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Ludwig Rosenberg (born 17 May 1993), professionally known as Whitearmor (often stylized in lowercase or as White Armor), is a Swedish music producer, multi-instrumentalist, audio engineer and songwriter. He is best known for being a member of the Swedish music group and artist collective Drain Gang (along with Bladee, Ecco2K, Thaiboy Digital and Yung Sherman). His musical style has been described as softly textured and fluid.

Aside from producing a lot of Drain Gang's and adjacent artist Yung Lean's music he has released several solo singles as well as a full-length instrumental album in 2022, In the Abyss: Music for Weddings. He has also collaborated with musicians such as Gud, Mechatok, Xavier Wulf, Uli K, and Working on Dying.

He is also one half of music duo VilloVilduVeta together with Swedish musician Joakim Benon, a member of the Swedish band JJ.

Early life

Ludwig Tomas Walther Rosenberg was born on 17 May 1993 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden. He grew up listening to a wide range of artists including Bob Marley, Slipknot, and various Atlanta trap artists like Waka Flocka Flame. As a teenager, he began playing drums in an indie-rock band before becoming interested in and producing electronic and hip-hop music.

Music career

Rosenberg began uploading music to the internet in 2010 under the names DJ Creep and DJ Cannabiz before adopting the name Whitearmor in 2012. While most of his music from this time has since been removed from the internet, some tracks have survived, including "Tony Hawk" (with Ken Burns & Malcolm S.), "THC Bliss", "Enya #6", and "Downer". In 2011, he released Rippin Private Bowls, an instrumental hip-hop cassette under Nymph Tapes. Thought to be lost to time, the tape was eventually ripped and uploaded to the internet on 6 May 2021.

In 2013, Whitearmor co-founded the Swedish music collective Drain Gang along with fellow Swedish musicians Bladee, Ecco2K, Thaiboy Digital and Yung Sherman. Whitearmor's earliest publicly available collaboration with a fellow Drain Gang member was the 2012 single Oxygen, which he produced for Bladee. On 12 August 2013, the group released their debut compilation GTBSG Compilation, with Whitearmor working on 10 of the 12 songs featured. In addition to his work with the rest of Drain Gang, Whitearmor is also a close collaborator of the Swedish music collective Sad Boys, who are close collaborators of Drain Gang. Sad Boys is a group that consists of rapper and singer Yung Lean and producers Gud and Drain Gang member Yung Sherman.

In 2019, he formed the music duo VilloVilduVeta with Swedish musician Joakim Benon, with their debut song Nästan being used in the 2019 Sad Boys/Converse "One Wish" campaign. They released their debut album Längtan får vingar on 2 July 2021. Whitearmor co-produced and wrote the entire album with Benon and also served as the project's mixing engineer. Later that year in October, they released the single Nikita.

In 2020, he worked with Yung Lean on Lean's side project Jonatan Leandoer96 (stylized in lowercase), contributing guitar, synthesizer and additional vocals to Leandoer96's single Evil from the album Blodhundar + Lullabies.

In 2022, Whitearmor released his debut studio album In the Abyss: Music for Weddings. The album was composed, produced, performed, and mixed entirely by Rosenberg. Mastering of the album was done by Robin Schmidt, an audio engineer who has been a frequent collaborator of Whitearmor and the rest of Drain Gang as a mastering engineer. It contains elements of ambient and new age, being described as soothing, uplifting and accessible, likening to mid-80s Haruomi Hosono.

He also took part in the 2022 Drain Gang tour that spanned 23 performances in North America and Europe, which included an additional performance at Primavera Sound in Barcelona, Spain.

Discography

Albums

• In the Abyss: Music for Weddings (2022)

Singles

• downer (2014)
• uu (2014)
• i kno (2014)
• Frutta e Verdura (2020) (with Gud)
• Karma (2020)
• Sunset Beach (2021) (with Mechatok)
• Even The Score (2022) (with LUCY (Cooper B. Handy))

Remixes

• Finding People - White Armor Remix (Croatian Armor) (2017)

Production credits

References

1. ^ Yalcinkaya, Günseli (13 June 2022). "Whitearmor: 'Everything I've ever wanted to say has been in the melodies'". Dazed Digital. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
2. Smith, Nadine (23 March 2022). "Crest". Pitchfork. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
3. "DJ CANNABIZ's sounds on SoundCloud". SoundCloud. Archived from the original on 2011-11-11. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
4. ^ BLADEE - OXYGEN. Archived from the original on 2014-05-19. Retrieved 2024-07-30 – via YouTube.
5. Bladee - Tony Hawk ft.Ken Burns & Malcolm S. Archived from the original on 2020-06-17. Retrieved 2024-07-30 – via YouTube.
6. THC BLISS. 2011-04-07. Retrieved 2024-07-30 – via YouTube.
7. "DJ CANNABIZ- Enya #6". SoundCloud. 2011-10-07. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
8. (old whitearmor) DJ CANNABIZ - Downer -. Retrieved 2024-07-30 – via YouTube.
9. "»Love knows no borders« (dagens outfit)". Ny musik för hållbar utveckling (in Swedish). 2012-03-14. Archived from the original on 2024-07-30. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
10. "DJ Cannabiz - Rippin Private Bowls (C30 Cassette rip)". Reddit. 2021-05-06. Archived from the original on 2021-05-06. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
11. "GTBSG compilation". MediaFire. 2013-08-12. Archived from the original on 2020-11-01. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
12. Dwyer, Ross (2019-08-21). "Yung Lean's Sad Boys Has A Converse One Star Dropping Soon". Sneaker News. Archived from the original on 2019-12-19. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
13. "Längtan Får Vingar". Bandcamp. 2 July 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
14. "VilloVilduVeta - Nikita | YEAR0001". Year0001. Archived from the original on 2021-12-08. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
15. "jonatan leandoer96 - Evil | YEAR0001". Year0001. Archived from the original on 2020-05-23. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
16. "Whitearmor - In the Abyss: Music for Weddings | YEAR0001". Year0001. Archived from the original on 2022-06-14. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
17. {{cite web|url=https://www.analogplanet.com/content/review-explosion-post-malone-070-shake-merzbow-whitearmor%7Ctitle=Review Explosion: Post Malone, 070 Shake, Merzbow, & Whitearmor|author=Lui, Malachi|date=15 June 2022|access-date=2 June 2024|website=AnalogPlanet.com}}
18. Maicki, Salvatore (5 October 2021). "Bladee, Ecco2k, Thaiboy Digital and Whitearmor announce Drain Gang world tour". The Fader. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
19. Joyce, Colin (10 May 2017). "Whitearmor's Croatian Amor Remix Is a Crushing Ambient Ballad". Vice. Retrieved 2 June 2024.

• 1993 births
• Living people
• Musicians from Stockholm
• Swedish male musicians
• Swedish record producers