Your Son-Shine

new home

2009-03-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

http://timecanvas.wordpress.com/

/j

New Album, New split-Cassette+ Live Videos

2008-12-07T04:41:00.000-08:00

Hey folks,

this past 6 months have been spent writing, playing and working as hard as I can. There's been alot of great times and alot of horrible, exhausting times but this year is closing it's door on us and that feels alright.

Thought I'd post some info on the new release "Great Blood", out now on Hwem.

Lst time I checked, there weren't any info on the release up yet on the page but I assure you, it's released...I've seen it with my own two eyes.

Tracklist for "Great Blood"

1. Burntitled
2. Part Animale
3. Waltzing Sara
4. Sticking To What Guns
5. Snake Eyes Watching You
6. Left Eyed
7. Evacuation Fee
8. Great Blood

I've also been playing a few live-shows lately. Two shows at Röda Sten in Gothenburg, one at Sugar Bar in Stockholm (the releaseparty for great blood) and one at Noiseclub in Jönköping. There's some footage available on youtube and belowfrom some of the shows.

There's also a split-livecassette out on klorofyll tapes, I think. Well it's out there, can't find any info on it anywhere myself. Might be available through Release The Bats. Have a look, I'm not sure.

Gothenburg:

Jönköping:

All footage by David Sjöberg. It's pretty dark but you get to hear pretty ok what's happening. All loops and acoustic/electronic instruments.

/j

the long silence

2008-08-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

Hey. I guess noone reads here very often since I'm real slow on the updates, but I thought I'd publish something anyhooo...

This year has been spent partly on the road, partly with my nose in books and mainly w/ my head wrapped around various other projects than tsukimono. There's still some releases coming, the "Heart Attack Money"-fullength (long in the making but very soon finished) and a 2X12" version of "Time Canvas" + perhaps some other stuff too...we'll see when we get there.

(KAAAPTEEENN!!!)
We're heading into the studio with Scraps Of Tape to record our yet untitled third fullength in 2 weeks. We're recording with the good ol' captain Oldén who made us sound alright on "This Is A Copy Is This A Copy". 2 weeks with fighting, arguing, creating, sleeping and drinking is expected. Various things this coming week will probably make alot of difference to what the hell this will amount to.
We played at the Festival L*Abore in Hauptmannsgrün last weekend and it was awesome to play, less awesome to hang around all day and not being informed that our show-time was pushed forward about 1 1/2 hour or something. Also less awesome was to miss Audrey live since we soundchecked at that time. But all in all, a great weekend.

(I'm the 2nd drummer and the 1st guitar)
Also played in Malmö for (basically) the first time in about 2 years, at an excellent It's A Trap clubnight, together with the great Last Days Of April. There was tons of people there and we had one of the greatest evenings in the history of the band in my opinion.

(Drunken Scraps Of Tape Logo Light Painting)

(we're real bad-asses...)
We have a ep coming out on MSR productions w/ my punk/hardcore-band The Eight Arms Around You later this year, and possibly a fullength somewhere along the line too. We've been writing alot of new stuff since the recording of the ep and frankly, the new stuff is eons better than the ep but that's the way it is...the new stuff rules. Listen to some of the ep on myspace.

A bunch of other stuff awaits. Neil Young live, Sonic Youth Live, The Sonics Live, Flaming Lips and more more more...

I hope thing's will look up soon, shit's heavy right now.

oh and I cut my beard of. I miss it.

love+fire
j

2 New Releases!

2007-12-12T03:15:00.000-08:00

December began and I did a gig at galleri BellmanLarssonLindströmNord here in Gothenburg together with the amazing Olle Huge, who provided fantastic visuals.

Be sure to check out his amazing works!

This was part of BellmanLarssonLindströmNord's annual "living christmas calendar", and
this was the 4th year in a row (I think) they arranged this. An amazing feat in a month
that already is the most busy month of the whole year.

There is a videodocumentation here, which also is a promo for one of the two new releases that came out that day.

And here´s a longer version that focuses on the performance.

Red, Red Wine
Uploaded by structuressonores

Here they both are:

Tsukimono - Red Red Wine

Structures Sonores: Personal Work.

Personal Work#1: Tsukimono - "Red, red wine" (Box set including 3" CD, postcard, essay, wine glass and bottle of red wine.)

You can buy your own copy through viktorsjoberg at gmail dot com.

This box has been a little dream of mine and Viktor's for alittle while now and I'm just so grateful that it finally happened. Thank you viktor!!

Tsukimono - "Imagine The Composer"

Tsukimono is Johan Gustavsson and is also a member of Scraps Of Tape, Alina and many more. As Tsukimono he has released zillions of records, and Hockey Rawk is proud to release "Imagine The Composer". It is a much harsher and heavier side to Tsukimono. It has previously been released as a MP3-only release, but now it's avaliable as a CD. The
record contains six songs that sounds like heavy grey rain, sleeping on a moving train and dreaming in a pipe. As an extra bonus you will get a poster with two collages by the nice people at Hockey Rawk.

Tracklist: 1.Psaltars 2.Smoke Sings 3.Whitened 4.Hawkeyed 5.Ending Received 6.Voice Follows Voice

You can get a hold of a copy through the friendly people at hockey-rawk!

I.T.C has been sitting around ready for quite a while now and it's awesome to finally have it released. And Hockey-Rawk has been one of the most interesting little labels/collectives operating in Sweden the last couple of years and I'm super-proud to have my album out on H-R!

Be sure to check out the rest of the Hockey-Rawk releases. It's amazing stuff!!

Happy holidays everyone. All love.
/j

November Reign

2007-11-22T12:26:00.000-08:00

Been reading alot lately, getting some "books-I-must-read" crossed of my list like "Heart Of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad, "Doctor Glas" by Hjalmar Söderberg and "Gentlemen" and "Gangsters" by Klas Östergren.
I've also been rereading "A day in the life of Ivan Denisovitj" by Aleksandr Solzjenitsyn, Noise Water Meat by Douglas Kahn, "Treasure Island", "Moby Dick", "Typee" and "Billy Budd" by Herman Melville amongst others...but most of all I've been soaking in the amazing works of Fritiof Nilsson Piraten.

Born Nils Fritiof Adam Nilsson, on the 4th of december 1895 in Vollsjö in the south of Sweden, he were to become known as "Skrönans mästare" ("the Master of tall stories") and is most famous for his debut "Bombi Bitt and Me". I'm not sure if he ever was translated to any other language.

His stories have an amazing style to them and I get thrown years back into my childhood while reading them, even though it's quite before my time. I used to listen to an audiobook recording of Hans Alfredsson reading Bombi Bitt on cassette alot when I was small and I recently realised that alot of phrases and words that I use come from these tapes and stories.

On his gravestone it is printed: "Här under är askan av en man som hade vanan att skjuta allt till morgondagen. Dock bättrades han på sitt yttersta och dog verkligen den 31 januari 1972."

Basically: "Here lies the ashes of a man who had a habit of leaving everything to the next day. Though upon his death bed he reformed and DID die on the 31th of January 1972.)

The translation ins't 100% but fair enough.

Well, if you're interested in hearing or reading these stories you can find them over at www.thepiratebay.org

I warmly recommend it!

I also sent a few masters away for pressing the last couple of weeks. 2 fullengths and a 7" is in the making. More on that later.

This dude is back in town. God Bless.

"Bat Heads Roll" - Cassette Tape

2007-10-17T07:04:00.000-07:00

Hello.
I've released my first tape as tsukimono, on one of the most astounding and interesting swedish labels at the moment RELEASE THE BATS. It's A-side is a live-recording of a gig
I did at the RTB-Headquarters earlier this summer, and the B-side is a analogue synth/drone/noise-piece also recorded this year that I'm pretty fond of.
Enjoy.
/johan

TSUKIMONO - BAT HEADS ROLL TAPE
Tsukimono is the moniker of Johan Gustavsson, originally from the southern parts of Sweden but now residing in Gothenburg. Bat Heads Roll consists of two completely different pieces. The A-side is a live recording of a event that took place in the RTB livingroom 31/8-2007. We celebrated the last day of the summer and Tsukimono played a beautiful set in front of a crowd of maybe 25 people. Mainly driven by an analogue synth, Tsukimono used his whole palette and created something truly amazing this evening. Everything ends with a bang, and the last minute or so was unfortunately not caught on tape (play it LOUD and the abrupt ending will serve as a release from the harsh and abrassive last minute). A 28 minute journey into the realms of punk ambience and the eclectic Gothenburg scene of 2007. The B-side consists of a 19 minute long piece recorded the first week in October, monotonous and heavy synth drone and very different from the live recording in many ways. Fans of acts like Hive Mind and Emaciator should enjoy this. Limited to 50 tapes, screenprinted covers with artwork by Martin Helge. Pick this up and be sure to check out Tsukimonos other fine releases on labels such as Kallligrammofon and Kning Disk.

Side A: Bat Heads Roll at RTB (27:56)
Side B: Cloudness (19:08)

PRESSING INFO!
50 tapes made.

VAN VENUE HOTEL

2007-09-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

Van Venue Hotel (The Scrum Diaries)
Recorded wile on tour with Scraps of Tape using a Macbook Pro, a Zoom H4, Reaktor 5 & Sound Studio.
All sounds recorded or created in Japan between 17th and 28th of June 2007.
Dedicated to Sara Winther, Brandon, Brian & Mike, Kono, Marcus, Micke, Kenta & Harry Krook. Thanks to Avi.
www.myspace.com/tsukimonoswe

Tracklist:
01. Osaka drop
02. Nagoya rocknroll
03. Tokyo OEast
04. Kyoto whoopees

A little something I recorded in Japan while on tour with scraps of tape is being released on the fabulous It's A Trap website.

Go get it for free here.

"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"

It's been a bad week. Sick since monday. I hope you all are well.
/johan

The Scrum Diaries!

2007-09-03T13:07:00.000-07:00

Finally time for a update!! (If anyone still is checking this blog that is...)

I've had a few months off. Went off into the woods true hippiestyle and kept out of everyones way...recorded some music and worked my last weeks at my old job.
Most of the time I hung out with this awesome lady (Inka):

And the rest of the time I hung out with this madame terror:

I took care of horses, cows, cats and myself...not much else to report there.

Moved for real to Gothenburg, started my new job as a bookbinder and here I am.
It feels good to be settling down some and I hope I can keep the gypsy in me tied down.

I've been doing quite a bit of playing live the last couple of weeks...did a double-set evening at the lovely Café Publik as Tsukimono a few weeks back:

Then I played the Malmö-festival opening for FM3 (great to see them again and to get me a third buddha machine).
Here's my gear all set up and ready to blast out the jams:

And then just the other night I had the fantastic honor to play at Release The Bats-headquarters:

There was a recording made and it just might find it's way onto here as a free download...we'll see!

I also had the honour to play drums with mr Viktor Sjöberg at Café Publik...there's a short video of that occasion here

There's a new Tsukimono-Ep entitled "Van Venue Hotel" coming asap over at It's a Trap recorded in the van and at the venues and in the hotels (ain't I just awesome when it comes to coming up with clever titles eh?) during the Japan-tour we did with Scraps Of Tape in June.

Also another self-released cd-r entitled "Smilence" is in the making, it'll be really nice when it's done. The "Red Red Wine" wineglass/cd-r will also soon be out on structures sonores...more on that when due.

We are also about to release our first release with The Colour Black, my collab with G from Repoman/DBHG/ex-8 Days Of Nothing/Ex-Skull Defekts. This will be a really really geeky and nice release...also more on that later!

Tomorrow a new band will see the light of day as I'm hooking up with (amongst others) Mattan from the amazing SMACKDOWN to kick out some nice punkrock!! really looking forward to it!!!

The new Scraps Of Tape album is in the making (writing songs) and it will be produced by Mathias Oldén of Logh-fame just as "TIACITAC" was...it'll be great to work with Kapten again.

Also some sad news: Recently I lost 80% of all the work I've done the last 2 years...3 new albums with tsuki and all the artwork for our latest scraps of tape cd "This Is A Copy Is This A Copy" amongst ALOT more stuff...there's still a slim chance I might be getting it back but right now it seems a little fucked.

There will definitly be more updates coming this fall so keep your eyes open!!

Much love to everyone!
/johan

Slow on the updates....

2007-06-22T20:18:00.000-07:00

Hey.

I'm in Japan, on tour with my band Scraps Of Tape. I know the last few months haven't been that hot on updates but here goes.

Released "Time Canvas" on Kning Disk and sofar only one review, and that one in Göteborgs Posten(In Swedish):

TSUKIMONO
(Kning Disk)

Johan Gustavsson är kanske mest känd som gitarrist och sångare i postrockbandet Scraps Of Tape. Musiken han skapar på egen hand under namnet Tsukimono är mycket bättre. Förra året släpptes lovande albumet Née och på Time canvas lånar han ett begrepp av kompositören Morton Feldman, minskar antalet ljudkällor, och bygger till exempel en 20 minuter lång droneaxel av ett stycke cellomusik. Han använder även klarinett och trumpet som grundstenar. Tidsaspekten vittrar bort i de fem låtarna som sluter sig och öppnas, insuper ny luft och andas i långsamma rörelser.

PM Jönsson

It's a kinda wierd review, a good one, but the comment about this being better that scraps was kinda uncalled for. Thanks anyway PM Jönsson, I'm very happy that you like it!

So, as I said we're on tour in Japan and it's ALL good. We've done 5 shows thisfar and we're trying to keep a tou diary but time is hard to find. Check it out anyway: www.sottourdiary.blogspot.com

Things are still moving. A few new albums ready actually, If you are interested in hearing and perhaps releasing some of it, let me know: timecanvas@gmail.com

That's it for now!

/johan

Scraps Of Tour-diary!

2007-03-22T12:33:00.001-07:00

We've started a tourdiary with Scraps Of Tape, check in and look what's going on.
We'll try to update it as often as possible with pics and thoughts and whatnot...

Go HERE

Scraps Of Tour-diary!

2007-03-22T12:33:00.000-07:00

We've started a tourdiary with Scraps Of Tape, check in and look what's going on.
We'll try to update it as often as possible with pics and thoughts and whatnot...

Go HERE

TOUR...finally!!!

2007-03-16T06:40:00.000-07:00

It's soon been almost 11 months since we last hit the road with my band Scraps Of Tape and finally we're off again. Next wednesday we leave for what will be our longest tour ever and it feels great.
I hope you will take some time to come and see us play, I just might do some tsukimono-gigs also if there is time and possibility.

So if I'm not too quick to reply mails and stuff, this is why...

See you on the road. Take Care!
/johan

TIME CANVAS

2007-03-08T01:05:00.000-08:00

Finally my "Time Canvas" album will be released. It's been sitting finished in my archives since a while back now, just waiting to be released and now it's time.

Keep a lookout at Kning Disk for the releasedate.

Tsukimono
Time Canvas

cd-r (Limited edition of 100 copies)
Release date: March 15, 2007
Price: 11 eur / 100 sek
Order from: info@kningdisk.com

01. Blown away
02. Train home, home
03. Cello
04. Growing like a cancer within
05. When I vibrate it hard

INFO:
Tsukimono is a japanese sounding moniker used by Swedish artist Johan Gustavsson. Gustavsson has been releasing music as Tsukimono since
2002, a fact that might come as a surprise considering his impressive discography. Johan Gustavsson has through his releases on labels such as Garmonbozia and Fukk God Let's Create established himself as an artist continuously moving forward, using a wide range of techniques
such as computer processing, mixing desk feedback and the astonishing guitar work that listeners has come to associate with Tsukimono.

His debut album "Née", released in 2006 by Swedish label Kalligrammofon, displayed the work of an artist that had refined his craft and defined his own universe trough picking up on all the leads that previous releases had hinted at.

Gustavsson has never been one to stay in the same place for very long and his latest offering, "Time Canvas", proves that he is determined
to keep moving. Morton Feldman called his own score-sheet a time canvas. This specific canvas was painted with long, sparse brush strokes. With each track built from samples of one specific
instrument, Gustavsson layers cello, clarinet and trumpet building an organic structure using electronic means. Incredible beauty.

/Viktor Sjöberg

"Time Canvas" was a big step in my development as a (solo-)musician.
Up until this recording my music as tsukimono had been steeped in vst-effects & plugins, and I was quickly tiring of it. I decided to strip my computer of almost
everything except a simple sampling/sequencing program and started working on a few
new pieces where I zoomed in on a single instrument/soundsource to see
what I could get out of it using only raw, untreated samples (save some pitchshifting). During this time I was spending up to 2 hours or more each day commuting between home & school and the breathers I got while on the trains proved a perfect time to work on this new music. To shut out all the everyday noise and stress and to focus solely on these samples/pieces made me feel calm and soothed.
Thanks to the people who's "playing" on the album, Emelie Molin, Kristofer Ström and Erik Levander. Thanks for lending your breath and time.
/Johan Gustavsson

More Nice Words+More Music+More Acktion

2007-03-06T02:02:00.000-08:00

Scraps Of Tape has been getting some really nice attention over at the excellent webzine The Silent Ballet.

Our new album "This is a copy..." was chosen release of the month and there's also a really nice review.

In a few hours me and fellow kalligrammofon-champions Viktor Sjöberg & Gustav Rosengren will sit our asses down in my trusty old car, crank up Hex Enduction Hour and rip down to Malmö were we will perform with Alina today. Also playing is the excellent Ill Ease which I had the pleasure of seeing last saturday. Awesome show and for once real happiness and connection between performer and crowd. Looking forward to it alot!!!

Also been producing some new material for the second FIELD HOLLER-cdr this year(the first being "Please"), and this will see the light of day as soon as I have enough material and feel that it should be out.

My "Imagine The Composer" release (which has been delayed again due to various circumstances) will be released on cd-r with a brand new cover by the good people over at Hockey-Rawk later this spring.
A track from this release will also appear on a new noise-compilation cassette also released by H-R and I'm also appearing on it with my band Ourrefusalisourweaponlet'sfight.

More info on all that later but go over there right now and have a look at their awesome collages and other releases.

Scraps Of Tape Reviews...

2007-02-14T02:49:00.000-08:00

The first reviews of our new Scraps Of Tape Album "This Is A Copy Is This A Copy"
has popped up.
There's a great one over at Aversion Online:
http://www.aversionline.com/blahg/2007/02/13/scraps-of-tape-this-is-a-copy-is-this-a-copy-cd/

And one swedish at Tidningen Kulturen(This is in swedish):
http://www.tidningenkulturen.se/content/view/1354/28/

Thanks for the nice reviews!

Releaseparty at Inkonst, Malmö on February 28th. Be There!

ALIVE ACKTION+CD-R MAGICK

2007-01-26T02:08:00.000-08:00

This Sunday I'll be performing live at Metro in Malmö as Tsukimono.
Also playing is that always brightest shining star, Viktor Sjöberg.

I've also got a new limited cd-r up for grabs, which was recorded during preparations for this show.
It's entitled "Please" and contains three tracks of blistering drone-beauty.

TSUKIMONO - PLEASE (2007)
Tracklist:
1. Beating wings
2. Field Holler
3. Hat Out Of Bell

28.6 Minutes

To order a copy just send me an e-mail: timecanvas ( at ) gmail.com

The show is free for all so there's really no excuse to not go. See you there.

First GREAT news of 2007

2007-01-03T05:47:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been getting a bit slow when it comes to keeping up with
what's happening with some of my favourite bands lately (the new tragedy-lp for example),
so it was with great happiness I found out that DO MAKE SAY THINK has a new album coming
out on february 12th! It's entitled "You, You're A History In Rust" and according to Constellation
it consists of...
"...acoustic fingerpicked guitars are the recurring compositional anchor, with drums and percussion fluttering around these campfire themes while horns and electric guitars gather in swarms. The songs on You, You’re A History In Rust develop like moths drawn to a flame, instruments tracing erratic circles around a flickering, elusive centre."

It also features a song wich "...features full-on verse-chorus-verse singing that builds towards lovely massed vocals before breaking down again into a beautiful modal horn denouement. "

I'm really looking forward to getting a hold of this as it most certainly will continue to prove DMST as one of my absolute favourite bands.

tracklist for "You, You're A History In Rust"

1. Bound To Be That Way
2. A With Living
3. The Universe!
4. A Tender History In Rust
5. Herstory Of Glory
6. You, You’re Awesome
7. Executioner Blues
8. In Mind

End to end all ends

2006-12-30T03:45:00.000-08:00

2006 R.I.P

Here's a list of my 2006. Not only things that came out in 2006 but what's been my 2006.

ALLTIME BEST:
Sara Winther LOVER & BEST FRIEND (never thought I'd meet someone that's so like me as you are)

Records :
Scraps Of Tape "This Is A Copy Is This A Copy" (since it's been my main focus most of the year)
Once We Were "Contra"
Converge "No Heroes"
Mogwai "Mr.Beast"
Sista Sekunden "s/t"
John Coltrane "Traneing In"
Tragedy "Vengeance"
Viktor Sjöberg "On A Winter's Day"
Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words "Fall, Fall, Falling"
Bob Dylan "Highway 61 Revisited"
Stephan Mathieu "The Sad Mac"
Cursed "Two"
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds "No More Shall We Part"

Movies/Series:
A bunch of old Samurai-movies that a dear friend of mine sent me, thank you chris!
The League Of Gentlemen Box
Lost
Lords Of Dogtown/Dogtown & Z-Boys
Amplify2002: Balance Box Set Dvd

Shows/Performances:
William Basinski@iDEAL-Festival
Once We Were@Nefertiti
Earth@iDEAL-Festival
Fm3@Valand
Alina@På Besök
Sista Sekunden@varsomhelst

Honorable mentions:
David Sjöberg BROTHER
Kristofer Ström GENIOUS
Douglas Holmquist GENIOUS
Gustav Rosengren KALLIGRAMMOFON
Jonas Lindgren GLITCHPUNKYOUTH
Martin Lundmark TENDERVERSION
Frans Gillberg, Maximilian Moulettes, KOMPLOTT
Maxim Shubski ARTERIJA
Joachim Nordwall iDEAL
Mattias Nilsson KNING DISK
FULL PULL FESTIVAL ORGANIZERS
RUNDGÅNG, Malmö
PANIK, Gbg (r.i.p)

Last but not least all of you guys organizing shows I've played and things I've been part of. It's been an amazing year.
Thank you all.
/johan

p.s Of course I've forgotten to mention loads of things but hey, I'm getting old. d.s

See You In 2007!

christmas

2006-12-20T09:38:00.000-08:00

Hey...

the release of "IMAGINE THE COMPOSER" has been delayed
due to ploblems during mastering, but it should see the light of day
within the next few weeks, perhaps early 2007.

Look out for a few new releases during 2007. I'll try to make it a good one,
even though it'll be a busy year as it is already.

Happy holidays everyone.

/j

Imagine the Composer

2006-11-22T02:37:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone.

Decided to let "Here's your precious guitar!" stay hidden and let a new one rip instead.
The last couple of days I recorded some new stuff and assembled some old stuff into this:

"IMAGINE THE COMPOSER"

33 minutes, 6 tracks.

01 Psaltars 02 Smoke Sings 03 Whitened 04 Hawkeyed 05 Ending Recieved 06 Voice Follows Voice

I will release it as a limited number of cd-rs myself but it will be available soon on Glitchpunkyouth as a free download.
You can listen+download Psaltars on myspace www.myspace.com/tsukimonoswe
Still running...take care.

/j

Diskko...

2006-11-04T00:10:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody...

Just thought I'd add my discography here too, so y'all can keep up!

Note a few new upcoming releases! Also the scraps album is nearly there...it'll be awesome.

take care!

picture by viktor sjöberg, the one and only visionairé extraordinairé.

Some Sort of Discography:

Tsukimono - One Million Birds In The Sky ( cd-r release on garmonbozia productions) 2002
Tsukimono - Erie Railroad Near Port Lewis.( mp3-release on Komplott.com ) 2003
Tsukimono - The back is a collection of busted static ( mp3-release on fukkgod.org ) 2003
Tsukimono - Sketches 6 - 27 ( cdr-release on Mechanized Mind ) 2003
Tsukimono - Your Son-shine ( self-released cd-r limited to 100 copies, all with individual covers drawn by Johan ) 2003
Tsukimono - What note, whos note? ( cd-r release on Heyyoufuckingman!, all handmade covers ) 2004
Tsukimono - Heart & Strings ( selfreleased cd-r , this far 10 copies on 10 different Oil-canvases by johan gustavsson ) 2005
Tsukimono - Two heartbeats slower than one/Two hearts beats slower than one ( 3" Gallery Edition on Kning Disk 2006 limited edition of 8 ) 2006
Tsukimono - What note, whos note? ( cd-r rerelease on Arterija.org w/ 1 bonustrack) 2006
Tsukimono - Née ( Fullength cd on kalligrammofon ) 2006
Tsukimono - Études (mp3 ep on Komplott) 2006

Compilations & Single Tracks:
Tsukimono - Punked Up Fuck Attitude ( track on the iDEAL Electronics compilation on iDEAL Recordings ) 2003
Tsukimono - With Corpse Paint On ( track on the send/re : compilation on Robotriot ) 2004
Tsukimono - Small Is Beautiful(For E.F. Schumacher) ( Track on Rojo.Taschan.Nosordo compilation ) 2005
Tsukimono - Simple Sentences But Difficult Words ( track on Tribute To John Peel Tribute..5 ) 2006
Tsukimono - Gloomy Sunday ( track on Famous For 15 Mb website ) 2006
Tsukimono - Sing It To Me, Sing It Like You Sang It To Me ( track on summer gate.sun made of gave compilation on Luvsound ) 2006

Upcoming:
Tsukimono - Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance!! ( 7" on kalligrammofon/ladygodivaoperations ) 2005
Tsukimono - Time Canvas ( Fullength cd/cdr on Kning Disk ) 2006
Tsukimono - The Stone I Have Become (track on upcoming compilation on structures sonores) 2006
Tsukimono - Imagine The Composer (cdr/mp3 ep on GlitchPunkYouth) 2006
Tsukimono - Red Red Wine (cd-r on Structures Sonores) 2006
Tsukimono - Heart Attack Money (Fullength cd/cdr on kalligrammofon) 2007

Other solostuff:

Mnoki - Nightshifts (mp3-release on fukkgod.org) 2003
Mnoki - Trees In Movement (mp3-release on con-v.org) 2004

ÉTUDES

2006-10-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

My new ep "Études" is now online and ready for you to download over at
komplott

TSUKIMONO - Études

Études is five short selections cut out from longer recordings made in Malmö during the summer of 06.

The main idea behind Études was that I wanted to make music that you would mainly feel, not so much hear. Put on a really highpitched sound in any room and you will get reactions, strong reactions. With so much noise and music surrounding us everyday we've become very resistant and acclimatized to sounds in general. Today we turn on the ipod to get some sort of peace and quiet. I also find a tremendous beauty inside these sounds, and the way they seem to block out everything else when you listen to them. The process was mixing desk-feedback fed through stompboxes and laptop. No postediting/processing except mastering and selecting the right parts.

Johan Gustavsson, October 2006

It's quite a rough listen so be careful.

love/j

by number & skill

2006-10-08T03:49:00.000-07:00

things are moving, i'm moving. lot's to do and a new job.
going to do two shows in october in gothenburg, both at nefertiti.

the first one is on the 18th, on Once We Were's "secret" releaseparty for their new fantastic doublealbum "Contra". They've asked me to remix the whole shebang and
perform that. It's been a real treat working with this stuff, It'll be a great evening.

There's also two new mp3-releases coming up. The first is "Here's your precious guitar!", a 4-track ep I recorded in 2003 but that didn't find it's way out there.It will be released on glitchpunkyouth. more info on where soon.
It's all built upon samples from a poor guitar I manhandled during a scraps of tape-show sometime back then. I felt really bad after I broke it so I decided to do
something positive out of it and here we are; Here's Your Precious Guitar!

The other one is also an mp3-ep entitled "Études" and it will be availabe on komplott, but more info on that when it's time.

what jolts my bolts:

once we were - contra
converge - no heroes
stephan mathieu - the sad mac
black cross - art offensive
cursed - two
albert ayler - love cry
wolf eyes - dog jaw
wolf eyes & anthony braxton - black vomit
the dicks - dicks hate the police 7"
ass+tape - live at nefertiti
bad brains - banned in dc
sara

Full Pull '06

2006-09-05T05:44:00.000-07:00

The Full Pull-festival happened last weekend and it was a weird one. The saturday was a strange mix between
complete euphoric success and complete hopelessness and sense of failure. Might be some alcohol mixed in there btw...

The best show I must say was probably the drumdrone that Mathias Kristersson conjured with the help of 15 drummers. approximatley 10-15mins of 16 drummer pounding away as much/hard as they could was astonishing and supremely intense.
Couldn't help but think that he could have tried to explore it some more. Someone told me that the idea was to come as close to creating white noise as possible but to have seen all of them pounding on the cymbals or the snare would've been crazy!!

Another thing that really got to me was Boris Hoppeks visuals for Ljudbilden & Piloten (which was really really good but not his best) & Lisa Nordström. Boris has got one amazing eye for finding beautiful and weird images. The human dog was especially amazing!!

It's hard to concentrate on other shows when you're playing yourself, let alone when yr playing twice in one evening but other shows that stood out was:

Ronnie Sundin: Visually really nice and musically unexpected.
Sekvens: I've never seen anyone be aggressive with a melodica before.
Alvars Orkester: Fucking LOUD!
Jon Eriksen: Amazing as always but a bit too long.
MEC: What little I saw of it was sooo good.

I also missed alot of good stuff because of playing and shows overlapping, but most of all it was nice to meet alot of people that I do not meet that often.

The sunday at ljudkullen was also very nice, tho it is a place where you easily get bored. Catched the last minutes of MINIT which was really nice. It was the first time in awhile that fennesz-like grainglitchcutups didn't put me to sleep.

Ekkehard Ehlers sat in the middle of ljudkullen, clad in black and coaxed amazing music from his laptop in his knee. Almost doublebent over it with an occasional cigarette between his lips was strangely ok to look at for about 1 hour. I really liked his set and I really admire the way he made the music move all the time. No standstills here. Probably the best concert of the festival.

No camera sorry. thanks jacob, it enjoyed it immensly. and thank you viktor. you make my heart break.

all that jazz...

2006-07-18T07:18:00.000-07:00

Viktor Sjöberg New Jazz Ensemble. badass recording from Forma Nova-Festival coming up somehow, somewhere.
The Jazz Is Saved.

The BEST band in the world...

2006-07-17T04:07:00.000-07:00

There's only one band in the whole world from who's music I get goosebumps
every single time I listen to it. This band is a band called ONCE WE WERE.

Consisting of only three persons, Erik, Per and Ulf, Oww create music that never
tries to force itself on you, never tries to outshine any other music, never tries to
take over a room and never tries to be anything else than exactly what it is.
Still it is music that always grips me, always makes my hair stand on end, makes me
loose myself in the middle of a sentence and stare into nothingness just listening.

Oww has an uncanny ability to not play a single note too much or too little. They seem
to have a greater understanding of music and composition than anyone I know, I sure know I'd
fucking kill to create the way they do.

Now to be fair, they are friends of mine BUT we weren't friends before I got to know their music,
and I must confess that the first time I ever heard them I weren't that impressed. Slowly tho, i realised
that I put their ep "winter kept us warm" on more often than I did other albums at the time and I ended up listening to
solely this ep for two weeks straight! I've also had the extreme pleasure of touring with them two times and also
had a small adventure with Ulf last year including calling him asking him to go on tour at 19:00 one evening and leaving
for said 2 week tour the morning after!

Now their first fullength is almost completely done and will be released sometime this fall. From what I've heard from it this far, I'm afraid I'll have to lock away the rest of my musical cd's+instruments and really think about if we need any other
music than Once We Were's anymore. A sneakpeak in the form of the song "Cut Corners" is availabe over at -> http://www.thesilentballet.com/

Nuf said. The best fucking band in the world. Thank you guys!

www.oncewewere.net

the alarm is out....

2006-07-13T02:48:00.000-07:00

conduo orchestra
alarma

"Conduo Orchestra are Astrid, Hakoton, Johan and Kristofer. Recorded in Malmö with love+rhythm.
this is karini #7. elefantkvinnan editions 2006."

Comes complete with linernotes written by Minnie Monnie.

To order, get in touch with elefantkvinnan@gmail.com

july cometh...

2006-06-28T04:15:00.000-07:00

July is standing at our doorstep and here's some news/info:

Going to the Forma Nova festival in Fredericia on the 6th to perform as/with
Tsukimono, Alina & The Viktor Sjöberg New Jazz Ensemble. 3 gigs in 2 days!!

Other performers is: Plaid, Daedalus, Eliot Lipp, Ulrich Schnauss, The Redneck Manifesto, Ef, Antipati, Barra Head, .tape., Alarma Man and much much more...

Also continuing work on a few new releases. There's a couple of albums/ep's being shaped into their final mould right now. Interested in releasing something? Contact me.

Also going to Stockholm to mix the new Scraps Of Tape-album in late july. so there's no time to rest!! KEEP PUSHING!!!

There's more still, a few collab recording-dates and waiting for my new laptop.

Here's a very nice description of my music from the forma nova-website;

Tsukimono (Se)

Tsukimono is the moniker of Johan Gustavsson, a talented swedish youngster whose adventures in music has gone (and is still going) from repetitive to incidential, from sad to angst ridden to cute, even, and from composed to improvised. In the works of Tsukimono you are always able to find new interestesting elements. Ranging from guitar improvisition, neoclassical composing thru glitchmetal and laptop collagery, Tsukimono approaches the incidental with a mesmerizing auditive intensity towards the evasive... generating anguish and saturation sharp enough to produce intense aesthetic experiences.

every day it's a getting closer...

2006-06-15T12:16:00.001-07:00

There. Finished w/ recording the new scraps of tape-album. It took turns we didn't expect it to and I think it might surprise some people. Left me with an incredible itch to make some music of my own and w/ my other projects. We've been focusing so hard on this album I almost can't stand to hear it right now. It'll come around I'm sure.

Spent the last few days in the woods, working. Had to put down one of my parents old dogs 2 days ago. His name was Pompe and he was around 18 years. He's been around all my life and it feels oddly empty without him around. The last 2 years he was getting worse tho so now he's in doggy-heaven for sure if there is one. I miss you.
My trusty old laptop is on it's last legs also, but I might order a new one in just a couple of weeks. We'll see. Cursing myself for forgetting my charger for the ipod so it's oddly musicfree right now. Silence is good.

Have a couple of shows coming up the upcoming months. First it's The Forma Nova Festival in Fredericia, Denmark on the 6-8 July. I'll perform as Tsukimono but also with Alina and Viktor Sjöberg New Jazz Ensemble.

Then it's The Full Pull Festival in Malmoe, Sweden 1-3 September. I'll probably do a collaboration with a musician that I really respect 100%, everything's not really worked out but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks to Mathias Oldén for 11 fine days. Kapten.

2006-05-10T12:36:00.000-07:00

rockin' n' rollin' in dresden. want to get out there again...

Met the amazing guys from "This Is Your Captain Speaking" and of course Ralph. can't remember the dogs name. Iris or something.

still alive. and kicking. yeah.

touring as it should be

2006-04-17T23:52:00.000-07:00

long time since last post but hey, I've been busy.

Leaving for a new tour of europe with my band scraps of tape next monday and expectations are higher than usually. Since Hanna, our violin-player, quit the band to pursue a career as a hairdresser we've been hard at work on new material and
rearranging old stuff for 4-piece action. The stuff sounds great and we're really pushing ourselves nowadays. Creating harsher, softer, more distorted, more beautiful music than we've ever done. The feeling of a fucking wall of distortion falling over you as you push the pedals simultaneously together right after a quiet quiet second beats anything...anything I tell you.

The new album will also be recorded in June, with Mattias Oldén of Logh fame behind the steering wheel. I think it'll be really nice. I really like his work on both Logh and Swithblade but the new Once We Were album which he produced...holy mother of god...it's probably one of the best albums ever recorded. take my word for it...

more to come, more to come...

Björn Magnusson & the piano

2006-03-28T00:24:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I had the extreme pleasure of performing live together
with a dear friend of mine, Björn Magnusson at the iDEAL-Festival in Gothenburg.
We both played in the Viktor Sjöberg New Jazz Ensemble and this was my second live performance together with Björn.

In The Ensemble Björn plays the piano and during the concert there was a segment in which the piano were supposed to play "lead" and the overall feeling were supposed to be quiet and leave room for the piano to interact with viktors loops.

Pretty much immediatly I became aware of something amazing happening and I felt that
I would only be in the way if I played anything so I did what I had to do and turned the volume down on my gear and just sat back and listened. And listened. And listened.

It was the best part of the concert, and one of my favourite moments of the whole festival.

Björns pianoplaying has always intrigued me alot and I've understood that he really has the feeling for it, and when I thought about it the other day I remembered reading a little article on Morton Feldman's piano-works a while back.

I've always been a big big fan of Björn's writing and he has made me discover so much amazing music through his words, and here's a thought: Could it be that through
writing and thinking alot about music, getting to understand music in that way Björn has taught himself to play the way he does? I know this might be a stupid thought but I firmly believe it. The feeling and timing and presence Björn displays when playing the piano is extraordinary and I do hope you all get to see him play sometime.

have a look at what björn writes, both at Twisterella and at his blogg, relevans.

I know this text isn't really cohesive or rational at all but I don't really care.

teeth, destroying....

2006-03-16T10:17:00.000-08:00

Head on over to When Skies Are Grey and have a look (and a listen) at Thomas Ekelunds latest brainchild, Teeth. So far there is three pieces available, aptly titled "one", "two" and "Three". So go grab 'em, it's better than most of your record collection.

I'm famous...

2006-03-15T12:29:00.000-08:00

The new edition of "Famous For 15 Mb" is out now, go fetch yourself some nice music from amongst others Mittelsfär, Det Svenska Folket and Robert Horton, and videos from Viktor Sjöberg, Actop and Martin Skauen.

I'm also on there, contributing with my take on "the hungarian suicide song";
Gloomy Sunday.

I hope you'll enjoy it!

iDEAL 2006

2006-03-13T23:56:00.000-08:00

So, back home from an amazing weekend in gothenburg. I got to see alot of great acts that I've wanted to see for a long time, like Wolf Eyes, Earth, William Basinski and Fe-mail. I got to see some things I'd seen before and enjoyed, like Sunn0))), Mats Gustafsson and Pär Thörn. And I also got to enjoy some amazing new stuff, like Gregg Kowalsky(who's music I somewhat know but not all of it), Mark Wastell and CM von Hausswolff. Sadly I also missed a few things that I really would've liked to see like Leif Elggren and Goodiepal but hey, what can you do?

Our gig with Viktor Sjöberg New Jazz Ensemble went ok I think, I really didn't have to do to much to feel content with my contribution to the overall sound. Viktor had really given us good directions and material to work with so everything more or less fell into place by itself. I also got to enjoy the ending of our second piece in silence, just listening to Björn on piano and viktor on laptop weaving an amazing web of toneclusters and layers of pure white light. thanks guys!

The first edition of my kning Disk release(see below) "Two Hearts Beats Slower Than One/Two Heartbeats Slower Than One" sold out on the second day of the festival too, but a second edition of 28 is coming up.

I will also be playing some records on the next distro in malmö on the 26th of march. Playing is Auton and Dwayne Sodahberk. You should go.
/j

Tribute To John Peel

2006-03-08T16:03:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone.

The 5th Tribute To John Peel Session is out now and I've contributed with a new previously unreleased Tsukimono track called "Simple Sentences But Difficult Words".

Other contributers to the site is Colleen, Donna Summer, Dälek and many more.
The tracks are all free for download so go ahead and enjoy some beautiful music and pay tribute to a real legend!

"force the filter to randomly choose new values within the selected range of the sliders"

2006-03-06T01:44:00.000-08:00

News:

Träd, Gräs & Stenar was amazing at Jazzhuset this last Thursday, be sure to check them out if you have the chance...it's definetly more worth spending your money on them than on any other lame-ass band out there. Spend yr money wisely!!

Upcoming release in Kning Disks Gallery Edition-Series:
"Two Hearts Beats Slower Than One/Two Heartbeats Slower Than One"

If you want one be sure to attend the Viktor Sjöberg New Jazz Ensemble gig at the iDEAL-Festival in Gothenburg This Weekend.

upcoming: a short interview with thomas ekelund and other goodies...keep checking in!

listening:
Keith Fullerton Whitman - recorded in lisbon
Sheriff - Sail, sail, sail away
Steffen Basho Junghans - In the Morning Twilight (Live @ Hagateatern)

2006-03-01T23:38:00.000-08:00

Thomas Ekelund is a wonderful person. Not only does he create heartwrenching dronepop under his Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words-moniker, he also creates some of the most stunning artwork out there today.
Having maintained his Fukk God Let's Create label between 1999 and 2005, he has since a couple of months back now moved on to other things, including Fukk Tapes Let's Erase (probably the most obstinate, anal cassette-label in the world), doing more and more artwork/webdesign for various artists/labels like iDEAL, Kid606, Andrey Kiritchenko etc, and continuing to grace us with the ever evolving beauty of DLSODW.

I asked thomas which his favourite recordcovers were and here´s his pick, in no particular order:

Crass - How Does It Feel 7"
It could really be any Crass cover at all. G. Sus used simple means to
great effect. Almost always in monochrome, bold typography and creative
use of found imagery. What sets How Does It Feel apart is it's almost
classisist layout. A simple black cardstock cover with the Crass logo and
title on the front and a printed innersleev containing only text. Simple
and bold.

The Pupils - S/T LP
There's really no design to talk about on this cover. Just a photo. But
what a photo. Even though it's a straight forward portrait it's littered
with symbolism and it vibrates of mysticism. The perfect companion to the
album.

Discharge - Never Again 7"
Simplistic beyond words, the Discharge signature cover design is in a way
closely related to Crass but a lot crueder. The image of the impaled peace
dove has been lifted from a 1930's anti-war poster.

Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats
All Throbbing Gristle covers have their own unique charm. Similarily most
of them grow if you know the background and concept of the cover. 20 Jazz
Funk Greats looks like a nice, safe album. The band in velore possed on a
moor overlooking the ocean. That's all fine and dandy, but when you learn
that the moor is the imfamous Beachy Head, England's number one suicide
spot the image takes on a whole other meaning. It's all about what
information and lack of information changes you perception.

Godspeed You Black Emperor - F# A# ∞ LP
It might be a cop out to list this album, but the fact is that it is a
very nicely packaged LP. From the textured, debossed cardboard, to the
glued on photo and the myriad of different inserts, it alll ties in with
the music and the theme's of the album.

I also asked him the following:

Which was the first cover you did for someone else?

The first off set printed record cover I did was...
hmm, I am not quite sure actually. Probably the Kid 606/Dwayne Sodahberg
7" cover or the A. Kir digipack. Of course I'd done alot of hand made
covers befor that.

Tell us about some design-style that has been influential on you tho you might
not really would like it to:

Anything in the back page ads of OKEJ magazine in the
early eighties, which would mean classic hardrock designs. Lots of eagles,
goats, pointy type and iron fists.

And finally, what of your work are you most proud and/or pleased with?

That changes all the time. I am really proud of most of the work
I've done. Right now my favourites are the two Skull Defekts covers and
the forthcoming Rylander/Elggren cover. Or maybe my forth coming Dead
Letters album.

Thank you Thomas!

Be sure to check out thomas work (both musical and visual):

http://www.deadwords.org/
http://www.nullvoid.net/

Tiresome/Tireless

2006-02-24T06:53:00.000-08:00

Last year sometime I went to a party at some friends place and there I met a strikingly handsome, very nice, talkative guy who I came to become friends with. He was from the states and was over here doing some art-studies for a year. well, he's moved back home now and we who got to know him miss him a bunch. Eli Ping is his name and I must insist that you to have a look at this guy's work at his homepage www.eliping.com

I really like his work and we're working on a project together called "Tiresome/Tireless" which I hope will be finished sometime during 2006.

"If it's too loud, you're too old!"

2006-02-23T00:31:00.000-08:00

There is very little music that has had such impact on me as Phill Niblock's. The first time I heard it I didn't know what to think, except for that this was music at it's most raw. More punk-rock and more beautiful than any other music I've ever heard it still continues to send pleasant shivers down my spine everytime I listen to it.

Well, the man graces the cover of this month's The Wire so go buy and read ye illiterates! Then go to http://www.thewire.co.uk/web/mp3specials.php
and download an exclusive preview from his new Touch-release!

...style studies

2006-02-22T12:37:00.000-08:00

oh yeah...almost forgot. vldgmn! just go listen.

Bring Da Ruckus!

2006-02-22T11:08:00.000-08:00

Hey...

it's been a while since my last post...like always. I'll try to be more up to date in the future, but don't count on it.

Shit's been moving & stirring the last couple of months. The Scraps Of Tape as-yet-to-be untitled second album is coming together real nicely. The stuff we're writing at the moment is by far the best shit we've ever done! About 4 tracks are ready and we're really looking forward to the april/may tour and getting to see how all the new stuff comes across to people! Here's the tourdates btw:

26.04. Dresden/AZConni + This is your captain speaking
27.04. Braunschweig/Nexus + Shutcombo
28.04. Chemnitz/AJZ + Iona
29.04. Berlin/Schokoladen + Iona
30.04. Schwalmstadt/Die Bar + d.h., Woyzeck
01.05. Lübeck/Walli-Maifest

Last Weekend was a real treat, with Viktor Sjöberg New Jazz Ensemble rehearsals för the iDEAL-Festival which takes place in gothenburg on the 10-12th of March. Be sure to check it out!--> www.idealrecordings.com

I played live with Tsukimono at "På Besök", a new bar/café in malmoe that is shaping up to be on of the greatest places this year! The gig was real nice, got me into doing tsuki-stuff again.

We also played live with Alina, our new super-group. I must say that the Alina-gigs of late has been some of the most rewarding and interesting live-experiences that I've ever had. Thanks guys! We released a cd-r on www.kalligrammofon.com a couple of weeks ago, check it out. it sounds really good!

The evening was really nice indeed! Thanks Gustaf!!

We also recorded new material with The Roaring. It resulted in a album with the title "Listenable" which is even sparser than "The Famous Solo" and indeed darker. Tho' not corny i'm-dangerous-dark...just darker. We'll see what happens with that. some sort of release will happen...I guarantee that.

I will also be performing with Tsukimono at Småland Nation on the 12th of April, so keep that day free!!

Coming up:

Tsukimono release on www.arterija.org

keep checking in! I'll do what I can to update this shite...

/johan