Category Archives: Full length album features

Danse Macabre (CD)

Released August 26, 2022, on Bandcamp and CD. Label: SANNTIDSMUSIKK · SATIMU 008 Free improvised chaos at Podium, Oslo, 16 June 2009.Recorded by Kjetil Hanssen.Editing, mastering and artwork by Lasse Marhaug.Executive producer: Petter Flaten Eilertsen. Maja wishes to thank Per … Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Full length album features, Recorded improvisation | Comments Off on Danse Macabre (CD)

Focus Foucault Foccacia / Malleus Maleficarum Maximum

by Solveig Kjelstrup & Maskinanlegg / Maja Ratkje & Bjørn Hatterud Released August 26, 2022 on Bandcamp and CD. Label: SANNTIDSMUSIKK · SATIMU 009 All music composed and performed by Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje & Bjørn Hatterud.Cover concept by Helene … Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Full length album features | Comments Off on Focus Foucault Foccacia / Malleus Maleficarum Maximum

Avant Joik: Live in Bergen

Bergen Kunsthall: «Live in Bergen» captures Avant Joik’s two amazing concerts during the opening weekend of Joar Nan- go’s Festival Exhibition at Bergen Kunsthall in 2020. The album is based on the recordings from two con- certs held at Landmark, … Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Full length album features, Mixed media/Vinyl/Other shapes, Recorded improvisation | Tagged , | Comments Off on Avant Joik: Live in Bergen

Vannstand

Motvind records: ’Vannstand’ (Sea Level) is a tribute to the slowly pulsating tidal shifts along the length of the Norwegian coastline. In Vannstand children are given the opportunity to reflect and respond musically to their relationship with the coast, the … Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Full length album features, Mixed media/Vinyl/Other shapes, Recorded compositions | Tagged | Comments Off on Vannstand

Echo Chamber 3.0/Ekkokammer 3.0

Echo Chamber 3.0 is a concert performance for the ear, by Maja S. K. Ratkje written for Trondheim Voices in 2020. The piece is a continuation of Ekkokammer 2.0 which is a staged performance, premiered in 2015. The album is … Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Full length album features, Recorded compositions | Comments Off on Echo Chamber 3.0/Ekkokammer 3.0

Maja S. K. Ratkje: Works for String Orchestra

Pictures From a Sinking City was commissioned by the Trondheim Soloists, and had its world premiere in Trondheim on 30 January, 2020. Tale of Lead and Frozen Light exists in two versions: one for a string quartet, Tale of Lead … Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Full length album features, Maja's top 10, Recorded compositions | Comments Off on Maja S. K. Ratkje: Works for String Orchestra

Corona lockdown concert for TUSK Festival 2020

Composed and performed for TUSK Virtual 2020. Part 1 of 2. Maja S. K. Ratkje is using voice and live electronics (with software by Øyvind Brandtsegg). Link to concert film as streamed at TUSK Virtual Oct 7th 2020 given upon … Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Full length album features, Mixed media/Vinyl/Other shapes, Recorded improvisation | Comments Off on Corona lockdown concert for TUSK Festival 2020

Sult

Based upon Ratkje’s music created for the ballet Sult (Hunger) by profiled director Jo Strømgren for the Norwegian National Ballet, this is a departure from records and live settings normally associated with Maja S. K. Ratkje as a solo performer, … Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Full length album features, Maja's top 10, Mixed media/Vinyl/Other shapes, Recorded compositions | Tagged | Comments Off on Sult

Still Eating Ginger Bread for Breakfast – The 20th Anniversary Concert

Rune Grammofon: “Formed in 1995, SPUNK comprises four of Norway’s most innovative musicians: Maja S. K. Ratkje, Hild Sofie Tafjord, Lene Grenager and Kristin Andersen. The quartet combine talents that range from vocal experiments, instrumental virtuosity, impulsive improvisation and a … Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Full length album features, Recorded improvisation | Tagged | Comments Off on Still Eating Ginger Bread for Breakfast – The 20th Anniversary Concert

And sing…

Booklet text (Norwegian below): Could the act of composing include my sound as a voice performer? The two works on this album are two different answers to this question. From the moment I started to compose new classical music I … Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Full length album features, Maja's top 10, Recorded compositions | Comments Off on And sing…

Kapital & Moral

The combination of the trio POING and vocalist Maja S. K. Ratkje has been referred to as among the best, boldest and most innovative players in the Norwegian music community. On their new album, “Kapital&Moral”, they present a selection of … Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Full length album features, Mixed media/Vinyl/Other shapes | Tagged , | Comments Off on Kapital & Moral

Crepuscular Hour

Crepuscular Hour was originally commissioned for a performance at the Ultima festival 2010 in Uranienborg church, Oslo. The work is composed for three choirs, three pairs of noise musicians and concert organ. All performers surround the audience, and are amplified … Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Full length album features, Maja's top 10, Mixed media/Vinyl/Other shapes, Rare stuff, Recorded compositions | Tagged | Comments Off on Crepuscular Hour

Rasaka

Concert recording from Rødbrygga, Inderøy, April 2013. Maja S. K. Ratkje (voice and live electronics) with the trio SAKA: Kristoffer Berre Alberts (saxophones), Jon Rune Strøm (double bass), Dag Erik Knedal Andersen (drums). CD and Vinyl. Mixed by Lasse Marhaug.

Posted in Blog, Full length album features, Mixed media/Vinyl/Other shapes, Recorded improvisation | Tagged | Comments Off on Rasaka

Celadon

A record of slowly evolving beauty that gradually unravels its meditative design. Recorded in Norwegian sculptor and painter Emanuel Vigeland’ s (1875 -1948) mausoleum in Oslo in 2013. A recording space that is famous for its acoustics and its long … Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Full length album features, Recorded improvisation | Comments Off on Celadon

Live in Molde

+3dB: “SPUNK and Joëlle Léandre is a match made for history. Based on their first joint appearance at Belleville, Oslo, in 2008, Molde Jazz Festival suggested that these players join forces again, a situation that warranted documentation. Léandre is one … Continue reading

Posted in Full length album features, Recorded improvisation | Tagged , | Comments Off on Live in Molde

Adventura Botanica

Rune Grammofon: “On in this botanical adventure – or “Adventura Botanica” – SPUNK join forces with one of Norway’s leading modern dance exponents, Odd Johan Fritzøe, to create a sound and movement work celebrating Darwin’s legendary, game-changing voyage to Madagascar. … Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Full length album features, Mixed media/Vinyl/Other shapes, Rare stuff, Recorded improvisation | Tagged , | Comments Off on Adventura Botanica

JANUS

Beautiful, hand pressed black vinyl from Maja S. K. Ratkje / Joachim Montessuis on the French label Erratum. A collaboration which started in 2008 and finished in 2013. Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Full length album features, Mixed media/Vinyl/Other shapes, Rare stuff | Tagged | Comments Off on JANUS

Voice (LP)

The debut solo album from founder SPUNK member and composer Maja Ratkje has secured her a place among the finest experimental singers. From the weird and furious to the enchanting and beautiful, this is an album rich in atmosphere, colour … Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Full length album features, Mixed media/Vinyl/Other shapes | Tagged | Comments Off on Voice (LP)

Scrumptious Sabotage

A recording of live performances which brought together two essential figures of the contemporary scene: an oustanding Norwegian composer and vocal artist Maja S.K. Ratkje and a celebrated improviser and composer , former DNA drummer, Ikue Mori. Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Full length album features, Mixed media/Vinyl/Other shapes, Recorded improvisation | Tagged , | Comments Off on Scrumptious Sabotage

Das Wohltemperierte SPUNK

Rune Grammofon: “At one minute past eight in the evening of the twentieth of January, 2001, the Norwegian quartet SPUNK began playing a drone in the key of B, inaugurating a project that would weave into their musical lives for … Continue reading

Posted in Blog, Full length album features, Maja's top 10, Mixed media/Vinyl/Other shapes, Recorded improvisation | Tagged | Comments Off on Das Wohltemperierte SPUNK