Kim Hiorthøy is a Norwegian electronic musician, graphic designer, illustrator, filmmaker and writer. And I just love the CD designs he did for Rune Grammofon. Watch the slideshow above, for most of his work for Rune Grammofon.
wikipedia.org: "Rune Grammofon is a Norwegian record label founded in 1998 by Rune Kristoffersen. Rune Grammofon's reputation for lovingly issued electronic, jazz, and improv music has grown over the years with its artists being featured heavily in magazines such as The Wire.
The label is home to the widely respected improv group Supersilent as well as the solo work of its members including Deathprod and Arve Henriksen. A couple other notable releases are Shining, Susanna and the Magical Orchestra, Jono El Grande, Skyphone, Alog/Phonophani and Food.
In 2000, the label signed a distribution deal with ECM, which increased the label's audience considerably. This deal has come to an end early 2005. In November of 2003 the label celebrated its 30th release by issuing a set that included a two CD compilation and a book that displayed each of Kim Hiorthøy's highly praised digipak designs." Read on
A Rune Grammofon feature by German Radio Borderline:
insound.com: "Banhart's whole "freak folk" tag is gone, replaced with this classic, gorgeous rock album. Some songs are fragile and solipsistic, others have a pronounced tropicalia influence, and still others are wildly electric and epic."
wfmu.org: "New Wave of Finnish Heavy Metal in the house! That's the self-appointed phrase for the one and only Circle, making their return trip to Brian's show today! Of course, the thing with these Finns is: while they have been kicking out some seriously blistering rock as of late, they can also at the flip of a switch immerse listeners into deep, introspective Kraut-informed psychedelia, icy soundscapes punctuated by minimal piano, or anything else they might be feeling at the time." Listen here
dradio.de: "Gemeinsam mit Gisela Steinhauer wirft der Musikproduzent Andreas "Bär" Läsker einen Blick hinter die Kulisse der Musikbranche. Der 44-Jährige, der wegen seiner beeindruckenden Körpergröße den Beinamen "Bär" trägt, weiß, wovon er redet. Er ist der Entdecker und Manager der Stuttgarter HipHop-Formation "Die Fantastischen Vier". Der Mitbegründer des Labels "Four Music" hat aber auch andere Bands gemanagt wie "Fury in the Slaughterhouse" oder "Die Prinzen". Er gilt als eine der erfolgreichsten "Spürnasen" der deutschen Musikszene. Diese Szene hat er allerdings heftig geschockt: Denn seit kurzem ist der gebürtige Ludwigsburger Juror bei Deutschlands erfolgreichster, aber auch umstrittenster Castingshow, "Deutschland sucht den Superstar" ("DSDS")." Weiter
abc.net.au: "The Long Tail by Chris Anderson, looks at the economics of the internet age and how this is creating a new way of structuring business and re-shaping our world at the core.
As we have talked about before in By Design, the age of the mass market is coming to an end with the days of niche marketing already at our doorstop. Choice is the new buzzword. Hear The Long Tail update from the author himself, Chris Anderson." Listen here
reuters.com: "British band Radiohead cuts out the middleman by selling its new album on its website and asking fans to pay whatever they like for it.
As the music industry struggles to overcome declining sales, one band experiments with a new onlline business model. Radiohead is the first big band to let its fans name their price for a download of a new album." Watch the clip for more
npr.org: "Nowadays, all sorts of celebrities and public figures are taking on causes all over the world ... But when Paris Hilton goes to Rwanda or Jenna Bush writes a book on HIV, does it really do anything to change public awareness of these issues? Listen
wnyc.org: "The New York-based, Baltimore-raised quartet Animal Collective has everything a great art-rock ensemble needs: a hard-to-describe sound, strange stage names (see: “Panda Bear,” “Deakin”), and a tidal wave of critical acclaim. Members Noah Lennox and Josh Dibb join us to talk about their latest album, "Strawberry Jam." Listen here
The WIRE: "Trees Outside The Academy is a relaxed, organic record that charms without really trying, and perhaps the closest Moore will ever come to the lost Moby Grape album."
npr.org: "The singer, rapper, and producer known as M.I.A. released one of the most celebrated albums of 2005. Critics and fans were wildly enthusiastic over her blend of revolutionary rhetoric, exotic musical infusions and explosive club tracks. Two years later, the follow-up has arrived. It's called Kala, and it proves to be an even more adventurous effort." Listen to the review and 3 tracks
bbc: "Even by her own unsettling standards, however, her seventh album is disturbing, a collection of smudged and spectral laments that appear to have been written before the invention of penicillin." Read the whole review
"Loituma is a folk quartet based in Finland; it was formed at the Sibelius Academy of Music in Helsinki, where members attended the folk music department. They follow Finnish vocal and kantele traditions, producing quartet arrangements for both Finnish harp and a cappella vocals, their music ranging from the rousing to the haunting. Their first album, a self-titled effort, was released on the Sibelius Academy's own label, later being issued by Northside in the United States in modified form as Things of Beauty. They were proclaimed 1997 Band of the Year at the 1997 Kaustinen Folkmusic Festival"
"Automated Acoustics is the one-man-band of Lawrence Gill. I've been playing & recording music since I was 8, on my little Casio keyboard (do you smell cheese?). I now work & play with Mbira, Steelpan, Cello (bowed & plucked like a mini double bass), Autoharp, Violin, Guitar, Organ, Synthesizers, Drums, Percussion, Bass, Piano, Beatbox, 808, 909, Vocals."
The WIRE: "Little has been heard in the way of recorded material from Philip Quehenberger since his 2002 EP debut 'QBBQ'. Rather, he's made his reputation live, and there is certainly a raw, grainy, livewire feel to this, his riotously misshapen take on dance music. On the wonderfully titled 'Wives With Knives', its as if he has strewn tons of gravel across the dancefloor and encouraged a leatherbooted clientele to kick up some dust. These are heavy, dirty, manic affairs, the like of which would be permitted in no actual club, all workaholic drum machines and ever-shifting ryhthmical mosaics. 'Far Away Places' sounds like tractor engines running on acid for fuel, and it's only with the likes of 'Varad' that Quehenberger opens the skylight and lets in some phosphorescent, atmospheric touches."
npr.org: "Battles looks like a normal quartet, but there are subtle differences. A drummer and bassist sometimes plays guitar, but then there are two guys who play both guitars and keyboards, often at the same time, with a technique that involves tapping the strings of their fretboards with one hand while fingering their keyboards with the other. Then the group uses digital looping devices, so a player can record a guitar phrase, loop it back, and then play a different line over it. So suddenly four musicians become five, or six, or seven." Read on + 2 ful tracks
The eScholarship Editions collection includes almost 2000 books from academic presses on a range of topics, including art, science, history, music, religion, and fiction." Read on
"Truly monumental in scale, Cosmos is composed almost entirely of recordings of classical instruments, a process which Corona (aka Murcof)describes as "expanding the possibilities of acoustic instruments through electronics." It's a move away from the micro-programmed sound he helped to pioneer, and his seamless integration of these apparently opposed forms is almost unprecedented." Stream the whole CD
rothkamm.com: "FB03 (E Pluribus Unum) is the final installment of the FB01 trilogy, culminating in an epic of supermodern electronic music. Circuit-bending existing technology and reality, Rothkamm's radical "Critique of the Stereophonic Illusion" results in microscopic-level detail and a most intimate sound. Monophonic sound sources, coupled like DNA strands, are the building blocks. Binary rhythms, now at the forefront, result in frequency distributions closest to folk music. FB03 shows aspects of multiple time periods simultaneously as it architects the Great Evolution: from tiny granulations to dense drones." Stream the whole CD
Read Richard Cook's Epiphany, originally published in The Wire’s 20th anniversary issue, and published online in tribute to this former editor of The Wire, who died on 25 August 2007 of bowel and liver cancer. Read also a selection of his editorials.
Bullwackies All Stars
Jennifer Lara / Jackie Mitto & Sound Dimension
Lv Feat. Errol Bellot / Dandelion
Pablo Moses
Harry Mudie Meets King Tubby's
Native/Little Madness With Lee Perry
Lee Perry & The Upsetters
Richie Phoe
Bim Sherman
General Doggie & Tenor Saw
Chuck Turner / Professor Grizzly
Zion Train
Read all reviews here
12k.com: "This is the final work in the series of works using the cymbalon as source material. The process of working with this hammered stringed instrument for this series has been a "discussion" between the instrument and myself, an exploration of traditional playing, digital processing, and mixtures of both." Read on
12k.com: "Listening Garden was developed as a sonic alteration of two quiet indoor/outdoor tea spaces installed at the Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media in Yamaguchi, Japan in June of 2004. The audio installation was designed to heighten visitor's senses and alter the sonic space as they sat, read, or had quiet conversation amongst the trees." Read on
wnyc.org: "The New York-based, Baltimore-raised quartet Animal Collective has everything a great art-rock ensemble needs: a hard-to-describe sound, strange stage names (see: “Panda Bear,” “Deakin”), and a tidal wave of critical acclaim. Members Noah Lennox and Josh Dibb join us to talk about their latest album, "Strawberry Jam." 
npr.org: "The singer, rapper, and producer known as M.I.A. released one of the most celebrated albums of 2005. Critics and fans were wildly enthusiastic over her blend of revolutionary rhetoric, exotic musical infusions and explosive club tracks. Two years later, the follow-up has arrived. It's called Kala, and it proves to be an even more adventurous effort." 
