The trio consisting of Maja S. K. Ratkje, Sigurd Ytre-Arne and Torstein Slåen are back with a new vinyl release on the Polish avant-garde label Bocian following up their first self-released digital only album “The Swamp”, to be found on Bandcamp. They last played during All Ears in January at Kunstnernes Hus, a legendary concert
‘The Swamp’ is a get-to-know-you party where furniture is broken, wine glasses are smashed and walls are defaced with graffiti, but the living room remains more beautiful than the night before. The album is the first meeting between vocalist Maja S. K. Ratkje, guitarist Torstein Slåen and electronics artist Sigurd Ytre-Arne. With a fair dose
EP with original music, composed and performed by Maja S. K. Ratkje and her two daughters Marte and Frida Haltli. The music is created for Matti Aikio’s video work with the same title. LINK TO BANDCAMP RELEASE ONLY Aikio’s work Peurakaira is a poetic and meditative portrait of – and a tribute to – Peurakaira,
A compilation featuring a small selection of some of the many interesting female voices on the blossoming field of experimental music in the Nordic countries, working in new collaborations. MEUF vol. 1 features:Maja S. K. Ratkje, Hilde Marie Holsen, Nina De Heney, Maria Laurette Friis, Qarin Wikström, Carolyn Goodwin, Nana Pi, Laura Toxværd, Marilyn Mazur,
Poesi på bristepunktet (Poetry at the Breaking Point) is a series of collaborations between author Aasne Linnestå and composer and performer Maja S. K. Ratkje with fellow musicians. The author sits onstage writing poetry in real time, projected on a large screen visible to the audience. The musicians accompany, respond to and interpret the words.
Poesi på bristepunktet Read More »
Øra Fonogram announces the worldwide release of RÖKKUR, the joint album of Norwegian composer and performer Maja S. K. Ratkje and Icelandic ensemble Nordic Affect (Halla Steinunn Stefánsdóttir, Marie Stockmarr Becker, Hanna Loftsdóttir, Guðrún Óskarsdóttir). RÖKKUR on Bandcamp RÖKKUR on streaming other services Read the great album reviews here. What is ‘rökkur’? ‘Rökkur’ is the
The latest album release by acclaimed Norwegian band Erlend Apneseth Trio is made in collaboration with renowned experimental composer and vocalist Maja S. K. Ratkje. Their impromptu concert together in 2022 was a glorious kick-off for a five-day festival and was luckily put on tape. After reworking and reimagining the recorded material with their steady
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 Gisle and Harald from Dans For Voksne for organizing the event, Kjetil and Petter for
Danse Macabre (CD) Read More »
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, Bergen Kunsthall on 4 Sep- tember 2020 and presents for the first time the groundbreaking
Avant Joik: Live in Bergen Read More »
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 request from those who buy the album. All music composed and performed by Maja S.
Corona lockdown concert for TUSK Festival 2020 Read More »
Important Records: “Maja S. K. Ratkje is at the forefront of the musical avant-garde. Her music is bold, original and it is meant for sharing. At its heart lies Ratkje’s own voice, an open door to her individual musicianship and a constant tool for realigning her work with natural expressions and human truths. On Mara,
Album by Trondheim EMP. Øyvind Brandtsegg’s project explores cross-adaptive processing as a radical intervention in the communication between performing musicians. Digital audio analysis and processing techniques are used to enable features of one sound to inform the processing of another. This allows the actions of one performer to directly influence another performer’s sound, and doing
Poke It With A Stick / Joining The Bots Read More »
Gonimoblast, the ever-inventive sonic, electronic and jazz-inspired improvisers, led by dynamic bassist and composer Chris Mapp, are to release a double live album featuring striking guest performances from leading Norwegian vocalist Maja S. K. Ratkje and renowned trumpeter Arve Henriksen. Made up by four of the UK’s most noteworthy musical experimenters, Mapp formed Gonimoblast with
Gonimoblast Live – with Maja S.K Ratkje and Arve Henriksen Read More »
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 witty sense of play. All four work in the indefinable area between modern composition, free
Still Eating Ginger Bread for Breakfast – The 20th Anniversary Concert Read More »
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.
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 and full-sounding reverb. These three tracks utilize both the delicacy and the power of acoustic
+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 of the earliest prominent voices with a combined practice as performer, improviser and composer. She
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. Premiered in 2013 at Oslo’s trailblazing Ultima Festival of Contemporary Music, “Adventura Botanica” was the
Adventura Botanica Read More »
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.
Scrumptious Sabotage Read More »
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 the foreseeable future. Eleven years, eleven months and eleven minutes later, the same foursome struck
Das Wohltemperierte SPUNK Read More »