Search - Jay-Jay Johanson :: Antenna

Warning: this CD is a mental health hazard

skullhead | australia | 09/27/2005

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Wow, I just bought this album and I'm really surprised with my strong reactions to it .... I really think I hate it ... a lot. I first recently bought Jay-Jay's 'Tattoo' CD and really enjoy it and can sincerely recommend it, but with this one I feel like I've been somehow tricked into buying a bad joke. It's almost 'something' but it's grip is incredibly tenuous and it threatens to slide into the giant abyss of utter tedious and monotonous crap ... the entire way through the CD. I can appreciate the obscure and difficult to define genre that Jay-Jay Johanson inhabits but really this one is pushing it. It reminds me of what i hated about the early eighties. Listen well to someone else's copy before you put out for this one ... you might get more satisfaction buying your own crappy casio keyboard. I think you need to have spent a really severe Swedish winter snowed in with no sensory stimulation for six months to be inspired by this one. Yeah, I'm listening to it again and it's just making me feel angry and irritable.I really hope I regret writing this harsh review, but at this point I really don't think I could get through a third play of this CD without smashing it to smithereens and using the razor sharp little shards to slash my wrists."

Re-invented

W. Cruver | United States | 01/31/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With every new release of a Jay-Jay album, comes an entirely new sound. Obviously moving more into an electronic, techno sound, many of the melodies feel like they could be layed out onto the beats and moods of the last album. Replace those old dusty drums and the scratchy vinyl hiss from "Poison" with a cleaner electronic beat, and you've got "Antenna". An additional dash of jay jay flavor on top, makes this album well worth the purchase."

Haunting and beautiful

Ciderjane, Groovystylie.com | Chelsea, MA United States | 02/06/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Well, they sure do grow some cool kids in Sweden, and this one goes by the handle Jay-Jay Johanson, a silky-voiced songwriter whose latest release, Antenna, sent all sorts of shockwaves through me. To be totally truthful, the CD stayed in my player for a week straight and I was humming the songs incessantly - pretty fabulous. Antenna is filled with off-beat, unexpectedly pretty songs that are quite haunting, due in large part to Johanson's weirdly ethereal voice. The deliberately 80's-esque arrangements of songs like `On The Radio' and `Déjà Vu' showcase massively catchy lyrics that are sing-able at exactly the right tempo. Perhaps because Johanson is not a native English speaker (I presume), the cadence of his delivery is fittingly unusual, and the overall effect is one of poignancy and fragility. `Kate' is really lovely, the beats providing a nice edge and making the overlaying tones even more graceful, Johanson's vocals plaintive, but never whiny. It's obvious too, that Johanson's tastes range far and wide when one listens to the experimental scratch and dub of `Open Up,' the super cool bluesy jazz trumpet and heavier acoustics of `I Want Some Fun,' and the liquid sexiness of `Cookie,' which has the slow, measured pace of a Portishead song, beats and vibe tones falling together easily, string samples providing a pretty backdrop. Antenna is an experience one doesn't soon forget - we'll all be hearing more from Jay-Jay Johanson in the coming months, and whatever it is, it's going to be inspiring."