BJØRN TORSKE
Kokning
STS196
Smalltown Supersound 2010
09 Tracks. 52mins01mins

Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD US: CD | LP | DLD Boomkat: CD | LP | DLD iTunes: DLD

With countless projects and collaborations under his belt, Norwegian musician, producer and DJ Bjørn Torske has had, since his first appearance, as Alegria on SSR Records almost twenty years ago, fingers in more pies than one could care to mention, but when he landed on Smalltown Supersound, a few years ago, he found his natural place alongside the likes of Diskjokke or Lindstrøm. His debut album for the label, Feil Knapp, combined elements of house and disco with more playful electronic forms and occasional Krautrock hints.

Krautrock appears to be the starting point of Torske’s latest offering, his fourth, and filters through much of the album, in various doses. Three years in the making, and the fruit of a painstaking recording process during which he experimented with a number of venues, set ups, overdubs and edits, Kokning is even more colourful and eclectic than its predecessor. Fueled by elegant electronic textures, touches of acoustic and electric guitars and quirky loops, the opening three tracks are strongly reminiscent of Harmonia or Cluster as heard through kaleidoscopic headphones, their respective soundscapes offering forever changing angles without ever noticeably evolving. While the opening title track drifts along a lush and warm guitar-infused sequence and Gullfjellet sinks into a sweet summery torpor, Bryggesjau appears to endlessly loop around its central theme, but imperceptibly picks up additional layers of sound and noise on its way to give it a much grittier aspect toward the end.

Later on, Torske gets closer to the Scandinavian disco shaped by Diskjokke, Prins Thomas or Lindstrøm, stacking up a pseudo-tribal beat on Langt Fra Afrika or linear grooves and catchy hooks on Bergensere, Nitten Nitti or Furu. Here, the seventies experimental impetus is replaced by something much more immediate, but while the latter three could easily find a proud place on the dance floor, Bergensere and Furu even eying up some of Lindstrøm’s cosmic electronica, it is ultimately never quite Torske’s concern, and he soon turns his attention to much more chilled grounds again with the somewhat mellow and accidental Slitte Sko, before drafting in some heavy dub textures on Versjon Wolfenstein.

The problem with Kokning is not its eclectic focus but more the fact that it occasionally seems to get a tad lost in its own topography as Torske hangs on to particular themes for slightly too long, especially on Gullfjellet or Slitte Sko. Yet, when Torske brings in a little diversity and ambition in his compositions, the mood instantly lifts up as he reaches more inspired shores.

3.2/5

Bjørn Torske (MySpace) | Smalltown Supersound
Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD US: CD | LP | DLD Boomkat: CD | LP | DLD iTunes: DLD

K-X-P
K-X-P
STS182
Smalltown Supersound 2010
08 Tracks. 43mins45secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD

K-X-P: behind this enigmatic banner operate two former members of Op:l Bastards, Timo Kaukolampi (electronics and vocals), and Tuomo Puranen (bass and keyboards). So, that’s the K and the P explained. Standing in between is an X, or rather a third space which is occupied alternatively by Anssi Nykänen and Tomi Leppanen, both drummers by trade. X should therefore in this case be understood as ‘non-defined’. The musical ground covered by all four musicians is pretty vast and varied. Kaukolampi is perhaps best known for writing for, and producing, Norwegian electro-popster Annie, and while Puranen was also involved in her two albums, he has, amongst other things, been a regular member of Jimi Tenor’s band and has collaborated with a number of Scandinavian artists over the years, while Nykänen regularly played with jazz bass player Pekka Pohjola, and Leppanen was an active member of avant-pop outfit Aavikko.

The particular configuration of this four-headed trio defines the sound of this album throughout. Powered by chunky drum sections and rumbling bass lines, and splattered with fat analogue electronic sounds and effects, the eight tracks featured here are shamelessly rooted in seventies German cosmic rock, and tainted with occasional brushes of jazz fusion (Mehu Moments), greasy garage rock (18 Hours (Of Love)), or prog disco (Labirynth, Aibal Dub). The band jump from one area of influence to the next with extreme dexterity and ease, building it all up into one compact and dense musical form which accommodates as easily hypnotic instrumentals and quirky vocal tracks.

What K-X-P create here is a totally fascinating soundtrack, relentless in its drive and evolution, yet strangely peaceful and measured in its overall form. Each piece works totally independently of the others, yet there is a strong correlation between them all which binds the record together and gives it a very consistent feel. Independently of the mood of a particular piece, from the tribal groove of Elephant Man or New World, to the much more angular rock slant of 18 Hours (Of Love) or Pockets or the much smoother twisted disco brushes of Mehu Moments or Labirynth, there is a strong identity which percolates through every layer of this record. The trio, in whichever configuration, uses Krautrock as a platform from which they branch out into various directions, sparking all sorts of sonic reactions which continuously redefine what K-X-P stand for.

With this debut, K-X-P have assembled a truly exhilarating collection of power-Krautrock compositions which, although rooted in the sound of seventies German underground experimental rock, appears surprisingly fresh and inspired here. Almost four years in the making, K-X-P is a record that is very likely to make a lasting mark on this second half of the year.

4.6/5

Smalltown Supersound
Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD

DISKJOKKE
En Fin Tid
STS184CD
Smalltown Supersound 2010
08 Tracks. 60mins11secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Norman Records: CD

Time for another round of Norwegian space disco! This year has already seen major releases from Lindstrøm & Christabelle (Real Life Is No Cool, Smalltown Supersound) and Prins Thomas (Prins Thomas, Full Pupp), and it is now the turn of Joachim ‘DiskJokke’ Dyrdahl to deliver another fine slice of stellar electronic prog disco grooves. Follow up to his superb 2007 debut Staying In, also published on Smalltown Supersound, En Fin Tid feeds on the same cosmic electro bleepy sounds, but while the tracks on Staying In followed very definite paths and often adopted a traditional verse/bridge/chorus structure, the templates are here much looser and fluid, and the melodies much more subtle.

Unlike its predecessor, which collected tracks recorded during a long period of time, En Fin Tid was written and recorded as a complete piece, and this is undeniably very much reflected in the overall consistency of the record. With eight tracks, spanning just over an hour, this album represents an epic journey through hypnotic soundscapes, beautiful round bass lines and progressive disco grooves, fuelled by anything from seventies and eighties disco to ambient, acid house and contemporary electronica. This colourful cocktail flows impeccably, from the watery opening track, Reset And Begin to the massive dreamy Nattestid, which closes, both highly reminiscent of mid-eighties Tangerine Dream, through the euphoric title track, torrid groove of Big Splash, disarmingly simple and evocative Rosenrød or lush and ice-cold The Bund.

The impressive thing is how varied and rich Dyrdahl’s sound has grown to be in the space of three years. He already displayed a mighty fine taste for arranging kaleidoscopic soundscapes and shimmering melodies into extremely coherent vignettes, a savoir-faire which has made him a very sought after remixer in recent years, as his work for the likes of Metronomy, Block Party, Lykke Li, Charlotte Gainsbourg, The XX or Social Disco Club attest. With En Fin Tid, he takes this to a totally different level by creating extremely rich layers of sound and letting them evolve organically around constantly shifting focal points. This is the case on the title track for instance, with its main theme continuously changing hue, yet remaining fundamentally the same throughout. Later on, he applies a similar technique on Rosenrød to produce a somewhat different result. Here, the melody remains pretty untouched the whole time, but it is its surroundings which are subjected to much alterations. The most convincing example of this though is to be found on the ten-and-a-half-minute closing track Nattestid, which, after nodding in the direction of Lindstrøm for a moment, takes on a radically different path, pushing into beautiful hypnotic soundscapes to creating one of the dreamiest pieces of electronic music heard in years.

The cover of this latest opus, fruit of the creative mind of Kim Hiorthøy as is de rigueur on Smalltown Supersound, depicts the DiskJokke name dripping in what could either be paint or some unidentified sickly substance, but this is certainly not a representation of what the record contains. Far from being sticky or syrupy, En Fin Tid is an incredibly fluid, elegant and, ultimately, thoroughly exhilarating affair. DiskJokke has produced here a record so bright and colourful that he’s left the rest of the Norwegian disco scene looking a tad bland in comparison.

4.9/5

DiskJokke | DiskJokke (MySpace) | Smalltown Supersound
Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Norman Records: CD

One-Armed Bandit is the first release from Norwegian supergroup Jaga Jazzist in over five years. A constantly changing formation, the band has been around for fifteen years, with at its core brothers Lars and Martin Horntveth and their sister Line. While their sound has always encompassed a variety of genres, it relies primarily on a driven form of power jazz. With their last record to date, the band took to more rock structures and abandoned the electronic textures that had characterised previous releases. With this latest offering, they once again bring electronics into the fold and swap heavy rock forms for more cosmic prog rock. Here, band composer in chief Lars Horntveth talks about the five year break, how working on external projects benefit the band as a whole, working with Tortoise’s John McEntire and spending over half his life with the band.

After a five year hiatus, Jaga Jazzist are back in action and ready to release a new album, One-Armed Bandit, and embark on a European tour. Why did you decide to take a break, and how did you know it was the right time for the band to get record together. Was there some kind of common decision, or was more of an organic and natural process?
After our last album, What We Must, and the tour that followed, three of our band members quit. The rest of the band was very tired after so much touring that year. We decided to take a break that would make it possible for everyone in the band to work with other bands and earn some money. Being a ten-piece band is very hard economically and is why all Jaga-members have worked for no money the last fifteen years. It’s crazy, but we have so much outcome that it’s almost impossible to make things work economically. About three years into the break we started talking about working with Jaga again. I think everyone in the band feels that Jaga is the mother ship in a way and we always have the best times with the band. It felt like everyone wanted to start up again and had the energy to do so. That was after the release of several solo albums, band albums and lots of producing/arranging/playing on other peoples albums.

We needed a new keyboard player and a new guitarist. These are in my opinion the most important roles in Jaga, aside from the drums. It’s very hard to find people that have the taste and musicianship we are looking for, but we found them in Øystein Moen and Stian Westerhus, both from the noise band Puma. We started out working on new songs in a house a couple of hours’ drive into the Swedish forest. We stayed there for a week and combined barbeque and new prog-rock songs. A great week.

According to the press release, you started writing for the album in 2008, but like on previous Jaga albums, there seem to be a big involvement of the rest of the band in the music. Can you tell us more about how the album came together, how the band the involved in the composition process, and also what role the music of Fela Kuti played in the writing of this particular album?
This time, I wrote everything down on music sheets. We haven’t worked like this for a long time. I had lots of ideas, many of them were quite hard to put in practice and play and we needed to rehearse more than ever before. We worked like that during autumn 2008, rehearsing maybe once a week or more. I tried to have a new song ready every week which put a lot of pressure on me. I think it was hard for everyone to see in what direction we were going, because there was so much focus on getting the right notes in, but this method of working really paid off. When we went into the studio, everyone had the songs under their skin and therefore could play the parts and switch instruments and be creative in a very good way. So it was in the studio that everyone contributed and really put their personality into it. Also, drums and drum programming are very important in Jaga, and Martin is the brain behind that.

Fela Kuti is one of many vague influences on this album. I tried to make a song that resembled some of the feeling I got when listening to him. But I don’t know if anyone would have thought about him if I hadn’t mentioned his influence.

Was it a similar writing process to that followed with previous records?
No, we worked on What We Must entirely without music sheets. We rehearsed the songs based on my demos and just playing by ear, so it was quite the opposite.

The last album showed a move towards a rockier sound, but One-Armed Bandit is much gentler and eclectic record. Was it a conscious shift?
Absolutely eclectic, but it was not intended to sound gentler at all. Actually we were thinking of XTRMNTR by Primal Scream while making it. I wanted the sounds to be really intense and organic. But as always with Jaga, we kind of follow our gut feeling and the albums turn out really different from what our references and influences may have been. And that includes Fela Kuti as well. I was listening to his records while writing the song One-Armed Bandit, but the way the song turned out, I am not sure Fela Kuti is the first thing you think of. Our previous album, What We Must, was, as you said, rockier and a little bit more basic. It also didn’t have any programming at all. The new album has many more layers and leans more toward prog-rock. We have included more electronics and programming and also used the horns differently. On this album, the horns are much more dynamic. I think that some songs, like Toccata, One-Armed Bandit and Prognissekongen, represent a new direction for Jaga, while others are very much a continuation of what we have been doing in the last ten years.

The album was mixed in Chicago by John McEntire. How did you get to work with him, and what would you say he brought to the album?
I got his email through a press agent that has both worked for me and McEntire in the States. I emailed him the rough mixes and he responded very quickly that it was something he was enthusiastic about doing. He knew the band a little from before, we played a gig with Tortoise in Oslo in 2003. I think the most important thing for us was that we knew we shared a lot of tastes and influences musically. So it would be easy to talk to each other and work fast during the mix. But mixing a Jaga album must be hard. I guess 150 to 200 tracks on ever song. So it’s important that we are there to say what is the focus of the song and what are the less important details. Since McEntire was doing the mix and not producing, we didn’t expect him to go wild and try to change everything. But he added a lot of cool sounds. For instance, we put drums and horns through his wall of synthesizers and stuff like that. A great guy and a very good experience for us.

Are you apprehensive about how the album is going to be received, both in Norway and in the rest of Europe, after so long?
The response so far has been great. Great reviews and massive response on the live gigs we have played so far. I have a really good feeling. I think the music that we make is not part of any particular trend or anything, so it doesn’t matter that much when the album is released. It really doesn’t feel like we are old news. It seems like quite a lot of people have been waiting for a new album from us. But I hope we can take this band to a new level this time. The more attention we get, the more we can go out and play live which we really love.

The title track of the new album was made available for free on the web a few weeks ago, and more recently, Toccata was too. Was it the band’s choice to do so, and, as this is a process that is becoming more common, do you think it actually benefits album sales further down the line?
These tracks are shorter versions of the songs and just teasers for the album. It was a choice shared by the record company and us to release these ‘singles’ for free. It’s not easy to get this kind of music on the radio so I think it’s a good thing to use the internet to create a buzz before the album gets released. Hopefully, our audience are aware that the Jaga music is all about the album format. The general record sales have gone down so drastically since we released our previous album. I hope these teasers will make people buy the album and support the band.

The band features two new members, Øystein Moen (keyboards) and Stian Westerhus (guitar), and there have been a few changes in the line-up over the years. Do you see this as a part of what Jaga is, and as a way to renew yourselves? How did you meet these new guys, and how do you choose new members to join the band?
Jaga has always had some change in personnel, but not as much as it might seem. There are still six of the original members. But we’ve had some changes and most of the time it has been for the better. Something happens with the group dynamic and often makes us go in a new direction. The hard part is to find new members who understand that the band is very collective. It always takes some time to rehearse with new members and get them to get what we are about, especially when it comes to taste in sounds and production. With Øystein and Stian, we heard them play a gig with their noise band Puma and thought that they had the right attitude in music. But it was a long way for them to come from totally improvised music to something very structured like we do. It turned out good though. Ironically, Stian had to quit the band this summer because he has too much stuff going on, so now we have a new guitar player. The story continues.

You have all worked on various other projects beside Jaga, including solo projects. Does it affect or transpire into the band in any way?
Absolutely. I think it is very important for everyone to have other projects. It makes it easier for us to work in one direction and not try to include everyone’s needs all the time. The egos are fulfilled with the solo projects. It also works as inspiration for the band. We do so much stuff on the side and it inspires us to make different music.

Jaga Jazzist has been around as a band for over fifteen years, but One-Armed Bandit is only your sixth album. Why haven’t there been any more records?
It’s very much got to do with the previous question. We need some time between each record to do other stuff. The time between the records really helps us find new directions.  We are very active on the Norwegian music scene. I don’t know the exact number, but we must have been involved in around 2-300 records, as musicians, producers or arrangers. We are not exactly lazy.

You are due to play live across Europe this winter and spring. What can people expect of Jaga on stage this time round?
I think we are better as a live band than ever now, the energy is really high. We really look forward to play our new material and meet the audience. And the stage is filled with even more instruments of course.

You were not even fifteen when you started Jaga Jazzist. Did you ever imagine that it would last this long? Is it a bit of a surprise to still be around with the band now?
I didn’t expect that much when we started; it was more like an experiment. Now I have been in the band for over half of my life. It’s very much a family thing for everyone involved. We have worked idealistically for over fifteen years and it’s been all about the music. It’s been very hard at times, but also very rewarding musically. I think we have worked up something special, and it makes it hard to let go. Musically, I think we have so much more that we can do. There are so many ways to go with this type of bands as long as we try to expand our influences and learn new instruments.
It’s strange that we have made it work for such a long time. I don’t have that much fun with any other band musically speaking.

Did you already have a strong idea of the kind of sound you wanted to achieve back then?
No, not really. We were doing a lot of different stuff in the beginning. Our first record is very schizophrenic: rap, avant-garde, gipsy music, contemporary jazz, soul etc. It wasn’t until A Livingroom Hush that we really felt we had something that had a direction that we wanted to follow up.

You are highly successful and recognised in Norway and have been for years, but it took a little longer to gain recognition abroad, after you signed to Smalltown Supersound and consequently were licensed to Ninja Tune. How did you get to work with Smalltown Supersound?
I think we met Joakim Haugland of Smalltown Supersound in 2000. He had just released Kim Hiorthøy’s Hei. He first released an EP with Martin Horntveth and they became friends. A Livingroom Hush was a huge success in Norway, selling almost twenty thousand records at the time, but nothing was happening outside Norway. Smalltown released it, and six months later Ninja Tune wanted to re-release it and do some more albums. Smalltown Supersound have been very important for both Jaga and us as solo artists.

You have released two albums in between Jaga records, including Kaleidoscope last year, which consisted of just one piece and was recorded with the Latvian National Orchestra. That was a very different project to your work with Jaga. Was working with a full orchestra something you’d wanted to do, and was it a very different work process for you?
I had worked as an arranger for various Norwegian symphony orchestras for some time. I don’t have any musical education so for me it was fantastic to be able to learn how to do this while actually working with an orchestra. Kaleidoscopic was very different from Jaga. It is just one forty minute piece and is inspired by classical music and soundtracks. Since I have such strong input in what the Jaga music sounds like, I wanted to work with a very different setup. In Jaga we work with songs and often verse/chorus/bridge forms. It was really cool to go out of that world and make orchestral music that doesn’t have that form at all. It was really inspiring and I want to do more.

Do you intend to focus entirely on Jaga for the foreseeable future, or do you think you will try to combine your role within the band and your solo work from now on?
I need to do stuff outside of Jaga obviously. In the last years I have divided my time between writing music for my other band, The National Bank, solo albums, film and theatre music and producing albums with artists such as Martin Hagfors and Susanne Sundfør.

I hope we will tour as much as possible with Jaga Jazzist in the future and that it will not take another 5 years to make a new album.

Email interview January 2010.

Jaga Jazzist | Smalltown Supersound | Ninja Tune

LARS HORNTVETH
Kaleidoscopic
STS097CD
Smalltown Supersound 2009
01 Track. 36mins47secs

One of the founding members of the all-out bopping Jaga Jazzist ensemble, Lars Horntveth surprised some years ago with a refined and mature debut solo output. On Pooka, Horntveth was seemingly applying some of the same concept he had helped develop with Jaga, but, he also hinted at much more elaborated music processes and showed a taste for orchestral forms. With his second effort, delivered five years on, he steps up the pace and takes on the challenge of working with a full classical formation, the Latvian National Orchestra, on a single piece.

The concept at the core of Kaleidoscopic came up as Horntveth was looking for a different way of writing music. Instead of focussing on minute vignettes and assembling them into a coherent album, forgetting any aspect of chronology in the process, he embarked on an experiment which would allow him to build a piece of music with time by continuously adding to it, a bit like a weaver relentlessly adds to a tapestry. The result is a piece which evolves, morphs and takes shape over the course of just under forty minutes, through singular themes and recurring patterns.

What is striking here is the impeccable flow that runs through the highly contrasted and vibrant orchestrations and shapes the sweeping melodies of the piece. At times pastoral and flowing with emotions, at others more restrained and delicate, Kaleidoscopic is a roller-coaster of a composition which takes many unpredictable turns, occasionally drifting along for a moment, building into intense and vivid climaxes, snaking gracefully through gentle acoustic guitars or exploding into myriad of tiny particles. At its most passionate and ornate, there is a fine cinematic grandeur about the piece which evokes vast plains of lush greens, rich blues and warm yellows, while, when it retreats to much more minimal structures, it becomes almost too fragile to make an impact at all. And when it seems to have finally come to rest, a short appendix rises softly, as to put a last finishing touch.

Kaleidoscope is a truly unique and ambitious composition, which, while feeding from Lars Horntveth’s previous work, resembles very little of what he has produced so far. That he manages to continuously revive the interest and keep the momentum going throughout is no mean feat, and it is, if anything, a testament to his musicianship.

4.7/5

Smalltown Supersound
Buy: CD

DISKJOKKE
Staying In
STS145CD
Smalltown Supersound 2008
10 Tracks. 56mins05secs

If staying in is the new going out, DiskJokke is the shiny banner that advertises it. Hailing from Oslo where, alongside like-minded characters like Prins Thomas and Lindstrom, he is at the forefront of the new Swedish dance scene, Joachim Dyrdahl has spent the last few years honing his dance floor potential at Sunkissed, one of Norway’s most notorious clubs, where he is a regular behind the decks. First spotted by Prins Thomas, who released three of his tracks, Dyrdahl has since, under the DiskJokke banner, had tracks featured on a handful of compilations, released a couple of EPs and is fast becoming a sought-after remixer. He is now signed to Norwegian imprint Smalltown Supersound.

Staying In, Dyrdahl’s debut album, incorporates elements of classic disco and house, sprinkled with hints of electro and Detroit techno to give his sound a slightly more angular form. Dyrdahl also pays much attention to his melodies and to the mood of each of his creations, which ranges from atmospheric to playful moments.

The opening sequence of Folk I Farta sounds tailor-made to soundtrack the arty TV ad of a German car manufacturer, but once it’s slipped into its party gear, it is all systems go for the DiskJokke disco machine. The track slowly builds momentum as a cascading piano rains on a gentle melody until the main synth theme finally takes over and firmly sets it into orbit. The title track, which follows, has a video game feel to it, at least in its opening part, but, while the cartoon-like mood lingers on, the sound fills up and the melodic structure becomes more complex as Dyrdahl adds layer after layer. Større Enn Først Antatt draws on more openly techno tones and shows some deep connections with Detroit, especially in the way the melodic aspect of the piece is intrinsically linked to the sounds applied.

Later, it is impossible not to think of Daft Punk’s Da Funk on Glatt, but, in Dyrdahl’s hands, the robotic template favoured by the French duo becomes much more human and emotionally charged. Elsewhere, I Was Go To Marrocco And I Don’t See You is like a processed re-reading of Soft Cell’s Tainted Love with steady house beat and warm electronics to back up its stripped down instrumental form. Cold Out shows off some interesting African flavours in its rhythmic structure but, as elements pile in, end up somewhat lacking coherence, especially set against stronger compositions, such as Interpolation, which precedes it, or the rather beautiful Flott Flyt, which follows it. The album concludes with the elegant The Dinner That Never Happened and Some Signs Are Good which, despite being somewhat different, see Dyrdahl deploying sumptuous warm electronic waves over haunting themes.

Staying In is a juicy guilty pleasure, filled with melodies devised to keep the heart warm and beats to keep the head nodding and the feet tapping all the way through. This is not an album in the pure disco tradition, far from it, but Joachim Dyrdahl openly plays with the party tone inherent to the genre, giving his debut album a thoroughly enjoyable feel, yet his approach goes further by playing on a wide palette of emotions, making Staying In a very accomplished dance record.

4.2/5

DiskJokke (MySpace) | Smalltown Supersound
Buy: CD | iTunes