Posts Tagged ‘apparatjik’

Apparatjik performance at Flø

The cube in action at Flø (Picture from Sunnmørsposten)

The cube in action at Flø
(Picture from Sunnmørsposten)

The four members of Apparatjik held their second ever concert/art-performance as part of Hugo Opdal’s “Go with the Flø” art festival on Friday, June 5th.

We are four musicians who perform and create things together within a short period of time. It may sound like a concert, but we view it more as a discussion forum“, Magne told TV2’s evening news.

The concert had been criticized in the local press beforehand, because of the steep ticket prices; 2000 Kroner ($309) per ticket. And according to Sunnmørsposten, not a single ticket was sold in advance (although Hugo Opdal claimed he had sold 20 tickets on Facebook). But the sales picked up when the price was lowered to 1000 Kroner shortly before the concert. Many local people at Flø and random people visiting were also allowed to enter for free, to fill up the venue.

Magne and Jonas emerging from the cube (Picture from Sunnmørsposten)

Magne and Jonas emerging from the cube
(Picture from Sunnmørsposten)

Apparatjik also launched their “Bolshevik Box” at Flø – a limited edition box set containing a CD, DVD, 12″ vinyl record and one of eight art prints. The Apparatjik prints were also exhibited on the walls of Hugo Opdal’s gallery.

An NRK news report about the art festival can be seen at NRK.no. There are some screenshots on the WOTM forum.

Moods of Norway has some pictures of the guys on Facebook.

 

And the latest clip in a series of Apparatjik video podcasts, this time featuring a heavily-distorted Magne, is now available here.

Apparatjik on Lydverket

Magne and a-ha lighting designer JoJo Tillmann discussing the Apparatjik cube

Magne and a-ha lighting designer JoJo Tillmann discussing the Apparatjik cube

Last night, Lydverket on NRK1 had a report about Apparatjik’s recent concert in Berlin. The whole video clip can be seen on Lydverket’s website here.

The whole idea of Apparatjik is that we are four professional people who approach the project with the spirit of an amateur. We all make videos, we all make music, we all sing. There is a good intensity and energy that emerges when we are able to get together“, Magne tells Lydverket’s reporter.

Apparatjik perform in Berlin and release album

The Apparatjik members are starting to look surprisingly similar (Picture by Lydverket)

The Apparatjik members are starting to look surprisingly similar
(Picture by Lydverket)

Apparatjik played their first concert at the WMF Club in Berlin last night, as part of the music and art festival “Club Transmediale”.

The concert lasted around 40 minutes, with the band members playing inside a specially constructed cube.

This concert is as much an art performance, as a concert“, Jonas Bjerre told NRK’s Lydverket, which will have a TV-report about the concert next Wednesday.

The Berlin concert is the only Apparatjik performance that has been planned.

We would like to continue our collaboration, but if that will result in more music or something completely different, who knows“, the band says.

Morten by the cube (Picture by Lydverket)

Morten standing by the cube
(Picture by Lydverket)

Magne was not the only a-ha member in Berlin last night, as Morten had also come to witness the event.

[This was] refreshing, and even though Magne doesn’t really have time to do this right before our own tour starts, I think this is the best preparation he could have done“, Morten tells Lydverket.

 

The Apparatjik album was also released yesterday. It’s called We Are Here and can now be purchased as an MP3 album or pre-ordered as a CD/DVD set here.

The album cover

We Are Here album cover

Album tracklist:
1. Deadbeat
2. Datascroller
3. Snow Crystals
4. Supersonic Sound
5. Arrow and Bow
6. In A Quiet Corner
7. Josie
8. Antlers
9. Electric Eye
10. Look Kids
11. Quiz Show

Platinum awards / Echo nomination / Apparatjik album release

a-ha receiving platinum awards in Munich, January 15th

a-ha receiving platinum awards in Munich, January 15th

While in Munich to perform at the Bavarian Movie Awards on January 15th, a-ha were presented with platinum awards for selling more than 200 000 copies of Foot Of The Mountain in Germany, trade publication MusikWoche reports.

Considering the fact that “no one” buys CDs anymore, this is an impressive number. The album is still in the Top 100 German album chart after 31 weeks, currently at number 65.

 

More news from Germany: a-ha have been nominated in the “Best international group”-category for this year’s Echo Awards, which will take place in Berlin on March 4th.

The other nominees are U2, Depeche Mode, Black Eyed Peas and Razorlight. a-ha will not be able to attend the award show, as they are opening their farewell tour in Buenos Aires on that day.

 

In Norway the nominations for this year’s Spellemann Awards were announced yesterday, but a-ha did not get any nominations for their final album.

 

Producer and Apparatjik member Martin Terefe has posted a news update on his official website which says that the long-awaited Apparatjik album will be released on the same day as the band’s debut concert in Berlin next Monday, February 1st.

Since there has been no info about a CD release, it’s fair to assume that the album will be available only as a digital download.

 

Some info about last week’s Pupparatjik workshop in Trondheim can now be found here. One of the students who participated has shared some of his thoughts on the Apparatchick forum and he has also posted a set of pictures on Flickr.

And of course you can see the results of the workshop at apparatjik.com/pupparatjik.

Magne to host “Pupparatjik” workshop in Trondheim

Ute Meta Bauer and Magne

Ute Meta Bauer and Magne

Magne will be in Trondheim on Wednesday and Thursday this week, where he’s going to host a workshop at the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art together with Ute Meta Bauer.

In this two-day workshop Ute Meta Bauer and Magne Furuholmen will create with the workshop participants a kind of puppet show interacting with shadow techniques and video projection“, the academy’s website states.

Ute Meta Bauer has known Magne for years and is currently serving as the artistic director of the Apparatjik project.

Read more about the “Pupparatjik” workshop here.

Apparatjik recording new album

From the Apparatjik website

From the Apparatjik website

Apparatjik – Magne’s side project comprised of himself, Guy Berryman (Coldplay), Jonas Bjerre (Mew) and Martin Terefe (Kensaltown producer) – recorded the song “Ferreting” for the Songs for Survival charity album in connection with Bruce Parry’s Amazon BBC TV-series last year.

Now they are currently working on a full Apparatjik album. The clothing designers in Moods Of Norway recently visited the members at a cabin somewhere in Norway, where they were busy recording the new album. A few pictures from the visit can be seen on the Moods Of Norway blog:

Magne from Aha is showing us the studio (16 Jan. 09)
Moods is hitting the studio (16 Jan. 09)
Emailing: DSC00373 (16 Jan. 09)

No release date or any further details about the new album have been announced so far. And it remains to be seen if the Apparatjik album will be released before or after the new a-ha album.

But the official Apparatjik website was updated this week, with a bunch of heavily pixelated images, a sound clip and some random quotes. There are also official Apparatjik pages on Facebook and Twitter.

BTW, the Moods Of Norway blog also includes a few older items of interest:

Martin, Magne and Jonas with Elton John:
Magne from Aha looking sharp (17 Dec. 08)

The Moods guys hanging out with Magne and Morten in New York last fall:
Morten and Sim at Indochine (6 Oct. 08)
Aha in Soho (6 Oct. 08)

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