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Jay-Jay Johanson (Sweden)
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October 15, 22:00
Luch Bar 
Jay-Jay Johanson (born 1969) is a Swedish musician and singer-songwriter, best known for his easily recognizable melancolic vocals and deep lyrics. His music has been generally considered to integrate the trip-hop genre until he deliberately switched his sound to a more electroclash-oriented direction with the 2003 release "Antenna", which featured one of his best known hits, "On The Radio". In 2007, Jay-Jay released "The Long Term Physical Effects Are Not Yet Known" and in January 2008 he released "Self-Portrait. 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 the 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").
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".
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.
In his fourth album "Antenna" Johanson realized the power of dance music. So, he turned up the beats-per-minute on his own songs. Blending the pop disco tracks with the broken beats and adding a rock guitar, Jay-Jay showed the masterful songwriting.
In 2007, he released the album "The Long Term Physical Effects Are Not Yet Known"and succeeded again. His mellow voice with the loungelike music made this record a "must have" in everyone's music collection. The most popular songs from this album are "She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore" and "Rocks In Pocket".
Having finished “The Long Term Tour”, Jay-Jay started working on the next album. Probably, he was much inspired by his child's birth... “Self-Portrait” contains as much Jay-Jay’s personal feelings as possible for an artists revealing his soul to the audience. The album promises to surprise even the most devoted fans. This work is a compilation of all the experience Jay-Jay has obtained over these years. It is a musical biography of the vulnerable, unconventional man who brought romance and decadence back to music. Tonight Jay-Jay performs three new compositions and a specially prepared DJ set.
More info
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