Vanessa Amara “Manos” (Posh Isolation, 2018) – anmeldelse af Nils Bloch-Sørensen

Birk Gjerlufsen Nielsen og Victor Kjellerup Juhls femte udgivelse som Vanessa Amara, Manos, er en klar forlængelse af det dvælende udtryk, de tidligere har dyrket på en serie bånd- og LP-udgivelser på posh isolation de seneste år. Det er den samme deformerede klassicisme, den samme elegiske stemning og den samme optagethed af den mekaniske reproduktions fejlbarlighed i form af båndstøj og forvrængning. Men selvom der arbejdes med de samme tematikker og den samme grundstemning som på gruppens tidligere udgivelser, er der på “Manos” en langt højere grad af kompositorisk dynamik i spil. Numrene forbliver ikke længe i repetitive tilstande, men er bevægelige og spænder stemningsmæssigt vidt. Til tider næsten postrocket forløsende, til tider helt intimt og skrøbeligt. Læs resten

Interview and images by Cameron Pagett

“I like it,” Nikolaj Jakobsen remarks with a gratifying sip of beer as I inquire about the infamous Fast Forward Alien Head logo. Lukas Højlund pauses in the moment and mentions; ”Yeah, it was never supposed to be the logo … on the first party at Ungdomshuset we put all sorts of things on the poster … We also had the bio-hazard symbol, but it’s not really the logo.”

I still have the first Fast Forward poster on my desktop, 2015 is not so long ago, but looking at the visual building block and having a reasonable understanding of what happens next after 400 people danced the dark away at Ungdomshuset I am feeling nostalgia. The poster feels retro now and it’s undeniably cozy when I reckognize some of the same people have played at recent shows and one played at the two year anniversary in November. Two years really isn’t so long ago, but after 30 raves, an eternity of shared memories, an explosion of growth, a new, unique agency and thousands of stories within a growing community the first party with the first Alien Head feels ages away.

Two years after the first poster I have the same alien head on my scarve shielding my face from a cold wind off Istedgade, I am finally on my way to a Fast Forward Party. A fairly recent resident in Copenhagen I mostly heard about Fast Forward through my girlfriend after buying her the Alien scarf from Posh Isolation’s 8 year celebration in March, 2017. I didn’t realize then that the unofficial official logo was connected to the agency and collective currently throwing the biggest techno parties in Copenhagen. Now less then a year removed I’m stuffing a warm durum in my backpack to hold me through the night and I’m cycling to work past kl. 23 at the much anticipated two year anniversary party located centrally in the large former train warehouse KPH Volume in Vesterbro. The windows are shaking and the walls pulsing to the opening tracks from Bunker Bauer power group Sella Turcica and Osvald Lund Rønde, and I am feeling any late night fatigue fade from my body as each sound wave pushes it out. It’s still early, I greet familiar faces, meet new ones, orient my camera and enjoy a nice beer with the door girl while devouring a now lukewarm durum kebab.

The floor is already vibrating with a small contingent of earlies enjoying an explosive, seething opening set from Sella Turcica and Rønde. I begin to wander through the space and start my night. Volume consists of two rooms with the entry room consisting of a large coat area and a rather impressive visual installation made specifically for the event by Fast Forward Collective Artists Ida Engelhart and Sara Konoy. The artwork and excellent lighting system from Tobias Molter and Paloma Cuesta is already bringing a special ambiance to the half full warehouse, and is not at full strobing power yet, but is still pushing out enough vibrant streams of color and mystery onto the floor to inspire. My camera begins to feel ready after the first couple of beers start to hit me and I feel myself unthaw from the cold ride. I’m feeling it’s time to start work and take my first pictures. Læs resten

Photo-reportage from Fast Forward 2 Years feat. Freddy K, Hyperaktivist, CTRLS, Khalil, Osvald Lund Rønde, Sella Turcica @ KPH Volume by Cameron Pagett.

Læs resten

Live report from Rashad Becker and Croatian Amor, Proton, 16.02.2018 – Words and images by Cameron Pagett.

It’s super windy, my face is nearly numb and I am pedaling as hard as I can through another cold Copenhagen winter night. Normally my breathing wouldn’t be so hard, my effort not so severe and the numerous frigid tears falling from my eyes so many, but I am hurrying for a noble cause… I don’t want to be late to see Croatian Amor. It’s the first show from the exciting team at Proton in one of Copenhagen’s newest and most exciting venues “Alice”, and I don’t want to miss a second of it. I’m whipping my phone out of my pocket at every light to check the time, a train fiasco has put me on the verge of tardiness and I feel as if I risk frostbite akin to an Arctic explorer each time I expose bare skin to a -3 night. Læs resten

Af Alexander Julin

Astrid Sonne er et af de nyeste navne inden for den blomstrende eksperimentelle, elektroniske musik i Danmark. Med alsidige og livlige kompositioner har hun på sit debutalbum, “Human Lines” (Escho), skabt et værk, der både bærer præg af improvisation og en velovervejethed om, hvordan værkets numre komplementerer hinanden – stilistisk, kompositionelt såvel som stemningsmæssigt. Astrid Sonne dyrker gentagelsen uden at udelukke muligheden for fornyelse og uforudsigelighed.

I anledning af “Human Lines” har vi interviewet Sonne om bl.a. improvisation og tilfældighed, indflydelsen fra hendes musikalske skoling i bratsch og sang, om ikke at tøjle musik til bestemte følelser og udtryk, at placere bestemte æstetiske udtryk i alternative sammenhænge og at droppe “den kristne arbejdsmoral”. Læs resten