Eyes on your instruments

Every Word Was Once An Animal

the silent reader — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Our new 12" split record is out now... and available in the Alog Shop!

Some early reviews:

Boomkat writes: "for Fat cat they've handed over a total game-changer, a mindblowing piece of Afro-cosmic disco that sounds like a cross between the Animal Collective, Ike Release, and Tony Allen - except even better then that sounds. Perhaps spurred by fellow Norwegians Lindstrom and Prins Thomas, over 12 minutes 'Every Word Was Once An Animal' trip centres around hypnotically slow-pulsing rhythms with fluid guitar trickling beneath noisy electronic textures and Nicholas H. Møllehaug's vocal incantations lending a primally meditative feel with hints of free-roaming Krautrock. It's just an untouchable slice of cross-platform genius and we just cant get enough of it."

Julian at Address Drudion writes: "Finally, Vinyl of Month must surely go to the split LP from Norway’s Alog and England’s Astral Social Club, whose epic and dyslexic electro-meditations have created a bizarre throwback of the kind released on ye hoary 12” single format throughout the early ‘80s (via Rough Trade, natch!). Released on Fat Cat Records (www.fat-cat.co.uk), side one showcases a single 13-minute-long Alog track that sounds like Psychic TV attempting to perform live over a multi-voiced mash-up of Talking Heads’ ‘I Zimbra’, while late period DAF records jam (and skip) in the background. On side two, Astral Social Club’s three tracks merge perfectly into each other, creating a single seamless ever-becoming electro-acoustic meditation somewhere between the charming Sears Windfarm experiment and pure Cabaret Voltaire/Chrome noise music. Both sides of this epic voyage are real headcleaners of the toppest kwoll, so cop a full load if you need to blast your synapses W I D E open!"

Foxy digitalis Drum machine taps a hi-hat splatter that is soon connected to a hollow wooden percussive motion that twists an engrossing rhythm. Bounding intently, the sound is reminiscent of what you frequently find on the Rune Grammofon label (previously home to Alog). Some short chants are layered as other organic sounds are bound with digital precision in a jumble of beats and loops. Low piano sits unusually as the vocals double with cutting brevity. This is a head spin of a track hypnotizing the listener to cyclical distraction. Elastic bass appears as layers dissolve into one another and a swirling metal cuts a rhythm. The sound shifts with the eloquence of an elongated DJ fade – (elements evolving matched by beats). The drum machine gains prominence once more, and then the vocals chant forth with purpose and speed. The pace slows with psych guitar and electronics, which veer off the electronica/techno radar, and into an interesting dissonance. Vocals once again ascend with rolling repetition. All bubble with determination which then fades in reverb. Two A’s for this project and a hands-up for fried acid techno, psych blended mayhem! 8/10 --

FatCat Split#20

ropeedge — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Our new vinyl-record on English label FatCat Records with Astral Social Club.
Release-date is 9 November, but it can be pre-ordered here.

Photo by Kerstin Greborn

the Concertinome

the silent reader — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000

The Concertinome is a custom made instrument combining the concertina accordion with the monome style keyboard and electronic air pressure sensors. It was made by Espen Sommer Eide 2009 and demonstrated in this concert at Visningsrommet USF, Bergen, Norway.

Two phonophani concerts

the silent reader — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Two mini-concerts this summer demonstrating the new custom built instrument by Sommer Eide: the Concertinome. More info about this soon!
25. july 09
Phonophani, the Nord Land, Sørfinset
17. july 09
Phonophani, c/o Visningsrommet, Bergen

Alog by Night, Tokyo

the silent reader — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Bergen Elektroniske Travpark

the silent reader — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Bergen Electronic Racecourse was the opening event at the 2009 borealis festival i Bergen, Norway. It took place at the local horseracing course and was curated by Espen Sommer Eide and Alwynne Pritchard. In this clip you can experience one of the acts improvising to a choreographed horse race.

The band:
John Hegre (Jazzkammer), bass steel guitar
Espen Sommer Eide (Phonophani, Alog), elecronics and race-choreography
Chris Rune "Noiseboy" Olsen, trot-generator and noise Amund Sjølie Sveen, drums

Phonophani live at Bergen Travpark

the silent reader — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

24. march: Phonophani will play a piece for horses at the local racetrack, collaborating with John Hegre, Amund Sjølie Sveen, POW and Noise-Boy. It`s the opening night of the Borealis festival. Be there at 18.45 - More info at www.borealisfestival.no

Alog and Phonophani on Spotify

the silent reader — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Spotify has recently included the entire Rune Grammofon catalogue. On the Spot spotify-blog have made a nice playlist including some alog and phonophani albums.

Alog live at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte, Madrid

ropeedge — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Alog live at Urbaines festvial

the silent reader — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Photos by Nelly Rodriguez and David Wollschlage

Red Shift Swing on wall

the silent reader — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Money will ruin everything 2

the silent reader — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

It´s been a long, long time but finally it´s here. Originally planned as an update and slightly revised edition of the long deleted 2cd / book of the same name released in 2003 to celebrate 5 years of Rune Grammofon, this has now turned into a completely new and absolutely gorgeous book, quite simply a must have. Completely redisigned and improved with all new art from Kim Hiorthøy, more pages, slightly bigger and with 4 different types of paper, it features graphic works, photos, video stills, used and unused sleeve art, complete discography and more. The essays on the musical and visual profiles of the label from the first book are included, as is the original interview Kim did with label founder Rune Kristoffersen in 2003. New to this edition is a new interview as well as forewords by Rough Trade founder Geoff Travis and David Fricke, senior editor at Rolling Stone magazine.

Alog contributes one track to the compilation, a live collaboration with Spunk called "Picnic avec", and Phonophani is represented with a track called "the Atlantic".

Link

Karusell

the silent reader — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The devils playground

ALOG / JANA WINDEREN / ALEXANDER RISHAUG & MARIUS WATZ LIVE IN JAPAN

the silent reader — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

ALOG
JANA WINDEREN
ALEXANDER RISHAUG & MARIUS WATZ

LIVE at AD & A Gallery, OSAKA 22.10 – 07.30 pm

Link: http://adanda.jp/workshop/maxmsp/2008/09/elextra-sound-art-from-norway-concert.html

/- - - - - - - - //- - - - - - - - - -///

ALOG
JANA WINDEREN
ALEXANDER RISHAUG & MARIUS WATZ
+ secret guests

LIVE at Superdeluxe, Tokyo 24.10 – 08.00 pm

Link: http://www.super-deluxe.com/#Norwegian%20Music

- - - - /// - - - - - - - - - / - - - - -

The tour is supported by The Royal Norwegian Embassy, Tokyo and MIC/UD.

Booked and organized by Tetsuro Yasunaga.

Autumn Dates

the silent reader — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0000

In a couple of weeks (all dates below) Espen Sommer Eide (Phonophani, Alog) will appear for a special project at the "Tabularasa" room of the Manifesta Exhibition in Bolzano, Italy. At the table I will "refurbish" and "reconstruct" old italian vinyl records to become instruments. A picture of a prototype can be seen below - And in the end there will be a mini-concert with the newly built instruments. If you are in the area at the time please bring your old records to be transformed (you even get to bring the finished instrument back home with you)!

The big ALOG project for the autumn is our first tour of Japan in October. Having done only large scale shows the past year with 3-6 people on stage and a ton of custom made instruments to carry around it will be interesting to go back to doing some intimate duo-shows again. In Japan we team up with Alexander Rishaug/Marius Watz and Jana Winderen. The exact dates and venues are not set yet, but we expect to visit Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo. Also we will visit London for a special concert in the woods together with the Owlproject (www.owlproject.com).

Here are all the dates, and hope to see you there!

12. Sep. 08 Phonophani, Manifesta, Bolzano, Italy
2. Oct. 08 Alog, Concrete and Glass, London
14. Oct. 08 Alog Stimul Festival, Prague
22. Oct. 08 Alog, (tba) Japan
23. Oct. 08 Alog, (tba) Japan
24. Oct. 08 Alog, (tba) Japan
25. Oct. 08 Alog, (tba) Japan
8. Nov. 08 Phonophani, Toulouse, France
11. Nov. 08 Phonophani, Perpignan, France
6. Dec. 08 Alog, Urbaines Festival, Lausanne, Switzerland

Prototype v.0.2: The Player Record

the silent reader — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Building Instruments - prototype

the silent reader — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Downloading Alog and Phonophani MP3s

the silent reader — Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Tip of the day: If you´d like to download our songs instead of ordering them in physical formats from our webshop, we suggest you use Musiconline, an online store in Norway. They might be a bit more expensive than iTunes, but you get the tracks DRM-free in MP3 format. Links here to their alog and phonophani catalogue.

Phonophani live at Krypten

the silent reader — Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Photo by KAO

Alog dates

the silent reader — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Here are some dates for the summer:

31.May.08 Landmark Bergen, Norway
06.Jul.08 Expo Zaragoza, Spain
19.Jul.08 Jazzjuice Aarhus, Denmark

Hope to see you there!

Slåttberg

the silent reader — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

A preview of a custom built musical instrument by Espen Sommer Eide, artist and member of Alog and Phonophani. The Slåttberg will premiere at the Borealis Festival for contemporary music Bergen, Norway late february 2008.

Amateur nominated for Spellemann - Norwegian Grammy

the silent reader — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The alog album "Amateur" is nominated for a Spellemann award (Norwegian Grammy) to be decided on the 2. February. http://spellemann.no/

Alog Live at Museo Reina Sofia Madrid

the silent reader — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0000

New live dates

the silent reader — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Some new dates have been added to our autumn schedule, including a surprise phonophani performance in Geneva this Wednesday.

04.-08.12.07 alog, Madeira (Dig Festival), Portugal
20.10.07 alog, Amsterdam (Bimhuis), Netherlands
14.-15.9.07 alog, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte, Madrid
6.10.07 phonophani w. Marius Watz, microscope session, Dresden, Germany
5.09.07 phonophani, Geneva, Switzerland

Alog - Son of King

the silent reader — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Alog´s newest music video. From their album Amateur. The video is made by moscow-based painter/director Julia Zastava, and was shot in the old palace of the Orlov family. The video is inspired by the murder of the russian Tsar and his family in 1918.

Click here to see the video now! (flash 8).

Also available in larger sized Quicktime and on YouTube.

Double LP now available

the silent reader — Tue, 22 May 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Finally the double vinyl edition of Amateur has arrived! Each of the four sides can be heard as a standalone musical work. Engraved with DMM quality sound made from high quality mastering by Helge Sten and enveloped by a gatefold cover designed by Kim Hiorthøy - this is how the album was intended to be heard and seen! Click on the alogshop link and place your order.

ALOG - AMATEUR

the silent reader — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0000

CD and double LP gatefold release date: 23.04.2007

Tracklist
Side A
son of king
a throne for the common man
write your thoughts in water
Side B
sleeping instruments
the beginner
the learning curve
Side C
turn back. undo
a book of lightning
the future of norwegian wood
exit virtuoso
Side D
bedlam emblem
the northeast passage

Order Amateur here
More info here

Sonus barentsicus

the silent reader — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 00:00:00 +0000

A video from the sound installation at the Northern Lights Festival by Phonophani

Madeira photos

the silent reader — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Here are some flikcr photos from the Generator X concert with phonophani on Madeira:

Generator X Madeira

the silent reader — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Phonophani will play as part of a Generator X evening on Madeira 8. december. More info at madeiradig

Phonophani at Nordlysfestivalen

the silent reader — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Phonophani has been commisioned to make an opening piece for the Nordlys festival in Tromsø, Norway. It will be performed live 22. january 2007 outdoors in the snowstorm, and is a quadrophonic piece called "The electronic campfire".

Also during the festival an audio installation will be on display at Kulturhuset. It will be based on contributions by anyone using their mobile phones as a recording device. So call the no. +47 934 333 66 and leave your favorite sound now!

more info at nordlysfestivalen.no

Jukebox Buddha

the silent reader — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Alogs remix of the FM3 buddha machine has arrived.

"On "Jukebox Buddha", the first chapter of Buddha version, disciples of many levels stretch, compress, reconfigure, rub and dust, fuck around with the nine floating loops clipped out from FM3's confrontational world of quiet."

Listen to it:
a dragon lies listening

www.staubgold.com

order from dotshop.se

A quickjump

ropeedge — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 00:00:00 +0000

to the Alog liveset/interview on WFMU aired Monday 06/09/18

http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/20442

Alog live on WFMU

the silent reader — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Upcoming Special Programs on WFMU

Alog
Monday, September 18th, Midnight - 3am
on Hatch's show
With compositions that utilize laptop computers, electric guitar, tape loops, samples, field recordings and a wide variety of acoustic and electronic instruments, this duo defies easy categorization. Earlier this year Alog won the Spellemannprisen -- Norway's most prestigious music award -- for their third release on the eminent Rune Grammofon label. Fresh off their first stateside tour, Espen (a.k.a Phonophani) and Dag-Are will pay a visit to the WFMU studios for an exclusive live performance and interview.

www.wfmu.org

If you are not tuned into the live stream, you can listen to it in the archives tomorrow.

Alog will play in Tromsø

ropeedge — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 00:00:00 +0000

at the Insomnia festival
We will do a concert October 12th

insomnia on myspace

Just Recording

the silent reader — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Alog EN/OF album release is out now, titled: "Just Recording". 7 tracks, 3 of them pre-released on the "Catch that Totem!" collection.

It comes together with an edition by visual artist Anri Sala, 2 photos of little plants trying to survive in a seemingly arid area of a park in Cuba. It was started as a print project for Tema Celeste magazine, and these 2 edited images are now published, each in an edition of 50, under the title Study For A Sad Public Park.

A limited edition of 100 copies. There are very few copies left for sale (we were lucky to get hold of some ourselves!), so contact us soon if you are interested in getting hold of one.

Secret Flash

the silent reader — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0000

We recently received this great video made by russian artist Julia Zastava to the music of "Your Secret Flesh" from Alogs Duck-Rabbit album. Enjoy!

Phonophani debut re-released

the silent reader — Sun, 21 May 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Finally phonophani´s debut album is available again! Originally released on Geir "Biosphere" Jenssens Biophon label in 1998 in 500 copies, it is now re-released on Rune Grammofon. It also contains three bonus tracks made during the same period.

"After buying my first sampler in 1996 the second track I made was called 'I.F.A' (the first was 'No Strangeclock' also on the album). I played it to Geir Jenssen one night in Tromsø, and he surprisingly told me that if I made 9 more he would start a record label and release it. The release became the start of my career in music. This was all in all a special period of my life, which luckily was 100% captured on this disc."
- Espen Sommer Eide

The album is available for order on our shop page.

"Imagine the score to Forbidden Planet with its deliciously subtle creepiness and timelessness, aligned with a beautiful solemnity. How ideal is that?" - Other Music

"I dare you to listen to this and not have to wrap your brain around the fact that Eide was pulling this shit in 1998, because what is most amazing is how acutely this record eerily anticipates many of the prominent trends that would become so popular with electronic music between 2000 and 2002." - Cokemachineglow.com

Alog US mini tour

the silent reader — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Alog for the first time in the US. Don´t miss the following us shows in august!

12.08.06
San Francisco Electronic Music Festival
15.08.06
Portland (tba)
17.08.06
the Empty Bottle Chicago
19.08.06
Mills Gallery Boston
21.08.06
Tonic New York

also confirmed:

20.10.06
alog Dispatch Festival Belgrade

Generator X snapshots

the silent reader — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Here are some snapshots from the generator x tour which have been great so far!

Frank Bretschneider:

Emi Maeda & Lia:

Espen Sommer Eide & Marius Watz:

Phonophani tour

the silent reader — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Soon starts the Phonophani norwegian tour as part of the concept 'Generator X'. The dates are as follows:

20.04.06: Trondheim. Blæst
21.04.06: Oslo. Blå
22.04.06: Fredrikstad. St. Croix Huset
26.04.06: Bergen. Landmark
27.04.06: Tromsø. Kaos
28.04.06: Drammen. Union Scene
29.04.06: Stavanger. Tou Scene

For more information visit rikskonsertene

Phonophani will cooperate with video artist Marius Watz. The rest of the line up is:
Frank bretschneider (GER), Lia (AUT) and emi maeda (JPN).

Edinburgh dialogues

the silent reader — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Some students at the media institute in Edinburgh made this documentary from the dialogues 2006 festival in Edinburgh which also includes a short clip from the alog performance and interview.

dialogues 2006

Islands of Memory EP

the silent reader — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Alog on 12" vinyl.
Release date: 23. february
Order it now!
Info...

Also available for order is the long lost solo album of Dag-Are Haugan - 9 Solitaires.

Post awakening sound

the silent reader — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Phonophani has a new track out for free download, as part of the internet compilation "post awakening sound". Visit and download here.

Catch that review

the silent reader — Mon, 20 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Some reviews we have collected for the "Catch that totem!" album:

pitchfork

the wire (transcript) stylusmagazine

themilkfactory - indieworkshop

rarefrequency - soundvenue

aftenposten (norwegian) bergenstidende (norwegian)

groove.no (norwegian) panorama (norwegian)

the trap door

the silent reader — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0000

I was searching for something in the basement, when I suddenly fell into a trap door, and for a minute I heard this special music.

Spellemann won!

the silent reader — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0000

We were happy to pick up a spellemann award (norwegian Grammy) on Saturday 28. january for our Miniatures album. We wish to thank all the people who have sent us gratulations since then!

New year's resolutions

the silent reader — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0000

So what is coming up this winter from the alog camp?

Two vinyl releases will bring alog back to their vinyl roots. First up is a long lost EP called "Islands of Memory" that was recorded the summer of 1999 in Malmø, Sweden. It was scheduled for release around the time of our "Duck-Rabbit" CD for Rune Grammofon. But due to unknown problems at the vinyl plant it never saw the light of day, and was lost boiling in the vinyl cauldron somewhere in Switzerland. This autumn we suddenly got a mail from Swiss record label Creaked that the original master had been found by chance in a messy office in Lausanne, hidden under stacks of papers and cds. They where shocked to hear that it hadn´t been released yet! So finally it is now ready after so many years of maturing (...or the world is possibly ready for it). It is covered in beautiful design from Big Magnus at Grandpeople (also responisble for the Catch that Totem design). Releasedate: february

Next up is the release on EN/OF label of our "Just Recording" album, which features all new tracks (except a few tracks previewed on the Totem compliation). Visual artist Anri Sala from Albania will do the cover artwork. Releasedate: tba

A few concerts will coincide with these releases. Confirmed is Malaga, Spain on the 17. february.

Phonophani will participate on a tour of Norway called "Generator X" together with other musicians and video artists in april. Around that time the self-titled debut album of Phonophani, released in 1998 on biophon records and long since deleted, will be rereleased on rune grammofon with extra material from this period. More information to come...

Rumors about the making of a follow-up album to last years Miniatures has also been heard around here lately, but is yet to be confirmed...

Spellemann nomination

the silent reader — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Alog - Miniatures was nominated today for a Spellemann award (Norwegian Grammys). Check it out on www.ifpi.no/spellemann/. The winners will be announced on the 28. january.

Pieter's picture

the silent reader — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0000

The photographer Pieter Kers shot this action live picture at our gig at the Impakt festival:

Vote for Alog

the silent reader — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0000

As we were recently nominated for the "alarmprisen" awards (norwegian grammys), we would urge all to give us their vote!

Go to alarmprisen.no, enter the "frimusikk" category, and click Alog.

Alog - Live@impakt 9nov2005

the silent reader — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Some guys at meer-tv recorded this short clip from yesterdays concert in Utrecht, Netherlands.

Catch it

the silent reader — Thu, 24 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0000

We are happy to announce that our new cd just arrived! It´s called "Catch that totem! (1998-2005)" and feature a selection of songs from our archive of unreleased and hard-to-find material. It was collected in co-operation with the record label Melektronikk (known for their Safe-as-Milk festival). Here´s what they have to say:

"Over a cup of coffee and a slice of cake we decided together with Alog to make a compilation album with the broadest possible scope: An album featuring unreleased tracks from before their first release, unavailable tracks from EPs, a couple of remixes and brand new tracks that has never been released. Alog carefully selected their favourites from the extensive Alog archive and sent it to us. We listened gleefully to everything we received. After long discussions and great uncertainty we are proud to present these thirteen tracks as our common favourites: The best of Alog's unreleased and hard to find material according to themselves and two of their biggest fans."

The artwork was made by our local (Bergen) heroes Grandpeople and is a deluxe 12 page booklet with liner notes from us and some explosive design (for some reason the words "Evil", "Chewing gum", "Japanese manga", "Black Metal" and "Summer" was mentioned during our discussions with the designers).

The cd will be in stores on the 28. november. It can be ordered online now from our alogshop if you have a paypal account. If you do not have a paypal account it can also be ordered from dotshop.se

Some dates

the silent reader — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Some live dates has been added to our calendar. More dates will be confirmed soon for the alog december tour in Europe.

10.12.05
alog kc netwerk, Aalst, Belgium
08.12.05
alog Impakt festival, Utrecht, Netherlands
05.12.05
alog Dublin
03.12.05
alog Sheune, Dresden
02.12.05
alog Im Ausland, Berlin

Catch that totem! Release date: 28. november

the silent reader — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Our new collection of odd material from past and present is scheduled for release 28. november. More info at melektronikk

Catch that totem! (1998-2005)

andreas meland remixed by phonophani

the silent reader — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Release date : 20. May 2005

The second release in Enlightenments series of 3" CDs presenting the finest in adventurous leftfield music. The disc features 4 tracks of sparkling sweet Meland music and a remix by Phonophani.

About Andreas Meland:

Andreas Meland has been active in the norwegian experimental music scene through a number of years with numerous memorable concerts in Norway and abroad, and a string of limited edition releases. In addition to this he is a hyperactive concert and festival organiser and also runs his own label Melektronikk. His music has been applauded for it's generous complexity and tasteful mix of warm, layered acoustic drones and electronics. Andreas is also a member of the trio düplo and the duos Sort Mel and Bokfink (with Dag-Are Haugan of Alog fame). He has also collaborated with Lasse Marhaug, Alexander Rishaug, Fe-mail, Low Frequency in Stereo and many more.

About Enlightenment:

Is a young, label for adventurous music and art, made by nice people. Deaf Leoppard is the Second in a series of 3? CDs, presenting the very finest experimental music we know. Enlightenment is currently run from the small town of Trondheim, Norway.

www.enlightenment.no

Electronic Campfire at Ronchamp

the silent reader — Tue, 31 May 2005 00:00:00 +0000

3. june - Phonophanis "feu de camp électronique" performed live at Ronchamp Chapel, France.

Celebrating the UNESCO status of the famous chapel, phonophani will compose and perform a special piece based on the ideas and techniques of architecht Le Corbusier and his collaborator Iannis Xenakis. It will be performed in quadrophony outside the chapel and also diffused on a 24 loudspeaker acousmonium inside the building.

The title "feu de camp électronique" is a rephrasing of Edgar Vareses title "Poème électronique", made for Le Corbusiers and Xenakis´ Philips Pavillon. A campfire is a piece of virtual architecture which creates a sense of home, but with invisible walls, to the people that is sitting around it. Phonophanis electronic campfire will light up outside the Ronchamp chapel, at 20.30h on 3. june.

It will also be aired live on French radio station France Culture.

wieland/phonophani: ten commandments

the silent reader — Thu, 12 May 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Coreographer Johannes Wielands latest piece "Die zehn Gebote" featuring original music by Phonophani will premiere on May 20. at Staatstheater Oldenburg, Germany.

tour additions

the silent reader — Thu, 05 May 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Some last minute additions to the second leg of our östersjö tour:

13.5 Malmö (Starfield Simulations - Rosseum)
14.5 Göteborg (Nefertiti)
15.5 Oslo (Dans for Voksne, Chateau Neuf)

Welcome!

live at Moscow Dom

Alog - Östersjö tour

the silent reader — Mon, 04 Apr 2005 00:00:00 +0000

The Alog Östersjö tour starts later this month.

Charm of Sound, Helsinki: 21/4
lumo.anoema.com

SKIF Festival, St.Petersburg: 24/4

DOM Cultural Center, Moskva: 27/4

Ugglan, Stockholm: 28/4

Nefertiti, Gøteborg: 14/5

... more details to come

refractions

the silent reader — Tue, 08 Mar 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Italian label Disasters By Choice celebrates their 10th aniversary by releasing an album where various artists work on their back catalogue. Included is Alogs "Song sung inwardly (slow motion reconstructed)". Release date: 15. march.

bollyfoni

the silent reader — Tue, 08 Mar 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Phonophani has composed and will perform a bollyfoni at this years Borealis festival in Bergen together with Sigbjørn Apeland on organ. 18. march on Landmark, combining the wonderous world of bollywood dance scenes with electronic music, an homage to the greatest bollywood director: V.Shantaram and his music director-duo Laxmikant Pyrelal.

some more reviews

the silent reader — Tue, 08 Mar 2005 00:00:00 +0000

"It's music that sounds like a group of amnesiacs had awoken from a deep slumber in a room full of old instruments and were slowly tentatively reacquainting themselves with their possible musical functions."
- David Stubbs, the Wire

"At this late hour, when the clichés of music software have been completely internalized and we're satisfied with marginally fresh reconfigurations of the past, it's an accomplishment to make a record and have your audience wonder exactly what's happening and how it was put together. Each Alog track is its own small world with its own internal logic, and Miniatures collects nine good ones without a single dud. An excellent record."
- Mark Richardson, pitchforkmedia

"You feel yourself twisting and turning with each new track, your mind somehow in tune with the music like lunar tides."
- jake haselman, indieworkshop

ALOG MINIATURES

the silent reader — Fri, 14 Jan 2005 00:00:00 +0000

Out now! Order from rune grammofon. Go to discography page for sound clips.
Norwegian newspaper-reviews:
Dagsavisen 5/6
Dagbladet 5/6
Bergens Tidende 6/6
Aftenposten 4/6

Upcoming album/release concert

avantdagare — Sun, 21 Nov 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Rune Grammofon will release the new album by Alog; "Miniatures" on january 22.
[Updated] The release-concert will be at Kamelon (a newly opened place close to "Banco Rotto") at the same date in Bergen together with Alogs girlfriend Spunk.

The End of Summer

the silent reader — Tue, 27 Jul 2004 00:00:00 +0000

We have just returned from our summer in our home town of Tromsø. Thanks to the great spirit of the people there and nature of the place we made great progress towards the two upcoming alog releases. The first to be released on the safe-as-milk label melektronikk is finished and in the print, and will be out in september if all goes well. It will feature 5 previously released tracks from various odd circumstances and 7 previously unreleased tracks from the alogic archives dating back to the time before duck-rabbit. More info to follow soon! The second all new album on rune grammofon has no definite release date yet.

[UPDATE: The melektronikk-album is posponed until summer 2005, and the rune grammofon album will be released in january 2005]

Espens solo project phonophani is soon to release the follow-up to genetic engineering, out in en end of august on rune grammofon, titled "oak or rock". More about that soon as well!

As for live appearances a couple of them coming up as well: Alog will play live at Blå, Oslo on the 21. august and Landmark, Bergen 22. augut.

Phonophani will first play on the first ever (and maybe last) lokofon in Kirkenes, Norway on the border of russia. More info on ruralreaders. Trying to save the northermost railroadtrack in the world! The date is the 5. september.

Next Phonophani and choreographer Johannes Wieland will air their new collaboration at the Diane von Furstenberg stage in New York 7.-10. October.

Building Instruments

the silent reader — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Click the link below to view a short clip from the making of the upcoming new Alog album. The film documents an improvisation-session at Sibjørn Apelands office at the Grieg Academy in Bergen. In addition to Sigbjørn (mostly on harmonium), Nikko also appears on various instruments and premiers his unique singing-into-horn technique! Espen practices playing-the-guitar-while-walking in addition to the turn-tableism from the vinyl-library in the room next door, while Dag-Ares autistic playing style blurs the border between his body and his instrument!

http://www.alog.net/soundclips/griegacademy.mov

Phonophani in London

the silent reader — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Just in: Phonophani will play a surprise concert at Fredriks Wonderful evening in London thursday 11. november. The place: dreambasjaguarshoes, www.dreambagsjaguarshoes.com/ (not gallery 17 as prev. announced!), the time 1900. More info to follow...

New phonophani album out now

the silent reader — Wed, 01 Sep 2004 00:00:00 +0000

RCD 2039 Phonophani: Oak or Rock

This is the third Phonophani album, the second for Rune Grammofon.

"The title Oak or Rock refers to mysterious connections between material things, and the album is all about rediscovering the great mystery of music. Through dissecting the sound of ordinary or ?real? instruments such as cello, vibraphone, guitars, trumpets and the human voice and dissolving melodies into their elementary particles, Espen Sommer Eide seeks to excavate the ur-music itself. Instruments are often sampled and manipulated using software designed and made by himself, being a keen programmer who prefers this to the so-called industry standards, giving the album a personal and unique sound. Maja Ratkje and Nicholas H. Møllerhaug have also contributed with voice and cello on oak or rock."

visit: phonophani
order: runegrammofon

a pair of ravens

the silent reader — Wed, 02 Jun 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Here is a clip from the recent alog-david grubbs collaboration at the Random System Festival called a pair of ravens

Live at kvarteret

the silent reader — Sat, 29 May 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Phonophani will make a short live appearance at the student radio festival at Kvarteret, Bergen 29.5. Watch out for the special guest!

Alog with David Grubbs

the silent reader — Tue, 20 Apr 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Live at the random system festival

The art of tuning

the silent reader — Sat, 03 Apr 2004 00:00:00 +0000

After a very special meeting with composer and tuning-expert Ole-Henrik Moe, Phonophani today got tuned in to the system "gorrlaus" from ancient norwegian fiddle music.... gorrlaus.mp3

Alog at SPOT10

the silent reader — Sat, 03 Apr 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Alog will play a concert in Aarhus, Denmark 5. june at the Spot festival.

Random System Festival

the silent reader — Tue, 30 Mar 2004 00:00:00 +0000

15-18 april 2004
oslo - notam, blå and parkteatret

Aeron and Alejandra • Jazzkammer • Hc Gilje • Next Life • Alog • David Grubbs • Andreas Tilliander • Sagor & Swing • Kim Cascone • Jan Jelinek • Gert Jan prins • Kelly Davis • Animal Collective

WWW.RANDOMSYSTEM.ORG

Spring alog

the silent reader — Thu, 18 Mar 2004 00:00:00 +0000

So what's up with Alog? Have they gone into their annual winter hibernation? Yes, but a creative one. We have been working hard on our next album, which is nearly there now. While waiting for that we will release a collection of the various bits and pieces released outside of Rune Grammofon, together with some live material and some previously unreleased tracks. It will be released on safe-as-milk, when the autumn leaves start falling.

To catch us live the next few months you must either travel to Blå in Oslo for the Random System festival the 16. april where we will be teaming up with the wonderful David Grubbs for a night of collaboration. Or you could go to Switzerland in the start of June, for a show at Bad Bonn in Düdingen.

Alogic Studios snapshot

the silent reader — Wed, 18 Feb 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Live at the safe-as-milk festival

the silent reader — Fri, 12 Mar 2004 00:00:00 +0000

photo by Lasse Marhaug

I ended up listening to the entire post awakening ...

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 00:00:00 +0000

I ended up listening to the entire post awakening sound album this morning. Seems like it's made out of songs giving you the desire to remain bed. Liked it. But why not do an album that stimulates you to wake up too?!

Well Radim, there might be a sample somewhere from...

the silent reader — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Well Radim, there might be a sample somewhere from that great movie, but don´t tell anybody. Espen

Great news! So there is probably any strange conne...

Radim Jurica — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Great news! So there is probably any strange connection from Phonophani beyond and me, because I have enjoyed that 1998 CD during whole december... after some years..
Espen, is there a girlie sample from Michalkovs's movie Utomlyonnye solntsem (Burnt by the sun)?

Radim
rajiv@centrum.cz

Gratulere me nominasjon! D blir sikkert arti me en...

Morten — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Gratulere me nominasjon! D blir sikkert arti me en Spellemann på peishylla... Hilsen Morten Haugan

PREHISTORIC KREATUR: the 37 kilo salmon of the Pasvik river

the silent reader — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0000

BERRY ISLAND

the silent reader — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0000

AMATEUR STRUCTURES, VOL 1

the silent reader — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Outdoor Toilet, Nitsijärvi

Moonshine Cabin, Bjørnevatn

Food Storage, Mustala

THE SKOLT SAAMI LANGUAGE MEMORY PROJECT, entry #7

the silent reader — Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The magical properties of an archive

Dismembering the semiotic, communicative from the phonetic, lexical aspect of language opens up a possibility for magical correspondences. The onomatopoetic, the alphabetic, the mimetic. The mysterious shapes of individual letters, the picture puzzle of the word. Language becomes an archive of non-sensuous similarities ready for the reader that connects the dots. The reader then becomes a bearer, a medium for the magical aspect of a shadow language.

THE SKOLT SAAMI LANGUAGE MEMORY PROJECT, entry #6

the silent reader — Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Language and time

The beginning of the Skolt Saami Language Memory Project speeds up history, that is, the inevitable entropy of a endangered language. The end of the project slows it down again to the point of exhibiting a frozen distribution of a language in time.

Usually one considers language to be distributed in space, by its agents in their geographical area. One can also consider the history of a language - its development and transformation. But seldom, if ever, do one witness a language distributed in time. One word at a time – throughout the months, or years – the installation in the East Sámi Museum will parse through the dictionary depending on the amount of visitors passing by.

(One side effect of this distribution will be the disassociation of the language from the normal identity discourse of indigenous people. Legally, to be counted as Saami you have to document that your parents, grandparents or great-grandparents spoke a Saami language. Language is the principal marker of your identity, which may increase cultural isolation. In this case the language will be given to all – putting into question this identity marker).

MOSQUITO SLIDE

the silent reader — Mon, 05 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

(image credit: Valentin Laube)

THE SKOLT SAAMI LANGUAGE MEMORY PROJECT, entry #5

the silent reader — Sun, 04 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

A destructive perspective.

Today: the first tests of the recording and archiving system. Everything has to work perfectly before we take it into the field in a couple of months. The informants will be filmed in their home surroundings looking into the camera. The words of the dictionary will appear on the screen before them and they will read them aloud one by one. Each word will be stored as a separate video file on the computer.

A dictionary is in essence artificial. Only some rare kinds of poetry can bring life into a list of words starting with the same letter, and even then it is seldom systematically alphabetical in its construction. The alphabet and written language in general has a stench of death about it.

The choice of the dictionary as the image of language is the complete opposite of language-as-life. If languages are organic and alive by nature then the Language Memory Project would seem to spell out a death sentence for the Skolt Saami language.

To make matters even worse I am asking 30 representatives of the language in question to become dictionary robots reading aloud only the individual words – the atoms of their living language – in a room with no listeners. On the Finish side this will involve about 10% of the Skolt Saami community – on the Russian side it will involve 100%. In effect they will be atomizing their own language into a list of dead, alphabetized items.

All the while I will be there silently filming the spectacle – this burning funeral pyre of a self-destructing language.

THE SKOLT SAAMI LANGUAGE MEMORY PROJECT, entry #4

the silent reader — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Phonetic alchemy

The metaphor of dying and living languages is based on a dated romantic conception about languages being organic in structure. Thus there is a need to revisit the dialectic of the death and life of languages to view the language-image from a fresh angle. The philosopher Walter Benjamin writes in the introduction to his essay on Goethe’s Elective Affinities:

– The history of works prepares for their critique, and thus historical distance increases their power. If, to use a simile, one views the growing work as a burning funeral pyre, then the commentator stands before it like a chemist, the critic like an alchemist. Whereas, for the former, wood and ash remain the sole objects of his analysis, for the latter only the flame itself preserves an enigma: that of what is alive. Thus, the critic inquires into the truth, whose living flame continues to burn over the heavy logs of what is past and the light ashes of what has been experienced.

Replacing the concept of “work” with “language” in this quote one can perhaps glimpse a more complex dialectic at play. According to Benjamin’s idea of a critique and the work of the critic it would follow that the critic does the exact same historic and linguistic analysis as the history scientist, or “commentator”. But still their aim and result is vastly different. The critic use the detailed analysis as a means to destroy and dismember the wholeness of the work. This is made more potent by the history that has gone before. The more obscure and forgotten the work, the better suited it is for a philosophical and artistic critique. The resulting destruction-through-analysis is comparable to an archive of language: a dictionary or database of language samples, each analysed into every last miniscule phoneme. The archive kills the living language in order to preserve it, but at the same moment creates its potential alchemical transformation into new life.

THE SKOLT SAAMI LANGUAGE MEMORY PROJECT, entry #3

the silent reader — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Numbers

– The amount of words in Skolt (as in all other living languages) is infinite, explains Michael Riessler, head of the Kola Saami Documentation Project in our first email conversation.

– And besides this every speaker of Skolt has its own stock of words in her or his mind. If you restrict to the word stock found in the existing dictionaries of Skolt (and ignoring that not all words found in the dictionaries are representative of all the single speakers' Skolt Saami language) you end up with approx. 10000 recorded words multiplied to more then 30 letters of the alphabet. Every linguist will envy you for such a collection of recorded words!

The facts are not very uplifting: There are 4 Saami languages spoken in the Kola Region (including northern Finland): Skolt, Akkala, Kildin, and Ter. Akkala is now extinct. The last speaker of Akkala passed away in 2003. Ter Saami in the Murmansk region has about 30 speakers, all age 50 and above. The Kildin Saami has about 300 active speakers. Likewise the Skolt Saami has around 300 speakers on the Finish side of the border and only a handful of old people left on the Russian side (speaking the special Russian dialect of Skolt).

But Michaels comments make me rethink my melancholic impression of Skolt Saami as a dying language. Infinity is a powerful concept to bring into any reflection. If every speakers vocabulary is potentially infinite or to be regarded as a “part” of infinity (that in itself would be infinite), then a dying language is not ceasing to exist by slowly shrinking in size as one would expect (due to forgetfulness, language shift or some other kind of deterioration of the collective memory). It is still present and alive in its vibrant infinity even with only one speaker left on earth (or maybe two? Does not a language need a listener? Or maybe it is sufficient with only one subject speaking to him- or herself? I guess that would be the perfect communication: The last speaker of a dead language muttering to himself).

THE SKOLT SAAMI LANGUAGE MEMORY PROJECT, entry #2

the silent reader — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The beauty of totality.

By now I probably own the largest library of Skolt Saami to Finish language dictionaries in the world. Except for a few Skolt - German ones from the 1800 century that I found visiting the Humbolt University Library in Berlin last month, I have gathered all I could find.

The sum total is 4 books and 1 bad photocopy from the 80s.

They all vary greatly in size and quality, and I have tested my way through them all in the hopes of finding a candidate for scanning and optical character recogniction.

Finally today, a breakthrough. Mosnikoffs and Sammallahtis dictionary from 88 seems to have all the necessary ingredients: the copy is in strong black and white ink, the “c” does not look like an “e” (who would have thought that this would be the greatest of challenges for the digitizing community?) and all the special letters of the Skolt Sami language are possible to separate from each other. The ? from the d, the ? from the k, the ? from the ?, the š and ž, and å and â, not to mention the õ ö ? and ?. (Even your browser probably do not support these characters...)

I am starting to get a close relationship with these characters. Their corresponding sounds roll silently in my mouth like liquorice while I stare at the enlarged scans. Teaching the computer to understand all of them takes patience, but gives a rare glimpse into the microscopic world of the letter. The shapes of the characters are blown up and supersized until I see every molecule of ink filling up the topography of the paper.

THE SKOLT SAAMI LANGUAGE MEMORY PROJECT, entry #1

the silent reader — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I feel my eyes drying up. I am lost in a desert of broken letters. Literarily.

Struck by a sudden premonition I see my next two weeks before me: working day and night proofreading a dictionary that translates between two languages, neither of which I understand a single word.

Today has been a technical research day. How to digitise a dictionary. How to wield the computing power to my needs. How to teach a blind computer to read.

The first goal: to build a database of the Skolt Saami language. A dying language in the arctic regions of northern Norway, Finland and Russia.

The next goal: To travel to northern Finland and collect samples of all the words of the Skolt Saami language. To film one informant per letter of the alphabet reading all the words.

The final goal: To build an art installation for the new Skolt Saami museum in Neiden, Norway - an exhibition of the totality of a dying language. At the push of a button, one by one of the words will be given to the visitors. One word each, given as a task - for the visitor to take responsibility for and remember for the future.

USB - UNITED STATES OF BARENTS

the silent reader — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0000

What do people in the Barents Region have in common - other than the notion of living on the periphery? What happens now when the region experiences a potential change from periphery to center? Why is everybody speaking English to each other? Is the opening of the first IKEA store in the region a major event in the history of the Barents?

USB is a performance that investigates these and other questions; questions dealing with local, global and northern identity, the power of definition, borders, similarities and differences in the Arctic, and the love of IKEA.

Welcome to the brave new world of the United States of Barents!

Amund Sjølie Sveen is an artist and percussionist from northern Norway who developed USB (United States of Barents) originally after taking part in the artistic research project Connection Barents in June 2006. USB was premiered in the Barents Spektakel-festival, in Kirkenes, January 2007. An Internet version of the USB presentation was made especially for this Region in focus.

via LabforCulture

A HOLE AT THE POLE

the silent reader — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000

This time next year, Kentucky based physicist and futurist Brooks Agnew hopes to board the commercially owned Russian icebreaker Yamal in the port of Murmansk, and to sail into the polar sea just beyond Canada's Arctic islands...

Mr. Agnew is the latest in a long line of people to peddle the nutty, yet persistent, theory that humans live on the surface of a hollow planet, in which two undiscovered openings, near the North and South poles, connect the outer Earth with an interior realm...

While he insists the journey has a genuine scientific purpose, Mr. Agnew also says the expedition will include several experts in meditation, mythology and UFOs, as well as a team of documentary filmmakers...

If the polar opening isn't there, the voyage "will still make an outstanding documentary," he promises.

A VISITOR FROM CUBA

the silent reader — Tue, 22 May 2007 00:00:00 +0000

April 63, needing a break after the bay of pigs invasion, Fidel Castro travelled to Murmansk. Here he is seen visiting the local pioneers.

MURMANSK 2007: Distribution of the Sensible

the silent reader — Thu, 10 May 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Images of buildings and non-buildings in Murmansk, Russia taken in may 2007 by Espen Sommer Eide

KOLA RING - MAX YOUR MOBILE

the silent reader — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Rural Readers present their downloadable ringtone service. Choose a ringtone from the Kola peninsula to max your mobile.

HERZOG ON THE OBSCENITY OF THE JUNGLE

the silent reader — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 00:00:00 +0000

A LETTER FROM DR. GUBERMAN

the silent reader — Tue, 30 May 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Some news of the existence of the legendary dr. Guberman recently caught our attention. Here is a picture of dr. Guberman by the Superdeep hole in Kola. He has just drilled the first hole of what was to become the deepest man-made hole in the world (12262 meters). Also included is a letter from the doctor with an original Superdeep stamp. As the research director of the Barents Institute, Urban Wråkberg notes: "dr. Guberman is for the underworld, what Juri Gagarin is for space".

ENGLISH MOSQUITO HUNTING

the silent reader — Tue, 30 May 2006 00:00:00 +0000

An english version of the mosquito base is now available. It also includes extra material in the form of a "examen culicum" page where a swarm phenomenon can be studied further.

Visit the english page here.

MYGGBASEN COMING HOME

the silent reader — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0000

The myggbase will be presented at the Barents Spektakel festival in Kirkenes on 2. february. It will also be a mini presentation at the opening of the Barents Institute on the 1.february.

MYGGBASE LAUNCHED

the silent reader — Mon, 12 Sep 2005 00:00:00 +0000

We are proud to announce the launch of the latest Rural Readers project today! It is called the Myggbase (Mosquito base) and is a collection of Mosquitoes from Finnmark and Calcutta, and stories connected to them and an expedition diary.

Myggbase is part of the project "digitale fortellinger" (digital narratives) initiated by PNEK and NRK (the national broadcasting company in Norway). It is for now in norwegian language only, but an english version is coming soon!

Here is the link to the base:

ulyd.bek.no/mb/myggbase.html

and here is the link to the digital narratives project:

nrk.no/ulyd

Welcome to the launch party with a special mosquito performance by the rural readers team at Spasibar in Oslo Tuesday 13. september at 19.00.

hjulogi

the silent reader — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:07:25 +0000

Two bicycle wheels mounted upright arrived in the post today from Verdensteatret. My task: To make them play like instruments.

Electric Shadows

the silent reader — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:15:54 +0000

Below is a newsletter from Verdensteatret. It concerns our solo exhibition at Guangdong Museum of Art, China.
Telling Orchestras and Funeral Machines. I spent most of January making sounds for these wonderful machines.

Guangdong Museum of Art 19 March – 18 April 2010

Verdensteatret presents two large-scale installations:

The Telling Orchestra, and the new work Electric Shadows.

Verdensteatret represented Norway in the summer of 2008 at the international new media art exhibition Synthetic Times: Media Art China 2008, organized by the National Art Museum of China in Beijing. Their installation was among the most acclaimed and memorable works of the exhibition and attracted considerable media and public attention.

This up-coming exhibition at Guangdong Art Museum will occupy 800 square meters and be a huge event reaching out to a wide audience in the southernmost city of China.

Verdensteatret is an art group based in Oslo. The group consist of artists from many different artistic professions making installations, performance art, concerts and other art related works. Characteristic for their work is that they are building exquisite links between seemingly incompatible technologies and materials.

Verdensteatret currently ranks amongst the most innovative art groups in Norway. Their characteristic combination of advanced technology in a close dialogue with more traditional tools, results in complex works and space-related compositions. Their works are presented internationally in different art contexts and locations.

Electric Shadows. This new work features a landscape of highly original sculptures, pre-cinematic animation, puppetry, music, lights and shadow play. All objects produce art and are also a part in it. The idea of simultaneous perspectives and multiple functions tied to each object creates a work of works. A delightful amount of possible connections across media and layers. Some obvious, planned and controlled. Others seen by the single spectator only, weaving her story, from available threads. It is a gratifying experience to lend this work time. Up close, movable miniatures perform in a theaterlike setting, except everything is exposed. One sees function and the craft gone into making it. From a distance the veil of illusion is drawn and the work takes on a poetic character, following the logic of dreams.

The Telling Orchestra. An electro-mechanical construction of weather-beaten planks that function as an audio-visual ”animation-machine” where images, sculptors, sound, video is deeply integrated into each other to form an audio-visual composition. It’s like a polyphonic instrument, or a moving sculpture with the ability to transform the whole room within a second. By use of different motors and robotics the ”primitive” wooden construction has become automatic and is programmed and run by computers. The background for The Telling Orchestra is a journey the group made on Greenland in 2003.

Artists:
Asle Nilsen, Lisbeth J. Bodd, Håkon Lindbäck, Piotr Pajchel, Christian Blom, Kristine Roald Sandøy, Rune Madsen, Espen Sommer Eide, Janne Kruse, Jannicke Lie, H.C Gilje.

“Established notions of form or style are more or less useless for these peculiarly captivating works of art.”
Useful links:

Guangdong Museum of Art:
http://www.gdmoa.org

Verdensteatret:
www.verdensteatret.com

Browse and dl. high res. images from the two shows:
http://www.verdensteatret.com/vt_test_two/download/VT_pictures.html

Contact:
Elisabeth Gmeiner +47 96 83 05 12
Mail: elizabeth.gmeiner@gmail.com
Lisbeth J. Bodd +47 97 04 15 91
Mail: lisbethb@powertech.no

The exhibition is supported by: OCA, Arts Council Norway, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway and the Consul General of Norway, Guangzhou.

Electric shadows

Germany vs. France, Analog vs. Digital

the silent reader — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 18:00:17 +0000

Two packages arrived at the studio today. One from France and one from Germany. The Doepfer Dark Enery on my analog right hand, and the OTO Biscuit on my digital left hand. This is my first experiment hooking up the two for some noisy fun.

MonoFire. A simple MaxforLive control using the Monome 64

the silent reader — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:46:23 +0000

MonoFire is a simple patch I made for MaxForLive (M4L), that enables a Monome 64 to fire clips stored in the Ableton Live project. In includes volumecontrol and showing the Vue-meter on the Monome.

Download it here: http://github.com/materialvision/MonoFire

The basic idea is to have a simple clip-player that can play upto 7 clips simultaniously per Live Scene. It is made to be as simple and quick to set up as possible (typically at the airport before the gig).

See instructions in the readme file.

Thanks to James Drake for the great Monomebutton and -slider and -pages patches used in this project.

The wheel-maestro

the silent reader — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 12:13:15 +0000

Phonophani - Kreken

the silent reader — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 13:37:48 +0000

Press release from Rune Grammofon: Kreken” is the fourth album from Phonophani, aka Espen Sommer Eide, possibly Norway´s most original and inventive electronica musician today. In addition to being a multi-instrumentalist he is also a digital electronics expert, programmer and instrument builder, which goes a long way in explaining why he doesn´t sound much like anything else. His music is about rediscovering the great mystery of music through dissecting the sound of ordinary or ”real” instruments such as cello, vibraphone, guitars and the human voice and dissolving melodies into their elementary particles. While he has previously turned his attention to other cultures and traditions, with ”Kreken” he has now tuned his ears to Norway´s own traditional folk music and instruments, it´s melodic content and special tuning systems, all treated electronically in one way or another. Among the guests are Jenny Hval (Rockettothesky) and American guitarist David Grubbs (Gastr Del Sol, The Red Krayola).

Also available as a very special limited edition in only 250 numbered copies.

Released 21.06.10

Kreken by phonophani

And All the Questionmarks Started to Sing

the silent reader — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 20:38:12 +0000

The germany premiere of the verdensteatret show I have been working on for the last couple of months coming up... below is more information about the performance and the theater festival. In the autumn follows Oslo, Bergen and then the Shanghai art biennal.

VERDENSTEATRET

PRESENTS

And All the Questionmarks Started to Sing

THEATER DER WELT 2010

ESSEN, GERMANY

www.theaterderwelt.de

08 July 8:00 PM German premiere

09 July 8:00 PM with public talk

11 July 4:00 PM

PACT Zollverein

60 minutes

TICKETS

18 Euro / concessions 9 Euro

And All the Questionmarks Started to Sing
is a composition in the form of a hybrid between performance, concert and installation. A transparent though complex work with an overwhelming richness of details. It might be described as an art-machine played by musicians, performers and robots.

By treating the whole room and everything in it as the material, the group has created a vast intermedia composition where visual art, sound art and music are combined with the theatrical potential in the material.

Physically the work appears as a landscape of highly original kinetic sculptures that activate a diversity of animation techniques, micro puppetry, music, lights and shadow play. All objects produce art and are also a part in it. The idea of simultaneous perspectives and multiple functions tied to each object creates a work of works. ”..We enter a state of excited surprise that all we wonder about starts to sing instead of giving answers.”

Festival Theater der Welt
The festival has taken place every three years since 1981. Theater der Welt has since then developed into one of the most important international festivals for the performing arts in Germany.

From 30 June to 17 July almost 400 artists from all over the globe have been invited by the Theater an der Ruhr, Schauspiel Essen and the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 to Mülheim an der Ruhr and Essen.

During Theater der Welt 2010 they present their personal visions of our world and take us on a journey around the globe that provides new sensations, surprising encounters and unexpected events.

Verdensteatret
Verdensteatret is an art group based in Oslo. The group consists of artists from many different artistic professions making installations, performance art, concerts and other art related works. Characteristic for their work is that they are building exquisite links between seemingly incompatible technologies and materials. Verdensteatret currently ranks amongst the most innovative art groups in Norway. Their characteristic combination of advanced technology in a close dialogue with more traditional tools, results in complex works and space-related compositions. Their works are presented internationally in different art contexts and locations.

Artists: Asle Nilsen, Lisbeth J. Bodd, Håkon Lindbäck, Piotr Pajchel, Christian Blom, Kristine Roald Sandøy, Hai Nguyen Dinh, Ali Djabbary, Øyvind B. Lyse, Gjertrud Jynge, Espen Sommer Eide, Thorolf Thuestad, Erik Blekesaune, Hans Skogen, Janne Kruse, Jannicke Lie, Elisabeth Gmeiner.

For more information, photos: www.verdensteatret.com

The project is a co-production between Verdensteatret and Theater der Welt, Black Box Teater, BIT Teatergarasjen, and Festival Avant Art

The project is supported by Arts Council Norway and Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Verdensteatret is supported by: Arts Council Norway.

Cinema and Crop Circles

the silent reader — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 21:02:49 +0000

Videos by Marte Aas now exhibited at the National Gallery in Oslo. Music by Espen Sommer Eide. More information here.

phonophani - kreken

material vision — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 06:57:17 +0000

Phonophani news and concerts

the silent reader — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 08:30:00 +0000

Here is a collection of news. My new cd "Kreken" has already gotten very nice reviews here and there. Here are some links to the reviews:

The Milk Factory (in English)
Groove.no
Bergen Tidende
Aftenposten

The cd or the cd+10" vinyl special edition can be ordered at runegrammofon or from me at the alog shop

Some phonophani concerts are lined up for the autumn:
20/10 - Ekkofestivalen, Bergen
21/ 10 - Bimhuis, Amsterdam
19/11 and 22/11 - Les Boreales festival, Caen, France (together with Pierre Bastien)
24/11 -- Japan tour (details TBA)

Inbetween this I also will do some shows with Verdensteatret (http://www.verdensteatret.com) as I have been involved quite a lot with sound and instrument design for their latest show. The premiere is on Blackbox in Oslo on the 8. September.

Now, I am on my way for a stay at the SUMU new media art residency in Turku, Finland - so if you live in Finland please tell me if something is going on this month!

Kreken by phonophani

A music video was just released to accompany the track "Kreken". Marte Aas, an artist collaborateur/friend of mine filmed the material with super-8 and I edited it down together with the music. It was quite a new experience for me to edit film to music and not the other way around! Check it out below in a previous post - the track is based on an old norwegian fiddle music piece (Tussebrura) from wax-rolls that I have electronically reworked.

The term "folk music" was invented by nineteenth-century scholars to describe the music of peasantry, age-old and anonymous. To me it means homemade-type music played mainly by ear, arising out of older traditions but with a meaning for today. (Pete Seeger, 1972)

Verdensteatret to participate in 'The 8th shanghai Biennale 2010'

the silent reader — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 20:36:18 +0000

Exhibition Dates: 24 October 2010–28 February 2011
Opening Reception: 23 October
www.shanghaibiennale.org

Verdensteateret has been invited to participate in 'The 8th Shanghai Biennale 2010', Shanghai, Peoples' Republic of China, curated by Gao Shiming, with Fan Di'An, Li Lei and Hua Yi. The biennial presents the concept of 'rehearsal' — a discourse on the art exhibition as a phenomenon: 'The exhibition not only reformulates — represents — everyday life, but also provides a vessel for its own representative polity. In the meantime, the exhibition is also the autonomous region of art, within which artists are also legislators'. Within the biennial, Verdensteatret participates with the work And All the Questionmarks Started to Sing, a hybrid work consisting of a performance, a concert and installation with a multitude of kinetic sculptures-machines, sound, animation, puppetry, music, lights and shadowplay.

And All the Questionmarks Started to Sing will be performed by Asle Nilsen, Lisbeth J. Bodd, Håkon Lindbäck, Piotr Pajchel, Christian Blom, Kristine Roald Sandøy, Hai Nguyen Dinh, Ali Djabbary, Øyvind B. Lyse, Gjertrud Jynge, Espen Sommer Eide, Thorolf Thuestad, Eirik Blekesaune, Hans Skogen, Janne Kruse, Jannicke Lie and Elisabeth Gmeiner.

Curatorial Team: FAN DI'AN, LI LEI, GAO SHIMING, HUA YI

Upcoming shows

the silent reader — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 08:47:45 +0000

Some very special phonophani shows coming up in November.

First up are my collaboration with french instrument builder extraordinaire, Pierre Bastien. We will play two concerts as part of the Les Borealés festival in Caen, France.

19. Nov 21h Auditorium de Bayeux
22. Nov 21h Maison de l’étudiant, Caen

More concerts with this project are being planned for 2011.

Following this I will do two special edition duo concerts as Phonophani + Sigbjørn Apeland (Harmonium).

28. Nov 17h Blackbox, Dostoevsky Literary-Memorial Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
1. Des 20h AB, Brussels, Belgium

See you there!

And All the Questionmarks Started to Sing

the silent reader — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 13:22:05 +0000

And All the Questionmarks Started to Sing from Verdensteatret on Vimeo.

35 min documentation of Verdensteatret's live performance "And All the Questionmarks Started to Sing"

Phonophani Japan Tour 16.-26. February

the silent reader — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 14:08:41 +0000

Finally all is ready for the Phonophani tour of Japan! Together with Sigbjørn Apeland and Alexander Rishaug I will play a series of concerts, many of them in collaboration with local japanese artists.

The dates and venues are:

16.2 Tokyo, Gift
17.2 Kyoto, Urbanguilde
18.2 Osaka, Common Cafe
19.2 Kobe, Guggenheim House
24.2 Nara, Sample, White Room
25.2 Nagoya, K.D.Japon
26.2 Tokyo, Soup

And here are some of the musicians we will meet up with:

Sean Roe - electronics
http://www.myspace.com/sseeaannrrooee
Yosuke Fujita - Pipe organ
http://fujita-yosuke.moo.jp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9G8c25GqIY&feature=player_embedded
Haco - voice/electronics
http://www.myspace.com/hacohaco
Reiko Imanishi - koto
http://www.myspace.com/reikoimanishi
Ali Moromoto - toy instruments and Game Boys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SJV5R0vONo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTx19PsH_7A
Akinori Yamazaki - guitar
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9J8eVrNEJc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ24MgDEr58
Tim Olive - guitar/electronics
http://www.myspace.com/timolive
Yasuhiro Usui - guitar Ryoko Ono - alto sax Taro
Tatsumaki - drums
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqgDPmgKAmg
ZONZONO - sampler/electronics
Hosomi Sakana - electronics
http://www.myspace.com/sakanahosomi
http://www.myspace.com/video/sakanahosomi/to-fill-you-up-to-empty-you-hosomi/25391640

Spring dates

the silent reader — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 11:15:51 +0000

Some more Phonophani dates for March:

5. March: HKS, Bergen (music for Len Lye film).
11. March: Knipsu, Bergen (presentation/performance "the sound of dead languages")
23. March: Blå, Oslo (with Pierre Bastien)
24. March: Borealis/Landmark, Bergen (with Pierre Bastien)
27. March: Presences Electronique / GRM, Paris
31. March: Athens (with Pierre Bastien)

See you there!

Black Warrior Review: Sound Art

the silent reader — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 18:29:42 +0000

A new issue of Black Water Review is out. Including a sound art section were I contribute a track "Mjuklia". Check it out. 5. Mjuklia by aagnone

Immaterials: Light Painting WIFI

the silent reader — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 16:55:21 +0000

Einar Sneve Martinussen, Timo Arnall and Jørn Knutsen just released a great WIFI lightpainting video. Music score by Phonophani.

Immaterials: Light painting WiFi from Timo on Vimeo.

This project explores the invisible terrain of WiFi networks in urban spaces by light painting signal strength in long-exposure photographs.

A four-metre long measuring rod with 80 points of light reveals cross-sections through WiFi networks using a photographic technique called light-painting.

More here:
http://www.nearfield.org/2011/02/wifi-light-painting
http://yourban.no/2011/02/22/immaterials-light-painting-wifi/

Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/timo/sets/72157626020532597/

Len Live at HKS, Bergen 6.3.2011

the silent reader — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 12:38:12 +0000

From H.C. Giljes Flickr set.

Radio Arc

the silent reader — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 19:56:54 +0000

Radio Arc from Material Vision on Vimeo.

I received my Arc today. After unboxing, I updated an old patch I had lying around to be controlled by it. The patch mimics a long-wave radio, and the "stations" I tune into are soundfiles lying on my desktop. It was actually originally made to be controlled by the Griffin Powermate knob. But this upgrade to Arc gives me much better control through high resolution and visual feedback. One knob is for tuning in larger/coarser steps and the other for fine tuning into the stations spread around the Arc.

Hear it! – a playlist for the Stedelijk Museum

the silent reader — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:22:03 +0000

On Thursday 28 April the Stedelijk Museum and Non-fiction present Hear it! – a playlist for the Stedelijk Museum, with works by Dick Raaymakers, Alvin Lucier, Mark Bain and Gert-Jan Prins, and performances by Paul Panhuysen, Carl Michael von Hausswolff, Alog, Claron McFadden and many others.

“I don't separate ‘Sound Art’ from ‘music’. I am one person; my ideas come from the same place.”

- Alvin Lucier

A playlist for the museum

Hear It! is presenting a playlist of these different types of work with sound, and is presenting different generations of musicians and artists who work with sound in their own way. This evening does not aim to provide a historical cross-section of sound in the arts, but is a personal playlist of works from the collection of the Stedelijk Museum and performances by (international) artists and musicians who are exploring the limits of the building and sound. The evening was organised intuitively by listening carefully to the building, the collection and the public, and is possibly most comparable to the way in which a DJ works, or to the musical experience you have with Soundcloud and Spotify. That is why there is a mixed succession of a Siren, a Norwegian DIY band, a Gregorian choir and the public which assumes the role of composer and performer, amongst others.

The sound of now, since 1952

It is now almost 60 years since director Willem Sandberg embraced music in the Stedelijk with his famous series ‘The Music of Now’ in 1952. Sandberg’s view was that the museum should provide room for other art forms than visual art as well, including contemporary music. Since then contemporary music has assumed many different forms and is described in various ways: as experimental music, sound art, sound performances, sound sculptures and audio culture. Some musicians call themselves ‘artists’ and some artworks are characterised as being ‘musical’. It is not always completely clear, but what is evident is that there is great deal happening at the point where the visual arts, music and sound come together.

Performances by

Aardvarck (NL) / Alog (NO) / Nathalie Bruys (NL) / Carl Michael von Hausswolff (SE) / Allard van Hoorn (NL) / Brandon LaBelle (USA) / Claron McFadden (USA/NL) / Gabriel Lester (NL) / Paul Panhuysen (NL) / Sarah van Sonsbeeck (NL) / Schola Cantorum Amsterdam (NL) / Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht (NL)

Works by

Mark Bain (USA/NL) / Pierre Bastien (FR) / John Cage (USA) / Alvin Lucier (USA) / Gert-Jan Prins (NL) / Dick Raaymakers (NL)

Introduction by

Harold Schellinx / Juha van ‘t Zelfde

Compiled by

Michiel van Iersel & Juha van ‘t Zelfde (Non-fiction)

SALMONSENS ARKIVSIRKUS

the silent reader — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 07:38:08 +0000

The arkivsirkus is back! This time Møllerhaug & Eide will do live archiving to the songs of Attila Csihar and Jaap Blonk. Also Karen Skogs Orkester will play their beautiful instruments.

Attila Csihar aka Void ov Voices (Mayhem/ SUNN 0)))
Jaap Blonk
Karen Skog Orkester
Møllerhaug & Eide (Live-arkivering)

Alog and the Ligetizer at Stedelijk Museum

the silent reader — Fri, 06 May 2011 07:45:03 +0000

Here are some snapshots from the building of the installation/concert piece Alog performed at the Stedelijk Museum 28. April.

And a short video:

Salmonsens Arkivsirkus

the silent reader — Mon, 23 May 2011 09:18:54 +0000

I mange borgalege heimar på tjuetalet sa man at Salmonsens Konversationsleksikon var som å ha ein hest i bokhylla. Lærmengda i permane tilsvara ein heil hingst. Det megalomane 24 bind store norsk-danske leksikon. Trykt av ein dedikert dansk boktrykkar – Isaac Salmonsen og hans namnlause bror. Tusenvis av artiklar om for lengst utdøydde dyr, ideologiar og mennesketypar.
Desse artiklane blei arkiverte live av Nicholas H. Møllerhaug & Espen Sommer Eide (aka Pilota – som tidlegare drifta Trollofonen, Klubb Pilota, Rural Readers m.m.) på Landmark 30.04.2011 – ved å bruke eit nytt digitaliseringssystem. Spesialutvikla for anledninga. Arkivmaterialet blei umiddelbart bli kommentert live av to legendariske sjangersprengande songarar: Jaap Blonk og Attila Csihar.

Exhibition on Sonic Interaction Design

the silent reader — Wed, 25 May 2011 09:26:43 +0000

I exhibit a musical instrument made for the iPad called "the Movement I-X" at the SID exhibition that opens at the Technical Museum in Oslo on Sunday 29. May at 18.00. Welcome!

"Sound can be one of the principal channels conveying information, meaning, and aesthetic/emotional qualities in interactive contexts. The 12 works of this exhibition showcase the use of Sonic Interaction Design within arts, music and design, and also provide examples of sonification for research and artistic purposes.

The exhibition features works by: Christian Graupner, Roberto Zappalà, Norbert Schnell & Nils Peters (DE/IT/FR), Espen Sommer Eide (NO), Gerhard Eckel (AT), Jessica Thompson (CA), Joshue Ott & Morgan Packard (US), Michael Markert (DE), Natasha Barrett & Karen Mair (NO), René Tünnermann, Till Bovermann & Thomas Hermann (FI/DE), Satoshi Morita (JP/GE), scenocosme (Grégory Lasserre and Anaïs met den Ancxt) (FR), Steve Symons (UK) og Thomas Hermann & Risto Koiva (DE/EE)."

more info here

Phonophani - "Nold" (Live)

the silent reader — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 00:05:30 +0000

Phonophani - "Nold" (Live) from Material Vision on Vimeo.

Live from the 2011 Présences Électronique Festival, Paris. Video and sound by François Bonnet INA/GRM.

The Sound of Dead Languages

the silent reader — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:03:17 +0000

The Sound of Dead Languages by phonophani A mini-LP with a collection of various experiments based on audio clips of dead or dying languages. What is a language? What do we loose when a language dies? If not any meaning, then at least the unique sound. Each track tries to extract harmony, rhythm and timbre from recordings made of the last speakers of various languges. The set is released under a Creative Commons License.

the Movement I-V now available in appstore

the silent reader — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 09:48:00 +0000

The Movement I-V is an iPad app that explores the various possible movements of the hand and the fingers in sound manipulation. Included are a set of sounds by me (some of them are used on the upcoming Alog album, set for release in early November. The album use this app as one sound source). You can also upload your own samples in .wav or .aif format through iTunes.

Here is a link to the app page on iTunes

The development of the Movement I-V was supported by Arts Council Norway and BEK, Bergen center for electronic art

Two dates

the silent reader — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 08:01:42 +0000

Next week I would like to invite everyone within reasonable distance to two events:

27. September: Word/Play - the Sound of Dead Languages, lecture at KHIB, Bergen, Norway

30. September: Phonophani, Full-Pull Festival, Malmö, Sweden

Alog Unemployed

the silent reader — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 11:45:00 +0000

Our new album Alog Unemployed is now out in all formats! Buy physical from Rune Grammofon, or digital from iTunes - hope you enjoy our hard labour! The 4xLP is the definitive work, so far only available as vinyl, with 2 1/2 hours of Alog Unemployed music. The CD and download is a selection of this material.

"Alog - Unemployed" was recorded in a wide range of spaces and places. From recordings of Haugan and Eide as street musicians in San Francisco while touring, to scavenging old collections of 78-records in the mining town of Bjørnevatn in the far north-eastern part of Norway. From on-the-spot recordings of Sigbjørn Apelands legendary collection of vintage harmoniums in the St. Jacobs Church in Bergen, to high-end capture of the unique sounds of Alogs many custom built instruments in the studios of Notam in Oslo and BEK in Bergen. For a period of three years Alog collected material from all kinds of sources, times and situations and made new songs that constantly push their creative freedom in unexpected directions.

Alog was formed in Tromsø in the late 90s, as the duo of Espen Sommer Eide and Dag-Are Haugan. While touring and composing over the past years they have met a lot of unique musicians, and for "Unemployed" they were invited to extend Alog into new constallations. The soothing harmonium drones of Sigbjørn Apeland. The minimalist fiddle improvisations of the Sheriffs of Nothingness (Ole-Henrik Moe and Kari Rønnekleiv). The resonating everyday objects of the talented young soundartist Signe Lidén. The magical voices of fellow Rune Grammofon artist Jenny Hval and the legendary dutch sound poet extraordinaire, Jaap Blonk. All join in to explore new musical territory, either together or by being invited to create their own pieces for the album. The result is an open-ended collection of voices and expressions, genres, sounds and non-sounds that define a new extended version of Alog.

– On previous albums we have worked slow and with control of every minute detail of our pieces. On "Unemployed" we wanted to exhibit the compositional process, the experiments, the rough sketches and the stream of ideas that goes into it, and not just a series of perfected tracks. Our goal was to free ourselves from the standard song-structures and album-formats widespread today.

the Currency Building

the silent reader — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 16:21:41 +0000

For more than five decades, British buildings in Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta) were left to rot as authorities wrestled with the uncomfortable legacy of British rule. The communist-controlled city government lacked both the resources and the inclination to preserve what many saw as a glorification of colonialism, and the city's magnificent architectural gems crumbled and decayed. For many of the hundreds of old heritage buildings it is too late. Along the Hugli river row upon row of derelict mansions and warehouses are being reclaimed by nature and has become a stunning labyrinth of colonial ruin. It is just too late to save them all, with the enormous amount of bureaucracy and corruption in the city administration not helping either.

But in the centre around BBD Bagh (Dalhousie square) one building have been saved last minute from demolition. The 178-year old building, constructed in Italian Renaissance style called "the Currency Building", the former reserve bank of India. Ten years ago, under the orders of the central government, a demolition team moved in at the dead of night and began work. By morning they had brought down two massive dome ceilings and were starting on the exterior. But after a public outcry work was halted, and now a major restoration project has begun.

Now, in this building, during the period 10.-15. December 2011, Verdenteatret built their installation and performance "and all the questionmarks started to sing". In order to overcome the limitations of the gaping hole in the domed ceiling a new temporary roof had to be built using bamboo and linen.

An old photoalbum shows "before and after" shots of the building during the restoration work.

Click here to view the full photo essay...

Wind Speaker

the silent reader — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 20:09:22 +0000

The amazing guys over at Voy (famous for their WIFI lightpainting amongst other works) have made a (kind of) music video to present my new instrument the "Wind Speaker". The instrument was made in collaboration with Voys Einar Sneve Martinussen, who designed and built the birch casing for my electronics.

The Wind Speaker may best be described as a digital electro-acoustic harmonica made of birch that turns blowing into computerised singing. The sound emerges from the speakers at the front of the instrument when the player blows into the holes in the wooden mouthpiece at the back. The amount of pressure controls volume and various effects to add expression. There are both singing and speaking poetry modes (the latter I play towards the end). The red wire out of the box is the powercord.

More images and information over at Voy (how many Scrabble points for that name?). They just started their design-studio and opened their webpage, so pay them a visit!

And yes... in case you were wondering... the location is a woodshop, the birthplace of the Wind Speaker!

Speaking and building

the silent reader — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:18:14 +0000

Last week I cooperated with the great choreographer Eva-Cecilie Richardsen for a show at Dansens Hus in Oslo. In addition to composing and doing the sound design I got the chance to test a prototype for a new instrument I am working on at the moment. The instrument is made for 4 singers and 1 player/composer. The composer controls the sounds that are played through four miniature speakers that are (more or less) inserted into the singers mouths. The singers then proceed to shape the sounds resonance with their mouth cavity as the resonant chamber. It is perhaps best described as reversing the speech direction, where I as the composer supply what is normally the vocal chords job. The resulting piece is a minimalistic play with various vowel resonances.

Hope to get some better documentation of the process soon, for now here is a picture of the dancer Janne-Camilla Lyster in deep concentration during rehearsals.

Bømlo brenn om natta

the silent reader — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 21:29:39 +0000

3 Phonophani events

the silent reader — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 06:54:11 +0000

3 upcoming concerts:

19. April: Phonophani at Hear it! 2, Stedelijk / Trouw Amsterdam
10. May: Phonophani at Bogotá electrónica, Colombia
31. May: Phonophani vs. Pierre Bastien at Mutek 13th Edition, Montreal, Canada

See you there!

the Ligetizer

the silent reader — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 06:11:46 +0000

The Ligetizer is a 6 metronome instrument designed and constructed by Espen Sommer Eide in 2012. It has been presented and performed on in various contexts like the Stedilijk Museum Hear It! series in Amsterdam, Borealis festival and Rad #4 Bergen, Norway and Mutek festival, Montreal. This video presents a short improvised piece on the instrument.

Each metronome has a particular function, made visual by the hypnotizing pendulum movement. It could be LFO, pitch control, note-pulses or other parameters. The metronomes are also interconnected to produce more complex rhythms and waveforms when running simultaniously. The instrument is connected to a suitable sound generating source via MIDI.

This instrument is the first of a new instrument family I call "Philosophical Instruments" - musical instruments that explore various philosophical concepts. Inspired by 18. century scientific instrument builders, these instruments seek to experiment, forcing nature to produce phenomena not normally observed or heard.

Manifesta 7: building instruments

the silent reader — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 20:56:37 +0000

Searching through old files I came accross these photos by Denis Isaja of my "workshop-performance" at Manifesta 7 in 2008. I invited local participants to bring old vinyl records to have them refurbished with a simple electronic circuit to make them into "vinyl instruments". A separate brush is attached to the arm of the recordplayer that records the conductive carbon material that is painted or sprayed onto the record. The physical orginal grooves may still be heard as well.

Le Grain de la Voix

the silent reader — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 14:30:01 +0000

The instrument is made for 4 singers and 1 conductor. The conductor controls the sounds that are played through four miniature speakers that are (more or less) inserted into the singers mouths. The singers then proceed to shape the sounds resonance with their mouth cavity as the resonant chamber. It is perhaps best described as reversing the speech direction, where I as the conductor supply what is normally the vocal chords or "voice box" job. The resulting piece is a polyphonic and minimalistic transformation of various vowel resonances. The title alludes to Roland Barthes famous essay on the grain of the voice, giving identity to the voice and reflects on the relationship between the voice and the subject.

The piece featured in the video was composed for coreographer Eva-Cecilie Richardsens perfomance "Speaking and building" in April 2012, Dansens Hus, Oslo.

The singers: Cecilie Lindeman Steen, Janne-Camilla Lyster, Gry Bech-Hanssen and Marte Vold
The conductor: Alexander Rishaug

Upandcoming autum leaves concerts

silent reader — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 20:08:06 +0000

This autumn: a few all-exclusive concerts (like selected autumn leaves for herbarium) coming up:

29. November Alog with Signe Lidén Brugata Oslo
1. December Alog Christmas with Signe Lidén Bergen Kjøtt
7. December Electric Folkways with P. Bastien Next Festival Bratislava

B-post dialogue

the silent reader — Tue, 04 Dec 2012 08:48:15 +0000

A dialogue between me and my long-time collaborator Nicholas H. Møllerhaug is now printed in the art journal B-Post. Also available online with a sound montage we made some years back.

Dead Language Poetry

the silent reader — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 07:56:03 +0000

Coming soon, my first solo exhibition at Bergen Kunsthall - I will post more info here soon, but here is the text from their spring program communication.

Also there will be 3 performances in the exhibition, as part of the Borealis Festival program. Welcome!

FRI 01.03. Kl 20.00 (exhibition opening)
Performance by Signe Lidén, Mari Kvien Brunvoll, Tolga Balci, Trine H. Friis, Espen S. Eide.

WED 06.03. Kl 17.00 (borealis 1. day)
Performance by Alexander Rishaug, Janne-Camilla Lyster, Signe Lidén, Tolga Balci, Trine H. Friis, Espen S. Eide.

SUN 10.03. Kl 14.00
Plattform: Presentation by Espen Sommer Eide and a composition performed by Trine H. Friis.

Every ten days another language disappears—at the present rate about half of the world’s 6000 languages will disappear in the course of a few generations. What is lost when a language dies is a many-faceted issue which can be viewed in several perspectives, for example cultural history, linguistics and the philosophy of language. With a background in art, music and philosophy, Espen Sommer Eide has taken various approaches to the phenomenon.
His main interest is in the complexity of the processes behind the destruction, evolution and creation of languages.

The archiving of languages can function as both a destructive and a creative process. One of the works in the exhibition revolves around how linguistic structures are stored in a collective consciousness, and how in certain cases the voice can neutralize the destructive power of time and memory. The sacred Vedic texts of India have been passed down through generations (since 1800 BC). Despite exclusively oral transmission their content has been preserved word for word thanks to the special way in which they are recited, in complex paralinguistic patterns.

In the exhibition the theme is also dealt with from a purely aesthetic point of view. For example is there a unique aural imprint embedded in all languages, and can such an aesthetic aspect be separated from the knowledge-bearing and identity-forming aspects? What is the sound of a dead language and can it be revived? When Edison invented the first recording apparatus for sound, the phonograph, it was quickly seen as a medium not primarily for reproducing music, but for listening to recordings of voices from people who had passed on. The voices from the phonograph were experienced as voices without bodies, as spirits in space. Through deconstructions of language and the voice Sommer Eide deals with issues such as the boundaries between living and dead languages, between meaning and sound, and between linguistic-metaphorical structures and the musical organization of sound. In addition to the exhibition, the project consists of a series of performances with a point of departure in self-made instruments (“Philosophical Instruments”).

Espen Sommer Eide has participated in a number of group exhibitions and theatrical productions, and has had a wide-ranging career as a performing musician and composer. Since the end of the 1990s the projects Alog (with Dag-Are Haugan) and Phonophani have been among the most prominent representatives of experimental electronic music in Norway, with a series of releases from the label Rune Grammofon. “Dead Language Poetry” is Sommer Eide’s first solo exhibition. The exhibition is part of an annual collaboration between the Borealis Festival and Bergen Kunsthall. This year’s Borealis has ‘The End’ as an overall theme for its programme, with cue words like endings, old age, obsolescence and decay.

Espen Sommer Eide (b.1972) grew up in Tromsø. He lives and works in Bergen.

Dead Language Poetry at Bergen Kunsthall until 31. March

the silent reader — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 22:13:46 +0000

Language in Time

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 07:11:08 +0000

Bergen Kunsthall has published my talk from 10. March. It is not an 'artist talk' in the usual sense, but more of a lecture and playlist on a subject intended to supplement the exhibition (and one work in particular).

DLP Photos

the silent reader — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 18:54:38 +0000

Photo gallery here

Spirit Catcher

the silent reader — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 21:49:26 +0000

Spirit Catcher (phonograph-box, tripod, bellows, motor, electronics)
by Espen Sommer Eide, reader Anne Marthe Dyvi
Exhibited and performed as part of the solo exhibition 'Dead Language Poetry' at Bergen Kunsthall 2013