#Johan Angergård

[bandcampsnoop]

1/7/25.

The first Johan Angergård band I listened to was Club 8, specifically "Spring Came, Rain Fell". Karolina Komstedt's dreamy vocals were just the sound I was into at the time - the other band I remember listening to at the same time was Joy Zipper.

I didn't get into other Club 8 (Stockholm, Sweden) the same way because it was electronic/synth heavy. But then I found Acid House Kings, and later The Legends, and I realized that Johan Angergård is a musical genius.

"A Year With Club 8" rocks more than most Club 8 releases. It really reminds me of the sound of The Legends masterpiece (in my mind at least) "Up Against The Legends" - but not quite as rocking. Sometimes this also reminds me of the songwriting and sounds of Modern English, Yo La Tengo, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Chills, The Smiths or even The Bats.

This looks to be released on the bands own label. You can pre-order the LP on Darla Records.

[swedeandsour]

Djustin - New Preset

“New Preset” is the latest track from Djustin, the pairing of Swedish twee legend Johan Angergård and Detroit’s Rose Suau. Contrasting the ferocity of its synthetic, cold-wave burn, beaming keys shine a light disco euphoria that’s joined by Suau’s digital vocal bliss. The track which will appear on the duo’s debut album “VOYAGERS” out May 5th, features alongside the percussive puncture and dialing button pulse of debut single “Dancing”.

You can check out the tracks below, and if karaoke is your thing, there’s a lyric video for “Dancing”:

[laurastudarus]

Johan Angergård didn’t go to Vietnam looking for a revelation, but while he was performing recently in Hanoi as the hipper-than-thou one man-band The Legends, he found one anyway.

(via The Legends: Kinda Carefree :: Music :: Features :: The Legends :: Paste)

[sr-helvetica]

The Beauty Of The Way We're Living - Club 8

The Beauty Of The Way We’re Living – Club 8

Por motivos que no vienen al caso, se me ha quedado una mañana muy “The Beauty Of The Way We’re Living“, esa canción tan bonita y soleada que los suecos Club 8 (el omnipresente Johan Angergård, acompañado por la vocalista Karolina Komstedt) incluían en “Strangely Beautiful“, su largo de 2003, una  con la que un servidor debería empezar a trabajar todo los días. Sea porque sus primeros sencillos…

[allbrooklynveganposts]

Swedish duo Club 8 will release their 10th album, Golden Island, which will be out in early 2018 via Labrador. (Their last was 2015's Pleasure.) Johan Angergård and Karolina Komstedt have always had a bit of the tropics in their sound, though here electronics come much more into play...

Continue reading…

[diandrareviewsitall]

Album Review: Djustin IS Electro-Pop In Voyagers

Album Review: Djustin IS Electro-Pop In Voyagers

If you are an electro-pop/ electronica fan than Djustin’s Voyagers is a MUST. This debut album is not trying to be anything, but a disco-ball spinning above your day, and begging you to MOVE. This new Swedish/American duo, featuring Rose Suau (US) and Johan Angergård (Sweden / The Legends / Club 8, etc) are making the most evocative debut in recent memory, by giving nine tracks that drip with…

[glamglaremusic]

SONG PREMIERE: The Legends - Riding The Waves

Ladies and gentlemen, the future has arrived! Exuding a nostalgic 70s vocoder and analogue synthesizer vibe while simultaneously sounding like something from the future yet to come, that is what “Riding The Waves” is going for. The galaxy-groovy “Riding The Waves” is the newest single by Sweden’s The Legends (Johan Angergård) and taken from the artist’s third album “Nightshift”, out on April 21st via Labrador Records.

The albums’ 16-track collection was inspired by the funkiest electronic music the artist could find: “I love Futurism. I love the dynamism of modern technology. I love the endless possibilities… ‘Nightshift’ might be a night album, but it’s lit up by neon.” Boah! “Riding The Waves” is as spacey cool as it is danceable with its funky bass and vocoder estranged, beautiful vocals.

Johan Angergård reveals further: ”Riding The Waves” started out as a smokey electronic space-funk jam inspired by Felt “Space Blues”. I always loved the bubbly, laidback yet funky organ-synths in their song.” We love bubbly vibes too and are psyched to premiere the ultra-chill “Riding The Waves” today:

Find “Riding The Waves” also on Spotify and get a copy of the double vinyl here.

[diamonddeposits]

Sharp riffed electro-pun from Stockholm based artist The Legends (Johan Angergård). In Love With Myself features fantastic vocals from Elin Berlin of Eternal Death is pulled from his forthcoming LP Nightshifts via Labrador Records on the 21st of April!  Watch the treatment above and enjoy!

[swedeandsour]

Club 8 - Golden Island (LP) - Review

“Golden Island” (LP) Club 8 Released January 26, 2018 / Labrador Records Words: Peter Quincy Ng

Johan Angergård is Perhaps one of Sweden’s most prolific producers, with an unrivaled longevity to match. Perhaps it is in his dynamic ability to change and to adapt and vehemently reject labels along the way which cements this status. Club 8, one of Angergård’s most iconic acts from which he partners with the duo’s most visible face, lead vocalist Karolina Komstedt, sees their tenth full-length album in their over 23 years of existence. Originally taking the form as a Swedish twee-pop take on bossa nova, Club 8 has since moved onto different pastures with field recordings being central to their sound. 

With their latest album “Golden Island”, Club 8 takes a pan-Asian approach combining lesser known sounds, which could easily be passed off by the non-expert as glowing synth pads or pitch-changing vocal detune. Rather, Club 8′s bold exploration of Indonesian gamelan bell ensembles and khoomei, a polyphonic throat-singing style from Mongolia is evident and well-represented here. While Komstedt’s vocals are very much at an electronic constant with the robotic render of her voice, it’s this adventurous sampling of sounds which seem to shape the tracks against her vocals. 

While the pulsating trumpets and retro-club glow of “Fire” are something that feel more characteristically Club 8 at first, from the very first track “Swimming with the Tide”, the sampling of field recordings are evident here. On it’s opening track, the glowing flashes of dulcimer and stringed reverberation not unlike Mongolia’s horsehair-stringed instrument, the “khur” appear here. Its gamelan influences soon appear on the next track with “Breathe”, where the rattle of metallic chimes hauntingly embrace Komstedt’s vocals. Other tracks, like single “Lost” have a more holistic approach, combining those two aforementioned elements in one track. Here on “Lost”, Komstedt’s whispered softness is combined with the gassing bellow of khoomei that contrasts to the scintillating glow of clanging bells. 

The album in many ways honors the animistic traditions of its influences, it is not so much through the use of field recordings and studio improvisation but rather, through it’s connection to the nature and its wilderness on “Golden Island”. With “Pacific” you can hear the waves crash and birds sing, while the dulcimer gallop of “Got to Live” simulates the feel of riding through the steppes on horseback, as its khoomei samples and the wispy delivery Karolina’s vocals mimic the sound of blowing winds. However, like any good showman, Club 8 decidedly puts track “Silence” as album closer. Holistically connecting the dots to Club 8′s past, present and future, a soft twee-like delivery is married to the retro-futurist render of vocals that does not compete, but shares a side-by-side comparison between the lush of Karolina’s vocals to the ethereal glide of Mongolian throat singing. 

You can check out the singles from Club 8′s “Golden Island” below. The album is also available to stream on Spotify HERE:

"Swimming with the Tide"

"Lost"

"Breathe"

"Fire"

Continuing the trend of pan-Asian influences, “Give Me Love” their first track since the release of “Golden Island” uses a little bit of gamelan flavor. 

[threeswept]

What do you call it when one of your musical monikers remixes a song by your OTHER musical moniker?!?

Johan Angergard (of Labrador Records fame) is the mastermind behind The Legends as well as Pallers.  This track is a Legends track remixed by Pallers...I guess you just have to be really clear on how the two identities differ.  Pallers and The Legends certainly have different sounds...

[allbrooklynveganposts]

As noted, Labrador Records domo Johan Angergård has a lot of musical projects of his own (The Legends, Club 8, Acid House Kings) and the list keeps growing. His latest is Djustin, a collaboration with American musician Rose Suau...

Continue reading…

[perfectmidnightworld]

“Something Left to Die For” by The Legends // It’s Love (Out 6.16.15 via Cascine)

For the fifth album from Sweden’s The Legends, frontman Johan Angergård, underwent a bit of a change. After some personal heartbreak and loss, he found himself involved in a whole new relationship, hammering those feelings of adoration and infatuation against the sadness and loss of before. The result is played out in gorgeous, melancholic detail on his new album, It’s Love. “Something Left to Die For” is the album’s second single - a late night downtempo heartbreaker with hushed vocals and swaths of humming synths that wash over you like a digital blanket. It’s really lovely stuff that will appeal to fans of The Radio Dept. and M83. 

[soundfriend]

Niklas Angergård

Singer-songwriter, guitarist in Sweden’s no. 1 pop perfectionists group Acid House Kings, Co-owner of Labrador Records, Stockholm

#pop

@acidhousekings @labradorrecords

The Legends - "Keep Him” A little subjective, I admit. (Johan, who is The Legends, is my brother.) But hey, this might just be the smoothest pop song of 2015, so who cares?

[choovanski]

this is dreampop for sad people. the kind of thing you'd listen to in the snow.

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Audio: Club 8 Shares Blissful and Woozy "Something's Wrong With My Head"

New Audio: Club 8 Shares Blissful and Woozy "Something's Wrong With My Head" @labradorrecords

Formed back in 1995, Stockholm-based duo Club 8 — Karolina Komstedt (vocals) and electronic music producer, artist and Labrador Records founder and label boss Johan Angergård — initially began as a recording project, before expanding into a full-fledged touring band.  Throughout their nearly three decade history, the Swedish pop outfit has a long-held reputation for being sonically restless and…