The Opium Cartel - ProfilesArchive

About Me

The Opium Cartel is Jacob Holm-Lupo's project away from White Willow. The project involves musicians from White Willow, Wobbler, Ã„nglagÃ¥rd, Pineforest Crunch, Jaga Jazzist, No-Man, Rhys Marsh and the Autumn Ghost, The Rentals and more. We are currently and very slowly working on our debut album. TOC is a collaborative project. TOC is folksy excursions tainted by electronics, power pop and mellotronic ambiences. So far all you'll find here are rough demos - proper versions will be posted as the sessions move along. ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------- What they say: "The Norwegian project The Opium Cartel, led by White Willow's Jacob Holm-Lupo, presents intoxicating, delicately fashioned folk-electronica. Beautiful compositions "Three Sleepers" and "Skinnydip" benefit from the exquisitely gentle vocals of cellist Sylvia Skjellestad. "Lumberjack's Lullaby" is another dreamy wonderment. "Honeybee," a Lolita tale, surges with a rock sensibility." (Palo Alto Daily News) ------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------"The Opium Cartel is the solo project of Jacob Holm-Lupo (White Willow). On Three Sleepers, he's joined by fellow WW member Sylvia Skjellestad on lead vocals, so if you're at all familiar with that band, this will probably sound quite similar. But whereas WW displays a strong prog influence, The Opium Cartel is far, far mellower no doubt largely due to the influence of producer and fellow collaborator Mattias Olsson (Pineforest Crunch, Ã„nglagÃ¥rd, Nanook of the North, etc). For recording nerds like myself, it's possible to let Mattias' signature warm synth sounds and excellent layering skills overwhelm the track, but it can also be enjoyed as a fine atmospheric pop song. I'm reminded a bit of fellow Norwegian artrockers The 3rd and the Mortal, but it's probably a bit more akin to David Sylvian or Kate Bush as this style of prog/pop is far more weighted towards the pop side of things. Y'know, the kind of thing that appeals to 'serious' music types and high-minded critics without alienating the general listening audience. It's possible to geek out on it, but can be readily enjoyed by anyone as the the overall prettiness of the music is by far its strongest asset." (itsatrap.com)

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 4/10/2006
Band Members: Jacob Holm-Lupo - guitars, keyboards, bass guitar, some vocals --- Rachel Haden - vocals --- Rhys Marsh - vocals --- Tim Bowness - vocals --- Stephen Bennett - vocals --- Sylvia Skjellestad - vocals --- Lars Fredrik FrÃ¸islie - synth, mellotrons, stuff --- Mattias Olsson - drums, mellotrons, guitars, moogerfoogers, stuff --- Sigrun Eng - cello --- Erik Johannesen - trombone --- Ketil Einarsen - woodwinds --- Ellen Andrea Wang - bass guitar --- Scott McGill - guitar
Influences: Big Star, Nick Drake, The Folk Implosion, Ultravox, Japan/David Sylvian, Air, The Beach Boys, The Cars, M83, Chris Bell, Gene Clark, Kraftwerk, Mellow Candle, Strawbs, The Postal Service, Genesis, Matthew Sweet, 10cc, the view from my window, my Martin acoustic
Record Label: Termo Records
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

Roses

I've rather hurriedly put up a very rough version of The Last Rose of Summer - the drums are canned, the guitar was recorded in a few minutes with a consumer microphone - lots of things are gonna chan...
Posted by The Opium Cartel on Fri, 23 May 2008 11:52:00 PST

Vocals and such

We've spent a few days recording Rachel Haden's gorgeous-beyond-compare vocals. For me this was a dream come true - and she was such a pleasure to work with - she is just as sweet as her voice sounds....
Posted by The Opium Cartel on Wed, 21 May 2008 12:01:00 PST

Line-up

It looks like the line-up for the album is pretty much complete and final - I don't think there will be any more grand surprises - so what it says on the left here, that's who will be on the album.Gia...
Posted by The Opium Cartel on Sun, 18 May 2008 03:38:00 PST

Harddisk incident

It happens at least once during every album recording I am ever involved in: A harddisk crashes. Luckily I have learnt to back up the back-up - and then back up some more. So it wasn't a disaster. Los...
Posted by The Opium Cartel on Thu, 08 May 2008 12:15:00 PST

Bon voyage, Michael Piper

I was extremely saddened by the news that Michael Piper has passed away. Michael Piper ran the label/mail order service The Wild Places, first out of Santa Cruz, then out of New York, and was one of t...
Posted by The Opium Cartel on Sun, 20 Apr 2008 10:18:00 PST

Heavenman

Another song - this here was posted in an earlier version shortly after I put up our myspace page. Heavenman will - I suspect - go through further substantial changes before it gets on the album. But ...
Posted by The Opium Cartel on Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:53:00 PST

Flicker Girl (temporary)

So, I’ve posted a brand new tune - again. A pretty rough pre-production version of Flicker Girl. I think it’ll only be up for a while. The vocals are off-key and utterly temporary, but the...
Posted by The Opium Cartel on Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:05:00 PST

Look and listen

My Swedish friend Mattias is real handy with the camera, and really good with documenting his studio work. So I crept into his blog last night and stole some footage of him working on the TOC track Fl...
Posted by The Opium Cartel on Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:05:00 PST

Brass

I had a quick but very nice session with trombonist Erik Johannesen yesterday. I already knew he was good from what I've heard by him, but all the same he impressed me - a very talented guy! Hopefully...
Posted by The Opium Cartel on Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:37:00 PST

Curly Giraffe

So, what is a friend on myspace? Not really a friend, obviously. But I do try to focus on people whose music I actually like when I accept requests or add other people. And then it makes sense to want...
Posted by The Opium Cartel on Mon, 25 Feb 2008 07:01:00 PST