La de Maja S. K. Ratke es una obra de escucha atenta, de colores y matices infinitos El Pais 6 JUN 2016 La compositora y cantante noruega Maja S. K. Ratkje trabaja principalmente desde tres frentes: la voz humana, la música electrónica (con querencia por su versión más ruidosa) y la inclusión de ambas en […]
Voz humana, música electrónica (ESP) Read More »
Med de två nya verken på albumet ”And sing…”, komponerade för sin egen röst, Cikadaensemblen och Oslo Sinfonietta under ledning av Christian Eggen, bidrar tonsättaren Maja SK Ratkje på ett överraskande sätt till årets Shakespearefirande. Det första är en avantgardistisk ljudfantasi över en förförisk replik hos Titania i ”En midsommarnattsdröm” – farlig och vacker, råstark
And sing… reviewed by Dagens Nyheter (SE) Read More »
“When I was young, I was really quite scared of the dark. I think my parents taught me to be and I remember the deciding thing was, I turned around and said: I’m going to go to the woods at night and walk into the darkness and embrace it and if I die, I die”.
Crepuscular Hour DVD reviewed by The Quietus Read More »
By positioning the musicians at the perimeter and the audience at the centre, Crepuscular Hour becomes an act of materialisation. Instead of bursting outward and dispelling into the open air, sound funnels inward and solidifies – guitars react effervescently with waves of choir, while organs meld with flumes of brass and electronic noise. At certain
Crepuscular Hour DVD reviewed by ATTN: Magazine Read More »
Crepuscular Hour is a foreboding, toweringly ambitious and arresting new work by celebrated Norwegian composer Maja SK Ratkje, bringing the worlds of Choral music and Noise together in a way that will leave you gasping for breath. Its her first new long-form solo release since the end of the last decade, and follows extensive collaborations
Crepuscular Hour DVD reviewed by Boomkat Read More »
Wo soll man bei der Trondheimerin mit dem Staunen anfangen? Bei Fe-mail, ihrem radikalen Duo mit Hild Sofie Tafjord? Beim Miteinander mit Lasse Marhaug oder Phantom Orchard? Ihren Brecht-Songs mit Poing? Bei Spunk, gipfelnd im 12-jährigen Zyklus “Das Wohltemperierte Spunk”? Bei ihrer Kollaboration mit Elfriede Jelinek und Sophie Rois beim Hörspiel “Neid”, oder der mit
Creouscular Hour DVD reviewed by Bad Alchemy (DE) Read More »
Maja S.K. Ratkje lager musikk slik jeg vil ha det, bortenfor det lettvinte, opplagte og sleipe. Arild Andersen, Aftenposten 05.04.2016 Maja S.K. Ratkje er vanskelig å møte med likegyldighet. Hun formidler alvor gjennom ukonvensjonell form og vekker interesse gjennom det særegne. De gangene jeg har sett henne på scenen, har musikken hatt et dramatisk tilsnitt
Mektig skumringstime (NO) Read More »
“Det er forfriskende uironisk – morsomt og gravalvorlig på en gang”
More Kapital & Moral reviews in Norwegian Read More »
The Drone: Ecoute et survol de l’album, dispo sur Rune Grammofon. 21.04.2016, par Olivier Lamm Préparez-vous à quelque chose de violent. Je ne parle pas de la musique que vous allez entendre – même si elle n’est pas dénuée de fureur et d’intensité – mais de ce qui risque de survenir dans l’intimité de vos
Maja S. K. Ratkje bouscule l’avant-garde avec le grandiose Crepuscular Hour (FR) Read More »
Dalston Sound: Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje: improvisational vocalist, electronics artist, composer. She’s been a member of the electro-acoustic quartet SPUNK since 1995, and has an extensive portfolio of work in various media – her life as a sound artist is beautifully portrayed in a new film, [intlink id=”9000″ type=”post”]Voice – Sculpting Sound with Maja S.
More Crepuscular Hour DVD reviews in English Read More »
(…)Celadon è il pianto malinconico delle sirene, Banshee che intonano magiche litanie, sentori di muschio che avvolgono una giornata autunnale, l’odore delle foglie secche e umide, un richiamo ancestrale in cui si evidenziano il sottofondo drone particolarissimo e glaciale della Norment, confezionato su misura tramite la propria glassarmonica. Celadon è anche il ricamo dalla voce
Celadon reviewed by The New Noise (IT) Read More »
“A bold, striking, and deceptively ferocious artistic statement that is like absolutely nothing else that I have heard(…)”
Celadon reviews in English Read More »
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 »
[intlink id=”8549″ type=”post”]Link to album[/intlink] Dagsavisen: Botanisk eventyr Då SPUNK i 1999 kalla sitt første album «Det eneste jeg vet er at det ikke er en støvsuger», var eg hekta. Eg meiner, berre tittelen, og eg meiner det hende på dåverande klubb Belleville i Oslo. Ikkje visste eg at dei hadde halde på sidan 1995,
Adventura Botanica – the album (reviews in Norwegian, English and German) Read More »
…entstand so ein ebenso radikales wie einzigartiges Großwerk der norwegischen Musikgeschichte, das einerseits das 20. Jahrhundert verabschiedet, andererseits aber auch ein Monolith für die Zukunft.
Das Wohltemperierte SPUNK reviewed by Nordische Musik (DE) 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 »
And let’s be frank: “Das Wohltemperierte SPUNK” is a masterpiece, a total work of art. It conceives an acoustical notion of how men live, a sonic painting of life on earth in general, a musical universe celebrating creation and civilization because of the selection of the places involved – from commercial centers, cultural venues, sacred sites and private apartments to natural surroundings.
Das Wohltemperierte SPUNK reviewed by Free Jazz Blog Read More »