Spellemann 2012

Since I know some of you are (more than above average) interested in Norwegian music, here you may find the nominees for the Norwegian Grammy: Spellemannsprisen (you will probably be able to read and understand the most of it).

Both the selection and the different classes (and who they put in each of them) may look a bit strange, so let´s pretend it´s just for fun.

You will recognize several of the names from the blog of course, just check out the jazz gang:

Elephant9 with Reine Fiske: "Atlantis"

Moskus: "Salmesykkel"

Neneh Cherry & The Thing: "The Cherry Thing"

Sidsel Endresen & Stian Westerhus: "Disymoi Dreams"

Zanussi Thirteen: "Live"


Now, how do you compare these artists, and choose a winner among them?

Record Store Day Bergen, 16 April 2011

The independent record stores celebrate themselves once a year. I join the celebration, even if some people raise their voices now, and say good riddance to the physical format!
In my home town Bergen, only two stores get special editions to sell on Record Store Day.

The pictures:
1 - 2: of Montreal/Casiokids split 7" (Splendour).
3 - 4: James Yorkstone 10" (Domino). Reading from this one.
5: Josh T. Pearson 12" (Mute).
6: Apollon record store, Bergen.
7: Esben and the Witch 12" (Matador).
8: Mute sampler (LP + CD).
9: Franz Ferdinand covers E. P. (Domino).

And here are all the special releases sold this day.

Harvest by Alunda Kyrkokör

Harvest by Alunda Kyrkokör (2009) from Olle Corneer on Vimeo.

Yes,  i know it is springtime, and no time for harvesting, but I fell for this down to earth contemporary music!
The Alunda Church Choir play "Harvest for terrafon, traditional music ensemble and cropland" by  Olle Cornéer and Martin Lübke. That´s Swedes for you!

Jussi Björling

Today it is 100 years since the Swedish opera star Jussi Björling was born.
That calls for a celebration even in this blog! This guy could sing!

Classic Vuvuzela

A couple of you may find it strange that I have not blogged from the the soccer world cup, but today we are getting close! The vuvuzela may turn into a popular concert instrument too! Or, perhaps not?
Ravel´s Bolero will never be the same again.

Arne Nordheim (1931-2010)

Sad news indeed: Norwegian composer Arne Nordheim died this morning.
Video: Ksenija Sidorova plays Arne Nordheim´s "Flashing" at the Royal Festival Hall (28 Jan 2010).

Pjusk

Pjusk is Jostein Dahl Gjelsvik and Rune Andre Sagevik. Their new album "Sval" (12K, 2010) is a beautiful album, with ambient electronica (or somewhere around there). This is the kind of music that makes images or pictures in my head while I listen, and the tracks have got titles that may point towards Norwegian nature (if you understand them, that is!). Some track names: Vidde (Mountain plateau), Dis (Haze), Juv (Gorge) and Valldal.
See a better review over at Soundscaping too, they call this music "perfect for home listening". Of course it is perfect on a good stereo at home, but I found it perfect to have on my iPod while walking in the forest today too. The wind, birds, rivers and barking dogs fitted in real nice.
A fine album indeed!

Pjusk had the guts to call their previous album "Sart". I thought Jan Garbarek and friends owned that album title.

Susanne Sundfør: The Brothel

Song: Susanne Sundfør "The Brothel".
Video: Eric Alvin Wange.
I just love this song.

The Festival Season 2010 - The Beginning

A new year and a new Norwegian festival season is on! Next week All Ears is happening, serving ear warming impro and noise music in snowy Oslo, and towards the end of January Geilo is the place, with it´s ice festival. At Geilo Terje Isungset will present his new album "Wintersongs".
There might be even more winter festivals, but here I´ll jump to Bergen and the Borealis festival in March. Later this month there will be Borealis satelite events in London, starting with Geir Jenssen´s controversial "Schhoktavoski" (commisioned for the 2009 Borealis festival) 23 January and a Borealis London Launch 25 January starring (among others) MoHa!.
This is (as you all appreciate) a non commercial blog, but today I´ll illustrate this post with two versions of Michel Gondry´s fantastic commercial for Levi´s (1995), with it´s soundtrack by Biosphere (Geir Jenssen).

I gave in and made a list

Damn it, I´ve made a list again! Most of the albums released in 2009 I haven´t even heard, and to tell what´s "best" of all the different kinds of music I listen to is a bit stupid, but you just have to make a list at the end of the year, don´t you?
I was not able to cut it down to 10 albums, so here are my 15 suggestions to releases you should give a chance.
If you don´t find your favorite here, it still might be in the blog somewhere. As you may have noticed, I only write about stuff I like.

1982 (Apeland, Skarbø, Økland): “1982” (NORCD)
Antony & The Johnsons: “The crying light” (Rough Trade)
Bradford/Gjerstad/Håker Flaten/Nilssen-Love:
“Reknes” (Circulasione Totale)
Crimetime Orchestra featuring Sonny Simmons and KORK:
“Atomic symphony” (Jazzaway)
Mats Eilertsen: “Radio yonder” (Hubro)
Fire!: “You liked me five minutes ago” (Rune)
Håkon Kornstad: “Dwell Time” (Jazzland)
Orchestre National De Jazz: “Around Robert Wyatt” (Bee Jazz)
Jackie Oates: “Hyperboreans” (Unearthed)
Soft Machine: “Live at Henie Onstad Art Centre 1971” (Reel Rec)
Spunk: “Kantarell” (Rune)
The Low Frequency in Stereo: “Futuro” (Rune)
The Thing: “Bag it” (SMJZ)
The Unthanks: “Here´s the tender coming” (Rabble Rouser)
Trinity: “Breaking the mold” (Clean Feed)

John Hassell & Maariffa Street

Jon Hassell (trumpet, keyboard), Eivind Aarset (guitar, bass), Jan Bang (live sampling) and Kheir-Eddine M'Kachiche (violin) play music based on "Last night the moon came dropping it´s clothes in the streets" (ECM 2009) live at Lausanne, October 2009. There are 7 parts from this concert on YouTube. Film: Miguel Octave.

Labfield: "Collab" (Hubro 2009)

I have to admit that the first time I played Labfield´s "Collab" I found it boring, and a bit irritating, but I have changed my mind! What happened? Well, I have played the album several times, also on my iPod while walking in the woods, or on a dark road in the evening, and this makes a perfect (spooky) soundtrack! The album starts with "Cebollon" (35 minutes), a piece with several layers of music, developing slowly in a minimalistic manner, and then turns into the lovely "Crusial" (8 minutes) with dulcimer like guitar and whispering vocals. Exciting stuff, if you will let it grow on you!
Labfield is David Stackenäs – acoustic guitars, electronics and Ingar Zach – drums, percussion, sruti box and drone commander, and here are their guests: Ståle Storløkken – synth, Mariam Wallentin – voice, and Giuseppe Ielasi: electronicsk (info from Grappa).

+3dB Records

Yesterday evening I attended a presentation of a new record company from Bergen called +3dB Records. This might be of interest for those among you who can take some contemporary-noise-impro. The men behind the company, Bjørnar Habbestad and Jørgen Knudsen, gave a relaxed and witty introduction, and even had a raffle with prizes from the catalogue (picture). I´ll just mention a few artists here: Lemur, Lene Grenager and Golden Serenades. They have three series: the main series, the lux series ("funky covers") and a CD-R series with local artists, called sub.
Check out +3dB´s brand new site for more info.

Susanna and The Magical Orchestra: 3

Susanna and The Magical Orchestra are back with album number three on Rune Grammofon. Morten Qvenild and Susanna Karolina Wallumrød have made four songs each, and several of them are beautiful, to tell you the truth. We also get a duet with Fredrik Wallumrød on "Palpatine´s Dream".
I´m quite happy that they have included a couple of cover songs on this one too: Roy Harper´s "Another day" and (of all songs) Rush´s "Subdivisions".
Great album!
Cover design: Kim Hiorthøy.

Bowed piano

I promise not to start a series on strange instruments, even if we had the contrabass saxophone yesterday and a "bowed piano" today. This is new stuff to me, but I checked out a YouTube video of The Bowed Piano Ensemble playing "Entrada" by Stephen Scott, after some people I follow on Twitter tweeted it. At first I found this very beautiful and poetic, but now I wonder if it´s not a bit spooky?

Concertinome

Espen Sommer Eide has made a new instrument called "Concertinome"! According to the information on YouTube it is "combining the concertina accordion with the monome style keyboard and electronic air pressure sensors". For some reason I missed this performance , but I have seen Somemr Eide play "barrel organ".

September in Norway

Autumn in Norway? Not too tempting perhaps, until you see the festival list:
- PUNKT in Kristiansand 2 - 5 September. Not easy to beat last year's program with Eno, but there will be lots of good concerts: Maja Ratkje, Hild Sofie Tafjord, Sidsel Endresen, Susanna, Sweet Billy Pilgrim, Arve Henriksen, seminars , live remixes and more.
- Numusic and Nuart in Stavanger 9 - 13 September. Here you may hear among others Fennesz, Faust, Arvo Pärt and Shining.
- Ultima in Oslo 9 - 19 September. Contemporary music in Oslo.
-Ekkofest in Bergen 24. - 26. September. Ekkofest is a festival for elektronic music and art, and you get Röyksopp, Efterklang, Karin Park and Svarte Greiner!
- Go to Ekkofest and you'll miss Trondheim Chamber Music Festival!

Summer Sale!

In the mailbox today:
Spunk: "Det eneste jeg vet er at det ikke er en støvsuger" (Rune Grammofon 1999).
Spunk: "Filtered Through friends" (Rune Grammofon 2001).
Food: "Last Supper" (Rune Grammofon 2004).

I paid not much more than the full price of one album for this. It is embarrasing of course, but what is a poor man going to do? It's all Rune Grammofon's fault, because they are having a summer sale on some of their releases.
Eh - hold on, I still lack some records from Rune!

So Long Marianne

I don't know if any Leonard Cohen fans visit this blog, but I used to like him a lot 35 years ago (what?!) and still think he is pretty cool. You may know this of course, but Cohen's "So long Marianne" is a song to a Norwegian girl called Marianne Ihlen, and they were friends and lovers for years in the early 60s. They met on the Greek island Hydra, where Marianne had moved in with Norwegian author Axel Jensen. The story is described in Kari Hufthamar's book "So long Marianne.Ei kjærleiks- historie" (meaning: "A love story")(Spartacus 2008), and they have also made a radio documentary together.
The book is in Norwegian (and not translated into any readable language for most of you, as far as I know), but contains previously unpublished letters (some in English), pictures and four poems by Cohen: "For M", "Waiting for Marianne", "The Poetry Place" and "Days of Kindness".
So if you are a big Cohen fan, let's hope you have a great library that can help you. And Cohen, he's on his way to Norway again in a week or two.

Athana

The fiirst time i ever heard Athana was at last month's Nattjazz in Bergen. Now I own their "L.E.D. Light Galaxies" (WAM 2009) too. The subtitle of the album is "Ambient Exhibitions vol.2", and is a follow up to "Ambient Exhibitions vol.1" (surprise!) that was written for an art installation at Jæren (south of Stavanger) in 2006.
The music gives me a soundtrack-feeling, but is quite insisting, and the description "ambient" is probably not meant to indicate that this is an ambient sound tapestry. I think this is a pretty good album, and played loud it will bring you out into space too, probably because the band tries to "imagine our planet from far away, in an electronic and futuristic way" (I've got the press material!).

Athana is: Alf Terje Hana, Helge Olav Øksendal, Torgeir Nes and Øyvind Grong, and they have got a long list of guests tto, among others are Sternklang (remixing), Anders Hana and Andrew D'Angelo.

I think I'll check out their discography later (taken from their own site):
Athana - L.E.D. Light Galaxies - Ambient:Exhibitions Vol. 2(2009)
Athana - Remixed 0508 (2008)
Athana - Corridor (2007)
Athana - The Ridgewell Connection (Single, 2006)
Athana - Ambient:Exhibitions Vol.1 (2006)
Athana - Dandy Lines and Nevergreens (2005).