Фирма Rune Grammofon

There are, and have been, quite a few exceptional experimental guitarists around, but we can't recall an album sounding anything like "The Matriarch And The Wrong Kind Of Flowers". With his third album Stian Westerhus (33) is not only challenging and stretching the limits of his instrument but also comes up with an extraordinary piece of music that has more in common with modern contemporary music than just being a leftfield "guitar" album. Tellingly, he claims that he "can't just be a guitarist". In spite of having studied jazz in the UK as well as in Norway he also has a remarkably nonacademic approach to making music, something he shares with many Norwegian musicians of his generation. It's not imperative for Westerhus to make the guitar sound like anything other than a guitar, it's simply his instrument of choice to express himself musically. At the age of thirteen he saw Jimi Hendrix on TV doing "Star Spangled Banner" at Woodstock and since then there's been no looking back. Growing up in a musical family with a mother listening to Elvis and singing along to Beatles and a father listening to classical music he soon ended up somewhere inbetween with Hendrix and King Crimson making early impressions. But he won't admit to having any heroes, preferring to take in as many influences as he can so he won't be confined to one genre or style. His way of working is very intuitive, both when recording and playing live. Nothing is planned and he tries to avoid thinking about what's going to happen. With close to 200 travelling days a year, he's probably one of the hardest working musicians in Norway, also finding time to record and play concerts with other projects like Puma, Monolithic (with Motorpsycho drummer Kenneth Kapstad), his duo with Sidsel Endresen and as a member of Nils Petter Molvær's trio. He's also an in demand producer after having produced Pelbo's "Days Of Transcendence" and Nils Pettter Molvær's "Baboon Moon". Most of the material on this album was recorded at the Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum in Oslo, a tomb soundwise known for it's 20 second natural reverb, generally known for enormous wall paintings about the circle of life. The temperature inside is kept at 5 degrees Celsius to preserve the paintings in the best possible way. We have recently named Stian Westerhus the most exciting guitarist on the Norwegian experimental music scene, but with "The Matriarch..." he has taken a great leap forward and produced a unique record that, together with his international activities, should get him the reckognition he so thoroughly deserves. A fantastic achievement on all accounts. Style: Jazz

Hot on the heels of her much applauded collaboration with Humcrush last year (RCD2114), here is one of the leading vocal improvisers in the world in a fantastic display of telepatic music making at an extremely high level with one of the leading guitar experimentalists currently on the scene. The result is a beautiful and unique soundworld captured live during a much spoken about concert at the Nattjazz festival in Bergen, Norway. Add the evocative titles and the excellent sleeve from Kim Hiorthoy and we have the kind of package that reminds us why the physical product is the superior way to present an album. Sidsel Endresen worked as a singer and co-writer in Jon Eberson Group from 1981-87, releasing five albums and winning two Norwegian "Grammys". Before you ask, yes it's the very same Jon Eberson playing on the El Doom album released earlier this year. In 1990 and 1994 she recorded two solo albums for ECM. The 90s also saw a very fruitful collaboration with Bugge Wesseltoft, resulting in three albums and two more "Grammys". Since 2000 she has done solo projects, written film music and collaborated further with international and Norwegian artists such as Helge Sten, Christian Wallumrod, Rolf Wallin, Jan Bang and Håkon Kornstad. She has toured all over the world, written music for several theater and dance perfomances and has been festival composer for the jazzfestivals in Bergen and Molde. And these are only some of her credentials. Stian Westerhus has been called the hardest working (jazz) musician in Norway, always on the road, in the studio or working on yet another project. Lately his main priorities, aside from "Didymoi Dreams", have been his new solo record and his group Puma (both records scheduled for August) as well as touring as a member of Nils Petter Molvær's trio. Last year he did a commison work for Molde International Jazz Festival that included names like Maja Ratkje, Mats Gustafsson, Kjetil Moster, Ola Kvernberg and Trondheim Jazz Orchetsra. Westerhus is a musician challenging and stretching the limits of his instrument beyond the normal confines of the electric guitar, balancing raw expressiveness against virtuosity and melodic instinct. Style: Jazz

Style: Independent

Ambitious, epic and grand in scale, In The Country's previous album Whiteout was an artistic triumph. Always a very powerful and exciting live act, it was only natural that a concert album should come at this stage of their career, after three studio albu Style: Jazz

Style: Rock

The brand new studio album from VOLCANO THE BEAR. A calculated hysterical melting pot of This Heat, Robert Wyatt, Faust and The Residents, of musique concrète and ethno-folk, all seen through a prism of theatrical improvisations and unhinged set pieces. Formed in 1995, and after several self-released tapes and CD-Rs, VTB so excited Nurse With Wound's Steven Stapleton that he brought his United Dairies label out of cold storage to release their first album proper, "The Inhazer Decline", in 2000. Since then they've released music on such labels as Misra, Beta Lactam Ring, Textile, Digitalis, Pickled Egg, Alt Vinyl as well as their own imprints Volucan and Volfurten with the exceptional "Classic Erasmus Fusion" from 2006 being a possible highlight. On record VOLCANO THE BEAR offer stark and stunning absurdities in the most bizarrely beautiful way. Recycling and recontextualising their material is an innate habit, and the variety of recording options they might chose (be it a highly equip Style: Independent

20th anniversary compilation from this great forward thinking label Rune Grammofon! Style: Rock

Low price sampler with 12 tracks from Arve Henriksen, Susanna, Opsvik & Jennings, Food, Supersilent, Ultralyd, Shining, Alog, Scorch Trio, Humcrush, Ole-Henrik Moe and MoHa!. Covers recent and forthcoming releases in 2007 and 2008 and has the same trackli Style: Independent

Style: Jazz

Ultralyd was formed in 2004 when legendary saxophonist Frode Gjerstad suggested that the trio Gjerstad/Olsen/Hana needed a distinct bass player. The very first rehearsal with Kjetil D Brandsdal (also of Noxagt) was released as the self titled album 'Ultra Style: Independent

Per Henrik is actually playing and improvising on archaic folk instruments like the ram's horn and harpeleik, which is a Norwegian zither. He is then processing it in the computer, resulting in a detailed and accomplished but soothing and quite hypnotic m Style: Independant

Susanna Wallumr¢d (27) has a unique way of making a song her own, and to fill the lyrics and melodies with the emotional content it requires. This was made crystal clear with her stunning interpretation of Dolly Partonïs classic Jolene, recorded for the d Style: Independant

After their successful covers album Melody Mountain from 2006, filled with intimate and highly personal takes on mostly well known songs, Susanna Wallumr¢d and Morten Qvenild return to their own songwriting skills of their debut album List of Lights and Style: Independent

Wild Dog" is SUSANNA's eight album, including three with SUSANNA AND THE MAGICAL ORCHESTRA, her "Norwegian" album "Jeg Vil Hjem Til Menneskene" and the recent ECM album with Giovanna Pessi. That is effectively one album a year of quality releases since her debut in 2004, indeed a very rare treat these days. Possibly best known for her unique and striking interpretations of iconic songs like "Jolene", "Hallelujah" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart", she has also proved herself as an original songwriter with a strong signature. Bonnie "Prince" Billy has performed and recorded her songs and Mojo named her song "Believer" as "one of the greatest break-up songs ever". The ten originals on "Wild Dog" are darker, wilder and more intensely seductive than ever. SUSANNA has assembled some prominent guests on the album with Emmett Kelly from Bonnie "Prince" Billy's band and Jeremy Gara from ARCADE FIRE appearing on all ten tracks while Shahzad Ismaily is credited on seven tracks and Norwegian Jo Berg Style: Independent

After 12 years as a quartet drummer Jarle Vespestad decided to call it a day before the start of recording sessions at Osloïs famous Rainbow Studios. This spurred two further sessions, one taking place at Henie Onstad Art Centre with all three members pla Style: Jazz

Supersilent celebrate 10 years as a groundbreaking quartet with their first studio album in almost 5 years. As with Supersilent 6 (RCD2029) it was recorded during a 5 day studio session at Athletic Sound in Halden, Norway, the all analogue facility where Style: Independent

Style: Independent

Style: Independent

Style: Independent