Af Alexander Julin

Selskabet Infinite Waves har længe været en fremtrædende figur indenfor den danske eksperimentelle musik med et mangefold af båndudgivelser såvel som enkelte LP’er over de seneste år. Specielt de seneste års udgivelser har haft et stilistisk slægtsskab, idet de på forskellig vis har arbejdet inden for og undersøgt ambient-musikkens potentialer.

En bølgende og ofte æterisk fornemmelse, der meget generelt kan siges at gøre sig gældende for ambientgenren som sådan, går igen på størstedelen af selskabets udgivelser, såsom Soft Armours “Multi Terrain”, Birchs “Doldreams” eller Futuras “Live at La Blanca“, for blot at lave nogle enkelte nedslag. Det samme kan siges om selskabets nye udgivelse, “Still Water”, der ligesom sin forgænger “Underwater Gestures” (2017) er en tredobbelt båndkompilation med seks forskellige, fortrinvist danske artister, nye såvel som velkendte Infinite Waves-navne.

I anledning af den nye kompilation bringer vi et interview med Infinite Waves’ bagmand, Bjarke Rasmussen, om udgivelsen, der tæller Kai Oke, Grøn, Miro, Antti Tolvi, C.R. Hougaard og Birch. Læs resten

Vanligt Folk “Hambo” (Kontra-Musik + Kess Kill, 2018) – anmeldelse af Sandra S. Borch

I et virvar mellem manipuleret vokal, skæve synths og et sted mellem post-punk, dub og body music bevæger den svenske trio Vanligt Folk sig ud over grænserne med politisk-ladet lyrik og en hjemmebrygget lyd med solid swung på trommemaskinen. Læs resten

Solid Blake “Warp Room” (Seilscheibenpfeiler, 2018) – review by Alexander Julin Mortensen

The Copenhagen-based Glaswegian producer Emma Blake, better known as Solid Blake, has made a name of herself both nationally as well as internationally. Apart from being part of Apeiron Crew along Smokey and Mama Snake as well as the duo Historical Repeater with Ctrls, Solid Blake made her debut as a producer last year with the EP “Mario” which, in addition to her own alluring compositions, also contained a remix by no other than DJ Stingray.
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Heather Leigh: Throne (Editions Mego, 2018) – review by Ivna Franic.

If you’re at least somewhat familiar with Heather Leigh’s music − be it by way of the stunning 2015 album “I Abused Animal”, her recent duo with Peter Brötzmann or especially her earlier, live-recorded material − you would be forgiven to be slightly taken by surprise by “Throne”’s opening lines. “You’re so interesting”, enchants Leigh on “Prelude to Goddess” in an almost possessed manner, following with similarly mundane lines such as “there’s something special about you, the way you flip your hair”. The lyrics and their vocal interpretation become increasingly ambiguous and eerie soon enough though, naturally putting any causes of possible confusion into a rather different perspective.

“Lena” picks up and expands on any uncanny signals from the opening track unveiling the epic scope of tracks to come as well as the full range of Leigh’s powerful vocals, its chorus ominously swaying over the rest of the song. “Scorpio and Androzani” conjures a heavy nocturnal atmosphere to be taken even further by the stunning “Soft Seasons”: this one-part drum-machine beat and guitar-led track, and one-part airy acoustic song makes for a peculiar combo of hazy stoner trip-hop and blissful, almost pastoral folk. The 16-minute epic “Gold Teeth” eventually gets washed up in distortion, while the closer “Days Without You” is the closest Leigh gets to a conventional chorus of a true pop gem.

The press release describes Throne as Heather Leigh’s “first best pop record”, which is of course to be taken with a grain of salt: although there are definitely more melodies and hooks here than on any of her previous releases, the songs barely ever follow the common pop structure. This results in a unique fever-dream mood permeating the record, creating a highly vivid feel that is at the same time both surreal and disturbingly realistic. There is a narrative quality and cinematic aura to most of these songs that makes them easy to imagine as a series of movies, with the dominant feel being that of drifting through nocturnal landscapes of small towns, picking up on different stories, characters and settings along the way. Where “I Abused Animal” seemed profoundly confessional at times, “Throne” feels more like a collection of vignettes on fictional figures and episodes from their lives.

The occasionally unsettling lyrics are coated in a somewhat more approachable sonic landscape than before, with the vocals + pedal steel skeleton of Leigh’s stark previous album now expanded to include a synthesizer and a drum machine. As always, there is something carnal about Leigh’s music and lyrics, certain uneasiness to reflections on intimacy and lust, a slightly creepy eroticism (if you will) which she makes alluring. And the pop inclinations of “Throne” don’t take away any of its bleak charm − in fact they even seem to enhance the goth feel of Leigh’s loose but intense noir americana ballads, making for a distinct, bold record that sounds unlike anything else you’ve heard this year.
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By Simon Christensen

Hosted by the people of Korpsånd and (the Copenhagen venue) Mayhem, a new two-day black metal festival is taking place for the first time in March 2019. The program is dedicated to the raw, contemporary black metal and will be headlined by Carved Cross from Australia and the two Montréalais bands Verglas and Akitsa, both bands released on the excellent label Tour de Garde, which is also founded by Akitsa’s main man Outre-Tombe. Akitsa is one of the longest-lived black metal-groups on the Canadian scene being active for almost 20 years with a series of releases on Profound Lore Records and Dominick Fernow’s Hospital Productions as well.

From the South of Sweden comes Jordablod, and from the local Copenhagen scene Grifla de la Secta, Jordslået and the debut of Ascendency, as well as more synth-based openers each night with Ærekær (Emil Toft, Jesper Bagger Hviid) and Henbane (Claus Haxholm). After the inaugural Vort Fatum Akitsa will proceed to play a few European concerts with Grifla de la Secta that confirms the transatlantic bond between Korpsånd and Tour de Garde.
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