Dirty Loops: adding a new chapter to the Book of Pop with "Loopified"
Every now and then, a band emerges that not only defies explanation but also challenges categorization with an unprecedented approach to music: This drawer has yet to be found. This is exactly what Sweden's best-kept secret - Dirty Loops - has achieved with their debut "Loopified". No matter how one prefers to label their music - Twisted Pop, Circus Soul, or Post-Prog-Fusion - "Loopified" undoubtedly adds a new chapter to the Book of Pop.
The three long-time friends and music college buddies Jonah Nilsson (vocals & keyboards), Henrik Linder (bass), and Aron Mellergardh (drums) from Stockholm never intended to reinvent pop music. It all started with a stunningly funky cover of Lady Gaga's "Just Dance", which the trio recorded during their studies at the Royal College of Music and posted on YouTube. The fun video garnered over 100,000 views in just the first two months and was shared more than 10,000 times on Facebook. It went completely viral and flew under the media radar - without a hint of promotion.
Dirty Loops followed up with equally outrageous covers of Justin Bieber's "Baby", Adele's "Rolling in the Deep", Britney Spears' "Circus", Justin Timberlake's "Sexyback", and Rihanna's "Rude Boy". Soon, the clicks added up to an incredible nearly 15 million, with almost 100,000 subscribers. When they made their first original song "Hit Me" available digitally, the three Swedes even shot into the Japanese Top Ten - weeks before the official single release.
The Dirty Loops phenomenon did not go unnoticed in the music industry for long: Andreas Carlsson, one of Sweden's most successful producers and hitmakers for Britney Spears, Katy Perry, and Carrie Underwood, took the trio under his wing as their manager. But it got even better: American multi-platinum producer David Foster was alerted to the band from all sides, flew them to LA, and included them in his 2012 Asia tour "David Foster & Friends" - after all, in a travel group with Babyface, Chaka Khan, and other stars of that caliber. Afterwards, Foster immediately presented the band with a record deal with the jazz label Verve, which he had recently taken over.
One doesn't have to ponder long about what electrified David Foster about the sound of the three unusually talented Swedes: Foster himself began as a jazz musician in the 70s before becoming one of the busiest studio professionals, a top-level earworm writer ("After The Love Has Gone", "Hard To Say I'm Sorry", "Through The Fire"), and ultimately a top-ten producer. The instrumental finesse of Dirty Loops, their mischievous joy in dizzying rhythms and clever chord changes is pure musical euphoria, which not least great musicians themselves love. It’s no wonder that the list of famous Dirty Loops fans is growing longer: Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Adam Levine, Dallas Austin, Rodney Jerkins, and Avicii - to name just a few - rave loudly and publicly about them. R'n'B/Pop superstar Brian McKnight called them "the most musical band" he has ever heard.
The transition from YouTube gimmick to a band with original material and a very unique sound is taken by Dirty Loops with ease on their debut album. They act as producers themselves, while Andreas Carlsson and David Foster supported them in their musical vision. Jonah Nilsson: "The raw version of our single 'Hit Me' was still quite basic, and David thought we were holding back too much, not giving it our all. In short: we hadn’t loopified the piece yet. He kept encouraging us to push ourselves to the limit. The result can be heard on the album." Hitmaker Foster, who has skillfully navigated most commercial genres and radio formats for decades, likely found it a creative liberation to expose himself to the overwhelming musical power of the trio, which fearlessly and mercilessly mixes music genres and unleashes everything on listeners with the energy of a hydrogen bomb.
Hard to believe: suddenly, gifted musical craftsmanship, often derogatorily referred to as "Muckertum", and audacious pop potential fit under one roof. Energetic Euro-pop riffs of the kind "Raviger geht nicht" and lyrics like "Sexy Girls In The Club" go on a circle of fifths tour. Bass lines that would make even jazz greats like Jaco Pastorius choke go hand in hand with sugary melody fragments. Techno riffs collide with jazzy piano solos, trance beats transform into acoustic high-speed drumming.
How does the band describe their insane overdose of music? "We’ve been called all sorts of things, but I think if anything, we make something like fusion pop; this fusion incorporates everything we’ve ever heard: classical, jazz, pop. We’ve just reshuffled or loopified those cards. It usually starts with a rather typical pop melody, which we then process with our Dirty Loops machine, and what comes out on the other side is loopified," explains Jonah, who has been singing in the church choir practically since birth and has been playing the piano since he was eleven, and reports that he grew up mainly with classical music, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and the Pat Metheny Group. Aron, on the other hand, who grew up in a similarly musical family in the small Swedish town of Gislaved, cites Toto, the Yellowjackets, and Dave Weckl as influences as a drummer. Bassist Henrik names Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea as his favorite bassist and favors the band Tribal Tech.
"Our goal is to continue developing ourselves and the band sound, to keep breaking all musical boundaries, and to have a lot of fun. I think if you do something you truly believe in, others will too," Jonah is convinced. One can count on that, and many music fans who miss the handcrafted quality and overflowing energy of past eras in today’s pop music are likely to embrace Dirty Loops in no time.
http://www.dirty-loops.com
http://www.facebook.com/dirtyloopsofficial
Dirty Loops Live in Germany:
23.05.2014, Hamburg - Elbjazz Festival
27.05.2014, Berlin - Badehaus Szimpla
Dirty Loops videos on YouTube:
Dirty Loops "Hit me"
http://youtu.be/nls1HtXQe8E
Dirty Loops "Circus" (Britney Spears Cover)
http://youtu.be/Ko0kdCf0zTE
Dirty Loops "Prude Girl" (Rihanna - Rude Boy Cover)
http://youtu.be/NV10C5wrajA
Dirty Loops "Baby" (Justin Bieber Cover)
http://youtu.be/KjVGJ3YFDc8
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Dirty Loops "Loopified" (Tracklisting)
01. Hit Me (Dirty Loops)
02. Sexy Girl (Dirty Loops)
03. Sayonara Love (Dirty Loops)
04. Wake Me Up (Avicii)
05. Die For You (Dirty Loops)
06. It Hurts (Dirty Loops)
07. Lost In You (Dirty Loops)
08. Take On The World (Dirty Loops)
09. Accidentally In Love (Dirty Loops)
10. The Way She Walks (Dirty Loops)
11. Crash And Burn Delight (Dirty Loops)
12. Roller Coaster (Justin Bieber)
BONUS TRACKS ON CD:
13. Rolling In The Deep (Adele)
14. Circus (Britney Spears)
