Lad os bygge fremtiden

Niels Rosing-Schow: »A Talk of Our Time«

Med A Talk of Our Time giver Niels Rosing-Schow os et indblik i de refleksioner, han gjorde sig under pandemien. Mest imponeret var han over, at det lykkedes ungdomsgenerationen at rejse sig, både i form af Black Lives Matter- og klimabevægelsen. Klaverkoncerten for højrehånd All Right?! skaber fornemmelsen af noget krybende, en konstant serie af opbygninger og nedbrydninger. Dommedag venter. Men lejlighedsvise tonale passager signalerer, at vi er »all right, don’t look up, der er ikke ild i dit hus«. Æstetisk sætter koncerten os i en en position, hvor vi kan mærke afgrunden komme tættere på. Alt det, Greta Thunberg konstant minder os om.

I værket Unspoken – unheard, dedikeret til BLM – mumler musikerne citater fra forskellige borgerrettigheds-profiler, men den energi og vrede, der normalt følger kampen for racelighed, bliver ikke engang et ekko, men støj. Måske er det netop Rosing-Schows refleksion over egen position: Som hvid dansker kan han, trods sin sympati, aldrig andet end udvande deres budskab.

Der er associationer til minimalismen: repetitioner, der enten over tid udvikles eller får lov at nedsmelte ved intens gentagelse. Eller er det faktisk hiphoppens repetitioner? De subtile rytmiske mønstre i klaverkoncertens anden del minder om Kendrick Lamars fraser i »Alright« (fra To Pimp a Butterfly), hvis omkvæd blev et anthem for BLM-demonstranter. Hvad ville der ske, hvis Rosing-Schow havde tappet ind i energien fra hiphop? Ligger her et uudnyttet potentiale?

Pladen peger i mange retninger – ligesom sin samtid. Vi har ikke brug for at kigge til fortiden, men bygge fremtiden. Armeret med kunst, der får os til at handle.

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.