Stillheten

March 25, 2010 at 5:06 pm

Stillheten (the tranquillity) is a very suitable name for David Videfrost’s music project. He has released two EP:s, “I ensamhetens kapell” and “Requiem For a Loving God”, two records with different character but with tranquillity and contemplation in focus. On the first one a 12-string guitar has the leading role in both harmonies and melodies, while the second one is more ambient; exploring sound spaces and emotions. To me it gives a feeling of being close to nature, like walking through a still wood.

You can listen more and read about Stillheten on his Myspace page. On the netlabel DNA’s page you can download both “I ensamhetens kapell” and “Requiem For a Loving God”.
Here are two tracks from “I ensamhetens kapell”:

I det gryende ljusets bleka sken
När skuggan saknas

Mackaper

March 8, 2010 at 5:11 pm

Mackaper The duo Mackaper consists of the two organ players Markus Hulthén and Per Nyström. In the beginning of February they released their debut album “When All Is Sad and Dawn”.

It’s about instrumental music, where of course the organs are the main attraction, but they are accompanied by strings, drum machines, horns and other instruments. I’m reminded of prog-rock from the seventies but also of minimalistic synth pop, maybe the two strongest influences on the album. But overall it feels quite varied, where elements of jazz and swedish folk melancholy also fit in together with strong melodic themes and a nice atmosphere.

You can find Mackaper on their site or on Myspace. The albumet “When All Is Sad and Dawn” is available on Spotify. Here are a couple of songs from the album:

Spionen
Tale of Tales

Tale of Tales:

Hans Lundgren

November 5, 2008 at 1:00 am

Hans LundgrenPeople 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.

Tomeu Alcover

October 21, 2008 at 1:00 pm

TomeuMusic 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

Sunesdotter

October 7, 2008 at 10:00 am

Sunesdotter


photo – Rickard Almér

Illustrator- Jamin Pirnia

Already as a five year old she started to play, today educated on her violin and ready to release her debut-album. Sunesdotter is a like a force brought from the woods in the south, draped with “Näcken” as inspiration. Together with the producer Christopher Dominique whom have arranged and written many of the songs, they have now created a sound which lets the view become a
classic coniferous forest with treetops of solemn harmonies and a boost of dancing discoshoes.
What will happen next?
“This autumn I will take part of the club-world and come out and play. The concept is built on the disco-songs on the record. Jens and Jepson from The Ark will be DJ’s of a thing called “spacedisco” in a
Walter Murphy-style, and I will making a show with my songs sometime during the evening.
There will be cool dresses, a smoke-machine and a lot of disco going on…”

Earlier this spring she guested “Ride my wild heart”-boy Motoboy with her harmonies and soon
she’s gonna play in the clubs and watch people dance like obsessed to the sound of her violin.
It has been the dream of Sunesdotter since she was a kid, so the future looks bright with the newly produced album which is like a ticket to experience, places or just a way to meet new people.
I’m looking forward to her release the 4th of September at PlockePinn then with the cd in my hand, getting started with the song “Möllan Swing”, letting the hips trip on home across Möllevångstorget, whistling along dressed in a black tricot with Sunesdotter’s great music in my ears.

Listen and read more on her offical official home page
and visit Sunesdotter on Myspace

Hungarian

/Jamin

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