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The Voice – episode 9

Posted by Jakob S on March 24th, 2012

Tini, Monika, Martin and Magne during rehearsals

Magne made it tricky for himself on The Voice last night, when he decided to put Monika Blomeid and Tini Flaat Mykland, probably the two best talents on his team, up against each other in a duel.

A video clip of their performance of Sinead O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” can be seen at TV2.no.

“The two of you are lightyears ahead of so many others. And each of you manage to own the song in your own special way. I’m not able to point out any mistakes in the performance. You go straight to my heart, both of you. I get completely blown away each time I listen to you, including tonight”, Magne said after the performance.

“But I just can’t get past Monika. It has to be Monika”

 

“Setting two such strong talents as Tini and Monika up against each other in a duel might seem strange to most people, and I guess it may not be the most strategic move, but remember that I’m also trying to create unique musical moments. I also feel that there should be a certain balance, in that both talents can have a real chance of actually winning the duels”, he told VG afterwards.

“Magne is so dedicated and excited. He gives me so much inspiration and motivation. It’s almost unreal. Being backed by Magne Furuholmen – it almost feels strange to say it out loud”, Monika said in a VG interview.

“Monika’s voice is a force of nature. She is definitely capable of winning the whole contest”, Magne said in the same interview.

 

But even though Tini is out of the contest, Magne wants to continue working with her as well.

“Yes, it’s true that Tini and me have been in contact after she left The Voice. Martin Terefe and myself really want to make an album with her. She is a singing talent we both strongly believe in, regardless of this contest, and we are hoping to help her release her full potential”, Magne told VG.

“We have had a meeting and are in a dialogue, that’s all I can say. I’m really humbled that he wants to keep working with me, and he seems to mean what he says. It’s really fun”, Tini herself says.

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Extra concert in Oslo

Posted by Jakob S on March 22nd, 2012

Newspaper ad

Morten’s concert at Sentrum Scene in Oslo on September 14th has now sold out. Therefore an extra concert has been added on September 15th.

There will be a fan presale on Billettservice.no starting tomorrow at 9am CET, according to Morten’s official Facebook page.

 

In other news, the official website at mortenharket.com has now been updated with a new design. And apparently Morten will be a guest on Julian Krafftzig’s show on German radio station RPR1 next Wednesday, March 28th.

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Magne at royal dinner

Posted by Jakob S on March 21st, 2012

Magne was one of the guests at the Royal Palace in Oslo yesterday, as King Harald and Queen Sonja held an official dinner in honour of Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, who are on a 3-day visit to Norway.

Aftenposten has a picture of Magne arriving here.

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Martin Terefe joins Magne on The Voice

Posted by Jakob S on March 20th, 2012

Martin Terefe – Magne’s Apparatjik bandmate and longtime collaborator – appeared on The Voice last Friday as Magne’s handpicked assistant, as the contest moved onto the so-called battle phase.

Assistants to the three other mentors are American drummer David Heilman (Sondre), Barbadian singer Shontelle (Hanne) and Norwegian songwriter Thom Hell (Yosef).

The first two talents on Magne’s team to compete were Knut Anders Sørum and Marius Beck. Their performance of Keane’s “Bend and Break” can be seen at TV2.no.

The battle phase episodes, which were taped at the end of January, will continue for five more weeks. After that, it’s time for the live shows, which start on April 27th. Tickets for the live shows seem to be available now from Billettservice.

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Morten interviewed, Oslo concert announced

Posted by Jakob S on March 11th, 2012

Morten has recorded parts of the new album in this old farmhouse from the 17th century 
(Picture from Dagbladet)

Morten’s “Lightning”-single was released in Norway on Friday and can now be purchased from iTunes and other download shops. It can also be streamed in Spotify and Wimp.

Meanwhile, in Germany, the “Scared of Heights” 2-track CD single can now be pre-ordered from amazon.de, along with the Out Of My Hands album.

 

In connection with the “Lightning” single release, Morten has done a few Norwegian interviews in the last few days.

On Friday he was a guest on P4s Radiofrokost, where he talked about the new album and a variety of other topics. The complete 23-minute interview can be downloaded here.

Yesterday, there was a story on him in TV2’s Lørdagsmagasinet. The video clip can be seen on TV2.no or on YouTube.

There was also an interview in Dagbladet yesterday. Here are a few quotes:

“The collaboration with [Kent members] Jokke and Martin was very interesting on many levels, and I really like Kent. They are straight to the point, no bullshit, and they’re a friendly and seasoned bunch of guys. We wrote two of the songs on the album together, and there’s also an English version of “Kärleken Väntar”, for which I’ve written the English lyrics.”

“Burn Money Burn” is unavoidably a political song. It’s first and foremost about values, but there’s also a direct criticism of the money system we live by, which I quite frankly feel is extremely dangerous, because there are only certain values in life that can be measured in money.”

“I’m looking to find something new in myself by interacting with others. Incredibly exciting things can happen when different people come together, and that’s what I’m after. a-ha is also an example of this.”

“There are parts on this album that I feel are shamelessly commercial. And that’s fun. But the difference between a show like “Idol” and myself, is that they give people what they want, while I try to give people something they didn’t know they wanted. For me, that’s where pop music starts to get interesting.”

 

There was also an announcement made yesterday by a-ha.com, that Morten will do a solo concert at Sentrum Scene in Oslo on September 14th, as part of the 30th anniversary celebration of a-ha that weekend.

For more info about the events in September and a special fan pre-sale starting on Monday, check out this article on a-ha.com.

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Magne portrayed in new book

Posted by Jakob S on March 6th, 2012

Magne and twenty other Norwegians have been interviewed and photographed for an upcoming book called Rom 13, which will be published in April.

Oslo Red Cross and the new hotel The Thief, which opens at Tjuvholmen next year, are behind the book project. According to Dagbladet, the people portrayed in the book will talk about important choices they have made in their lives. The journalist Jonas Forsang has done the interviews.

In addition to the book, there will also be a photo exhibition. All the photos have been taken by Marcel Leliënhof in a specially made hotel room that has been set up at Tjuvholmen’s Shed 13 warehouse.

The proceeds will go to the Red Cross project Nettverk Etter Soning, which provides support for people who have been released from prison.

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Morten and Tomine to appear in Mirror Mirror movie

Posted by Jakob S on February 27th, 2012

The new fantasy movie Mirror Mirror, based on the story of Snow White and starring Julia Roberts and Lily Collins, is set to premiere on March 30th.

According to TV2.no, both Morten and his 18 year old daughter Tomine are part of the cast that will provide the voices for the Norwegian-language version, entitled Lille speil på veggen der.

But which of the original characters they will lend their voices to, is not yet known. The trailer of the Norwegian version can be seen here.

Morten has previously appeared in the movies Kamilla og Tyven (1988), Kamilla og Tyven II (1989) and Yohan – Barnevandrer (2010), while Tomine is a veteran voice-over actress, having dubbed hundreds of cartoons and live-action shows over the years.

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Morten appears in Stargate documentary

Posted by Jakob S on February 26th, 2012

Morten made a small appearance in a new documentary about Stargate that aired on NRK1 in Norway last night.

But those of you now eager to hear Morten’s views on the Goa’uld System Lords or Samantha Carter’s theories on wormhole physics, will be disappointed.

The documentary was actually about the Norwegian producer duo Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Eriksen, also known as Stargate. Based in New York, they have enjoyed big success in the US in recent years, becoming the first Norwegians to top the Billboard Hot 100 since a-ha. Stargate have written and produced such #1 hits as “Irreplaceable” (Beyoncé), “Firework” (Katy Perry), “Rude Boy”, “Only Girl (In the World)” and “S&M” (Rihanna) and “Black and Yellow” (Wiz Khalifa).

“When these guys manage to top that chart, which is the most difficult chart in the world to enter and which is based on airplay/sales statistics among an enormous amount of people – that’s like the ultimate achievement, in competition with everyone else”, Morten says in the documentary.

“They’ve done something formidable, which should be celebrated”, he added.

As some of you may remember though, Morten and Magne have made less favourable comments on Stargate in the past.

“Personally, this is not music that I’ll care to spend any time on. Success on its own doesn’t impress me, but if on the other hand you’re successfull with something good, that will really impress me”, Magne told VG in 2006.

“There’s one side of the music business that’s pure industry, and one side that’s more focused on the musical content, and then you find yourself situated somewhere between those two extremes. a-ha and Stargate aren’t exactly positioned in the same place on that scale”, Morten said in the same 2006 interview.

As for Paul; as a fellow New Yorker, he is a good friend of the guys in Stargate. The song “Shadowside” on Foot Of The Mountain was written specifically for one of Stargate’s artists. Eventually it ended up as an a-ha song instead.

“But without Stargate I wouldn’t have written that song. I’m looking for challenges like that, as I’ll come up with material that I otherwise wouldn’t have written”, Paul said in 2009.

The Stargate documentary can now be seen on NRK’s web-TV, but only within Norway.

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Interview with Just Loomis

Posted by Jakob S on February 24th, 2012

Acclaimed photographer Just Loomis, known for his past work with a-ha, teamed up with Morten again in Los Angeles last year to take the cover- and press photos in connection with Morten’s upcoming solo album Out Of My Hands.

I recently had the chance to ask him some questions about those photo sessions. Loomis also shared his thoughts on the trip he did with Morten to Jamaica, seeing a-ha live on the Farewell Tour and visiting Norway for the first time last year.

Read the full interview here.

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Square Peg… final draft now available as MP3, WAV and CD

Posted by Jakob S on February 22nd, 2012

The final draft of Apparatjik’s Square Peg in a Round Hole album was released on Tuesday, February 21st.

Featuring new mixes, some new songs and a new cover, the album is now available for purchase in three formats at
theoutland.com; MP3, WAV and CD. The digital formats can be downloaded right away, while the CD starts shipping on March 19th.

The tracklist:

1. timepoLice (feat. Auto Goon)
2. cervux seQuential (feat. Lisa A)
3. tell the bAbes
4. signs of waking uP
5. do IT myself (feat. Auto Goon)
6. BlastLOCKet (feat. Ceto A and L Gortex A)
7. pakt
8. COmbat disco music
9. your voice needS SUBtitles
10. (don’t Eat The whole) banana
11. gzMO
12. superpositions
13. control Park

There will also be an Apparatjik “Augmented Reality” app available for iPhone and iPad on March 19th, which will apparently provide you with a special experience when used together with the CD cover.

 

Apparatjik have now also set up a page on NRK P3’s Urørt community, which is a sort of Norwegian MySpace for young, unsigned musicians.

“Urørt is the place in Norway where those most interested in music get together, and therefore the most exciting community for us to turn our attention to”, Magne says in an article on NRK.no.

The article also mentions that Apparatjik have been invited to perform on the Orange Stage at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark this summer. But this is yet to be officially confirmed.

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