Jóhann Jóhannsson lives in a world haunted by ghostly choirs, lonely hums, ominous silence, and the occasional thunderclap. On "And in the endless pause there came the sound of bees", the Icelandic composer's newest full-length, he takes his cinematic leanings to an all-time high. It works beautifully, even when divorced from source material (Marc Craste's BAFTA-nominated animated short film "Varmints")
While "City building" features the delicious urgency of driving strings, the descriptor that could best be applied to the majority of the album is glacial, which, it should be noted, is used as a compliment. Jóhannsson teases out his undercurrent of sadness through thirteen tracks, underscoring it with pervasive wistful highlights such as "Rainwater" and "The gift". Thematic, without falling into Philip Glass repetition, spare without becoming dull, Jóhannsson's pristine sensitivity and light touch has the power to elevate both film and life alike. - Laura Studarus
The good folks at MIC Norway sent me a big box of CDs earlier this week as part of their "Listen to Norway" music promotion program, so to oblige them I will attempt to do some sort of weekly feature on one of the contents therein. I'm planning on listening to most of it anyway, so why not give it focus? Now as for the types of discs they sent me, there's a good selection of pop, rock, indie and metal stuff that I've either heard before or at least somewhat familiar with, so I decided to jump into the other stuff first. I know some Norwegian jazz, mostly through artists affiliated with or , and we'll get to those in coming weeks, but it's definitely the folk music that intrigued me the most. As regular readers should know by now, I love traditional Scandinavian folk, especially when it's done in contemporary fashion ala Detektivbyrån, but I'm also quite fond of the trad stuff, it's just that I barely know where to start with it so let us consider this to be a mutual exploration. There's a lot of folk music out there and I've listened to a damn lot of Hardanger fiddle this week and while I couldn't begin to tell you the history of the style or anything about the various regional variations, I know what I like and Valkyrien Allstars are a group I definitely can get into. According to the liner notes of their self-titled debut (2007), the trio got their start as the house band at The Valkyrien Restaurant in Oslo though they definitely seemed to have moved beyond that now, having been nominated for a Norwegian Grammy and toured Japan (and released a new album "To måner", which I do not have yet). Musically speaking, they are at their essence, a Hardanger fiddle trio, though they do mix it up by adding a few extra instruments and vocals. But what I like best about them is their energy and enthusiasm, a similar trait I heard in Swedish act Hedningarna, the band that first got me interested in Nordic folk. "Å gjev du batt meg" is one of the group's mellower tracks, but I just love the vocal on it, especially frontwoman Tuva Livsdatter Syvertsen's rough-edged tone. It reminds me of Hajen/Jaw Lesson a bit, in fact they even kinda look similar as far as hairstyle is concerned. Anyhow, it's those little cracks at the edges that make it, and that's why I'm sharing this song today.
Expect more folk discoveries and other new (to me) tunage in weeks to come.
The Tord Gustavsen Ensemble album "Restored, returned", recently nominated for a Spellemannprisen, will get a North American release on February 9 via . The entire group will also be coming over for a couple shows in March:
03/28 - San Francisco Jazz Festival
03/31 - Merkin Concert Hall, NYC
The nominees have been announced for the NRK Urørt Festival best unsigned act competition. Go here to listen and vote: http://nrk.no/urort/articleWP.aspx?p=620 (in Norwegian) nominated acts include Kvelertak, The Pink Robots, Proviant Audio , CCTV , Jabaman , Team me , Blood Command , moi , Put Your Hands Up For NeoTokyo and Leif & the Future.
Till grammisjuryn 2009:
Tack men nej tack, vi avsäger oss nomineringen, vi vill inte ha med Er att göra. Hoppas Ni respekterar detta. Vi tycker att en ursäkt vore på sin plats. Säg förlåt.
Vänligen,
The Bear Quartet
In case you missed it, The Bear Quartet were nominated for a Swedish Grammy and they have refused the "honor", issuing the statement above (translation here). It's not like it's the first time, so yeah, I'm not surprised. Still Sweden's best indie act and also the most contrary. Anyhow, it's not as if the prospect of BQ going up against the likes of Takida and Europe isn't ridiculous enough by itself, it hardly matters because you know that fucking Kent will win everything, whether you think they deserve it or not (I still haven't heard "Röd"; I'm sure it's fine, but I just don't care). So they are stepping aside and good for them. The Bear Quartet continues to do as they see fit.
On a similar token, the band has another new EP on the way to accompany the album "89" and of course it bares their willfully difficult streak. The song is "Carry your weight" and the EP comes with 3 b-side versions: a killer Spaghetti Western remix from Strange Maps aka Petter Granberg of Park Hotell, a psyched-out take by Malmö-based experimental artist VED and most importantly, the version I give to you today as performed by Finnish cult artist M.A. Numminen (performed together with longtime collaborator Pedro Hietanen on accordion). I can't remember where exactly I first heard of Numminen, but his intentionally annoying weirdness is a perfect match for BQ and yet another example of the band doing their best to aggravate their fans. Personally, I think it's hilarious, even if it's pure novelty. But most importantly, it makes perfect sense. The "Carry your weight" EP comes out December 11, the same day as The Bear Quartet's final concert of the year in their hometown Luleå where they will perform songs from "89" for the very last time.
MP3: M.A. Numminen - Carry your weight (The Bear Quartet cover)
It's a Trap! is nominated for the Svenska Podradiopriset (Swedish Podradio Prize) in the best mp3-blog category. Go here to vote/rösta: http://www.daytona.se/podradiopriset
For the Swedish-deficient, scroll down to the "Bästa mp3-blogg" category, select the "It's a Trap!" radio button, fill in your email address (they send a confirmation email to verify your vote is for real) and click the button. Thanks!
The playlist for this week's radio show, an all-winter theme:
01. Ricochets - Cold outside
02. TALK 1
03. Shining - Winterreise
04. Britta Persson - Winter tour
05. Svenson - In the snow
06. Weeping Willows - Christmas in prison
07. TALK 2
08. The Tiny - No money (for X-mas)
09. Kompjotr Eplektrika - Blikktztunddonner
10. The Knife - Reindeer
11. TALK 3
12. Hello Saferide - iPod X-mas
13. January Jaunt - Stuck in glaziers
14. Darkthrone - Too old, too cold
15. TALK 4
16. Sällskapet - Nordlicht
17. E.S.T. - Strange place for snow
18. Sort Mel - Det grønne flesket
19. Notre Dame - A scrooge tale
20. TALK 5
21. Kristofer Åström & Hidden Truck - Winter moment
22. Syster Lycklig - Bilden till snöstorm
23. The Book of Daniel - 3rd of December
24. TALK 6
25. Samuraj Cities - Cold feet
26. Amandine - Silver bells
27. Logcabin - View of frost
28. Silverbullit - Winter coat
29. TALK 7
30. In Flames - December flower
31. Viktor Sjöberg - On a winters day
32. The Bear Quartet - Blizzard
33. TALK 8
34. Brick - Gray day
35. Laakso - Merry Christmas
36. Strayfolk - Another year before the mast
37. TALK 9
Don't forget to vote for Sirius Blog Radio at the Plug Awards! Vote here: http://www.plugawards.com/general_vote.php
We are nominated under the category "Media (Obsessive) > Specialty Show Of The Year (Commercial Radio)".
José González, Jens Lekman and Loney, Dear are all nominated for NPR's All Songs Considered top albums of the year: http://www.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?id=833977 Loney, Dear is also brought up in this piece on new music trends spotlighting artists from Canada and Sweden.
Jóhann Jóhannsson - And in the endless pause there came the sound of bees 
mattg | Wed, Aug 25th, 2010 17:00:26