I don’t know why or how their only album got made, because the band appeared and then disappeared again almost immediately without any trace. “Newtone” was released just as the acid jazz wave faded out from the charts around the world, and I’m guessing that bad timing probably killed any chance it had to succeed. Originally, a friend of mine bought it on impulse sometime in the late 90’s because the cover looked, well, kinda funky, and surprisingly, the music actually matched his initial expectations and then some!
Make no mistake, these twelve uptempo funk and soul tracks with a blues ballad thrown in for good measure, are all produced with a very smooth and contemporary sound typical of the time, but the core band is tight, the melodies are catchy, and with plenty of lush horn, string and vocal arrangements throughout, the end product bears no marks of being a one-off project.
Who knew that a bunch of unknown (to me) young Swedish musicians could produce something of this caliber, but given the skill and history of some of their peers like Nils Landgren, Jan Lundgren, Esbjörn Svensson and many others, it kind of makes sense in some way. To this day, I have never met a single person, from Sweden or anywhere else, who have ever heard about this band, and I think that they deserve a better fate…
This album has become so obscure that you are lucky if you can acquire a used copy on eBay, and because of that, you can download it directly from here. If anyone finds a way to legally purchase the album, or for some other reason it should be removed, please let us know asap.
Download link: Newtone – “Newtone” (104MB zip).
Homepage: Not available.
Purchase & audio samples: Not available – this album is out of print.
I bought this record in 1999 and return to it now and then. Unbelievably tight sound!
Spotify users can find it here! http://open.spotify.com/album/6gZCXdUwx3tA6RY4PrXo8c
I totally agree with you, the production and sound on this album is close to perfect!
Thanks for the Spotify link, unfortunately it does not work for me (“This album is currently not available in Norway”).
Thanks for Newtone!!! For a long time searched for this album, it is good work!!! Thanks, I already have almost lost hope it to find…
Happy to help! It’s a shame they never got any more recognition for this excellent album…
Wow!
I’ve been longing for this record SO long without knowing it existed.
It’s just SO right, SO good, SO perfectly done.
I’m now even more proud of being a Sweede.
Glad to hear that they have another fan!
AWESOME THANK YOU! picked it up in a shop in italy well over 10 years ago, a DJ friend borrowed it and I never saw it again. until now of course. thanks for sharing!
Pier
Thanks!!! This is probably the record i´ve been listening to most over the last ten years, but unfortenatly I lost the record long time ago and only had a bad copy.
Beeing a swede I´m so frustrated not knowing who actually plays on this record! Can anyone help me out? Have searched the web for hours without finding anything. They are so extremely good so they must have done more work, not as a group but in other ones.
Produced and arranged by Newtone: Max Linder – vocals and guitars, Carl Linder – drums and additional percussion, Josef Zackrisson – bass, Andres Barrén – keyboards, Magnus Thorell – trumpet, flugelhorn and lead trumpet, Max Waltmann – trumpet, flugelhorn, french horn, and distorted trumpet, Erik Bergström – tenor, alto and baritone saxophones.
If you manage to find out anything more about these guys I’d really like to hear about it… I still dream of a reunion concert (or even a new album!) happening someday
hi everyone…
i’m just end to convert my japanese cd in FLAC (which i keep under lock and key) format if anyone need it please let me know …newtone is a great acid jazz band and sooo underrated..they deserve be known by all the whole world!!!
peace and a happy new year 2011
julio aguilar
Pd: hi ultrafunk can you please upload the front, inside and back cover from the sweden edition pls?
ohh by the way …the japanese edition contains two bonus tracks….=)
Regards from Peru from the only one (yes, the only) newtone fan!
Julio
Japanese edition? Two bonus tracks? Please tell me how I can get hold of these from you in some way!
I’ll try to digitize the whole cover and publish it when I’m able to get my hands on a proper flatbed scanner.
got this on tape once from a friend, it was about the same time that they had just released this album, so late ’96. just today a got a copy for myself since the tape i had was long destroyed. played it over and over all day, its just as good as i remembered it, even though i haven’t heard it for the past ten tears or so. superb production throughout, what a waste of talent that they didn’t reach anywhere with the record. i saw somewhere that max linder, the singer is employed by or part-owner of a music production company in stockholm, producing background music for mini series on tv or various film projects. forgot the name of the company. perhaps someone could google his name and reach him there so he could post some info about the band here, and what became of them?
Some additional info:
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Newtone+%283%29
http://www.bluedesert.dk/newtone.html
Some VERY smooth listening. I’ve found many Swedish bands (not necessarily in the jazz/funk genre) and even Finnish bands that provide some really solid musicianship but don’t get anything but a brief mention in the States. It’s a low-down, cryin’ shame, I tell ya.
Hi.
I’m Japanese and I bought this CD in late’90. I forgot them for long time, but today I googled their name hoping to hear another album. It’s sad they made only this.
These guys give serious credibility to Swedish musicians. Wish they would come back on the scene.