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LP
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POCOCHIN 003LP
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Outboard magician Porn Sword Tobacco ends a string of great releases with a mini-album on Pocochin, displaying the full spectrum of his artistry. Seventh album from Porn Sword Tobacco. Releases on Workshop, SUED, Acido, Recording, Kontra Musik, Shot Of T. Hand-printed cover.
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CCO 044CD
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This is the fourth album by Sweden's Henrik Jonsson aka Porn Sword Tobacco. Recorded in the legendary Silence studios with long-time collaborators Patrick and Tommi, Everything Is Music To The Ear came into existence largely without planning or calculation, without much thinking nor hard work -- often improvised on the spot, even the melodies on the characteristic piano that Jonsson claims he never learned to play. He has played in bands before, also releasing a number of records ranging from a leftfield electro EP to two solo albums of laidback electronic dub. Most crucial, however, were his 4 years of travelling across the world as a stage musician for a popular electronic project, playing for numerous audiences on all continents, from Japan to Zambia -- a unique school of music, but also of life, and an experience that nourished a determination to pursue what's really important. In his early years, he swapped violin lessons for a Roland Space Echo, listened to audio plays at the local library, and to his parents' colorful record collection -- The Beach Boys, Eno, Kraftwerk -- this is what forms Porn Sword Tobacco. It's a project that takes a decidedly naive and unabashedly nostalgic position, exploring a dreamy escapism that is undiluted and personal. Porn Sword Tobacco's songs, seemingly field recordings in nightly landscapes of musical sounds, are equally far from ambient and from pop, from retro avant-rock or any other genre. Jonsson hones his songs until they work as loops, or long, rhythmic figures with the heartbeat of classic and modern deep house and electro. Possibly inspired by his relocation to Berlin in 2007, Everything Is Music To The Ear is a statement -- an evolving world of comforting dreams crystallized into comforting audio, exquisitely easy and refined, yet new and unique.
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CCO 039CD
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New Exclusive Olympic Heights is Henrik Jonsson's second full-length album and his third release for City Centre Offices. Having originally come to the music world's attention through 2004's self-titled muted masterpiece, Jonsson has edged off into more analog territory without losing the frayed sense of wonder that saw him compared with the likes of Harold Budd, Marsen Jules and Brian Eno. Recorded over a two-year period in the same studio which gave birth to the previous two Porn Sword Tobacco albums, New Exclusive Olympic Heights is an astonishing tapestry of sound and Swedish atmosphere that brings to mind images of sun-dappled clearings and unseen dusky threats. Swirled through with beads of static and crackle, this release is an epic doctrine in the power of ambient music, wherein Jonsson coaxes disparate elements into the kind of organic whole that is a million miles away from most of his peers. Opening with "Tools For Trains," the sheer weight of time spent away from 21st century life is drawn upon with remarkable ease as soapy waves of fizzing chords accrue filigree hisses -- before the whole composition fades into obscurity against the sound of a distant train passing by. Emotional in a way which is difficult to define, "Den Rosa Sporten" features frosted glass aesthetics and delicate acoustic guitar that are wrapped around the kind of music which Boards of Canada should be making. Seemingly in possession of a tacit understanding of what makes a piece of music both uncluttered yet thoroughly arresting, New Exclusive Olympic Heights oozes beauty from every pore and sees Jonsson firmly installed as a true grandmaster of this soundscape-rich music. With other highlights including the warm instrumental glow of "Pappa! Min Karlek Är Gravid" and "U.S. Saloon Interiors 41/59" with its Badalamenti overtones, Porn Sword Tobacco has consummately proven that isolation and a sense of wonder at your surroundings can conjure up the most magical of emotions.
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CCO 039LP
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CCO 027CD
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Henrik Jonsson hails from Göteborg, Sweden and this is his first full-length album and his second release for City Centre Offices. Last year, Jonsson, aka Porn Sword Tobacco, set the speed for the future of ambient-inspired campfire music. Reminding us of the possible greatness of pioneers like Harold Budd and Brian Eno, Jonsson managed to adapt the endlessness of a piano tone for our digital, laptop-based generation. Taking off in his comfortable domain of introverted crackles, nature sounds, and tiny piano fragments, Explains Freedom switches moods as fast as a turntablist changes his records and offers snapshots of a slow-motion world we all miss. "Eudaimonia" is a blueprint for your early morning wake up call, "Watt Towers" should play as a loop in every crib, "Talk is Cheap, Swords are Sharp" is what you feel when you see the sun coming up behind a big mountain, "Folkhemmet" is the dance the elderly dance when they fall in love and "Futuristic Rasta Money" makes you realize that Henrik Jonsson is not the person you thought he was. Explains Freedom is peaceful and hopeful -- as if the world is a flower.
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CCO 027LP
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BLOCK 027CD
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"Henrik Jonsson from Göteborg has recorded a couple of records in the past you might know or not, but it was not until last summer that this particular project came together. The tracks on this debut release (a full-length is already in the making, the studio has been booked again for the summer) are unique and blend the genius of ambient masterpieces from composers like Harold Budd with something incredible. A burst of noise, crackles and static. Where other musicians use those elements as tiny ingredients for their music, Porn Sword Tobacco is more like broken radio, tuned into a station playing the most beautiful music you have ever heard in your life. Many famous musicians recorded in this studio, up in the north of Sweden. Ever since the 60s, the studio crew has been building one of the most impressive sound-archives in the world, a world recorded on reel-to-reel tape. Amazing acoustics and a collection of wonderful instruments and the constant presence of a very unique ambience make you think that Porn Sword Tobacco might be the modern version of Budd and Eno's The Pearl. It just draws you in, does not let go. Every track tells a very specific story, assembles sketches, drifts off, picks up again, re-adjusts itself all the time, levels noise, piano, guitar, organ, bass , thinks of new chords. Is there a better soundtracks for every season, month, day, hour, second?"
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