A June Video Festival

KWAN by Kvien & Sommer from Espen Sommer Eide on Vimeo.

What a mix! Hope you enjoy some of them!

- Bernie Maupin, William Parker, Akira Sakata and Kresten Osgood (Live at Jazzhouse in Copenhagen, June 17th, 2015).

- The Living Room, live in Japan. Torben Snekkestad, Søren Kjærgaard and Thomas Strønen.

- Kvien & Sommer. "Kwan" from from the mini album “Weathering” (2015).

- Mari Kvien Brunvoll. Internet Festival 2014.

- Josephine Foster live at Issue Project Room (NY) June 13, 2013

- Martin Simpson, Andy Cutting and Nancy Kerr perform 'Seven Years' (Cutting) from the trio's debut album 'Murmurs' (2015).

- They Might Be Giants cover Destiny's Child's "Bills, Bills, Bills" (A.V. Undercover 2015).

Kvien & Sommer: Weathering

Check out Kvien & Sommer´s mini album "Weathering" (2015) on Full of Nothing.

You get "four broken suites for voice, modular synthesizers, bagpipe and various sound objects". Download or order cassette for a minimum of $7.

You have met both Kvien and Sommer several times in this blog, they being Mari Kvien Brunvoll (solo, with Stein Urheim and Building Instrument) and Espen Sommer Eide (Phonophani, Alog etc).

April Video Festival

Terry Day and the Free improvisation in the UK -Trailer- from whiteemotion on Vimeo.

Jaap Blonk & Philip Jeck perform NOTATIONS (a film by Vicki Bennett) at Cafe Oto - FULL CONCERT from Vicki WFMU on Vimeo.

RADIO PARIS 2013 / Régis Boulard - La Superfolia Armaada from Olivier Mellano on Vimeo.

A collection of some videos I have enjoyed these last weeks, turned into a video festival for you all!
Happy or not, here is mainly what you get: Loads of free jazz and improvisation, some art rock, hot soul and good old rock!

- Chris Corsano (dr) and Mette Rasmussen (sax) performing at Jazzhouse, Copenhagen on the 8th of April, 2014.
- Peter Brötzmann (sax) and Steve Noble (dr) live at Kornspeicher Wels, Austria on the 11th of April, 2014.
- Terry Day and the Free improvisation in the UK - Trailer. Directed by Blanca Regina.
- Jaap Blonk & Philip Jeck perform NOTATIONS (a film by Vicki Bennett) at Cafe Oto (full concert) on the 29th of November, 2013.
- Paal Nilssen-Love and Esa Pietilä Big Orchestra plays "Big Fun" by Esa Pietilä at "Finnish Fun" Festival at Victoria Nasjonal Jazzscene, Oslo, on the 25th of January 2014.
If you want to know ho is playing check "3rd fun" on this site.
- Phil Minton at Sonic Protest on 9th of April, 2014.
- Ingrid Laubrock's XXL at Clemente Soto Velez, on 10th of March, 2014. Musicians named on YouTube.
- Ingrid Laubrock (sax) and William Parker (b) at Arts for Art / Evolving Music, NYC, on the 3rd of March, 2014.
- Ingrid Laubrock (sax) and Mary Halvorson (g) at Clemente Soto Velez, on the 10th of March, 2014.
- La Superfilia Armaada and John Greaves "Radio Paris" Régïs Boulard, on the 23rd of April,2013 - Festival Metis Villetaneuse.
- Mari Kvien Brunvoll, Odda, Norway, in October 2013.
- Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - "People Don't Get What They Deserve" on Jimmy Kimmel Live. From their new album "Give the people what they want" (Daptone 2014).
- The Nightingales - "Dumb and Drummer". From their album "For fuck´s sake" (2014).

Building Instrument

How about giving the Bergen trio Building Instrument a chance?

Their record company Hubro describes their development like this: "The trio began to play together in Bergen in 2008, and their original idea was to explore electronic music. This project was quickly abandoned in favour of a more acoustic and home-grown focus. The members of the trio have now found their own self-defined niche within a genre that could be described as a no-man’s-land"

Musicians: Mari Kvien Brunvoll (vocals, sampler, zither, percussion, kazoo), Øyvind Hegg-Lunde (drums and percussion) and Åsmund Weltzien (synthesizer, electronics, melodica).

Mari Kvien Brunvoll has been a regular in my blogs as a solo artist, in Tim Tygg and working with guitar player Stein Urheim. And on this record she is singing, using her own glorious Molde dialect of Norwegian, on some of the tracks.
*Cough* I might be a bit biased here, when it comes to how glorious that dialect is.

Øyvind Hegg-Lunde is a member of Crab Is Crap with drummer Øyvind Skarbø, Electric Eye (great psychedelia!) and The Sweetest Thrill with Stephan Meidell.

Have a listen to the opening track "Historia" ("The History"), a wordless song there.

For one reason or the other the Norwegian release date is 07.03.2014, while international release happens 16.05.2014. Why?

Stein Urheim

Bergen´s own Stein Urheim´s eponymous album is out on Hubro now!

You should check out this fine "guitar album" (Urheim plays lots of other instruments too) right away, to get some folk, blues, Americana, Cooder in "Paris Texas" mood, world music, and you name it!

You might notice a natural development from his previous album on Hubro, "Kosmolodi" (2012), not only in the name of track one on the new album: "Kosmoloda". Only 150 copies were released of the vinyl version of "Kosmolodi", but downloads are available where you find such stuff.

Jørgen Træen adds modular synth and effects.

Stein Urheim´s work with Mari Kvien Brunvoll is also highly recommendable. Check out "Daydream Twin" (Jazzland 2013) and "Stein & Mari´s Daydream Community" (Jazzland 2011).

Sigbjørn Apeland and Stephan Meidell

Do we have a new duo in the making?
Friday night I heard Sigbjørn Apeland (organ) and Stephan Meidell (acoustic guitar) play a beautiful set at the Bontelabo venue in Bergen, an old industrial hall with great acoustics.
Apeland mostly playing the organ this night, not deconstructing the instrument or attacking it in various ways, while Meidell mistreated his guitar by playing not only the strings, but dragging the guitar along the floor to make the sounds needed.

The same evening we also got to hear the singers Mari Kvien Brunvoll, Eva Pfitzenmaier and Johanne Birkeland perform in almost complete darkness, moving around the hall using the acoustics of the hall as their instrument.

A fine Friday night in Bergen.

Stein Urheim & Mari Kvien Brunvoll at Nattjazz

Since I went to see Mary Halvorson Trio, i missed the wonderful Stein Urheim and Mari Kvien Brunvoll at Bergen´s Nattjazz festival.

Here is a short video from the concert.

Mari Kvien Brunvoll live

Regular readers may have noticed that I´m quite fond of Mari Kvien Brunvoll´s music.
She visited the blog recently, when her first solo album (Jazzland 2012) hit my turntable.

Here she is at Jazz and the City, in Salzburg 13 October.

Mari Kvien Brunvoll

Mari Kvien Brunvoll has performed live for sevaral years, and finally her solo album is out on Jazzland!

The music was recorded live at three different concerts held in 2009 and 2010 and most tracks are composed (and improvised ?) by MKB, except «Everywhere you go» and «I’m going don’t you know» by Memphis Minnie.

Mari Kvien Brunvoll sings, uses live sampling and plays kalimba, kazoo, percussion and zither.

The music is atmospheric, melodic, sweet, intense, strange, and why don’t you listen yourselves, and see if you can come up with better descriptions!
No matter what you call it, it’s a great album!

The one thing I don’t like: No download code with the vinyl edition.

You might also like Stein (Urheim) and Mari’s «Daydream Community» (Jazzland).