Category Archives: Recorded improvisation

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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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MARA

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 … Continue reading →

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Poke It With A Stick / Joining The Bots

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. … Continue reading →

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Gonimoblast Live – with Maja S.K Ratkje and Arve Henriksen

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. … Continue reading →

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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 →

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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.

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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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 →

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Treasure Hunt

Ikue Mori, Simon Balestrazzi, Sylvie Courvoisier, Alessandro Olla, Maja S. K. Ratkje recorded this album on Sardinia in 2010. Tracks: 1 Searching For 4:26 2 Alive 7:59 3 Tokyo Map 3:23 4 So Sorry 8:39 5 You Play Against My … Continue reading →

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Slime Zone

Slugfield’s debut album. Slugfield is the super trio consisting of Maja S. K. Ratkje, Paal Nilssen-Love and Lasse Marhaug. This is a concert recording from Mono during Oslo Jazz Festival, August 2010. Recorded by Audun Strype, mixed by Ratkje, mastered … Continue reading →

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LIGHT

Rune Grammofon: “This DVD gives a rare and unique insight into the live concert experience of one of Norway´s most prominent and long standing contemporary impro groups. Commisioned by the Henie Onstad Art Centre for it´s 40th anniversary in 2008, … Continue reading →

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Danse Macabre

Free improvised solo concert at Podium, Oslo, 16 June 2009. Continue reading →

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Music for Gardening

Picadisk: “The forth entry in Ratkje and Marhaug’s “Music For”-collaborative series. After Shopping (2002), Loving (2004) and Faking (2005) comes… Gardening. The title is inspired by Ratkje’s new life in the coutryside. The seven tracks on this CD are meant … Continue reading →

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Cyborgic

The Last Record Company/Rune Grammofon: “A rare live recording and her first solo album for quite some time, this finds Maja on top form. Since her recording debut as a member of SPUNK 10 years ago, she has continuously challenged … Continue reading →

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Kantarell

Rune Grammofon: “Free collective improvising is one of the most demanding ways of making music: the pitfalls are many – self-absorption, incoherence, certain standardized “gestures” of free jazz, lack of dynamics, humourlessness – but Spunk are alert to the dangers. … Continue reading →

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