Jose Gonzalez

Official Website: http://www.jose-gonzalez.com/

I don't know that I could ever give Pandora enough credit for introducing me to so many good artists, but here again is another artist I discovered through my Pandora station and have been hooked on a while...Swedish born singer-songwriter Jose Gonazalez. Yes, you read that right, born in Sweden to Argentine parents, Jose grew up listening to Latin folk and pop music, and Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodríguez.

Gonzalez spent his early years playing with hardcore punk and rock bands. Some of this influence can still be heard in his music, though he is better known for a trademark soft voice and his solo classical guitar from which he seems to drain a wall of sound.

Gonzalez released Veneer in 2003 while studying for a PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Gothenburg, which he has yet to complete (a music career can kind of get in the way of something like that). Most of Gonzalez's music consists of originals, but he also covers a number of other artists as diverse in genre as fellow Swedish act The Knife, Bruce Sprinsteen, and Massive Attack.

Below is a live performance of his track "Deadweight on Velveteen".



González is also a member of Junip, along with Elias Araya and Tobias Winterkorn.

Here's is a live performance of Junip's "Rope and Summit" from the EP with the same title...