The Netherlands/Norway and Russia.
Monday, 28 January 2013
Sunday, 27 January 2013
REVIEW - MOSKUS, REBEKKA KARIJORD, 1982 + BJ COLE, SIN COS TAN, HUSKY RESCUE, LAU NAU, EL PERRO DEL MAR, LINNEA OLSSON AND MORE
Review here: Just in FromScandinavia: Nordic Music Round-Up 6
The full list -
NORWAY: Moskus Salmesykkel, Rebekka Karijord We
Become Ourselves, 1982 + BJ Cole, Ivar Grydeland Bathymetric Modes, Nils Bech Look
Inside
FINLAND: Sin Cos Tan, Husky Rescue Deep Forest Green, Murmansk Rüütli, Delay Trees Doze,
Eeliks:en Suutre Teiter, Lau Nau Valohiukkanen, Koiramato Within Time, Pepe Deluxé Queen of the Wave
SWEDEN: El Perro Del Mar Pale Fire, Linnea Olsson Ah!, Spiders Flash
Point, Skansa Mord Paths to Charon
NORWAY/ SWEDEN: Elephant9 and Reine
Fiske Atlantis
DENMARK: Keith Canisius Beautiful Sharks
ICELAND: Sin Fang Flowers
The last one.
Wednesday, 23 January 2013
Sunday, 20 January 2013
Saturday, 12 January 2013
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
HUBRO RECORDS – A WELCOME TO NORWAY’S BOLD: INTERVIEW WITH ANDREAS MELAND
The moment saying attention really had to be paid came with
the arrival of the Hunstville album in June 2011. The fifth release on Norway’s
HUBRO Records, For Flowers, Cars And Merry Wars, was unequivocally great – something like Krautrock, but not
really rock, something springing from jazz. A landmark release.
HUBRO Records had made its entrance the previous year with
the second album from Splashgirl and, since then, everything that’s come along
has to be paid attention to.
Norway’s music is partially defined by its blurring of
boundaries and bleeding across genres, and HUBRO fits snugly with this. Meaning
everything on the label is – at the least – fascinating, exploratory and needs to
be heard, or – very often – an essential benchmark.
The recent release on HUBRO of Jessica Sligter’s brilliant Fear And The Framing and Moskus’
seductive Salmesykkel meant a bit of
digging had to be done, with the help of the label’s boss Andreas Meland.
Entering only its fourth year, HUBRO is now established as
one of Norway’s most important – and essential – labels.
Asking Andreas if the label has an aesthetic gets a
surprising response. “Maybe,” he says. “But it is hard for me to spot. Calling
HUBRO a jazz label at this point might seem a little far fetched maybe, but
that was basically the start. I mostly release instrumental music.
Improvisation is important for many of the artists in the roster, but not for
all of them. It is not a goal for me to create label with a coherent aesthetic.
I want to present creative and, hopefully, bold music out of Norway.”
On the surface, at least, the striking design and packaging
for all HUBRO releases from Yokoland does suggest a unity.
Andreas had not come to HUBRO cold. His background is in
music and, since 2003, he has worked for Grappa Musikkforlag, the Norwegian
label and distributor. He has also been the label manager for ECM in Norway and
(remains) a musician too. “In my spare time I have run different small labels
from my bedroom or kitchen table since the late ‘90s,” he says. “Together with
Kristian Kallevik, who now runs Fysisk Format, I founded the [now defunct] Safe
as Milk which released albums by Noxagt, This is Music inc, Lars Myrvoll, my
own trio düplo and the first Årabrot releases. I also ran Melektronikk – more
focused on Norwegian electronic and improvised music. I also worked for a short
period for Rune Grammofon, which shares an office with Grappa.”
As a musician, Andreas mostly worked with improvised
electronic music. He was also one of the organisers of the Safe as Milk
festival, which brought Six Organs of Admittance, Philip Jeck and Lee Ranaldo
to Haugesund (also where Susanne Sundfør is from).
Working at Grappa led to the creation of HUBRO. “I suggested
to my boss that Grappa should have a sub label for jazz and improvised music,”
recalls Andreas. “He agreed and gave me a go. I was thrilled. HUBRO is the
first label I have run that isn´t financed by own savings, and I love it. It is a
great privilege to get the chance to release the music I like and at the same
time not having to worry too much about the economic risk.”
Which, of course, raises the question of why start a label,
post-2008, post recession? For Andreas, it’s obviously not solely about – and
has not been – the economics “It´s rewarding in many ways to run a small
label,” he says. “ Getting to work with musicians I admire on making releases
that make both them and me proud. Trying to get people to listen to the music.”
Norway though doesn’t have a massive population, but it does
have a lot of labels and, a lot of music and a lot of musicians. Which must
create rivalry between labels?
Not necessarily.
“I guess in some cases is a competition between labels to
put out some releases,” says Andreas. “But in the end, the artists themselves
decide who they want to collaborate and work with. In the field of marginal
music it is seldom or never a question of money or that the highest bidder
wins, or even someone placing a bid. It is more about mutual trust and
confidence.”
The future? Andreas says his goal is to “keep releasing
interesting stuff and keep on moving forward. Running a label like HUBRO is not
a good business idea I guess, but it feels important and it is definitely is a
lot of fun.”
A new album from Splashgirl is just around the corner.
Also only on Kieron Tyler worlds of music:
- Fonal Records / Shogun Kunitoki
- Helmi Levyt - Finland’s Voice Of Love And Madness
- Imandra Lake: Seesamseesam
- Joensuu 1685 and Brad Laner on Splendour Records
- Mari Kalkun
- Röövel Ööbik: Young Godz Have Fun
- Seksound – Estonia’s Enigmatic Label And Tartu Popi Ja Roki Instituut
- Susanne Sundfør: A Night At Salle Pleyel
- Susanne Sundfør: Spot Festival 2010 And The Brothel
- Susanne Sundfør: The Silicone Veil
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