Take a stop at the Sonic Station…

SONIC STATION is a new Westcoast-AOR Project put together by Alexander Kronbrink (a Swedish guitarist, composer and producer). Alexander is a young musician who learned his skills playing with Smooth Jazz star Jonathan Fritzén. Later on – after being introduced to Lee Ritenour - Alexander started to see a clearer direction in his playing. Through Ritenour he discovered the music of such giants as Steely Dan, Kenny Loggins, composer and producer David Foster and guitarist Jay Graydon, among others. Alexander says: “I have always been interested in guitarists with the ability to play everything from Jazz, to Pop, to Country, to Hard Rock. I have listened a lot to American session guitarists such as Steve Lukather, Michael Landau and Dan Huff. I guess that type of guitar playing is what have influenced me the most.” From the very beginning the SONIC STATION project has been based in the 80’s AOR music (influenced by Toto, Mr. Mister and Journey) and the West Coast-sound of Airplay and Chicago. The resulting album “SONIC STATION” is an expressive and warm record, where each song has an obvious and immediate hit feeling. “The focus is on melody and the SONIC STATION sound is a meticulous and exciting mixture of Pop, Rock and Jazz”, explains Kronbrink. To get the most quality out of each track Alexander, who composed ten of the songs and also produced and arranged the whole record, engaged four singers with different styles and voices: Marika Willstedt (from the Swedish TV show “Så ska det låta”), Magnus Bäcklund (member of the Swedish duo “Fame”), Kristoffer Fogelmark and Tove Lo. There are many musicians working on the album but the three contributing the most are Alexander’s close friends Jonathan Fritzén (on keyboards – a smooth Jazz solo artist who reached #1 on the Billboard Indicator Smooth Jazz Chart), Henrik Linder (on bass – Dirty Loops, Work of Art) and Aron Mellergård (on drums – Dirty Loops). All of them are accomplished musicians and gave their contribution for the final result. “I definitely think SONIC STATION will have a life on stage and I expect that we will be able to do some shows in the coming months” concludes Alexander Kronbrink. “Sonic Station” includes the following songs: Intro; Love's Gonna Show The Way (Feat. Magnus Bäcklund); I Wish I Could Lie (Feat. Marika Willstedt); Hold On To Me (Feat. Kristoffer Fogelmark); You Have To Let Me Go (Feat. Tove Lo); The Most Beautiful Fear (Feat. Magnus Bäcklund); Running Through The Night (Feat. Marika Willstedt); Never Let The Sunshine Die (Feat. Kristoffer Fogelmark); My Last Refrain (Feat. Marika Willstedt); Love You More (Feat. Marika Willstedt & Kristoffer Fogelmark); Reasons (Feat. Marika Willstedt). With SONIC STATION, Alexander Kronbrink has taken the 80’s into the future. Read more…

Words from Michael Tomlinson: My live concerts have always felt very personal to me, every night different in some way from the other, but all of them special to me in some way. I think you'd be surprised, if you told me of a time or place when you came to listen to me over the years, that I am almost always able to tell you something about that night that stayed with me. This is true partly because I have not burned myself out traveling and performing over the years. My concerts are rare and scattered about the country. And so there is the opportunity to associate place and weather and people with a certain night I sang in an adobe building in Taos or a rooftop in Fairbanks, a winery near Big Sur or an island off the coast of Maine. Read more…

Gregg Rolie (born June 17, 1947 in Seattle, Washington) is an American keyboardist, organist, and singer, who is one of the founding members of the bands Santana, The Storm, Abraxas Pool and Journey, for whom he was the original lead singer. He currently performs with his Gregg Rolie Band. Rolie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Santana. By the time 1988's Gringo rolled around, Journey had all but called it a day (until their reunion a decade or so later) and Gregg Rolie was going in a decidedly different direction than his tenure in either Journey or Santana. As "The Hands of Time" immediately makes evident, Rolie was shooting for the top of the pop charts, falling somewhere between Daryl Hall's "Dreamtime" and Don Johnson's "Heartbeat" on the musical landscape. Guest appearances from Carlos Santana and Neal Schon. The AOR Heaven Classix reissue of the “Gringo” release are digitally remastered by Chris Lyne and feature liner notes by Dave Reynolds. The album are available via www.aorheaven.com, selected retailers and Cargo in the UK. Read more…

AOR Blvd Records is excited to announce the return of Frederic Slama AOR project with the release of a brand new studio album The Colors Of LA on January 27 in Europe. After two years of hard work, Frédéric Slama is back with the most anticipated album of the year called AOR The Colors Of L.A, featuring a never seen cast of AOR talents in a single album such as Tommy Denander, Philip Bardowell, Jerry Hludzik (Dakota), Joe Pasquale, Steve Newman, Joey Summer, Bill Champlin (Chicago), Christian Tolle, Steve Lukather, Michael Landau, David Foster, Randy Goodrum, Michael Thompson, Rick Riso, David Diggs, Bruno Levesque (Silence) and many more. Co-produced by Tommy Denander, The Colors Of L.A, AOR's 10th Release, is the perfect mix between melodic rock & Westcoast music. The sound is heavier this time in the vein of Toto, Foreigner or Survivor. Great Melodies, Fabulous solos and brand new recorded versions of favourites like Teach Me How To Love You Again or You're My Obsession. The Colors Of L.A contains all the elements of a classic. Pure AOR bliss! Track listing: 1.Jenny At Midnight 2.Benedict Canyon 3.Kimberly 4.Under Your Spell 5.Brittany 6.Halo Of Light 7.Just One Kiss On Your Heart 8.Dreams From Silver Lake 9.You`re My Obsession 10.Teach Me How To Love You Again 11.Grace (Bonus Track) 12.Never Gonna Let Her Go (Bonus Track). Read more…

One day in the middle of the summer of 1997, three longtime friends and musicians got together to make plans for the future. After playing live for several years in different bands they were ready for a new challenge. They were all interested in taking control of their own musical progress, and now was the time. Mikael Bohlin (keyboards and guitars) wanted to develop knowledge in the process of produce music at own terms and he asked his friends Anders Rybank (keyboards, guitars and bass) and Markus Nordenberg (lead & background vocals) to join him on the journey to unexplored ground. The main idea was to help each other to record songs that they had written, but not had been able to put on tape. A strategy for the whole project was to record good songs, obtain as good sound quality as possible and not focus on any special music style. Since they all were songwriters and had different influences the musical combination lead to an exciting melting pot. As the years went by an idea of making something serious of the recordings started to grew and in 2003 they released their debut CD at the German record label AOR Heaven. The result was a tasteful blend of AOR, Westcoast and POP. In 2011, the band and German record company Avenue Of Allies started a partnership that resulted in the release of the new studio album "On Top Of The World" and a remastered reissue of their self-titled debut album. So here they are. Get ready for Coastland Ride!. Read more…