Crunch music

Hi everybody!

It's been a month of moving, visiting Sweden over Christmas and writing new songs since I last posted on this blog. 2011 seems like a good year, at least January is so far a good beginning. I relocated to Kreuzberg in mid-December, but now I've found a collective in south Neukölln where I'm good for another five months. Also, the long distance courses in graphic design and masculinity studies I'm doing this semester are due to start in a week.

These things fixed, it's time to work on the whole musician-thing again. Last week old friend William moved to Berlin. We were both very keen on getting together and playing, and some new ideas (which need thorough evaluation) are starting to occur. I'll keep you updated on our progress.

I really should be focusing more on trying to get gigs. I've got some kind of phobia when it comes to this kind of efforts, I just really have to force myself to send e-mails and hand out CD-R:s. And every time I've played so far, I've changed the set, i.e. song order, song structure, amount of effects on voice. Finally, it seems I've rushed about to quickly, not practiced my songs enough, not working the live performance through as good as I should.

This is the poster for Vorspiel Vol. III

Friday the 28th, the doors open for a third Vorspiel mit Frans at Kristiania Espressobar, and this time, I hope everything will fit in better, myself included. There are some new, never-before-performed songs which I'm looking forward to trying out (if I can just finish writing the lyrics). I'm trying out an overall new approach to complexity, changing my classic multi-layering for thick minimalism, the timbre of a handful of instruments taking the focus from the afore-used plentitude of voices and melodies. This is partially because I feel I've focused way to little on my own part of the performance, hiding behind a wall of backtrack sound. Guitar and voice should be guiding you, not fifteen synthesizers! I hope these changes will become clear to whoever sees me playing. I don't want to get away from the sound that I've worked for years to define, but simply try a new method for evoking similar feelings, now in subtler ways.

Anyway, I hope people residing in die Hauptstadt will consider coming. There will be some posters out in the next few days, and I guess you never know what they may bring. Tell your friends, your parents, your colleagues to come help turn the air thick at Kristiania, to the sound of the gems of my mind. What I now prefer to refer to as Crunch Music.

Thanks for reading! All of you not able to jump on the U2-line and attend, I hope I'll get to see you soon!

There is a gig coming up, there was a gig coming up, there are some new songs with pictures too!

This is what I did today, the poster for the upcoming Vorspiel mit Frans

I've been busy. Musically, privately, working. But I'm still here. Without a very well-thought-out plan, Kristian and me decided we'll arrange another Vorspiel mit Frans evening. It's this friday, the 10th. It might come as a shock to you, and I admit, it is to me too. All of you who'd care to come will have possibilities to buy beer, wine, coffee and probably some kind of strong booze. And my CD is also available to buy.

Last week, I "played" in a tent on the main square in my hometown of Lund. My audience consisted of two of my friends, three sound technicians, two girls and two reporters from the newspaper Sydsvenskan (here's the article in swedish with a nice, gloomy picture of yours truly: http://www.sydsvenskan.se/lund/article1314369/Pr-flopp-satte-stopp-for-lysande-succé.html). It was -10 degrees celsius. I had forgotten the power cord for my guitar FX box. My I-pod, from which I was to playback the backing tracks,  died because of the cold, and I couldn't feel my toes a and fingers anymore. The catastrophe was a fact, and I left the stage before actually having finished the set. I was scared I might freeze something (my sister did last winter, hence I take no risks) and had no choice but to go inside.

I guess you learn something from every dramatic gig like this. At least I didn't get too angry (I even forgot to bring my CD:s!) but thought, "what the heck, next time will be sooo easy compared to tonight". I'm looking forward to playing my two new songs, "Costa del Sol" and "Timeless", even though they are still at a sketch level. "Timeless" somehow mark my attempts at writing sunny pop, while "Costa del Sol" is meant to be a introverted, noisy track, hopefully a base possible to improvise around live. When I release these to songs on the net, they will be accompanied by illustrations thought to capture the overall feeling. I intend to continue this plan, so that, one day, there is a picture representing each and every one of my songs. The reason why I'm doing this is, I feel a need to express myself both audibly and optically, that no song is fully complete without the scenery I picture. A future album might contain these "snapshots".

See you on friday, Berliners! (I hope!)

F

EP finished! Gig in Lund!

The front of the MONUMENTS EP

GAAAH!

The EP's finally finished. It's now purchasable whenever you see me play or if you come to Kristiania Epsressobar (Fehrbelliner Strasse 5, Prenzlauer Berg). It's 5 € (I guess that's a pretty decent price) and contains 6 tracks. It runs for about 45 minutes. Here's the track listing for you:

The back of the MONUMENTS EP

1 . Rot Month (a song about the confusion and emptiness that appears when you leave your life and city for new ones, the constant disappointments of social life)

2 . The Story of ... (a song about leaving Sweden, leaving old acquaintances and traditions behind you, looking to the colossal cities of Youroupe)

3 . Square (a song about the difficult role as a father figure and how they are always haunted by and unable to get away from their patriarchal heritage)

4 . Cottage (a song about the simplicity of living in the countryside, complete with Knickerbocker scenery backed up by reggae rhythm)

5 . When this Civilization ends (a song about when your whole world collapses along with everything else that can possibly collapse, such as the Rolling Stones)

6 . Painted Hand (a song about the new social rules, about telling out your entire life story to any stranger that might be interested, and about an optimism that I have only experienced a handful of times)

The entire EP is listen- and downloadable on my Soundcloud page. Unfortunately, for you who prefer Myspace, because of a bug or another, I've yet been unable to upload any song to my Myspace profile. However, one day it will work. Until then, use the Soundcloud page (which, you will find, is actually a zillion times better than Myspace), and if you like what you hear, comment, order the CD, or whatever.

Antje Øklesund

Last weeks gig at Antje Øklesund went well, a bunch of nice people showed up, RoyalChord did a good set (eventhough I was a bit to washed out to fully appreciate it). There are some nice pictures, which will eventually be posted here. It was great to have a proper sound engineer who made sure the frequencies were right and all. A lot of bass!!! That was fun. All people present would probably agree to that.

I might be playing at the square of Stortorget in Lund, Sweden, on Nov 30th. At least I just got a request from Mejeriet Band Booker Martin B to be one of three live acts to play in a tent handed out by the Municipality of Lund. We'll see how it goes, transporting gear from Berlin and all.

Antje Øklesund

And oh, there's probably another Vorspiel mit Frans coming up at Kristiania Espressobar. In perhaps two weeks or so. I'll inform you. Trust me!

Last week we went to see Beach Fossils perform at the Bang Bang. They were very inspiring. A truly wonderful sound, simple but efficient songs. I have to admit, I'm envious of people who can do non-complex music. I feel handicapped by my multi-layering technique. It is about to transform though. Via every possible genre I'm now trying to find how I want to do it. And it's tough.

Thank you

Final steps of EP, pics from Kristiania gig & address to Antje Øklesund

Here are some pics from my gig at Kristiania two weeks ago, Mimmis camera. Thanks to all the people who showed up! Yesterday I finished my EP, put the sleeve together and discovered a way to make the discs look good. Now all that's left is the printing of the sleeve, something that I will do my best to finish this weekend. So on monday the Monuments EP will be available for anyone who's interested in buying.

The weekend I'll also use for preparing myself for the Antje Øklesund gig, experimenting some with my possibilities to interact with my computer while playing live and rearranging the songs in a more subtle mood. I hope the time is enough and all... Also playing is 

http://www.myspace.com/royalchordroyalchord . It will be fun to play again and I hope to see you there!

The address is:

ANTJE ØKLESUND

c/o Stadtraumnutzung e. V.

Rigaer Straße 71 – 73

10247 Berlin

Gig at Antje Øklesund in November

Hi everybody!

Landwehr Shoot

It seems that I might play at experimental bar/concert place Antje Øklesund on the 4th of november! This feels fun, as it is the first thing I do outside the safe realms of Kristiania and Gaudy. Like the first step out into the real world. I have no idea what the guys there expect, but I have in mind doing minimalist versions of my songs so that I will get bigger possibilities to alter one set from the other, thus making it more fun to play and listen to.

So make a note in your calendars, Nov 4th things will boil again.

Have begun cooperation again with Josef & Fredrik of Cloud Study, this time on some kind of droney yet melodic synths-meet-drum machine-meets-big guitars-meet-frail voices-thing. It seems like we're on to something interesting. Maybe we'll get enough material to do a live set. Well, that's a question for the future. I like it though, we might find the way back to our Broken Mixer Sessions sound. But more mature, of course.

I also added my newest song to my last.fm artist page. Soon to follow are the Soundcloud & Myspace pages. And next week, I'll start the last step of those CD:s! Don't give up!

Cherish this weekend!

Myspace plays & first pictures...

It's fun to see that my plays at Myspace have increased dramatically since my gig. I guess that's a sign how easy it can be to make people want to find out more about your music. Soon the page will be updated though, and what I do now will also be possible to explore. Or I will start using Soundcloud more busily. Thanks to all of you who have been visiting my pages recently!

Jan sent me two pictures. Here they are...

In search for my musical identity, even this pose is crucial

This wall is pretty nice. Good contrast between the nature shots and the suburban sci-fi shots.

Oh, shoot!

Today we made that photo shoot, Jan and me. We found some nice spots down here in Neukölln (by the Landwehr canal and at some sci-fi wall) and with Jans steady hand we got some pretty neat pictures. Some of this material will be posted here and on Facebook, the best parts I'll use for the demo sleeve.

Then we had a long discussion about finding out how you should present yourself as an artist. About feeling natural in the role. Which, I have to admit, I do not, at least not yet.

I struggle with my musical method of expression, as well as with my security as a public figure. I don't know what feels right. But I hope to find out through experience, experimentation. Finding inner peace. If you pardon my clichés. Because that's a big part of what I'm doing right now.

Me and Darren discussing the wonders of Factory records

This blog might be of future importance for me, who knows? What's for certain, is that my future listeners experience should not be disturbed by me seeming insecure or indifferent. I want to reach out to people. I want to take them on a journey. I don't mind admitting that I am a normal human being, as many artists do. But I don't wish for my human doubts and fears to destroy what is the artist Frans Swahn.

I am very grateful for the feedback I've received recently, the discussions I have with kind and interesting people of every trade, about what it's like to create things. The encouragement, the aspects of myself that I am not fully aware of. Even though I feel like a complete egomaniac just discussing these things with people (I hope you all get something out of this as well! ), I think it's very important for me as a person. I have always considered myself somewhat humble, but that kind of attitude might be harmful in the long run.

I will continue, and I have no idea if or when I will end. Maybe one day, I will get tired of it all, realize that I really wasn't made for all this. Or maybe these last few years have only been the first stumbling steps into a life-lasting musical voyage. We'll see.

Thank you for your interest.