Johan Tommy Karlsson (born April 10, 1976 in
Hässleholm
Hässleholm is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Hässleholm Municipality, Scania County, Sweden with 18,500 inhabitants in 2011.
Overview
Hässleholm was gradually developed from 1860 in connection with the construction of the m ...
) is a Swedish
techno
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...
/
electropop
Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...
artist who uses the alias Familjen (, "The Family").
Biography
Karlsson grew up in
Hässleholm
Hässleholm is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Hässleholm Municipality, Scania County, Sweden with 18,500 inhabitants in 2011.
Overview
Hässleholm was gradually developed from 1860 in connection with the construction of the m ...
,
Skåne
Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...
(the same town as fellow electronica producers
Andreas Tilliander
Berndt Andreas Tilliander (born 1977) is a Sweden, Swedish electronica, drone music, drone and techno producer who significantly contributed to the evolution of the glitch (music), 'clicks & cuts' genre with his first albums ''Cliphop'' (Raster.No ...
and Stefan Thor (Folie)), but is currently based in
Malmö
Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...
. In his youth as a
synthpop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...
fan he also formed bands with
Sophie Rimheden from nearby
Bjärnum and joined the industrial act Morticians with
Stefan Thor and
Andreas Rimheden. Karlsson has previously produced Swedish indie band
David & the Citizens.
Karlsson describes his music as
indie-
techno
Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...
:
''"I'm pretty fed up with guitar - Indie and techno can get a bit monotone after a while."''
All his lyrics are in
Swedish, or the southern dialect of
Scanian to be more precise. He performs live with Andreas Tilliander on
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
.
Both the album and the single ''
Det snurrar i min skalle'' are released on
Tellé in Norway, the same label as
Röyksopp
Röyksopp () a Norwegian electronic music duo from Tromsø formed in 1998. The duo consists of childhood friends Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland who formed Röyksopp during the Bergen Wave. After experimenting with different Electronic Mu ...
,
Annie and
Kings Of Convenience.
released the album in Australia in 2008.
In October 2007 Familjen won the Swedish web-based music competition ''Rampmusic'' (competitions were also held in Norway and Denmark). Some unexpected help came from the
file sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include ...
community
The Pirate Bay
The Pirate Bay, commonly abbreviated as TPB, is a free searchable online index of Film, movies, music, video games, Pornographic film, pornography and software. Founded in 2003 by Swedish think tank , The Pirate Bay facilitates the connection ...
, who on their website encouraged their visitors to vote for him (without Karlsson's knowledge).
Both music videos directed by Karlsson feature a previously shown image overlaid with a hand-drawn heart for the last few seconds.
In 2015 he produced the
...Baby One More Time-single by the
Swedish singer
Tove Styrke, a cover of
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...
's hit song released in 1998.
Discography
Albums
* 2007: ''Det snurrar i min skalle''
* 2008: ''Huvudet i sanden''
* 2010: ''Mänskligheten''
* 2012: ''Allt På Rött''
* 2018: ''Kom''
EP
* 2006: ''Familjen EP'' on Adrian Recordings
Singles
* 2006: "Första/Sista" on Adrian Recordings
* 2006: "Hög luft" on Adrian Recordings /
HybrisHög luft
* 2007: "Kom säger dom" on Adrian Recordings / Hybris
* 2007: " Det snurrar i min skalle" on Adrian Recordings / Hybris / A:Larm (Denmark) / Tellé (Norway) / Creative Vibes (Australia)
* 2007: "Huvudet i sanden" on Adrian Recordings / Hybris / Tellé
* 2010: "När planeterna stannat" on Adrian Recordings / Hybris
;Others
* 2014: Göra slut med gud (from ''Så mycket bättre
Så mycket bättre (, ) is a Swedish reality television show broadcast on TV4 (Sweden), TV4. The basic premise is that each participating musician performs their own version of a well-known song by another artist, with each episode focusing on ...
'' - Season 5 - Ola Salo Day)
* 2014: Regn hos mig (from ''Så mycket bättre
Så mycket bättre (, ) is a Swedish reality television show broadcast on TV4 (Sweden), TV4. The basic premise is that each participating musician performs their own version of a well-known song by another artist, with each episode focusing on ...
'' - Season 5 - Orup Day)
Videos
* 2007: "Det snurrar i min skalle" (English translation: "My mind is spinning") Directed by Johan Söderberg. The video was named by Pitchfork Media
''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music magazine founded in 1996 by Ryan Schreiber in Minneapolis. It originally covered Alternative rock, alternative and independent music, and expanded to cover genres includin ...
as one of the best videos of 2007.[ideo
IDEO () is a design firm, design and consulting firm with offices in the U.S., England, and China. It was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991. The company's 500 staff uses a design thinking approach to design products, services, environmen ...]
> It also won a grammy in Sweden for best video.
* 2007: "Huvudet i sanden" (English translation: "Head in the sand") Directed by
.
said the video was "one of the most inspired and rewatchable videos of 2007".