JOY?
German Krautrock meets American Rap.
JOY?
JOY? is Eike Swoboda from Hamburg, Germany and Cody Weber from Keokuk, Iowa, America. Distance: 4500 Miles. After writing songs via the internet for ten years, they finally met in person in the fall of 2019 to record their first full length album.
Cody & Eike
CODY WEBER is a lifelong resident of America and has lived throughout the American Midwest as a traveling multi-media artist specializing in Photography, Videography, Graphic Design, Writing, and Music.
As a photographer, from 2013-2016, he worked on international advertising campaigns for clothing companies such as Overland Sheepskin and Blue Fish Clothing. In 2015, he founded the urban-exploration project FORGOTTEN IOWA and it has since been featured on VICE, MTV, CNN, Fox News, USAToday, and nearly 25 national and independent magazines. Cody has given lectures at Grinell University and MUM University in Iowa. To date, the project has been viewed nearly ten million times.
Cody has traveled extensively as a videographer from 2009-2012 and has been the director of photography for various projects that have amassed upwards of twenty million views. His personal projects have been picked up by various art and film publications. He spent 2006-2009 touring as a drummer in a band, then started a solo project as an electronic musician called WREN shortly after that, releasing five full length albums to date. Several songs have been commissioned for use in independent film ventures.
EIKE SWOBODA is a music and video artist based in Hamburg, Germany. From 1997 - 2013 he has been singer and/or drummer for bands like „Molton“ and „Katzenkönig“. From 2000 - 2015 he worked with mentally disabeled artists of the band „Station 17“. He shot several music videos for the band, short films, a web series and a 90-minutes music documentary. His work won several awards, including „Prädikat Wertvoll“. He studied Film at the academy of fine arts Hamburg, conducted by Prof. Wim Wenders and received the Karl-H.-Ditze Diploma award.
In 2009 Eike founded the music and video project „Ein Astronaut“ which won Google’s „YouTube NextUp Award“ in 2011 including a 20.000 € cash prize. In 2012 his project won the popular „Krach & Getöse Award“ by Rock City Hamburg. e.V. Ein Astronaut performed live at places like Elbjazz Festival, Dockville Festival, Reeperbahn Festival, Ray’s Guesthouse and ohters. The project released four studio albums, several EPs and countless music videos.
In 2010 Cody and Eike founded the band „JOY?“.
the keokuk sessions
German Krautrock meets American Rap.
THE KEOKUK SESSIONS was written and recorded over the course of two weeks. It was created on the fly with borrowed equipment and with no melodies preconceived. Even though it sounds like a studio recording, the core tracks were recorded in an old worn down house (which also doubled as the album's cover art). Additionally, only real instruments were used. There is no autotune, samples, quantization, or any software instrumentation to accompany the melodies. The result is a rough, warm, dynamic and direct sound that blends vintage kraut atmospheres with modern sensibilities.
It was created with a DIY attitude and both Eike and Cody were stringent in that philosophy. The album comes less from the mind than it does from the heart or the gut and the singular hope of the project was to capture raw emotion as it seeped into the instruments. Every new idea was immediately recorded to keep the energy of the moment.
You can download the album HERE (pw: JOY?) or listen to it below:
SOUNDCHECK
JOY? - THE KEOKUK SESSIONS
I WON’T LET YOU
JOY? - THE KEOKUK SESSIONS
SADIE’S SONG
JOY? - THE KEOKUK SESSIONS
CELINA’S SKELETON
JOY? - THE KEOKUK SESSIONS
STRINGS
JOY? - THE KEOKUK SESSIONS
FLEAS
JOY? - THE KEOKUK SESSIONS
MORNING COFFEE
JOY? - THE KEOKUK SESSIONS
SOUTH FIFTEENTH
JOY? - THE KEOKUK SESSIONS
JEZEBEL
JOY? - THE KEOKUK SESSIONS
SHORT CORDS
JOY? - THE KEOKUK SESSIONS
TUESDAY NIGHT LOVERS
JOY? - THE KEOKUK SESSIONS
LEAVING KEOKUK
JOY? - THE KEOKUK SESSIONS
ARTWORK
The whole production: songwriting, recording, producing, mixing, cover artwork, music videos, website, etc. was planned and created by Cody Weber and Eike Swoboda. No label or producer was pulling strings in the background. The whole project from the ground up was the brainchild of Eike Swoboda and Cody Weber and was executed as such.
2020
Besides the music, Cody and Eike also managed to shoot three music videos and a documentary around THE KEOKUK SESSIONS which is currently being edited. You can find a rough snippet below to get an idea of who they are.
2019 has been an exciting year for “JOY?“. After making music via the internet for almost ten years, Eike and Cody finally had the chance to meet in person and record an album together (something that had only been a pipe dream up until this point). When making music between oceans and using file transfer exclusively, it was hard to predict how the chemistry would work when actually playing together in the same room. They were pleasantly surprised to discover that their chemistry worked even better than it did before. JOY? managed to create an entire album in about ten days whereas before it took them ten years to record just five songs! And because such chemistry between musicians is very rare (surely any musician reading this could relate) Cody and Eike have decided to intensify their efforts and put all energy into JOY? moving forward.
First step: Releasing THE KEOKUK SESSIONS in 2020!
And that’s where you could come into play. While JOY? are able to produce music, video and photo content by themselves, the band does need help with spreading the word and get JOY? the attention of the right people and audience. Cody and Eike are willing to work really hard for achieving this. If you feel like JOY? could fit into your portfolio they would be very glad to get in touch with you!
Get in touch
If JOY? caught your interest and you’d like to get in touch, we would love to hear from you! Thanks for your time!
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