PRESS. images, bio, reviews, etc.

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Short bio:

2006: Cut Open is released. Play a few shows in France and Sweden, work most of the summer and fall
with music for the dance performance "In search of" by Caroline Hainaut and Palle Dyrvall. Record music,
mostly primitive pop and noise. Might start recording a new album next year.

2004-2005: work on new records, make music for some dance performances. live in Paris half of 2004.
some remixing and production for others. play a few shows, in France, Denmark and with Picastro in
England. The music is now mainly acoustic/electric, somewhere between pop and noise. also, Metabooty
is formed, which is Sodahberk together with Max Turner on vocals.

2003: second album, an ep and a 7" and more released. short scandinavian tour in the spring,
a 3 month tour in the fall in America and Europe (touring together with kid606 and dj/ rupture most of
the time). makes music for some dance performances. record an album with drummer Erik Qvick in
Iceland. make some remixes. the music now contains more pop elements, acoustic instruments and
vocals.

2002: first album on Tigerbeat6, playing shows in england, france, belgium and luxembourg some
of them with Kid606, some with Smyglyssna.

2001: release music on Voltmusik, Stuporsonika and Tigerbeat6. starts the Riktiga Instrument Series
CDr-label.

2000: release 12"ep's on Stuporsonika. "signed" to Tigerbeat6
1999: Dwayne Sodahberk is born. First Sodahberk live show at the Arvika festival in Sweden. starts
the Stuporsonika label, first for CDRs then 12"s. the music at this time is primitive electro and dry,
noisy, minimalistic electronica

before 1999: Daniel Söderberg, grown up outside of Uppsala, Sweden. moves to Stockholm. making
music; in bands and solo; for dance performances; for commercials; for short films.

. . .

Some Reviews etc:
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Brainwashed.com
Dwayne Sodahberk, "Cut Open"
Written by Matthew Jeanes
Thursday, 11 May 2006

Dwayne Sodahberk's latest for Tigerbeat6 pushes some of the glitchy electronics with which the
artist is often associated to the background, allowing the simple pop melodies to rise to the
fore. Though perhaps less experimental than some of his other work, Cut Open wins by being
direct.

Honest pop music is tough to come by, especially in an age where every stylistic tick is played for
some meta-textual inside joke that will usually cease to amuse anyone after six months. When I find
a record with an honest but still fresh approach to squeezing digital production into the form of a
pop song, it's always exciting. Too often the people with the skills to
pull something like this
off are too busy hiding behind not-so-clever references and shorthand for the work of other artists
that they only seem to understand on a very superficial level.

Sodahberk captures the detuned, bedroom-produced pop sound in three minute slices about as well as
anyone. The off-kilter instrumentation and touches of digital manipulation keep songs (that might
otherwise sound too straightforward) a little off balance. Sodahberk always seems to be teetering on
the line between needing to tune his instruments a little better and playing them just well enough
that the sour notes seem necessary. The vocals are just burried enough to be mysterious, but not so
overwhelmed as to be lost in the mix. And all of this is the difference between using an an imperfect
aesthetic to create an atmosphere and simply relying on that aesthetic because it's all that you can
pull off. It's easy for people
to crank out tunes without so much as caring if strings are tuned,
if drums are recorded properly, or if songs are mixed with an ear for balance. The production on Cut
Open reveals that Sodahberk's choices are not only intentionalÑthey pay off.

I imagine that work like this will eventually inspire a wave of commercial pop producers to try and
create damaged but still polished songs for airheaded singers and posterboys. It's reasonable to
imagine producers for pop albums dropping a record like this in an engineer's lap saying "I'm
looking for THAT sound, but radio-friendly," and when that day comes, I assume that people like
Sodahberk will already be on to something else. Luckily this album has guts and depth and the
kind of authenticity that a $20,000 lock out rate can't buy.

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Indieworkshop.com
Dwayne Sodahberk
Cut Open
Tigerbeat6

I had heard previous songs by Dwayne Sodahberk and didn't think much of them, sure they were good
electronic tunes, a little weird, but nothing really grabbed me. So when I received "Cut Open" to
review, I was afraid I wouldn't have a whole lot that was positive to say, or really negative. This
latest album from Sodahberk however is much more popish and the heavy electronic influence kinda steps
to the back, which lets the real talents and differences of what Sodahberk is capable of come forward
to set the music apart from the rest of his usual genre set. Some might say this album is less
innovative in some way, but I think it's just more honest, hiding less behind bravado and just giving
a more solid presentation of the real underlying talents.

Not just pop, not just electronic, these songs are hushed vocally and disheveled like just waking
up and looking in the mirror or staying up really late and feeling sleepy and thoughtful. There are
a lot of musicians that intentionally mistune their instruments, use distortion, make a lot of noise,
but they don't seem to produce the same effect as Sodahberk's efforts. I can only think that these aren't
accidental attempts at sound but finely tuned and intelligent choices and tweaks that make an
actually really refined and perfect tone while seeming relaxed.

So while I can't really draw out for you what these 15 tracks are, I can say they're a touch of folk,
a touch of prettiness, sadness, a touch of electronic and some pop. But it feels like more than that
with every listen. I definitely didn't expect tigerbeat to drop an album like this since they tend to
have more out-there music, but I am proud that they recognized the value here and I highly recommend
checking this out.
- Amanda Spadaccini | 2006-06-05

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Vice Magazine (New York edition) /electric independence column

Awhile back Electric Indy was getting real excited about this whole organic folktronic sound
that started rising out of the cold IDM glitchscape. Now it seems a lot of new producers are just
getting lazy with it and slapping some granulated minor guitar patterns on top of half-assed glitchy
IDM rhythms tracks, making it real difficult to tell one from the other. Add to that the DIY,
supposed-to-be-out-of-tune-'cuz-it's-raw vocals that are painfully uninteresting, and
we're back in a flood of lo-fi hell. Luckily there are a few out there who haven't forgotten how to write
a good song. Swedish electro-glitch-pop producer Dwayne Sodahberk's latest on the Tigerbeat6 label
rocks. Where other folktronic acts tend to go the hokey-acoustic route, Sodahberk throws together
elements of electro-pop, DSP glitch-processing and psychedelic shoegazing guitar to give
the album an edgier feel. Very, very nice.

RAF + VINCE

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Allmusic.com

DWAYNE SODAHBERK
Unfortunately

With the never-ending onslaught of Tigerbeat titles in 2003, one would think that eventually
there would be an end to the impressive campaign, but evidently there isn't one in sight. Naturally,
the label saves one of its best for last. After a long stint on the road during the summer/autumn
of 2003 as part of Tigerbeat's annual "Paws Across America/Europe" tours with labelmates Kid 606
and DJ /rupture , Sodahberk wowed audiences with a blistering live set consisting of many of the
tunes found on the appropriately titled Unfortunately . On this dark exercise into the world of electronic
indie pop, Sodahberk brilliantly captures the feeling of a letdown right from the opening
moments of the eponymously titled first track, and doesn't let up until the album's later
moments. Exploring territory glazed upon by Dntel and Telefon Tel Aviv in a bit more of
an upbeat light, Sodahberk takes these themes and experiments with acoustic/electronic combinations
into moodier territories. At 16 tracks, the melancholic consistency can leave a draining feeling
by the record's end, but a nod of the head goes to Sodahberk for keeping the record moving so fluidly
without getting creatively tiresome. In a year when Tigerbeat was on a roll, the label most
definitely saved one of the best for last.

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xlr8r magazine

DWAYNE SODAHBERK : UNFORTUNATELY
Tigerbeat6 / US / Album

Step one in dismantling glitch's static hegemony: bring vocals back into computer music.
Step two requires beefing up its tinny, click-ridden sound with acoustic instruments like drums,
electric guitars and stand-up bass. By this logic, Sweden's Dwayne Sodahberk is already two steps
ahead of his brethren, producing an album that brings experimental pop full circle to its '90s-era prototype,
My Bloody Valentine. More than mere twee folktronica, the superb Unfortunately verily teems with
billowy guitar refrains, gauzy atmospherics and barely-there vocals, confirming that while
Sodahberk may be gazing at his shoes, he has nothing to be ashamed about.

Martin Turenne

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xlr8r magazine

DWAYNE SODAHBERK : DON'T WANT TO KNOW YOU
Tigerbeat6 / US / Album

This Swedish producer's debut album establishes him as one of Tigerbeat6's brightest stars.
While he's supplied music for Absolut Vodka and Saab ads, Sodahberk sounds anything but commercial
on Don't Want To Know You's 17 tracks. After unleashing some DSP heckler spray on the opening
cut, Sodahberk shifts into a killer hip-hop groove that's as heavy as DŠlek, as metallic as
mid-period Autechre and as hypnotically tuneful as Wu-Tang Clan. Besides flaunting a surprising
funkiness that recalls British masters like Cylob and Si Begg, Sodahberk likes to weave post-rock
guitar textures into his digitized noise-clusters. Elsewhere, he angles for a spot on Clicks & Cuts 4
and tries to beat Herbert at his own quirk-house game. He may not want to know you, but you
ought to know Sodahberk.

Dave Segal

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TimeOut New York

Dwayne Sodahberk
Unfortunately (Tigerbeat6)

If you love classic song form, then you likely will find the title of Swedish art-techno producer
Dwayne Sodahberk's new album all too appropriate. Unfortunately is the second album Sodahberk has
released this year, and sure, there are tunes on it. But he treats them like hash browns at
a Waffle House, scattering, covering and smothering them with backward-sucking noises, melancholy
distortion and trash-can-drum loops. When he's finished, you can barely recognize them as

songs. As with many such records, quite a bit of Unfortunately is willfully perverse;
the cut-up glitchiness of "Infernal Beige," for instance, is pretty off-putting -unless you love randomness
for its own sake.

What makes Unfortunately surprisingly streamlined and linear is that, when at their best, Sodahberk's
oddities represent their own alien kind of song form. "Christa" sounds like a series of tones, beats
and sustained electric-piano chords treated through as many distortion filters as Sodahberk
could fit on his laptop. But its abstractness is limited to its sound-source scouring and doesn't
infringe on the beat itself -the track grooves, believe it or not. The gurgling, flickering guitar solo
of "Afternoon Shape" evokes sunlight between tree leaves without being noodly or lethargic.
He isn't always successful in avoiding these pitfalls, but Unfortunately's strongest
moments make up for any missteps.

Rob Theakston

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Portland Mercury

DWAYNE SODAHBERK
Unfortunately
(Tigerbeat 6)
****
As more indierockers discover the potential of digital music technology and digitally obsessed
innovators realize the benefit of humanizing their music with analog instruments, music
lovers will continually be blessed (and cursed) with new hybrids. With Unfortunately, Swedish artist
Dwayne Sodahberk blends melancholic indierock songwriting and instrumentation with ear-tickling
electronic aesthetics. The result is a blessing. Electro heads will dig the shards of noise, heavy processing
and the staggering palate of electronic sound, while rockers will love the good old guitars, acoustic
drums and other acoustic/electric instruments dominating these songs. Sodahberk's hybridity may
eventually acquire a clever genre moniker, but producing engaging music is a worthy
accomplishment.

AARON MILES

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Absorb.com

Dwayne Sodahberk
Don't want to know you

right from the outset, at the first second of 'what i can do if you don't listen', you immediately
get what kind of album this is going to be. and that's part of the fun recently with tigerbeat. like
opening a present from your weird aunt that lives in maine with all her cats, that sends you
thermoses filled with spoons, and sandwiches made of dice and sponges. it's always
something bizarre and new, yet entertaining. here we get real crunchy noise that eventually
develops into somewhat of a song, complete with attempted rhythm and beat patterns,
only submerged underneath layers of reverb, filtering and feedback. but its there, and it sounds
good. 'devoiced' is less abrasive, and uses conventional (well, you know what i mean) tactics to
construct a nice little ditty filled with stuttered bass hits and plenty of clicks.

going through the album, track by track, is like reading a book where the story changes on each
new page. tons of different styles and techniques are used here, and they all have their own
qualities and charm to them. while this album certainly uses the concept of noise as a
large factor in composing songs, it exists mainly as a character to enhance, not to take away from
the tracks. i wouldn't classify this as a noise album by any means; although at times it grates and
may force you to grit your teeth, it won't be making blood run out of your ears. (read: haswell/akita)
'i understand you' is the juiciest cut of the album. it's got soul, it's got heart, and it's got some
motherfucking crispy crunch to it. 'participateur' continues in the same fashion.

sodahberk, described as a 'swedish techno misfit' ends up creating one of the most enigmatic
albums of the year, certainly that tb6 has put out (save the licensing of max tundra) his
influences, that include autechre, blonde redhead, fennesz, and super_collider are all very
clear in his own compositions, and make it all the better. like running great tracks of all genres,
hip-hop, instrumental guitar, electronic, etc., filtering them all incessantly than smashing them into
dust, and finely arranging them back together again. brilliant.

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de:bug

Dwayne Sodahberk - Unsound EP (Stuporsonika)

Wie gut, dass die neue Stuporsonika diesmal in Leipzig gemastert wurde, denn genau das,
was an den letzten Platten fehlte, der klare Sound, ist hier voll da und nun sind die Tracks
wirklich unschlagbarbrilliant. Was macht Dwayne, entgegen aller Vernunft, auf seinen
Tracks? Er lässt rabiate Technomethoden und knuffeligen Minimalismus, Deepness und
Gradlinigkeit gegeneinanderlaufen, rupft seine Tracks wie ein Huhn, das liebend gerne
die Federn lässt (is ja für die Kunscht) und überrascht und nicht nur mit Tracks, die von
dunklen Detroitigen Downtempohymnen zu fiepsigem Gegrabbel werden, sondern auch
mit zerbrochenen Instrumentalhiphoptracks zu Barpiano für Staubfanatiker zu knorpeligstem
Harddisceffektszenario oder sogar einem einfachen Gesangshousetrack mit rasantem
Indieflavour. Strange Musik. Aber genau das braucht man.

bleed *****

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The Wire

... Don't want to know you is an altogether more plangeant experience. Dwayne Sodahberk comes
to his impressive debut album with a dualistic CV; in between releasing EPs on his own stuporsonika
label, he's been knocking out music for vodka and car commercials in his native Sweden. His
music is a hybrid, too, taking on board influences from minimal Techno, Ambient electronica and art
rock and morphing them into a teasingly approachable composite, which gathers together danceable
electroid pulses ("Amenvaf") and blissful cascades of noise ("Jan") with equal assurance. At
its best - on a track like "Walk me to the corner" - Don't want to know you offers up bewitchingly
fragile melodic figures before dropkicking them into overdrive with crackling, snarling beats: an
adroitly handled double whammy which delivers every time.

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propertop.com
"...having a name that sounds like leftover letters after a half-arsed game of scrabble or
something Kelly Osbourne might shout at Jack..."
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