Category Archives: Record reviews

And sing… reviewed by Dagens Nyheter (SE)

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 … Continue reading →

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Crepuscular Hour DVD reviewed by The Quietus

“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 … Continue reading →

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Crepuscular Hour DVD reviewed by ATTN: Magazine

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 … Continue reading →

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Crepuscular Hour DVD reviewed by Boomkat

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 … Continue reading →

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Creouscular Hour DVD reviewed by Bad Alchemy (DE)

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”? … Continue reading →

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Mektig skumringstime (NO)

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 … Continue reading →

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More Kapital & Moral reviews in Norwegian

“Det er forfriskende uironisk – morsomt og gravalvorlig på en gang” Continue reading →

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Maja S. K. Ratkje bouscule l’avant-garde avec le grandiose Crepuscular Hour (FR)

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 … Continue reading →

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More Crepuscular Hour DVD reviews in English

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 … Continue reading →

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Celadon reviewed by The New Noise (IT)

(…)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 … Continue reading →

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Celadon reviews in English

“A bold, striking, and deceptively ferocious artistic statement that is like absolutely nothing else that I have heard(…)” Continue reading →

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Vital dialog med polskt experiment (SE)

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 … Continue reading →

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Live in Molde reviews (in English, German, Dutch and Polish)

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 … Continue reading →

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In Dialogue with Rudnik reviewed by Vital Weekly

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 … Continue reading →

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Adventura Botanica – the album (reviews in Norwegian, English and German)

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. … Continue reading →

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Das Wohltemperierte SPUNK reviewed by Nordische Musik (DE)

…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. Continue reading →

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JANUS reviews (in English)

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 … Continue reading →

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Scrumtious Sabotage reviews (in English)

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 … Continue reading →

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Das Wohltemperierte SPUNK reviewed by Free Jazz Blog

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. Continue reading →

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Sounds: mit Phantom Orchard Orchestra, SPUNK und Jenny Hval (DE)

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 … Continue reading →

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