Prolific IAT.MP3 artist Tsukimono has a new release on Structures Sonores imprint Personal Work entitled "Red, red wine". Go here for more info plus video footage from his performance in GBG this past weekend: http://elefanten.blogspot.com/2007/12/today-was-good-day.html

IAT.MP3 artist Tsukimono has posted the track "Hat out of bell" from his out-of-print CDR "Please" up on myspace for free download: http://www.myspace.com/tsukimonoswe

Prolific IAT.MP3 artist Tsukimono has a new cassette out now on excellent GBG-based label Release the Bats! Go here for details: http://www.releasethebats.com/rtb.html

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

The playlist for this week's radio show:

01. Timo Räisänen - My valentine
02. TALK 1
03. Torpedo - From Russia with love
04. Desert Planet - Breakout button
05. Ebba Grön - Mamma pappa barn
06. TALK 2
07. The End Will Be Kicks - Don Johnson
08. Skywriter - Where both worlds never meet
09. Skull Defekts - The secret
10. TALK 3
11. Tsukimono - Tokyo OEast
12. Kristin Asbjørnsen - Trying to get home
13. Enemy Alliance - Government subsidized ghetto
14. TALK 4
15. The Indecision Alarm - Where every fucking dream is killed
16. Dismember - Soon to be dead
17. Mixtapes & Cellmates - Moments
18. TALK 5
19. Kristofer Åström - All in
20. Pan Sonic - Virta 1
21. Ulver - Of wolf and fear
22. TALK 6
23. Mainliners - Olivia
24. 120 Days - Let me come down
25. Universal Poplab - 60 is the new 40
26. TALK 7
27. Dag Vag - Popitop
28. The Bombettes - Lust is the new black
29. Breach - Big strong boss
30. TALK 8
31. CS Nielsen - Black spots
32. Tape - Sand dunes
33. The Psyke Project - For us to see for us to help
34. TALK 9
35. Cortex - Shark boys die hard
36. Viola - I don't know how to party
37. Don't Be A Stranger - Lonely together
38. TALK 10
39. Broder Daniel - What clowns are we

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 all-GBG radio show:

01. Maia Hirasawa - Gothenburg
02. TALK 1
03. Hemstad - Sommar i Göteborg
04. Division of Laura Lee - We are numbers
05. Håkan Hellström - Kom igen Lena!
06. TALK 2
07. In Flames - Everything counts
08. Pistol Disco - Walking with Jesus
09. Viktor Sjöberg - W/nothing
10. TALK 3
11. Kristofer Åström - Just a little insane
12. The Knife - Listen now
13. Broder Daniel - Dark heart
14. TALK 4
15. Samuraj Cities - All along the shoreline
16. MPTP - Jim Morrison
17. At the Gates - Cold
18. TALK 5
19. The Book of Daniel - The camels parade
20. Silverbullit - Magnetic city
21. The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Nevermore
22. TALK 6
23. Nicolai Dunger - What tomorrow
24. The Kid - Portion control (Fatsuit haze/Zlatan wins the World Cup remix)
25. The Idealist - The knives are my eyes
26. C.Aarmé - Visions
27. TALK 7
28. Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - I could have sworn I heard them SING
29. Junip - Official
30. Diabolique - Catholic
31. TALK 8
32. Convoj - My timekeeping heart
33. Tsukimono - Dear sister
34. Eric Beyond - Step off
35. TALK 9
36. Björn Kleinhenz - Out of style
37. Detektivbyrån - E18
38. TALK 10
39. Bad Cash Quartet - Too bored to die

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

Tsukimono
Time canvas
Kning Disk

Limited to one hundred CDR copies, "Time canvas" is an admitted step away from Johan Gustavsson's previous work under the moniker Tsukimono. Moving from the far more complex arrangements on album "Née", Gustavsson has stripped down his compositions to focus on fewer and more organic elements and the limits of their range and capabilities. The results are long, thoughtful, and beautiful works, the shortest being over eight minutes in length. As with the far darker Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, the beauty here is in the delicate layering and subtle progression of the songs, which can admittedly take quite a while and might frustrate some listeners. "Time canvas" is structured upon the arrangement of sparse samples of instruments, a soundtrack that neither cast shadows nor illuminates, and one that rewards its listeners' patience.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson

Hey look! New in the webstore: Tsukimono's new album "Time canvas" plus the new Mixtapes & Cellmates EP collection "A retrospective". Awesome!

Last night's Sirius Blog Radio playlist:

01. Superfamily - The radio has expressed concerns about what you did last night
02. TALK 1
03. Asha Ali - These months
04. Boys of Scandinavia - Why do you love me? (radio edit)
05. Promoe - Headache
06. TALK 2
07. Closer - Sensing the wake
08. The Bear Quartet - Mom and dad
09. TALK 3
10. Kristofer Åström - Just a little insane
11. Familjen - Kom säger dom
12. Pavan - The bird
13. TALK 4
14. Kazakstan - Song to the past
15. Universal Poplab - Vampire in you
16. TALK 5
17. Scraps of Tape - Death as it should be
18. ARM - Drving by accident
19. The Idealist - The knives are my eyes
20. TALK 6
21. Tsukimono - Gathering heavy breathing
22. Pimentola - Wish upon a fallen star
23. Plain Fade - Uliaan leski
24. TALK 7
25. The Skull Defekts - Six six for eyes
26. Logh - Into the night
27. TALK 8
28. Aerial - You will all die, all things will
29. Tobias Hellkvist - Moment at ven
30. Audrey - Views
31. TALK 9
32. Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words - Ashen like the sky

MP3: The Bear Quartet - Portrait painter

This week's Bear Quartet post comes courtesy of Johan Gustavsson. Johan plays in a shit-ton of various bands including Scraps of Tape, Tsukimono, Alina and Conduo Orchestra to name a few. SoT just released the excellent album "This is a copy is this a copy" and is on tour as we speak. Alina and Tsukimono have new records on the way, as do a few of the other projects he's involved in. Needless to say, he's a busy guy, but somehow to found time to reminisce on the mighty BQ:

"Gay icon" was the first BQ album I ever listened to as a whole and by my own will.
Up until then, my brother David used to play BQ to me once in a while, proclaiming that they were/are the best Swedish band ever and so on... I have infinite trust in David's musical knowledge and taste, so after a while I bought "Gay icon" and when "Portrait painter" came on I was blown to pieces. The lyrics just make me shudder and wipe a tear every time... thank you.

"Gay icon" was my first Bear Quartet album, too. Download "Portrait painter" below.

The Bear Quartet - Portrait painter

The new Tsukimono album "Time canvas" has been confirmed for a March 15 release via Kning Disc. Artwork, tracklist and more details: http://www.kningdisk.com/02_releases_kd030.asp?id=335

Hockey Rawk will be releasing a noise comp cassette in late March/early April featuring cuts from the likes of Olle Oljud, Fröya, D. Karlsson, T. Karlsson, Tsukimono, Ourrefusalisourweaponlet'sfight, Idiomdrottning, Henrik Kihlberg and others. Also on the way from the label/art group is a CDR of an elderly man named Gert telling stories in Swedish, playing a bit of accordion and synthesizer and singing. More details to come.

Tsukimono
Née
Kalligrammofon

Johan Gustavsson is young, at only 23, but his music, under the name of Tsukimono, seems much more mature. The feel of the album is always out of step - awkward and dysfunctional, but strangely beautiful at the same time. Fragments of each track are picked up throughout the album, which links the tracks with a classic ambient narrative. For instance, a backdrop of torrential rain is returned to, as is the same shadowy, heartfelt piano. Melodies are often repeated with subtle changes to the general sound and feel of the instruments. This leads to a lack of memorable, standout tracks, rather a combination of tracks that should be listened to as a whole. It took a lot of time for me to really appreciate "Née" as it is so jumbled, but it gradually becomes easier to follow and easier to enjoy. The acoustic element to Gustavsson's music earns him a reference to Four Tet - who some would say is a more experienced artist, but both produce work that is descriptive and visual. With a 'sister-album' entitled "Heart attack money", I'm looking forward to hearing more from Tsukimono.
- Jude Ainsworth