First Acts Announced For Where's The Music? Festival

Where’s the Music? reveal the first acts to perform at the inaugural event in Norrköping, Sweden from 12th – 14th February 2015. Showcasing the wide variety of home grown talent and celebrating what Sweden is best known for – great music, the first acts include; Adna, Andreas Moe, Beatrice Eli, Caotico, Hello Saferide, Jennie Abrahamson, Kite, Kitok, Merely, Spiders, The Hanged Man, Thunder Mother and Erik Rapp.
 
“We are incredibly proud of today's artist release for Where's the Music?, which testifies to the festival's character; new and fresh with sights set on an international career. But this is just the start, we will be able to announce more artists soon and in total we’ll have about 150 live acts over the three days.” Says Niklas Westergren, project manager Where’s The Music?
 
Where’s the Music? is a new event with two purposes, one obviously being the music where the aim is having new artists in focus presented to a curious and excited industry ready to get support new projects. The other being a comprehensive conference program exploring subjects related to the music industry.
 
The festival will include artist performances as well as lectures presented by people in the music industry, sharing their stories and experiences. The combination will make a platform for networking, where the national and international music industry will exchange experiences and ideas, discover new artists and find new collaborations through networking.
 
Taking place in various public locations in the unique area called Industrilandskapet in the central of Norrköping, Where’s the Music? aims to be one of the most important meeting points for European music industry, where they can meet the Swedish industry and make great things together. The live music focus will be on Swedish artists, but there will also be room for international music, where visitors can discover the stars and sound of tomorrow.
 
About the Artists:

Adna
After graduating from highschool, Adna decided to move to Berlin in early 2014. The young, Swedish singer and musician released her first album ‘Night’ in GSA in April 2014. By then Adna had already received much attention in the media and won acclaim for her first EP as well as for her Youtube covers of First Aid Kit’s ‘The Lion’s Roar’ and Indochine’s ‘J’Ai Demande A La Lune’. She also received several scholarships and cultural support from the Arts Council. 

Andreas Moe
Andreas had his first big break in 2011 when he was asked to feature on Avicii’s world-wide hit single ‘Fade into Darkness’ and from there the buzz picked up furthermore when he sang and co-wrote the Platinum selling singles “Long Time”, “Under The Sun” and “Dance Our Tears Away” with Swedish DJ, John de Sohn, picked up by LA Reid in the US on Epic Records. Since then, Andreas has continued to collaborate with well known DJ’s around the world and enjoys writing toplines for dance music, however his heart has always been and will always be in pursuing his own singer songwriter career.

Beatrice Eli
A major publisher signed her as an artist and a songwriter. Beatrice was paired up with various producers and together they created a celebrated EP. But Beatrice did not feel comfortable with her sound and she felt that there was still something missing. What was missing, part 1: to create something entirely new. To erase the genre-barriers, and create something that you would not be able to put a label on. – I listen to, and get inspired by, such various music, and the album had to reflect that. What was missing, part 2: she needed to let people know who she was. Her music is transcending genres. It is a sexual emancipation. It is straight up and honest. It is Beatrice Eli.

Caotico
Caotico is back in a new formation. They started out as a trio, but now they are only two, Joel and Erik. Two brothers from Umeå who have developed an unhealthy co-dependence to each other. When they formed Caotico, they had grand plans and visions. The year 2014 was a year they imagined doing totally different stuff than writing their own press releases, recycle empty beer cans, and eat aspirin. But now they are back, bigger, better, and more beautiful than ever before.

Hello Saferide
It has been four years since multi-talent Annika Norlin released her album “Facit”, under her Swedish pop alter ego Säkert!. During these four years, she has been living and studying in Umeå. She has never really stopped writing songs during this time, on the contrary, she has written a lot. But it was only a year ago she finally felt that she had something to say. Or rather, something to ask. How is everything connected? What is one’s role in nature? In one’s family? As a human being? All these questions ended up in the album “The Fox, the Hunter, and Hello Saferide”, and with it, she’s back. http://www.wheresthemusic.se/en/events/hello-saferide-2/

Jennie Abrahamson
To say that Jennie Abrahamson is better than ever is hardly an exaggeration. On her last album, “Gemini Gemini”, she proves this over and over again. It is brilliantly arranged pop music, with a touch of melancholic hope under the surface, along with Jennie’s sharp voice, which resides somewhere between Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell, and an alarm clock. It is riddled with whims, without ever becoming busy. The harmonies are recognized. They are made up by equal parts 80′s, the scarce landscapes of northern Sweden, asian kitsch, and booming rhythms from warmer climates. Jennie Abrahamson has always loved to mix and match. Her key phrase is “minimalistic maximalism” – lots of sound, but from as few and clear sound sources as possible. 

Kite
Kite consists of Niklas Stenemo and Christian Berg, and since their debut in 2008, they have released five EP:s. The fifth, and latest one, released in 2013, was logically named “V”. The EP was recorded in their new studio in Tranås, and mixed in the legendary studio Svenska Grammofonstudion in Göteborg. During the summer they have been recording new material, and soon you will be able to hear it, it sounds amazing!

Kitok
Kitok’s music is all about letting go. It is equal parts Beastie Boys and Santigold, as well as Glasvegas and Eminem. It is skateboarding urbanism and small town anxiety hand in hand. Bass that shakes your body, and treble that cuts into your soul. Street culture, punk, hip hop, flickering VCR-movies, the anarchist aesthetics of the internet, anxiety, a good sense of humour, and Sami heritage blended together in a virtuous display of uncompromising songwriting. 

Merely
Kristina Florell makes music under the name Merely, and if the name seems familiar, it's probably because she also is part of the art / music project Team Rockit. Her pop music is influenced by MTV and hip hop and with its ethnic disco and dreamy synthesizer loops it touches on Eurodisco and glitchig bubblegum pop. When Merely describes her sound she calls it hipheart. While her singing is as soft as fabric softener, or as someone else described it; "As an ultramodern hymn," it is always the unexpected that defines her music. In September, she released her debut album "Nirvana" on Sweden's most secret label, Sincerely Yours. http://www.wheresthemusic.se/en/events/merely-2/

Spiders
Spiders formed in Gothenburg in February 2010. A few months later the band appeared at one of Sweden’s most successful music festivals, Way Out West. It was around this time Spiders for the first time as a band stepped into the studio with producer Don Ahlsterberg (The Soundtrack of Our Lives, International Noise Conspiracy)and started recording. By the end of January 2011 Spiders released their debut record, a 10” vinyl EP on Crusher Records containing four tracks. The self-titled release was very well received and noticed in Record Collector as well airplayed on Sweden’s largest radio channel P3. In May 2014 the band released the single “Mad Dog” via Reaktor Recordings / Universal Music.

The Hanged Man
The Hanged Man is a new fruit from Rebecka Rolfarts garden. Previously, she played the guitar for Those Dancing Days and bass in Vulkano. The Hanged Man arose in the calm after the storm, in a time of stillness when the world suddenly had turned upside down. So her eyes began to look inward. The inspiration comes from dark places like forests, skies and seas – even the own head where the interior is as a lake. The places are not necessarily scary, rather secure. It is in those places the soul gets room to shout out its need for affirmation. Places where darkness becomes a light.

Thundermother
Thundermother has been playing the Close-Up boat with Turbonegro and Candlemass, they were the opening act for Danko Jones on his Swedish Tour, they were the openers for Metaltown on blood stage in the presence of thousands of people before Clutch and Graveyard, they had played with bands like Bonafide, The Scams & many many others. Thundermother did it themselves the hard way. Without a record they filled pubs and clubs to the brim and will play at Sweden Rock Festival this summer. Now they have signed with WARNER. 

Erik Rapp
Last year, Erik Rapp conquered the Swedes’ hearts when he was competing in Idol 2013. Despite being voted out of the competition in the semi-final, his career has reached unexpected heights. With the single “Wild”, which was written by himself, he won the favour of the whole jury, and the audience’s applause wouldn´t stop. The song hit the Swedish charts right away, and since then it has been played continuously. 2014 will be a year that we will see more of Erik Rapp, of that there is no doubt. Keep your eyes and ears open for Sweden’s new rising star.
 
Website: www.wheresthemusic.se
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