Mathias Eick
October 26, 2010Comments Off
Mathias Eick MySpace
Being one of Norways most promising young talents for over a decade, Mathias Eick moves steadily towards being one of the finest musicians from the Northern regions, regardless of age group and genre. Still only 30 years old, Eick has marvellous range of achievements to show for himself; in 2007 he won the International Jazz Talent, awarded to him by the International Jazz Festivals Organization situated in New York. He then won the Statoil Scholarship in 2009, undoubtedly the largest scholarship in Norway, and he is currently heading for release of his second album on one of the worlds most influential jazz record labels, ECM.
In the meantime Eick keeps himself busy participating on several albums playing either trumpet, double bass, vibraphone, piano, guitar, or in his own words “anything needed.” Some of his collaborators have been, among a vast amount of others, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Iro Haarla, Manu Katché and Jacob Young. Eick is also a member of the Norwegian genre-defying group Jaga Jazzist, a group with which he has performed for many years.
Eicks band is currently a five-piece, featuring two drummers, bass, piano and Eick himself. The lineup changes invariably as all the participating musicians are amongst Norways finest, but for the most part the band consists of Andreas Ulvo (piano), Torstein Lofthus and Gard Nilssen (drums), and Audun Erlien (bass). The music is composed by Eick and pays tribute to both the truly unique Scandinavian soundscape, as well as the lyricism and melancholy of the American master trumpeter Kenny Wheeler.
Pechenga
October 26, 2010Comments Off
Pechenga MySpace
More info soon
Rune Lindbæk
October 26, 2010Comments Off
Rune Lindbæk MySpace
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.
Idjut Boys
October 26, 2010Comments Off
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.
Meanderthals
October 26, 2010Comments Off
Meanderthals MySpace
“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.
Drivan
October 26, 2010Comments Off
Drivan MySpace
“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.
Sunburned Hand Of The Man
October 26, 2010Comments Off
Sunburned Hand Of The Man MySpace
Sunburned started as a 4 piece group by John Moloney, Robert Thomas, Chad Cooper and Rich Thomas. They played social music. Informal music, unshaped, unstructured, but completely shaped by modern culture, the cultural after-effects of world war 2, and our socio-religious backgrounds. The band spent an equal amount of time, if not more, making films with Rich behind the camera’s eye. These were unscripted, absurd interpretations based on surreal urban dialogue and scenery. The name of the band was born from one of Rob’s film monologues. That was 1996. From then up until May 2006 Sunburned has been based at their Charlestown, Massachusetts Loft. The building served as a meeting place for open ideas and open music. Shortly after the band’s inception more people joined the group giving what time they could. Everything got recorded, everything. Sunburned never really had an official membership, the band were mainly centred around John Moloney and Rob Thomas. Like the Moon, Sunburned has phases. Like the Sun, Sunburned generates energy and life. Life generates connections. Sunburned supported Four Tet for a 2 week tour in the spring of 2004. They became friends. Fast forward to March 2006. Kieran “Four Tet” Hebden asks the band if they would like him to record them in a London studio with the idea that he would take the recordings and construct his vision of a Sunburned record. And here it is. As a leader and original gangster in the ‘new weird movement’ Sunburned has been at the forefront of a constantly growing and interesting music & art scene. Sunburned has been passed the torch of tradition through exploration and expression and have shared the stage with heavyweights such as Sonic Youth, John Fahey, Sun City Girls, Michael Hurley, Michael Chapman, Julian Cope, Dinosaur Jr., Mission of Burma. If the foundation of the ‘new building’ were composed of bricks, the load bearing stones would be Sunburned, No Neck Blues Band, Vibracathedral Orchestra, MV-EE, Six Organs of Admittance, Charalambides, Double Leopards, Wolf Eyes, Hair Police, Comets on Fire, Chris Corsano, Paul Flaherty, Dredd Foole, Joshua, Black Dice, Lightning Bolt, Jackie O’ Motherfucker, Acid Mother’s Temple, Jack Rose, Sunn O))), Sunroof!, Magik Markers, Hush Arbors, Wooden Wand and Four Tet. All of whom Sunburned has shared the stage with and have shared members on occasion. Sunburned has been putting out a regular stream of recordings mostly on their own label – Manhand / Sunburned Records. From time to time, Sunburned has teamed up with like- minded labels to release records such as Smalltown Supersound and Thurston Moore`s Ecstatic Peace. Sunburned, as an ‘entity’, is an artist and its medium is recorded music and to a lesser degree, film. Sunburned records are like paintings of sound, mostly hand-packaged and sometimes limited to the interest in that particular ‘piece’ would demand. In 2005/2006 Sunburned members branched out, John Moloney joining Six Organs of Admittance and Howlin Rain. Paul Labrecque & Valerie Webb releasing an LP for Eclipse, Athyr Myth’d (Ron Schneiderman, Paul Labrecque & Joshua Burkett) toured the Benelux. The Michael Flower Band with Sunburned members john Moloney and Chris Corsano (also known for his work with Bjork, both live and on her new album) hit the stage, and United Light was formed with John Moloney, Mick Flower from VCO, and Jackie O’ Motherfucker’s Tom Greenwood. Also in 2006 Taylor Richardson, Hush Arbor’s Keith Wood, and VCO’s Michael Flower and Bridget Hayden joined the group and toured extensively through the US, Canada and Europe. Sunburned also teamed up with poet/filmmaker, and photographer Ira Cohen for the recording of an alternate soundtrack to Cohen’s psychedelic film masterpiece, “The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda” which was released on Arthur Magazine’s Bastet label. On Fire Escape Sunburned consists of an all star line up, all of whom are members of the movement which is Sunburned Hand of the Man. Sunburned is not a band in the traditional sense, Sunburned is a collection of like minded artists and musicians gathered together for the purposes of group exploration and an undying search for the ‘ecstatic truth’ which fuels us all. Led these days by John Moloney, Sunburned is whoever you see on stage, whoever you think about when you listen and the sound of that feeling you get that is closer to the bone and closest to the truth whether you want to believe in it or not. Sunburned Hand Of The Man on Fire Escape are: Kieran Hebden (Fourtet) – Piano, Production & Mix Robert Thomas – Bass John Moloney – Drums, Beats & Vocals Ron Schneiderman – Guitar, percussion & winds Marc Orleans – Guitar, Casio, Winds Michael Flower (Vibracathedral Orchestra) – Trumpet, Guitar, Percussion Bridget Hayden (Vibracathedral Orchestra) – Voice, Viola, Piano Keith Wood – Guitar, Percussion, Winds
Mungolian Jetset
October 26, 2010Comments Off
Mungolian Jetset MySpace
“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
Diskjokke
October 26, 2010Comments Off
Diskjokke MySpace
Diskjokke delivers another trippy mastodon of epic prog disco with his new album, En Fin Tid. At once hypnotic, stomping and futuristic, the new record maintains this aesthetic without sacrificing melody or subtlety. The album flows like a journey in sound, with each song seamlessly drifting into the next. Whereas Diskjokke’s debut album, Staying In, was a collection of songs made over many years, En Fin Tid was created with the intention of being released as a complete album, lending itself to an evident continuity. The album, recorded and entirely self-produced in Diskjokke’s new studio, draws its inspiration from Holger Czukay’s mid 80s period, Brian Eno, Arthur Russell, European disco, Allan Parsons, Tangerine Dream, Arthur Lyman and Craig Leon. En Fin Tid, which means “a happy time” in Norwegian, refers to the period in which the album was written and recorded. Since the release of Staying In, many of Diskjokke’s dreams have come true – he now focuses on music full time (as opposed to Staying In, which was recorded in the midst of studying), he performs at the clubs where he always aspired to play, and most importantly, has become a father. Additionally, Diskjokke has become a much sought-after remixer. He’s made quite a name for himself with his distinctive, dubby blend of house, italo and disco remixes. In 2009, Diskjokke released Discolated, a compilation of remixes for Lykke Li, Bloc Party, Foals, Metronomy and more. Since then he’s released remixes of Beck and Charlotte Gainsbourg, The xx’s “Basic Space,” the “Rosenrød” 7” for Moshi Moshi’s singles clu,b and a handful of 12”s for Prins Thomas’ Full Pupp label. He’s currently working on a remix for Allan Parsons. The 28 year old Diskjokke (aka Joachim Dyrdahl) was raised in Svelvik, a small town southwest of Oslo with 5,000 inhabitants, but presently lives in Oslo. He’s a classically trained violinist, which he has played since he was five years old; classical music has always been, and continues to be, an important part of his life. Joachim became interested in electronic music at the age of 15 when he discovered Norwegian DJ legend Olle Abstract`s radio show, and he’s been hooked ever since. Joachim has studied mathematics for eight years, but his studies have been put on hold as he is now focusing on music full time. Together with friends Prins Thomas, Todd Terje and Lindstrøm, Diskjokke is one of the mainstays in Oslo’s pulsing disco scene. His first break came, in part, thanks to Prins Thomas, who released three tracks on his Full Pupp label. At the same time M.A.N.D.Y, DJ T, and the Get Physical gang in Germany released five other tracks and two 12″s on their label Kindish. Now Diskjokke releases albums on Norway’s Smalltown Supersound, the label behind his debut full-length, Staying In.
Diskjokke Online:
www.diskjokke.com
www.facebook.com/pages/diskJokke/91357383501
Tussle
October 26, 2010Comments Off
Tussle MySpace
The multi-instrumental polyrhythmic beat-makers, bass-heads and knob twiddlers of Tussle has been expanding minds and killing dance floors with their krautrock infused musical musings ever since the project manifested itself in a San Francisco Mission district basement in 2001. After three critically lauded albums, countless collaborations, sold out tours with RATATAT (2009), Hot Chip (2008), YACHT (2008), and Of Montreal (2007), plus dates with Cluster, Beach House, Gang Gang Dance, Javelin and El Guincho. The band finds itself in that rare position between word of mouth in-the-know buzz and being a bona fide national indie dance rock mainstay. Essentially, it’s the quiet before a massive musical electrical storm. The past year has been nothing short of a whirlwind for Nathan Burazer, Tomo Yasuda, and Kevin Woodruff as the band was awarded an Excellence in Electronic Music Award by Village Voice’s SF Weekly, a national tour with the with electro duo RATATAT and played cultural institutions such as Natural History Museum of Los Angeles and The Mission Cultural Center, as well as warehouses, dance clubs, festivals, house parties, forests and street fairs. This past year, the band also contributed music to the surf documentary film, Dear & Yonder and created sound installation for The Mission Cultural Center 2010 exhibition, “Today”. Over the years, Tussle has released a handful of 12 inches, two EPs and three albums with imprints such as Smalltown Supersound, Troubleman Unlimited, Rong/DFA, and Tomlab. The newest album, ‘Cream Cuts’ (Smalltown Supersound) was produced by Thom Monahan (Devendra Banhart, Au Revoir Simone, Joanna Newsom) and the album featured collaborations with Hot Chip front man, Alexis Taylor. Cream Cuts won world-wide critical praise as a “Krautrock-infused rhythmrock hybrid ” and the notoriety led to collaborations with dance rock pioneers Liquid Liquid and the glaswegian visual artist David Shrigley. This all leads us to is their upcoming forth album with UK Luminary and OPTIMO co-conspirator, JD Twitch for the pioneering Norwegian label, Smalltown Supersound. So, fair warning—lock your stutters, break out the decks on the dance floors and get ready for Tussle’s storm of sound and the new soundtrack for the summer. Cream Cuts press: “Tussle’s innovative and spontaneous collision of sound paints a colorful portrait of a group with unhinged creativity, exuberance of energy and free of restrictions” – SOMA Magazine “Tussle take the muscle and momentum of motorik and liberate it with a joie de vivre that makes Cream Cuts endlessly listenable” – THE WIRE, June 2009 “The SF groove machine’s third LP packs lessons learned from post punk and krautrock – into a rhythmic masterclass. **** four stars” – MOJO, August 2009 “Re-igniting the flame of experimentalism, Californian four-piece Tussle have emerged as pioneers of a new Krautrock-infused rhythmrock hybrid. ” – Skyscraper Magazine
tussle.org
« go back — keep looking »
