© Charlotte Lund Mortensen / Tapetown

»Music is the pre-linguistic and pre-logical art form that allows us to access parts of consciousness that have not yet been thought about. You can sometimes become aware of what a song means several months later and have an inner problem resolve itself. Music is also collaboration and community. The Danish hard music scene is a fantastic place these years, where artists support each other and collaborate in all directions. In this way, music does not become a competition, but a community to constantly move forward.« 

Two forces on the Danish underground scene, MEEJAH x HIRAKI, have joined forces on their release INTERWOVEN (Pelagic Records). The two bands belong to the Danish metal underground with common references such as The Body, The Armed, Chelsea Wolfe & Converge's Bloodmoon and Death Engine. HIRAKI released their debut album Stumbling Through The Walls in 2021 (Nefarious Industries]. Followed by ALTERER – Stumbling Through The Walls REWORKED in 2022. HIRAKI has toured Norway, supported The Armed in Germany and collaborated with Kh Marie. Danish-Korean MEEJAH released Queen of Spring in 2021, which was nominated for a Steppeulv, and recorded a KEXP Live Session during the Lunar New Year in 2024. Meejah has toured South Korea and supported Blonde Redhead and Jambinai. MEEJAH and HIRAKI have both played at A Colossal Weekend and have also crossed paths in the doom-rave collective John Cxnnor.

Bill Frisell. © Carole D'Inverno

»I like when it's impossible to tell at first if something is black or white, or country or blues, or whatever.«

Bill Frisell’s career as a guitarist and composer has spanned more than 40 years and many celebrated recordings. From Aaron Copeland and Charles Ives to Bob Dylan and Madonna. Born in Baltimore, Bill Frisell played clarinet throughout his childhood in Denver, Colorado. His interest in guitar began with his exposure to pop music on the radio.

© PR

»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.

in briefrelease
23.01.2022

Finnish Space Travel

Tomutonttu: »Hoshi«
© Tomutonttu: »Hoshi«
© Tomutonttu: »Hoshi«

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.