Vidunderlig vildrede

Okkyung Lee

Okkyung Lee gav koncert på Musikefterskolen i Humble. © Jon Albjerg Ravnholt

Efter halvandet års påtvungen koncertpause mødte den sydkoreanske cellist og noise-virtuos Okkyung Lee verdens hårdeste publikum: en flok musikefterskoleelever på Langeland med teenagerens naturlige skepsis overfor alternative tilgange til det at spille koncert. Og Lee giver aldrig ved dørene – hun vandrede ind gennem stolerækkerne, mens hun udforskede de klange, hun kunne få ud af celloen, strøg buen mod en forlegen elev, slog, gned og vred i instrumentet, inden hun satte sig ned midt i cirklen af stole og lod tonerne samle sig om et hele. Tonerne åbnede sig, meget gradvist, for de forundrede lyttere.

Det var ikke sart kammermusik med harpeklimpren som på sidste års album Yeo-Neun, men var mere i tråd med noisekunstneren C. Spencer Yeh og dronepioneren Ellen Fullmann, begge er samarbejdspartnere hos Lee. Efter et midterstykke med blitzende fraseringer over et ambient backingtrack mundede koncerten ud i et intenst rytmisk angreb på instrumentet a la Arnold Dreyblatts dancepunkede minimalisme. De bagerste rækker headbangede og pumpede næver i luften med lukkede øjne – indtil cellisten uden et ord smækkede sig selv ud af salen og efterlod alle tilbage i vidunderlig vildrede.

playlist

11.09.2023

My name is John Grant – would you like to see my playlist?

»Music has been a healing balm for me.«

John William Grant is an American singer, musician, and songwriter holding both American and Icelandic citizenship. He first came to prominence as a co-founder, lead vocalist, pianist, and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band The Czars. After releasing six albums between 1994 and 2006, the band disbanded, and Grant withdrew from music for four years before embarking on a solo career.

He returned in April 2010 with a critically acclaimed debut album recorded in collaboration with Midlake. Queen of Denmark was named Album of the Year 2010 by Mojo magazine and was also selected as one of the ten best albums of 2010 by The Guardian’s music critics and writers.

playlist

13.06.2023

My name is Allan Gravgaard Madsen – would you like to see my playlist?

»In his music, composer Allan Gravgaard Madsen tries to create a better version of himself.«

Allan Gravgaard Madsen is a Danish composer based in Copenhagen. His most recent works include Träume nicht and Nachtmusik. He tries to create a better version of himself in his music – where his personality tends to be restless, chatty and has an active inner life, his music is controlled, simple and merciless in its expression. He is the recipient of the Carl Nielsen & Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens Hæderspris 2022.

in briefrelease

23.01.2022

Finnish Space Travel

Tomutonttu: »Hoshi«

Vauva, 02.12

Kristoffer Møllegaard

The Finnish multimedia artist Jan Anderzén has, with the album Hoshi, released under the solo moniker Tomutonttu, created a true little star. Not only because »hoshi« literally means »star« in Japanese, but above all due to the music itself. There is something cosmic, yet infinitely minute, about the sonic worlds Anderzén conjures—like a galaxy reflected in a puddle, or a space journey in a rocket carved from a hollow tree trunk. Synths emit busy, warm blips and bloops, while ultra-short vocal and instrumental samples create a recognizable blur. At once artificial and organic – soft, rounded, jagged, crackling.

Anderzén approaches sound with a playfulness I simply adore. His music is strange in an incredibly comforting way. It places me in a kind of colorful, trance-like state, only interrupted when, several times over the course of the album, I find myself smiling in delight at a particularly great sound. The synths on »Katse osuu sähköön!« The choral samples on »Kesä oli äkkiä ohi!« Milo Linnovaara’s flute on »Malta lausua ‘AH’!« And many more. Hoshi is an album packed with microscopic moments that together form a frayed, exploding, radiant, idiosyncratic whole—a stellar moment of just under 38 minutes.