JOHAN AFTERGLOW

JOHAN AFTERGLOW
Swedish analogue electro-tech producer Johan Afterglow. Never afraid of keeping things simple, Johan often concentrate on the elemental ingredients of electronic dance music; the kick, the clap, the hihat and the bass never rushing things, building it up and breaking it down and everyone is invited to his dance.
Johan is a man of many musical faces,not a newcomer in the scene and becoming a somewhat household name in remixing, production, DJing and hard, funky electro-tech since the early 90s , with releases on EMI , V2 .Virgin , 9 Records etc... Johan Afterglow shows that he’s a man of many talents and tastes, ambition – expect anything from this guy!
Released his album "Exterminate All Rational Thought" including the smash-hit "Me On" on 9 Records in early 2006. The way he moves the crowd with his live or dj sets is out of this world , the energy that he generates mixed with the music , his turntable skills wich he..s famous for , something that really has to be experienced. With lots of new and upcoming releases on several labels and also on his and his good friend dj/producer Marcus Storks own label AFTERGLOW & STORK
href="http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3Lm15c3BhY2UuY2 9tL2FmdGVyZ2xvd3N0b3Jr"www.myspace.com/afterglowstork
, he..s really making some noice in the scene.
Since his years as a resident of New York City’s legendary Limelight, between 1996 and 2003, he DJ:ed, performed and collaborated with and alongside all the DJ bigshots of that time. NYC is also where he picked up his Afterglow moniker, after DJing last of everyone at the club.
Johan Afterglow
Biography
At 8 a.m. I get an SMS from Johan Afterglow (Johan Elmros to his parents....) asking me if I..m awake. It so happens I am, since I have to get up to go to work, but if it wasn..t for that I would have been happily snoring away for two more hours or so. Not Johan. He belongs to the (I imagine) rare species of dance musicians who get up to make music at six in the morning. Or even earlier. “Early mornings are good” he says, when we meet up for an interview at the UpSweden Stockholm HQ a few days later. “Your head is all clear, you..re not bothered by phone calls or anything. It..s dead silent. A great feeling.” Once he wakes up, he gets impatient and has to get busy, unlike me, who never appreciate the bed quite so much as in the morning… His creative activities are not limited to early mornings, though. He admits to being almost constantly at work with music. Being active to the point of hyperactive and restless by nature (“I don..t even drink coffee!”), combined with obvious talent and a great love for music for as long as he can remember, it is perhaps not surprising that he has already racked up an impressive list of musical projects. Even though he was active in bands as well as making music on the classical C64 and Amiga home computer platforms from his earliest school days in Sweden, he first started to make impressions in his teens with indie band Taste Of Raindrops where he sang and played guitar. They were among the earliest releases on the North Of No South records label and enjoyed some popularity at the time. Next up was punk rock outfit Blender, who also made a name for themselves during the mid-90..s swedish punk rock and hardcore invasion. During this period he was also involved in some hip hop projects and lots of electronica/techno Parallell to the rock..n..roll, however, there was always the synth stuff, making music with technology, his own or borrowed. The punk rock roots and techno ethics combine in his own music today, but he..s extremely productive and turns out stuff in various styles by the shedloads. Oh, and add to that a 14-years or so career as a house and techno DJ on the club circuit at home and abroad. Did I mention he likes to keep busy….? I ask if he..s ever been into the harder synth/EBM stuff such as Front 242 and Nitzer Ebb, but it turns out his more of an old school synth pop fiend, but of coarse Front 242 and Nitzer Ebb always been in Johans life. “I..ve been listening to Howard Jones since -83. The man is god! You should hear some other stuff I made, falsetto stuff…..” As by a strange coincidence, we have both, earlier that day, spotted the same poster heralding the unlikely return of that 80..s icon, through a gig in Stockholm. Unfortunately it seems it will happen at a time when both Johan and I will be in his old hometown Umeå, at the Digital Tone Festival. Johan is regretful, while I..m not quite so concerned…. Apart from Jones, he mentions punk rock, Depeche Mode, and old school techno as influences, and offers the opinion that “really good techno” is seldom heard nowadays. He should know, since during his years as a resident of New York City, between 1996 and 2003, he DJed, performed and collaborated with and alongside some real legends, such as Danny Tenaglia, Supa DJ Dmitry of Dee-Lite, Derrick Carter, Felix Da Housecat, Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Timo Maas, Funk Dvoid, Alexi Delano, to name but a few. NYC is also where he picked up his “Afterglow” moniker, after DJing last of everyone at a venue. “Someone put ..Afterglow.. after my name on the flyer, and I thought it was really cool…” His move to NYC was ingeniously worked out by obtaining a visa through getting admitted at an art school, only to quit as soon as he got there, in order to spend his time making music and DJing. New York had always beckoned (“That..s where Sonic Youth come from!”) but after some busy years he returned to Sweden and settled down in Stockholm. “Without getting into specifics, New York is pretty rough….and besides Sweden is a much better country when it comes to music. People take things seriously here, they..re not just in it to show off, they..re really doing it for the love of music, which is great.”Which brings us up to the present day again. Since his return to the old country, Johan has been involved in quite a few projects, perhaps most notably his collaboration with César Vidal of Caesars, formerly Caesar..s Palace. Safari On Pluto, as they call themselves, becomes a trio when you add Mattias Holmlund, (another former member of Blender, currently Stockholm-based music producer) and they have released a debut album, “You go to my head” on V2 records. A follow-up is forthcoming. Their music can best be described as classic electro/synth pop of the slightly darker kind, but updated and topped off by Césars distinctive voice and toplines. Originally they were meant to be strictly a studio project, but some live shows came about, mainly for promotion purposes. However, Césars busy touring schedule doesn..t leave that many live opportunities these days. Also worth mentioning is Tubeway, a collaboration with Thomas Nyström, aka Komatrohn. “His solo stuff is wicked. We had liked each others music for a while when we met at a party, through a friend, and then we started exchanging stuff over the internet.” Tubeway has also performed live, but takes second seat to both members.. solo careers. Apart from that, Johan has done numerous musical jobs for commercials, web sites and TV, lately, among others, for the Swedish Television drama series “Coachen”. And various remixes of course, such as that for the (as this piece is written) forthcoming single by hugely successful electro act Bodies Without Organs. The future, if Johan gets his way, holds more of these kinds of jobs, since they pay the bills.When making his own music, Johan uses both old and new technology, combining soft synths with more or less vintage hardware, which is ususally recorded or sampled, rather than midicontrolled. I mildly coax some thoughts on his own music and its place in others lives out of him. Johan agrees that it is not quite “head music”, but mainly intended for energetic live gigs and for dancing. However it turns out that one of his latest tracks, a cover version of an old punk song, “Disconnected” by Face to Face, is a ballad(!). It..s the type of stuff men of our age would dance to real slowly, stiffly and closely holding the girl of our choice (if we dared), at the disco in our early adolescence. It was more like a walking grope than actual dancing. Do the kids still do that? We..re not sure, but we both conclude that this type of “slow dance” track used to be common on the radio back then, but it isn..t anymore. A dying art perhaps? If anything can sum up his music mood-wise, it is that a lot of it has a dark edge, or a certain amount of sadness to it, but that is not always the case. Take his reworking of the, theme music to “Magnum P.I.”, for instance. It..s actually funkier than you..d remember it, and excellent material for a house remix, as it turns out. A couple of days later I catch Johan playing live at a bar in Stockholm. The atmosphere is good, but the place lacks a proper dance floor. People are mainly mingling on two crowded floors, with the conversation made difficult by loud, pumping electro and house. When the time for Johans live performance draws near, several speakers on the lower floor, where he has rigged up on what must be the worlds smallest stage ever, suddenly cease to work. Johan is not fazed, though, but moves upstairs, and does his set standing by the bar. Soon the whole floor is jumping to his hard but seriously catchy vocal-driven electro and dirty techno. For someone who has played many of the biggest and most legendary techno clubs in the US, this might seem an insignificant gig, but surrounded by friends and fans, Johans love for music and performance shines through, and I find myself dancing along with all the others. Miraculously, we..re not poking each other..s eyes out, even though we..re packed like the proverbial sardines in a tin box. Sadly, he doesn..t play the “Disconnected” track. It would have been interesting to see people pairing up, nostalgia-struck, and trying to move around like horny and embarassed 13-year-olds. Especially since there was no space to move around in….Aron Lamm