★Hapna
Rideau
This is the eagerly-awaited third album from the Stockholm-based trio of Tape, comprised of Andreas and Johan Berthling and Tomas Hallonsten. Gently exploring the soft realms of electro-acoustic sound, their world is located somewhere between experimental music and instrumental pop, and with this release, a new chapter has been written in the history of Tape. This album gives us a clearer structure, a sharper sound and the songs take more time to evolve. With Rideau, Tape shows that they are mas…
The History of Electronic Music
Häpna presents the book “The History of Electronic Music“ by Ronnie Sundin. Swede Ronnie Sundin (born 1973) has the last 15 years produced electronic and experimental music that has been released on labels Häpna, Ground Fault, Fällt and Antifrost. His latest release is on the Swedish label Komplott, the ”Amateur Hermetic” from 2006. He has been educated at the Art Academy in Umeå, Sweden. His book “The History of Electronic Music” is a subjective history book based upon his background as a music…
Verklighet & Beat
This is the second solo release from Sweden's Eric Malmberg, former songwriter and organist for the now-defunct Sagor & Swing. Featuring guest musicians such as Goran Kajfes, Lars Skoglund, Johan Berthling, Cecilia Österholm and legendary organist, Bo Hansson.
Tan-Tan Therapy
This is the seventh release for Tenniscoats, the Tokyo area-based husband and wife team of Saya and Takashi Ueno, and their first for the Häpna label. They are also members of the Japanese music collective Maher Shalal Hash Baz. On Tan-Tan Therapy, they distill the experiences of the last two years, when Tenniscoats and Tape (Andreas and Johan Berthling, Tomas Hallonsten) have socialized, toured together and exchanged musical ideas. The album gives a slightly new picture of Tenniscoats. Found he…
Jag Fick Feeling
This is the debut solo full-length release from Stockholm-based Anna Järvinen, former member of Sweden's Granada from 1998-2004. Granada released three albums and one EP on record labels such as Universal, V2 and Look Left Recordings, and were produced by Björn Olsson and Mattias Glavå, who also heavily contributed to this record. Jag Fick Feeling was recorded in the Kungssten industry area in Gothenburg during a rainy summer and cold winter with members of Dungen and The Works, amongst many oth…
Opera Plus
Opera Plus is a reissue of Tape's 2002 full-length debut Opera (HAPNA 009CD), with three new tracks taken from the original 2002 sessions. Tape are Johan Berthling, Andreas Berthling and Tomas Hallonsten: guitars, laptop, pedals, synthesizers, harmonium, melodica, field recordings, percussion, harmonica, zither, piano, flute, bells, glockenspiel, accordion, trumpet, paper, styrofoam, yongmei. As Stephan Mathieu wrote at the time of this release, "Tape's music lives at the intersection of a 21st …
Milieu plus
Milieu Plus is a reissue of Tape's 2003 second full-length, Milieu (HAPNA 014CD), with four new tracks taken from the original 2003 sessions. When this album first came out, it sounded like nothing else. Seemingly improvised but still so tenderly composed, it took cues from both the most gentle free jazz and Brian Eno's ideas of ambient music, but at the same time leaning against both Swedish folk music and broken pop balladry. Milieu -- together with its forerunner Opera -- became something of …
Luminarium
This is the eagerly-awaited fourth album from the Stockholm-based trio of Tape, comprised of Andreas and Johan Berthling and Tomas Hallonsten. Taking cues both from pop, experimentalism and minimalism, Tape's sound has become recognized internationally and is clearly unique. Their first album Opera was released on the Häpna imprint (Johan is a co-owner) in 2002. Working intuitively, all by themselves, they created mini-symphonies out of electronic sounds paired with a stunning melodic lyricism. …
On Tape
Stephan started building this piece from recordings provided to him by Swedish trio Tape and saxophonist Magnus Granberg. Adding his own subtle drumming, field recordings and a focus on reworking the sound material exclusively with classic editing techniques this is a beautiful album that weaves elements from the electronic and acoustic worlds to a seamless whole. A very clear and uncomplicated atmosphere around this piece distinguishes it from a lot of electronic music.
A Taste of Ra II
 The mysterious pseudonym remains, in this, the second release in the Taste of Ra trilogy. The accompanying information describes the music as such: "When your ears are gates and they're wide open. Levels of sound will chase you down, collide, kiss and fight. In the yard that you now found; The past will meet the present, you're paying past with present. When you finally hear her voice that makes you leave your body behind and meet as gods...Sound will evolve and something that was once heard…
Morning of My Life
This is the third and final album in the A Taste of Ra trilogy. Nicolai Dunger, and the cloak of mystery behind the Taste of Ra project has captivated many with its various incarnations of free-folk meanderings, Tim Buckley jazz-howl and Swedish pastoral indie-hum. Dunger describes Morning of My Life as follows: "When we moved to the tent and the light was golden and we were young, and the magazine was all there was to bring, and you woke in the night when the birds were singing just for you and…
Naima
This is the third full-length release for Sweden's Hans Appelqvist, after two previous release on the Komplott label. Naima is an entity who in different ways is present to the persons on the album. Sometimes she interferes with their lives and speaks directly to them, sometimes her presence is only communicated through her musical theme, "Naimamelodin" (Naima's melody). Somewhat pretentiously expressed, the album is an answer to a longing for more fixed references. In 2004, Hans Appelqvist rele…
Between Neck & Stomach
This is Italy-based Andrea Belfi's second full-length release. Belfi is the drummer of Rosolina Mar and is a member of Medves along with Giuseppe Ielasi, Stefano Pilia, Renato Rinaldi and Riccardo Wanke. In 2002, Belfi embarked on a vast project, which, in time, would become Between Neck & Stomach. The first recordings took place at Valerio Tricoli's (member of 3/4HadBeenEliminated) house in Bologna. Between Neck & Stomach is grounded on two core elements: the first is the material collected du…
Ridge of undulation
New release from Japanese Toshiya Tsunoda who was the first artist to be released on Häpna in 1999. This household name in the art of fieldrecordings has produced a discography of highly sublime recordings capturing the finest details of sound, and Ridge of Undulation is no exception. This new work is exploring sonic phenomena of very different magnitudes, from roaring waves at sea to experiments with high frequency sine waves and vibrating objects. Piezoceramic sensors were placed on the object…
Free pulse
Sinistri, formerly known as Starfuckers, is an experimental music unit based in Italy. Starting from an original, raw, minimal and high power approach to the rock language, they soon developed a personal direction exploring the space between proto-punk, black roots and contemporary classical music. Sinistri is a trio who uses electric, electronic and acoustic instruments, operating under the principles of intuitive music, exploiting asyncrony and non-metrical rhythms. Sinistri's music comes out …
Djungelmusik med sang
This is a CD of field recordings by the Japanese artist Toshiya Tsunoda. Microphones were placed inside small objects (e.g. bottles and drain hoses) located outdoors - either in an urban or rural sound environment. The work of Toshiya Tsunoda is concerned with the relation between sound space and cognition space, and often investigates stationary waves formed by fixed conditions in closed systems. He has previously released CDs on the WrK (Japan) and Selektion (Germany) labels. He also works wit…
Morphei
Morphei is a soundtrack to a dream. A nighty-night record designed to make you WAKE UP and listen! Inspired by that in between state of wake and dreaming, when you’re not quite sure whether you’re asleep or not, this record presents a stream of realities seamlessly floating into each other, layers of events of acoustic and digital nature mingle; hear the Light-switch singing a duet with the Feedback-mixer, traces of Scandinavian wildlife intertwine with a tropical forest of digital insects, or h…
Get off
This is the fourth solo album from groundbreaking sound artist Pita (real name Peter Rehberg). His previous solo albums as Pita (all on the Mego label) have all been landmarks in electronic music. His sound ranges from furious to minimalistic, but always with the same uncompromising attitude. To be true to ones ideas when trends come and go is something admirable in every artist. 'Get Off' is his most varied album to date. 'Get Off' was made over a two-year period, with most of the material orig…
My days are darker than your nights
“Pure drone bliss on offer here from the prolific Australian guitar experimentalist Oren Ambarchi (whom you may already know) and Swedish musician Johan Berthling (a less familiar name -- he's brother to Andreas Berthling,and with him a member of the field recordings group Tape, who are also to be found on Hapna). These two got together in a studio in Stockholm last year with the intent to drone, and drone they did, Ambarchi on electric guitar and Berthling playing the harmonium. They recorded w…
Amazing daze
Marcus Schmickler is internationally well known in heterogeneous contexts of contemporary music. He is closely associated with the a-Musik label and over the last years he has worked in different fields of electronic, instrumental, improvised, experimental and new music. His latest releases feature choir and chamber music pieces, a new computer music composition as well as a new release under the banner of Pluramon with Julee Cruise. His continuous collaborations feature settings with analogue s…