Swedish post-rockers Scraps of Tape are hard at work on new material and are planning to record a new album, but first they will be hitting the road in May. Dates and details so far: http://www.myspace.com/scrapsoftape

MP3: Tsukimono - Gloomy Sunday

This week's guest in our ongoing Göteborg spotlight series is Johan Gustavsson. Besides being a triumphant Guitar Hero player (seriously!), he keeps himself very, very busy performing music solo under the alias Tsukimono, as well as playing with groups such as Scraps of Tape, Viktor Sjöberg New Jazz Ensemble, Alina, the new band The VIII Arms Around You and tons more. Keeping track of 'em all is near-impossible. Anyhow, I had questions and he was happy to supply some answers:

How long have you lived in GBG?

I've basically been living here for a year now. The first 6-7 months I kept working in Skåne, the south of Sweden, where I'm from. That meant a lot of driving and more or less living in my car, traveling between 3 different cities all the time. But now I'm here and have been here full time since August 07.

Where did you move from and why?

I moved up here from Malmö for love. I met the greatest person and we decided to try and make it work out together. I was also losing my apartment in Malmö and I needed to get out of the situation I was stuck in at the time. Things have worked out for the better.

Favorite part about the city? Least favorite?

I really like Gbg in general, I like walking in the city even though I do it a lot less than I'd like. I live in Majorna and there is just a lot of nice things to look at and to take to heart.
Least favourite? The weather... for sure. Windy and rainy... but it's ok.

Do you think that there's a particular Gbg sound? If so, how would you describe it?

Nah, I think what's so good about the music from Gbg is that it's all really diverse. You can find anything here, and most of the time it's pretty damn good too. And with people like Christian Pallin/Koloni around who organizes shows and happenings all year-round, you get pretty spoiled with opportunities to see interesting and odd bands/artists from all over the world.

How would you say the city inspired you?

I've been getting more back into punk and hardcore/metal again... which is great! There's a good scene here.
Started a few new bands, played with great people, met wonderful people with a real desire to do good and who have their hearts 100% in what they do. It's pretty hard to not get inspired by stuff like that. I've also been getting better at saying no and to not go everywhere and not do everything. To have the ability to not do things is very liberating.

Is there a particular piece that you've done that you feel was directly influenced by and/or provides a good reflection of the city?

Well, there's also a compilation coming out entitled "Gothenburg 08", which will be released by Fang Bomb... it'll feature me, Viktor Sjöberg, Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words and many others... the track on there is about Gbg but since it's not released yet I'm not sure that's a good idea.
However, my new album coming out on Kalligrammofon, the "Heart attack money" cd, kinda touches on Gbg a lot too, so let's go for "Gloomy Sunday". It's being mastered this week Henrik Oja (The Spacious Mind, Säkert!) and Jonas Rosén (Female Anchor Of Sade, Asterisk*) so I'm super-psyched to hear the results soon.

Look for the album to receive a proper release soon, but in the meantime, here's the unmastered version of "Gloomy Sunday" to whet your thirst. Highly recommended!

Tsukimono - Gloomy Sunday

Here's the playlist for this week's radio show:

01. Timo Räisänen - Sixteen
02. TALK 1
03. Dreamboy - What have I done
04. Echo Is Your Love - Three ropes
05. The Raveonettes - Dead sound
06. TALK 2
07. Connny Nimmersjö - Dum i huvudet
08. Holiday Fun Club - Hamburg in the night
09. Elin Ruth Sigvardsson - Antidote
10. TALK 3
11. Christian Kjellvander - Two souls
12. Heroes & Zeros - The foolproof
13. Gåte - Sjå attende
14. TALK 4
15. Repoman - Chemically obsessed
16. The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Instant Repeater '99
17. Petter - Logiskt (ft. Säkert)
18. TALK 5
19. Dieter Schöön - Warm hearts
20. Springfactory - Stingy Friday afternoon
21. Sivert Høyem - Don't pass me by
22. TALK 6
23. Sweatmaster - Song with no words
24. Enslaved - Enemy I
25. The Concretes - Kids
26. TALK 7
27. Broder Daniel - Cruel town
28. September - Cry for you
29. Britta Persson - Cliffhanger
30. TALK 8
31. TLS - A song left for you
32. The End Will Be Kicks - Ass of a friend
33. Immanu El - Kosmonaut
34. TALK 9
35. Fare You Well - Deceiving eyes
36. Weeping Willows - So it's over
37. Firefox AK - Winter rose (ft. Tiger Lou)
38. TALK 10
39. Scraps of Tape - Death as it should be

Worn Through, a new GBG-based punk act featuring members from Smackdown and Anchor plus Johan Gustavsson of Tsukimono/Scraps of Tape, will be heading out for a few shows this weekend:

01/04 - Nbv, Göteborg (SWE) w/Another Year
01/05 - 1000fryd, Aalborg (DK) w/Fy Fan

Scandinavian artists on postrock webzine The Silent Ballet's top 50 albums of 2007 list include Aerial (#50), Hannu (#38), Tuna Laguna (#33), Scraps of Tape (#28), Efterklang (#22), Olafur Arnalds (#12) and Vladislav Delay (#4): http://www.thesilentballet.com/tsbt/2007/50_41.html

Top 10s for 2007: Johan Gustavsson (Tsukimono, Scraps of Tape)

Here's the playlist for my radio show on Saturday:

01. Ted Gärdestad - Räcker jag till
02. TALK 1
03. The Setting Son - In a certain way
04. Beyond Dawn - TRNQL
05. Miss Li - Let her go
06. TALK 2
07. Jonna Lee - Dried out eyes
08. Death By Kite - Hiroshima
09. The Motorhomes - I wanna make you sing
10. TALK 3
11. Printer - Minds out
12. Alarma Man - Sweden, Sweden
13. Pistol Disco - Radiation
14. TALK 4
15. Knugen Faller - Lugna favoriter
16. Scraps of Tape - Since all the birds are moving, shouldn't we
17. Carpet People - If I lose my voice
18. TALK 5
19. Asha Ali - A promise broken
20. Ingenting - Punkdrommar
21. Holiday for Strings - I got two hands
22. TALK 6
23. NEI - City of gold
24. FAP - Sjömannen
25. Monoton - Hours
26. TALK 7
27. Deathbed - Everyday heroin
28. Dibaba - Go marching in
29. Johnossi - Execution song
30. Sista Sekunden - Se opp
31. TALK 8
32. Laakso - Worse case scenario
33. Tiger Lou - Sell out
34. Peter Bjorn and John - Matchmaker
35. TALK 9
36. Johndoe - Hardt som faen
37. Espen Jørgensen - Move ahead - quickly
38. Säkert! - Och jag grät mig till sömns efter alla dar
39. TALK 10
40. KVLR - Slow clapping
41. Anna Leong - 61
42. Final Exit - Bent out of shape
43. TALK 11
44. The Bear Quartet - Lights out, sound off

MP3: Tsukimono - Osaka drop

There's a brand new netrelease today from Tsukimono, so I'm posting the lead track "Osaka drop" as today's mp3 download. For those unaware, Tsukimono is the musical alias of Johan Gustavsson, a prolific Göteborg-based artist who you might also know from his work with Scraps of Tape, Viktor Sjöberg New Jazz Ensemble, The Colour Black or one his many, many other collaborative projects. This four-track EP is a perfect netrelease candidate as it is a highly conceptual work - every sound you hear originated as a field recording that was captured during SoT's recent Japanese tour in June. Johan then took the sounds and manipulated them, thus creating the work you hear today. All of this done while still on tour. The result resembles drone/ambient music, but never quite settles into anything resembling wallpaper due to natural sound source and glitchy editing. I am proud to offer this as my latest IAT.MP3 release and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. And to Johan who is sick in bed today: feel better! Much love!

Tsukimono - Osaka drop

More (better) video footage from Viktor Sjöberg's performance at Koloni on Monday: http://elefanten.blogspot.com/2007/08/live-video.html
I couldn't tell for sure with the other clip posted yesterday, but that's Jonas Odhner who, along with Viktor, is a member of IAT.MP3 act Sonores. On drums is Johan Gustavsson from Tsukimono/Scraps of Tape.

The playlist for this week's radio show:

01. Laakso - Worst case scenario
02. TALK 1
03. Superfamily - I want my money back
04. The Bear Quartet - Ask me don't axe me
05. Ståålfågel - Små gröna män
06. TALK 2
07. Printer - Satisfaction (radio edit)
08. NEI - New morning
09. Paper - Out of it into it
10. Darkthrone - Canadian metal
11. TALK 3
12. Sweatmaster - Animal
13. Bloodbath - Buried by the dead
14. Moneybrother - Guess who's gonna get some tonight
15. TALK 4
16. The Perishers - Victorious
17. The Skull Defekts - Unholy drums are singing
18. Hell On Wheels - Alexander
19. TALK 5
20. Karin Ström - Ordlös
21. Kompjotr Eplektrika - Skulldrummantra
22. Scraps of Tape - How your heart gets thrown
23. TALK 6
24. Brainbombs - Stinking memory
25. M:40 - Brännmärkt
26. Logh - Bring on the ether
27. TALK 7
28. CS Nielsen - Happy
29. Amorphis - Weaving the incantation
30. Juvelen - Hanna
31. TALK 8
32. Killerchaps - Equally dumb
33. Dinosau - Derr lady
34. Knugen Faller - Inte som ni
35. TALK 9
36. The Kissaway Trail - La la song
37. Pg.Lost - Yes I am
38. Suburban Kids with Biblical Names - Marry me
39. TALK 10
40. Don Juan Dracula - Take me home

Check out The Colour Black, an all-analog improv duo featuring Johan Gustavsson (Scraps of Tape, Tsukimono) and Henrik G Grevesmühl (Repoman, 8 Days of Nothing): http://www.myspace.com/thecolourblackblackblack

The playlist for this week's radio show on Sirius:

01. TALK 1
02. Fattaru - Stila upp din skit
03. Samuraj Cities - Thxa1000000
04. The Fine Arts Showcase - I don't worry
05. TALK 2
06. Imagine I Had Hands - Captive
07. Scraps of Tape - Pickpockets vow
08. FAP - Jag drar till sjöss en sväng jag
09. TALK 3
10. Hello Saferide - I was definitely made for these times
11. Mainliners - Good storm
12. Breach - Gheeá
13. TALK 4
14. Him Kerosene - Neutrino
15. Familjen - Nu händer det igen
16. Sista Sekunden - D.I.We
17. Nine - Time has come
18. TALK 5
19. Emperor - Towards the pantheon
20. September - Can't get over (Long disco mix)
21. Kornstad - Turkey, Texas
22. TALK 6
23. Camouflage - Syster sol
24. Lolita Pop - Salta diamanter
25. Leather Nun - Gimme gimme gimme
26. TALK 7
27. Superfamily - I could be a real winner
28. Juvelen - Hanna
29. The Book of Daniel - Death caps and moonshine
30. Monkeystrikes - Serial faller in lover
31. TALK 8
32. Torpedo - Hang me high
33. Erik Enocksson - The lingering procession
34. Hederos & Hellberg - No fun
35. TALK 9
36. Death By Kite - Himmelfahrtskommando
37. The Tough Alliance - Something special
38. Seance - Controlled bleeding
39. TALK 10
40. Shout Out Louds - Hard rain

Scraps of Tape is blogging their current tour in Japan: http://sottourdiary.blogspot.com/

Swedish post-rockers Scraps of Tape on tour in Japan:

06/17 - 0-east - Zankyo festival, Tokyo
06/18 - Woopees, Kyoto
06/19 - Crazy Mama2, Okayama
06/20 - Decatant Delax, Fukuoka
06/22 - Drop, Osaka
06/23 - Hellava Rounge, Kobe
06/24 - Rock'n Roll, Nagoya
06/26 - Junk Box, Niigata
06/27 - Hook, Sendai
06/28 - O-nest, Shibuya

Post-rock webzine The Silent Ballet has another new comp posted for free download: http://thesilentballet.com/dnn/Home/tabid/36/ctl/Details/mid/367/ItemID/516/Default.aspx
Featured Scandinavian artists include Scraps of Tape and Pg.Lost.