31/01/2012

Guest Interview n° 34: Jimmy Wahlsteen

Guest Interview n° 34: Jimmy Wahlsteen

Despite the raw winter weather in Scandinavia, the soulful compositions by Stockholm based guitar player Jimmy Wahlsteen make you feel anything but cold. With his sights zeroed in on acoustic, he delivers evocative and innovative tracks that make us – normally lovers of lyrics – forget that there aren’t any, and soaks us up in the sound!

We caught up with Jimmy at the beginning of the new year to talk about his second album All Time High, the recording process, his relationship to fashion and also found out he has his sights set on a Grammy…

First of all; Happy New Year! Any New Year resolutions?
Happy New Year to you too! My only new year resolution is to get back in shape. I haven’t had any time to go to the gym continuously for a while now and I really miss the old me when I see myself in the mirror.

You recently released your second album. Have you done anything differently this time around?
This time I had every song finished before I started recording. I wanted to try everything live before I went into the recording process so I could choose the songs that got the best response from my listeners.
I also moved my studio to my country house where I did most of the acoustic guitar recordings. I then finalized the songs with some new co-producers back in Stockholm. I used the same mixing and mastering people as I did on 181st songs (Jimmy’s first album, editors note) though. It sounds just like I wanted it.

You’re using a playing style called hybrid picking, which means you’re using both a plectrum and fingers in the same time. What does it do for your sound?
The hybrid picking technique enables a very fluid way of playing. It effects my sound in terms of song writing and allows me to bring in some of the rock elements that influenced me a lot when I started playing guitar. It’s not really a deliberate choice to play the way I do. It’s just how I always did it and what brings out the best of my abilities.

Do you ever find it challenging to create music that captures the listener without any lyrics?
Song writing is always challenging and I take it extremely seriously. I wouldn’t say it’s more difficult because it’s instrumental, though. It’s always the matter of catching the listeners ear and do what you do best. If I would have been a lyricist I probably wouldn’t have bothered writing instrumental music. I just focus on what I do best.

You’re one of Sweden’s most booked guitarists and been appearing both on television and on tour with international artists. What’s the biggest difference in touring as an instrumental artist as opposed to with a band?
The differences are quite huge I would say. Being alone on stage is much more demanding and I find it very inspiring. I got to a point in my career where I stopped practicing and played it safe when I toured with artists. Now I practice for hours before every solo show and it has had a very positive effect on the work I do as a session player as well. To communicate directly with the audience is a wonderful experience but it’s also challenging and I realize the enormous press the artists I used to tour with have been under. I’m enjoying music and performing more than ever.

Your ultimate, dream gig?
I always set up new goals. It’s very important to keep developing as a musician. I think I reached my dream gig in November 2011 when I performed before a sold out La Cigale in Paris. Now I need to come up with a new goal. The Grammy Awards perhaps…

When do you feel the most inspired? Can you sit down and decide “today I’m gonna write a song” or is your creative process a bit more erratic?
I’d say it’s pretty random. In hotel rooms I usually manage to combine time and inspiration so that’s where most of my ideas pop up. Very few of the riffs I write makes it to the actual recording session but once I come up with stuff I really like I tend to sit with it for hours just to get it perfect.

You have a YouTube channel (which been awarded the “Most viewed award” by YouTube back in 2009!), a Twitter account and a Facebook page. What are your thoughts on the current social media trend?
I really appreciate that all artists today get the opportunity to be heard. Money isn’t all that counts when it comes to marketing nowadays. It’s more about being devoted to your sound and to be creative enough to attract listeners. YouTube has played a huge role in getting me where I am today.

You’re from Stockholm, the home of many prominent, contemporary designers. How is your relation to fashion?
Stockholm is a good place for shopping if you don’t look at the prices. I used to be pretty thorough about what brands I wore but at the moment I find it more fun to find stuff here and there on the few shopping rounds I do. I try to keep an eye open for cool things to wear and lately it’s been a lot of cardigans and scarfs.

Which was the first song you ever learned to play? Is there any song from your younger years that helped shape your style today?
First song I learned really well on an acoustic was the classic “Streets of London”. One song that really shaped my way of composing is “Feelin’ Groovy” by Simon & Garfunkel. Everything Paul Simon does is just great.

Thank you for your time, Jimmy!
It’s been a pleasure.

Lisa Olsson Hjerpe – Image courtesy of Jimmy Wahlsteen & Candyrat Records

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25/07/2011

The Editorial: Smoking Sex / Tom Vek’s Aroused

The Editorial: Smoking Sex / Tom Vek’s Aroused

Before you read another word of this, watch this video.

Now, don’t you really really want a cigarette now? I’m not generally a smoker, but I weakly went out and bought a pack after I watched it for the first time – it is importantly only the third pack I’ve ever bought. Ever. So just try to imagine the models in this excellent video doing exactly what they’re doing without them: it is unabashedly sexy because of the smoking.


Top Tung Walsh for Pop, Above Juergen Teller for Paradis

Theories about why smoking is so sexy abound. Each one as ridiculous and impossible as the next. “The cigarette is phallic.” (Lesbians think smoking is sexy, too…) “Virile young humans smoke, which has made us over time equate smoking with virile young partners.” (Plenty of fat old humans who don’t get much sex smoke, too…) “Humans had ancient ancestors with long incisors that resemble cigarettes which evolutionarily makes our brains equate cigarettes to long incisors, which equal good mates“ (Yikes. I’d like to meet the storyteller crackpot who came up with that one!) And the list goes on. And on.

Greta Garbo by Cecil Beaton

In any case, this video directed by Saam Farahmand for Tom Vek’s latest single somehow taps into smoking’s sexiness in the most positively provocative way in recent memory. Here smoking is a romp through a garden of pure, unabashed pleasure. Here it is sex. Soma. A journey from arousal to climax. And without diving into the many, many pitfalls of the habit (we know, we know, we know), fashion’s continued flirtation with the act has been unyielding, which might suggest that there is a deep, primordial connection to it after all.

Jolijn Snijders

Think of Cecil Beaton’s famous portrait of a smoking Greta Garbo. And every major fashion photographer from Avedon to Testino to Richardson to Goldin have used it in some capacity quite successfully. Juergen Teller shot vehement smoker and artist (in that order, I think) David Hockney last year. 2DM’s Skye Parrott (a disciple of Goldin), Jolijn Snijders and Bruna Kazinoti – all of whose images are laced with undercurrents of emotional and sexual tension – have each used the cigarette extensively in their imagery to brilliant effect. Tung Walsh (himself a disciple of Teller) and Vicky Trombetta, whose styles are more distant and hard-edged, as well as low-key, polished Nacho Alegre and Pablo Arroyo, have also skilfully made sexy even sexier by handing their models a cigarette or two…

Top Bruna Kazinoti, above Vicky Trombetta for Wonderland

So just as the United States one ups Europe’s screaming text warnings and follows other countries such as Australia in adding gut-wrenching images to cigarette packs, there remains quite the uphill battle. What’s wrong in mainstream society is so, so right – and per in the subversive world fashion. Even if there isn’t anyone among us who doesn’t have a hacking, wrinkly aunt somewhere to remind us by example of smoking’s devastating long-term effects…


Top Jolijn Snijders, above Skye Parrott

But the cancer sticks continue to seduce. And will until continue to do so until their un-sexy consequences become something other than distant, far-off, vague threats on crisply designed packs.

So in any case, be quite sure to augment your sexy with extreme caution. I’m throwing away my still unopened, brand-new pack today. Well, maybe I’ll smoke just one…

Tag Christof – Images courtesy 2DM, Juergen Teller and the estate of Cecil Beaton 

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22/07/2011

The Noisettes in Morocco / Jolijn Snijders

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The Noisettes in Morocco / Jolijn Snijders

2DM’s Jolijn Snijders trekked to Morocco recently to shoot Shingai Shoniwa, lead singer and bassist of London’s The Noisettes, in the north African sunshine for Modzik. The results are punchy, bright and up-close and personal.


Shingai whose incredibly powerful style is infused with a very African brand of flamboyance, has ‘tude by the truckload. Her fans know that she’s quite the amped up performer. And the editorial, called “Black Panther” brings it brilliantly to the surface. (The accompanying interview, for anyone who speaks French, is also a nice read – Shingai even mentions her goal to complete a London-Brigton course on a leopard-print bicycle.)

Styled delightfully by Flora Zoutu. Jolijn’s usual hard-edged beauty shines through… Fashion includes Aurélie Bildermann, Tom Ford Eyewear, Viv Westwood and others. Catch it in the current issue of Modzik (with a track by The Noisettes as a sweet bonus).

Isil Gun & Tag Christof

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28/06/2011

Guest Interview n°29: Jack Skuller

Guest Interview n°29: Jack Skuller

Jack Skuller is on fire. He made waves last year with his toe-tapping, singalong single “Love Is a Drum” and has just followed it up with the every-bit-as-catchy “Secondhand Smoke.” His music is pop in original sense: engaging, approachable and instantly classic. The Ruckus hailed him as the “Anti Bieber,” and he certainly provides refreshing relief from the leagues of overproduced marketing machines that have ruled the international pop airwaves recently. He’s lightyears away, and is a stellar musician first and foremost.

Combined with his addictive rhythms, uncanny knack for songwriting and good looks, we’re convinced Jack’s going big places. 2DM photographer Roberta Ridolfi spent an afternoon with Jack – and they got on famously. With The Blogazine, Jack talked musical style, his favourite album of all time, and life in Jersey.

I hear a modern-day Ritchie Valens in your music… but you’ve been called a mini Jack White! So how would you define your style?
I am simply a rock and roll artist with a 50’s twist. There is a lot of blues incorporated into my writing and melodies and it mixes with modern rock and roll, which is what you are hearing.

And how do you feel about being called the “anti-Bieber”? (We’d feel pretty good about it!)
Well, I never know if it’s good or bad! (Haha) To be honest, I never really focused any of my aspirations on becoming the “anti-Bieber” nor the “next Bieber.” Our music is completely different from one another’s – we’re musically in separate galaxies!


And who do you consider your greatest musical influences?
There are so many that I can’t even name all of them! But some of my biggest influences are definitely Elvis Presley, Eddie Cochran, Little Walter, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and The Kills. A wide range of music I just covered, I know… Some may call me a hybrid!

Dream collaboration?.
A blues covers album with The Black Keys or Jack White.

How do you listen to music? Vinyls? iPod?
Great question! My family owns a lot of vinyl, but I usually use my iPod or my laptop.


What’s your favourite album of all time?
The Beatles’ Revolver

Let us in on your songwriting technique. Does inspiration flow when you sit down with your guitar, or do ideas strike more randomly?
It’s both. Sometimes I’ll think of a melody or a chord progression based on how I’m feeling and then the lyrics just write themselves. Other times, I’ll have an idea and just sit at my desk and go nuts on the paper. Most of my songs come from real experiences.

If you could choose to live in any era, when would it be?
Without a doubt, the 50’s – first generation of rock and roll!

Tell us a little about life in Jersey!
It’s splendid. I’m 10 minutes away from New York City, where most of my gigs are. I love school and my friends are so awesome and supportive.

How do you spend your time when you’re not rocking out?
I’m usually writing, rehearsing, running, playing basketball or baseball, or completing an assignment for school. But I don’t have to do that again for a while since I’m on summer break!!

Tag Christof – Very special thanks to Roberta Ridolfi / 2DM

 

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