Björn Magnusson & the piano

A couple of weeks ago I had the extreme pleasure of performing live together
with a dear friend of mine, Björn Magnusson at the iDEAL-Festival in Gothenburg.
We both played in the Viktor Sjöberg New Jazz Ensemble and this was my second live performance together with Björn.

In The Ensemble Björn plays the piano and during the concert there was a segment in which the piano were supposed to play "lead" and the overall feeling were supposed to be quiet and leave room for the piano to interact with viktors loops.

Pretty much immediatly I became aware of something amazing happening and I felt that
I would only be in the way if I played anything so I did what I had to do and turned the volume down on my gear and just sat back and listened. And listened. And listened.

It was the best part of the concert, and one of my favourite moments of the whole festival.

Björns pianoplaying has always intrigued me alot and I've understood that he really has the feeling for it, and when I thought about it the other day I remembered reading a little article on Morton Feldman's piano-works a while back.

I've always been a big big fan of Björn's writing and he has made me discover so much amazing music through his words, and here's a thought: Could it be that through
writing and thinking alot about music, getting to understand music in that way Björn has taught himself to play the way he does? I know this might be a stupid thought but I firmly believe it. The feeling and timing and presence Björn displays when playing the piano is extraordinary and I do hope you all get to see him play sometime.

have a look at what björn writes, both at Twisterella and at his blogg, relevans.

I know this text isn't really cohesive or rational at all but I don't really care.

teeth, destroying....

Head on over to When Skies Are Grey and have a look (and a listen) at Thomas Ekelunds latest brainchild, Teeth. So far there is three pieces available, aptly titled "one", "two" and "Three". So go grab 'em, it's better than most of your record collection.

I'm famous...

The new edition of "Famous For 15 Mb" is out now, go fetch yourself some nice music from amongst others Mittelsfär, Det Svenska Folket and Robert Horton, and videos from Viktor Sjöberg, Actop and Martin Skauen.

I'm also on there, contributing with my take on "the hungarian suicide song";
Gloomy Sunday.

I hope you'll enjoy it!

iDEAL 2006

So, back home from an amazing weekend in gothenburg. I got to see alot of great acts that I've wanted to see for a long time, like Wolf Eyes, Earth, William Basinski and Fe-mail. I got to see some things I'd seen before and enjoyed, like Sunn0))), Mats Gustafsson and Pär Thörn. And I also got to enjoy some amazing new stuff, like Gregg Kowalsky(who's music I somewhat know but not all of it), Mark Wastell and CM von Hausswolff. Sadly I also missed a few things that I really would've liked to see like Leif Elggren and Goodiepal but hey, what can you do?

Our gig with Viktor Sjöberg New Jazz Ensemble went ok I think, I really didn't have to do to much to feel content with my contribution to the overall sound. Viktor had really given us good directions and material to work with so everything more or less fell into place by itself. I also got to enjoy the ending of our second piece in silence, just listening to Björn on piano and viktor on laptop weaving an amazing web of toneclusters and layers of pure white light. thanks guys!

The first edition of my kning Disk release(see below) "Two Hearts Beats Slower Than One/Two Heartbeats Slower Than One" sold out on the second day of the festival too, but a second edition of 28 is coming up.

I will also be playing some records on the next distro in malmö on the 26th of march. Playing is Auton and Dwayne Sodahberk. You should go.
/j

Tribute To John Peel

Hey everyone.

The 5th Tribute To John Peel Session is out now and I've contributed with a new previously unreleased Tsukimono track called "Simple Sentences But Difficult Words".

Other contributers to the site is Colleen, Donna Summer, Dälek and many more.
The tracks are all free for download so go ahead and enjoy some beautiful music and pay tribute to a real legend!

"force the filter to randomly choose new values within the selected range of the sliders"

News:

Träd, Gräs & Stenar was amazing at Jazzhuset this last Thursday, be sure to check them out if you have the chance...it's definetly more worth spending your money on them than on any other lame-ass band out there. Spend yr money wisely!!


Upcoming release in Kning Disks Gallery Edition-Series:
"Two Hearts Beats Slower Than One/Two Heartbeats Slower Than One"






If you want one be sure to attend the Viktor Sjöberg New Jazz Ensemble gig at the iDEAL-Festival in Gothenburg This Weekend.





upcoming: a short interview with thomas ekelund and other goodies...keep checking in!

listening:
Keith Fullerton Whitman - recorded in lisbon
Sheriff - Sail, sail, sail away
Steffen Basho Junghans - In the Morning Twilight (Live @ Hagateatern)

Thomas Ekelund is a wonderful person. Not only does he create heartwrenching dronepop under his Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words-moniker, he also creates some of the most stunning artwork out there today.
Having maintained his Fukk God Let's Create label between 1999 and 2005, he has since a couple of months back now moved on to other things, including Fukk Tapes Let's Erase (probably the most obstinate, anal cassette-label in the world), doing more and more artwork/webdesign for various artists/labels like iDEAL, Kid606, Andrey Kiritchenko etc, and continuing to grace us with the ever evolving beauty of DLSODW.

I asked thomas which his favourite recordcovers were and here´s his pick, in no particular order:


Crass - How Does It Feel 7"
It could really be any Crass cover at all. G. Sus used simple means to
great effect. Almost always in monochrome, bold typography and creative
use of found imagery. What sets How Does It Feel apart is it's almost
classisist layout. A simple black cardstock cover with the Crass logo and
title on the front and a printed innersleev containing only text. Simple
and bold.


The Pupils - S/T LP
There's really no design to talk about on this cover. Just a photo. But
what a photo. Even though it's a straight forward portrait it's littered
with symbolism and it vibrates of mysticism. The perfect companion to the
album.



Discharge - Never Again 7"
Simplistic beyond words, the Discharge signature cover design is in a way
closely related to Crass but a lot crueder. The image of the impaled peace
dove has been lifted from a 1930's anti-war poster.





Throbbing Gristle - 20 Jazz Funk Greats
All Throbbing Gristle covers have their own unique charm. Similarily most
of them grow if you know the background and concept of the cover. 20 Jazz
Funk Greats looks like a nice, safe album. The band in velore possed on a
moor overlooking the ocean. That's all fine and dandy, but when you learn
that the moor is the imfamous Beachy Head, England's number one suicide
spot the image takes on a whole other meaning. It's all about what
information and lack of information changes you perception.



Godspeed You Black Emperor - F# A# ∞ LP
It might be a cop out to list this album, but the fact is that it is a
very nicely packaged LP. From the textured, debossed cardboard, to the
glued on photo and the myriad of different inserts, it alll ties in with
the music and the theme's of the album.

I also asked him the following:

Which was the first cover you did for someone else?

The first off set printed record cover I did was...
hmm, I am not quite sure actually. Probably the Kid 606/Dwayne Sodahberg
7" cover or the A. Kir digipack. Of course I'd done alot of hand made
covers befor that.



Tell us about some design-style that has been influential on you tho you might
not really would like it to:

Anything in the back page ads of OKEJ magazine in the
early eighties, which would mean classic hardrock designs. Lots of eagles,
goats, pointy type and iron fists.

And finally, what of your work are you most proud and/or pleased with?

That changes all the time. I am really proud of most of the work
I've done. Right now my favourites are the two Skull Defekts covers and
the forthcoming Rylander/Elggren cover. Or maybe my forth coming Dead
Letters album.











Thank you Thomas!

Be sure to check out thomas work (both musical and visual):

http://www.deadwords.org/
http://www.nullvoid.net/