Expect unbelievably smooth vibes on this collaborative release from DJ Crillo. The sound of the nineties returns, hopeful RnB melodies pour through and simple story-telling lays out a scene. Things aren’t purely vintage though, mixed in with the nostalgia is a notably fresh, colourful beat. The musical backdrop to this track has been built with several layers of partly organic make-up – the horn sound, the riffs, the chord progression; you can visualize a live band performance and it feels somewhat jazz and funk-like.
The further you get into the song, the more the vibes affect you in a positive way. The release has been structured so as to keep you interested and entertained throughout. This can either be the backdrop to your drive home or certain moments in your day, or it can be the song you turn to when you need to feel that good energy before heading out for the end of the week celebration. The more you hear that scratched track kicking up, the closer you get to the central energy. The melody and the instrumentation are fairly simple natured but undoubtedly effective and easy to enjoy.
Structural strengths are primarily shown in the vocal changes – the opening melody switches to a more rhythmic and harder hitting performance, then you get a classic rap delivery with a totally retro style; one that’s again nostalgic and comforting to have fill the room.
There’s a laid back aura to the whole thing that lets you settle in and forget the rat race for a while. Every artist involved puts in the perfect kind of energy and perspective to keep the track moving and to hold on to that underlying sentiment and the general groove of the completed piece. You don’t get too many tracks of this nature these days but hopefully the sound is making a comeback. An easy must for the playlist.
DJ Crillo – “Friday” Featuring Jocelyn Mathieu & OLC – Single Review
Here’s something you can pop on in your ride and seriously cruise to.
And besides…everyone out there could use a little more “Friday” on their Tuesday nights, am I right? DJ Crillo’s done real well here on this new single – the texture of the music and vibrant way the music comes at you from the lefts & rights on “Friday” is freakin’ spectacular – and loaded with good-time vibes. Enlisting the vocal talents of Jocelyn Mathieu and OLC on the mic to add some soul into this cut, they switch between an R&B/Hip-Hop combo in the verses and break out the real singing for the hooks in the chorus. Resulting in a collaboration that’s got that uplifting spark your speakers are searching for – this new single from DJ Crillo and his posse of talent is a genuine ‘nod ya head’ rhythm & groove.
You can help but get into this…you just can’t…I don’t care if you’re built of pure steel or not – this is too smooth to be denied! From the music to the microphone, the entertainment comes flowing out from all angles of the production & performances on “Friday” – this is gonna satisfy a whole lot of ears out there.
I mean…you just FEEL better after listenin’ to a track like this – you dig? Music like this is like vitamins for the soul y’all, or that warm sunshine on your face as the day starts cookin’ – inviting, comforting, catchy, welcoming…you name it – a track like “Friday” is all of these things and more. Expertly put together by the main man, DJ Crillo’s got this cut fully loaded with enticing sounds from clever edits & old-school scratches, a smart & crisp beat, character-filled horns & atmospheric synth sounds in the mix…it’s all here for your ears to hear, to be turned up, and to truly be enjoyed. Y’ain’t gonna get through this track and then go sleep with a frown somewhere – “Friday” is a celebration of that entire spirit you can get from your time away from the grind…a cut that’ll genuinely relax your soul as much as it’ll entertain your whole FACE. In my heart of hearts, I like to think that’s exactly why this single connects so quickly when we listen – somewhere inside of all us, there’s something brilliantly relatable here in “Friday” that exists in each and every one of us.
Whether your homies are in their twenties or in their late eighties – I mean…we can all relate to that feeling of the possibilities of a “Friday” night, can’t we? And believe it or not – when it comes to age, straight-up, I don’t think there are any boundaries on a track like this…it’s the kind of remarkable accessibility in sound & songwriting that could potentially appeal to anyone & EVERYONE – and when you think of just how rare that really is, you gotta hand DJ Crillo and the crew here some bonus points for pulling off some serious magic in the flow of “Friday.”
TEST THESE THEORIES FOR YOURSELF HOMIES. I dare you to put this on in a group of your friends and just see if you’re not all nodding along to the beat by about thirty-seconds in. I bet ya will be. Because if you weren’t in the mood for good times before, you certainly will be by the time you have a listen or two to this highly repeatable cut…this verifiable shiny single full of crossover sound…like I was saying earlier on – you just feel great after an experience in music like you get from DJ Crillo’s “Friday.” Excellent performances from Jocelyn Mathieu, who lends the most soulful singing to this cut, and the bars from OLC continue to add even more character & personality into this song. The resulting balance between the strengths of this collaborative effort are what make “Friday” such a smooth moment in time from beginning to end…everyone’s bringing the right performance in to suit the vibe and complement the other surrounding parts perfectly, gettin’ lively with it when it’s called for and keeping it ultra-chill for the most part to preserve the coolness of this cut and make sure it’s flowing at all times.
Honestly you’re not getting a single complaint from me when it comes to “Friday” or what’s been accomplished here. I think this hits the spot on all-levels – it’s that perfect party vibe that slides right into your speakers and stays because it’s welcome there…the kind of song that will bring the party right to ya if you’re not already there. Really solid single and props to all-hands on deck here – this cut is continual fun and endlessly smooth – DJ Crillo, Jocelyn Mathieu, & OLC make the most of this moment and maximize the potential that “Friday” feeling comes along with – 100% solid & stunning to listen to.
Originally from Gothenburg, Sweden, musician and producer Christian Eriksson aka DJ Crillo has a knack for making music that fits into the schemes of originality and soul. In fact, DJ Crillo’s new single Fridayfeaturing Jocelyn Mathieu & OLC is an excellent example of some of the depths and heights achievable in urban music.
Blessed with excellent vocal performances by Jocelyn Mathieu & OLC, Friday is a funky rap/r&b tune with an impeccable groove. Friday opens up with a chunky beat and soulful harmonies which gives this track its delectable appeal. Friday’s festive theme built around having a good time at the onset of an approaching weekend is a refreshing tale that is good for dance floor participation and chill vibes. Friday by DJ Crillo is a great way to live every day of the week.
A breakup song is a song describing a breakup, with associated emotions of sadness, frustration, anger, tand sometimes of acceptance or relief. The all-time best-selling single of a breakup song is the 1992 Whitney Houston version of "I Will Always Love You", which sold over 20 million copies. The song had originally been written and recorded in 1973 by American singer-songwriter, Dolly Parton, and topped the country charts in 1974. It was written as a farewell to her one-time partner and mentor of seven years, Porter Wagoner, following Parton's decision to pursue a solo career. Other high-selling breakup songs include "I Will Survive" (14 million copies), "Un-Break My Heart" by Toni Braxton in 1996 (10 million copies), "Believe" by Cher in 1998 (10 million copies) and "Careless Whisper" by George Michael in 1984 (6 million copies). Best-selling digital singles include "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye featuring Kimbra in 2011 (13 million copies), "Hello" by Adele in 2015 (12.3 million copies), and "Love Yourself" by Justin Bieber in 2016 (11.7 million copies)
Breaking up a relationship is both painful and difficult. This is a story of a breakup that is special in many ways. We lived far apart, making it difficult for us to be toghether and to deepen the relationship. We came to a point where it just did not work anymore, we had to breakup ... Just like many times before, I turned to music as a way to process the grief. I went down to my studio and created a soundscape of tones that expressed the feeling. I sent the music to Michel Fuentes and explained how I felt and what the music was about. He just understood and put himself in the situation. After a few weeks Michel contacted me. He had sung in a text and melody that perfectly described the story...
So my ladies and gentlemen, here's the soundtrack to the experience: "Far away" - DJ Crillo Feat. NoOne https://open.spotify.com/track/1DnAfOVxkZ45kmWn4Sip12?si=uuKJPQ3CSLSBh9XSKKfY0g
Music has no border – the cultural mix between the soul of that Carribean singer and the famous Swedish talent for hit music shows off on this track by DJ Crillo & Black Snake. Tropical House, the most chilled of all chill-out dance seems to be the new music trend for 2016, and this tune is a clear example of it. “On The Wall (In My Mind)” is definitely one of the best songs to enjoy for any long travel this summer. Hot stuff!
Today I open up a new section of that blog : the interview section ! As you can guess, it will feature artist/producer/DJ/… interviews I’ll do over the years.
Those interview will provide you information on who your favorite artists are, but also on how their musical journey went on and what the realities of todays music business are.
Our first guest – DJ Crillo Aka Christian Eriksson from Gothenburg, Sweden (An artist I reviewed here) – answered a few of my question in a long but very interesting and insightful interview that covers his musical journey and the journey the music scene went through from the 90s to the present times.
So let’s start this interview… Could you talk a little about you ? Who are you ?
I’m a quite positive person, I smile a lot, this makes it quite easy for me to connect with people. I am also a bit spiritual… and sensitive. I have a powerful internal drive that makes things happen, I hardly never ever slow down. I do believe in the relationship between people, people gives me energy and motivation.
I’ve loved music since I was a little boy. I started playing on my first keyboard when I was 4 years old. My mother was dating a guy who was a pioneer of synthesizers… He was the distributor of the famous PPG synth in Scandinavia. The first synth of its kind. He had at least 10 different synthesizers in his house. When I got to visit his studio for the very first time, 6-year-old, this experience lit a fire within me… this experience started a journey…
Christian Eriksson aka DJ Crille with his guitar
How did you get involved in the music scene ? When did it happen ?
I met with Magpie (Magnus Liljengren) in high school, we became best friends the first time we met. We were of the play music for the next 10-15 years together, in different musical projects and genres before we split up doing things on our own. We started 1987 by playing instrumental synth pop and we managed to sell over 500 cassettes at our school.
I met Black Snake (Milton Hebbert Watson) in the 90s for the first time. He was doing one of his great “toasts” on a track I was producing for artist named Innervision. We immediately became friends talking about everything from love to music.
Black Snake (Milton Hebbert Watson)
Black snake live on TV
Black Snake then joined a Europop band together with me and Magpie, Johan B and Kim Kärnfalk called X-RAY. Black Snake and me always had a very special spiritual connection. We work really good together, with great respect for each person characteristics and capabilities. He’s extremely quick, sometimes I send him an idea and responds back with a set of vocal takes within a day, really amazing.
Europop act X-ray, back in the 90s
Two members of the Europop act X-ray in the 90s
Do you see your production only as a hobby, a potential future career or is it already your career (i.e. you can make a living out of it) ? What’s your vision on this issue ? What advice would you give to a newcomer on this subject ?
During the 90s music was my life. Producing and composing was my identity. But it was always tough to earn any serious money, so I worked in a musical store to manage and be able to pay the rent. But the dream and vision was always clear. I never became reach and famous on my music, but I have met with fabulous peoples and had the chance to experience amazing things I ‘d never had a chance to if I had not been doing music.
It is probably worth much more than money can buy … such as we are under water festival in Stockholm where I go the change to meet the Spice Girls and also got to play with George Clinton’s & the P-Funk Allstar Band. We got to play for 10,000 people in the royal garden. Memories that I will always carry with me the rest of my life.
But when I met up with Black Snake and Magpie again for a couple of years ago, we started a new journey, and we have to see where it takes us…
DJ crillo live
George Clinton & P-funk – All access pass (1995)
Clinton, wow ! BTW, the music environment of the 90s – where record sales drove everything – changed due to the recording industry crisis (driven, according to them, by online piracy). How did you go through that episode ?
It was tough, I had to take on other normal jobs and I did also work as an touring musician. I never had the luck to have a hit or other great success of that kind. The record companies were looking for products quite ready to sell. In the end of the 90’s all the boy bands had great success. We were never a ready to sell concept. I think we never had the change to connect with the right people with the cool contacts. I lived inGothenburg, I town with tons of Rock N Roll bands… not many RnB, Dance music artist back then… the pop music scene was quite small in comparison to Stockholm.
Are you signed to a label/labels ? If yes, tell us how did you get noticed by the label’s executives and in what the label helped you in your musical career
I have been signed with a RnB Soul /Rap band called OLC (Raymond Gustavsson, Björn Holmberg, Björn Starfeldt & Carl-Fredrik Corneliusson). We signed with a big record label called BMG, and we were promised the universe and more… but it never really took off..
RnB / Soul / Rap band OLC, back in the 90s
Soo these days with digital distribution and all, we manage to distribute our music by our self. We should however be open for connecting with management or a record label for collaboration.
How did you, back then, got that contract with BMG ? How did they – or not – develop you & your career as OLC ?
We release one single 1996 calledSWING, and we got great review from the press and all. Our A&R (Peter Swartling) promised to release an album and to push our music toLuc Besson (famous Film Maker). We then work the album for a year. We recorded and produced 10 songs, some of them were really really good. When we met with the record company again they found one song that was very different more of a RAP song… they told if we did 9 more like that they sponsor us with 1 million… But we felt, hell no… we been working so hard with the album and we loved the songs we had recorded. We went back home, very sad and depressed. Then the phone rang, it was a famous produced and composer Anders Bagge who called to say that He wanted to met with us, he loved the music. So we continued to work with him for another year recording in is big studion in Stockholm. However, we had bad luck, as he decided to ditch us for another similar project that he felt was better…
How would you describe your style ? Why did you choose to express your creativity through that music style ?
DJ CRILLO & Black Snake stands for creativity, we do what we feel from within our self. Of course, one hopes that someone out there in the world enjoy and understand our work and music. The style is a mixture of pop, electro, house with Caribbean accents… but we will continue to develop and get better.
What artists inspire you ? Tell us who and why, how you discovered them, everything…
I’m always impressed with music that sound good and that are properly mixed, with an interesting sound, vocals or performance. Melodies are very important, that what you hear starts some sort of reaction within you. Music is a passion, I like so many different artist and genres, but to mentions some artist: Seal’s music is always great with a god pop-soul touch. There are some fantastic performing artists like Bruno Mars and Justin Timberlake. When it comes down to electronic music, I think that I became very influenced by Denniz Pop‘s sound in the 90s it completely changed the music for many years to come. I frequently listen to: Sonny Alven, Marcus Schulz, Will Young, Michael McDonald, Medina, Laleh, Diplo, Zedd, Seven Lions, Faithless, Dua Lipa, Setsuna,MNEK, EDX… Many times when working you are very impressed with the sound quality of other artists as with Otto Knows and Axwell Λ Ingrosso.
What elements OUTSIDE THE MUSIC WORLD inspire you for your creation ?
Meeting people, relationships, life stories and the beautiful ocean. I remember coming back from London very inspired to make a remix of Hillforts Sons – Alone, a track I produced of couple of years ago. The visit to London really inspired me to make something more “club:ish” than before.
Your own mood and feelings will also effect what music you creating at the moment.
Do you consider yourself more (or only) as a producer or a DJ ? Why ?
I’m a producer, most of all, I make things happen, an orchestrator and project leader … I connect different elements to each other, performers, songwriters and musical landscapes. It’s great fun being a DJ sometimes, you learn a lot of what works or not.
As a producer, in what environment are you working ? What is your equipment ? Your DAW ? Your go-to plugins ? Tell the world everything about the technical side of your artistic work.
Many things have changed since I started with electronic music in the 80s using anAtari computer connected via MIDI to +15 synths, mixer and outboard effects.
Dj Crillo’s Atari ST based studio in the 80s
Now days all you need is a very power computer and a DAW, the rest is up to you. I used to work in Reason because of the workflow and the amazing groove mixer, but as Reason is limited to using their own plugin I moved to Logic Pro X a couple of years ago. The most important part of all is your listening, your monitor and headphones. I very recent came in contact with a company called Sonarworks who makes a calibration plugin/software for your monitor and headphones… and I must say it’s best investment I ever did… All my recent mixes translate so much better now. I still send them away for mastering to Wired Masters in the UK, Kevin is really good. He has mastered our two lasts tracks: Smiling Dreams and On the wall (in my mind).
Why don’t you master your songs yourself ? Plugins like Ozone make this possible nowadays ?
When I been working for long time with a track producing and mixing, I think it’s good to have a 2nd opinion on the mix. Also they are experts on Mastering and they give the extra touch to the music. Ozone is great, for me it’s easier to Master other artists work as I will then to that with a fresh ear.
You said your mother was dating the distributor of the PPG wave while you were a kid… Do you nowadays prefer hardware or software synths ? And what about that famous PPG wave synth ?
I used to have many analog and digital hardware synths. I think I had like 30 different models. The plugins do not sound as good as hardware gear but they are extremely convenient. We’ll see in the future if I will buy me some nice synths for that extra feel. PPG was very special as it contained sampled waveforms, the start for a new type of synths that could sound like both analog and digital gear.
Doing great music is one aspect of the game, but what about the marketing part ? How do you get people to listen to your productions ? How do you market your art… and yourself ?
With new technology you are able to reach people all around the world. Social media is very important and so is also Soundcloud. Soundcloud is great and unique as it’s possible to communicate with other artists and fan’s. I also use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIN in order to distribute music and stories to friends and fans. The big dream is to be played on national radio, but it is almost impossible. We have tried everything, sending them candy, calling them… they won’t play the song. I wish they did…
Any idea why ? Have you got feedback from them ? Did you try being played in smaller radios first ?
They receive many songs every week, they do not have time to listen to every track. The record companies and publishers pay radio station in order to get the music played (editor’s note : this system is known as Payola).
What is your relationship to fame ? Do you seek it ? Do you wanna remain somewhat hidden ? What is your relationship to the concept of having a public image ? Are you more Justin Bieber or Daft Punk ?
I think that most of us doing music wants to be recognized as an artist, composer, performed or producer. I do not seek fame at all, but if it appears I will take it from there. I think that Daft Punk is doing a really smart marketing trick by hiding within the helmets and creating a secret icon. We have not done so with any of our projects, but many succeed by creating an image like that.
Do you also do live performances (whether instrumental, vocal or DJing) ?
Yes, we do. We will bring both synths and a DJ-kit. Black Snake will then sing and perform live on the music back track. Works really well as you still can control the length of the song you perform with the DJ-kit.
What are your plans for the future ? Your dreams also…
My biggest dream is to be played on radio or TV, or if a famous artists discover our music… to make a cover or a remix. I still think my passion to music will take me to new places and the possibility to meet with new interesting people.
Do you have advices for young (or less young ? ), aspiring producers who’ld like to make it in that activity / business ?
Dream big, keep om practicing and do the music you like and use all the new digital channels to spread it to the world. You will never ever know what will happen. By every release and encounters with listeners you will learn new things and get new ideas… never stop dreaming and never stop trying to be different.
Thanks Christian for taking this interview, and for providing us with insightful answers. Keep up the good work with your mate Black Snake and may the force be with you !
), aspiring producers who’ld like to make it in that activity / business ?