Music from Norway

*2024 stock* Terje Rypdal’s Waves (recorded 1977) announced the beginning of the Norwegian guitarist’s association with Danish trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg, which continues to this day. The album also introduced one of Terje’s most enduringly popular pieces, “Per Ulv.” “Rypdal’s album is a series of sonic excursions ranging from the expressionist to the impressionist…” wrote Record World. “Rypdal’s guitar and Mikkelborg’s trumpet are well-matched, with Manfred Eicher’s typically superb production …

A new ECM studio album and a programme of new music from Terje Rypdal is cause for celebration. On Conspiracy the great Norwegian guitarist seems to reconnect with the wild inspiration that fuelled such early masterpieces as Whenever I Seem To Be Far Away, Odyssey and Waves, exploring the sonic potential of the electric guitar with both a rock improviser’s love of raw energy and a composer’s feeling for space and texture. Keyboardist Ståle Storløkken, who contributed to Terje’s Vossabrygg and Cr…

One of the Norwegian saxophonists most outgoing dates, the best-selling “Runes” also marked the first appearance of Manu Katché with the Jan Garbarek group. Centerpiece of the album is the five-part “Molde Canticle”.

Pete Namlook and Geir Jenssen (Biosphere) were remarkably productive during the 90s and continued their prolific careers beyond that era. Their collaborative debut album, "Fires Of Ork," (officially unveiled on September 20, 1993) is now finally available on vinyl for the first time!All buyers who purchase a copy today on Bandcamp Friday (5th Apr 2024) will automatically take part in a raffle where you will have the chance to win a test pressing of Fires of Ork and several goodies.Also, all buye…

2024 stock. What Comes After introduced a new alliance with American bassist Barre Phillips whose freely creative arco playing is often the second lead voice (two of the compositions are also Barre’s). The unorthodox line-up includes contributions from powerhouse bass guitarist Sveinung Hovensjø, an important collaborator throughout the 70s (in the Odyssey band and other ensembles), and from classical oboist Erik Niord Larsen. Rypdal, Phillips and Christensen periodically played completely impro…

Mysterious, dramatic and alluring, Luminessence comes from a peak period in the creative association between Keith Jarrett and Jan Garbarek, recorded in 1974, immediately after their vibrant Belonging album. Here, Jarrett creates shimmering orchestral frameworks to spur Garbarek to some of his most concentrated, impassioned and expressive playing. “The melodies that Jarrett writes sound like Garbarek improvisations, so great is the rapport between the two men,” wrote Ian Carr in his  Keith Jarre…

LP issued to celebrate more European artists than ever before winning the annual “Downbeat” polls in 1969. On this release they all perform as a unit. Jazz giants from six European countries coalesce to play wide-open music. One of Norway’s greatest jazz singers, Karin Krog has worked and recorded with Jan Garbarek and Clare Fischer. English multi-saxophonist John Surman and Krog have jointly won two Norwegian Grammys. Surman has played with Mike Westbrook’s Orchestra and John McLaughlin, as wel…

Tip! "Belonging is a studio album by American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, recorded over two days in April 1974 and released on ECM later that year—the debut of Jarrett's "European Quartet", featuring saxophonist Jan Garbarek and rhythm section Palle Danielsson and Jon Christensen. Because Jarrett's contract with ABC/Impulse! prevented him from performing with the quartet under his own name, the group became known as the 'Belonging' quartet." - Wikipedia

Biosphere is the main recording name of Geir Jenssen, a Norwegian musician who has released a notable catalogue of ambient electronic music. He is well known for his works on ambient techno and arctic themed pieces, his use of music loops, and peculiar samples from sci-fi sources. His 1997 album Substrata was voted by the users of the Hyperreal website in 2001 as the best all-time classic ambient album. Inland Delta contains nine new musical pieces recorded from 2022 to 2023, featuring mainly im…

*2023 stock* "The Trondheim band’s third release marked them as weirdos to watch in 1993. An ambitious, eclectic double album, it saw them transition from a run-of-the-mill grunge outfit into progressive magpies willing to throw everything into the pot. Demon Box remains a curious, conflicted and contradictory affair, lurching almost randomly from creepy folk to pounding metal to the left-field sonics of then-member Deathprod. To love it requires strenuous effort, and the splurge of uninspired m…

*2023 stock* "Motorpsycho's Salad Days vol. 2 includes the following titles, with all artwork recreated by from the very best available original sources and the music remastered from the original tapes where these were available: Mountain EP; Another Ugly EP; Live at Blitz '93 (LP); Demon Box (2LP)."

Tip! *2023 stock* If there's one thing the fans have been craving for when it comes to catalogue re-issues, this is surely it. It's simply incomprehensible that early Motorpsycho releases (except Demon Box) haven't been available on vinyl since they first came out some 30 years ago.  Salad Days vol. 1 includes the following titles, with all artwork recreated by Håvard Gjelseth from the very best available original sources and the music remastered by Helge Sten from the original tapes where these…

*2023 reissue* Mark Richardson, Pitchfork: Biosphere's Geir Jenssen knows from cold. Residing as he does near the Arctic Circle in Norway, Jenssen understands the psychological implications of a sun that, like a lamented deadbeat parent, routinely disappears for months at a time, and the absence of that essential lifeforce takes an inevitable emotional toll that informs Jenssen's art. It's tempting to say that Biosphere's bleak music sounds as it does for the same reason countries of Norway's ap…

*2023 reissue* Early February 2011: Decided to make an album inspired by the Japanese post-war economic miracle. While searching for more information I found an old photo of the Mihama nuclear plant. The fact that this futuristic-looking plant was situated in such a beautiful spot so close to the sea made me curious. Are they safe when it comes to earthquakes and tsunamis? Further reading revealed that many of these plants are situated in earthquake-prone areas, some of them are even located nex…

This 4CD luxury set is the second installment in an ongoing series of Motorpsycho re-issues that started with Timothy´s Monster in 2010. In a 2011 poll Blissard (released in 1996) was voted the 25th best Norwegian album of all time by 100 Norwegian artists, making it the third most highly rated Motorpsycho album on the list after Timothy´s Monster (which came in at 13) and Demon Box (placed at 21). There's no doubt that Blissard is one of their most experimental and alien albums. As Tommy Olsson…

Angel’s Flight is the new album from highly-acclaimed producer and composer Biosphere. Ever since he debuted on Origo/Apollo with the groundbreaking ’Microgravity’, now thirty years ago, Geir Jenssen has been a major force in ambient techno, steadily building a catalogue that’s rivalled only by few. After three wonderful albums on Biophon (2018’s ’The Hilvarenbeek Recordings’, that has Jenssen samplng a broad palette of Dutch farm sounds is a total store favorite) the Norwegian maestro has now l…

Aghast was a project by Nebelhexe and Nacht, released in 1994. This album was released back then by the legendary Cold Meat Industry and is now presented in a great re-edition Vinyl by Eternal Pride. "Hexerei Im Zwielicht Der Finsternis" is the real dark and gloomy ambiance played in a classical dark wave vein. Minimalism in musical content, compensated by spooky and ice-cold vocals that will haunt you. Macabre enchantresses will seduce you and take you to their ghastly realm. Hear gods cry and …

Biosphere’s atmospheric 2005 ambient jazz lather returns, remastered and reissued on his Biophon label for those who may have slept on its deeply seductive charms. The bonus bits beautifully expand on its vibe with moments of windswept BoC-like melody and sublime alternate versions of album evergreens.  “Widely regarded as one of Norwegian electronic music's most important artists, Biosphere's [Geir Jenssen] career spans nearly two decades, several albums, lots of remixes, various sound installa…

The Senja Recordings is a collection of various outdoor recordings and studio improvisations recorded on the island of Senja, Arctic Norway, between 2015 and 2018. Boomkat: "Geir Jenssen yields a most Biosphere of Biosphere recordings with this new album recorded on a Norwegian island within the arctic circle. Leading on from recent years’ ‘Departed Glories’ and ‘Petrified Forest’, the 66 minute long and 17-track wide suite of ‘The Senja Recordings’ arguably amounts to the most significant Biosp…

**2019 stock** "So, a classic pairing: Side A is KK - Karin Krog and A Quite Place, a mega rare single she made with Don Ellis back in 1970. Don't even bother trying to find a real one. Sublime exotic vocal jazz.Side AA is MM - Mark Murphy and his cover of Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now, originally released on his This Must Be Earth LP (the only LP he made in the UK, with UK jazz dudes) that will eventually come out on Trunk but not yet. It's a really superb version of one of the best songs ever…