ESPEN ERIKSEN TRIO
You Had Me At Goodbye
RCD2096
Rune Grammofon 2010
08 Tracks. 37mins30secs

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

This debut album from Espen Eriksen Trio is something of a rarity on Rune Grammofon; a record so smooth, gentle and beautifully melodic that it breaks with the label’s experimental tradition to open up towards very different grounds. Led by pianist Espen Eriksen, who, beside playing with some of the best Scandinavian jazz artists, including Mats Eilertsen and Thomas Strønen, has also over the years dabbled in pop music, the ensemble also comprises bassist Lars Tormod Jenset, who is also a member of swing trio Hot N Spicy and experimental jazz/folk ensemble Rodent, and drummer Andreas Bye, who regularly plays with the likes of HÃ¥kon Kornstad, Joshua Redman, Nils Petter Molvær or John Scofield, and was once a member of Bugge Wesseltoft’s New Conception Of Jazz. Continue Reading »

SUPERSILENT
9
RCD2092
Rune Grammofon 2009
04 Tracks. 50mins45secs

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

Necessity is the mother of all (re-)inventions. This must have been in the mind of the three remaining members of Supersilent following the departure of drummer Jarle Vespestad last year. Not that the band are strangers to regeneration. Indeed, each one of their six releases to date has, in one way or another, seen them going back to the drawing board, but, for the first time since Helge Sten joined the original trio of Arve Henriksen, StÃ¥le Storløkken and Vesperstad in 1997, the fundamental dynamic of the band has changed. And Supersilent have changed with it. With Vesperstad‘s rhythmic powerhouse gone, Henriksen, Sten and Storløkken have created a totally atmospheric and moody record; not one that growls, threatens or jumps at the throat, but one that lurks in smoky corners and dark alleyways. Continue Reading »

CIRCULASIONE TOTALE ORCHESTRA
Bandwidth
RCD2089
Rune Grammofon 2009
12 Tracks. 171mins31secs

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

Led by Norwegian saxophonist Frode Gjerstad, Circulacione Totale Orchestra is an ever-changing formation, which he started in the mid-eighties as a forum for musicians to experiment with improvised music. Over the years, CTO has counted as many as thirteen musicians in one performance, although it is more usual to find around ten members at any one time. In this particular incarnation, CTO features two slightly different casts of internationally renowned musicians such as drummer extraordinaire Paal Nilssen-Love, noise authority Lasse Marhaug, Morten Johan Olsen (drums and electronics), who is regularly found fuelling the rhythmic section of MoHa! and Ultralyd, American cornet player Bobby Bradford, an early collaborator with Ornette Coleman, or Ingebrigt Haaker Flaten, of The Thing and Scorch Trio, and a long-term collaborator with Nilssen-Love, on acoustic bass, to name but a few.

Something of a mastodon release, Bandwidth, CTO’s fifth album, their first for Rune Grammofon, spills over three CDs and almost three hours. Continue Reading »

FIRE!
You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago
RCD2091
Rune Grammofon 2009
04 Tracks. 41mins51secs

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

Out of the seemingly inexhaustible treasure chest that is the Scandinavian experimental scene comes this latest Swedish supergroup, formed of saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, member of many a formation, of which the best known is perhaps The Thing, bassist Johan Berthling, co-founder of Häpna and member of Tape, Animes and Sten Sandell Trio, and Andreas Werliin, the drumming half of Wildbirds & Peacedrums amongst other things. Having landed on Rune Grammofon with their first missive, this three-headed entity, who operate under a banner which, thanks to a prominent element of punctuation, unmistakably suggests an element of urgency, have such widespread backgrounds that the sum of their collaborative effort was bound to surpass much of their individual outputs. Continue Reading »

SUSANNA AND THE MAGICAL ORCHESTRA
3
RCD2090
Rune Grammofon 2009
10 Tracks. 47mins02secs

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

The first noticeable thing about the latest opus from Norwegian duo Susanna And The Magical Orchestra is the bright, colourful image which ornates its cover, replacing the bleak funeral pictures created by Kim Hiorthøy for their two previous albums and the similar ones he did for Susanna Wallumrød’s two solo records. This is however not the most significant change. Indeed, while the pair’s first two albums, List Of Lights And Buoys (2004) and Melody Mountain (2006) made use of little else than sombre pianos and discreet electronics, Susanna Wallumrød and Morten Qvenild have opted here for a much bolder and richer sound, and have invited a host of contributors, including Susanna’s partner Helge Sten, who, beside co-producing the album, also plays guitars on a handful of tracks, while Mariam Wallentin, of Wildbirds & Peacedrums fame, and Wallumrød’s drummer brother Fredrik, both provide additional vocals along the way, Jaga Jazzist’s Andreas Mjøs adds vibraphone on Game and Erland Dahlen, drummer with Norwegian rock formation Madrugada, can be heard on drums and percussions on two tracks. Continue Reading »

LUIGI ARCHETTI/BO WIGET
Low Tide Digitals III
RCD2087
Rune Grammofon 2009
14 Tracks. 68mins18secs

CD: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Boomkat Download: Amazon UK | Amazon US | iTunes

For the third time in eight years, guitarist Luigi Archetti and cellist Bo Wiget have joined forces for the time of an album, continuing their sonic explorations at the confines of modern classical, experimental jazz and minimal electronic, following Low Tide Digitals I and II, published in 2001 and 2005 respectively, already on Rune Grammofon. Continue Reading »

SPUNK
Kantarell
RCD2085
Rune Grammofon 2009
09 Tracks. 46mins44secs

CD: Amazon UK | Boomkat Download: Amazon UK | iTunes

If it was possible to add up the musicianship for each of the bands housed on the excellent Rune Grammofon imprint and place them in ascending order, it is probable that all-female improv collective Spunk would be light years ahead of their nearest contenders. Formed of Kristin Andersen, Hilde Sofie Tafjord, Maja Solveig Ratkje and Lene Grenager, all classically trained and highly respected musicians and composers in their own right, Spunk, which celebrates ten years at the forefront of the avant-garde improv movement, has always seemed like the most exhilarating of playgrounds. One of the staple acts of Rune Grammofon, they released their debut album, Det Eneste Jeg Vet Er At Det Ikke Er En Støvsuger only a few months after the label was launched, and, consequently had the like of Svalastog, Kim Hiorthøy, Martin Horntveth, Phonophani or Lasse Marhaug remixing their work for the Filtered Through Friends album. Continue Reading »

JONO EL GRANDE
Neo Dada
RCD2084
Rune Grammofon 2009
07 Tracks. 42mins21secs

Buy: CD | LP | MP3 | iTunes
Stream: Soptify

Jono El Grande is something of an oddball. Jon Andreas HÃ¥tun as he is known to his parents landed on Rune Grammofon six years ago with Fevergreen, a rather strange album which appears to fearlessly blend prog rock, pop, orchestral film music and jazz into one hell of a melting pot. Heading a formation of nine musicians, Jono El Grande brought down boundaries that no-one, with the exception of a rare few, ever considered could even exist.

With Neo Dada, HÃ¥tun and his colourful big band revive their shambolic fanfare and progress further into prog-jazz-watnot land, relentlessly kicking the ghost of Zappa out of the way to make way for their own exotic vision. Continue Reading »

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Money Will Ruin Everything: The Second Edition
RCD2072
Rune Grammofon 2009
25 Tracks. 152mins42secs

Buy: CD

‘It’s hard work to sell Rune CD outside of a small group of freaks’. To celebrate its first five years of activity, Norwegian label Rune Grammofon issued Money Will Ruin Everything, a beautiful limited collection documenting the label’s first few years spent charting the outer reaches of the music industry, spread over two CDs and presented with a book designed by Kim Hiorthøy. Fast forward five years and a few months, and it is time for label owner Rune Kristoffersen to look back once again and take stock of one of the most eclectic and forward-thinking catalogue around. And once again, Kim Hiorthøy, who is still single-handedly responsible for the visual identity of the label, including its occasional advertising, has designed a beautiful artefact, which collects not only the two CDs of this second edition of Money Will Ruin Everything, introduced by Geoff Travis and Robert Fricke, but also essays by Wire collaborator Rob Young and design consultant Adrian Shaughnessy, photographs and artwork reproductions. Continue Reading »

SKYPHONE
Avellaneda
RCD2071
Rune Grammofon 2008
11 Tracks. 52mins53secs

It has taken four years for Danish trio Skyphone to follow Fabula, their rather stunning first album. Formed of childhood friends Mads Bødker, Thomas Holst and Keld Dam Schmidt after years propping up dead end rock bands, the trio began to experiment with electronic music and put down the foundation of Skyphone toward the end of the nineties. In 2004, the band’s debut was released on Rune Grammofon.

Like label mates Alog, Skyphone are primarily concerned with intricately woven sonic structures that rely on myriads of minute pieces, but instead of processing acoustic instruments into dense formations, Holst, Schmidt and Bødker focus on musical purity and dip their compositions in luxurious sound pools to bring up the natural textures of the instruments used, while discreet field recordings sprinkled all over the course of the album give the compositions a truly pastoral feel. 24 free ringtones | sprint pcs ringtones | download ringtones motorola | dash mobile ringtones t | cricket phone ringtones | download free cingular ringtones | ringtones for nokia phone | disney free mobile ringtones | c139 motorola ringtones | sprint download ringtones | free cingular wireless ringtones | free ringtones for sprint phone | free ringtones for verizon phone | mobile ringtones converter | nextel ringtones | free ringtones for nextel phone | free kyocera ringtones | download free ringtones nokia | cell phone ringtones wallpaper | ringtones for nextel phone |
Continue Reading »

BOX
Studio 1
RCD2070/RLP3070
Rune Grammofon
06Tracks. 42mins40secs

Beginning with eery sounds that would be noxious fumes if you could smell them, the listener is soon pulverised by the racing beats of Morgan Ã…gren (Mats/Morgan, Zappa’s Universe). Box is a quartet comprising Ã…gren plus guitarist Raoul Björkenheim, Trevor Dunn on bass and StÃ¥le Storløkken on keybaords. Together they surge forward like a barely controlled race horse – step in front of this lot and you’ll be flattened outright. At about the five minute mark, the quartet start to get really hectic, creating a roiling musical melange that the next minute they unexpectedly defuse, returning to spare, haunted ambience. Continue Reading »

FOOD
Molecular Gastronomy
RCD2069
Rune Grammofon 2008
10 Tracks. 46min26secs

It’s been three years since Food’s previous release, the rather prematurely named Last Supper. In that interval, the one-time quartet has slimmed down to the duo of saxophonist Iain Ballamy and percussionist Thomas Strønen. I had the good fortune to catch them performing at a concert celebrating the founding of the state of Norway in 2006. Strønen sounded like the future as he explored virtual, hyper-speed sampling in mercurial fashion. Ballamy was, as always, highly melodic and more stately, a signifier of the human in otherwise distinctly William Gibson-esque soundscapes.

Molecular Gastronomy is a hugely welcome statement and, perhaps surprisingly, the group’s sound doesn’t suffer for the departure of trumpeter Arve Henriksen and bassist Mats Eilertsen. If anything, Food’s ambient/electronic/improvisational/folk focus has become less ephemeral and more focused. Continue Reading »