by Rory Carr, TQ38/39/40, a TUSK Virtual special triple issue, published Jan 2021 “There’s a clichéd joke about watching live electronic music shows which says you might as well be watching someone read their emails. The physical gestures required to make music with laptops and other digital devices are the same as those for office […]
Corona lockdown concert for TUSK Festival 2020 reviewed in TQ Zine Read More »
The Sound Projector: Two more cassettes from Kassettkultur are by Maja Ratkje and Bjørn Hatterud, both made at the same time and only ever sold together as a pair; “will not split” is the familiar rallying cry of antique dealers who hold a fine pair of ancient jugs. With the jury’s permission, we will mention
Svenska Dagbladet: En elektroakustisk skatt grävs nu fram ur arkiven på den polska radions Experimentalstudio. Här ligger hundratals verk och väntar, producerade sedan starten 1957 av storheter som Krzysztof Penderecki, Boguslaw Schaeffer och Eugeniusz Rudnik. De flesta är inspelade under kommuniståren då den elektroniska musiken, liksom jazzen, tilläts leva ett relativt ostört liv. Det är
Vital dialog med polskt experiment (SE) Read More »
Record link Massimo Ricci. Touching Extremes: Joëlle Léandre: double bass; Kristin Andersen: trumpet and flutes; Lene Grenager: cello; Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje: voice and electronics; Hild Sofie Tafjord: french horn and electronics Some collaborations are, in straight words, gifts of mother nature for inquisitive audiences. Such is the case of the seven-year long joint venture
Live in Molde reviews (in English, German, Dutch and Polish) Read More »
Vital Weekly: There are two of his pieces on this CD, some twenty minutes in total, and in the middle a thirty-minute piece by Ratkje. The pairing of these two has to do with the fact they both use a lot of voice material in their music and it’s Ratkje paying homage to the work
In Dialogue with Rudnik reviewed by Vital Weekly Read More »
Seven1878: This is the best album that most people probably haven’t heard by two artists who deserve to be as highly regarded as the Wiese, Fernow, and Dilloways of the world. JANUS is like listening to the more cut-up, sound collage efforts of Sissy Spacek but using nothing but natural (and electronic) voice manipulation. Layers
JANUS reviews (in English) Read More »
Boomkat: Poland’s intrepid Bocian label helms this shocking collaboration between combustible Norwegian vocalist Maja S.K. Ratkje and legendary DNA drummer, Ikue Mori. Despite working together in a number of live constellations over the years, until now the two boundary-pushing artistes haven’t performed as a duo. The eight tracks of ‘Scrumptious Sabotage’ are Maja’s augmented documents
Scrumtious Sabotage reviews (in English) Read More »
Der Blues scheint verflogen, es bleiben die Sounds: unsere monatliche Kolumne von Redakteur Jens Balzer. Im Monat Mai mit: Phantom Orchard Orchestra, Spunk und Jenny Hval. Rolling Stone (DE) 07. Mai 2013, von Jens Balzer Des Öfteren ist in den vergangenen Monaten an dieser Stelle von den neuen Voice Processing Girls die Rede gewesen: Von
Sounds: mit Phantom Orchard Orchestra, SPUNK und Jenny Hval (DE) Read More »
Phantom Orchard began as an experimental duo comprised of two innovative figures from the experimental New York downtown scene: Ikue Mori, who exchanged the drummer position in the No Wave band DNA for a unique exploration of electronic sounds; and Zeena Parkins, who has expanded the vocabulary of the harp in acoustic and electric contexts.
Trouble In Paradise reviewed by All About Jazz Read More »
Vital Weekly: In October 2010 these five persons meet up at the Signal festival and played together. The two days before their concert they played together in a studio, resulting in these eight pieces of improvised music. We have here Ikue Mori (electronics), Simon Balestrazzi (electronics, prepared toy psaltery), Sylvie Courvoisier (piano, prepared piano), Alessandro
Treasure Hunt reviews (in English and Italian) Read More »
“an intuitively astute combination that gorgeously and engagingly blends righteous political music from across the globe.”
Wach auf! reviewed by Signal to Noise Read More »
The Sound Projector: It took the band 12 years to get around to getting this collection into wax, but it’s a corker of an album. Yes, Ratkje truly shines as a songstress, but it’s a collaborative set all the way.
Wach Auf and Smell the Coffee! Read More »
Muziek en politiek, die combinatie heeft zelden artistiek boeiende resultaten opgeleverd, zeker wanneer het eerste gebruikt werd om het tweede te verkopen of op te dringen. Op ‘Wach Auf!’ wagen de Noorse zangeres Maja Ratkje en haar landgenoten van het trio Poing zich aan het communistische repertoire van de eerste helft van de 20ste eeuw:
Wach auf! reviewed by Kwadratuur (NL) Read More »
Set aside the countless versions of “Mack the Knife,” which too often devolve into camp, and Bertolt Brech’s collaborations with Hans Eisler and Kurt Weill can provide a fertile launching point for improvisers. When done right, the core theatricality and harmonic complexity of the themes and the underlying inversions of scrappy dancehall meters offers up
Wach auf! reviewed by Dusted Magazine Read More »
Was ist eigentlich noch übrig von der Roten Revolution? Nur noch Nostalgie – oder doch noch die eine oder andere Lösung, wie wir aus der postmodernen Kapitalismus-Falle wieder rauskommen? Schwerer politischer Stoff, den sich das Trio Poing da ausgesucht hat. Aber die Frage hat anscheinend Energie in sich – sie hat eine CD hervorgebracht, die
Wach auf! reviewed by Nordische Musik (DE) Read More »
“Her har Ratkje virkelig klart å underbygge tekstens motsigende kraft. Det er lekent, det er vare stemninger, det er overraskelser, det er smerte”
Snowblind review (in Norwegian) Read More »
POING and Ratkje don’t hesitate to play and reconstruct these iconic songs, injecting their own sense of humor and irony, and performing them with great passion, highly creative arrangements and excellent musicianship, making them their own without surrendering to nostalgia.
Wach auf! reviewed by All About Jazz Read More »
Record Collector: Illuminating: anarchy in the art house. Commissioned by Norway’s Henie Onstad Art Centre on the advent of its 40th anniversary in 2008, Light captures preeminent improvisers Spunk at the top of their game. Led by Maja Ratkje’s bestial vocal contortions and electronic manipulation, the quartet – completed by Kristin Andersen (trumpet), Hild Sofie
LIGHT reviews (in English, Norwegian, Swedish and German) Read More »
“Her er rå og kompromissløse tolkninger av Weill /Brecht og Cyndi Laupers «True Colors» side om side med herlig sinte brokker fra Minor Threats «Seeing Red» og en flott versjon av Rudolf Nilsens «Gategutt» der Lillebjørn Nilsens melodi parres med et riff av Thelonius Monk. Det er vakkert, stygt og ellevilt.”
Wach auf! reviews in Norwegian, Swedish and Danish Read More »
