Stop and Smell The

VINYL FORMAT. Stop and Smell The is the third release of the Hortlax Cobra EP trilogy! "Hortlax Cobra is the eyes wide opened visionary alter ego of John Eriksson; "normally" the driving rhythmic force of Peter Bjorn and John, and also one of the composers and producers of the Swedish pop trio. As you can hear almost instantly in the music of Hortlax Cobra, John has also worked as a classical musician/percussionist. He's played contemporary stuff by great composers such as Iannis Xenakis, John Cage and Steve Reich. When John tries to describe his musical/sound intentions it goes like this: 'I'm thinking of Hortlax Cobra's music as a kind of a modern futuristic pop/art thing. When I did the 12-inch trilogy I was actually more inspired by paintings, collages and sketch drawings.' It's hard to disagree; if you listen carefully you can almost "hear" Öyvind Fahlström's and Roy Lichtenstein's works in John's eclectic and diverse music. The musical references are too many to sum up here. Not only in terms of "name-dropping," but also because of the ongoing transformations inside the Hortlax Cobra-songs/compositions! There are tracks that are loosely connected to Brian Eno, Animal Collective and Edgar Varese, while others are combined with both a John Cage and a Kraut feel. And/but in everything that Hortlax Cobra creates, there's a deep sense of John Eriksson-presence. The off and on humor, the seriousness and the warmth, which is totally clean from any kind of auto-piloted mindset! No, no, no: everything is beautifully built up, connected and executed! John's ambition to have the music "stripped down" is also evident in every aspect. Some pieces almost possess a near spooky quality, while other tracks have more of an overall soundtrackish flow, but none of these sonic jewels are overloaded with ornaments. Each of the three EP's has it's own sound, but there's definitely a rooted connection between them. Hortlax Cobra is John's musical lab, where he's been experimenting with different kinds of methods: everything from his childhood cassettes-nostalgia, numerology, and his love for drum beats and electro-acoustic music. The result is magnificent." - Conny C. Lindström