Meadow Music

Nope…we’re not in the biblical stories…and not in heaven…but close…

Cause the song “Come on” from Ctrl the Mob makes me fly like a bird in the sky. And lately their songs have started flying up the charts on various radio stations around the world.
They call themselves “a father & son project”, this trio which consists of John Jerico, Michael Jerico och T.C.

- I’m the creative engine, writing all the lyrics and music, John tells me over the phone from Hälsingland, while Michael delivers, refines and communicates the ideas through his guitar. T.C. is the producer, engineer and sounding board.

Both Delsbostintan and the punk rock band Totalitär have relations to the band, as Delsbostintan is a distant relative to John och Michael, and John was one of the original members in Totalitär. The goal is to make a tour in 2015 where they follow Delsbostintan’s tracks, a tour she made in the US more than hundred years ago.

Last year the band was successful on the music site Snowfish in the contest Next Big Thing and ended up in third place, making it to the finals.

- The biggest win with participating in NBT was on a personal level, meeting all these wonderful people, John continues. It widened our network and has created side projects, collaborations on various levels.

Listen more on Ctrl the Mob’s Myspace-page and follow them on Facebook. /Reya

Come On

Nope...we're not in the biblical stories...and not in heaven...but close... Cause the song "Come on" from Ctrl the Mob makes me fly like a bird in the sky. And lately their songs have started flying up the charts on various radio stations around the world. They call themselves "a father & son project", this trio which ...

People have created fantastic film music throughout the years. I think it’s strange that there’s so few collaborations between musicians/artists and movie creators. A director I spoke with the other day explained to me that he always set aside a rather large sum of money for the music of the movie. But when the movie project takes longer time than expected and other events, unaccounted for, need to be taken care of, this sum of money is used, and compromises have to be done.

I want to tell you about Hans Lundgren, 26 years old, whose music makes me shiver of well-being. Here he describes how he started making film music:

“For me the interest for film music started already at the age of 7 when I used to rush to the TV to be able to see the intro to “Dallas”. I loved the music and how it interacted with the moving pictures. But it wasn’t until I was 15 that I became aware of film music at a deeper level.

After playing and singing several years, I started study music on high school in Skellefteå, and it was there that I seriously started composing music inspired by movies. After that followed studies in composition on Skellefteå Music College, Framnäs Folkhögskola, Musikhögskolan i Piteå, film science at Luleå Tekniska Universitet, and now in Stockholm at KMH (Royal College of Music in Stockholm) and DI.

This is the first time that they have created a film music program on a higher level of education in Sweden. The education is divided more or less with half of the time at KMH and half of the time at DI. The theoretical parts at KMH and the practical parts at DI. And just like with all the other students at the movie department at DI, 4 students are admitted every two years. That is, 4 directors, 4 producers, 4 dubbing editors, 4 film editors, 4 screenwriters, 4 photographers, and now this year also 4 film composers.

As a first project at DI we were assigned to write music for four short films. Every team has their own movie that is supposed to work both as a story that stands for itself and also in a context together with the other three movies. All four films are spun around the same central event which binds the movies together, but from the different perspectives of four people and their unique experience of the situation. It has been a very interesting and fun process to be a part of. My first meeting with the short film I was to compose to, was at a spotting session where I, together with the director, the producer and the others, watched a raw cut of the film where we started discussing how, when and what function the music should have in the movie. When should the music start/end? What’s the emotional style? What’s the musical style, and so on?

After that, I watched the movie a couple of times, without starting to compose anything, just to absorb the movie. It was easier to get to the core of the story then. For this project I made a couple of different versions of the music, before we found something that felt right from an emotional and dramaturgical perspective. We have recently finished the project and made the final cut of the movie. That’s when the dialogue, the music and the effects are mixed together to create a good sound picture for the movie. The premiere will be in November.

Soon the recording of the next project starts, and I am looking forward to being part of telling a story in a musical and dramatic way that drags people into the story. Finally I would like to say that I really hope that this education will help to lift Swedish film music, and that people who want to write music for films can have a place to meet, develop and work together with the professional film makers of the future.”

Here’s a couple of tracks from Hans’ production:

Resan mot ljuset
Death Is Not the End

Do you want know more about Hans? Here is his site.

There you read that he has arranged and orchestrated “Sjökor och Stekare” for the Umeå Symphony Orchestra, that he has been played in P2 (Swedish national radio channel), and that TV4 has shown his short film “Att återvända” (“To come back”). Just the images on his site are worth a visit. Beautiful!
And of course you can listen to his music.

People have created fantastic film music throughout the years. I think it's strange that there's so few collaborations between musicians/artists and movie creators. A director I spoke with the other day explained to me that he always set aside a rather large sum of money for the music of the movie. But when the ...

- with real hip hop muscles

He likes to ride the bike against the wind, eat meatballs and he likes soft nights at home. And maybe it’s there he finds all inspiration to his songs. Because this mr Fredric is the face of productivity. He releases songs all the time in a high pace.

This guy from Jakobsberg in Stockholm moves smoothly among the hip hop elite in Sweden and delivers romantic themes or philosophical speculations about life and love.

This is how he presents himself in a clip:

And listen to this: Fredric feat. Frida Muranius and Mattias Welin. It’s a little like Me Tarzan and You Jane, and I fully love it. A warm-up party song that should be a hit among the winedrinking mothers of bothersome teenagers. It’s an enigma to me that it’s not constantly played on all the Swedish radio stations, as it’s a smashing superhit bomb according to me:

Fantasi (with Frida and Mattias)

Heres another song from Fredric:

Du kom du gick

Fredric is now working on his new site, where he will upload 19 new songs, all free for download! So keep a look at Fredric’s site.

In the meantime you can visit him on Myspace where you for example can listen to a couple of cool collaborations with Melina and Anthon.

- with real hip hop muscles He likes to ride the bike against the wind, eat meatballs and he likes soft nights at home. And maybe it's there he finds all inspiration to his songs. Because this mr Fredric is the face of productivity. He releases songs all the time in a high pace. This guy ...

The producer

Some people may know him as Jonas Wickman, others as Bordun. When I first came in contact with his music and his production, it was like living on a flat earth and suddenly realise that it’s actually a globe. Jonas’ strange sound landscapes and emotional dimensions, opened me up and confronted me. Maybe not so much the music itself, but the feelings that grew inside when I listened; I was at the same time freightened and fascinated.

And I believe this is Jonas’ strength; the buildup of emotional atmospheres. He says that he has been living on the so called soft side of life. Art, philosophy, food and pleasure. And of course also music! And it all adds up in some way here. It’s artistry in the shape of music.

I think that Jonas really shows how important the producer role is. To build these sound backgrounds and sceneries behind the artist. A good producer can lift a mediocre artist right up in the sky, but above all, a good producer makes the artist and the music come out.

Listen here to a collaboration between Aurgrunn, Miss Allena, and Jonas:

Storm

And another collaboration with the artist Tobbe Möller:

Sanity

And here is a gem from his own works:

När kommer du igen

Last spring Jonas released an album, in a producer collaboration with Robert Wahlström/Jonas Färnlöv, called Umami (Plugged Records)

Among the participating artists were Freddie Wadling, Caroline af Ugglas, Desmond Foster, Ardis, Katarina Niklasson, Safiye Färnlöv, T-Root and Caroline Wennergren; artists that all share the same passion as the producer trio. That is, art and music.

Good In Colours:

Listen to Umami on Myspace and visit their site.

Buy the record on CDon and ITunes

The producer Some people may know him as Jonas Wickman, others as Bordun. When I first came in contact with his music and his production, it was like living on a flat earth and suddenly realise that it's actually a globe. Jonas' strange sound landscapes and emotional dimensions, opened me up and confronted me. Maybe ...

Music through the fingertips

Intrumental music talks to me in quite a different way than when it’s accompanied by vocals and lyrics. It flows more freely through my ear canals and creates a contact with my emotional self. And Tomeu’s music makes my argentinian blood swell in lustfulness and makes me homesick. ‘Cause deep down, there lives an acoustic guitar.
In Tomeu’s music I can hear influences of flamenco, classical music, jazz, blues and world music. Originally he’s from Mallorca where he started his guitar lessons with Damià Timoner.

After a short jump to Barcelona he continued his education with the grammy winner David Rusell, and with the highly regarded Manuel Granados, and his assistant David Leiva. After this he travelled to Sweden, where he’s now working on his upcoming album with the drummer Robert Ikiz and the bass player Kristian Lind. The producer is Josep Umbria.

Solely for Meadow Music he has mixed down two tracks, but tells me to point out that these are not finished tracks, just a taste from the upcoming record. The album will be finished by next summer.

Leia’s Song
A Time In Barcelona

Listen more on his Myspace page

Music through the fingertips Intrumental music talks to me in quite a different way than when it's accompanied by vocals and lyrics. It flows more freely through my ear canals and creates a contact with my emotional self. And Tomeu's music makes my argentinian blood swell in lustfulness and makes me homesick. ‘Cause deep down, ...

Music+Play = Great creativity

I am in love. I fell head over heels for this sweet lady. My first thought was:
- What is this?
My second was:
- Geez, this is SOO cool!

This is truly creativity on a high level. Musical jumps, mixed with presentations of sounds that caresses and shakes you at the same time. Agnes’ ability to step outside the box entirely is admirable – to think that more artists would have that courage, and ability.

To me, Agnes’ music is a huge vitamin injection, a virtual “happy pill” that picks me up and makes me happy. Throw in Agnes in the Parliament and make all politicians happy – her love of sounds and words inspire and is truly contagious! A true and great artist.

She describes herself like this:

“I usually perform with a sort of melodic fairy tales, told in the made up language “sprak”. This language is a mixture of forgotten dialects. Words with a bitter, sweet and sometimes salty aftertaste. All within a frame of “sprinkle soundscape”. To abeat of percussion-like piano playing.

Here’s the place to download two of her creations:

Freezie Froze
Dammtussmonster

Curious? Hear more? Visit Agnes Mercedes on Myspace

Want to know more about her? Go to her web site Ordfrosseri (in swedish)

Music+Play = Great creativity I am in love. I fell head over heels for this sweet lady. My first thought was: - What is this? My second was: - Geez, this is SOO cool! This is truly creativity on a high level. Musical jumps, mixed with presentations of sounds that caresses and shakes you at the same time. Agnes' ...

I will leave this space entirely to this man of words to describe himself and his music:

“To step into Frispråkarn’s world is to bring the world down from the la-la-land of television. Håkan Bäckman a.k.a. Frispråkarn – “The Freespeaker” – delivers rhymes of utmost quality, served directly from Swedish reality. After having made a name for himself on various mix tapes and compilations, he is now taking charge of his creations by releasing his music on his own web site.

Frispråkarn’s music is characterized by the mix of improvisation and lyric writing which alternates between attitude competition and freestyle. To deliver at least one whole verse that is all improvised is something that fans of Frispråkarn has come to expect from a live performance. But the political and the storytelling has equal parts on Frispråkarn’s menu. It’s about range – something that a lot of Swedish artists today seem to not even bother to take into consideration. Sollentuna, the suburb outside Stockholm, is Frispråkarn’s home turf and New York is only distant an uninteresting. This hungry MC is here to spread his music and his words – without compromising with the everyday or his art.”

This summer, Frispråkarn has been one of the most played artists on SR Metropol with his second single from his forthcoming album “Signerat Frispråkarn” (“Signed the Freespeaker”). The song has also been played on Swedish national radio (P3), Cityradion among other stations. On Youtube, you can find an impressive video that has receive over 55 000 views, and it has also been aired on Ztv. Things are indeed rolling for this focused artist. Here’s a sneak peek of his professional video:

Listen to an artist with drive:

Den ena dan e den andra lik

and

Kärlek växer till hat

Want to know more about him?

Frispråkarn on Myspace

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Uppdate

Frispråkarn – the Freespeaker – releases a mix tape free for download as an appetizer of his forthcoming album!
Download here

I will leave this space entirely to this man of words to describe himself and his music: "To step into Frispråkarn's world is to bring the world down from the la-la-land of television. Håkan Bäckman a.k.a. Frispråkarn - "The Freespeaker" - delivers rhymes of utmost quality, served directly from Swedish reality. After having made ...

The word master

Hello all publishers! I SAID: -HELLO ALL PUBLISHERS!!!
You have missed a sweet little pea here. A lyricist of absolute world class. Niklas Aurgrunn is his name. Remember that name, or pick up the phone right now. I say it only once, read my lips: – Niklas Aurgrunn is one of the best Swedish lyricists.

In this post I will try to emphasise the importance of writing good lyrics. Many tries, some have the gift, and others like Niklas are outstanding. He’s not only shaping some words, ready for delivery. His words reaches a dimension within you didn’t know existed. He hits the target and twists and turns.
When you have finished listening, you are no longer the same person. A good text transforms the listener to new heights. You learn something from a good text. A good text is like the sun in the sky. It warms you and carry you on further.

A few words from the author himself:

“Maybe it sounds like and maybe it is some kind of self legitimising incantation, but I do like it when it sounds a little off pitch and off beat, when I have to strain my voice to go up, I even think it’s fun when have to violate the melody to be able to sing the piece, ‘cause it is like that and have always been like that – I’m not a singer by any definition and certainly not a musician, but it took me a few decades to learn to like what happens when I sit down and with a poor ear, tune in randomly, it’s the way it should be, at least it’s how I should be. And they are fantastic songs in any case…”

Listen to Aurgrunn’s “Gare de Lyon Blues”:

Gare de Lyon Blues

Aurgrunn has collaborated with a lot of musicians, among them Tobbe Möller, whom we wrote post about before.

Here is a taste from another interesting collaboration with Miss Allena, “Vind” (“Wind”):

Vind

And this is how powerful it can sound when the producer Jonas Wickman takes on Aurgrunns work in “Bil på berget” (“Car on the mountain”):

Bil på berget

Aurgrunn is also a frequent blogger and also the author of several books. Unfortunately only available in Swedish so far.

Visit Aurgrunn on Myspace
and Last.fm

The word master Hello all publishers! I SAID: -HELLO ALL PUBLISHERS!!! You have missed a sweet little pea here. A lyricist of absolute world class. Niklas Aurgrunn is his name. Remember that name, or pick up the phone right now. I say it only once, read my lips: - Niklas Aurgrunn is one of the best ...

Tough chick in electronic disguise

I would like to introduce Annelie. Her song “Fine” has been played a lot on my speakers these last weeks.

She sings and creates with such soul that I get overjoyed. It’s an artist that completely walks her own path and writes from outside herself and her innerness.

This is what she thinks about her creative process:

“My recordings are made in my home-made studio, and it is only my technical skills and eventually boundaries that controls, in other words I like to try everything!
Except playing piano and percussion, I also play litte bit of drums, bass and guitar.
I record and create beats with samples and my own recorded sounds.
Playing the piano and writing songs, frequently goes hand in hand, but I also write songs separately and make the instrumental settings and arrangements apart from the textwriting.
Well, that was some info about the creative process…”

She has been well noticed werever she has shown up, for example in TV4 morgon, she has been played in P3 and won a guitar by becoming the artist of the week at yoursound.se

This 21 year old doesn’t avoid collaborations that seems really exciting, such as the project “Conrad” which you can listen to at Allears. (Allears.se is announced  to be shutdown this week)

Annelie continues:

“Regarding collaboration partners I have links and information about them on my homepage (myspace-adresses and so on) – feel free to check them out!!
I’ve had a collaboration that’s now on hold but anyway, it’s an electronica project under the name “Conrad”. I’m also part of a remix project with a producer/dj who has made
2 new versions of 2 of my songs. We call ourselves “Treatment”.
If you like to know more about me there is a Myspace page too:Annelie på Myspace“

Listen and enjoy:

Fine
Physical

Believe my words, this lady we’ll be hearing a lot from in the future. Driven with a huge talent according to me. Annelie finishes off with:

“I’ve got a band to play with, and we have gigs but more gigs are wanted!!”

Tough chick in electronic disguise I would like to introduce Annelie. Her song "Fine" has been played a lot on my speakers these last weeks. She sings and creates with such soul that I get overjoyed. It's an artist that completely walks her own path and writes from outside herself and her innerness. This is what she ...

Sometimes I’m rewarded with small gifts from life itself. It can happen as I pass an open door, a car or just turn the radio on, and then happiness suddenly appears. A gift that comes in the shape of arranged tones, feelings and lyrics. As the soundwaves hit the ear canals, pure happiness is produced together with enjoyment and meditation.

This happened to me when I by coincidence came in contact with the music of Yazzman. The guy also has a wonderful sense of humour.

He writes about himself:
“I have played piano since high school, I played electric organ before that. Got hooked on jazz in junior high school, and with the Hammond organ at folk school. Founder of Emergency, Big Organ Community and New Standards Orchestra.”

Listen and download:

I Have a Dream

“I made this song and recorded it together with Pontus Torstensson and Ola Hedman in Arvika 2002. The sound engineer is Martin Berggren. It’s mainly because of him that it sounds so good”

Martin Berggren’s home page

and

Hymn

Good music works and shapes the soul, and whirls around like laughing bubbles in the blood stream.

And the music of Yazzman is whirling around inside of me right now.

Here you can listen to Big Organ Community on Allears.se.

Here you can taste New Standards Orchestra.

and here you have Yazzman himself on Allears.se.

Sometimes I'm rewarded with small gifts from life itself. It can happen as I pass an open door, a car or just turn the radio on, and then happiness suddenly appears. A gift that comes in the shape of arranged tones, feelings and lyrics. As the soundwaves hit the ear canals, pure happiness is ...