JAZKAMER 2010

In 2010, the fantastic Norwegian label Pica Disk will release one new Jazkamer CD every month. It will be 12 different albums, and each release will vary as much as Jazkamer has varied the sound and line-up over the years, such as:
• First studio recordings of the metal line-up since ”Metal Music Machine” album
• New ”Art Breaker”-style grindcore recordings
• New ”Panic”-style broken-blues material
• Collaborations with John Wiese, Putrefier, Government Alpha and others
• Material with regular four-piece line-up of Hegre, Marhaug, Gross and Drønen
• And more.

To make it easy obtaining them all, it is also possible to subscribe. More information at the Jazkamer site.

Gig in Oslo w/ Kjetil Hanssen

Finally I will join forces with fantastic talented noisenic Kjetil Hanssen for the first time! We will be in Oslo @ Sound of Mu next Tuesday the 10th of November @ 2100 hrs. This is a FREE gig, and we will do our best to make it worth all the money! For Norwegian speakers, more here

NXP - KELA - new release for free download

A brand new release from NXP is available for free download. Said to be one of his noisier releases for a while, it sure is worth a listen.The album is called "Kela" and is out on Requiem Productions.

You can find the download here

Noisemusic - is more better?

Someone said to me in a very noisy room: "I guess you like this, being so much noise here!" This made me reflect a bit. Some of my friends, colleagues or family have no clue what this is about. They know I like noise, they know I make noise, hell they even know I am performing occationally. They would never say noisemusic, btw... But is more better? My instant reply was: "I’m not sure, it’s not that good." And good is usually better than more. Not that I am not a fan of more. No, but better is usually…well...

Maybe I should start explaining what I mean. Someone told me that they prefered noisemusic that is possible to play at a low volume. How does that relate to noise? Is this not a contradiction? Yes, it can be. If you are interested in the sheer energy and the massive wall of sound some of these artists can produce, it would be relevant. But I think that it is possible to listen to noisemusic at a very low volume, if the noise itself is interesting enough. Some prefer the repeptetive side of it, and some people enjoy the more structured side of it. The depth of a track would mean a lot to me also. When exposed to noisemusic with a minimal range of frequencies, it is harder to listen to it for a longer periode of time. One example of this can be some of the early recordings of Whitehouse which have some needling high frequencies, and nothing more.

Melodic and compositional structures can sometimes be hard to find for an untrained ear, but that is also something that would improve the listening experience. Many noiseartists would regard Lou Reed – Metal Machine Music as a pioneering work for this approach. If this is combined with depth and a wider range of frequencies, it would be easier listening to and for some considered better. Fine examples of this can be found in Fe-Mail – Voluptous Vultures, later recordings from Wolf Eyes and Lasse Marhaug. Interesting is also albums/releases that have a very wide range of different approaches or sound. Noise compilations have usually these qualities, as they have lots of different bands and artists, who naturally sound very different.

Other than that, there is also the massive amount of artists incorporating instruments and/or voices that you would easily recognise. And the other way around.

Lasse Marhaug – Ear Era CD (Review)

Earlier this year Lasse Marhaug got an interesting opportunity. The Henie Onstad Art Centre invited him to go through its massive audio archive. An archive of recordings from concerts and also recordings made in the Norwegian Studio for Electronic Music, located at the centre for some years in the 70s. Recordings (about 800 tapes) filled with artists as different as Karlheinz Stockhausen, Jan Garbarek, Arne Nordheim, Mauricio Kagel, Webster Lewis, Steve Reich, Laurie Anderson, Soft Machine, and various Norwegian jazz and rock artists. Marhaug was asked to make use of these recordings to make his own piece. The result was presented at three concerts at The Henie Onstad Art Centre, and also as this CD version released by Prisma Records. It is in only 500 numbered copies, and there will also be a deluxe box-set of 50 copies available.

Being only about 30 minutes divided into 11 unnamed tracks, it promised some excitement and variety. The first track starts with wind, voices and some naïve synth playing, making you wonder who initially recorded it. For most of the CD it is difficult to identify the original artist, unless you have a very specific knowledge of some of the pieces being used. Instruments and voices are easy to spot though. Marhaug process them slightly, inlcudes various bits and pieces, and makes the track sound a bit melancholic or sad. This first track sets the direction for the majority of Ear Era. It is almost to the end a CD filled with melancholy and sadness, only with a few exceptions, and it makes me wonder if it was made on a rainy day.

One of the techniques Marhaug uses is to cut out bits of music, and loop it, but also twist the pitch, speed it up, slow it down to make it change its mood or pace. A good example of this is in track three where a couple of loops are mixed together during the first half of the track and the loops themselves are slowed down from beginning to end, and thus making them sound sad. Other cut out bits are added to the track and many of them treated the same way.

To draw attention to the point an opposite effect is added in track four, which starts off with a rather noisy, less sad loop, making a happy rhythm. But after a minute the rhythm dissapears and what’s left is some strange sounds being quite mellow also, and the track ends just after two minutes.

So the album continues, a mix of strange, weird sounds and noises, mixed carefully with some more noisier, harsher bits. Melancholy being the most prominent mood to me, but also occasional happiness and energy. What is really striking about this release, is the gentle way Marhaug mixes it all together. No part, strange or noisy is overfocused, and everything comes together as a nice whole. When seeing Marhaug live, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer energy of his noise and performance, and it can be easy to presume that he would translate that to all his recordings, but here he proves just the opposite. Nice, gentle, short tracks, but still challenging to listen to, and after 3 – 4 listens, I still find myself being surprised.

The CD ends in a way that makes me think it needed a happy or more promising finale. Track 10 is a short track of just over two minutes, and has almost the same sadness as the rest of the album. It starts with some rumbles and a rythmic sad loop, but when left with 30 seconds a female voice enters the track, and at the very end it is clearly that she is saying: “it will be best for you if anything is good for you”. And so the track ends, leaving the door open for track 11, which starts with a simple, almost generic loop. After a while some more driven parts come to life, and the track gets more and more noisy, but in a much more happy mood than the previous tracks.

This CD made me sad and made me smile. It even made me want to dance occasionally, but also made me wanting more. Ear Era is a piece of music with lots of diversity and it triggers various moods. What more can you ask? Some more, maybe?

Available from the artist.

Belles Alliances - free download

My collaboration with Brazilian artist Gustavo Jobim has recently been released on a compilation of collaborators, Belles Alliances. Last year I was given two soundclips by Gustavo, on which he played syntheziser. So I did some cut ups, processed and mixed it all in to one track, Abstract Painted Train. The release consists of great tracks all made by remixing or collaborating with Gustavo in some way. In addition to yours truly, the artists are: The Chorlton Radiophonic Workshop (UK),That Hideous Strength (USA), Nathan Siter (USA/Finland), Conrad Schnitzler (Germany), Helder Correia (Portugal), Amyr Cantusio Jr. (Brazil), Robert Jaz (USA), Member (Germany), Daniel Bordini (Brazil), Leandro Theodorico (Brazil), Justynn Tyme (USA). Check out Gustavos main page or go directly to the release for a free download of this wonderful album, booklet and all. Photos by Ian land, and artwork by Helder Correia.

Back with a track!

Finally I am back at my blog after a long brake. It has been a long eventful summer, that I will not bore you with here, but I promise that I will post more frequent after this.

Meanwhile a track has been put out (again) at the Chain Tape Collective. This time it was a project inspired by the signs of the zodiac, so the project Zodiac, consists of twelve tracks. I am not a fan of those signs, but I have learned that there is actually a thirteenth sign called the Ophiucus - the serpent holder, but the only one not included as an astrological sign. So I decided that I could be a part of this project with this bonustrack called Ophiucus. The track itself consists of snake sounds, and some spoken parts of a well known actor. Guess who?

Download the track here

Check out the entire project here

New track for download

A new compilation is ready from the Chain Tape Collective, and I have done one of the tracks. CT-Bugs is a collection of compositions based on a set of sample recordings of a various insects from around the world. No other sound sources were used other than the insects. The artists, all members of (CT) Collective, manipulated these sample recordings with various effects and audio software, in order to produce their final work of musical art.

Download my track here

or check out the entire album with lots of magnificent tracks from the other artists!

Nødutgang Festival Compilation

My friend at the Paranoia Is Freedom blog just posted this years album as a free download. A release to promote this years festiuval, it includes only artists participating. Not all, but some. The release is as all years a Go To Gate Records release, but this time it is a download release only:

This is a free download album to promote this years NØDUTGANG festival. It will hit everyone brave enough to be there between June 12 and June 15. The concerts and performances will be held at several venues in Bodø (Norway). For more information about the program, dates, prices etc look at this link.The album is the third in a row that pick up several off the artists on the festival and let them present their music. The first two years (2006 and 2007) came out as CDs, but we thought that it might be better to let it be a free download album. So here it is. Free for everyone to download and distribute at their www or blog or whatever. NO ONE has any permission to take any kind off fee for downloading these tracks. OK enough words lets get into the real thing. Here is the tracklisting;

Art Errorist – Esistmirkalt

Bagio – Migraine

Bjerga/Iversen - Theres A Ghost In The Dream Machine (extract for Nødutgang)

Blaakraft - Opus 23

Hr. Vandal - Through the air

La STPO - Colonies (Edit)

NXP - Soundtrack of our lives (emergency exit mix)

PLX 15 - Power Within

Scared Dog - A Space Tail Pt 1

Skoulding, Zoë – Astrolaire

Tognazzi featuring Haddy – Song For A Dark Girl

Torstein Wjiik – 010

Wærnes, Ronny - Trans-micro Impro Express

The album is in two parts as RAR.

You can download part A here and part B here.

The albums for 2006 and 2007 can be downloaded for free here.

New tracks - released on compilations

I have two more tracks out on the web. This time two rather different ones.

The first track was released as a part of yet another CT-Collective project, Acoustic II. Recorded during November, December 2007 & January 2008, postproduction, postcomposing and mixing during February 2008. Only acoustic sounds found in or outside my house are used. Only a minimum of processing has been done. Postproduction was mostly mixing layers of acoustic sounds together. The track is called Homeacoustics (of course), and clocks in at 5 minuts precisely.

Get it here

The second track is released as a part of the HAZE netlabels release Tribute to Tribute. The track, called 19de, is a tribute to the 19th of January when I did the recordings. It is a 12 minute noise track with screeching feedback, thunderous rumbling and more multilayered than the first in this post. A classic!

Get it here

More artists for Nødutgangfestival

KK Null (Japan):




KK NULL (real name : KAZUYUKI KISHINO) was born in Tokyo, Japan. Composer, guitarist, singer, mastermind of ZENI GEVA and electronic wizard. One of the top names in Japanese noise music and in a larger context, one of the great cult artists in experimental music since the early 80's.

Read more...

Famlende Forsøk:

They started up in the early 80s, but with major inspiration from the 70s industrial music represented by Throbbing Gristle, S.P.K. & Cabaret Voltaire. In early releases they used metal percussions and industrial sounds, but later they abandoned the metal percussion, but continued down an even more experimental path, and during the 90s developed a more improvised approach.

Read more...

MetroGnom:

Local band MetroGnom plays 70s instrumental symphonic prog, with elements of spacerock and fusion. Some call it eclectic prog. However, they achieve making 20 minutes long pieces of music, without sounding boring. As a live band, MetroGnom is explosive, raw, jazzy and tender. They vary wonderful between rythmic and flowing melodies.

Read more...

Chain Tape Collective

The CT Collective was originally started by Michael Klobuchar as a chain tape group; that is, as a group whose members recorded music by mailing a master tape throughout the United States and Europe. The finished tape was then cleaned up and distributed to the members as a CD. No one got paid for any of this, and the organization, mastering, and mailing of our collaborative projects was done by members who volunteered their time and resources.

Nowadays, the CT collective have multiple projects going on, and it is a modern internet based collective. The projects are streamable from the website, and all the tracks are downloadable. I have recently participated in some projects, and here are two of them just now published:

Birds. This project was about only processing bird sounds. Click the picture to go to the project and access all the tracks. My track is also here:

Four Birds

Birds and Men. This project was also about processing birds, but combining human generated sounds as well. Actually, both projects was done at the same time. Click the picture to get access to all the tracks. Mine is also here:

Nightinggale BirdMan

To join the CT Collective, suggest projects, and contribute music and/or labor to the cause, go to the links page and click the mailing list link.

New release

I am proud to announce that Ambolthue Records just released my new solo cdr Johnny Guitar. About 30 minutes and 4 brand new tracks. Crushing sounds and lots of energy is some key words for this release.

It's available through the labels mailorder at a very reasonable price, and you might find other goodies there as well.

New sounds - Stokastiske Lodd

In October 2007 I teamed up with Hallstein Sandvin in Hønsehuset studio. We had some great fun improvising, and made some wonderful noise. Hallstein mixed together the sounds we made, and composed two tracks. You can listen to it at our new Myspace, or download the tracks here:

Spor 1

Spor 2

Let us know what you think. We might do another session in the studio, and watch out for the results here.

Sonic Arts Network

A couple of days ago I recieved "Blood, Muscle & Air" - the new CD from the Sonic Arts Network. It concists of great vocal work by artists from around the world. Amongst the 14 vocalists we find our own Maja Ratkje and other great names such as Jaap Blonk, Chris Mann and David Moss, who curated the release and will be performing in Stavanger in September. All of the artists have theire own unique style, but they are rooted and connected to the listener by the blood, muscle and air we all possess. Great inventiveness also brands the vocalists and they have all a powerful and personal performance, it impressed me very much.

By joining the network for only £25 (£20 for UK residents), you get three CDs a year, and lots of info as well about what is going on in the UK:

Sonic Arts Network is an organisation in the United Kingdom that enables both audiences and practitioners to engage with the art of sound in diverse, accessible and innovative ways. Sonic Arts Network fosters a culture of creative risk taking and experimental approaches to sound through a cutting edge programme of festivals, events, commissions and education projects. The organisation believes in the unique capacity of listening to enrich people’s lives by unlocking creativity, promoting social and environmental awareness and engaging a diverse range of communities.Sonic Arts Network’s activities separate into three main areas:

Activities – Events, regular festivals such as Cut and Splice and Expo, tours and commissions.

Education - Award winning national education project Sonic Postcards, artist workshops and talks.

Network - Sonic Arts Network is a membership organisation that is the hub of information, opportunities and publications for the UK sonic arts scene.

Incapacitants, Hijokaidan & Birchville Cat Motel

are simultaneously released by Lasse Marhaugs new label Pica Disk. Japan noise veterans Incapacitants CD "Burning Orange" is a live recording from All Ears festival in Oslo, Norway in January 2007. This is actually a split with Incapacitants - Fumio Kosakai and T.Mikawa on track one (Orange Smoke), followed by (Out Of Schnaps ) by "Fumio Tommiakawa" who are- Kosakai and T.Mikawa with Tommi Keränen). Track one is simply fantastic pure noise, complex or simple as it can be, and you can hear the two just trying to kick ass. In a sense they do, as this is a live recording that contains a lot of energy in all its beauty. The second track starts out more varied, and it seems that the (three on this) artists try to communicate with each other. I love it after just one listen and I am already looking forward to some more rounds.



Hijokaidan is a duo of Jojo Hiroshige (guitar) and Junko (voice). The high pitch voice of Junko is a perfect match to the guitar shredding noises of Jojo Hiroshige. The "Polar Nights Live" CD was recorded at All Ears festival in 2006. From the Pica Disk website:

"Jojo and Junko performed as a Hijokaidan two-piece on the opening night of the festival, a rarely heard line-up. Their performance got such a tremendous response that they came back for an encore (Otomo Yoshihide, longtime Hijokaidan fan who also performed at the festival, proclaimed "Incredible! Hijokaidan never does encores!"). The second night Jojo collaborated with guitarist Per Gisle Galåen (DEL, The Birds), unleashing thick layers of psychedelic and distorted guitar fog, which fans of of Fushitsusha, Les Rallizes Denudes and Jojo's non-Hijokaidan work will appreciate. The final night saw Junko hooking up with noise-nik Sten Ove Toft (Ryfylke) for a hellish meltdown of twisted electronics and the most intense voice in music.
Unlike most other noise acts Hijokaidan has not spoiled their fans with a huge number of releases, which makes Polar Nights Live an even more unique statement of pure noise sound."

Bircville Cat Motel "Gunpowder Temple Of Heaven" CD contains a 40 minutes long noise-drone track. This is the project of New Zealander Campbell Kneale, and the track is building and building and is not even drowning itself! the CD also comes with a booklet with Birchville Cat Motel discography.

All the CDs come in nicely done paper wallets, and you can read more and check soundsamples at the labels website.


In addition you should check out some of the Pica Disk releases from 2007!

NOR NOISE

“NOR NOISE – 12 PORTRAITS ABOUT NOISE MUSIC”
A Film By Tom Hovinbøle
[OHM] Records & Pastiche Films 2004

This double pack DVD & CD was one big inspiration for me when I first saw it. A dvd documentary about noise music is not something you can find in your common record shop or at your local dvd pusher. For me it represented a glimpse into a world quite unknown to me. Once I saw it I knew that noise was something accounted for and somehow my experiments did enter a path leading to live perfromances. I have always listened to strange music and normal music, but once this film was put in my dvd player I realised that I had missed out on something for years and years. Not strange, though, as the noise scene had somehow stayed underground for many years and only in resent years has arised and made its way to more common knowledge.

from the [Ohm] Records website:

"NOR NOISE is a documentary about Noise music – perhaps the most exiting and innovative form of music to evolve in the last years. The film maker Tom Hovinbøle has since the project started in 2001, interviewed some of the most central artists, both internationally and in Norway. The artists speaks about their relationship to tis music: What is it? Where does it come from? How do you work with pure sounds? Which possibilities opens up with the new sound processing opportunities? Noise is also put into an historical context spanning from the Futurists and Luigi Russolo before the First World War, through the first experiments with electronical music in the fifties, the avant-garde in the sixties, the Industry and Punk movements in the seventies, before Noise establishes it self as a music in its own right in Japan during the seventies. The film also contains a lot of rare concert footage with the artists. "

Some of the artists participating: Tore H. Bøe (Origami Republika), David Cotner (USA), Masami Akita (Merzbow), Lasse Marhaug, Maja S.K. Ratkje (Spunk and Fe-mail), Francisco Lopéz (Spain), Helge Sten (Deathprod) and Otomo Yoshihide (Japan) , and on the CD you can hear exciting Norwegian acts such as Jazzkammer, Crazy River, Norwegian Noise Orchestra, Fe-Mail, and more.

It is still available from the website, and being released in 2004, it is still highly valid today. In my opinion it provides an interesting introduction to Norwegian (and some international) noise history and it is a wonderfully done documentary with english subtitles.