releases
Aisle Arch Attic is the title of pianist and composer Kasper Staub’s solo piano debut album.
The album contains nine short pieces for piano, unfolding in a genreless and beauty-striving universe of sound.
All tracks have come to life as spontaneous compositions in the studio and recorded directly on reel-to-reel tape recorder, which has brought a strong focus and presence to the process of recording.
Kasper Staub's follow-up on the solo album Aisle Arch Attic (2016) is entitled 9 movements. The album contains nine short vignettes for piano, who all come to life in a meditative and genre-defying strive for beauty.
The music explores the presence and movements of the now as well as the form of the stillness with nature and human motion as a core theme.
Fluidity is Malthe Jepsen's debut album.
The music conveys a unique sense of time and approaches the solo format with clear intention, openness and a playful mind.
Convalescence is a bold endeavour into the realm of mixing strings and electric guitar. The music oozes of nordic ambience, while harnessing the strenghts of both the amplified world of amplified guitar and acoustic strings. Sustained notes form beautiful chords intertwining with the intricate timbre of the string quartet. This album is the debut album of danish guitarist Sune Pors, staying true to his Scandinavian roots, while drawing inspiration from the likes of Bill Frissell, Jakob Bro and more.
The fantasy laboratory is a creative space that explores the today so overlooked imagination. Motivated to invite the spiritual and practical value of art to the Fantasy Laboratory musicians and listeners into a naked, warm, honest and loving community. The project's drummer Jonathan Jull Ludvigsen, known for his innovative drumming in the project “Athletic Progression”, shows a modern and unique rhythmic language which draws clear threads into the universes of hip hop. Bassist Jens Mikkel Madsen has many through his project "I Think You're Awesome" years of experience in the creative and imaginative profession, and has cemented in recent years as one of the country's strongest creative forces. His musical spirit reflects one calm creature, a friend who has been taken with the Fantasy Laboratory on an adventure. Dan Hjort Jensen is a virtuoso pianist, also with many years of experience in jazz.
Released April 9th.
The music sounds like a mixture of 60's jazz and the Danish song tradition that Gammelgaard grew up with. This combination creates a completely personal sound, which has been described as "very Scandinavian".
The album was recorded in the Swedish saxophonist Jonas Kullhammar's studio, and contains guest appearances by Isak Hedtjärn on metal clarinet and Love Meyerson on accordion, thus giving associations to the sound of Swedish folk music. The front of the album is adorned with the danish Asger Jorn's painting Midsummer Play.
The debut album by the trio, displaying the telepathic interplay in the group. They've found a sound of a lyrical, modern romantic nature, with a minimalistic approach, which shows in their future releases.
Havnepladen
"At heart of it all, however, is a singing lyricism and Staub's greatest strength is still his ability to craft airy and memorable melodies. Together with his trio, he is able to move in any possible direction. Havnepladen isn't a safe call, but a bold statement from a trio that has already found its own sound and has begun to test its own musical boundaries." - Jakob Baekgaard, All About Jazz.
‘Strøg’ points out a new direction to the trio. The entire album opens with the actual soundcheck (‘Zoom Out’), an improvised playing-around, that accidentally was being recorded during the session. It’s as if the grammophone needle was being dropped down somewhere in the middle of the record. This kind of sudden, unconcerned and liberated state of mind set an ideal mood for the album, that was recorded in two separate days during fall 2016.
Ornithopter
Ornithopter's debut album. Consisting of original compositions, developing their band sound.
“Tordenkaffe” was recorded on the island of Fanø. Fanø is located outside the town of Esbjerg. The sound engineer was Anders Ørbæk and all the recordings where done live in “Musikken Hus” (translated “House of Music”) in the town of Sønderho.
Tordenkaffe was the coffee people drank to keep themselfs awake, to make sure that lightning didn’t strike the old thatched houses.
Our first album Løft Mig Op Så Jeg Kan Nå (Lift me up so I can reach) was recorded a spring evening in an old theater in Aarhus. It is a record that shows our love for americana, folk tones and free improvisation. There are groovy passages, wide sonic brush strokes and lyrical melodies mixed with slightly edgy improvisation here and there.
It is a record about how we can do much more with the help of each other, than we dare to dream about.
The EP is consisting of three live recordings. Each tune introduces its own mood and universe.
Like thunderous rain on a lush field, "Dots" combines what might at first seem like peaceful serenity with a vigorous, uneasy feeling, driven by strong, chromatic saxophone-lines and pulsating drumbeats. Featuring saxophonist Maria Dybbroe, the quintet explores new sonic territory.
Kiss Your Darlings is written on a cheap acoustic guitar in the living room of the collective I moved into after my wife and I had been living three years in Malmö.
We had returned home after her studies, and I myself was working on a rather anxious and depressed period. So it feels right for the first time to put words to the tunes I wrote.
The acoustic EP features new versions of selected tunes of the Kiss Your Darlings album. A warm and intimate sound is produced by the chamber quartet, and supports the vocal beautifully.
The recording is a seven-part suite honoring not only the marriage between ITYA-bandleader, composer and bassplayer Jens Mikkel and Taïga String Quartet cellist Maria Edlund, but also the marriage between the two groups in their quest for beautiful and mocing music.
It is not meant as an overly romantic celebration of love but as a description of relationships, romantic and otherwise between humans, people and nature, arts and crafts. It is filled with joy and positivity but also doubt, despair and anxiety – like all good relationships and all good music.
The music is intimate and the trio interprets the moods of the different compositions vividly and playfully. Within the framework of the compositions, there is a great deal of freedom for each musician and the result is exciting and flowing music with both humor, gravity, swing, celebration, reflection, tradition and innovation.
EP containing outtakes from the album 'Blodmånen og Dig' (The Bloodmoon and You).
The title track is a playful tribute to the green oases in our cities - and is composed after a particularly atmospheric trip through the Botanical Garden in Aarhus, Denmark. The trio also plays a version of the song All Is Well, which originally comes from the American church choir tradition Sacred Harp, but has also been sung by singer-songwriter Sam Amidon.
First album from a new band bringing together five experienced musicians from the Danish jazz scene around the adventurous modern jazz. The listener is invited on a journey up close - a secret safari, not to the savannah of Africa, but to the crashing waves of the North Sea, under the porch of the house or into the first 16 bars of a Brahms symphony.
Debut album by Frekvens Frekvens. Released on CD.
The music is honest and earnest, connecting nordic jazz, contemporary classical music, the Danish songbook, avant-garde jazz and the free approach to music, and with an urge to seek limits. The album got its name from the town on the west coast that have offered room and atmosphere for this album to be made.
Hoax is the result of an intensive six months, where the band has played concerts in most of Denmark and achieved a unique sound that embraces and extends bassist Frederik Hagner’s compositions.
The music is an expression of a collective musical flow that covers everything from country ballads to ostinato-based improvisation.
The EP is consisting of three live recordings. Each tune introduces its own mood and universe.
Like thunderous rain on a lush field, "Dots" combines what might at first seem like peaceful serenity with a vigorous, uneasy feeling, driven by strong, chromatic saxophone-lines and pulsating drumbeats. Featuring saxophonist Maria Dybbroe, the quintet explores new sonic territory.
Fabel
Jakob Sørensen has formed the trio Fabel where simplicity og musical storytelling is in pride of place.
Fabel is inspired by the northern folkmusic sound, and from the sound of the simple melodies of Jan Johansson and the evocative, lyrical songs by Paul Simon.
The debut album was released as a Visual Album and CD. The album has been made in collaboration with the video artist André Hansen who has produced a visual experience for the whole album.
Bagland is the debut album by Aarhus-based trumpeter Jakob Sørensen.
Bagland is also the name of the quintet consisting of five musicians, who all have their roots based in the scandinavian sound.
The music is composed in a deserted house on the countryside of Denmark among dunes and windy weather. The music is clearly marked by that. Lyrical and melancholic melodies characterizes the compositions and the sound is clean and fragile with obvious reference to the nordic sound.
The pictures from the awarded photographer Kirsten Klein has been used for the cover – which unites the music with the melancholic evocative pictures. It creates clear references to the Scandinavian sound.
The evocative cover has been created by the international recognized artist Nedko Solakov. Both the cover picture and the simple design, designed by Andreas Nordström creates clear references to the Nordic landscape, from which Jakob Sørensen finds so inspiring.
Cirkel draws inspiration from the environment at the very top of Denmark, Skagen, back in the start of the 20th century. Back then the painters were attracted by the light of Skagen, and portrayed life and all its moods.
From the small enjoyments to the big questions of life. The same feature surrounds the 10 compositions on Cirkel.
Elm
Taking a free improvisational approach to the sound of Danish folkloristic songs, Elm reinterprets what has been called the “Nordic sound”.
Their compositions are greatly inspired by songs from Højskolesangbogen (The songbook of Danish folk schools) and Den Danske Salmebog (The Danish book of church hymns), and these melodies serves as references in their free improvisations.
The Kiss Your Darlings Suite
The album ‘The Kiss Your Darlings Suite’ releases October 2nd, it features a collaboration between the band; I Think You’re Awesome, the big band; Aarhus Jazz Orchestra, and big band composer/arranger Signe Bisgaard. The album also features the estonian vocalist Karmen Rõivassepp.