★Hapna
Djungelmusik Med Sang
Rüdiger Carl: accordion, clarinet; Sven-Åke Johansson: accordion, drums and voice. "Recorded 1997 at the book and record store Andra Böcker och Skivor in Stockholm. This CD featuring two of the most innovative improvisors in Europe is the first released recording of the duo since 1985. Carl and Johansson's music isn't tied to any genre, but instead flows freely over both known and unknown territories, in it's own unique way. Sound-wise, the CD has a special focus: every track on Djungelmusik med…
Tongue Tied
Oren Ambarchi and Johan Berthling are two masters of reducing music’s peak intensities to their root meaning. Oren’s early solo guitar works rendered this process with an instantly recognisable combination of sine wave throb and precisely controlled attack that has bloomed in maturity – concentrating the ecstatic potential of the guitar solo by folding it back on itself and stacking the points of greatest liminal intensity into waves of powerfully psychedelic excess while also encompassing …
A Cosmic Serenade
"The eagerly awaited follow-up to Drape Me in Velvet is here! In the making for quite some time it features a large cast of players and in the midst of it all Mr Musette himself - Joel Danell. This man has carved a niche for himself with a sound world merging both the most ancient and the newest of the new. Hip hop, polka, novelty music and sound tracks all go down in the blender. For each record Musette has deepened the colours and now he's at a point where he's so much his own that his …
Tongue
Oren Ambarchi and Johan Berthling are two masters of reducing music's peak intensities to their root meaning. Oren's early solo guitar works rendered this process with an instantly recognisable combination of sine wave throb and precisely controlled attack that has bloomed in maturity - concentrating the ecstatic potential of the guitar solo by folding it back on itself and stacking the points of greatest liminal intensity into waves of powerfully psychedelic excess while also encompassing…
Casino
The new album from alternative music veterans Tape marks their 14th year of activity. It's called Casinoand was recorded in the legendary atlantis studio in stockholm by engineer janne hansson in december 2013. The music of tape still continues it's growth, in it's own way, separated from the rest of the world in many ways. this time the emotional depth and interest in details are even stronger and clearer. the album has been mixed by andreas werliin and mastered by mell dettmer.
Papa's Ear
Japanese duo Tenniscoats have been running together for more than ten years. Running is the tempo you need to have to keep up with these guys: always touring, recording and working on new projects.Their music is all about catching the moment. Next time everything will sound different. They are true improvisors inside their own musical world. The music on this record adds a new facet to their universe. Deeper, more intense but with still visible signs of their trademark playfulness despite the fa…
Drape Me in Velvet
The starting point of Drape Me in Velvet was a large collection of cassettes and reel to reel tapes from the 1950s and 1960s, many inherited from relatives. During the three years the album was recorded on these tapes, they were treated and mistreated with tools and violence. New sounds and instruments were recorded over the older recordings. The tapes were mistreated again, scratched, wrinkled.Layer upon layer of melodies and tape memories were brought together to a whole where music for silent…
Sjunga Slutet Nu
Sjunga slutet nu (Sing the End Now), the new long-awaited project by Hans Appelqvist, consists of both an album and a film. The work is about the angst and silencing of death and the meeting with the final end. The film and album have the atmosphere of a fairy-tale that feels both natural and original, a world where talking levitating spheres seem as ordinary as man. In it, we meet Theodora, an elderly woman that lives in a lonely house by a lake somewhere in Sweden. We also meet her friends: th…
The state we are in
The first thing this CD reminded me of was Tape...then I checked out the press release and it turns out that Tape's Johan Berthling (also very recently sighted on that Fire! with Jim O'Rourke record) is in fact one-third of this band, the other two being Andreas Soderstrom (Ass) and Per Eklund on drums. It is, as you would expect, gently paced instrumental stuff, slightly pastoral-sounding, with intertwining guitars and a some subtle Hammond organ and trumpet bits. This is a mightily rel…
The Guitar
This is the first solo CD by Swedish guitarist David Stackenäs. The structure of the material builds on sketches, compositional ideas and improvisation. The refined form and development of the tracks makes an interesting contrast to the rawness and simplicity of the sound of the acoustic guitar.
s/t
Deconstructing the music we know as rock, just leaving the essentials - a chord, a phrase, a simple drum figure - and repeating it till something else appears... Swedish duo Sheriff works with limited material and creates a world of their own. The intimate recordings create a restrained atmosphere where every beat on the guitar strings and strike on the drums is heard and vital to the whole. Their use of repetition suggests a link to minimalist composition, but is totally outside the academic wo…
Orgelfärger
In the living room of a small house in Dalarna, the Swedish countryside, Sagor & Swing has recorded this timeless music evoking the surrounding landscape - the forests, mountains and lakes. Moody and simple melodies with echoes of old Swedish folk tunes and the nature in the paintings of John Bauer. Some years ago, Eric Malmberg was given an organ from legendary Swedish organplayer Bo Hansson, one half of the 70’s drums/organ duo Hansson & Karlsson. This organ was the very one used on Hansson’s …
Three Henries
Häpna is proud to announce the release of Three Henries, the new record by Chicago quartet Pillow. Raw, quiet and minimal music with attention to details and emphasis on the group as a collective. Their way of playing and creating structures carries elements of Morton Feldman, AMM and the flowing electronics of Microstoria.
Melodier och fåglar
Sagor & Swing is Eric Malmberg on Hammond organ and Ulf Möller on drums. This is the follow up to their debut album “Orgelfärger”, considered one of the most interesting records of last year by many Swedish critics. “Melodier och fåglar” (“Melodies and birds”) is minimal and timeless, naive and simple. Eric calls his melodies “Nothing music”. Something to listen to when you almost want it to be quiet. When you are so affected by the noise from the media that you no longer bear with real silence.…
Allt hänger samman
The myth of Sagor & Swing tells that they are children of nature that grew up in the forest. That they at an early age built their first instruments and isolated from the noise of civilization invented a music of their own. What we know for sure, however, is that they make wonderful organ music and have been doing this for some time now. This is their third album, “Allt hänger samman”. The woods have thickened. The melodies have become more intricate and the idyllic scenes now have a darker tone…
Arborvitae
Although this might have been released a while back (2003 to be exact!) this is the first time we've managed to get hold of some copies, and those of you who have tracked down Loren Connors' work before (or that of Gastr Del Sol man David Grubbs for that matter) should know just how essential 'Arborvitae' will be before you even hear it. Of course Connors is on guitar and we see Grubbs alternating between guitar and piano (mostly piano) but 'Arborvitae' doesn't just find both artists falling int…
Kolväteserenader
It happened in turns during five years; Patrik Torsson spent one month at sea and one month ashore. Six months on a tanker and six months at home every year. The month at sea as first mate on a product tanker included navigation and the handling of refined petroleum products. The free month at home was spent exclusively on making and developing music. After working like this in five years, Patrik decided to take a break from the sea. The free month was not worth the 84-hour weeks in the North an…
Orgelplaneten
Just half a year since “Allt hänger samman” and the fourth album from Sagor & Swing, “Orgelplaneten” (“The Organ Planet”) is here. The energy has been turned up quite a bit. This more energetic side of their sound has been showing a whole lot during their concerts, but this is the first time that it has been captured on record, as a document of how the duo have sounded live. It also stands out from their three earlier records by adding Moog and accordion to the usual setup of organ and drums. A …
Gästhamnar
The Swedish summer is the season that draws out the most joy of life and outdoor activities from the population, but it’s as much a form of preserving traditions that is rooted centuries back in time. The summer 2004 resembles in big parts the summer of 1938, 1956 or 1972. People make use of the light, the warmth and love to strengthen oneselves before the coming cold. The Midsummer pole is raised, the fresh potatoes are harvested and the cans of herring opened. Bathing places are filled with la…
Den gåtfulla människan
Eric Malmberg is something of an enigma. How he without apparent effort brings forth these timeless melodies we don’t know - only that the music is classic organ pop that aims straight for the heart. During the past years, he was the songwriter and organ player of Sagor & Swing. Soon after that band broke up, after four records, this productive musician started to sketch the main guidelines for a new solo album. A year later it's finished. An album made entirely on ORGAN and completely one man’s…