Jay-Jay Johanson
Antenna
© 2003 E-Magine
CD IN STOCK. ORDER NOW. Will ship immediately.
Returns to the solo electronic instrumentation of his 1st release, taking the 80's electro dance sound into the new millennium with backbone burning percussion and heart breaking melodies.
tracks
- 1 On the Radio
- 2 Kate
- 3 Cookie
- 4 Deja Vu
- 5 Open Up
- 6 I Want Some Fun
- 7 Automatic Lover
- 8 Wonderful Combat
- 9 1984
- 10 Tomorrow
try this
albums you will love
- DANZIG: Black Aria
- OPERATICA: Volume One
- REEVES GABRELS: Ulysses (Della Notte)
- SAMHAIN: Unholy Passion
- DANZIG: Satan's Child
genres you will love
By Location
Recommended if you like ...
links
notes
According to official Swedish documents Jäje (aka Jay-Jay) Johanson was born in 69' in Sweden and grew up in the small city of Skara. Sweden's national obsession with Abba, his mother's love of Elvis and his father's jazz fixation combined to insure that Jay-Jay grew up totally submerged in music. His father even put speakers in his crib to play him jazz legends like Chet Baker and Scott Walker, but Jay-Jay remained unimpressed in his tiny bed. Being young he loved hard rock. Once out of his cribby confines, at age 5, he sacrificed his piggy bank for a Kiss album. "I found their make-up and costumes very amusing!"
When he started school in Skara at age 7, Jay-Jay was considered to be a significant talent. He mastered the piano, clarinet and saxophone and later even started a punk group with his friends, named "May Tuck" (a French term meaning no mercy). The young punk group worked for comic books and scones. "I was very anti-government then. It was funny to be so radical as a kid."
Already a seasoned punk performer with a serious collection of comics and confections, at 15, Jay-Jay began to explore jazz more seriously. The music from his crib began to resonate; he even played with his father in a jazz concert. The Gene Simons posters on his bedroom wall, were replaced by Chet Baker, (who Jay-Jay referrers to as "The most beautiful male-intonated voice of all time").
At 16, Jay-Jay quit the conservatoire of music where he was enrolled because perfecting scales was not quite as exciting as his own musical exploration of composition, structure and form. Foolishly thinking music might just be a hobby, Jay-Jay began to study architecture and modern art at a college in Stockholm, while he deejayed at local clubs to pay his tuition. Then in 93' he joined a jazz quartette in Stockholm but instantly had some problems, "Their arrangements where so nostalgic and arcane", so using a synthé he rearranged the bands songs in a style more akin to hip-hop than traditional Jazz and he got a great response. Then in 94' he discovered the groundbreaking album "Dummy" by Portishead and he was inspired to take his work to the next level, which led directly to a record deal.
Using only electronic instrumentation and his musical ability, Jay-Jay began to compose and record enough original material for an entire album, which ended up becoming his intoxicating 96' debut release on BMG Sweden titled, "Whiskey". Right out of university Jay-Jay Johanson was a songwriter. "Whiskey" garnered tremendous critical acclaim and established Jay-Jay's unique electronic melancholy, lush melodies and syncopated progressive rhythms. For his 2nd and 3rd releases Jay-Jay went in a totally different direction. He put together a band and crafted tracks with both acoustic and electronic instruments, creating the two albums "Tattoo" and "Poison" which are much more deeply rooted in the organic elements of composition and represent a separate and distinct creative change from the first release, "Whiskey". Each of Jay-Jay's first three records sold over 100,000 copies in Europe, not a bad achievement for a guy who used to play for scones.
France was the first country enchanted by this whispering Swede. His tenuous and unusual voice lay at the core of this emotive new sound, illuminated by his subtle arrangements and fluid beats. Jay-Jay proved himself to be an irresistible songwriter and composer. The word spread and soon Europe, North America & South America knew the name Jay-Jay. One of his songs has already been used on the Showtime hit series "Queer as Folk" and the single "Automatic Lover" will be featured on national TV, in the new 2(x)ist men's wear commercial, which will air in February.