Geir Sundstøl - St​.​ Hanshaugen Steel (October 1, 2021 Hubro Music)

After appearing on more than 400 albums as a sideman and session player, multifaceted guitarist and instrument collector Geir Sundstøl gave us a trilogy of his, long awaited, own compositions. Now he is back, with a follow-up to Norwegian Grammy-/Spellemannpris- winning album Brødløs.

St.Hanshaugen Steel offers an extraordinarily wide range of genre references, and takes us further into Sundstøl’s original and distinctive soundscapes. With clear cinematic features, Sundstøl displays an ever impressing variety of instruments, sliding from the deep and rough bass harmonica to the sharp, circus-like marxophone. In between, multiple layers of glimmering steel. Guest appearances by he angelic Sølvguttene boys’ choir bring utter goose bumps, while other parts of St.Hanshaugen Steel might induce the darker chills of Nordic Noir.

The album St.Hanshaugen Steel is an homage to the factory bearing the same name. The steel factory, founded by the somewhat evasive Jebsen Brothers, was in operation between 1890 and 1969, and was located on St.Hanshaugen in Oslo, which now is a highly popular residential area, and Sundstøl’s own stomping ground.

But rather than the chimes of industry, St.Hanshaugen Steel pays attention to the nuts and bolts that give rise to the whole machine. The title may, of course, also be a reference to Geir Sundstøl’s reputable broad spectrum-treatment of the pedal steel guitar.

While the sound of St.Hanshaugen Steel shares points of continuity with earlier Sundstøl Hubro releases Furulund (2015), Langen Ro (2016) and Brødløs (2018), there are some important departures. A new palette of sound-making devices, from Sundstøl’s hording of synthesizers, has made its quite audible mark.

«Being born in the late sixties, vocoders, Simmons synth drums, and synths in general, sound very modern to me.» Hours of exploration and studies of this “modernity” shine through this otherwise organic music, as does the analog modification of familiar sounds:

«Initially, it startet out as a technical project. I wanted to explore the possibilities of recording pedal steel onto analog tape, at 30 ips, and then slowing it down to 15 ips. Exactly an octave below. There are still traces of that experiment on the album (tracks Smet and Våg), but the exploration turned into songs.»

Another experiment developed into the eclectic track Hoven:

«I fiddled with the pitch controller on my raga box. It slowly evolved into a strange melody. It was still a Hindu melody, but when we added the church-like bass lines and the boys’ choir, it morphed into a multi-religious song.»

Like his first and third album (the sec0ond was recorded at St.Jakob church in Oslo), Sundstøl made the St.Hanshaugen Steel at home, in his Studio Intim. Once again calling upon some of his favourite musical brothers in arms; drummer and percussionist Erland Dahlen, bass players Mats Eilertsen and Jo Berger Myhre, and pianist/keyboardist David Wallumrød.

Although Sundstøl himself handles a vast variety of sometimes “unusual” instruments  - he is indeed a collector as well as a composer and musician - the presence of these “usual suspects” is crucial to achieve the Sundstøl musical universe. Erland Dahlen is also often by Sundstøl’s side at live performances. A Duo Extraordinaire.

A unique voice, yet new to this particular universe, is Arve Henriksen, who leaves his personal mark on the opening track, Våg. «I had admired Arve’s lyrical expression for years, and finally I mustered up the confidence to ask him to participate.» Initially, the trumpeter was asked to play on the outro of Våg, but he «got carried away, and added 10 tracks of trumpet and horn. We recorded Våg, thinking half-speed pedal steel, upright bass and 80’s Simmons Drums would be the core of the song. It came out a little more than that.”

Sundstøl describes the further tracks on St.Hanshaugen Steel:

“Lyssky” draws inspiration from spooky British sci-fi as well as pompous, white wig-wearing composers. David takes us on a trembling journey with his Arp synth.

KA is Indian Shankar- and National guitar-Blues. Handheld bells, analogue synths and Norway’s most beloved traditional boys’ choir, Sølvguttene. The thought of their singing in my living room still fills me with awe.

Kløpper: Mats (Eilertsen) sent me a bass line, without any instruction. I found it especially tricky to add the Mini Pops drum machine. Certainly a backwards way of doing things, but valuable. The melodica solo is an homage to the late Augustus Pablo. Pedal steel and National guitar on a bed of dub beats. My Bermuda Triangle.

Hoven: It’s got ethereal organ, Christian church-like bass over a twisted Hindu beat. I play the usual National- and pedal steel guitar, and to top it off, we added the Sølvguttene boys’ choir,. A ‘multi-culti’ song if there ever was one, with a spiritual twist.

Smet: This is quite an eerie mix of cold DX7 synth, electric insects running around Erland’s snare drum, upright bass and Parisian toy pianos. It bears traces of the mentioned technical experiment; recording steel at high speed and then slowing it down.

Omsorg: I don’t write music - I play, make mistakes that sound good, and then try to create something out of that. This track has guitar-o-phone, optigan, steel, national guitar, organ and an upright bass that sounds like an old motor boat. The bass function lies in the harmonica. And the title translates to “care”.

Pøs: 80’s vocoder and Shankar guitar paired with the Wurlitzer Side Man, the world’s first drum machine. This is probably the only track that bears any resemblance to industrial sounds. It has a somewhat old fashioned melody line, like something the great Cornelis Vreeswijk would have sung about a dad working at the factory.

For me, melody is the key. If there’s no melody, or if the melody doesn’t add up, I don’t get it.» 

1. Våg 05:11

2. Lyssky

3. Ka

4. Kløpper

5. Hoven

6. Smet

7. Omsorg

8. Pøs

Musicians:

Erland Dahlen: drums, drum machine, steel drum, log drum, marching toms, xylophone, dulcimer, musical saw, Schulmerich handbells, waterphone, electric insects, blossom bells and triangle.

David Wallumrød: Minimoog, Prophet 5, Arp Pro Soloist, Hohner clavinet and Juno 6.

Mats Eilertsen: acoustic bass and organ.

Jo Berger Myhre: acoustic and electric bass.

Arve Henriksen: trumpet and vocals.

Sølvguttene: boys’ choir vocals.

Geir Sundstøl: pedal steel, National duolian, Shankar guitar, six string bass, Yamaha CS-20, optigan, harmonica, bass harmonica, cümbüs, guitar banjo, mandolin, Prime Time loops, Yamaha DX7, Logan String Melody, melodica, tabla and drum machines, Michelsonne toy piano, marxophone, guitarophone, Simmons SDS8, concert harp, Juno 6, cither, and Roland SVC 350 vocoder.

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Ståle Storløkken - Ghost Caravan (April 30, 2021 Hubro Music)

The venerable composer and keyboardist Ståle Storløkken follows up his previous Hubro release (and solo debut recording), The Haze of Sleeplessness, with a second solo album performed entirely on pipe organ and recorded at Steinkjer Church by Stian Westerhus.

While the Norwegian Grammy-nominated 'The Haze of Sleeplessness' used a whole keyboard-museum’s worth of antique synths and contemporary digital software to create its vast array of sounds, everything on ‘Ghost Caravan’ is the product of one organ’s pedals, pipes and sonic plumbing.

1. Cloudland I

2. First Sphere

3. Cloudland II

4. Second Sphere

5. Cloudland III

6. Ghost Caravan

7. Cloudland IV

8. Third Sphere

9. Drifting On Wasteland Ocean

10. Fourth Sphere

Ståle Storløkken - Church Organ

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Trond Kallevåg - Fengselsfugl (April 2021 Hubro Music)

Trond Kallevåg’s “Fengselsfugl” (prison bird in english) might well be the soundtrack of the prison-movie that director Wim Wenders never made, closely related to the musical landscapes of Ry Cooder and Bill Frisell. Once again joined by fellow Hubro-artist, the great Geir Sundstøl.

Old Norwegian prison ballads and years of work with inmates in Oslo Prison are a few ingredients the young Norwegian guitarist and composer Trond Kallevåg has put in his distinct lyrical and instrumental guitar-based sound of his upcoming album “Fengselsfugl” (Hubro). Instrumental front porch picking, folk, experimental lyrical soundscapes and field recordings combined with non traditional instruments such as musical glass and saw are some of the ingredients that make up the musical stew of Trond's cinematic and somehow familiar melodic compositions. Some may call it «cinematic nordicana».

“Fengselsfugl” is the long-awaited follow-up to his critically acclaimed album and Hubro debut “Bedehus & Hawaii” (Prayer house and Hawaii) from 2019 which was inspired by his deeply religious grandparents and their strange prayer house music that according to Trond sounded a bit like Hawaiian guitar-music or slack key. Both albums follow an artistic concept that is based upon his encounters with environments that stand next to the established. “Bedehus & Hawaii” was highlighted as one of the 15 best jazz albums in 2019 by Bandcamp - one of the world's largest websites for selling music: "Kallevåg has created one of the most gorgeous recordings to hit the shelves in 2019!"…"The contemplative release from Trond Kallevåg is a deep dive into serenity, where melodic improvisations melt into indistinguishable shapes and take on the logic of dreams." He has also by numerous reviewers been compared to guitarists like Ry Cooder and Bill Frisell. "Bedehus & Hawaii" locates Trond Kallevag Hansen at the right height on the heels of Ry Cooder and Bill Frisell." - Jazzaroundmag.

Trond is originally from the small rain-filled west coast town of Haugesund which he thinks has inspired his distinct lyrical sound. "For me personally, I think my music is very much inspried by my home town. I think it has something to do with the rain, the coastal landskape and the people living there, which conveys a kind of somber mood. My music also has that somberness, I prefer the sound, melodies and form over individual virtuosity.»

As with the previous record, Trond composed the music and mixed the record himself, which is a big part of his creative work. The recording was also this time recorded in three days in Studio Intim which is owned by the legendary Norwegian guitar player, and fellow Hubro-artist, Geir Sundstøl. On both albums Geir has contributed with his sublime steel guitar playing that perfectly matches Kallevåg's obvious affection for atmospheric film music and broadside ballads. In the sextet you also find one of Scandinavia’s foremost keyboardist David Wallumrød who tastefully complements the lyrical songs.

Trond tries to convey something personal through his music. While composing “Fengselsfugl” Trond wanted to draw inspiration from his many years of work with inmates inside Oslo Prison.

"There is a strange and interesting mood inside Oslo Prison. Getting inside the prison walls is like entering an unfamiliar world yet only separated by a dozen inch thick concrete wall. The inmates told me stories and gave me insight into their innermost feelings. Feelings that we all share as human beings. But of course, a few times also nasty and bad stuff.”

«Inside Oslo Prison I composed a lot of the music for the record. As on my previous album, "Bedehus & Hawaii", I wanted to portray self-experienced moods in my encounter with societies next to the “normal” and established. There are also several musical similarities between the prayer house music and the old prison songs, which makes "Fengselsfugl" a natural sequel to "Bedehus & Hawaii.”

He examined the prison songs or broadside ballads written by some famous Norwegian prison birds from the 1800-s who were national celebrities in their time. A broadside (also known as a broadsheet) is a single sheet of inexpensive paper printed on one side, often with a ballad, rhyme, news and sometimes with woodcut illustrations. They were one of the most common forms of printed material between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly in Britain, Ireland and North America. They were also popular in Norway. They were often about famous people, stories and legends and often served as the social media of the time and often "Fake News". The famous prison birds of Norway served the entire Norwegian people with self-composed ballads, they created myths about their heroic and exciting lives. Many of the titles on the record are the same as some of the prison broadside ballads.

Trond uses his guitar as a tool for conveying his musical ideas that often has a strong melodic foundation and storytelling quality to them but still open enough for his fellow musicians to express themselves effortlessly. Everything seems to fall quite naturally into place, sounding intimately poised and at home with itself. “I wanted the musicians to express themselves without feeling limited by the music, but I also wanted to tell stories and have a cinematic quality”, he says.

The music draws in expressions from folk music, American folk / blues where one can mention Ry Cooder and the eccentric composer and folk musician Kenneth Sivertsen from his home town. Hawaiian Slack Key tradition inspired by Joseph Spence and Ray Kane. In addition to classical music and modern improvisation, in combination with electroacoustic musical directions inspired by Arne Nordheim and Helge Sten, among others. 

1. Til fengselet jeg vandrer 05:01

2. Amerikabåten 03:50

3. Brevet 04:16

4. Desember 04:51

5. Sentralen 02:10

6. Cowboy og Indianer 04:39

7. Porten 02:15

8. Bodskirken 03:07

9. Levnedsløp 03:10

10. Fengselsfugl 07:27

Trond Kallevåg: acoustic and electric guitar, electronics and field recordings

Adrian Løseth Waade: violin

Geir Sundstøl: electric guitar, pedal steel and harmonica

David Wallumrød: upright piano, Wurlitzer, Arp Solus, Clavinet, Minimoog og Logan Strings

Alexander Hoholm: double bass

Ivar Myrset Asheim: drums, chimes, percussion, musical saw and glass

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Frode Haltli - Avant Folk (HUBRO MUSIC April 2018)

The opening track of ‘Avant Folk’ is like a dream of what contemporary experimental folk-meets-jazz-meets-chamber-music might be. Composed by Frode Haltli, ‘Hug’ begins with a galumphing off-centre rhythm that could be an accompaniment to elephants waltzing before the wheezing bellows-breath of Haltli’s accordion creates delightfully airy whispers of noise that drift across the other instruments like wisps of cloud across the sky.

Then we get the entry of the theme, a compulsive Nordic ear-worm folk melody led by Hardanger fiddle and violin that’s half woozy sea-shanty and half universal pan-African groove, backed up by shuffle-beat drumming like Ed Blackwell with Ornette Coleman. As if that wasn’t enough for one tune already, the music continues to evolve, with a beautifully poised improvised solo on trumpet by Hildegunn Øiseth that sounds so perfect it should really win some kind of award on its own. The groove slows down, the elephant waltz returns to form a satisfyingly symmetrical conclusion and the music gradually resolves into silence, bringing to an end what has been seven and a half minutes of continuous invention. It’s quite a performance, and quite a band, the dectet of expert players covering enough instruments between them to simulate the tonal breadth of a full orchestra while retaining the humble, home-made aesthetic of a traditional folk ensemble, matching compositional sophistication and individual virtuosity with collective empathy and hard-won grace.

Elsewhere, as the album develops, the folk references expand to include echoes of west African desert blues, east European gypsy swing, Armenian double-reed laments and lugubrious Nordic village knees-ups on a range of material partly adapted from traditional hymn-tunes and songs from Norway and the Faroe islands to form a kind of north Atlantic gumbo. But ‘Avant Folk’ never feels like a slapdash fusion of different elements mashed together without regard for the integrity of the whole. Importantly, the band always sounds like a proper band, as fleet-footed as any improvisational jazz ensemble, and able to hurdle with ease the normal generic divides separating one type of music from another. By the time the listener reaches the end of the album’s final track, ’Neid’ – another Frode Haltli composition, like the opening ‘Hug’ – ‘Avant Folk’ has effectively created its own genre, a pleasingly congruent collection of stylistic traits that sounds like nothing so much as itself. All the music, whether composed by Frode Haltli or adapted from antique sources, is arranged jointly by Haltli and the band members.

So where did ‘Avant Folk’ come from and why does it sound so good? For a start, Frode Haltli (born 1975, Norway) is, like many of the ensemble’s star players, a classically-trained virtuoso who from an early age (he began the accordion at seven) has been well used to working between different forms of music, from traditional folk to the avant-garde, and to collaborating with players from all sorts of backgrounds. Haltli also composes, both on his own and with Maja S.K.Ratkje (his co-producer on ‘Avant Folk’, who is responsible for the album’s editing and mixing), and has developed very strong links with fellow musicians and composers both within Norway and internationally, once again working across the normal boundaries demarcating one musical form from another, recording the complete accordion works of Arne Nordheim, for example, but also appearing with the various groups of jazz saxophonist Trygve Seim. His debut recording for ECM, ‘Looking On Darkness’ was released in 2002, followed by ‘Passing Images’ from 2007, (with trumpeter Arve Henriksen, violist Garth Knox and Maja S.K. Ratkje on vocals), and ‘Air’ (2016), a recording of music for accordion and strings by Hans Abrahamsen and Bent Sorensen with the Arditti Quartet and the Trondheim Soloists. His debut release for Hubro, ‘Vagabonde Blu’ (2014), is a live solo recording featuring works by Salvatore Sciarrino, Aldo Clementi and Arne Nordheim. As if any further exemplars of Frode Haltli’s customary melding of the classical repertoire with folk, jazz and beyond were needed, we can also note his current duo with the Norwegian violinist Gjermund Larsen; The Snowflake Trio (with Irish flautist Nulala Kennedy and Norwegian fiddler Vegar Vardal); and a trio with another fiddler, Ragnhild Furebotten, and the Swedish nyckelharpist Emilia Amper.

The breadth of Frode Haltli’s interests is not unusual in Norwegian music and this is paralleled by a number of his collaborators on ‘Avant Folk’, many of whom – like the inspirational fiddler Erlend Apneseth (a regular Hubro artist in a number of settings) or the keyboardist Stale Storlokken (of Supersilent and Motorpsycho, among others) enjoy similarly wide-ranging careers that weave in and out of numerous musical styles and settings. But the last word on ‘Avant Folk’ has to be the music. The album ends on the suitably epic note of Haltli’s ‘Neid’, an original composition that sounds absolutely timeless, matching a maelstrom of squeaky-gate post-serialist glissandi with an ancient-sounding dirge-like refrain. Haltli’s own stunningly adept accordion solo, its intensely emotional voicings heard against a splashy biscuit tin-lid style percussive backdrop, then gives way to the stately pairing of gently-stepping double-bass and country-roots electric guitar that in turn heads eastwards towards the Balkans before ending up back home in the northlands again, the thirteen minute performance superbly resolving itself in a final sequence of transcendent hymn-like solemnity. Wow.

Frode Haltli – accordion

Erlend Apneseth – Hardanger fiddles

Hans P. Kjorstad – violin

Rolf-Erik Nystrøm – saxophones

Hildegunn Øiseth – trumpet, goat horn and vocals

Ståle Storløkken – harmonium and synthesizers

Juhani Silvola – guitars and electronics

Oddrun Lilja Jonsdottir – guitar and vocals

Fredrik Luhr Dietrichson – double bass

Siv Øyunn Kjenstad – drums and vocals

A

Kingo

Trio

Hug

B

Gråtar'n

Neid

Splashgirl - Sixth Sense (HUBRO MUSIC 2018)

Immersive electro-acoustic trio Splashgirl (Andreas Stensland Lowe, keyboards; Jo Berger Myhre, bass/guitar/electronics; Andreas Lonmo Knudsrod, drums/percussion) was the first act to sign to the Hubro label, with the group’s second album as a unit, ‘Arbor’, marking the label’s debut in 2009. Since then, each subsequent release has deepened and strengthened the developing Splashgirl sound, from ‘Pressure’ (2011) and ‘’Field Day Rituals’ (2013) to ‘Hibernation’ (2015).

With the arrival of a sixth album, which continues the band’s relationship with the inspirational Seattle-based engineer/musician Randall Dunn, famed for his work with Earth and Sunn O))), it’s evident that Splashgirl has reached the end of one span of creativity and begun to enter another, ascending to a whole new level. For ’Sixth Sense’ is a breakthrough project characterised by a radical freedom of approach to composition and performance. At times, the results can seem closer to the sculptural manipulation of pure sound than to the workaday norms of more conventional music-making. The wonderfully immanent, in-your-face sonic density of the album’s mile-wide dynamic range also represents a remarkably successful attempt to capture the extremes of the audio spectrum. In short, ‘Sixth Sense’ sounds immense.

But if Splashgirl’s journey from piano, bass and drums post-jazz trio to out-there experimentalists might seem all but complete, the delicate interplay of acoustic instruments continues to perform a vital role. It’s an interplay that opens and closes ’Sixth Sense’, whose circular structure departs from, and returns to, a predominantly acoustic sound-world. Minimalistic plinky-plonk piano, thrumming double bass and splashy drums and cymbals become the jumping-off points for further sonic adventures to be explored through both live improvisation and post-production treatments, with any musical statement remaining essentially provisional until finally fixed – caught in the net – by the editing process. These signature sounds and their electronic manipulations are also to be heard alongside a myriad of musical influences, from musique concrete and leftfield post-rock to cinematic echoes of all sorts of things: ‘Blade Runner’-like retro-futurism, say; the pre-digital electric-fusion of ‘Black Market’-era Weather Report; synth-driven Tangerine Dream-style Krautrock. The result is a thrilling suite of seven separate pieces that can be listened to either incrementally or as one long-form work where the sheer density of sound and gradual accretion of meaning seems to deepen the longer it goes on, achieving by the end a kind of hard-won epic grandeur that is very impressive, moving even. The range of Splashgirl’s influences and reference points, and the tastefulness with which they have been chosen and employed, also serve to reinforce the sense that there’s a real creative intelligence at work here, and that the listener can relax with confidence into whatever new journey they are being taken on. There might be no clear destination in view. But it will definitely be interesting.

‘Sixth Sense’ was partly recorded in Iceland by Randall Dunn, at the same 2015 sessions that produced ‘Hibernation’, and partly by Splashgirl at the trio’s self-built studio in Oslo, in March, 2017. The album was mixed by Johnny Skalleberg at Amper Tone, Oslo, and mastered by Espen Høydalsvik at Tinnitus Mastering, Oslo.

Slagr - Dirr (HUBRO MUSIC 2018)

The meditative music of Slagr – whose latest album, ‘DIRR’, was recorded and mixed by Andreas Mjøs of Jaga Jazzist, the producer of two previous Slagr albums – provides a portal for the imagination to roam free: a magical sound-world whose simple melodies and drones combine with an audio-palette of austere yet beautiful instrumental textures to provoke an infinite sense of openness capable of conveying a myriad of meanings.

The instruments themselves – Hardanger fiddle, cello, vibraphone and glass harmonica – imply a measure of the music’s reach, from the folk tradition to renaissance polyphony to the contemporary avant-garde. It’s an aesthetic where the humble, home-spun legacy of Nordic fiddle tunes and church music meets the reticent yet sensuous minimalism of Morton Feldman amid a mysterious liminal soundscape where what is heard sometimes seems like it’s on the very edge of consciousness, as if one is half awake and half in dreams, the music half there and half not.

While it may be reductive to see Slagr’s music as quintessentially northern or Nordic, it does fit the Danish artist Asger Jorn’s conception of the north as “the dream centre of Europe”. This is music that drifts along like clouds, changing shape almost imperceptively as it goes. It also requires very careful attention from the listener, as one adapts one’s ears to a microscopic rate of change where the slow drag of a horsehair bow across bare strings can suggest the harmonic flutter of a Mongolian throat singer’s music of the spheres, and where the disturbance of air around the lip of a glass half-filled with water creates a spectral hum that seems to become part of the very atmosphere, like sonic weather.

But while the music of this very environmentally-aware trio (who in 2016 contributed to ‘Melting’, Amund Sjølie Sveen’s theatrical performance piece on the theme of global warming), inevitably carries strong associations of the natural world – one thinks, say, of a vast forest or tundra landscape whose open spaces represent a logical imaginative response to the wide open spaces of the music itself – there are important cultural associations too, not least with cinema and the filmic.

On the present album’s wonderfully pliant opening track, aur, Amund Sjølie Sveen’s glass harmonica drones can suggest the distressed piano-shimmers of Roy Budd’s introductory theme to the cult thriller ‘Get Carter’, or John Barry’s iconic cimbalon-strings on ‘The Ipcress File’, together with their well-attested mutual influence on the creepy Theremin opening to Portishead’s ‘Glory Box’. Indeed, one of the great attractions of Slagr’s imaginative open-ness is the potential it holds for hearing allusive echoes of all sorts of things, from sleigh bells to seances. And the idea of a seance – the conjuring up of a particular spirit or atmosphere – might be a relevant reference point. There is an inescapable sense of the uncanny here, a Gothic evocation of rituals in the dark that is very effective whether the music is listened to attentively or used as a kind of subtle ambient ectoplasm floating in the background.

‘DIRR’, while maintaining a satisfying aesthetic unity that allows the album to be perceived as a thematic whole, like a suite or a cycle of related pieces, is also remarkably various. The interweaving of the respective instruments’ at times strikingly similar-sounding timbres, the wide range of noises each instrument makes, and the constant alteration or exchange between the ‘lead’ voice or voices from track to track creates a continual sense of adventure and surprise that is very appealing. We may not know what the music of Slagr is about – if music can be said to be ‘about’ anything – but it conveys a powerful atmospheric presence, a sort of aural spirit-photograph or record of the spaces – both internal and external – the music seems to move you through as it plays.

1 Aur 2:46

2 Strimesong 4:43

3 Flimmer 6:07

4 Hel 7:01

5 Varle 4:46

6 Eir 3:07

7 September 4:15

8 Øyr 2:40

Cello – Katrine Schiøtt

Design – Aslak Gurholt*, Thomas Nordby, Yokoland

Hardingfele [Hardanger Fiddle] – Anne Hytta

Mastered By – Morgan Nicolaysen

Mixed By – Andreas Mjøs

Music By [All Music By] – Anne Hytta, Slagr

Photography By [Photo] – Amund Sjølie Sveen

Producer [Produced By] – Slagr

Recorded By – Andreas Mjøs, Espen Høydalsvik

Vibraphone, Performer [Tuned Glasses] – Amund Sjølie Sveen

Tour:

07. March – Oslo, Nynorskens hus

08. March – Notodden

14. March – Trondheim

SkyDive Trio- Sun Sparkle (HUBRO MUSIC 2018)

Olavi Louhivuori is a wonderful, sparkling Finnish drummer and percussionist with high energy and a real, positive vibe to his playing, inviting and challenging his fellow musicians to stretch for the utmost of creativity and musicality.

He has studied drums and composition at the Sibelius Academy. He has received the “Young Nordic Jazz Group” award three times with three different bands: the Joona Toivanen Trio, the Ilmilekki Quartet and the Sun Trio.

Olavi has played and toured extensively with the polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko was well as Anthony Braxton, Marilyn Crispell, Susanne Abbuehl, Kenny Wheeler and. He has releases several album with his own bands and under his own name and received the Finnish Emma Award for Oddarang in 2007.

Olavi also composed a drum-concerto for a full symphony orchestra with himself as a featured soloist.

Thomas T Dahl, guitar

Olavi Louhivuori, drums

Mats Eilertsen, bass

Tour

7. Feb Tromsø Jazzklubb, Norway

8. Feb Hamar Jazzklubb, Norway

9. Feb AdLib Jazzklubb, Bodø, Norway

25. May Nattjazz, Bergen, Norway

Guitarist Thomas T. Dahl studied at the Trondheim Conservatory of Music and made his breakthrough with the prize-winning band Krøyt, featuring vocalist Kristin Asbjørnsen. He has an amazing instrumental capacity, equally at home in various styles and genres, chordal structures, sonic cinematic landscapes and more modern pop/rock-oriented projects really using the full potential of his guitar, the rich full string sound combined with tasty drops of electronic treatments. He writes beautiful, intriguing compositions, featured on Sun Moee.

Thomas has released albums with the band BMX with Per Jørgensen, Dingobats with Eirik Hegdal, and has collaborated with Erlend Skomsvoll, Jon Balke, Hilmar Jensson, Nils-Olav Johansen, Jim Beard, John Inderberg and produced Highasakites debut album. He is also associate professor at the Griegacademy in Bergen.

Mats Eilertsen, from Trondheim, Norway, has a special warm and lyrical way of treating the bass, being steady and experimental at the same time, bringing it all together and yet showing openness, willingness, and constantly searching for new sounds.

He is a very active and productive musician, a and has over the years appeared on albums by ECM-associated bands and artists like Tord Gustavsen Ensemble, the Source, Wolfert Brederode Quartet, and Parish, as well as Håkon Kornstad Trio, Food with UK saxophonist Iain Ballamy, Jacob Young Band, Solveig Slettahjell’s Slow Motion Orchestra and Håvard Wiik Trio.

He has released several albums in his own name on the Hubro-label and also made a commissioned work, Rubicon, for a 7-piece ensemble at the VossaJazz-festival in 2014.

He has also had the opportunity of performing with international stars such as Pat Metheney, Joshua Redman, Lee Konitz, Bobo Stenson, Kenny Wheeler, Tomasz Stanko, and participated on nearly 100 albums by now.

Olavi Louhivuori is a wonderful, sparkling Finnish drummer and percussionist with high energy and a real, positive vibe to his playing, inviting and challenging his fellow musicians to stretch for the utmost of creativity and musicality.

He has studied drums and composition at the Sibelius Academy. He has received the “Young Nordic Jazz Group” award three times with three different bands: the Joona Toivanen Trio, the Ilmilekki Quartet and the Sun Trio.

Olavi has played and toured extensively with the polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko was well as Anthony Braxton, Marilyn Crispell, Susanne Abbuehl, Kenny Wheeler and. He has releases several album with his own bands and under his own name and received the Finnish Emma Award for Oddarang in 2007.

Olavi also composed a drum-concerto for a full symphony orchestra with himself as a featured soloist.

Erland Dahlen - Clocks (HUBRO MUSIC 2017)

Epic cinematic soundscapes from the drummer’s drummer

Erland Dahlen’s ‘Clocks’ presents the listener with a series of epic cinematic soundscapes. Although there is no actual film to illustrate, the imaginative power and suggestive resonance of Dahlen’s compositions easily stand comparison with the work of leading film composers. As Dahlen – whose previous album, ‘Blossom Bells’, was nominated for a Spellemannspris, the Norwegian ‘Grammy’ – is a drummer, one might first think of Antonio Sanchez’s percussive score for ‘Birdman’, say, but ‘Clocks’ employs such a broad range of sound-sources and musical reference-points that it’s probably closer to the atmospheric film-work of Tangerine Dream or Ryuichi Sakamoto. Police drummer Stewart Copeland’s music for ‘Rumblefish’ and the contributions to ‘Apocalypse Now’ by the Grateful Dead’s Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann come to mind, too.

Rock and post-rock references are relevant, for Dahlen appears completely unapologetic about adding an echo-laden Eighties drum-thump, or a buzz-saw industrial guitar-drone alongside the avant-garde found-sounds one might associate with Harry Partch hub-caps, gongs or bells. In ‘Clocks’, what could be regarded as the usual drummer’s strategy of layering one percussive source on top of another is superseded by a complex structural amalgam of melody and rhythm where the textural detail becomes so dense that it’s impossible to tell where one leaves off and the other begins. The result is a collection of moodily anthemic, often dark-hued pieces that in a noirish thriller might be used to accompany a hit or a heist. As stand-alone music, they function perfectly as edgily ambient soundscapes with an epic widescreen feel.

The range of instruments Dahlen employs is also a world away from the usual percussionist’s standbys. Here, the ethereal, eerie sound of a musical saw or a Mellotron, or a wailing wordless vocal, provides the fragile melodic figure to set against a thick, rhythmic ground provided by a palimpsest of vintage drum-sounds, their scuffed acoustic patina further distressed by electronic processing. Indeed, Dahlen’s list of instruments for the album includes, as well as antique drums from the 1930s, various gongs, xylophones, bells, bowed instruments and strings as well as drone-boxes and electronics, plus the workaday sounds of knives and forks or marbles rolling on a plate. “Before I went into the studio to make this album I bought some Cymbells, a Mellotron, several large sheets of metal and a variety of drum machines and stringed instruments”, Dahlen recalls with enthusiasm, like a chef talking about assembling ingredients for the preparation of that evening’s menu. “It’s incredibly inspiring to explore new instruments and find new sounds.”

The variety of Dahlen’s sound-making sources is paralled by the vast range of his musical experience with different bands and projects. His discography runs to over 300 albums, plus live work with leading Norwegian artists such as Xploding Plastix, Nils Petter Molvaer, Stian Westerhus, Eivind Aarset, Hannah Hukkelberg and Anja Garbarek, together with guest appearances with John-Paul Jones and Mike Patton, among many others. He was also the drummer with the band Madrugada for a number of years. His ex-colleagues in Xploding Plastix have roles to play in ‘Clocks’: Jens Petter Nilsen mixed the album, and Hallvard W. Hagen remixed the track ‘Lizard’.

As well as writing and performing everything on ‘Clocks’ himself, Erland Dahlen also acted as the album’s producer. The recording was mastered by Helge Sten at Audio Virus Lab.

1. Clocks 7:50

2. Glas 4:13

3. Ship 7:41

4. Bear 7:46

5. Lizard 4:24

6. Wood 7:07

Drums [WFL Drums From The 30s], Cymbal [Cymbells], Bells [Blossom Bells], Bells [Hand Bells], Saw [Musical Saw], Xylophone, Slit Drum [Log Drum], Gong [Gongs], Percussion [Marbles On Metal Plates], Frame Drum, Steel Drums [Steeldrum], Tom Tom [Marching Tom], Performer [Knifes And Forks], Electronics, Drum Machine [Drum Machines], Musical Box [Droneboxes], Vocals [Vocal], Mellotron, Keyboards [Keys], Guitar [Guitars], Performer [Sticks/Mallets/Bow On String Instruments] – Erland Dahlen

1982 - Chromola (HUBRO MUSIC 2017)

There are trios, and there are trios: ‘power’ trios, ‘feel’ trios, piano, bass and drums trios. What’s especially distinctive about 1982 – the trio of Nils Økland, Sigbjørn Apeland and Øyvind Skarbø – apart from the unusual instrumentation of violin or Hardanger fiddle, harmonium and drums, is the empathy displayed by the group as a whole; the hyper-sensitivity with which each individual member appears to respond to the contributions of the others in the pursuit of a collective goal, however obscure or unknowable that goal might be.  Such extreme alertness to subtle changes of mood and nuance, and to the evolving sound-world of each, totally improvised, performance is rare in music of any type. 1982 have made it their signature.  

And because 1982 have so singularly created their own identity and sound, they can do anything they like. Normal conventions of style and genre, format and duration cease to matter: it is all 1982 music, anchored in the strong personalities of the three players and their respect for the primacy of the group as an entity in itself. Thus they can record as a trio – as on the group’s first two albums, ‘1982’ (from 2009) and ‘Pintura’ (their Hubro debut, from 2011) –  or with guests, as in the acclaimed ’1982 + BJ Cole’ (from 2012), and the collaboration with composer Stian Omenås and a quintet of wind players for ‘1982: A/B’ (from 2014). There was also the unique ‘message in a bottle’ intervention of ‘The Bottlemail Project’, begun in 2011, whereby 15 copies of a new recording were ‘distributed’ via USB sticks enclosed in bottles and released into the open sea from Bergen and various worldwide locations.

The new album, ‘1982: Chromola’, as well as marking the group’s tenth anniversary, represents a return to the essential identity of the trio playing alone, without guests. Recorded at Sandviken church in Bergen on the day following an evening concert, the album uses material from both occasions, engineered once again by Davide Bertolini, who worked on the band’s four previous recordings. As an album it is remarkable for many things, but perhaps most notably for the role of Sigbjorn Apeland, who plays pipe organ on all buthu one of the seven tracks rather than harmonium, which features only in the closing, seventh, piece.

While one might have expected the use of the organ (or organs, for Sandviken has two resident instruments, both of which Apeland played) to create a more liturgical or contemplative feel to the overall sound, the effect is much closer to prog-rock than it is to the church. On the opening two pieces (titled, as is 1982’s custom, only by track number and duration), and intermittently elsewhere, Apeland’s ghostly wails, drones and ornamental flourishes may even carry echoes of early Pink Floyd, accentuated by drummer Skarbo’s occasional use of timpani-beaters, and heavy, unapologetically meaty pulse, or recall the proggish minimalism of Terry Riley and John Cale. Heard amidst the spacey sonic background of Apeland’s atmospheric burbling, squawky interjections and impassioned mini-cadenzas, together with Skarbo’s readiness to find a groove and stick to it, Nils Økland’s fiddling appears to take on a new, emphatically bluesy quality. At times, playing like a man possessed, his long, arabesque, Eastern-oriented lines can seem to go on and on, reaching peak after peak, as if to demonstrate his unequalled virtuosity as a soloist, whatever the musical setting.

Subsequent tracks return to what might seem a more conventionally experimental mode, before picking up the pace again a number of times. But what is perhaps most striking about ’1982: Chromola’, despite the variety of the music it contains, is that everything remains all of a piece. There’s a governing sense of intense exploration within self-imposed limits; of going further and further into a particular sonic palette whose colours derive from the individual instruments, the recording venue, and the countless combinations between them, and whose meanings deepen and deepen as the exploration continues. As improvised music goes, this is close to state-of-the-art.

1. 07:56 7:55

2. 06:19 6:19

3. 06:37 6:36

4. 07:00 6:59

5. 04:03 4:02

6. 04:45 4:45

7. 04:09 4:09

Stein Urheim - Strandebarm (2016) HUBRO MUSIC

present

Stein Urheim - Strandebarm (2016)

Norwegian release date: 18.03.2016

International release: 01.07.2016

On his third solo album for HUBRO, string magician Stein Urheim, based in Berlin, Bergen and Strandebarm, really gets serious about honing his complex expressive skills. His previous album garnered excellent reviews internationally, and has become a force to reckon with among listeners.

Urheim plays an impressive number of string instruments on the album, but we can also hear several tracks featuring vocals, harmonica, pocket cornet and tape experiments, while producer Jørgen Træen makes a contribution on modular synth. Urheim has had an interest in Norwegian folk music for a long time. Together with Benedicte Maurseth he won first prize in the “open class” category in the National Contest for Traditional Music in 2013, and on “Strandebarm” he interprets a Norwegian fiddle tune for the first time on an album.

In the course of his life as a musician Stein Urheim has gathered impressions and input from a musical world that knows no boundaries, and on this album he presents some of the most exceptional and exciting treasures he has discovered along the way – all filtered, naturally, through his distinctive musical temperament. This is strikingly personal music, which could most likely not have been made at any other time in history.

The tonal point of departure for the compositions on this record is reminiscent of French music of the early 1900s and American ragtime and standards of the 1920s and 30s. The soundscape combines acoustic and electronic elements to generate a compelling result. Urheim is thoughtful and meditative without being withdrawn or sombre.

“Strandebarm” was recorded in Strandebarm Church, not far from the house where Urheim has stayed for long periods of time in recent years. This space was chosen primarily because of its inspiring acoustics, and the music was recorded, as on the previous album, by sound technician Audun Strype. The recording was finalised and mixed at Duper Studio in Bergen by technician and producer Jørgen Træen, who also collaborated very successfully with Urheim on the previous album.

“Strandebarm” is Stein Urheim’s third release as a solo artist, and also his third release on the HUBRO label. He has also released three critically acclaimed duo albums on Bugge Wesseltoft’s Jazzland label, together with vocalist and instrumentalist Mari Kvien Brunvoll. Urheim has also been a member of Gabriel Fliflet’s band Åresong and HP Gundersen’s critically lauded drone band The Last Hurrah.

1. Water - Part 1 4:50

2. Strandebarm 9:38

3. Water - Part 2 4:13

4. Fjellbekken 9:18

5. Oh So Nice 3:28

6. Dragene Over Tempelhof 3:33

7. Berlin Blues 8:06

Design – Aslak Gurholt*, Thomas Nordby, Yokoland

Edited By [Editing], Mixed By [Mixing], Mastered By [Mastering] – Jørgen Træen

Edited By, Mastered By – Jørgen Træen (tracks: 6)

Engineer [Recording Engineer] – Audun Strype

Executive-Producer – Andreas Meland

Guitar [Guitars], Vocals, Flute [Flutes], Harmonica, Tambura [Slide Tamboura], Bouzouki [Fretless Bouzouki], Tambura [Turkish Tanbur], Mandolin, Zither [Langeleik], Banjo, Loops, Effects [Delay] – Stein Urheim

Liner Notes [English] – Stein Urheim

Mixed By – Stein Urheim (tracks: 6)

Photography By [Cover Photo] – Ragnar Urheim

Photography By [Photo Of Stein Urheim] – Morten Spaberg

Producer [Produced By] – Jørgen Træen, Stein Urheim

Recorded By – Audun Strype

Synth [Modular Synth], Effects – Jørgen Træen

Acoustic instruments and electric guitars recorded January 2015 in Strandebarm kyrkje.

Editing, mixing and mastering at Grotten/Duper Studio, Bergen, Norway, September/October 2015

Dragene over Tempelhof mixed in S(c)höneberg, Berlin October 2014, edited and mastered October 2015