Electric Shaman: Interview with singer and guitarist Jacob Moth about shamanism

 

 

It is a rare thing to meet a musician, whose artistic message is both inspired by contemporary depth psychology and thousand-year old traditional wisdom. Yet, that’s exactly what you get, when you meet the Danish guitar virtuoso, Jacob Moth.

 

Joined by the notoriously talented drummer Niclas Campagnol and former bass player in Big Fat Snake, Asger Steenholdt, these three musical masters make up the up-and-coming and genre-shaking psychedelic trance rock band, Electric Shaman. A new promising trio on course to take the rock genre by storm to inspire and encourage an entire generation to find and pursue their dreams.

 

What’s special about Electric Shaman is their music's transpersonal, mythological and shamanistic roots and depth. Three things that to most people are shrouded in mystery.

 

In this interview, we’ll be chatting with guitarist and lead singer, Jacob Moth, to demystify some of this mystique surrounding the origin of his bands’ music. The hope is to get closer to the core of the bands’ history and message, and find out exactly who and what Electric Shaman is – and why you need to keep them on your radar.

 

Who is Electric Shaman?

 

Before we dive further into the mystery, let’s start off slow. How would you describe Electric Shaman in one sentence?

 

“Now that’s difficult. According to my friends and family, I’m not exactly a man of few words. 

 

If I had to describe Electric Shaman in one sentence, I would call it a human and musical chemistry. And I have to explain that.

 

When I’m with Niclas and Asger, I experience a musical and spiritual freedom, I haven’t experienced before. I feel that I’m part of a team, where everyone is able to freely explore and express musical universes in a completely open space. What this means is that from a musical level we experience a cohesion that allows us all to improvise freely. Everyone is onboard. There’s a technical well-foundedness and a form of consensus about where we’re taking the music. We’re not playing jazz. We’re not playing funk. We’re playing psychedelic trance rock – and there’s no confusion or doubt about that between us.”

What is a shaman?

 

Today’s interview is about shamanism, as it is one of the main sources of inspiration for Electric Shaman – Can you explain to anyone not familiar with shamanism, what it is?

 

“Yes, of course. Let me explain it like this.

 

Shamanism is an ancient spiritual practice, which has existed virtually everywhere on the planet since the dawn of time.

 

A shaman, on the other hand, is a person with access to non-ordinary states of consciousness, who opens up the mind to spiritual insights and inspiration. At the same time, shamans also have the capacity to help their fellow people enter these non-ordinary states of consciousness for the purpose of healing, transformation, guidance, and articulating their life’s search.

 

Then the question becomes – What do we people seek the most?

 

Here, a handful of modern depth psychologists explain that human beings' biggest drive is the search for what Abraham Mazlow calls peak experiences. That is, oceanic experiences of oneness with the Universe, Nature and Mankind. And it is exactly these kinds of experiences that the shaman can help facilitate in his fellow humans.”

WHY OUR NAME IS ELECTRIC SHAMAN

 

How does all of this relate to your band? Why are you called Electric Shaman?

 

“Well, the role of the shaman is not just to bring his fellow humans into non-ordinary states of consciousness. The shaman is also society’s storyteller – and what he conveys is what is called the Monomyth.

 

The Monomyth is the universal story that you find in all great stories: from Star Wars to Harry Potter to The Lord of The Rings, and even Hans Christian Andersens famous fairy tales. It’s a story, which encourages us to become the hero or heroine of our own adventure. And this is where the connection to Electric Shaman is. Like the shamans of the past, we see ourselves as musical storytellers, encouraging our audience to become the hero or heroine of their own lives.”

 

WHAT THE MONOMYTH TELLS US

 

Can you tell us more about this “Monomyth”, and how it is connected to your own message?

 

“The most important message of the Monomyth is that we receive what we ask of the Universe. That the world in the most mysterious manner appears to favor and assist people, who take their destiny into their own hands. That when you find out what your true dream is, and start pursuing it actively, the Universe will welcome your effort with open arms and guide you toward your goal.

 

This mysterious connection between mind and world might not even be as mysterious as it appears. Modern sciences like quantum physics and depth psychology have repeatedly shown that there’s a connection between what takes place in our mind and what takes place in our physical surroundings.

 

What the myths tell us, is that we don’t exist as individuals separated from a dead world. But that, despite our modern beliefs, we’re all profoundly connected to each other and the world around us – and that this world is imbued with more soul than we know. In other words, our psyche is intertwined with the Cosmos.

 

It is from this perspective – and based on our own personal experiences, of course – that we through our music want to encourage people to find and pursue their dreams.”

 

HOW SHAMANISM COMES TO LIFE IN OUR MUSIC

 

This is really an extraordinary background story for a rock band. How does shamanism come to life in your music?

 

“Shamanism comes to life in our music through the simple fact that the primary tool of the shamans was music and sound technology.  Today, we don’t have shamans. Instead we have rock and pop stars. And it is these people, who in a way have taken over the function of the shaman in our society. Back then, it was the responsibility of the shaman to help people enter ecstasy. Today you see it happening at festivals during grand concerts and shows.

 

Think about it for a second: why do we go to huge rock concerts next to tens of thousands of people?

 

To experience a moment of pure ecstasy, right? To let go of our mind and experience a feeling of oneness with the music and the rest of the crowd. To go beyond ourselves. As modern people, we seek this experience more or less unconsciously. But we undoubtedly seek it.”

A LIFE INSPIRED BY THE PATH OF THE SHAMAN

 

This is very thought-provoking. Do you mind me
asking you, how shamanism is expressed in your everyday life?

 

“Not at all. You see, Albert Einstein encouraged the psychologist Carl G. Jung to seriously study how people are connected to their environment and the Universe as a whole. The same urge to explore, an existential longing, and desire to experience as enhanced a life experience as possible have pervaded my entire life.

 

As young, I was a spiritual seeker in every sense of the word.

 

In my search, I’ve had several psychedelic journeys, which have helped me embark on my own personal Hero’s Journey. These experiences gave me a very clear direction in my life.

 

I’ve described this 16 year long self-discovery journey in great detail in my book, which features a preface by the world’s leading consciousness researcher, Dr. Stanislav Grof. It’s a journey which culminated in the creation of The Magic Garden, a modern temple and state-of-the-art film and music studio in Fredensborg, Denmark. (The title of the book is Land of the Nocturnal Butterfly - An Inner Journey).

 

That sure sounds like an adventure. So it’s safe to say that you’re actually living what you’re preaching?

 

“Absolutely. And we don’t shy away from it. As modern people we think that happiness is found in a new car or a better salary. What we really seek is a transcendental peak experience, which opens up the possibility that each of our waking moments can be lived in spontaneous ecstasy. And these peak experiences become possible, when we start taking responsibility for our lives and dreams. When we shift our focus from the outer world and connect with the inner world. That is the kind of shift we want to see happen. That is Electric Shaman. And supreme rock-music, of course.”

 

Now that’s a message that is truly relevant to all of us. Thank you so much for your time, Jacob. It was a pleasure getting to know you and Electric Shaman.

 

 

“The pleasure is on my side.”

 

 

 

Calling all rock fanatics

 

To celebrate the release of our first single, Into The Night, we’re performing an official Electric Shaman live online concert – and you’re invited!

 

It all goes down on April 14 at 8 PM, and the concert will be streamed both here on Facebook and our website.

 

Oh! And did we mention that the concert is free for everyone to watch? W

 

Well it is

 

So tell your friends and family. Get your speakers ready. And prepare to take off into a night of psychedelic trance rock with your one-and-only Electric Shaman.

 

 Hear the Album: Happy Man

Amazing Danish Singer

Foto: Frederikke Agnete Svarre

Molly Koppel is 26 years old and singer and songwriter from Copenhagen. 

She has been making music since she was six years old and is a part of the well known music family with same surname. Her debut as a solo artist was in 2019 with the EP Waves followed by the dobbel single Tell Me/Replace. Her music moves from alternative Rnb, soul and pop melodies with a jazzy twists. Molly Introduces melancholic thoughts, experimental choir harmonies and untraditional structures. 

Her music has been used in various tv-series and movies; latest the horrorfilm Speak No Evil by Christian Tafdrup. Besides her own project, she is an experiences singer for custom made film scores, lots of concerts the past 10 years and as songwriter and top-liner for both herself and others music. 

Molly Koppel is now ready with her latest project. Four songs presented by one-take recorded experimental livesessions to invite people into the songwriting process and create something else besides a perfect recorded release on Spotify. The songs are written and arranged by her, and she has collected these amazing musicians and recorded it in collaboration with production company and recordlabel called 100blaa. 

She will release the first session August 25th and the following three thursdays and then as an Live

Legendary Warner Bros. Records executive Mo Ostin dead at 95

BY: Hillel Italie / Associated Press
Foto: Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Mo Ostin, a self-effacing giant of the music business who presided over Warner Bros. Records’ rise to a sprawling, billion-dollar empire and helped discover and nurture artists from Jimi Hendrix to Green Day, died July 31. He was 95.

His death was announced in a statement by Warner Records, which said he died “in his sleep” but did not cite a cause.

Short and bald and mild in demeanor, “Chairman Mo” was never as famous as such rival moguls as Clive Davis or Walter Yetnikoff, but few equaled his power or prestige as rock music officially became big business. For decades, he thrived on the simple, underused idea of taking on talented and original performers and letting them remain talented and original, including Neil Young and Fleetwood Mac, as well as Paul Simon and R.E.M.

“Mo Ostin was one of a kind,” Davis tweeted. “The company he chaired was truly unique in its very special management of artists and the extraordinary depth and range of talent on its roster.”

Under Mr. Ostin’s leadership, Warner signed Hendrix when the guitarist was hardly known beyond the London club scene, Fleetwood Mac when they were a blues act and the Grateful Dead when their legend was confined to the Bay Area. John Lennon and Yoko Ono, George Harrison, Nirvana, Madonna, Eric Clapton, James Taylor, Prince, R.E.M. and Guns N’ Roses were among the other performers who joined Warner during his reign.

“Intimidation is not the answer,” Mr. Ostin, in a rare interview, told the Los Angeles Times in 1994. “I don’t know why, but corporate people have a tendency to think in terms of immediate gratification. Sure, you can squeeze another dollar out of anything, but that’s not what makes a record company run profitably.”

He also assembled an elite and trusted team of executives, including producer and Warner president Lenny Waronker and advertising-marketing head Stan Cornyn. David Geffen, whose Geffen label was distributed by Warner, would eventually hire Mr. Ostin to run the DreamWorks music division.

Mr. Ostin started at Warner in 1963, became president in 1970, chairman soon after and rarely faltered over the next quarter century as the once-marginal label eventually included Elektra, Atlantic, Sire, Geffen’s Asylum and Madonna’s Maverick Records, among others.

With corporations finally embracing the music they once disdained, Warner competed fiercely with CBS Records — and its leader, Yetnikoff — for industry leadership. Mr. Ostin’s prime was an era of high-level bidding and poaching, whether Warner’s taking Simon from Columbia or Columbia’s convincing Taylor to leave Warner.

Mr. Ostin was praised for his judgment and for his patience, sticking with artists such as Simon and Van Morrison even when their albums didn’t sell. He even inspired some songs, including Young’s “Surfer Joe” and Harrison’s playful ballad “Mo,” featured on a compilation album that Mr. Ostin helped release.

His ouster in 1994 led to new tributes. “Mo, Mo, why do you have to go? / You’re the first record company guy / That looked me in the eye,” wrote Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Numerous artists and executives left Warner after his departure.

Mr. Ostin did have occasional conflicts with artists. Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac would recall his unhappiness when the group followed its megaselling “Rumours” album with the experimental double record “Tusk.” Some of Prince’s greatest hits, including his albums “Purple Rain” and “1999,” came out through Warner. But Prince fought with the company over control of his master tapes and how much music he could release. For a time he changed his name and was called the Artist Formerly Known as Prince. He appeared in public with the word “slave” written on his cheek.

“It bugged me, but I understood where he was coming from,” Mr. Ostin told Billboard in 2016, adding that he remained in awe of the late musician. “The guy was so unbelievably talented it was overwhelming.”

Prince, mysterious, inventive chameleon of music, dies at 57

Morris Meyer Ostrofsky was born in New York City on March 27, 1927. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia, and the family moved to Los Angeles when he was 13 and ended up next door to the brother of jazz impresario Norman Granz, whose Verve label included Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Charlie Parker.

As an undergraduate at the University of California at Los Angeles, Mr. Ostin helped Granz sell concert programs. He dropped out of UCLA law school in the mid-1950s to manage the finances at Verve, which was then known as Clef, and shortened his name soon after entering the record business,

Mr. Ostin fit well into Verve’s sympathetic environment and was noticed by a superstar who in the late ’50s had attempted to buy the label: Frank Sinatra. When Sinatra instead formed his own company, Reprise, he brought in Mr. Ostin to run it.

“Frank’s whole idea was to create an environment which both artistically and economically would be more attractive for the artist than anybody else had to offer,” Mr. Ostin told the Times. “That wasn’t how it was anywhere else. You had financial guys, lawyers, marketing guys.”

But Mr. Ostin became frustrated by Sinatra’s aversion to rock music and moved over to Warner, which had purchased Reprise. He signed up one of Britain’s hot new bands, the Kinks, and followed over the next few years with Hendrix, the Dead, Morrison and others. He took on heavy metal acts (Black Sabbath), light pop (the Association), country rock (the Allman Brothers), comedians (Steve Martin) and novelty performers (Tiny Tim).

His good name and deeds helped him again and again. When Gene Simmons of Kiss learned of an upcoming band from the Los Angeles area, he alerted Mr. Ostin; Van Halen soon had a record deal. In 1990, Mr. Ostin was outbid for the Chili Peppers by Sony/Epic, but still called singer-songwriter Anthony Kiedis to wish him well. Kiedis was so surprised that the band ended up dropping Sony and moving to Warner.

Mr. Ostin had a close relationship with corporate boss Steve Ross, president of Kinney National Services when the former parking company purchased Warner in 1969. But Ross died of cancer in 1992 and Mr. Ostin clashed with Warner Music Group Chairman Robert Morgado, who believed the company needed to cut expenses.

A breaking point was Ice-T’s single “Cop Killer,” for the band Body Count, which led to widespread demands that it be pulled. The rapper’s critics included law enforcement agencies, President George H.W. Bush and actor and conservative activist Charlton Heston. Ice-T left Warner in 1993 after agreeing not to put the song on his most recent album, and the fallout was widely believed to have weakened Mr. Ostin’s standing.

In 1995, Geffen convinced Mr. Ostin and Waronker to head the music division of the newly-formed DreamWorks company. George Michael, Nelly Furtado and comedian Chris Rock were among the artists signed before DreamWorks was purchased by Universal Music in 2003.

In recent years Mr. Ostin was a consultant at Warners and donated $10 million to UCLA to help establish the Evelyn & Mo Ostin Music Center, named in part for his wife of 55 years, Evelyn, who died in 2005. Their three sons — Michael, Kenny and Randy — have all been Warner executives. Kenny and Randy died in 2004 and 2013, respectively.

Complete information on survivors was not immediately available.

Mr. Ostin was voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. In 2014, he received an honorary Grammy Award for lifetime achievement, cited as “a true pioneer of the contemporary music era whose life’s work has had a profound impact on the artists he has helped develop and the fans around the world who have benefited from their inspired creativity.”

Marie Fjeldsted brings the music home with "Occasionally" single & video

 By goodbecausedanish.com

 In 2022, Marie Fjeldsted decided to let go of the moniker Penny Police and present music under her real name. While Penny Police music was always pure and intimate, Marie Fjeldsted compositions touch the heart and soul even more.

With freedom and bold openness, Marie Fjeldsted’s second single “Occasionally” and the music video that follows, give us an inside into the personal world of the artist, her most intimate view on motherhood, and emotions connected to raising a child.

“The song is about the pendulum of emotions it has been for me to become a mother. To accept that things change, one’s body changes, one’s place in life changes, one’s ability to have control over things changes, but in return you can lie with your child and feel whole right there “, says Marie.

“Occasionally” is the first song that Marie Fjeldsted and her boyfriend Linus Klestrup Larsen worked on together in his brand new studio before the pandemic set in. When the covid shut down happened, they moved work to their home, creating a recording studio in their bedroom. That’s when Marie decided, since she never felt like a persona, to drop Penny Police moniker. “I have taken the music home – both specifically home in my bedroom, but also in the expression, because I have created it completely outside other people’s expectations and opinions “, says Marie.

The music video for “Occasionally” reflects the journey that is motherhood and the emotions that come with it. The world around a mother changes, it is constantly in motion, nothing is steady anymore. Marie makes a gentle metaphor of a train ride in the music video. She also underlines how a mother notices everyday life details sharply. In “Occasionally”, we can also see and hear the acceptance of changes. We can see Marie just as she is, looking at us with gentleness and peace of mind. She accepts her new self, and motherhood, with all its turbulences, as well as all its glory and joy.

Marie Fjeldsted’s music was always able to calm me down. Whenever I listen to her songs, either the Penny Police stuff, or the new music, I feel reassured that there is space in this world for fragileness and that it can be a great strenght, not a weakness. With “Occsionally”, Marie once again sings about intimate, personal experience, which reflects emotions of many others. Hopefully, you can feel the comfort of the song the same way I do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FH62FY6KxUA&feature=emb_logo

Danish film tackles the gang war

The award-winning, new danish film revolving around gang war, “Melody of the Street”, was made street kid-style with favours from friends and
spontaneous calls, says the film instructor Omid Romal.

“Let us put it like this, almost all my actors are friends of mine. Who did it free of charge. When we needed requisites and cars, we had help.
We just called people and asked, “ says the 28-year old film instructor Omid Romal, when we met him at the recording studio Baby Factory to talk about his new film.

 

Melody of the Streets, which premieres in the danish theatres this spring, has its
roots in the same state of mind as the one you only learn in the streets.

The instructor does not hide the fact, that this film is done by calling in favours and
spontaneous calls to businesses or cafes to ask permission to use locations or prop
weapons.

The actors were cast amongst friends and family. The lead for example, was given to
his little brother, Ryan Romal.

“Former police officers, played the roles of police, and real ambulance drivers and
emergency workers”, he says, and they all took part voluntarily.

Omid Romal apperance is calm and kind with a big smile, that might get people to
make an extra effort. All in all the film took two months to film, and they worked 15
hours a day. It took place deliberately in Kastrup and not for example at Nørrebro, to
not cause confusion as to who we were and why we were there.

“I am an old troublemaker myself, and I told my friends, “you have to be the old you,
not the new you.” He says with reminiscence to his tainted past, from where he
knows the street environment.

Downwards spiral
Melody of the Street is about a young man, who gets manipulated by the older
leaders with a pouch of money, that can save his mother from illness with surgery.
Meanwhile he gets shot at, and the course of retalliation begins. which turns into an
evil spiral of murder attempts between rivalling gangs.

“The film shows that, you can not hide from that environment.” Says the film
instructor.

“I wanted to use this film to show people what happens, when you are in a gang war,
and how the youngsters gets manipulated into that environment by the older
generation who pulls the strings. The youngsters fight the elders fights, and for the
elders problems”.

“The film is not about why gang wars are what they are, or how they end, “cause it
never does”, but what happens during a gang war. From the moment they are shot

at, till they gear up with weapons and prepare. And what happens, after they shoot”

The film zooms in on all the details, rough, realistic and almost documentary-like, like
when the lead roles steals a moped, commits murder and torches the evidence.
Melody of the Street has prior to the danish theatre premier won an award at the
Cannes World Film Festival for Best Indie Feature

New Country-Rock came to life after tragedy

Text: Anders Højbjerg Kamp

Foto: Maria Dybdal

Marc Olivers new Country songs came to life after the mother to his daughter took her away from him.

 

“I have made some heart-felt songs about what happened with my daughter” says Marc Oliver, the 31-year old artist who is ready with new songs like How Much Longer, Heartache and the title-song Help Me Believe.

 

“My daughter told me she missed me, and thats when I wrote How Much Longer. It is about how long this has to go on, and that Daddy is working hard to see you again” Marc says.

 

“It is said that Country music is four chords and the truth, and I went with that. Regardless of age or background, everyone can relate to missing, loving or loosing somebody.”

 

“Regardless of age or background everyone can recognise the feeling of loving or missing somebody.”

 

Marcs musical rolemodels are Country artists like Luke Combs, Mitchell Tenpenny and Brad Paisley, who also sang about his daughter, and Paisley was a huge inspiration.

 

“It is not a widely popular genre in Denmark, but it is huge in Nashville and Texas. It is “Radio Rock”, and the stereotypical audience is definitely middle-aged women.” says Marc Oliver laughing.

 

Marc has a Bachelor's degree in Music Production from England, so his songs are mostly recorded in his own studio. “The guitars were recorded in my bathroom, because of the tiled walls the acoustic in that room was amazing.”

 

Marc wrote, recorded and mixed the majority of his songs, only the drums needed some assistance from his buddy at Heyman Studios, who is also a big fan of the Nashville Country Rock genre.

 

The mother ran off with their daughter

 

It took a year to record the album during the COVID lockdown, Corona and the trauma that has rooted itself in him, since his ex girlfriend took their daughter back to England two years ago, Marc tells me over a cup of coffee at the recording studio Baby Factory.

 

Whilst Marc Oliver sits with his visible tattoos and his sunglasses on, talks about his heartbreaking experience, it is clear to see his mouth shivering and his voice breaking, showing how deeply this has shaken his core.

In November 2019 his British girlfriend was taking their daughter to the UK on holiday, so she could get well and their daughter could see the british side of the family. But neither the the mother or the daughter returned.

 

“It was a lonely Christmas, you can imagine.”

 

The album “Help Me Believe” by Marc Oliver was released in January on M2 Records, and can be heard on all streaming services.