Sandy Mouche's White Lucky Dragon (V): Tsunami and Cherry Pie

According to Sydsvenskan.se, Helena Josefsson and Martinique Nilsson from Sandy Mouche took part in the Red Cross' Gala for Asian Tsunami disaster in Malmö's Opera and Music Theatre last Sunday 9th January 2005. The gala was planned by Ove Dahlström and musicians Mikael Wiehe and Eddie Nyström.

1470 tickets (400 kronor each one), were sold and they got 638740 kronor in total. Artists, including Nina Persson with Niclas Frisk, Danne Stråhed Band, Jaques Werup, Eva Rydberg, Gonza Blatteskånska (Advance Patrol), Dajana Lööf and Jan Malmsjö, play for free.

Meanwhile, the video of their song "Cherry Pie" has been released and they have played in Malmö.

LJdM

Directed by Johan Tholsson

Restaurang SMAK-Malmö Konsthall
S:t Johannesgatan 7
211 46 Malmö

Pictures by Johan Bengtsson, from Örkelljunga, SE

P, C & C have a party in their heads (II): Byrds, Troggs and other news about Gessle and AGM Studios

“I dag är det min födelsedag…” (“Today it’s my birthday…”) Per Gessle sang on “Mazarin” and while the song wasn’t written in January, it’s his birthday 46th today. Per also has promised The Daily Roxette a new project in 2005, so we await that eagerly. Is it going to be a new solo album? We’ll see! He has been working in the studio again with Christoffer Lundquist and Clarence Öfwerman.

According to TT Spektra, Per Gessle will be one of the interviewees in Swedish national television’s new series “Sixties.” He will be one of the artists telling about the 60s influences in his music, especially The Byrds and The Troggs.

Gyllene Tider received two Aftonbladet Rockbjörn awards for their outstanding performance in 2004. According to Expressen, Per paid 9,563,784 SEK (1,049,800 Euros) of taxes in 2003. With this figure he was the second biggest tax payer in Halmstad. The third single from Gyllene Tider's “Finn 5 Fel!” will be “Jag borde förstås vetat bättre" and the release date for the single will be February 2. The tracklist is still: 1. Jag borde förstås vetat bättre; 2. Speciell (T&A demo); 3. Tuffa Tider (T&A demo).

We have news from Metro Jets (Magnus Borjeson and David Birde). The last months they have been working in Brainpool's Rock Opera, Junk, but now they are working in a new album at Chris Lundquist's Aerosol Grey Machine Studio in Skäne.

Red light on! Studio? What studio? Rather than recording more of their brilliant material, Metro Jets spent last year playing comedy shows and rock opera. I´m not kidding you. This is a strange world (yeah, as if you didn´t know that already). Anyway. We have put an end to that now. We had to. Metro Jets are being driven to the studio as you read this. The studio is not even located in the city, so there is no way that they can get out without me picking them up. Car? What car? No car for you. Metro Jets next release will be out this spring.

LJdM

I listen to any kind of music. I do have a especially strong love for pop and rock music made roughly between 1965 and 1975. In that period there was so much amazing music made I can't believe it. The Beatles, The Who, Crosby,Stills and Nash, Joni Mitchell, Small Faces, Led Zeppelin, Dr.John, The Band, Genesis, Yes, Van Der Graaf Generator, Simon and Garfunkel etc etc etc. This list could fill the whole page if I would continue...and all the soul music recorded in this period, the Motown stuff, Stax, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin...not to speak of country music from the same period: Tammy Wynette, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton. Fantastic music! But I listen to so much different music from any period including contemporary music and classical music. To tell you the truth I'm a totally single-minded music nerd. I'm really not interested in anything else. After a 12-14 hour working day in the studio I often wind down by - listening to music!

Christoffer Lundquist - AGM Studios

Helena Josefsson, backing singer at Tambourine Studios and Gula Studion (XIII): Stockfinster - Sunset

stockfinster is the artistic name of Sebastian Borg (a.k.a. Batti), a producer from Malmö, Sweden. He writes, plays, arranges and mixes everything, sometimes with a little help from his musical friends. Batti is the co-owner of the recording studio Gula Studion in Malmö.

stockfinster uploaded his first work, Red wood, last June 2004 in Bandcamp.com, including a song with Helena Josefsson's vocals, 'Dismantled'.

The second work is Sunset and can be downloaded for free in the same website today. There are no plans to release officially these albums as real CDs and stockfinster has signed no record-label contract. The album includes nine songs recorded during the last two years.

	1.	don't point your paw at me 05:25	info	download
	2.	clark kent 05:05	info	download
	3.	polysix 04:52	info	download
	4.	verge 05:20	info	download
	5.	spreading myself thin 07:42	info	download
	6.	fruitcake 03:22	info	download
	7.	why are you so happy? 04:48	info	download
	8.	knuckle 05:39	info	download
	9.	snow 07:21

This is what Sebastian Borg himself tells about these songs:

"01. In 'Don't point your paw at me', the voice sample is from an authentic radio show (or was it a tv show?) from the 50’s. I have a bunch of these samples. They were meant to be educational and cover topics such as how babies are made and girl’s menstruation. My idea was to create something that had the same punch as a Prodigy track, but I don’t think I quite pulled it off.

02. 'Clark Kent' marks the introduction of the music software program Ableton Live. I had been using Cubase/Reason until then. This track would not have been made if not for Ableton. The vocals are by Helena Josefsson.

02. 'Last laugh' has a kinship with other track, ”Last Report”. I came up with the idea while working on ”Last Report” and it features a lot of the same sounds. The laughter is my sister-in-law’s son, two years old, or something, at the time. He’s seven now…

03. 'Polysix' is another favourite track. I came up with the main theme on my only piece of hardware, a Korg Polysix (hence the title). The breathing is Kerim, the singer in the former band, stockfinster. I nicked it from one of his vocal takes, just as he is beginning to sing.

04. In 'Verge', I wanted to try out an effect in Cubase and programmed a random a drum beat that actually became the main drum loop. The working title was ”If you come any closer, I’ll jump” which I thought was brilliant at the time. When Helena Josefsson came in to do some vocals we were out of ideas, something that normally never happens. She then suggested she’d sing something in French which, to be honest, I was not too sure about. I did not have any lyrics prepared, so I asked Helena to just sing the working title – in French. I am not sure if she actually got it grammatically correct. The voice sample is from the movie ”Killing Zoë” and I thought the French accent was befitting.

05. 'Spreading myself thin' was finished so fast, I don’t even remember making it.

06. 'Fruitcake' is one of my favourite tracks. I don’t think I have produced something quite like it before. The voice sample is from the movie ”Helter Skelter”. My favourite part is the sound that comes in at 2:17 and lasts until 2:29. Listen closely to be able to hear it. It is Helena Josefsson singing, but the vocals are re-used from another track (I don’t remember which).

07. In 'Why are you so happy?', a friend of mine had come up with a piano part and I suggested that he used the same kind of drum beat as in the Nine Inch Nails’ track ”La Mer”. Eventually I ended up using the idea myself. Ola Strandh is playing the drums. I kind of wanted this track to trot along like a track by Ulrich Schnauss but I don’t think I nailed it.

08. In 'Knuckle', I really like the fact that there is a drum loop right from the beginning. I always find it difficult starting a track with drums. The drum loop is typical of Ableton Live’s sound. The voice sample is from the same educational films as in ”Don’t Point Your Paw At Me” – only this time it is a girl speaking. I actually played a real melodica on this track. I then discovered that a soft synth sounds a lot like the real deal. Helena Josefsson is singing – yet again.

09. 'Snow' was used for the end credits in the film ”Last Day”, for which I composed the music. It is the only track that was not written especially for the film.

Helena Josefsson's voice features in tracks 02, 04, 06 and 08. A new collaboration of the singer in this style, even being more present. Most of recordings were made in 2003 and 2004 in Gula Studion.

LJdM