Archive for June, 2012

Dorsten concert, June 30th

Morten with Karl Oluf Wennerberg, Erik Ljunggren and Dan Sundhordvik in Dorsten

Morten and his band did a 10-song set at the Sommer Open Air event in Dorsten, Germany tonight, in front of a crowd of around 20.000 people. The concert was streamed live online at wdr2.de.

Unfortunately, Morten’s voice was in pretty bad shape. Therefore, the vocals seemed to be playback on some of the songs, particularly evident on Scared Of Heights. A controversial decision for sure, and possibly the first time Morten has ever used recorded vocals at a live concert.

Dorsten, June 30th

 
Here is the setlist:

1. Burn Money Burn
2. I’m The One
3. Keep The Sun Away
4. Move To Memphis
5. Forever Not Yours
6. Lightning
7. We’re Looking For The Whales
8. Stay On These Roads
9. Scared Of Heights
10. Foot Of The Mountain

The whole concert can be watched again at wdr2.de.
 
 

Watch Morten’s concert live

Morten is playing in Dorsten, Germany tonight, as part of WDR2’s “Sommer Open Air”. The whole concert will be streamed online at 7:20 PM (local time) here.

Furuholmen-fanfare fills Flø-festival

Magne in front of the "Desibel" horn (Picture from Studio Hugo Opdal)

Magne opened the third annual “Go With The Flø” art festival with a special fanfare on Sunday, June 24th, performed on “Desibel”, the world’s largest mobile horn, and featuring audio samples of tractors, local cows and workers at a nearby shipyard.

Last month, Magne stated that the bass frequency created by “Desibel” is capable of physically moving a cow. Luckily, no cows were tipped over by the sounds coming from the massive horn, but the fanfare did manage to make a bunch of them run away in panic.

“Hugo [Opdal] asked me if I wanted to turn the sound recordings into music. Which I was happy to do. It’s become a musical interpretation of the area”, Magne told newspaper Vikebladet on Friday.

The fanfare can be heard in this clip on YouTube.

 

Robyn Hitchcock, Magne and Anne Lise Frøkedal on stage (From YouTube video)

Later on, British musician Robyn Hitchcock played a concert at Vonheim, the local village hall. Magne, along with Anne Lise Frøkedal og Frode Strømstad, joined Hitchcock on stage.

A video from the concert can be seen here.
Around 2000 people found their way to Flø during Sunday’s festival.

“Everything is special at Flø. The village has become a center of experimental behaviour. In my opinion, this is the most tolerant village in Norway. When we arrived with the horn, the locals stood by the road, smiling and waving”, Magne told Sunnmørsposten.

Magne in London with Tini

Magne and Martin Terefe have been doing some recording sessions with Tini Flaat Mykland from The Voice at Kensaltown Studios in London this week.

Yesterday Tini posted a picture from the studio on Twitter. “Incredibly grateful for fantastic session-days”, she writes.

Update on a-ha photo book

Book cover

Photographer Stian Andersen‘s photo book about a-ha, which has been many years in the making, will finally be published in September 2012.

The front cover of the book, which is called a-ha 1994 – 2010 Fotografier, has now been posted on the website of Forlaget Press, along with some info about the project.

“I have never spent so much time on a project before. Making a photo book about a-ha is different than making a photo book about Turbonegro, for example. It’s more closed, there’s more history involved, the backstage area is more protected. While I’ve been working, I have never seen any other photographers or press backstage”, Andersen says.

The book will be published in mid-September, priced at 599 Kroner ($99). There will also be an exhibition of some of Andersen’s a-ha photos at the Stolper+Friends gallery in September.

Update: Catherine at a-ha.com has followed up with some info about the English version of the book, which seems to have a slightly different cover.

Update II: It seems the Norwegian version of the book has been cancelled, so it will only be available in English – as a limited edition. The book can be pre-ordered now from forlagetpress.no.

Morten to perform in Dorsten

Picture from fnp.de

Morten will be one of the artists performing at an open air concert in the city of Dorsten, Germany on June 30th.

He is scheduled to perform a 1-hour set, which will be broadcast live on the radio and streamed online (from what I understand).

The concert is presented by radio station WDR2, and other acts performing include Rea Garvey (singer in the band Reamonn, which supported a-ha on the MEMS Tour) and the Norwegian band Katzenjammer.

The organizers are expecting an audience of 30.000 people, and the concert is free of charge.

To promote the event, WDR2 has posted a video clip where Morten has to answer the questions he’s asked by miming.

The questions are as follows; 1. Your favourite instrument? 2. How proud are you of the new album? 3. Where is the most beautiful place in Norway? 4. How do keep so fit? 5. What do you see in the mirror in the morning? 6. How will your performance in Dorsten be?

The Voice-special on TV2

A one-hour special about the first season of The Voice was shown on TV2 on Saturday, which included a new interview with Martin Halla and Magne, backstage clips and highlights from the show.

Host Øyvind Mund asked Martin why he chose Magne over Sondre Lerche at the first blind audition:

Martin: “I thought about some of the things he’s doing outside of music. He’s doing abstract work in the world of arts, and I’ve been making a lot of abstract music. So I thought we could connect on that level.”

– Has this contest been good for your self confidence?

Martin: “It’s been very good. I do have confidence in what I’m doing, but getting accept for it and being embraced by both the mentors and the people has been an extremely good experience.”

By the end of the interview, Magne was asked what will happen now:

Magne: “We’re going to record an album during the summer/early fall. We have already been in the studio to record an EP. Long days and long nights in the studio; it’s been many years since that was my lifestyle. But it’s incredibly inspiring and there’s a great atmosphere in the studio.”

Martin: “Yes, absolutely.”

– What are your ambitions for Martin?

Magne: “They are unlimited. But then again, I’m never able to limit myself.”

– So you have worldwide ambitions?

Magne: “Yes, that’s what I’ve been saying all along. And if it doesn’t work out, I can at least say that I tried. But I do have lots of contacts in London that have already heard of him, and to some extent listened to him as well. If I decide to bite down on something, my jaw locks – like a pitbull.”

Magne presents Sir Peter Blake exhibition

The renowned British artist Sir Peter Blake is in Norway this week, to hold an exhibition of his works at Magne’s gallery Stolper + Friends in Oslo. The exhibition is called The Oslo Suite and is inspired by Norway and famous Norwegians.

Blake has also covered the nearby Shed 13 warehouse with his art, like Damien Hirst did last year.

Yesterday he met the press together with Magne to talk about these projects.

“I think it’s amazing that we have been fortunate enough to have Peter make a whole exhibition based on Norwegian characters, on Norwegian historical figures. And inspired by Norway. I think we should count ourselves very lucky to have Peter here and to have this exhibition happen”, Magne told NRK1’s evening news last night. There’s a video clip here (starts at 12:30).

Peter Blake and Magne in front of the a-ha print (Picture from Dagsavisen)

In addition to prints depicting Fridtjof Nansen, Roald Amundsen, Sonja Henie and Edvard Munch, Blake has also included a print based on a live photo of a-ha from the 80s, taken by Janne Møller-Hansen.

“When I was asked to hold an exhibition here, I wanted to base it on pictures of famous Norwegian people. And since I’m a good friend of Magne, I wanted to include a-ha as well”, Blake tells Dagsavisen.

Magne was perhaps slightly less amused.

“For me it’s difficult to hang a picture of myself on the wall, but this is a choice that he’s made. Based on which Norwegians he’s familiar with. My entire budget for this year’s Christmas presents has now been spent on buying two prints for Morten and Paul”, Magne jokes.

The Oslo Suite opens at Stolper + Friends tonight and will be on display until July 1st.

Related articles:
thornews.com   a-ha.com   aftenposten.no

George Marino dies

George Marino

Legendary mastering engineer George Marino passed away yesterday. During his almost 40-year long career at the Sterling Sound studio in New York he mastered hundreds of albums, including some of the most classic albums in modern music history.

a-ha fans will know him as the man who mastered Lifelines (2002), How Can I Sleep With Your Voice In My Head – a-ha Live (2003) and Analogue (2005). He also mastered the Savoy albums Reasons To Stay Indoors (2001) and Savoy Songbook Vol. 1 (2007), and Magne’s solo album Past Perfect Future Tense (2004).

“Today Sterling Sound and the music industry as a whole has suffered a tremendous loss. Senior Mastering Engineer George Marino lost his battle with cancer this morning. Words cannot express the sorrow we feel. George was family to us all and we will miss him dearly”, the studio said in a statement.

Related articles:
sonicscoop.com   billboard.biz   ultimateclassicrock.com   dagbladet.no

Roskilde Festival update

The Roskilde Festival has now announced the date for the Apparatjik concert; Thursday July 5th at 01.00, on the Orange Stage.

“The international super group is currently working on a show that does not resemble anything you have experienced at Roskilde Festival.

With members from a-ha, Coldplay and Mew, the musical backbone is quite solid. A show filled with light-as-helium pop music – but just as much an experiment with the concert form and Orange Stage as a kind of temporary art installation.

The musical cosmonauts in Apparatjik are currently working on an innovative show filled with alluring falsetto vocals, synths and a Scandinavian feel. On a space journey filled with surprising features, Apparatjik will accelerate towards the Milky Way’s outer provinces and blur the distinction between art and concert”, the festival promises in an announcement on its website.

Teaser clip:

TV-appearances in July

Morten will be appearing on a couple of TV-shows in July:

2 July: “Ultimative Chart Show” – RTL, Germany
14 July: “Starnacht am Wörthersee” – ORF, Austria

“Starnacht am Wörthersee” is broadcast live from Klagenfurt, while “Ultimative Chart Show” is taped in Cologne – to air at a later date.

It’s not known if he’s going to perform a song on these shows, but “I’m The One” seems to be the next single off the album.

Magne in the studio with Martin

Magne has been in the studio with The Voice-winner Martin Halla this week, to record an EP which will be released by Universal later this month.

“On Tuesday we recorded an EP with several full versions of songs from The Voice plus an additional song, which will be released now in June. When that’s done, I’ll start work on a whole album”, Martin Halla told TV2.no.

He was back in Bergen this weekend, where he did his final exam concert after studying music at The Grieg Academy for the past four years.

Update (June 5th): The EP will include four songs that Martin performed on The Voice; “Hurt”, “We Found Love”, “Release Me” and “Take It With Me” – plus a cover version of the Magne/a-ha song “Dragonfly”. (Info from VG)

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