Louien

Photo: Julia Marie Naglestad

Louien, is Live Miranda Solberg. She might still be relatively unknown to most, but those who follow the international americana scene closely will have heard her spectacular voice in the band Silver Lining: A four-piece in which she is one of the main singer-songwriters – her songs attaining several million streams worldwide. Now Louien’s solo debut is finally ready.

Four years ago, she lost her father. He was an actor and singer, who in many ways shaped Solberg as the artist she is today. All the songs on the record revolve around mourning, introspection and also how heavy grief can bring turmoil, but also evolve you as a person.

“Grief allows for beautiful things as well. Love and hope, for instance, and you really get in touch with your own feelings. But this album is probably more about the first phase of a grieving process – hopelessness, isolation, anxiety and depression,” says Solberg.

The album was recorded with Øyvind Røsrud Gundersen at Brageveien Studio in Oslo. Among the guests are Kaja Fjellberg Pettersen, Henrik Lødøen, Øystein Braut, Kristine Marie Aasvang, Signe Marie Rustad and Einar Kaupang.

‘None of My Words’ will be released on Jansen Records September 20th 2019.

M422

Ticking toasters, cobblestones against fences, a kalimba in superslowmotion, axe on wood, music boxes with broken teeth. Every hit, chrunch, crack and bang is extrated for all kinds of over- and undertones, when they are chopped and twisted into strange symphonies with synthesizers and machines that are pushed beyond their limits. Unrecognisable recordings finds new shapes in a weathered twillight of oppressing noise and longing drones. All this paints the contours of the fleeting thoughts that is the driving force behind M422.

The music finds its origin in the dark attics of Copenhagen, along with its creator Banders Duckpow. 2018 saw M422 playing concerts on venues of all sizes, from small basements to festivals like Uhørt18 and Eter festival (SE), and everything inbetween, as well as recording new material to be released during 2019. The first track from this release can be found here.

The plans for 2019 includes the release of more tracks where the first got released in January: ”0Ø”can be found on Pattern Abuse’s Compilation 2: Nordic Ambient. Additionally, an EP will arrive during the spring.

Praise for M422:

”The bass pads along this slow-moving acid trip. Warped voices cry out, their pitch a fine line between human voice and music. Something that sounds like a stick hitting a brick wall comes in as reverberating gongs intensify, making the song feel like a trance.”

Miko Ann, Magntic Magazine About the track 0Ø

”‘M422 – 0Ø’ feels tortured and ritualistic, droning bass and ghoulish vocals wail in the distance, certainly not traditional and one of my favourite cuts.”

Daniel Thomas, Loose Lips.

Terje Ekrene Vik (Sheep Chase Records)

After years of growing in my mind, Sheep Chase Records came to life in 2011 when I first heard the demo tape from Dark Times. I knew that this was just the right project to start off with, which resulted in their self-titled debut EP. Before this I'd spent my time in Oslo on different parts of the alternative underground scene, working at Tiger (the record store), Blå, playing around with Norway Rat Records for a while and more or less being a concert goer and always looking for new and interesting stuff. I guess I've always been an insistent music pusher. I can't deal with the fact that people often are missing the greatest music out there.

After a couple of years being busy with other stuff I joined forces with Dark Times again for their debut album in 2014. AK of the band has also been a huge part of the label since then, helping out with loads of stuff. Then things started rolling and I signed FOAMMM and Outer Limit Lotus and released a more obscure side of Årabrot. The diversity this gave the label was a huge relief as people were convinced we were a rock label or a new hardcore label. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but that never was my mission. And who knows which way the label will go from here. The key is to stay off the main road, curiously looking for new sounds - regardless of genres.

2018 has been a great and hectic year with the debut of experimental noise rockers Mokri, the sophomore album by Dark Times - and just a week ago the release of the extraordinary debut album from Outer Limit Lotus. And now this Friday the release of the insanely wonderful new album from lo-fi legend André Borgen.

We are super excited to see what will happen form here, and I'm sure we can satisfy our followers (yes, we're sort of a cult) with some more mind boggling stuff in 2019.

The weeks to come will feature several great shows from the bands on the label. Starting with the release party for "Lotus Eaters" by Outer limit Lotus this Thursday at Blå (with extended line-up and contemporary art dancers on stage), a way over due celebration of "TOTAL LOVE" by Mokri on Hvelvet/Sentralen on the 22nd, and the release party for "Hands and Feet" by André Borgen at Kafé Hærverk on the 28th.

Galya Bisengalieva

Galya is an award winning Kazakh/British violinist making her own work as a soloist, improviser and collaborator with artists and composers of varied genres. 

She has performed solo shows throughout Europe, USA, India, Turkey, Brazil, and made her sell out debut in Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, where Galya received the Revelación Award by the Music Critics Association of Argentina.

Galya toured Brahms' Violin Concerto as part of 'There Will Be Blood: Live' and premiered Edmund Finnis' 'Shades Lengthen' on BBC Radio 3. She has collaborated with composers Steve Reich, Laurie Spiegel, Suzanne Ciani, Terry Riley, Pauline Oliveros as well as comissioning and performing new works by Hildur Guðnadóttir, Sarah Davachi, Shiva Feshareki, Claire M Singer, Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, Mica Levi, and CHAINES.

Galya leads the London Contemporary Orchestra and she can be heard on Radiohead's 'A Moon Shaped Pool', Lynne Ramsay's Cannes Film Festival Winner 'You Were Never Really Here', Thom Yorke’s film score for the upcoming remake of ‘Suspiria’, Frank Ocean’s ‘Blonde’ and Oscar nominated ‘Phantom Thread’.

Galya’s debut recording EP ONE is released later this month on NOMAD Music Productions featuring new works for solo violin and electronics. 

Satoi

Satoi is the project of Helsinki-based Tuukka Jääskeläinen.

This year has brought about two of his first solo releases – on Kaukana Väijyy Ambient and on Etherwerks, respectively. His debut cassette, “Looped Unconscious Thought Patterns in Audible Format”, builds cinematic ambient soundscapes. It’s also released digitally on Post-Rift, a label co-founded by Jääskeläinen. The second Satoi cassette, an experimentation with the techno form, is called “They Pushed Him Under The Current To Watch Him Drown”.

Liam Byrne

Liam Byrne divides his time between making very old and very new music on the viola da gamba. He plays with many leading European early music ensembles including the Huelgas Ensembe, Dunedin Consort, Academy of Ancient Music, and Fretwork. Liam also works frequently with composers, folk musicians, and electronic musicians making new music with his 17th century instrument, such as Nico Muhly, Donnacha Dennehy, David Lang, Shara Nova, Efterklang, Martin Hayes, Valgeir Sigurðsson, Greg Saunier, Cleek Schrey, and many others. Liam has created sound installations for the Victoria & Albert museum, Dulwich Picture Gallery, and in collaboration with Nico Muhly for the National Gallery in London.

2017 saw the release of Tessellatum, a duo album with violist Nadia Sirota with music by Donnacha Dennehy, and Valgeir Sigurðsson's Dissonance, for which Liam co-authored the title track. He is a member of the Icelandic artist collective and record label Bedroom Community.

Ana Silvera

Ana Silvera is an alternative/folk singer-songwriter and composer from London, UK. To date, Ana Silvera has released three solo albums to date: "The Aviary" (2012), "Arcana - A Winter EP" (2017) and her BASCA-award nominated song-cycle, "Oracles” which was released in July 2018 on Gearbox Records. Anahas collaborated with choirs including Estonian Television Girls Choir, Roundhouse Experimental Choir, early music ensemble Concerto Caledonia,  composed for Royal Ballet and has performed and/or been played on radio stations including BBC Radio 3 (The Verb, Late Junction, In Tune) and BBC Radio 6. Ana Silvera currently splits her time between London and Copenhagen.

Marie Munroe

Marie Munroe is the name and sound of one of Norways most distinctive voices and songwriters. Hailing from the picturesque coastal town of Aalesund in Norway. Munroe has crafted several strong releases in recent years, both through interesting collaborations but most of all as a solo artist. Her highly acclaimed albums have impressed music lovers and critics alike, and given her opportunities to perform on the international circuit.

Reviews have stated that Marie Munroe is rising to the very top with a strong and innovative repertoire. Free of conventions and restraint, but vivacious and spirited, she has managed to create something both interesting and catchy, a challenge she has braced with success.

Aside from a voice full of richness and versatility, diversity is also a quality that identifies Marie Munroe. Born Hilde Marie Kjersem, her career and life has been full of change. Moving from Scandinavia’s spectacular jazz scene performing under her own name, she took her grandfathers name Munroe as her career steadily evolved in to a solo pop artist. Critical acclaim followed, along with two Norwegian Grammy nominations and collaborations with some of Norway’s most successful musicians. Now, as Marie Munroe, there is a sense of liberation from the past and with it completeness in the music.

Whilst there is a hint of the Nordic cool about Marie Munroe’s music, there is far more depth than just cold-sounding synths and distant electronic drumbeats. The bold and challenging melodies bring out a new and different energy, the possibilities of what Marie Munroe could achieve are both exciting and endless.

Henriette H. Eilertsen

Oslo-based flautist Henriette H. Eilertsen plays and writes music in different bands such as Billy Meier, Kakapoi and most recently a trio with Jo David Meyer Lysne on guitar and Synne Amanda Salvesen on video and processing. This spring, together with some fellow musicians, she established a new jazz orchestra in Oslo for composing jazz musicians, OJKOS, which will start rehearsing and playing this fall.

Frank Michaelsen

Frank Michaelsen plays guitar and sings harmony in the Oslo based group The Switch. Their last LP (The Switch Album), from 2016, won them a Norwegian Grammy Award in the indie category.  

Kjetil Mulelid

Pianist, improvisator and composer Kjetil Mulelid has distinguished himself as an inventive artist, blending genres like jazz, psalms and free jazz in his music. After studying jazz at the acknowledged “Jazzlinja” in Trondheim (NO), he has played concerts and toured with his own music / projects in the whole Scandinavia, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, France, Germany, England, The Faroe Islands, Serbia and USA. In october 2017 he released his first self titled album with his trio on Rune Grammofon, which got honored by critics all over the world ("Best of the year" Jazz FM UK, “a magical album" - The Wire UK, “timeless quality" - Baby Blaue DE, “Unbelievable" - Written In Music NL). He has also released several well spoken albums with other projects like Wako and Kjemilie, and he has played and worked with many great musicians as Arve Henriksen, Kirsti Huke, Ola Kvernberg, Eirik Hegdal, and Nils-Olav Johansen.

Hans Martin Austestad

Hans Martin Austestad is a Norwegian singer and instrumentalist especially focused on playing with perceived conformity. This has led him to tune in to other artists' playful eclecticism, really old folk music, and has led him to lead and participate in musical projects of very different styles.
His most notable projects are Austestad, a musical venture in his own mother tongue that crosses all kinds of genre-borders in the search for original sounding pop, and Earlybird Stringband, a country and bluegrass inspired band who suddenly led their attention to the similarities between American and Norwegian folk music.

Torkjell Hovland

Torkjell Hovland is a music critic and journalist based in Oslo writing for Jazznytt, Ballade.no, Folkemusikk and NRK Radio. He wrote his master thesis in Musicology on silence and the Wandelweiser collective, and works with silence in his own music.

Ivar Myrset Asheim

Ivar Myrset Asheim is a Norwegian jazz drummer based in Oslo. He’s active in the jazz, pop and improvising scene in Norway as sideman, bandleader and composer. He plays in bands like Billy Meier, Airdust, Pangpang, Trond Kallevåg Hansen trio, Matona’s Afdahl Group, Konradsen, Luke Elliot and LILJA. Ivar has contributed on several album releases and has a Bachelor degree in performing jazz from the Norwegian Academy of Music. 

Sara Övinge

Violinist Sara Övinge, born in Sweden, had her first appearance as soloist with Norrköping Symphony Orchestra at the age of 9. Aged 16, she attended the Royal College of Music in Stockholm with further studies in Oslo as well as London. Sara has appeared as soloist in various European countries and received numerous grants, awards and prizes. In 2009, she won Concert Norway's INTRO Classical competition and in Sweden’s biggest music competition - the Swedish Soloist Prize she won the Listeners prize. This all led to engagements with three of the major Norwegian symphony orchestras as well as Swedish top rate symphony orchestras. Sara was appointed Associate Concertmaster at the Norwegian National Opera Ballet in 2014, a position she left to fulfill her passion for an eclectic range of performance and music making. Sara is a steady musician in the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Oslo Sinfonietta and Cikada. Sara's album "Patientia" with music by Kjetil Bjerkestrand and Philip Glass is out now!

Nina Mortvedt/Band of Gold

Nina Mortvedt is a musician/composer and music improviser. She started Band Of Gold in
2013, in collaboration with Nikolai Hængsle, and has so far released two highly acclaimed
albums. The debut in 2015 called “Band Of Gold” earned the duo the Phonofile Nordic Music
Prize, as the first Norwegian artist ever in addition to being nominated for the Norwegian
Grammy Awards. Band Of Gold´s second album “Where´s The Magic” was released this
March and was just as well, if not better, received by the critics all over Europe and in the
US. In addition to Band Of Gold, Mortvedt has done many improvisational concerts/shows
with the group Smaa Graa. Their most recent show called “Chemistry”, is a collaboration
with the artist and choreographer Kim Hiorthøy. This show premiered at The Ultima Oslo
Contemporary Music Festival in 2015 and has toured since then. Mortvedt continues to
write music for- and tour with Band Of Gold and Band Of Gold will also be joining the superb
Susanne Sundfør on stage during many festivals this summer.

Sanskriti Shrestha

Sanskriti Shrestha (1990) is a Nepalese tabla player based in Oslo. Shrestha has been active in some iconic projects in Scandinavia, touring across Europe, Asia, and Australia with ensembles spanning a large diversity of musical genres. She brings her Nepalese/Indian musical background in the merge with jazz, electronics and other styles of contemporary music. She has been working to promote the tabla to be recognized as a versatile instrument with rich possibilities. Coming from a family of music professionals, she has been sustaining the tradition she grew up with and has developed an innovative style of solo performance and collaboration. Since adolescence, she has continued to expand her vocabulary in Tablas and promote it into vogue as a special and important musical instrument in the scene of music today. 

“Shrestha's style of playing is modern - and unconventional, but with solid anchoring in classical technique.” - Johan Hauknes, Salt Peanuts.

Sanskriti learned Tabla from her teacher Homnath Upadhyaya in Kathmandu where she completed her masters in Tabla from Allahabad Sangeet Samiti Ktm. Later in 2010 she moved to Oslo for her further studies and graduated from The Norwegian Academy of Music. 

Nils Henrik Asheim

Nils Henrik Asheim (b.1960) enjoys a combined career as composer and
performer. He took his education at the Norwegian Academy of Music and
Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. Asheim has written several chamber
music pieces, works for symphony orchestra, organ and choirs, as well as
projects in public space, for theater and opera. He has been awarded a number
of prizes for his work.
Besides playing the classical repertoire on the organ, Asheim has developed a
personal style of improvising. This has led to several recordings both as solo
performer and in collaboration with musicians like Anne-Lise Berntsen, Ruth
Wilhelmine Meyer, Lasse Marhaug, Paal Nilssen-Love and Frode Gjerstad among
others. In his position as organist of Stavanger concert hall, he regularly
organizes Organ Nights where the instrument appears in eclectical combinations
with performers from various genres and art forms.
Since 1991 Asheim has lived in Stavanger where he is active as a composer,
musician and organizer. He was the principal initiator of the founding of Tou
Scene, an alternative centre for contemporary arts in an abandoned factory
building, and responsible for its development over a period of 10 years. Asheim
has been the resident organist of the new concert hall in Stavanger since its
opening in 2012. Here he has displayed an innovative way of creating activities
around the organ, and managed to get a large audience for the instrument.

Adrian Fiskum Myhr

Adrian Fiskum Myhr is a bassplayer (double bass and electric bass) from Trondheim, currently living in Oslo. He plays in bands like Oker, Bansal Band, Dr. Kay & his Interstellar Tone Scientists, Javid Afsari Rad Ensemble, Torg, DaMaNa, Simiskina, ComboNations & Myhr/Doneda. He also does concerts with his solo project. As a musician he is interested in exploring the sound possibilities of his instruments and he is constantly working on making his sound vocabulary larger. Adrian plays different genres and feel comfortable playing everything from free-improvised music to jazz, world music and pop. He has a Master degree from the Norwegian Academy of Music.
 

Snertingdal Records

Snertingdal Records is a small independent record label started by Stian Finstad Svehagen in 2012. The label has released artists and bands in different genres, though they are all rooted in guitarbased popmusic (and make really really good tunes). Mr. Svehagen used to be a manager at the Big Dipper record store and is now a librarian. It's a busy spring for Snertingdal Records having released three singles by the band Avind, which also has an album coming out on May 25th (also on Snertingdal Records). There are also brand new sounds from Family Values and a new signing of Dingus in the next couple of weeks.