Universal Poplab is a Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 synthpop

Synthpop

Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...

 band founded in January 2002 by vocalist Christer Lundberg and producer Paul Lachenardière. The band's two members have very different backgrounds: Christer is an old-school synthpop

Synthpop

Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...

 fan, influenced by acts like Soft Cell

Soft Cell

Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. They consist of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The duo is most widely known for their 1981 worldwide hit version of "Tainted Love" and platinum debut Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret...

 and Yazoo

Yazoo (band)

Yazoo are a British synthpop duo from Basildon, Essex. They had a number of Top 10 hits in the UK charts in the early 1980s...

, Paul is a classically trained musician with roots in jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, electronica

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

, trance

Trance music

Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...

 and techno

Techno

Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...

.
Each member’s creativity has taken various forms over the years. Christer also hosts his own daytime radio show five days a week on Swedish radio and has produced TV documentaries. Paul creates music and releases records in such varied genres as trance and nu-jazz.

History

In 2003 Universal Poplab made their live debut at the Scandinavian Alternative Music Awards

Scandinavian Alternative Music Awards

Scandinavian Alternative Music Awards , was a music festival and award ceremony for electronic music held each year in Gothenburg between 1998 and 2007....

 (SAMA), followed by a number of summer gigs. The SubSpace Encounter in Malmö

Malmö

Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...

 and the support show for German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 synthpop

Synthpop

Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...

 stars Melotron

Melotron

Melotron is a futurepop and synthpop band from Germany. In 1996 Andy Krueger, Edgar Slatnow and Kay Hildebrandt left their former band, The Vermin, to form Melotron. The band found success with their first single, "Dein Meister," in 1998....

 in Gothenburg

Gothenburg

Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...

.

In 2004 their debut album Universal Poplab is released by independent record label SubSpace Communications. On the album, one can find a wide spectre of music, from gentle love songs as ”Dice Roller” and ”Any More Than This” weaved between electrifying tracks as “I Can’t Help Myself” (with Paul as the lead vocalist) and “Days Astray” to floor fillers as ”Extasy” and the first single, the melancholic yet bouncy “Casanova Fall”. The record also includes a cover version of Morrissey

Morrissey

Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...

’s ”We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful

We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful

"We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful" is a single by Morrissey released in April 1992. It was taken from the then-unreleased Your Arsenal album and was the first Morrissey single to be written by Alain Whyte and produced by glam rock legend Mick Ronson.Reaching number 17 in the UK Singles...

” featuring the backing vocals of one of Sweden's most famous pop stars, Håkan Hellström

Håkan Hellström

Håkan Hellström is a Swedish musician. He got his Swedish breakthrough in the year 2000 with the song "Känn ingen sorg för mig Göteborg"...

. Lundberg and Hellström have known each other since they were 16, and the song is dealing with the dark side of having famous friends. Universal Poplab’s single release, "New Baby Boom" (featuring Nina Natri from Homy and ex-Fidget), gained a good grip on Swedish radio playlists.

Following three singles from "Uprising" – Universal Poplab released "Fame and Hate" onto the web with a viral video. The follow-up single "On the Run" is available as a free download from their official website, where the official video can also be viewed.

Albums

• Universal Poplab (2004)
• Uprising
  Uprising (Universal Poplab album)
  Uprising is the second album by the Swedish synthpop band Universal Poplab, released November 29, 2006 through Wonderland Records. The album was preceded by two singles, "I Could Say I'm Sorry" and "Heart Apart".-Track listing:#"Soma Generation" – 3:38...
  
  (2006)
• Seeds (2008)

Singles

• "Casanova Fall" (2003)
• "New Baby Boom" (2004)
• "Dice Roller" (2004)
• "I Could Say I'm Sorry" (2006)
• "Heart Apart" (2006)
• "Fire" (2007)
• "Fame and Hate" (2008)
• "On the Run" (2008)
• "Summer Struck" (2008)