Johan Linus Eklöw (born 29 August 1979), better known by his stage name Style of Eye, is a Swedish
DJ,
record producer
A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...
,
songwriter
A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...
and
percussionist
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
. He was part of the electropop music group
Galantis
Galantis is a Swedish electronic music act consisting of producer Christian "Bloodshy" Karlsson. Formerly, they were a duo, alongside rising musician Style of Eye, until he decided to part ways with the project shortly after their second albu ...
from 2012.
He has worked with
Usher,
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and actress. Frequently referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Princess of Pop", she has achieved recognition in both the music industry and fas ...
,
Lily Allen
Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. List of awards and nominations received by Lily Allen, Her accolades include a Brit Award, alongside nominations for a Grammy Award and a Laurence Olivi ...
,
Zedd
Anton Zaslavski (; born 2 September 1989), known professionally as Zedd (), is a German record producer and DJ. His stage name, Zedd, was derived from ''zed'', the Z#Name and pronunciation, English pronunciation, barring American English, for ...
,
Miike Snow
Miike Snow ( ) is a Swedish indie pop band formed in 2007. The band consists of producing team Bloodshy & Avant and American singer Andrew Wyatt. The band is often represented by a silhouette image of a jackalope. In their career, the band has re ...
,
Slagsmålsklubben, Tom Staar, Lars Allertz, Soso, and many more through collaborations and/or remixes. In 2012, Linus teamed up with
Christian Karlsson to form the super duo,
Galantis
Galantis is a Swedish electronic music act consisting of producer Christian "Bloodshy" Karlsson. Formerly, they were a duo, alongside rising musician Style of Eye, until he decided to part ways with the project shortly after their second albu ...
. His early 2013 single ''Taken Over'', featuring
Rebecca & Fiona, peaked at 33 on the
Swedish charts. On April 23, 2014, Linus was awarded at
ASCAP
The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadc ...
's 31st Annual Pop Music Awards for
Icona Pop's international hit, "
I Love It" featuring
Charli XCX
Charlotte Emma Aitchison (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as Charli XCX, is a British singer and songwriter. She began posting songs on Myspace in 2008 before entering the London rave scene. Signing a recording contract with Asylum Re ...
, which he co-wrote and produced alongside Patrik Berger.
''Footprints'', his second full length released in October 2014 on Ultra Records, was nominated for a Swedish Grammy. The album includes the released singles: Kids (which went platinum in Sweden), The Game, and Love Looks.
Biography
Early life and career
Linus Eklöw was raised in
Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
. His early musical influences included a range of styles: from
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...
,
classical composer
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic music, Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwid ...
,
soul music
Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps ...
, and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
; electronic musicians
Yello
Yello is a Swiss electronic music band, which formed in Zürich in 1979. For most of the band's history, Yello has been a duo consisting of Dieter Meier and Boris Blank; founding member Carlos Perón left in 1983.
Their sound is often charac ...
and
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk (, ) is a Germany, German Electronic music, electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful a ...
; to drum & bass producers
DJ Hype,
DJ Zinc
Benjamin Pettit (born 12 March 1972), known professionally as DJ Zinc, is a British DJ and record producer. Zinc first became known for 1995's "Super Sharp Shooter", a hip hop music, hip hop/jungle music, jungle fusion, notably one of the pione ...
,
Photek
Rupert Parkes (born 6 September 1971), known as Photek, is a Los Angeles-based British electronic music DJ/record producer, and TV and film score composer. Photek was born and raised in Ipswich, Suffolk, England.
Photek has contributed music ...
, and
Roni Size
Ryan Owen Granville Williams (born 29 October 1969), better known by his stage name Roni Size, is an English DJ and record producer. He came to prominence in 1997 as the founder and frontman of Roni Size & Reprazent, a drum and bass collective. ...
. Linus began experimenting with production as early as 14 years old, creating "weird
downtempo
Downtempo (or downbeat) is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music. Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm, the style may ...
and
trip hop
Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...
" songs, as well as spinning
drum & bass at his school discos. “I’m always looking to connect dots from my own history,” Linus explains.
2000s
Eklöw started his house music career in 2003, when he released tracks on
Derrick Carter's Chicago label, Classic. During these early years, Linus made "Chicago
Jackin'"
House music
House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...
with "Swedish refinement and high energy flair," and performed at various underground shows in
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
.
In 2007, John Dahlbäck signed Linus’ single "H-Bomb" to his Pickadoll label, that was the beginning for a run of releases that in 2008 would see the release of Style of Eye's debut full-length "Duck, Cover And Hold," in addition to its first single: “Girls”. The album contained 13 tracks that spanned such genres as:
Minimal House
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...
to nu-trance, all geared towards the dance floor and eventually won the P3-Guld and The Manifest Prize for Best Dance Recording in 2009. 2008 was also the year that Claude VonStroke and his
Dirtybird imprint released Linus' The Big Kazoo EP (a first Beatport 10 entry for Eklöw), which was followed up the next year by The Race EP.
2010–present
“I’m always about high-energy with a need to push things forward,” says Linus.
Releases like "Puss Puss," "We Are Boys" and "Sexx" on Refune Music, his "Wet/Dry" EP on French imprint Sound Pellegrino lead to
Skrillex
Sonny John Moore (born January 15, 1988), known professionally as Skrillex, is an American DJ, record producer, musician, singer. Raised in Northeast Los Angeles and Northern California, he began his career in 2004 as the lead vocalist of the ...
requesting Linus to create the song “Devastate” for the Free Treats Vol II compilation on Skrillex's OWSLA label. In addition, Linus's “Homeless” track alongside Slagsmålsklubben for A-Trak's Fool's Gold was followed up this year with his debut EP on the label, “Ray Dee Oh.”
Linus also was behind the scenes, writing and producing tracks for artists such as Icona Pop (Linus co-wrote the international song "I Love It" as well as much of their forthcoming album), Fenech Soler, and remixed various notable hits: Swedish House Mafia's Save The World, Kylie's Timebomb and Miike Snow's The Wave.
Linus has been an international DJ, gigging at major festivals and club events throughout the world. Eklöw has performed at: Swedish House Mafia's show at the 35,000 capacity Friends Arena in Stockholm, Pier 94 in New York, Tomorrowland, Mysteryland, Snowbombing and Sunburn Festival in India.
Linus teamed up with Christian Karlsson of
Miike Snow
Miike Snow ( ) is a Swedish indie pop band formed in 2007. The band consists of producing team Bloodshy & Avant and American singer Andrew Wyatt. The band is often represented by a silhouette image of a jackalope. In their career, the band has re ...
near the end of 2013 to form the group
Galantis
Galantis is a Swedish electronic music act consisting of producer Christian "Bloodshy" Karlsson. Formerly, they were a duo, alongside rising musician Style of Eye, until he decided to part ways with the project shortly after their second albu ...
, and released their self-titled debut EP (it hit #4 on the iTunes dance chart and was #8 on Shazam's chart of the most Shazamed songs at Miami Music Week). They then took their Galantis live show on the road across the US, including two performances at Coachella's Gobi stage in April 2014. As of May 5, 2014,
Galantis
Galantis is a Swedish electronic music act consisting of producer Christian "Bloodshy" Karlsson. Formerly, they were a duo, alongside rising musician Style of Eye, until he decided to part ways with the project shortly after their second albu ...
has finished most of the songwriting of their first full-length album.
For Eklöw's upcoming second LP entitled "Footprints," various singles have already been released as of August 11, 2014: ‘After Dark’, ‘Kids’, ‘The Game’ and ‘Love Looks’; as well as a track list and album artwork.
Discography
Studio albums
EPs
Source:
Mix albums
* Hipp-E and Style of Eye - "Winter Sessions 2" (OM Records - 2008)
* Justin Martin, Klaus Hill & Style of Eye - "The Underground" (Ministry of Sound (Australia) - 2009)
* "Ministry of Sound: The Club Presents Style of Eye" (Ministry of Sound - 2010)
Singles
As featured artist
Remixes
* "Roar (Style of Eye Remix)" - Axwell & Sebastian Ingrosso (
Walt Disney Records
Walt Disney Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from the Walt Disney Company's Walt Disney Studios (division), motion picture studios, television shows, Disney Experiences, them ...
- 2013)
* "Open Your Eyes (Style of Eye Remix)" - Alex Metric & Steve Angello (Virgin UK - 2011)
* "Save The World (Style of Eye & Carli Remix)" - Swedish House Mafia featuring
John Martin (singer) (Virgin UK - 2011)
* "Go Tigers (Style of Eye Remix)" - Tony Senghore (Midnight Munchies - 2011)
* "Ohrwurm (Style of Eye Remix)" - Tommy Trash (Downright - 2011)
* "I Love It (Style of Eye Remix)" - Icona Pop featuring
Charli XCX
Charlotte Emma Aitchison (born 2 August 1992), known professionally as Charli XCX, is a British singer and songwriter. She began posting songs on Myspace in 2008 before entering the London rave scene. Signing a recording contract with Asylum Re ...
(Big Beat Records - 2012)
* "Manners (Style of Eye Remix)" - Icona Pop (Big Beat Records - 2012)
* "Summer Life (Style of Eye Remix)" - The Penelopes (Pour Le Monde Ltd - 2012)
* "Timebomb (Style Of Eye Remix)" - Kylie Minogue (Astralwerks - 2012)
* "The Wave (Style of Eye Remix)" - Miike Snow (Universal Republic Records - 2012)
* "Bonanza (Style of Eye Remix)" - Mayka (Uniform Beat - 2012)
* "Who's Gonna Love Me (Style of Eye Remix)" - Soso (PNC Do It Yourself Bitch - 2012)
* "Clarity (Style Of Eye Remix)" - Zedd featuring Foxes (
Interscope Records
Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...
- 2013)
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Swedish remixers
1979 births
Living people
Galantis members
Swedish electronic dance music DJs
People from Sundsvall