Dream Radio
The solo project/one man band DREAM RADIO is finally launched! On April 27 2018, the first of several digital releases became available on Spotify, Apple Music etc. It's called We let go, and consists of a bunch of old cinematic songs written over the past eight years (but, with a few exceptions, previously unreleased on the major streaming sites), as well as a brand new tune - the title track We let go.
Dream Radio is also my solo guitar act, which I'm planning to perform a lot with in the near future. That music is based around the guitar and involves a lot of live looping, minimalistic soundscapes and melodic improvisations. But the live act also incorporates some of the ambient/cinematic music I write, to serve as backgrounds and ideas for improvisation and interpretations. Stay tuned for gig updates, and have a listen to the album here:
SANDSTRÖM/KARLSSON/STRAUTMANIS/RENMAN
Ola Sandström - vocals
Mikael Karlsson - electric guitar & loops
Anja Strautmanis - cello
Johan Renman - vibraphone
This quartet was put together to play new arrangements of Allan Pettersson's Barfota songs, a dream project of mine that I have been wanting to do for several years. I first started playing with Anja and Johan in a free-form trio formed in the early 2010's, and I knew I wanted those two to be part of this project. But it took quite some time to find the right singer for this music. Then, at a gig in 2013 I met Ola for the first time. He and I immediately realized that we shared many views on music and music-making, and most importantly, a deep appreciation of these songs. The missing piece of the puzzle was finally found. So in early 2014 I started writing arrangements on a few of the songs from the cycle. We did our first gig last January, and in September we recorded an album called "Mest ibland tistlar", which was released on May 29th on Tröstlösa Records. A special release event will be held at Olympiateatern (see Tour page for tickets and more info). The first promotion single, Herren går på ängen, and an album preview are available on Soundcloud. Better yet: go check out the whole album here!
AVESKOGH/KARLSSON
Johanna Aveskogh - vocals
Mikael Karlsson - guitar
This duo has had two distinctly different incarnations over the years. We first started out under the name "Hoppet/Trösten", in which we played unorthodox arrangements of old Swedish folk songs and schlager melodies. Our (first) version of Jag har bott vid en landsväg serves as a good example of the kind of thing we were aiming for.
For the last couple of years we have been doing more of a jazz duo type setting, inspired by famous duos such as the one of Ella Fitzgerald & Joe Pass. Our current repertoire is based on songs from the works of Swedish comedian duo Hasse & Tage, as well as old evergreens such as Säg det i toner and Sång om syrsor. These tunes make up a musical program called "Från landsvägar till förortstorg". Rågsved is one of our favorite songs from the program.
NEJRA
Nejra - vocals, piano and keyboards
Mikael Karlsson - electric and acoustic guitars
Jonatan Tjäder - electric bass
John Bergstrand - drums, percussion
I have known Nejra for close to 20 years now, and I have had the great privilege of playing with her for a good fifteen of those. At first I played in a local Örebro band called Coy, in which Nejra was the main songwriter, bandleader and producer. When Coy disbanded, I continued playing with Nejra's new solo project under her own name. We played a bunch of gigs all over Sweden, as well as a few TV and radio broadcasts, between 2006-2011. The first single Headstrong came out in 2007, followed by the full length album In Hindsight in 2009. In 2011 the EP Commonplace Heroes was released, along with the single Stay for a while.
THYSELIUS
Kalle Thyselius - lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Anna Fogel - backing vocals, percussion
Daniel Israelsson - keyboards
Mikael Karlsson - electric guitars
Jonatan Tjäder - electric bass
Olle Prim - drums, percussion
Proud member of this band for the past seven years. In 2009 we released the single Waiting for your call, and shortly after that the full length album Crashing Towards Daylight. This was followed by the single How we roll, released in 2010. Two more singles, The Answer and Driving in your town, including several versions of each song, came out in 2011. The latest album, Alonium, saw the light of day in 2013. Below is a live version of There were times, taken from "Live from South Village Field", as well as a live version of Disappear, from an as yet unreleased live DVD.