NXP / Wærnes live collaborative release

Recording from last years gig @ Dama Di, the first time ever NXP and myself did a duo concert together. Out as free download from Black Circle Records.

Get it here

Compilations Mayhem Year

For almost a year, my creative inspiration has mostly been on producing tracks for various compilations, mostly online. Below are a few examples, the link is to the downloadpage of the entire comp, in which you will find tracks by me. I will try an make a list of all my contributions to compilations later. Meanwhile, a good list of my appearances on compilations can be found at discogs here

Monotronous compilation

an international compilation featuring the sounds of the Korg Monotron, Monotron Duo, Monotron Delay, and Monotribe synthesizers. Produced by Hal McGee and Jukka-Pekka Kervinen. 

Get it here

Coupe Of Negation Theorem As Contact Trickery

an exploration of the possibilities of the contact microphone, a device based around a piezoelectric disk that acts as a transducer, transforming sound vibrations into voltage that can be used as an audio signal. Curated by Walter Lapchinsky

Get it here

Cell Your Soul

Cell Your Soul is compilation consisting of tracks by 37 international audio artists. Artist made recordings with the voice recorder function of their cellular telephones. This compilation was produced by Jukka-Pekka Kervinen and Hal McGee.

Get it here

I Heart Feedback

This compilation focuses on Feedback, Harsh Noise, HNW & just plain extreme chaos. So with that said, BE WARNED that due to the nature of this release, artists and recording styles, volume levels WILL vary from track to track. Enjoy your tinnitus!

Get it here

Emancipating The Outer Valence

all software to be informationally free (with exceptions made for operating systems and embedded firmwares), using informationally free formats, and distributed through Bandcamp, which at least has a public API.  bonus points were provided for full free software, free (open source) hardware, and using freedom as a theme. curated by Walter Lapchynski.


Get it here

Contact compilation 1

60 one-minute tracks of homemade experimental electronic music and noise by 60 international artists, all members of the Facebook Contact Group of Homemade Experimental Electronic Music and Noise: www.facebook.com/groups/experimentalmusiccontactgroup/ 
This is the first of nine Contact Compilation Project volumes.


Get it here

New track - Contact Compilation 1

Hal McGee has set up yet another project, this time it will be 60 one-minute tracks of homemade experimental electronic music and noise by 60 international artists, all members of the Facebook Contact Group of Homemade Experimental Electronic Music and Noise

My track is on the first of nine Contact Compilation Project volumes.

Classwar karaoke

Classwar Karaoke is a collective and netlabel operated by Adrian Beetjes, Anthony Donovan and Jaan Patterson. Formed in 2008, it releases quarterly surveys of music, soundart and short-films by artists from all over the world.

Classwar Karaoke 0015 - 53 soundsubmissions is online. Here is the text to the submissions, and it is also 12 videos in the survey.

My submission:

Ronny Wærnes: Albion Road (Tranquility). Recorded by Ronny Wærnes at Salamanda Studios, Stoke Newington, London, UK, 2010. Edited and mixed by Ronny Wærnes at Råsaft Studio, Bodø, Norway, 2011. All electronics and effects by Ronny Wærnes. A tribute to the peace and love of my friends in UK and London, and especially to those who housed me in Albion Road in June 2010.

We will not lack the will to love.
We must take the streets back.
Democracy will win
the cowardice of the violent
will lose to the brave heroes of the roses

Releases and tracks

It's been a while since I have promoted myself here, so i figured it was about time. Last summer the Split LP (above) with me and Jo the Gardener was released on Pure Pop For Now People. It was released only 100 copies, and very few still available from the label. Image by Ian Land.

Tape Rape Records has recently released a few good tapes. One compilation called Think Before You Act!, with a wide range of noise artists from Norway. One track by me here. Another gem is the debut of the trio Origami Kaførnåkka, the new combo with me, Kjetil Hanssen and Petter Flaten Eilertsen. The self-titled tape (below) is from a session that was recorded in Brugata in Oslo, November 9th, 2009 on a beautiful day. The trio decided to sit inside fumbling with trash and electronics to make some noise. The tape comes in a zipper bag with an info card. The tape is white with yellow hubs and it's sprayed spotty yellow, so all copies looks unique.

More than a year ago I was in Oslo and teamed up with Kjetil Hanssen (actually the day after we recorded with Origami Kaførnåkka) for a live gig at Sound of MU. The gig was recorded and a CDr (below) was released just after the gig. Handpainted covers and a limited edition of 30 copies. All releases mentioned here is available from Looop.

More about tracks: Gould Soundz released a CDr compilation called "With friends like these", consisting of 99 short tracks. Four tracks from me there. I also entered the International Email Audio Art Project, curated by Hal McGee, who proposed an international EMAIL audio art project in which contributors will send to him a one-minute miniature audio work. I submitted one track that entered Volum 1, and my alter ego, Origami Emergencyka submitted one track for Volume 6. All free download, and still possible to submit as the project will terminate on April 1, 2011.

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

Going to Schiporst again!

Long time since any updates, but I have been in holiday mode for a while. Just stepping in to inform that I will be performing 28th of august in Schiporst, Germany again this year. Probably the best festival I have ever been to, managed by Fausts Jean-Hervé Peron and Carina Varain on their farm.

Deconstruction, electronic and acoustic

On this Thursday, the 28th of May, I will participate in a special concert in Bodø Kulturhus, our main concert hall. As the last of a series of five concerts dedicated to our own hometown, Bodø, this concert will try and look towards the future somehow, how will it be to be humans. There will be dancers, choirs, a small orchestra performing various pieces to adress this. Classical composer Arnt Håkon Ånesen has also composed a brand new piece for Bodø Sinfonietta, a 14 piece orchestra, called "Historicism", and as a final I have been asked to deconstruct it somehow. I will sample parts of the piece during the concert, and use this as the only soundsources for my performance. I have also had access to the score and in co-operation with the conductor created loops for each instrument, only from the score. The Sinfonietta will play these loops during my performance and this will also be a part of my deconstruction of Ånesens piece. So, if you are around our parts of the world, you should not miss this special event.

More info for Norwegian readers here and here

More releases

German label Pure Pop For Now People have released a limited edition LP with cover tracks by S/T. It is called "Andy", as a present to Andy Wilson, and I have done a remix of the track Heilandsbächle, other artists include Phil Wilson, Ectogram and S/T. An even more limited CDR is apparently also on its way. Available from the label.

In addition to that The Drones Club released a compilation CD with tracks from the artists participating in the 2-day festival in London last weekend. Artists where:
Phil Wilson (UK), Giant Paw (UK), The Grand Erector (UK), Ectogram (Wales), S/T (Germany) , Faust (DMZ) (appearing only on CD),Traummaschine (Spain), Ronny Wærnes (Norway). Probably available through the Drones Club myspace.


Finally I have done a compilation CDR called "Så Langt og Lenger mot Nord", and consists of various recordings over the last years, most of them previously unreleased. It is released on Go To Gate records, and will be available from the label.

London and Wales gigs

I am happy to announce that I will visit Wales and London for some gigs later this month. It will be various gigs as I will be collaborating on some and doing solo sets as well. I have been invited to join Welsh poet Zöe Skoulding to perform together with her and Alan Holmes on a poetry night. I will do a live soundtrack performance to the film ”How I Fought Bravely the Thirst for Knowledge and What Happened Then” by Russian filmmaker Elena Golovnina. I also hope to perform live with my good friends in Ectogram. Anyway, here are the dates and places:

20/1-09 Ronny Wærnes @ The Klinker Club, Maggies Bar, London, UK

21/1-09 Ronny Wærnes, Ectogram, Klaus Kinski @ Anglesea Arms, Menai Bridge, Wales

22/1-09 Zoë Skoulding/Alan Holmes/Ronny Wærnes @ The Absurd, Yr Wyddgrug (Mold), Wales

24/1-09 Ronny Wærnes, Ectogram & more @ Drones Club night at The Others, London, UK
Quote:

On 23-24 January 2009, the Drones Club returns to The Others for two evenings of avantgarde soundscapes, psychedelic space pop and motorik rhythms from S/T (Germany) and Phil Wilson/The June Brides (UK; on Friday 23 Jan) followed by Giant Paw (London), Ronny Wærnes (Norge), Traummaschine (España) and Ectogram (Cymru) on Saturday 24 January, with more to be confirmed.

The Grand Erector LP

German label Pure Pop For Now People has just released an interesting project by The Grand Erector. Intended as a tribute to the group FAUST, source recordings for the project were contributed by invited members of the Faust mailing list and a few other cronies. The contributions were all then dismantled, RE-processed and RE-smeazed, before being RE-assembled to make the final album. Each track was created by combining material from several sources. Being only 100 copies on black vinyl, including an 8 page 10" booklet with photos by Ian Land, it will probably sell out fast!

Quote:

THE GRAND ERECTOR would like to thank Alan Holmes, Zoë Skoulding, Maeyc Hewitt and Ann Matthews (ECTOGRAM), Alex O’Shea, Steve Pittis (BAND OF PAIN), Ben Tinker (THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH), J.S. Adams, Dane Johnson, Gustavo Jobim, Jean-Hervé Peron (FAUST), Jim Bowers, Ian Morrison, Jim Donnelly, Ken Hyder (KSPACE), Mike Rowlands, Olivier Manchion (ULAN BATOR / PFE), Phil Wilson (THE JUNE BRIDES), Richard Fontenoy (STELLA MARIS DRONE ORCHESTRA), Ronny Waernes, Joachim Gaertner and Martin Brauner (S/T), Steve Fligelstone, Luis Forner and Paco Gomez (TRAUMMASCHINE), and Zoltan Pfefer.

Listen to a soundclip here

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.

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.

Live @ Sound of Mu, Oslo, Norway, 27th of Oct 2007

Photo by Espen Wærnes

Situated almost at the bottom of Markveien, close to the river, Sound of Mu has a large window to the street where passers by can check out the contemporary events taking place, or art on the walls. Inside it is light and high under the ceiling, and the furniture is minimalistic retro - a chair and a table to put your pint on. Owned by artists the venue/coffeeshop has lots of various things going on; concerts, exibitions, DJ's, bookreleases and festivals. Not a crowded place, but defenetily a place where you can be surprised or have your prejudices racked.

Per Gisle of Apartment Records did the booking of this gig, being a part of the Fritt Fall concert series. I was in Oslo to see another gig by a major Canadian act, and I was up and running in high moods from the big event from the night before.

On this particular Saturday afternoon, I shared the place with SunState, normally only Swede Jon Eriksen and Norwegian Lars Myrvoll, but this time they did an extended version and where joined by three musicians. Free jazz noise would be one way to describe it. I might load up some vids of them another time, so you can make up your own mind. Here is some vids from my own performance:

Video by Espen Wærnes

Video by Espen Wærnes

Video by Terje Sjøli