Hakan Lidbo did the music for this short film filmed, edited and designed by Viktor Blanke.The film is Victor’s first in 4 years and it had it’s first screening at Sydney Design In Motion 2010. Floating city is about the City, it’s structures, patterns and rhythm. The films is edited frame by frame to groove with the music -- and the music is composed to perfectly groove with the film.

Watch in 720p and full screen!

Bonus: Here is “Viagra Junkie” -- another video made some years ago by Viktor Blanke, music by Hakan Lidbo:

August 10, 2010, the Stockholm Culture Festival and the opening of the new library at the ground floor of the Culture House had its grand opening. The loud and sometimes disturbing sounds from Stockholm joined forces, and together with a chamber music orchestra played The Sergel Symphony. Written and conducted by Håkan Lidbo. The symphony is a celebration to the city and it’s tempo, plurality and noise. The Sergel Symphony is a performance including:

1 violin (George Kentros)
1 cello (Beata Söderberg)
1 horn (Ayman Al Fakir)
1 saxophone (Leif Karlborg)
1 computer (Håkan Lidbo)
120 choir singers (lead by Lasse Axelsson)

2 pneumatic rock drills (provided by Skanska, performed by Frida Kupsu and Erik Lund)
1 police car with police men (The Stockholm Police Corps)
hundreds of football supporters
1 recycling bin played by 2 drummers (Liliana Zavala and Kristina Aspeqvist)
5 motorcycles (She Devils MC)
1 political spokesman (CK)
3 vuvuzela players
25 longboard skaters (Suburban Surfers)
6 Parkour people (Le Parkour Academy)
1 gypsy orchestra (Ekipaget)
a great number of dancers (choreography by Lisette Drangert and Hanna Åhs)
100 doves (Li Shu Lin and the Stockholm Race Pigeon Club)
the bells of the S:ta Clara Church (rung by Kent Svensson)
a great number of car horns (anyone who happens to pass by)
40 footballs

This is what it sounded like:

Filmed by Tomas Joansson, Diana Å/Shedevils, Tony Ahola, Peter Karlsson, Johan Sonestedt, Joel Dittrich, Emil Ovemar and many others.

The preperations in TV4:

TT-news:

The Culture Festival.

The Library at the Culture House.

Håkan Lidbo’s album grf_rmibht9 comes from a project at Berghs School Of Communication in Stockholm. The students were given one track each, made by Håkan Lidbo, to make a visual interpretation. The most significant audio elements in the music should have  a visual counterpart and they should synch together. As all the songs play in the same tempo and the same key, all tracks on the album can be played on top of any other tracks. You can use this post as a DJ tool and mix any two tracks with perfect crossfades -- or layer as many tracks as your CPU can handle.

The DVD is also here. Order it here!

1. phl_rch                                                                                                                   2. lv_jhn

3. mdl_mj                                                                                                                   4. chr_sf

5. jhn_ml                                                                                                                    6. c_ln_frd

7. ln_kn                                                                                                                       8. pl_crl

9. nnm_dg                                                                                                                  10. tv

11. krs_mtt                                                                                                                  12. nn_ls

Voltfestivalen is Sweden’s new electronica festival, arranged by Håkan Lidbo and his partners at Ström Radio together with the Uppsala Concers Hall. Voltfestivalen june 5 2010 was a great success. The lineup was even stronger than the first year and the combination of Swedish and international artists together with sound-art and installations made it a perfect electronic evening and night. Voltfestivalen 2011 is june 11.

Voltfestivalen promotional video -- Music by Håkan Lidbo, Visuals by Håkan Ullberg:

Live from Voltfestivalen:

Volt – festivalen för elektronisk musik

Uppsala Konsert & Kongress. Lördag 5 juni 2010, 19.00-03.00

Festivalsommaren närmar sig och Volt – festivalen för elektronisk musik – släpper nya namn. Programmet är ännu starkare än förra året och det bjuds som vanligt på allt inom elektronisk musik. Lördag 5 juni från sju på kvällen till tre på natten pågår Volt på Uppsala Konsert & Kongress.

När Voltfestivalen lanserades förra året var det många som jublade. Äntligen en stark svensk festival för elektronisk musik, äntligen en festival i Uppsala Konsert & Kongress minimalistiska miljö – där musiken och arkitekturen fungerade i ett hundraprocentigt samspel – och äntligen en festival där konstinstallationer och smal experimentell musik blandas med dansgolvsrökare i händerna på DJ:s som vet hur en vinylskiva ska vändas.

Festivalen hyllades av medierna och blev en given favorit för många. Därför är det givetvis många som jublar även i år när Volt återvänder den 5 juni. Se det som den fulländade elektronikahändelsen. Eller se det som en bra start på en lång het festivalsommar. I vilket fall som helst finns det garanterat något för alla som gillar elektronisk musik.

Programmet fylls nu på med en rad starka DJ- och live-akter. Det ser ut att bli en händelsefull och svettig dag i Uppsala Konsert & Kongress. Artister och DJ:s handplockas av UKK och Ström i P2. Räkna med det senaste, det hetaste, det bästa och det finaste inom elektronisk musik.

Det är med stor stolthet vi presenterar nedanstående namn till programmet. Fler artister tillkommer, men vi kunde inte hålla oss – spana in dessa bokningar!

Shinedoe (NL | Intacto | 100% Pure) Hennes funkiga minimaltechhouse har förtrollat lyssnare och kritiker världen över och hon har remixat storheter som Booka Shade och The Knife. Titeln på förra årets album No Boundaries på egna bolaget Intacto var en programförklaring: i Shinedoes pumpande dansmusik blir genrer ointressanta. Som DJ är hon minst lika eklektisk. Stilar, genrer, nytt och gammalt – allt får plats och bidrar till en oerhört svettig dansfest. Med Shinedoe bakom skivspelarna kommer Voltpubliken garanterat inte att kunna stå stilla.

Le Petit ORB (UK/GER) Alex Pattersons The Orb är stilbildande inom ambient, dub och techno. Med singeln Little Fluffy Clouds från 1990 skapade The Orb soundtracket till en hel generations klubbupplevelser i England och internationellt. Sedan några år tillbaka uppträder The Orb som Le Petit ORB, bestående av centralfiguren Alex Patterson och The Orb-medarbetaren (bland annat producent på The Orbs Pomme Fritz från 1994) Thomas Fehlmann. Räkna med dubbigt fluffiga rytmer och sköna harmonier när dessa legendariska män för första gången ställer sig på en svensk scen.

2562 (NL) Efter 2008 års Aerial och 2009 års Unbalance har 2562 ytterligare sett till att befästa Nederländerna som landet där den mest intressanta dubstepen görs. De båda albumen har hyllats av en enig kritikerkår och av en minst lika enig dubsteppublik. Känslan för sparsmakade arrangemang och stilfulla ljud har genererat kommentarer som ”musik från framtiden”. På Volt finns det alltså tillfälle att redan idag höra hur musiken kommer låta i framtiden.

AGF (GER) Antye Greye Fuchs har blivit en central kraft att räkna med inom electronican. Egensinnig, stark och utmanande är hon alltid. Vare sig det handlar om hennes roll som vokalist i tyska popduon Laub, eller som ena halvan av dansakten AGF/Delay. På egen hand bjuder AGF:s livekonserter på loopade elektroniska rytmer, samplade ljud och hennes egen röst. Under våren spelar Antye Greye Fuchs Orlando i en brittisk teateruppsättning av Virginia Woolfs kända roman. Men Volt vill hon inte missa eftersom hon älskar Uppsala och Sverige. Räkna därför med en extra taggad AGF på Volt.

B6 (CN) B6 kommer hela vägen från Shanghai i Kina för att medverka på Volt. Hans förmåga att blanda ambient, techhouse och hårdare techno har fått kinesiska klubbfanatiker att jubla. När albumet Post Haze släpptes 2008 stod det klart att Kina inte bara har fått sitt första riktigt stora inhemska dj-namn utan också en producent att räkna med. Förra året släpptes skivan i Europa och det dröjer garanterat inte länge förrän han är lika stor här som i sitt hemland. För de som tvivlar kommer spelningen på Volt garanterat visa varför kinesisk techno är minst lika bra som amerikansk eller europeisk.

The Field (Kompakt) När Axel Willner släppte tolvan Things Keep Falling Down på tyska Kompakt startade han sitt segertåg över världen. Året var 2005 och The Field var då en okänd stockholmsproducent. I och med albumen From Here We Go Sublime och Yesterday And Today har han dock blivit en av Sveriges största technoexporter under senare år. Från att tidigare ha använt sig av laptop när han spelade live är The Field idag en livetrio bestående av laptop/elektroniska instrument, trummor och bas. Att The Field är underbar på skiva men ännu underbarare på scen har folk runt hela världen insett. På Volt kommer The Field garanterat bjuda på en oförglömlig upplevelse för de som uppskattar både techno, krautrock och indiepop.

Kondens (Repeatle) Superpremiär för svensk dubstepduo på Volt! Var och en för sig har Andreas Tilliander (Mokira) och Stefan Thor (Folie) skapat kritikerhyllade mästerverk inom allt från noise, dub, techhouse till melodiös elektronika. Tillsammans gör de frätande tung technoinfluerad dubstep. Deras svettiga liveset kommer garanterat skapa kondens på både väggar och tak i hela UKK.

Pär Grindvik (Stockholm LTD | Drumcode | Spectral Sound) Vare sig det är på egna bolaget Stockholm LTD, eller på något annat, har Pär Grindviks techno ett helt unikt tonläge. Någon har kallat den ”episk techno”. Pär låter melodierna få ta tid att utvecklas och breda ut sig över den pumpande beatsoch basmattan. Detsamma gäller när Pär DJ:ar. Få kan som Pär Grindvik ge utrymme för berättande strukturer i musiken. Få kan skapa en liknande dramaturgi i sina livesets. Alltid hårt, men aldrig för hårt. Alltid med nerv och sinne för ögonblicket. På Volt kommer han att förtrolla våra sinnen och sätta fart på våra ben.

DJ Coolof (The Knife | Rabid Records) Coolof aka Olof Dreijer började spela drum & bass och hiphop kring 1997. Sen dess har han rört sig från industriell techno och EBM till techno och house. Musiken kan vara hård och kall men också melodisk och känslig. Framförallt handlar det om hypnos som samtidigt kan överraska.

Roll The Dice (Digitalis Recordings) Debutalbumet kom tidigare under våren, men duon Roll The Dice är egentligen inga nykomlingar. Peder Mannerfelt har tidigare släppt techno i duon Van Rivers & The Subliminal Kid. Han har också producerat många av låtarna på Fever Rays hyllade album. Malcolm Pardon har gjort filmmusik. Tillsammans skapar de sant analog elektronisk musik som hämtat inspiration från så skilda storheter som Arvo Pärt och Basic Chanel. Resultatet kan endast beskrivas som emotionellt, känslofullt och med den ständiga strävan att söka efter källan…

Volt Guitar Trio Volt Gitarrtrio är tonsättaren Mårten Josjös andra projekt som handlar om att framföra electronica i oväntade akustiska arrangemang. Förra året arrangerade han tre klassiska svenska technotolvor för Uppsalas stoltheter, kammarblåsorkestern Omnibus. I år kommer han och Volt Gitarrtrio framföra några av de mest betydelsefulla låtarna ur elektronikans långa historia. Det utlovas versioner av alltifrån The Orb till Autechre. Hur det kommer att låta på gitarr får bara den veta som kommer till Volt den 5 juni.

Aki Onda (JP/US) Musikern, kompositören, producenten, fotografen och multimediaartisten Aki Onda bor nuförtiden i Brooklyn, New York. Där arbetar han enträget vidare med sina huvudsakliga sysslor: elektronisk musik, ljudkonst och improviserad musik. Ett av hans mest kända verk är Kassettminnesprojektet – där han skapade en ljuddagbok baserad på field recordings som han samlat under mer än två decennier. Under Voltfestivalen kommer Aki Onda garanterat förtrolla publiken med sin egensinniga musik.

Håkan Lidbo (Ström i P2 | Tigerbeat 6 | Shitkatapult) När Håkan Lidbo spelar live handlar det om ilsken och skräpig electropunktechno. Med influenser från rak electro, fransk ny-house och gammeldags rave bakar han ihop musik som är hård, kantig, spretig och oerhört lekfull. Missa inte Håkan Lidbo live. Av alla skitiga influenser sätter han ihop vackra set som balanserar mot elektronisk galenskap. Men hela tiden med glimten i ögat.

Liminals Differnetmedlemmarna Tomas Bodén och Anna-Karin Brus gör i sidoprojektet Liminals musik för ”imaginära dansgolv”. Det säger de i alla fall själva. Men det stämmer inte riktigt. De som sett dem live vet att det också handlar om fysisk närvaro, köttiga acidrytmer och skir sång. Både högst närvarande och märkligt svävande. Deras musik fungerar lika bra för den där mäktiga, svällande lustkänslan i bröstet, som för hårda danspass för lårmusklerna. Med tolvan Hearthand (Friendly Noise) har de antytt det, live förverkligas det.

Dessutom spelar:

Funky Tuna
Plakto (El-Ljud)
Dj Planeten (Aromamusic)
Miss Cmy (Mad Bros Records | Modularfield)
Mats Almegård & Knivflickan | Ström i P2
Daniel Skoglund
PPM
Suzywan
Slinky & Babian Fruhn (Aniara Recordings | Physique)
Unzdag (Unzdag Recordings | Dicore: Night Sessions)
Blek (Samlingen | Klubb Diod | Glasnost)
DO IT
Jin Mustafa (Samlingen | Klubb Diod)
Erik Young (Klubb Rotor)
Play! (Selma)
Maya Loureno aka Lemieux (Tronic B7 Records)
IOU
Frank (Klubb Bakelit)

Fler artister, installationer och VJ:s tillkommer.

Volt arrangeras i samarbete mellan Uppsala Konsert & Kongress och
programmet Ström i Sveriges Radio P2.

Samarbetspartners: Kulturstaden Uppsala, Goethe-Institut och Svenska Institutet.

Se och lyssna:
www.ukk.se/volt
www.voltfestivalen.se
http://www.youtube.com/voltfestivalen

Kontakt:
Producent Patric Kiraly, patric.kiraly@ukk.se, 018-727 90 32
Håkan Lidbo, hakan@container.to, 0704-82 56 46

För bilder kontakta Lina Björk, lina.bjork@ukk.se, 018-727 90 42 eller ladda
ner på http://www.ukk.se/Press/Pressmeddelanden/

April 24 2010, the citizens of Stockholm were asked to record the sound of Stockholm and come to Kulturhuset where 4 electronica producers took the recordings and remixed it into music. The event was a part of the Culture Night if Stockholm and also a follow-up project to Stockholm Noise. More info and music at www.oljudsthlm.se.

How does Stockholm sound in your ears? And how does music made from the sound of Stockholm sound?

During the city’s Culture Night sounds and noises will be music and you get to decide how it should sound! Starting in the Culture House, we are going sound hunting. Sound findings are then submitted to a bunch of electronica artists and suddenly Stockholm will sound different. The finale will be an improvised concert where your city noise has been transformed into exciting rhythms and sounds -- maybe music to dance to! A concert that sounds like Stockholm, but in a way that you’ve never heard the city before.

Stockholm Noise Live is a collaboration between Ljudverkstan / Lava and Stockholm Noise, which consists of the musician, music producer Hakan Lidbo and ethnologist Elin Franzen.

Participating artists:
Noisebud is Sol Andersson and John Ahlberg. Sol has a background in both the techno collective Ana International Penetrator and in electro-acoustic music. Johanne has released 12 s on labels like Smuts and Stupid. Noisebud formed when they won a contest to remix Luke Slater’s track ‘Head Converter’.

Yourhighness is Johannes Wikström alias when he makes electro-acoustic music and sound art. In recent years, he composed music for a number of fashion and art films, including the fashion designers Nakkna and Whyred. Recently he made a sound installation for Acne in London. He also produces electronic disco together with Elias Raam in Ultra City, and runs the record label Roller Boys Recordings.

Hakan Lidbo has released over 200 records on labels worldwide, from obscure, crackling minimalism to the Eurovision Song Contest. He does radio show Ström and arranges the Voltfestivalen

If you want to film your visual interpretation of Stockholm as well, VJ Morrsken collects footage and for her VJ set during the evening.

Program
Kl.19:00 Info och utlåning av inspelningsutrustning
Kl.20-22 Lämna dina inspelningar till artisterna
Kl.23:00 Oljud Stocholm Live : Artisterna gör musik av dina Stockholmsljud

Vill du samla ljud?
Mellan kl 19:00-22:00 lånar vi ut små ljudinspelare.
Anmäl dig till deniz.duvarci@kulturhuset.stockholm.se

Xoiiox is a game and a musical instrument for two persons. Xoiiox is for iPad only. It’s designed, constructed and composed by Håkan Lidbo and developed by Kondensator.

The objective of the game is to take your opponents pieces and then the Xoiiox -- the Queen. You can disturb your opponents strategy by using the x-functions. The music is created as you play and it will help you to get through the game. Xoiiox is very easy to understand, the game and the pieces will explain themselves. Just try it. To be a successful player, just as in life:

Play the game and feel the music.

www.xoiiox.com

The Kondensator team at Votfestivalen 2010:

Every year the radio show Ström give an assignement to Swedish producers of electronic music. This year the assignement is the most ambitious so far -- and the most complicated. They were given one future scenario each and their job was to create music the way it will sound in the future. The participating musicians are, except myself, Materia, Motoko Ishii, Noisebud, Mattias Petersson, Dom Dummaste, Leif Jordansson, Birdman, Copyparty, Joel Brindefalk, Peter Benisch, Hab and Liminals. Each peice of music from the future is presented in the radio show together with the scenarion. The future analyzist Pernilla Jonsson is the guest expert in the show. Here is the Ström Radio Show:

Here is one of the songs:

The Scenarios:

01. Materia – Africasia

The new imperialists.

The year is 2066. China has long since become the world’s largest economic power and Mandarin is the second language spoken in most countries. Due to Chinese investment, large parts of Africa have undergone industrialization and are responsible for the majority of global automobile production. Africa has become one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, particularly among the Chinese middle class, due to its affordability and the fact that it is one of the only places in which wild animals can still be found. Chinese music dominates the world scene, with Africa being the exception. African music favored by Chinese tourists is especially popular with its blending of traditional Chinese folk music, Chinese pop and West African folk music.

02. Mattias Petersson – 4m

New economic superpowers.

The year is 2070. China, India and Brazil have long since passed the United States as global economic superpowers. Europe, with its shrinking population, is one of the poorest regions of the world, excepting Sweden, which due to a liberal immigration policy has managed to stay afloat. Chinese is now the second language used in Swedish schools and the majority of Swedes speak some Arabic, Hindi and Mandarin. Sweden has been a global leader in the field of electric car technology ever since Saab, after many ups and downs, finally merged with a Chinese-African automobile manufacturer. Sweden also leads in global music exports. Pop music has broken off into countless pop-isms and merged with art music. Genres ceased to exist with the emergence of complicated algorithms capable of analyzing listeners’ emotional reactions to music in order to optimize production accordingly. It is no longer possible to discuss the national characteristics of music as, in its eagerness for self-renewal it has been influenced by all music ever recorded. Google, based in Sweden, is the dominating producer of television, newspaper and film in addition to being the largest music production and distribution company.

03. Birdman – Futura

Internet.

The year is 2064. The ubiquitous presence of the internet can be felt wherever human habitation is to be found. The majority of people have a computer chip and internet connection wired directly to their nervous systems. Online information can be accessed via thought at any time of day or night. It is now possible to listen to music via a chip implanted in the auditory nerve while books, film and images can be accessed through the optic nerve. IP addresses have replaced personal identity numbers and digital usage is paid for directly through the tax system. The majority of music is created inside the mind and then uploaded in order to make it available to others. Almost everyone is involved in the creation of music which they then share. Music has become the dominating worldwide hobby. Since style has completely disintegrated, music can no longer be categorized by genre or national characteristics.

04. Liminals – The Swim

Global Warming.

The year is 2090. Climate change has drastically altered the earth, with large parts of Asia now below sea level. Earth’s human population is no longer increasing, but has halted at 12 billion inhabitants due to catastrophic famines, epidemics and wars fought over food resources. Southern Europe and the southern United States have suffered complete desertification. Northern Europe has, on the other hand, managed relatively well though its inhabitants have been forced to completely change their lifestyles. Fossil fuel is no longer in use, air travel has ceased almost completely and all food must be produced in the same region in which it is consumed. Even music production must be environmentally certified down to the minutest detail. Sweden, a leading producer, exports the most environmentally-friendly music on the market. Capable of interactively adapting to the listener’s needs and emotional state. This accounts for 90 % of global consumption.

05. Motoko Ishii – Homogen

Secularization and new-spirituality.

The year is 2050. Consumerism and the quest for status have been replaced by very different values in both the United States and Europe. The current economic superpowers can be found in Asia. Despite economic setbacks in the Western world, most people are striving for the ultimate in peace and harmony – to cease both working and owning. The information society has been replaced by the existential society and new-spirituality has become the norm. A great deal of research has been focused on learning how different frequencies affect the human body. The healing of both physical and psychological illness with the help of music is now an established science. The market is dominated by consciousness-altering music and pop music has almost entirely disappeared.

06. Dom Dummaste – Det Nya Melody

Retro-cycles.

The year is 2047. China is the world’s largest economic power and is exporting its culture worldwide. New styles of music are developed at an ever increasing rate, especially in the major cities of Asia, which are experiencing explosive growth. In Europe, the trend-cycles replace one another at the rate of a few weeks and the retro phenomenon is reaching farther and farther back in time. Advertising and music have merged. Sponsorship is included in compositions and in that way finances music. It is statutory that all pieces of music and works of art include a corporate sponsorship message, and unsponsored art is banned from the major networks. Chinese Google currently owns McDonald’s, as well as the World Bank, TV-Global and all internet and television networks. The majority of music is computer generated and is inspired stylistically by music of the Middle Ages and early Classical periods. Opera, influenced largely by the Peking opera, is the most prevalent vocal style in use whereas the most common language is Swedish blended with a great deal of Arabic and Chinese slang.

07. Håkan Lidbo – X-Bot-DXC vs MC-Monstrux -- EuroAsian Warzone Cronicle

Genetic enginering.

The year is 2082. Scientists have made major advances in the fields of gene manipulation and cloning. A plant-animal hybrid has been put into use for meat production. Due to gene modification conducted within the womb, the majority of illnesses have disappeared and the average human life span has increased to 150 years. Computers have long since been capable of composing music as skillfully as humans and as a result, almost all musicians have been replaced by robots. A new form of genetically modified pop/martial arts celebrities are outfitted with superpowers such as night vision, super-strength and ultrasound voices. Live music performances are a mix between a strictly choreographed martial arts performance and musical theater. Songs consisting of a medley of short advertising jingles and often forming a heroic saga are sponsored in their entirety by various corporations.

08. Joel Brindefalk – Morphony Suite 33

Space.

The year is 2050. We have finally made contact with extraterrestrial civilizations. We have received a signal from star system Gliese 581, which has long been trying to confirm the belief of the existence of organic life on earth. They succeeded in understanding a message sent from Earth on June 4^th, 2008 to Cassiopeia despite its not having been aimed at their system. The signal sent out from earth was a piece of music. The reply was an unfathomably complicated remix of the music originally sent out from Earth. By comparing the wavelengths of the original music sent out from Earth to the remix received from space, we are able to discover a key to its construction.  With the help of this piece of music, we are finally able to discover scientific solutions to a range of long unsolved problems such as cancer, aging and renewable sources of energy. Unlocking the mysteries of the music and thereby coming to an understanding of how it affects us emotionally allows us to use it in entirely new ways within the healing arts, the stimulation of learning and enablement of the human mind to double its capacity many times over.

09. Hab – Precycling Namibia

Computers in developing nations.

The year is 2025. The development project “One Laptop per Child”, which distributes cheap computers to school children in poor villages, has allowed Namibia to become one of the world’s fastest-growing industrialized nations. With the help of major Chinese investment, Namibia’s large population of IT-competent youth have become world-class programmers. The large prevalence of computers has created a strong electronic music scene, influenced by both Western hip hop and traditional Nama-Stap music. China is currently the most dominant cultural imperialist power and Chinese computer game-themed punk from the 2010s has completely conquered the Namibian market. Music is controlled both by thought impulses and through the movements of dance. Namibia is a global leader in regards to the technology that makes this possible.

10. Noisebud – Truck Driver

New influx of refugees.

The year is 2055. Southern Europe has become increasingly aged. As the number of working-age inhabitants decreased to less than a third of the population the shrinking birthrate was identified as a major problem. Southern Europe opened its southern borders and large numbers of young North Africans streamed to through. African immigrants soon made up over half of the population of Spain, Italy, the Balkans and southern France. Islam has become the dominant religion in southern Europe and has led to the evolution of new cultures. A new style of music evolves in Italy based on North African Rai, but also contains elements of early Italian avant garde of the 1990s.

11. Leif Jordansson – Music For Body And Soul

Artificial intelligence.

The year is 2070 and India is not only the largest, but also the richest country with roughly two billion inhabitants. Ever since the prohibition on fossil fuel, India has become the world’s largest automobile and airplane manufacturer. In addition, 60% of global music production takes place in India and as a result, music has taken on an entirely new role. Currently in existence are composition programs which are far superior to humans in the creation of all types of music, including experimental forms. Music composition simply entails connecting various plug-ins which simulate different types of compositions already in existence. Music is composed solely by computers and as a result has developed at an explosive rate and all genres have completely disintegrated. India, with its thousand-year history of musical mysticism and composition of numerical sequences is a leading producer of this technology.

12. Peter Benisch - Can Ka No Rey

Demographics.

The year is 2080. The EU hasevolved into a federation with both a president andpowerful parliament. Restrictive immigrations policies are still the norm. Due to falling birth rates, the EU has become a retirement home. The average life span in Sweden is 105 years. More than half of thepopulation is over 70 years of age and the small portion of working-age citizens are unable to compete with the new global industrial giants. Most of themusic being produced is intended for the older demographic, while the youth listen to Chinese pop. Retro trends have overlapped with previous retro trends in increasingly tight intervals only to dissolve into a homogenous, mediocre music style. The older population listens to an amalgamation of 1990s electronic music mixed with Asian influences.

13. Copyparty – Hässelby Skyline

Urbanization.

The year is 2080 and Mexico City has 50 million inhabitants, Shanghai 60 million, Moscow 35 million and Stockholm 5 million. The entirety of Stockholm City is composed of 300-400 meter high skyscrapers, which also function as vertical greenhouses. Urban sprawl has reached many tens of kilometers outside of the city center. Stockholm’s large outlying slums are plagued with social exclusion. Cities have reached such great sizes that what once were neighborhoods have now taken on the functions of small towns with their own commerce centers and suburbs. Music has acquired a very important role in the formation of local and personal identity. New music cultures have developed within each neighborhood, such as Vasastan with its large Iranian population and distinct musical tradition containing elements of 1990s hip hop, 2010s electro and 1900s Iranian pop.

Spring 2010, the radio show Ström is back for the 5th season. Ström is the only radio show on Swedish National Radio focusing only on the most interesting electronica. Every show is finished with a remix of the title music of Ström, a remix made by the fans of Ström.
This year we have developed an iPhone application, a creative six-channel mix with some powerful effects and cool features. When a remix is finished on the app, you simply send it to Ström’s Soundcloud-account and so can listen to it, If it’s really good, it might end a radio show this spring.
There is another function of the app that is even more unique. You can click the “band” button and your multi-channel mix turns into a tool to play only one instrument but with more flexibility and control. If you hook up with some fiends with iPhones, you can start an electronic pop-band. The people that make Ström did this and we had a gig at the club Fylkingen in Stockholm. Here are some pics from the gig:

The iPhone app is totally free and you can get it here.

Listen to remixes made by the P2Ström app.

Oljud Stockholm / Stockholm Noise was an exhibition at the Museum Of Music in Stockholm as a part of the Stockholm Culture Festival 2009, August 16-23. Håkan Lidbo and the ethnologist Elin Franzén asked five artist to make remixes of the most sounds that people in Stockholm find most annoying; The Underground, a kitchen at McDonald’s, a kindergarden at a small back yard, a noise café and a road in Old Town with passing heavy traffic. People in Stockolm was interviewed about these sounds and if their attitude to the sound changed after they heard it remixed into music. Oljud Stockholm / Stockholm Noise wanted to investigate how we can change our attitude to noise in the city and make it less stressful. By listening with your musical ears instead of your critical ears, you might not only be much less irritated by the noises of the city, you might also discover a new quality and a new dimension of our city. The artisits that made noise into music were Mokira (Andreas Tilliander), Noisebud (Sol Andersson and Johannes Ahlberg), Sophie Rimheden, Håkan Lidbo and Yourhighness (Johannes Wikström).
The Stockholm Noise website: www.oljudsthlm.se

Get the music for free!

Videos:

With subtitles:

1. Mokira -- Heavy Traffic/Munkbroleden                                                                 2. Noisebud -- McDonalds

3. Sophie Rimheden -- Café                                                                                     4. Håkan Lidbo -- Kindergarden/Dagis

5. Yourhighness -- Subway/Tunnelbanan

Oljud Stockholm handlar om oljuden i staden och hur vi förhåller oss till dessa. Men vilka ljud är oljud

kan man undra. Är bullret från trafiken oljud? Kanske ibland och för vissa, men inte alltid och för alla. Hur ljuden upplevs är högst individuellt. Det som är fult i någons öron kan vara vackert i någon annans. Kanske är det just de ljud vi kallar oljud som kännetecknar staden – vad vore Stockholm utan dem? Trafikbullret som alltid finns där, nära och på håll. Dagisbarnens högljudda lek som ekar mellan innergårdens väggar. Tunnelbanegnisslet som skär i öronen. Ljuden som vi måste leva med i staden. Vi kan se dem som inkräktare och plågor i vår vardag, eller som en del i stadens identitet. Stockholm har sitt buller.

Hur låter då Stockholm i jämförelse med andra städer? Är Stockholm en plats att besöka för ljudens skull, så som vi reser till New York eller Istanbul för att uppleva myllret, pulsen, platsens egen identitet? Kan Stockholm locka med sin ljudbild?

Ljuden påverkar vardagen på många plan. Den som har råd kan få slippa dem, köpa sig tystnad. Köra en ljudisolerad bil till och från jobbet eller avskärma sig från bullret på ett spa. Andra trängs på tunnelbanan och har motorvägen som granne. På så sätt är ljud en social fråga om möjligheten att bestämma över sin livsmiljö. Tystnad kan vara en lyxvara. Samtidigt tycks vi välja att stå ut med bullret för att få bo i en stor stad. Och några kan inte vara utan ljuden. Tystnaden blir obekväm, till och med skrämmande.

Genom att låta ett fem stockholmsbaserade electronicaartister göra musik av var sitt oljud vill vi se om lyssnarens inställning till ljuden förändras. Lyssna till exempel på Mokiras tolkning av trafikbullret i Gamla Stan. Nästa gång du väntar på grön gubbe medan bilar, bussar och lastbilar dundrar förbi är det kanske rytmerna du hör i stället för oljud. Gör du det är musiken ett lyckat försök till musikalisk brusreducering. Oljuden har laddats med något positivt.

Arbetsprocessen, från insamlingen av ljud till framförandet av den färdiga musiken, dokumenteras i fem korta videodokumentärer som visas på Musikmuseet i samband med Kulturfestivalen 11-16 augusti 2009.

Oljud Stockholm är den första delen i ett projekt som kan gå vidare och ta sig an andra städers ljud och oljud. Hur gnisslar spårvagnarna i Göteborg? Vilka ljud klagar man på i Tokyo? Oljud finns var som helst.

Aftonbladet Web-TV:

Music for Alien Civilisations asks the question: can music express all of the magnificence that is humanity? Our collected knowledge, our history and our dreams. We want to use music to present an image to life forms in other solar systems of who we earthlings are, while at the same time express our interest in making contact.

We know nothing of beings in other worlds, if they even exist, or how we should communicate with them. Music, we assume, is something universal that can be understood by everyone. Just as with fundamental mathematics. Whether all music in the universe is built upon the intervals and harmonic sequences that is the basis for our music, we will never know. But we can guess. And we can, as did many great composers through the centuries, search for the greatness in music that expresses how fantastic we humans are. If that is even what we want to express.

Ten of Sweden’s best artists within electronica were given the assignment of creating music for alien civilisations. During the spring of 2008, one contribution was presented per broadcast of the radio program Ström on P2. Two participating members of Ström, Håkan Lidbo and Andreas Tilliander, have created their own pieces that only exist on this CD. Unique music that really is not meant for human ears -- but for beings in unknown worlds.

On June 4th, 2008, the music on this album was broadcasted from the space station Esrange in Kiruna, in cooperation with the Swedish Space Corporation. Radio waves were sent toward the star Epsilon Indi A, which is located eleven light years away from Earth. If someone exists who has measuring instruments sufficient to separate our signal from the radio waves sent by the sun, and if someone actually listens in our direction then we hope to receive an answer sometime around 2030.

Video:
Håkan Lidbo -- Earth

About the artists and the music

Intro is a synthetic voice that reads aloud the coded message that Sol Anderson has added to her music. The human race, our origins in the universe and our will to make contact is presented.

Sol Anderson has built her piece of music with a collage of rhythms, because she believes that they are more universal than melodies and harmonies. Rhythms are bound together by human sound. No words, but rather the sound of a human when she loses control: laughter, tears and lust. Sol has even added a quick code using the binary number system, in which a note represents a zero, and another represents a one. www.myspace.com/sowlproductions

Ghostfriend is Krister Linder who has create music around a speech given by the Indian chief Oren Lyons. A speech, written in collaboration Hans Hassle, that Lyons gave in 2000 at a peace conference where the majority of Earth’s indigenous peoples were represented. It was a speech supported by all these peoples.  An appeal for reason in these times when human civilisation is threatened by impending climate changes, conflicts and injustice. Krister, on this recording representing Plantagon (an organisation of indigenous peoples) feels that this is the most important and worthwhile message that he can sent out into space. Maybe as a memory of humanity and that which soon will be our demise. www.ghostfriend.com, www.kristerlinder.com

Mokira is Andreas Tilliander’s alias when he makes minimalistic and ambient music. In this piece, it’s the first time his two musical identities ”cooperate”. This music is simply an example of how music from Earth can sound. If it is only us, the humans on Earth who create music, and no one else, and a space alien should look up the word ”music” in a galactic encyclopedia, then this is how it would sound. This piece of music ends with a simple 12-note scale, which is the most common to make music with, at least during the present age in the Western world. The scale also shows an extraterrestrial listener roughly within which frequences human hearing functions. www.repeatle.com

Håkan Lidbo has created a condensed musical description of the history of the Earth and humankind. Music can be understood by all people on Earth, iregardless of culture, and it can never be misunderstood. Therefore, music is most appropriate to send out to space as a presentation of humans. The middle section of the piece, which illustrates how our civilisation has been built, is an inferno of music from all genres, on all artistic levels and from every corner of the Earth. It is also an expression for humankind’s essential need to express itself musically, artistically and emotionally. www.hakanlidbo.com

Smyglyssna, otherwise known as Henrik Johansson, chose between making music with water sounds or piano sounds. Simply because he thinks it is beautiful. Henrik thinks that representing all people in one piece of music is an impossible task. He has therefore chosen to use his own taste and feeling as a starting point. He hopes that other civilisations will perceive the piece as sounding as beautiful and peaceful as human ears are find it.  henrik.johansson@gmail.com

18000018018018401 and Hab is Karin Holmgren and Hans Carlsson who work with the media project, The Konference. They work for sustainable consumption and an increased understanding of the consequences of globalisation and climate change. They want to present a broken Earth, unjust and male-dominated, and not a beautified image of our planet as a deomocratic, hi-tech utopia. They are counting on a just and intelligent civilisation being able to decipher the spoken language in their music and understanding it as a cry för help. www.thekonference.com

Johannes Wikström calls himself Yourhighness when he makes music. He has tried to collect all of human history, culture and knowledge in the music. At the same time, he has been inspired by space and tried to catch the sound of the expansion and development of the universe. He sings the choral pieces himself and wants to express a lament or cry for help from our civilisation. www.myspace.com/theyourhighness

Johan Fotmeijer fantisizes about the possibility that advanced civilisations on other planets have already sent signals to us on Earth. A sort of thought transmission with knowledge as an attachment, or a seed creating thoughts and ideas. Maybe it was such a signal that once inspired humans to take the step to build civilisations; and maybe music is proof of that, a product of this implanted idea. Otherwise, why is music such a fundamental part of humanity? Johan thinks that we should send music to alien civilisations as a sign that we humans have now reached this insight. Now it is time to respond. www.innertrax.com

Olof Dreijer has connected cords directly into the mechanics of the computer and recorded the sound of circuit boards and hard drives at work. He wants to send a sonic postcard from Earth describing our life right now: masses of computers exchanging information and money, while the humans are excluded from all this information. www.theknife.net

Mathtiiaas Rosén’s piece is a sort of map over a civilisation’s development. He ponders whether civilisations in the universe are like Christmas tree lights that blink without lighting up simultaneously. According to Mathtiiaas, the number of civilisations in the universe is a constant, just as with quantum energy. He is completely uninterested in space travel and interstellar communication. When he makes music, he often searches for bugs in the machines, and provokes faults in the electronics in order to find the ”machines’ free will”.www.myspace.com/dhudmdvjidkf

Henrik Rylander has taken his inspiration from an image of a man and a woman who followed along on Pioneer 10 and 11, which were the first space shuttles that left our solar system. Henrik has transformed the image into sound using a software program, and then built his composition from that sound. But he has manipulated the image. The humans are green with blue hair and make a Vulcan greeting as in Star Trek. Henrik wants to trick the recipients of the message, because he thinks that one of humankind’s most obvious qualities is that we are dishonest and distort information. www.henrikrylander.com

Tobias Von Hofsten, who calles himself One, normally makes techno and electro, but this time has only used drums that he has built according to the Sami shamanic tradition. This music is a drum journey in which the listener is guided into a trance that connects with the subconscious, and the spirits and animal guides that can provide assistance. He does not see his piece of music as a greeting from humankind, but from the planet Earth, which according to Tobias is a living being that we humans are all a part of.  www.vonhofsten.com