Drivan
August 23, 2010Comments Off
“Disko proffers intimate laptop folk, it`s bewitching Swedish language vocals underpinned by rudimentary guitars and Hiorthøy`s delightfully askew electronica” (4/5 David Sheppard, Mojo)
Drivan is a new band by Kim Hiorthøy, consisting of Kim, Lisa Östberg and Louise Peterhoff of Sweden, and Kristiina Viiala of Finland. The group met in Stockholm in the fall of 2007 while working together on a multi-faceted dance piece by choreographer and performance artist Gunilla Heilborn, entitled The Potato Country. The moving, yet humorous performance piece, with music written by Hiorthøy, incorporated dance, spoken word and songs. Upon the completion of its run in Stockholm, Hiorthøy asked Lisa, Louise, and Kristiina if they would be interested in collaborating further.
In early 2008 the group met in Skåne in the south of Sweden, where they worked on initial sketches and tracks in the remote house and studio of Bebbe Risenfors. New songs were written and subsequently recorded in Stockholm during the fall of that year and spring of 2009. Most of the tracks on the finished album, Disko, began their evolution as a Kim Hiorthøy loop, eventually being built upon by all the collaborators. Drivan is a group first and foremost, with everyone cooperating on lyrics and melodies, and although there are flourishes of Hiorthøy’s signature sound, the recordings’ folk-oriented and organic feel has the band drawing more from Swedish folk and prog of the 70s, as well as Stina Nordenstam’s People Are Strange album.
Sung entirely in Swedish, a lot of the songs on Disko revolve around themes of collectivity and the salvation of something through destruction. Although some of the meaning is lost in translation, lyrics like ”If you lose your memory, I will lie about everything in your life” and “Everything we did/we’ll do it better later” resound as clearly in English as they do in Swedish. The lyrics to the opening track, “Som en Läderlapp”, which can roughly be translated to “Like a piece of leather”, take some inspiration from “Bat Out of Hell” by Meat Loaf. (“Läderlapp” was also the original Swedish name given to Batman when the comic was first published there).
Backgrounds:
Kim Hiorthøy is based in Oslo and Berlin and operates in many different artistic fields in addition to music. He’s released three albums – Hei in 2000, Melke (a collection of remixes, 7 inches, rarities and unreleased tracks) in 2002, and 2007’s My Last Day, as well as several singles and EPs. As a graphic designer he is responsible for the album artwork of Rune Grammofon and many Smalltown Supersound releases. He’s an artist represented by Standard Oslo (www.standardoslo.no). A monograph of his design work, titled Tree Weekend, was published by Germany’s Die Gestalten Verlag in 2001 and a book of photographs is forthcoming on Powershovel Books in Japan. Lisa Östberg, Louise Peterhoff, and Kristiina Viiala all have backgrounds in the performing arts and work in a variety of capacities; Lisa has worked with dance and theatre as well as musical productions such as Chess and Mamma Mia. She also creates her own stage productions, and writes screenplays. Her first feature, The Games We Play is currently being shot in Gotland, Sweden. Louise performed with the renowned Needcompany in Belgium for several years, and is currently touring with one of their productions. In the fall she will appear in A Dream Play by August Strindberg at the Moment Theatre in Stockholm. Kristiina has worked with her own productions in collaboration with artists in both Sweden and Finland. She is currently collaborating with Mattias Fransson of the Swedish comedy group Klungan as well as working with Gunilla Heilborn, the director of The Potato Country, on her new piece.
Nisennenmondai
August 23, 2010Comments Off
“With walls of distortion and a pummeling rhythmic backbone that fluctuates between krautrock`s repetition and free-rock calamity, bassist Zai, guitarist Ma-Chan and drummer Hime have formed an unassuming juggernaut” (Dazed & Confused)
Nisennenmondai are three girls from Tokyo, Sayaka Himeno (drums), Yuri Zaikawa (bass) and Masako Takada (guitar), who have been playing instrumental music together since they met over ten years ago in college. Discovered after being lauded by members of groups including Battles and No Age, and most recently Gang Gang Dance, Prefuse 73, and Hella, Nisennenmondai were first officially introduced to an audience outside of Japan when Smalltown Supersound released their two EPs, “Neji” and “Tori” as one release last year. Their follow-up, Destination Tokyo, will be released worldwide on Smalltown Supersound this summer. WARP is also onboard this time taking care of the band`s publishing.
Destination Tokyo, Nisenennmondai’s first full-length album, was recorded in one take at Peace Music in Japan in the fall of 2007. Compared to “Neji/Tori”, Destination Tokyo sounds more clean, and more minimal and repetitive than the EP collection, leading to a truly intense, brain-melting, hi-fi experience. The repetitive nature of the album also helps the band reach their goal with this record, which is to make people dance. Destination Tokyo could be described as a mix of the groovy krautrock of Neu! and New York 1980’s no wave/disco created by bands such as Sonic Youth, DNA, and ESG, infused with elements of the instrumental Black Flag of The Process Of Weeding Out and the avant/post-punk of This Heat.
The album was released on the girls` own label, Bijin Records, in Japan last year. The Smalltown Supersound world-wide release is complete with new Kim Hiorthoy designed artwork. The first 12” single from Destination Tokyo includes remix treatment from Norwegian disco master Prins Thomas, who became so enamored with the band after seeing them perform, that he reached out to the label about creating a remix. Prins Thomas’ remix takes the band into an 11 minutes long hypnotic trip of kraut, psychedelia and folk.
Meanderthals
August 23, 2010Comments Off
“We are recording an album with our minds. It’s called “We Are Excited For The Rune Lindbaek Idjut Boys Collaboration.” (Fader Magazine)
„Leftfield blissed-out psychdisco supergroup alert!“ (Pitchfork)
London`s Idjut Boys (Dan Tyler & Conrad McConnell) and Rune Lindbaek of Oslo are Meanderthals. As longtime friends and fans of each other’s music they have discussed the idea of working together in a musical context for years and in 2008, they finally began to make those ideas a reality. Throughout the year they traveled back and forth between Oslo and London to create their debut album, Desire Lines. A meanderthal is a theory by Matthew Tiessen about a human that is always in the way
of others. Whether it be the person on the wrong side of the escalator, the person walking slowly, the person bicycling on the pavement, it is essentially the person that stops the flow of urban daily life. On the contrary, Lindbaek, Tyler and McConnell`s
definition does not see this person as a threat, but as a person that is completely in his own world — a slacker, musically on his own. This could also be a good description of Lindbaek and the two Idjut Boys.
The title, Desire Lines, is also based on a theory. This theory is used by architects as they observe where people choose to walk before making a path. The chosen path is a desire line. Meanderthals` Desire Lines is their chosen path of beautiful and mellow balearic disco. A warm and dreamy blend of dub, folk, prog, kraut, psychedelia and 70s west-coast combined to invent an organic, slanted, and proggy feel. Recorded live, the album features contributions from good friends, including Pete Z (DJ Harvey) on keyboards, Des Morgan (YamWho?) on drums and percussion, Malcolm Jospeh (Grace Jones) on bass, Per Martinsen (aka Mental Overdrive) on percussion and Raj Gupta (Laj & Quakerman) as sound engineer.
Idjut Boys bio:
Idjut Boys (aka Dan Tyler & Conrad McConnell) hooked up in the late eighties through a shared love of the disco not disco of Harvey and Francois K. Best described as eclectic, or, to the uninitiated, eccentric, their DJ sets are typified by an anything goes attitude.
Disco, electro, r&b, soul, house, techno, hip hop, pop & rock. Anything works if it fits in the mix. From their North London studio they run three record labels and produce their infectious dub-heavy disco sampling house for many more. They formed their first label, U-Star, in ’94 on the back of their successful club nights of the same name. Labels Discfunction and Noid followed soon thereafter, as did a debut full-length for Scotland’s premier deep house imprint, Glasgow Underground (Life, The Shoeing You Deserve) and a few singles for the Nuphonic imprint.
Rune Lindbaek bio:
Lindbæk is one of the pioneers of Norwegian electronica/ house/disco scene and DJ’ing. Since the mid-eighties he has been involved in numerous club concepts, musical constellations and recordings. He has been associated with projects and bands such as Those Norwegians (with Torbjørn Brundtland of Röyksopp fame), Drum Island, Alanïa, Moonflowers. He has also worked with Röyksopp, Hans-Peter Lindstrøm and Idjut Boys. Recently he has remixed The Knife, Annie and José Gonzalez. Lindbæk is
a somewhat elusive producer known best among fellow DJ’s and the true connoisseurs, and most of his work has been released on obscure vinyls.
K-X-P
August 23, 2010Comments Off
“Spaced-out Krautrock-meets-drummy-disco dance party” (XLR8R Magazine)
“Rough, binary and depraved. K-X-P make accelerated krautrock which at points swerves into live three-piece techno” (Clash Magazine)
K-X-P is a drums, bass and synth trio from Helsinki, Finland, born out of the fire and ashes of the seminal Op:l Bastards and The Lefthanded, both of which were led by Timo Kaukolampi. The band is comprised of Timo Kaukolampi (electronics, vocals), Tuomo Puranen (bass and keyboards) and rotating drummers Anssi Nykänen and Tomi Leppanen. The band mixes electronics, krautrock, noise, and even rockabilly into a hypnotic and minimal motorik groove inspired by Raymond Scott, Moondog and Martin Rev, and remindful of Spacemen 3, This Heat, 23 Skidoo, Suicide and NEU!.
The musical background of K-X-P’s members varies wildly, ranging from the disco-idiotism-turned-into-spiritual-hide-and-seek of Op:l Bastards, to the fusion and free jazz explorations of Pekka Pohjola, of which Anssi Nykänen was a member, and Jimi Tenor, in which Tuomo Puranen played, to the Kraftwerk-ish visions and East European soulscapes of Tomi Leppanen’s former band,Aavikko. Timo Kaukolampi is possibly best known as Annie’s main producer and co-writer; he’s the individual who connected Annie with Smalltown Supersound and led to STSS releasing her 2009 album, Don’t Stop.
K-X-P initially began to form in 2006 when Timo gave Smalltown Supersound some demos of a new project he was working on. Smalltown Supersound’s Joakim Haugland was completely blown away and in an effort to convince the not-yet-formed band to become an official unit, he booked them a gig in Oslo in 2007. Gradually forming around very loosely organized studio sessions based on Timo Kaukolampi’s programmed ideas, the Finns turned into the groove entity that is now K-X-P. The self-titled album was finally delivered to Smalltown Supersound in December of 2009.
Glasgow’s Optimo has been a strong supporter of the band from the beginning. Before K-X-P finished recording the new album, Optimo remixed their “18 Hours (Of Love)”. They also invited the band to be one of the final performers to play at their legendary Sunday club in Glasgow, Subclub.
Mungolian Jetset
August 23, 2010Comments Off
“a lush, alien soundworld somewhere between the ethnodelic mystery of Brian Eno and David Bryne’s My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, and the cheesy progtastic expansiveness of Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld” (Tim Finney)
“Never content to settle into onecomfortable sound or approach, Mungolian Jetset treads the fine line between the bizarre and the relatable, between experimental and pop music, between organic and electronic instrumentation. Their uncanny compositions are as atmospheric as they are infectious, ethereal as they are danceable.” (URB Magazine)
The flavors cover everything from house and disco inspired cheekiness via shameless dabblings with soft rock/Norwegian west coast, balearic, dub and ambient, psychedelia and techno, all melted into one giant wormhole of sound, or should we say zone. Imagination is pretty much the key to Mungolian Jetset’s aural ingredients, even imaginary. One of their spokesmen, Paul “Strangefruit” Nyhus, keeps insisting they operate as channelers for a parrallel world of Mungsters, an ancient breed of
intergalactic travellers in sound, working within the time-space continuum. Throughout their history it has become clear that they are not just a band hell-bent on producing the spaciest jazz ever heard, but that the Mungolian Masterplan is much darker and insidious, evolving to produce increasingly distinctive yet completely mind-absorbing beats to underpin a whirling vortex of sonic chaos, psychoacoustic bass warping and lavish and unbridled costumery. Legends of their remixing skills abound throughout the known world and, some might say, beyond. Defining a Mungolian Jetset remix is close to impossible, yet the beat is what immediately lets you know that you’ve arrived in the state of Mung. They probe the track carefully, and locate the Mungolian zone within it, before shaking it into a trancelike psychedelic wormhole that snakes through the souls of disco and bucket brigade dub.
So, apart from all of this gibberish, what kind of album is We Gave It All Away…And Now We Are Taking It Back? It’s all in the title, as it features collaborations and remixes, once given away (most of the tracks featured have been previously released individually on vinyl 12-inches or in some other form,) and now taken back, to be presented in its full Mungolian context. So here you will find Mungolian Jetset hanging out with Mari Boine and Ronny And Renzo in a lavo within the centre of the earth, the bizarre Lindstrøm/Dominique Leone encounter aka 16th Rebels Of Mung, as well as journeys with norwegian jazz-kraut legends Eivind Aarset and Nils Petter Molvaer, psychedelic meetings at the mixing desk with The Shortwave Set and They Came From The Stars, excessive trippings at an italian nightclub with LSB, hanging out in L.A. June 1984 with Athana, and taking Ost & Kjex to
some cabaret show in a giant barber-shop, meeting the ghost of Michael Jackson, reuniting with Lindstrøm in a turkish bath as well as a couple of exclusive originals and last but not least, their beyond zonked-out cover of “Could You Be Loved” under the moniker Pizzy Yelliot.
File under: Fantasy
Annie
August 23, 2010Comments Off
‘DON’T STOP’ is ANNIE’s second album and highlights that she is right at the forefront of 2009’s brilliantly varied musical landscape. It’s an album that sounds both instantly catchy and utterly beguiling, mainstream and underground all at once. A totally independent and self-created artist, ANNIE is a rare popstar – one who has written and created her own album – as well as personally assembling her own team, including her producers and musicians.
Complementing ANNIE’s pick ‘n’ mix, Pitchfork-to-Popjustice, genrehopping pincer movement are an array of handpicked associates: ‘DON’T STOP’ reunites ANNIE with Timo Kaukolampi and Richard X – collaborators from her debut album – and introduces a host of new friends like Paul Epworth (Block Party, Primal Scream, Florence and the Machine), Xenomania and Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos. It’s an twelve-course feast for the modern musical connoisseur, an effortless blend with ANNIE centre stage, the NME declaring ‘with ‘poppy’ becoming every Indie ne’er-do-well’s buzz word there may be some confusion as to what good pop actually is. Answer: Annie.’
‘DON’T STOP’ makes perfect sense of pop’s brilliant extremes; this is, after all, the work of a woman whose cat Joey was named after her favourite Ramone and her favourite New Kid On The Block.
ARP: NYC show announced
August 23, 2010Comments Off
Lean Left: Volume 1
August 18, 2010Comments Off
CD and digital is out now!
LEAN LEFT…………….
THE EX Guitars (Andy Moor, Terrie EX)
MEET Ken Vandermark / Paal Nilssen-Love
Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilssen-Love have played together since 2000 in various settings and as duo since 2002. They have produced 5 CD’s. The most recent was recorded live in Chicago and Milwaukee in 2008. The duo work within a free expression while including a strong element of heavy rhythmic groove, melody, sound and noise.
Together, they have hit the road with the guitarists from the Dutch experimental noise outfit The Ex (Touch & Go Records). The Ex have held on for 30 years with experimental angular noise rock and punk with a power and freshness unrivalled in the world of independent music. Andy Moor and Terrie Ex have a musical interaction that is both original and unique to the 2 guitar players. They mix elements of rock, free improvisation, traditional folk and abstract noise to create their own very unique soundworld.
This duo meeting, crashes along sometimes creating a cacophonous racket but always musical and always ready to change direction or turn a new corner. The music is extrovert, energetic, powerful and inclusive but also confrontational and provocative, where rhythm, noise, melody and harmony melt together in perfect union.
This is the first live documentation of this new monster, recorded live in concert the 19th Of March 2008 at Bimhuis, Amsterdam. Volume 2 will be released later in the year, stay tuned!
Peter Brötzmann/Paal Nilssen-Love: Woodcuts
August 18, 2010Comments Off
CD and digital is out now!
Smalltown Superjazzz is proud to release the second album from the godfather of European free-jazz, Peter Brötzmann and Norwegian virtuos Paal Nilssen-Love. This is the follow-up to „Sweet Sweat“ from 2007. Woodcuts is another free jazz mastodont from the two masters. This is European free-jazz at its best. Recorded live in concert at Kampen in Oslo, Norway. Artwork by Peter Brötzmann in digipack sleeve.
Peter Brötzmann
“Very few musicians in the history of jazz and creative music have created a voice as powerful and distinct as as legendary German saxophonist, Peter Brötzmann. Playing with unyielding conviction, he blows with relentless, brutal passion; an honest and innovative voice during a time of despair, devoid of creative respect and sensitivity”
(Music and the Creative Spirit).
Brötzmann moved into free playing in the early 60`s, one of the first European saxophonists to do so. He has since become a godfather-figure to more than one generation of free-jazz explorers. His most well known record is the legendary Machine Gun from 1968. An album where Brötzmann played punk rock 10 years before punk rock was invented.
Paal Nilssen-Love:
Paal Nilssen-Love is one of the most respected on the Scandinavian jazz scene, and his percussion skills are simply awsome! He is part of The Thing, Original Silence, Offonoff, Atomic and Scorch Trio (with Raoul Björkenheim) He has among others played with Joe McPhee, John Butcher, Thurston Moore, Evan Parker, Jim O`Rourke, and Peter Brötzmann to name a few.
Ken Vandermark/Paal Nilssen-Love: Chicago Volume & Milwaukee Volume
August 18, 2010Comments Off
Both albums out now on CD and digital!
Their two first duo albums “Dual Pleasure” (2002) and the sequel (the double) “Dual Pleasure 2” (2004) received both rave reviews when they were released. The third album “Seven” is one of the best albums we`ve put out on Smalltown Superjazzz. A diamond in our catalouge. It is therefore with great pleasure that we presents 2 new albums from Paal Nilssen-Love and Ken Vandermark. Recorded the 10th and the 11th of June 2007 in Milwaukee and Chicago, these two albums show you the true genious of improvisation and the pure art of spontanous music. Instead of making a double album we decided together with the artists to make 2 seperate albums with Ken Vandermarks beautiful photos from the cities the albums were recorded in, all designed by Rune Mortensen. This way the albums becomes post-cards from the cities with with a beautiful, epic, warm and groovy free jazz as the soundtrack. Enjoy!
Vandermark and Nilssen-Love started their collaboration in 2000 when the group School Days was formed. One year later they started FME, a trio with bass player Nate McBride. After this it seemed very natural to define a duo. The first occasion for this format was when they recorded the CD ”Dual Pleasure” for Smalltown Superjazzz in Oslo during the summer of 2002. Shortly after this they performed their first duo concert at Molde International Jazz Festival. Their musical expression results from the influence of several traditions, both geographic and historical. In this duo, Vandermark and Nilssen-Love use free improvisation as a means to explore all levels of dynamics, density, rhythm, timbre, form and tonality. The results of their work are experienced as intense, exhilarating, and boundary breaking. Raw music with brutal beauty!
Ken Vandermark was born in Warwick, Rhode Island. Since 1982 he has been seriously exploring the possibilities of improvised music. Vandermark is known for the work with his own quintet the Vandermark 5, the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, the Territory Band, Spaceways Inc., and the DKV Trio. In 1999 Vandermark was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship, previous recipients of this prize in the field of music include Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton and Max Roach. He has also been was voted ”Talent Deserving Wider Recognition” in the critic’s poll of the American jazz magazine Down Beat, both as composer and as a tenor saxophonist, every year since 2000. Aside from the schools of music influenced by the history of jazz, his music has been greatly impacted by sources like “Mississippi” Fred McDowell, James Brown, John Cage, the Ex, Gyorgy Ligeti, Sly and the Family Stone, Morton Feldman, Lee “Scratch” Perry, and various traditional musics from around the world.
Paal Nilssen-Love was born in Stavanger on the west coast of Norway, but he now lives in Oslo. Nilssen-Love has, during the last couple of years, established himself on the international scene as a powerful drummer with high energy and creativity. In 2002 he was “Artist in Residence” at Molde International Jazz Festival, a title Chick Corea and Pat Metheny held in previous years. After 7 days and 9 concerts at the festival, Down Beat stated, “His week at Molde proved a revelation: Nilssen-Love is one of the most innovative, dynamic and versatile drummers in jazz.” He is part of The Thing (together with Mats Gustafsson and Joe McPhee), School Days (with Ken Vandermark and Jep Bishop), Atomic (Jazzland Records), Original Silence (with Thurston Moore, Mats Gustafsson, Terry The Ex, Jim O`Rourke and Massio Zu) and Scorch Trio (with Raoul Björkenheim)
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