P, C & C order room service (V): The centre of Roxette's heart

EMI releases today the first single of the new Roxette's album, Room Sevice. The first single is The centre of the heart (is a suburb to the brain) and includes some mixes.

According to Sven Lindström:

"TCOTH was considered as a single but ultimately left off the Have a Nice Day album (1999); it was revived during the Room Service sessions in the autumn of 2000. Completely re-recorded in a speeded-up tempo, adding the bizarre synth sounds of a new team member Jimmy Monell (aka Shooting Star) from Swedish band The April Tears. Marie's original vocal track was digitally pitched to fit the new tempo."

Gessle talks in Room Service about this song and about the new album, that will be released next month. Then we could listen to the last work of Per and Marie with Clarence Öfwerman, Christoffer Lundquist and the full team.

Today we want to remember old times. It's 2001 and 20 years ago, in 1981, the Swedish symphonic rock group Overture released its first - and last - album: Ansikten. Overture was founded by pianist Clarence Öfwerman in late 70's and included Mats Ström (vocals), Mats Reiniusson (bass and guitar), Bengt Lundberg (guitar and vocals) and Hans Alsing (drums).

Btw, what happens when six drummers invade a small apartment while the owners are out walking the dog? Four amazing jazz cuts with found objects. Ola Simonsson, Johannes Stjärne Nilsson and Magnus Börjeson have recorded a short film (10 minutes) about it. It will be shown in many festivals and we could show it in our blog in September.

Music for One Apartment
and Six Drummers
(2001; 9 min 31 s)

• Produced by: Kostr Film, SVT and Film i Skäne
• Directors: Ola Simonsson, Johannes Stjärne Nilsson
• Music: Ola Simonsson
• Music productor: Magnus Börjeson (Beagle / Favorita)
  

LJdM

TCOTH was written five years ago. The first version was recorded in Spain for the album Have a Nice Day. It was a totally different version, much slower. We made a disco song out of it. A little bit like Frankie goes to Hollywood meets G. Moroder. It's fun.

The forthcoming album will be a classic pop record, shorter than the previous one. That one was almost an hour. Not even I myself was able to listen to it until the end. This album is much like Joyride sunshine, twelve songs and 42 minutes playing time. If the album sells well, it would also be nice to go on tour.

Per Gessle

Helena Josefsson is a bandstarter too (XV): Plastic Soul becomes Sing ... and Helena is not invited

Plastic Soul, the band from Lund with Helena Josefsson - singer -, Johan Duncanson - guitar-, Fredrick Whitling - leadgitar and keyboards -, Olof Martinsson - bass - and Per Blomgren - drums-, has stood down.

The band began in 1996 (firstly as Jive with Clive and as Plastic Soul since 1997), when they were eighteen years old, and after two E.P.s (First harvest, 1997; Uneasy, 1999) and one unreleased album, some members are now involved in known projects.

According to Sydsvenskan.se, (2001-Feb-05), Helena Josefsson decided to leave the band in the summer of 1999, before a gig in Kalas-tour in Malmö. The gig was so successful that the band got an invitation to be a local band in Malmö's Popstad Festival in February 2000; they had even a contract with the label Stockhouse to release their first album. They know that Popstad Festival was their last gig together.

Since February 2000, the four members of "Plastic Soul" thought about looking for a new singer. Johan Duncansson and Fredrick Whitling have also been guests in a famous band of Lund, The June Platoon, centered around singer/songwriter Johan Järvung and producer Henrik Orrling.

The June Platoon

Finally, Johan Duncanson - vocals, songwriter and guitar-, Fredrick Whitling - backing vocals, songwriter, leadguitar and keyboards -, Olof Martinsson - bass - and Per Blomgren - drums- decided to sing themselves, continue together and recorded a new EP with four new songs, with the help of Danyal Taylan, vocalist of The Blimp, in the studio. They decided to change their name to "Sing" and debuted live at Cafe Element yesterday February 10th 2001. They insisted: without Helena, Sing is a new pop band, with more synths, but with the same "easy-listenings" melodies.

The guys from Sing were interviewed before his debut gig. According to John Duncansson: "Helena is extremely charismatic on stage. Not us. On the other hand, we are not looking for show, either. I like "shoegazerbands", musicians who stares at the floor while they play. The new songs are not so commercial but they are closer to the music I listen to". Fredrick Whistling says: "In Plastic Soul's final gig, I never felt any panic. On the contrary, I was excited, laughing at everything and began to see the new opportunities. We got the chance to do what we really wanted and found again the "old playfulness" we had when we started playing together".

LJdM

P, C & C order room service (IV): Roxette forthcoming album in 2001

The accompanying publicity photo was released yesterday showing Per Gessle, Marie Fedriksson, Clarence Öfwerman, Christoffer Lundquist and Ronny Lahti at Polar Music Studios in Stockholm where they are busy finishing the recording and post-production of the new Roxette studio album, that could be released next Spring (by EMI ... and by Edeal America in the United States).

According to The Daily Roxette:

Per and Marie, seemingly full of enthusiasm, took time out from their schedule to record a holiday video greeting. With the recording studio in the background, they wish everyone a “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!” The short message concludes with Per saying “See you out there in 2001!”

Per Gessle speaks about the recordings. The P,C&C Team (Per Gessle, Clarence Öfwerman and Christoffer Lundquist) is involved again in this forthcoming album.

LJdM

We released the last album in the spring of ’99. “Have a nice day” was the title. We were doing promotion on that one and we decided not to tour with it and got back into the studio and started to work on this album in January 2000. Prior to this we worked on the HAND album (1998). It takes about a year to do an album.

The new album is a bit a reflection of what we tried to achieve with HAND. This one was the first album in four years and we didn’t know what it was supposed to be like. We just worked in the studio and did different several things. It’s a very complex album in a way because it follows so many different directions. The new album is the opposite because we have tried to go back into the classical Roxette. On the HAND album for instance all my vocals are distorted and on this one it’s played much better. We wanted to make it simple, obvious, easy-going and funny. I think this is the most commercial album we have ever done since “Joyride”. We just sat down and wanted to do something that was very much classic Roxette ’cause that’s what we are really good at, doing a POP record.

We wanted to make an album that could be uptempo and had lots of energy. For many people a classic Roxette record is a big ballad but the ballads on the new album are smaller. We do get tired of ourselves sometimes.

The way you do a record these days is very different from how you used to do it in the 80s when we started out. You work now in computers and “proto” systems and stuff like that. So the whole way of thinking is totally different. The negative side of it is that is very easy to overproduce or overdo things these days.

Not that long ago in the old days you sat 5 people in the studio you played the song and that was the take. You don’t do that anymore. We don’t do that either. You make drums sound or bass sounds through the computers. So of course that is different and that changes the way of writing and the whole attitude.

We got more things done in Stockholm because of the weather here is terrible. We spent more time in the studio. Working at Polar was cool, it’s a great studio, where ABBA, Led Zapplin, Genesis,Legacy had also worked in. It still is a very good studio. But it got some terrible restaurants down the road. It still have taxis and stuff like that…

When we began the new album as usual we tried to bring new people into the environment. We have changed enginners for the sound of this album. And also we have started to work with this guy called Shooting Star, a Swedish programmer, who is 200 years younger than us (laughs). He’s got his hear into the streets in the a different way, which is an interesting things to do. If I make a demo, for instance, and i give it to him he starts to do it freshens it up in the programmer and in the end it turns out to be a completely different song.

Well I mean we buy lots of records as always to listen to what’s going on but as I said before we want to make a classic Roxette album. Try to get a litle bit of this a litle bit of that but still very obvious Roxette. Some songs still have the 12-string Rickenbacker guitars, some power chords, classic stuff.

Per Gessle

Helena Josefsson is a bandstarter too (XIV): The Good Mornings' album

According to Sven Eriksen, from the Tarkus Magazine, Helena Josefsson has been working this year in a new project of the composer from Malmö Dan Bornemark (photo). The band, THE GOOD MORNINGS, includes Helena Josefsson (lead vocals), Dan Bornemark (keyboards, vocals, music), Jens Ståhlstierna (guitar, backing vocals) and Paul Hoffax (guitar), amongst others.

Finally, they have released their first album also called The Good Mornings with more than an hour of good music, influenced by Gentle Giant, Beatles, Massive Attack, Suzanne Vega, Kevin Gilbert or Björk. Eriksen thinks their style moves between kunstpop, røtter & symforock, jazz and ambient. Their better songs would be When She Gets Away, Frozen Wings, I Am The Devil, Email Princess and Let Truth Reveal The Beast.

You can listen to some mp3 snippets here: Hippie Parade and Seven Seas

LJdM

Helena Josefsson, backing singer at Tambourine Studios and Gula Studion (I): Hideki Kaji - This is Still O.K.

Since the last months, Helena Josefsson (Plastic Soul) has been working as background singer at two of the most important studios in Malmö, Tambourine Studios and Gula Studion.

Tambourine Studios are based around the Green Studio. This is where the business started back 1991, and it has been gradually refinished over the years. The studio is run on a Neve 8068 desk and a ProTools HD3accel/apogee system. The owners are the members of the band Eggstone: Maurits Carlsson, Patrik Bartosch and Per Sunding. Whhen Eggstone founded Tambourine Studios, they needed extra cash and toured with the band "The Preachers" (together with Tore johansson, Anders Nordgren and Johnny Dennis), playing at at weddings, birthday parties, pizzerias and other fun places. Now Tambourine Studios might be best known through The Cardigans records.

The story of Gula Studion goes back to 1995, when the famous Tambourine studio needed another recording facility. The Tambourine crew settled for a space in what was originally built as a cigarette factory and purchased the Neve mixing console and the 2" MCI tape recorder. They named the place "gula studion", meaning the yellow studio, as the other Tambourine studio was more greenish. Four years later, in 1999, the studio was bought by The Mopeds (Jens Lindgård, Petter Lindgård and David Carlsson) and their frieds Marco Manieri and Sebastian "Batti" Borg; for them, G.U.L.A. means "Guys using loud artefacts". The Mopeds is a three-piece band that had recorded all their material in Gula Studion alongside being session horn players on several Tambourine productions. Marco Manieri and Batti had also worked at Tambourine before. The five new owners refurbished and reorganised some and kept some, bought a hard disc recording system, and started lifting the old studio to new heights. The name Gula was kept, as so much fine music was already connected to it. The choice of instruments and audio equipment was upgraded and renovated, and new spaces were created for a greater variety of sound and atmosphere.

Although they are different studios, there is a two-way dynamic: many recordings could begin at Gula and end at Tambourine, for example.

This is still OK is a maxi single re-cut off Hideki Kaji's album "You Will Love Me" (August, 2000). Helena Josefsson (Plastic Soul) features as backing vocals. The tracking and mix of most of the songs of the album were made at Gula Studion, but it was finally produced at Tambourine Studios.

Anybody into the Cardigans, Tahiti 80, or the raft of pop-savvy Shibuya-kei bands that swamped the scene in the 90s need to get familiar with Hideki Kaji. Former bassist for the early 90s neo-acoustic outfit Bridge, Kaji released his first solo work, Muscat E.P., in 1996. The full-length Mini Skirt followed in 1997, reaching number 4 on the Oricon charts and propelling Kaji to full-fledged indie stardom. The release also earned Kaji some overseas recognition for its duet with Saint Etienne's Sarah Cracknell, the charming "Tokyo to London."

Maintaining a consistent release and tour schedule, Kaji also moonlights as a writer for other artists, including Chocolat, Faye Wong, and Noriko Kato. As a producer, he has produced numerous songs for television commercials.

The year 2000 marked a string of highly praised café dates, bringing him back to his roots and allowing happy fans nationwide the chance for an intimate concert experience. Occasionally produced by Swedish hit guru Tore Johansson at Tambourine Studios (Malmö), every Kaji release is exquisitely mixed, with crisp guitars, melodic bass, chiming keyboards, and breezy hooks woven together in a light, airy mix. Needless to say, the Johansson connection and song titles like “Made in Sweden”, from his 1998 full-length Tea don’t discourage frequent comparisons to Swedish pop, but this is only one of the many influences that inform his sharp pop sensibilities.

Hideki has became a Japan-Swedish with his partners from Tambourine (Tore Johansson. Per Sunding, ...) and other friends: Jens Jansson from Brainpool, Toft and Ludwig from Ray Wonder, and, this time, Helena Josefsson from Plastic Soul.

LJdM

P, C & C order room service (III): Don't bore (the) US

After eight years of absence from the US music market, Roxette finally found in May a suitable record company to release their material in the USA. Instead of choosing a giant like Sony or Warner, Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle have reached an agreement with the smaller label Edel America Records.

On 20^th September 2000, Roxette released in the USA the album Don’t bore us – Get to the Chorus, an updated version that includes Wish I could fly and Stars.

Per Gessle said to Aftonbladet:

Now we only hope that the USA fans will remember us. Thirteen of the sixteen songs on the album have been on the topcharts in the USA. That's a good platform to start from. All the time we've been played a lot on the radio.

In September and October 2000, Roxette had their first U.S. Promo Tour in eight cities. Clarence Öfwerman and Christoffer Lundquist (C & C) were also there.

• 22/09/2000 Suffolks Down Boston, MA the USA

Songs: Wish I could fly, It must have been love, Joyride, The Look and Listen to your heart.

Live in front of some 40,000 spectators at the sold out 'WBMX MixFest' festival with various artists.

• 22/09/2000 Suffolks Down Boston, MA the USA

Some songs live at a private after-party for the USA radio station WBMX's clients.

• 25/09/2000 Television Studios Boston, MA the USA

Some songs live at the TV-show 'WB In The Morning'.

Broadcasted live by the USA television station. Roxette started to perform at 7:45 AM.

• 27/09/2000 Virgin Megastore, Times Square New York City, NY the USA

Songs: Wish I could fly, It must have been love, Joyride, The Look and Listen to your heart

Live at a mini concert.

Arranged and broadcasted live by the USA radio station Retro Rewind.

• 28/09/2000 Planet Hollywood Baltimore, ML the USA

Songs: Wish I could fly, It must have been love, Joyride, The Look and Listen to your heart

Live during an mini concert.

Arranged by the USA radio station WWMX.

• 29/09/2000 328 Performance Hall Nashville, TN the USA

Songs: Wish I could fly, It must have been love, Joyride, The Look, Listen to your heart and Perfect day

Live in front of some 1.800 spectators at a special concert with various artists.

Arranged and broadcasted live by the USA radio station WQZQ.

• 30/09/2000 unknown Charlotte, NC the USA

Some songs live at a mini concert.

Arranged and broadcasted live by the USA radio station WLNK.

• 01/10/2000 The Music Box Omaha, NB the USA

Some songs live in front of some 500 spectators at a mini concert.

Arranged and broadcasted live by the USA radio station KQKQ.

• 06/10/2000 Gallery Mall Roseville, CA the USA

Some songs live in front of some 1,000 spectators at a mini concert.

Arranged and broadcasted live by the USA radio station KDND Sacramento.

• 11/10/2000 Sky Church, EMP (Experimental Music Project) Seattle, WA the USA

Songs: Wish I could fly, It must have been love, Joyride, Perfect day, Church of your heart, Listen to your heart, The Look and Spending my

Live at a listener-appreciation concert.

Arranged by the USA radio station Star 101.5 (KLPZ).

After the mini-tour, Per said:

"Much better than we dared to anticipate."

Meanwhile, long-knwon Swedish poet and songwriter Ulf Lundell will release a new album, "I ett vinterland", on November 20th, 2000. The album is produced by Michael Ilbert, Ulf Lundell and Christoffer Lundquist and some songs were recorded in Christoffer's own studio, Aerosol Grey Machine, in Scania. In the album, Lundquist features as "co-producer, orkesterarrangemang, bas, kör, bassynth, Arp, elgitarr, spacegitarr, cittra, celeste, orgel, synth, Dulcimer and bouzouki". Wow! Brainpool's former member Jan Kask also features as guitarist.

LJdM