Tjomme

 

José Gonzalez, a Gothenburg born son of Argentine immigrants is one of those artists that makes a kind of music that is hard to describe. Influenced in his young days by hardcore bands like Black Flag and later by Joy Division (Love Will Tear Us Apart is a regular part of encores in his live appearances) he turned the last years into singer/songwriter genre. During the last years he released some remarkable folk songs torn between Nick Drake and Paul Simon. What make them different from many others is his languorous singing and picked acoustic guitar playing. He released his last album Local Valley a few months ago and now DJ Koze remixed Tjomme (what means dude) and the result is Caribian/Balearic groove. A song to let the sun in.

Every Age

José Gonzales is back with a new record after seven years. Born as the son of Argentine emigrants in Sweden he released a couple of records since 2003. In the farthest sense one can call him a simple singer/songwriter. What I like is his finger-picking guitar that reminds me on Nick Drake or Elliot Smith and a the meditative touch in his music. His songs are slow, soft, smooth but never dull. One of those I like to listen to on Sunday morning.

That he can do it in another way you can listen to this. It's a downtempo song added with a good groove, little guitar licks and a superb saxophone:

And that he's not afraid to make some cover versions shows this track originally by Massive Attack: