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:
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
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."
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
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."
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
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
The WIRE: "This is the second album by Sheffield’s Jodi Cave and it’s an unassuming, sweetly desultory collection of pieces, in which field recordings and natural instruments are threaded together by computer processing." Read the whole review
BBC: "Norwegian singer/songwriter Susanna Wallumrød is best known as the pure-voiced half of the Magical Orchestra, responsible for the startling reinvention of Jolene, but here she makes her solo debut. Playing piano and guitar, and joined by her Orchestral partner Morten Qvenild, among others, she’s crafted 12 songs of skeletal and dolorous, hoar-frosted beauty possessed of an extraordinary, understated power. Recalling both Cat Power’s more fragile moments and the soulful, jazz-toned flights of Joni Mitchell, Sonata… is a peerless fusion of the American 70s folk-rock tradition and contemporary classical." Read on
wikipedia: "Arve Henriksen is a Norwegian trumpet player, renowned for his distinctive, flute-like sound on the trumpet, inspired by the sound of the Japanese shakuhachi flute." Read on
stasisfield.com: "Thanos Chrysakis is a London-based musician of Greek origin. Even though his main interests are music & sound, writing poetry and independent experimental moving image making are also – in equal footing - practiced by him. His musical work consists of microacousmatic compositions, instrumental music, and generative installations/environments. His music and sound work has appeared on compilations for independent labels and also has been broadcast in various countries in Europe and USA."
thrilljockey.com: "The members of Circle have been listening to a lot of ‘80s black metal lately. As a result, the premier kraut-influenced, psychedelic band have created their most dark and twisted record to date – which, for those familiar with Circle, know is no small feat. Don’t let the term “black metal” scare you off – Katapult is here to blow your mind, and as with all things Circle, nothing is cut and dry. The constants of their sound remain – hard repetition, heavy riffs, trance inducing rhythms – aided, on this recording, by an ominous, spooky and, dare we say, straight up evil vibe." Read on
importantrecords.com: "The focus here is more on alien electronics and overloaded loop disorientation, sometimes even working with sounds more readily associated with the far end of dance music to produce a truly vast 21st century psychedelic sound."
BBC: "influenced in equal measure by the Beach Boys, Frank Zappa and the outer peripheries of freak folk, it mostly sounds like a hippy sect howling harmonies while trapped in a psychedelic wormhole. Songs shift continually, instruments come and go, and whooping war cries drop in and drop out." Read the whole review
"Rid of Me" is the second album by PJ Harvey, the British singer and guitarist who became a cult figure in the early 90s with her intense and fiercely uncompromising style. Almost 15 years after its release, the album has inspired a novel. "Rid of Me" is a sexy, creepy tale about two young women trying to escape a violent past. Author Kate Schatz joins us today." Listen here
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." 
"Rid of Me" is the second album by PJ Harvey, the British singer and guitarist who became a cult figure in the early 90s with her intense and fiercely uncompromising style. Almost 15 years after its release, the album has inspired a novel. "Rid of Me" is a sexy, creepy tale about two young women trying to escape a violent past. Author Kate Schatz joins us today." 
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