jimmie.hu

just recently I came across a noticeable jazz trio from up north. splashgirl combine vibrant and colourful jazz music with distinct field recordings, electronic and acoustic sounds and patterns - and just the right susceptibility for a well-balanced mix of all that. their music alters between thouroughly composed ensemble pieces and massive and rather obfuscating noise sculptures, between pulsating time and ambient, moonily sound scapes. splashgirl consists of pianst andreas stensland løwe, drummer andreas lønmo knudsrød and bassist jo berger myhre. you actually have come acros the two latter ones when playing with blokk 5 (definitely worth to check out). originally from norway they released three album thus far of which the latest - pressure - clearly struck me the most. the trio got backed up by several guest musicians on most of their records. being well connected to many other projects and band through out the norwegian jazz scene this brings some nice fresh wind into all of their albums.

after their debut doors.keys. (aim) in 2007 - a decent still, but rather ‘settled’ piece of art, exploring the dimensions of free and yet well organized trio works - they released their follow-up arbor (hubro) in 2009. this one (for me at least) kind of marked a hint to the direction they would move from here on, set well in between structured trio jazz music and experimental, open and inclusive compositions as heard on their latest release. i in love the wide spaces, the precise and thoughtful moves and patterns that evolve throughout arbor. like all their music this one is often set together by minimalistic repetitive structures that through time gain this staggering, pulsating energy. their latest release pressure however was also released on hubro (by the way a beautiful label, featuring mats eilertsen, kjetil brjørnstad, huntsville and more), just another two years after arbor. it features guitarist juhani silvola and partly combines the qualities of the former ones and yet dares to go the whole way, unafraid of any distrubing, abrupt or unsettling findings there may be.

i fell in love with the whole album, but already on my very first listen, i just got struck by one piece in particular: concerning this square caught my attention right away. starting off in a pretty dense, scurrying manner it just builds and builds over time (guests erik johannesen’s trombone and martin taxt’s tuba manage to bring in this wonderful warmth) until it all opens up, revealing a beautifully light, warm and lyric piano ending. you should actually go ahead and have a listen right here. an then check out what else they have got.

oh, they are actually touring right now, so make sure to check their schedule if they are somewhere near you.

I carefully rearranged my senses
so they could have a conversation.
Taught them to switch places;
from each pore in my skin grew shimmering eye!s
And fingerprints filled the eye sockets.

- Blood Flight.

yep, its been a while - but let’s not get into that.
after piling and hoarding ideas, music, and all kinds of fascinating and wonderful stuff during the past months, i figured its time to finally get off the hiatus, get back to this blog and share my finds. it feels pretty good actually :)
and off we go.

you have just been listening to the captivating sounds of a very creative lady from norway. not quite nameless, singer, writer and poet jenny hval released her latest record on rune grammofon in february. she has been around before, though using an alias to release her former records as rockettothesky. although i like her former work, it is for this one to really intrigue me. viscera is a wonderful, warm and rather “carnal” compilation of diligently designed songs and sounds that are oscillating between atmospheric shimmer and rhythmic, lively emotions - elaborate and well-thought-out as well as explorative and improvised. supported by håvard volden (git) and kyrre laastad (d), hval eplores vocal and acoustic spheres (and actually more than once reminded me of sidsel endresen…) the motif that gleams every now and then deals with exploring and travelling - into and out of bodies, inside and outside of footings and musical structures. truly inspiring!

it does not come too surprising that she teamed up with an old stager for this kind of sound: helge stern produced and recorded the album and obviously (and luckily) left his footprint on there. you actually might know him as deathprod and (hopefully) know his stunning quartet supersilent (including the brilliant arve henriksen… but we will get to that later).

as for now, ill leave you with this fascinating video portrait. directed by ij biermann in spring 2011, it marks the beginning of a series of artist portraits, featuring their music, a personal place - and themselves. i cant help it but i find this incredibly unsettling and intense. an impressive piece of work - that certainly strikes the viewer.

i suppose you know the dark. and if you can wrap it up into sounds and music, there is one guy who mastered this. the results are terrifying, gloomy and yet strangely beautiful sounds, amazingly louring and fascinating. the man who is in charge of all that goes by the name of erik k. skodvin. he is from oslo, norway and you might have come across him and his duo project deaf center. well, apart from that he is also running the absolutely stunning label miasmah. what started of as a netlabel in 2006 is now not only pressing vinyls and cds and working together with such beautiful artists as greg haines, elegi (soon more about them here), jasper tx and jacaszek - it is also a graphic design studio. (actually you should stop reading right now - check out their website and music - and come back here)

i am really impressed not only by the huge output of erik skodvin, but also (and even more) by the intense and speacial quality that seemingly all his works hold. just recently he produced a short little video in collaboration with suki chan, a british director. skodvin got in as the sound and music designer - the outcome is stunning:

as a matter of fact, mr. skodvin is rather prolific. thus, he is an active solo-musician himself. as svarte greiner he has released pretty unsettling and intense music, besides others on digitalis (2010) and his debut knive in 2006 on type (that you might have come across here before. you should check out the wonderful set he prepared for their typecast series. it’s the first one in 5 years and holds some notable rarities). his latest work flare, however, will be released on the berlin label sonic pieces (also absolutely worth a visit. wonderful artwork.) you can get it as soon as october 22nd, but you can have a first glimpse at what is going on right here, right now :)

well i suppose you know the dark. this is it.

say hello to the white birch, a norwegian band around ole fløttum that has been playing together for almost 10 years by now. the song seer believer is to be found on their latest release come up for air, that has been released on glitterhouse in 2005.

this wonderful video however was shot on super8 and directed by eskil vogt. i admit, gazing little kids are kind of weird and use to freak me out also. but not this one. this one’s cool.

click play now.

if you like the music, check out their myspace and albums.

if you still like it, check out fløttum’s solo project portrait of david.

good stuff!

jimmie

winter is back. so lets go north.

this is fredrik, a “dream folk” duo from sweden (what ever that means). they released their second album trilogi in january and i’ve been listening to it for a few months now - it still gets me: wonderful and kind of warm winter music fitting perfectly to the never ending cold winter weather of these days. very atmospheric, very nice.

sadly enough i was not able to see them live on their release tour which they just completed. however i discovered two amazing videos, both for the trilogi release.

starting off with viskra. a beautiful video shot in the swedish woods and directed by iris piers:

good one! and here comes another: vinterbarn - translates to winterchildren. (i like the drumming wolf a lot actually).

if you need more, click play again. or go out and listen to their records. (by the way, their debut na na ni is not bad either. well, not as “catchy” maybe, but definitely just as cool)

oh, and just to mention, i’m always happy about comments, critique and shout outs… c’mon ;)

jimmie

it’s been three days now that i have efterklang’s new release magic chairs. in one word: amazing!

before you read on, you should check out their song alike right here.

efterklang - alike

and it’s getting even better: today i got the hint by emanuel to check out this amazing live session. it was recorded in a wonderful and pretty atmospheric room in copenhagen, it’s part of the 4ad sessions (worth to have a look at anyways) and i gives you a nice impression of magic chairs - and of course it’s nice music!

as you might have noticed i actually do like their music.

a lot.

do you?