About this Playlist
The best in new jazz influenced music, from the amazing instrumentation and experimental sounds of the new British jazz scene, to the deeper sounds of electronic music like broken beat, the worldwide sounds afrobeat and Latin influences of South America, the music just needs to have strong rhythms and deep grooves but still able to destroy a dancefloor.
He-Man Stradivarius is a three-piece based in Stockholm, Sweden, that has previously released two singles, ‘Bell Man‘ and the psych house anthem ‘Meatballs‘ featuring a breath taking Mini Moog solo by Joel Danell (Sven Wunder). Toterebuka features vocals by Uganda born Swedish actor, singer and activist Richard Kaigoma Sserwagi in his native Ganda language.
Toterebuka is a dirty afro funk number with some amazingly distorted vocals, that kind of sounds like something a crate digger would find in a Kampala flea market but with some modern psych touches.
The Hoof caught up with Henry from the band for a chat.
Tell us about yourself and how you got into music
I got started in the 90’s DIY-scene playing in bands like Mazarine Street (art-rock), Chihuahua (big band pop), Rock-Out (free jazz with turntables and drums) Saralunden (chanson) and Puppetmasters (Electroclash). Since then I’ve been working more in film and just recently got back to music.
So how have you kept busy during the last year or so, did the pandemic stifle your creativity or did the free time allow you to experiment more.
When the pandemic hit I suddenly had time to play more music and have been jamming and recording with the band He-Man Stradivarius as well as with Wau Wau Collectif.
What’s the inspiration behind ‘Toterebuka‘
Toterebuka grew from a simple guitar lick that I was playing around with and felt had a sort of 70’s afro funk feel. The rest of the track came together in recording with Marcus and Niklas. We finished recording it with me singing other lyrics and melody in English but I felt something was missing and asked Richard Sseruswagi if he was up for coming up with his own lyrics and melody. He brought the final piece to the puzzle with his powerful political message in Gandian.
Tell us about your writing and recording process, what instruments, hardware or software to you use.
We record everything live in the Dustward studio with Stefan Brändström who adds a unique punk/garage vibe to everything he records. He also has a fantastic kraut phaser that we try to use on something on each track. The percussion is played by Jouni Haappala and I’m playing the slightly out of tune Farfisa organ.
What is your 2022 looking like, what are your hopes and dreams, do you have any exciting plans, new releases, tours or gigs.
We are looking forward to our first proper gig on the 7th of May and to releasing the cassette “Pumping Irony” on ORD sometimes in the fall. It will be collecting our previous singles ans well as some new tracks. I hope the feel will be of an eclectic mix tape ranging from Thai-Afro rock over boogie disco gospel and progressive funk to psychedelic latin rock.
Can you give us a classic track, something that has inspired you or simply one you love and never get sick of listening to.
It almost impossible to name one track as there are so many I love but I love cross overs and mixing between different kinds of music. Like Rio Corrente with Guilherme Coutinho E O Grupo Stalo or La Gran Feria with Banda Nueva. You can listen to some of our favourites in this playlist:
Can you recommend any new music, something that you’ve just discovered or are just really digging at the moment.
The whole Dina Ögon Album, NTU – Bobby Hutcherson, No Condition Is Permanent – Marijata, Turn into Earth – Yardbirds, Studio No1 – Sebastian Tapajós & Pedro Dos Santos, Hentai – Rosalia, Nonsequitor Segues – Ariel Pink and the list goes on.
Do you think playlists are important, what types do you enjoy, in your opinion, what’s the future of the playlist.
I think playlist are doing well but the logarithms for figuring out what you want to hear when the playlist is over is generally just repeating the same tracks over and over. My favourite way of discovering new music is to buy 10 kr (1USD) bargain bin records that look promising. I would say 50% of my record collection is made up of these kind of records now and I don’t keep anything that’s not exceptional in one way or another.
How do you prefer your music to be heard, streams, downloads or physical product sold. Why?
No matter – just listen any way possible.
How do you connect with your audience, email, social media, PR firms.
Right now we don’t have much of an audience apart from our friends but we are hoping to gain one.
What’s the best way a fan could help you today if they had just ten minutes to spare.
Spread the music!