Helena is recording her second solo album (II): going to Jerez

I am sorry I´m so quiet, not writing anything at all here (almost)! But in April most of the recording of next album, will be done, and then I promise to put some photos here.

Now I´m going to Spain for a flamenco festival (XII Festival de Jerez) and my legs are like jelly- it´s so nervous and exciting!

Then I will go skiing. I am looking forward to it incredibly much after 5 months of writing songs at home. When I get back I have some weeks for writing another bunch of songs. A photo from the flamenco class might be nice?

Helena Josefsson - H.J.

Le Journal des Mouches wants to welcome grainofsand.info.se with open arms.

grainofsand.info.se is a new fan site about Helena Josefsson. It is held by the same staff of a great fansite, gyllenetider.se.nu.

There are not many things there right now (just links to Helena Josefsson's Official site).

LJdM

The moon is a grain of sand is obviously the first song of the month in grainofsand.info.se.

• Here you can listen at songs from Dynamo, her first own solo-project:

Just click here! (http://helenajosefsson.com/flashspelaren/player)

• You can also listen here, at her myspace (there is more songs at the first link, but it's one song that you can't listen at the first link):

Just click here! (http://www.myspace.com/helenajosefsson)

• You can also visit her offical site:

Just click here! (http://helenajosefsson.com/)

The most recording of Helenas next album, will be done in April, as Helena wrote on the news page at helenajosefsson.com.

Grain of Sand (fansite)

LJdM Update 2009: There was no update of "Grain of Sand" site ever.

The DollyCamp (VI): En afton med Blondie

Debaser, Malmö 2007/02/27 - www.debaser.nu

En afton med: Blondie

Debaser Malmö has payed homage to Blondie.

Blondie is an American rock band that first gained fame in the late 1970s, and who have so far sold over 140 million records. The band was a pioneer in the early American punk rock and New Wave scenes. Its first two albums contained strong elements of these genres, and although successful in Australia and the United Kingdom, Blondie was regarded as an underground band in the United States until the release of Parallel Lines in 1978. Over the next three years, the band achieved several hit singles and was noted for its eclectic mix of musical styles incorporating elements of disco, pop and reggae, while retaining a basic style as a New Wave band. Lead singer Deborah Harry achieved a level of celebrity that eclipsed other band members, leading to tension within the group. Following a poorly received album, and with core member Chris Stein diagnosed with a potentially fatal disease, the group disbanded in 1982. As members pursued other projects, Blondie's reputation grew over the following decade and the group reformed in 1997, achieving renewed success and a number one single in the United Kingdom with "Maria" in 1999. The group toured and performed throughout the world over the following years, and was inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the RockWalk of Fame in 2006. Blondie has sold 40 million records worldwide since their explosion onto the music scene in the 1970s

Cecilia Nordlund, Toril Lindqvist (Alice In Videoland), Dennis Lyxzén (The International Noise Conspiracy), Markus Krunegård (Laakso) and Maja Ivarsson (The Sounds) have taken part in the concert. The band also features some famous musicians: Magnus Sveningsson (Righteous Boy, The Cardigans) on bass, Nathan Larson on guitar, Patrik Bartosch (Eggstone) on keyboards, Jens Andersson (The Ark), and Jens Jansson (Brainpool, A Camp) on drums.

The band also played the song "One Way or Another" with two guests: Moto Boy and Helena Josefsson.

LJdM

MOUCHETUBE - Feb.08 (IV): Gessle's top 3

• Per Gessle - Smakar På Ett Regn

"Absolutely addictive melody, and now that I know what the lyrics mean, I love it even more."

Ricardo Colmenares - RC's MySpace

• Per Gessle - Om du bara vill

"As good as anything he's ever written, this song shows him at the height of his powers. I chose to showcase the new "unplugged" version from the En Händig Man tour, since it shares the spotlight with Helena."

Ricardo Colmenares - RC's MySpace

• Gessle - Do you wanna be my baby?

"About ten years ago, I went into my local record store looking to complete my Roxette CD collection, but they didn't have anything from them. They did, however, have "The World According to Gessle". I picked it up on a whim, figuring that since he was the main songwriter in Roxette, his solo stuff would be a decent replacement for the full Rox experience. And so my love for Per's solo stuff started, to the point where I prefer it to Roxette (heresy, I know :p)"

Ricardo Colmenares - RC's MySpace

MOUCHETUBE - Feb.08 (III): SOAP's top 3

• Son of a Plumber - I have a party in my head

"This is one of the songs I would choose for my wedding (if I ever married). Simple sincere feelings"

Alberto Fuente - LJdM

• Son of a Plumber - Hey Mr. DJ

"Bread and circus to the people."

Mario (aka Sleepyhead) - LJdM

• Son of a Plumber - C'mon

"Baby, c'mon to the the crazy air of the sixties."

Mario (aka Sleepyhead) - LJdM

Sandy Mouche's rehearsals and recordings for a new album (X): drums, guitars, piano, ... and papillons

Per Blomgren and me were alone in the studio today. Per did the drums on the 150bpm song. He played them like a robot. Stiff and tight with old cloths on the snare and toms. Even some extra Gaffa tape on the hi-hat and cymbals. But before then I played a guitar at the end of the areana song...remember? Actually there were two guitars creating a nice Wembley feeling.

Ok back to the current song. The drums came out great. Then we used a Teisco synth for the bass, a bit tricky since it is a mono synth. A great Bass Tuba did the job. On the verse and chorus a Philips Phlicorda organ saved us with it´s creamy smooth sound (just the type I love).

Next session will be guitars and vocals. Hopefully a week from now.

Martinique Josefsson - Sandy Mouche

Le Journal des Mouches has uploaded the full version of Sandy Mouche's song Papillon. We think many fans had not watched this full version because it was only available in Ola Blomgren's website

Papillon was the third video from the debut album "White Lucky Dragon" (2004). They uploaded a short version of the video in youtube (April, 2006). The video was directed by Jeffery Richt, a photograph from Malmö.

LJdM

2008 World According to P, C & C (II): The World just got bigger and The Men are with Chris again

Per Gessle's (or rather "Gessle's") album "The World According to Gessle" from 1997 will be re-released on EMI/Elevator Entertainment in May in what Thomas Evensson, from TDR calls a "super duper extra turbo deluxe with cheese on" edition. The album is now a double with tons of nice bonuses and a new extended sleeve with an interview added.

Bonus trax CD 1:

• Kix-Cha-Cha "ghost track"
• Love Doesn't Live Here outtake from album + B-side Kix
• Always Breaking My Heart (30 May 1995) B-side Do You Wanna…
• I Wanna Be With You (2 Nov 1994) B-side Do You Wanna…
• Blue Umbrella (15 June 1993) B-side I Want You to Know
• Jupiter Calling (3 Aug 1995) B-side I Want You to Know
• Let’s Party! (14 July 1988) B-side I Want You to Know
• Kix (Lovely Pair Mix) B-side Kix

CD 2 – demos that were made for the album:

1. There is My Baby (27 June 1994)
2. I’ll be Alright (16 July 1994)
3. June Afternoon (17 July 1994)
4. T-t-t-Take It! (12 Sep 1994)
5. Every Day Outside My Window (28 Dec 1995)
6. Love Doesn’t Live Here (25 Feb 1996)
7. Detective Jones (29 Feb 1996)
8. Beautiful Things, Terrible Things (7 April 1996)
9. Elvis in Deutschland (26 April 1996)
10. Makin’ Love to You (acoustic version) (9 June 1996)
11. Lay Down Your Arms (23 June 1996)
12. Do You Wanna be My Baby? (12 Aug 1996)
13. B-Any-1-U-Wanna-B (24 Oct 1996)
14. Saturday (2 Nov 1996)
15. Wish You the Best (3 Nov 1996)
16. I Want You to Know (28 Dec 1996)
17. Kix (2 Jan 1997)

According to the drummer Niklas Kilenstam, maximum Swedish modband from Lund, The Men, are now in the AGM studio recording their third album with a few more instruments. Over a period of 8 weeks they are going to record 13 new songs. Christoffer Lundquist is their guide and master. As of today, 8 songs are down on track and the finnishing touches are being made this weekend for those.

LJdM

"Elvis in Deutschland" was recorded about a year after the "Elvis in Germany"-demo. I did it because I wasn't quite satisfied with the chorus of "EiG"!!! "EiD" has a totally different chorus (and different chorus lyrics) and is a ballad, sorta… But I went back to "EiG," a wise decision, if you ask me…

A different version of "Every Day Outside My Window" lyrics was given to Marie a few years later and became her ballad "Every Day" …

Same thing with "Beautiful Things, Terrible Things" (which turned into her "Beautiful Things"…)

…and of course we're talking remastering here, I always felt that the original [album] sounds a bit too hard, we'll try to fix it now.

"Detective Jones" also exists with different lyrics, then called "Young" and was recorded by Staffan Öfwerman in the 1800s.

"June Afternoon" ended up on Rox's "don't bore us" album but was ment for "TWATG" from the beginning. Micke Syd plays the drums and is brilliant. One of my best songs ever.

"Makin' Love to You" was written for "TWATG" too.

There's a demo for "Reporter" called "Writer," it's not on this album because it sounds almost exactly the same as the end results… besides the title of course…

The rest of the tracks were apparently also recorded as demos (it seems, I've forgotten most things) but they sound too much the same as the final album to be included. Why this snobism you wonder? Well, I want this demo album to be fun to hear for all the hardcore fans out there. As little as possible should be recognized…

Now the pizza is here!

Per Gessle

MOUCHETUBE - Feb.08 (II): SM's top 3

• Sandy Mouche - Spiderweb suit
  

"My Sandy Mouche choice is easy: "Spiderweb Suit". It has some of the most beautiful lyrics I've ever heard"

Ricardo Colmenares - RC's MySpace

• Sandy Mouche - C'est pas juste

"I like bands and this video is a good opportunity to watch Sandy Mouche together. Smiles, laughs, love, jokes, friendship, ... People at work!"

Alberto Fuente - LJdM

• Sandy Mouche - Papillon

"Magic butterflies and flowers."

Mario (aka Sleepyhead) - LJdM

Helena is recording her second solo album (I): drums and a cheese car

The first AGM session was three days at the beginning of February!

Let me introduce the hard working producer, technician and musician Christoffer Lundquist, and his car! This man does the work of three people, at least, and his ears never fail to focus. Just a little nap now and then and he is like new again! I call him “Skalman”, it is a turtle in the Swedish cartoon “Bamse”. He has an eating- and sleeping-alarm clock and when it rings you know what happens. And Christoffer is like Skalman who can pull anything you might need out of his shell. Christoffer he knows all the buttons in the studio, he knows where all the cables go, and he always makes things beautiful, even the not so beautiful songs become white pigeons in his hands.

Here he is recording his car for one of the up tempo songs… We needed an “ost-bil”, a cheese car so to speak. Oh you don´t know what it means? No I didn´t either, until Erik Hjärpe, the dancing drum guru taught us about it. It is when you play music really loud in your car, and that is what Christoffer and I did. It became really fine, even though it has nothing to do with the song itself, but as long as it´s fun! :o)

And here he is, Erik aka Voz Vibrante! He made drum programming for about 7 songs. Some songs he really liked and some he didn´t. But he made drums for them all anyway! I think he mostly likes the groovy songs. I have never seen anyone working in such an intensive manner. I had to force him to drink and eat sometimes but then he ate in the same intensive way :o) I have never met anyone who eats faster than I do but Erik is the king!!! And you can also see that I was most relaxed, listening, having a cup of tea in the studio sofa-

No actually I was working my ears off too! I had my own little workstation down in the kitchen where I made a demo of a brand new song! And the two gentlemen liked it, so it was recorded the day after.

Or the drums were.

After these three days Erik and I were totally blank in our heads but Christoffer kept working the next morning with his other recordings- some kind of drug must be the secret… or maybe it is just the love for music?

Helena Josefsson - H.J.

Hello!

I am sorry that you might have been starving to death by waiting for Helena to blog. I wasn't pulling your leg! She also said that the recording continues in April, and then she will start blogging for real. Here is her Swedish explanation:

"Jag ska blogga så fort som möjligt, men det är det att jag håller på och skriver fortfarande som tusan och grejar men snart så dyker det upp en liten blog-grej!

And the English version:
"I wil blog as fast as possible, but I am still writing as god and stuff but it will soon show a little blog-thing up !

cheers! Billy*.

Updated LJdM (May 2008): Helena finally blogged from her own website.

Emma Sonesson (aka BiLLY) - HJ Fanclub Portal

Sandy Mouche's rehearsals and recordings for a new album (IX): how to arrange a song

The 179bpm song has been modified. It now has the speed of 150bpm.

Me, Martinique had a day off and after a careful evaluation of the song that we recorded day 6 the following changes have been made:

• 1: New bass line (more discoish)
• 2: New chord progression on the verse (gives it more depth, the first version was too childish. Per is still evaluating this :-)
• 3: New intro (positive two-line guitar action)
• 4: New lyrics on the chorus (so that you can remember it)

The next thing on our schedule is a rehearsal, to give us some new ideas on how to arrange the coming songs.

Talk to you soon...

PS: Pagani Zonda F: Probably the most perfect car in the world and one of my favourite super cars. It can definitely handle 179km/h. Experiense it.

Martinique Josefsson - Sandy Mouche

HJ's 2008 Winter (III): Sirius Radio - Nordic Rox (2/03/2008)

Hour 1
1. Adam Tensta, "My Cool"
2. Lykke Li, "Dance Dance Dance"
3. Son Of A Plumber, "Something In The System"
4. Sophia Somajo, "The Proposition"
5. Christian Kjellvander, "Two Souls"
6. Son Of A Plumber, "Shopping With Mother"
7. Monttmardie, "New York"
8. Euroboys, "Dirty Hole"
9. The Cardigans, "Rise And Shine"
10. Lamont, "No Regrets"
11. Elin Ruth Sigvardsson, "Antidote"
12. Per Gessle, "Pratar Med Min Musli"
13. Streets of Mars, "Taste"
14. Baboon Show, "It Can Only Get Better"
15. Jens Lekman, "Into Eternity"


Hour 2
15. Hoffmaestro, "Crimson Sky"
16. Roxette, "Listen To Your Heart"
17. Street Fighting Man, "Raise It"
18. Katie Goes To Hollywood, "Somebody I Never Knew"
19. Roxette, "A Thing About You"
20. Shout Out Louds, "Normandie"
21. Promise And The Monster, "Night Out"
22. The Hives, "Hey Little World"
23. ABBA, "Dum Dum Diddle"
24. Mando Diao, "Mexican Hardcore"
25. Lisa Miskovsky, "Sweet Misery"
26. Molotov Jive, "The Luck You Got"
27. Per Gessle, "Stupid"
28. The Perishers, "Get Well Soon"
29. Like Honey, "Airport"
30. Helena Josefsson, "Sleepyhead"


Hour 3
31. Helena Josefsson, "Waterlily Love"
32. Caesars, 'No Tomorrow"
33. Film On Four, "Romanze"
34. Elmo, "Unbreakable"
35. The Hives, "Try It Again"
36. The Kid, "Portion Control"
37. Jonas Game, "New City Love"
38. Helena Josefsson, "Meadow"
39. Hello Saferide, "Highschool Stalker"
40. Konie, "My Life Is Shit But I Am Funky"

LJdM

MOUCHETUBE - Feb.08 (I): HJ's top 3

• Helena Josefsson - Never never (Live on Bingolotto)

"The fantastic Helena Josefsson performs "Never Never (My Dynamo), the second single off her solo debut "Dynamo", on the Swedish TV show "Bingolotto", on April 9th, 2007."

Ricardo Colmenares (Venezuela)- RC's MySpace

"It is not easy for many of us to listen to Helena live. This is a great version of the song, with a big band, including Sandy Mouche's drummer, Per Blomgren (drums)."

Alberto Fuente - LJdM

• Helena Josefsson - Where does the unused love go (VB)

"Helena Josefsson (from Sandy Mouche and Son of a Plumber). Kanal Lokal - Skåne direkt - Wednesday 23rd January 2008. Watch Helena dancing. No more words are needed."

Alberto Fuente - LJdM

"I'm not sure why she went with the remix instead of the album cut, but wow, that's some great dancing"

Ricardo Colmenares (Venezuela)- RC's MySpace

• Helena Josefsson - By your side

"It is the only official video from Dynamo. We can't understand why he didn't trust her ..."

Mario (aka Sleepyhead) - LJdM

"I didn't like the song at first. I felt it needed more guitar, or something. Then I gave it a second listen, and it just clicked. It's now in permanent rotation in my video playlist. Can't wait for the full album to come out! And Helena looks so much like my friend Ashley in this video, it's eerie :p"

Ricardo Colmenares (Venezuela)- RC's MySpace

"I'm loving the outfit Helena!!! Cool song too..."

Rachel (aka whateveriam), from Norfolk, U.K.