The second song is avery upbeat poppy tune and it will definitely be a shot of energy on the album. The lyrics are about how the perception of " alternative " is very fast at getting into rthe mainstream and how close political correctness and political incorrectness are linked and how the difference is often just a matter of time.
Also...on a more social matter...Rasmus from Celestine came by and picked up his Farfisa Transichord...He also posed for some pictures that I will hopefully getting up soon in some weird....Visitors section. He played me and Olle some songs from the new Sisu sessions and they sounded really interesting. Really good Juno sounds...to my surprisement. I am not a big Juno fan myself...but what do I know.
All in all a good day catching up and recording new songs...
Some days are better than others
...and this one was probably smack in the middle of them all...I am alone in the studio very rarely but on this sunday I actually had a couple of hours over to do some of that much needed musical houshold work such as doing backups et.c But I actually had time to sort out some stuff that has been lying around for far too long...
About a year ago an old friend of mine from San Francisco was in Sweden and had brought her new boyfriend. We did all the usuals...crayfish parties, record hunting and general touristy stuff but we also had the time to record one afternoon. The track we did was a very poppy tune and we started off with a Optigan drumloop and did loads of Seek wha guitars MS-10 theremins and managed even too throw in a Sitar solo. It was all very spontaneous and fun...and then a couple of months back I realized thatI never actually mixed and sent it over so I thought it would be a good Idea to finish it, mix it and get it off my messy desk. Anyways I started mixing and realized pretty soon that The track would sound great with some sleigh bells on it to add to the sixties feel. And that it also would benefit from a bit of plunky Danelectro bass...And then I felt that the Rhythm needed some reinforcing so I moved the Rode mic poiniting towards the general area of the drumkit and recorded two stupid drumtakes with loads of compression. Everything sounded great but The sitar solo needed some sonic friends so I recorded three melodicas, 4 glockenspiels and then some fake indian Udu drum rhythms and finger cymbals...
Well anyway...needless to say I didn´t finish the mix that night. But on this perticular August Sunday...I did. So Jared Eggers...Finally your song is in the mail. Naturally I added some bits and pieces...distorting some vocals, adding some random MXR phase 90 on the sitar and some other stuff thats mostly headphonelisteners.
I also did some roughmixing on the Two times the trauma album and realized it isn´t as scattered as I once thought. The songs almost always connect in pairs...throughout the album there seems to be two songs that link very nicely throughout the album. Great to hear Oh stranger again...and to find that is closely related to My American dream....3am works fine with A little sign and If you ever.
Another revelation is that the album could be finished in a very short period of time ( famous last words ? )
Now playing : Depeche Mode - Violator.
...and this one was probably smack in the middle of them all...I am alone in the studio very rarely but on this sunday I actually had a couple of hours over to do some of that much needed musical houshold work such as doing backups et.c But I actually had time to sort out some stuff that has been lying around for far too long...
About a year ago an old friend of mine from San Francisco was in Sweden and had brought her new boyfriend. We did all the usuals...crayfish parties, record hunting and general touristy stuff but we also had the time to record one afternoon. The track we did was a very poppy tune and we started off with a Optigan drumloop and did loads of Seek wha guitars MS-10 theremins and managed even too throw in a Sitar solo. It was all very spontaneous and fun...and then a couple of months back I realized thatI never actually mixed and sent it over so I thought it would be a good Idea to finish it, mix it and get it off my messy desk. Anyways I started mixing and realized pretty soon that The track would sound great with some sleigh bells on it to add to the sixties feel. And that it also would benefit from a bit of plunky Danelectro bass...And then I felt that the Rhythm needed some reinforcing so I moved the Rode mic poiniting towards the general area of the drumkit and recorded two stupid drumtakes with loads of compression. Everything sounded great but The sitar solo needed some sonic friends so I recorded three melodicas, 4 glockenspiels and then some fake indian Udu drum rhythms and finger cymbals...
Well anyway...needless to say I didn´t finish the mix that night. But on this perticular August Sunday...I did. So Jared Eggers...Finally your song is in the mail. Naturally I added some bits and pieces...distorting some vocals, adding some random MXR phase 90 on the sitar and some other stuff thats mostly headphonelisteners.
I also did some roughmixing on the Two times the trauma album and realized it isn´t as scattered as I once thought. The songs almost always connect in pairs...throughout the album there seems to be two songs that link very nicely throughout the album. Great to hear Oh stranger again...and to find that is closely related to My American dream....3am works fine with A little sign and If you ever.
Another revelation is that the album could be finished in a very short period of time ( famous last words ? )
Now playing : Depeche Mode - Violator.
