andreas meland / lasse marhaug - brakhage

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.:: Beyond Grandpeople’s seductively psychedelic and explosively colorful cover art Brakhage is a split release by two emerging artists come together to pay homage to filmmaker Stan Brakhage. And with sass and brass these two men re-style this recording, originally performed live back in ’03.

The results permeate the listening space into an experience in instant solitude, as Andreas Meland wrangles through the six-part "Dog Star Man." It’s like sipping ether through a swirly straw, just bloating your head with an slow-churned eruption of blisteringly shaped white noise that tightly wraps itself over and over like an endless spool of twine. This is not sheer noise, its cultivated sound-art noise, with blowing whistles and a vibrant presence.

When Meland softens the tones there is an air of twitchiness, a nerve spasm, quiet but omnipresent. Lasse Marhaug’s (Jazzkammer) single ½ hour "The Act of Seeing with One’s Own Eyes" track opens with a passage that blurs at intervals and slowly adds textural surface noise. Quietly hypnotic as guitars are only hinted at, the track could illustrate a stagnant ecosphere, dried-up bodies of water and the wind just rustling through a long, shadowy canyon. A gurgling grind begins balanced by an itchy micro-beat. In all, it’s a pretty subduing ride into a dulling dense darkness.

"Melektronikk's latest gift to you is a split CD entitled "Brakhage". Noise titan Lasse Marhaug aka Jazzkammer, and debutant Andreas Meland shares the circle with very different and individual pieces. Both pieces were originally performed live in 2003 during a screening of classic silent movies by the legendary American filmmaker Stan Brakhage (1933-2003). Since then, both artists have reworked and expanded the live material extensively for this release.

First out on this CD is Andreas Meland's six-part piece 'Dog Star Man'. Through his work in Düplo, Sort Mel and Bokfink, Andreas Meland is considered one of the most promising talents of the new generation of Norwegian sound artists, though this is his first release besides very limited singles and CDr's. Andreas has been active in the Norwegian experimental music scene through many years with numerous memorable concerts and limited edition releases. He's also Melektronikk's very own label boss and an active concert and festival organizer. His music has been applauded for it's generous complexity and tasteful mix of warm, layered acoustic drones and electronics. In his homage to Brakhage, Andreas lets loose his guitars and organs and let them drift into woods of violins and worlds of whining balloons. Friendly electronic sparks light up the way. 'Dog Man Star' is by far Andreas' masterpiece so far, a warm and highly rewarding contemplative piece of hushed tensions and quiet beauty.

Lasse Marhaug has been one of the leading figures in Norwegian experimental music as a solo artist, in the seminal noise duo Jazzkammer and collaborations with Kevin Drumm, Merzbow, Paal Nilssen-Love, Maja Ratkje and numerous others. Though Lasse is known for re- inventing himself from project to project, we were very surprised when we recieved his piece, 'The Act of Seeing with One's Own Eyes': This is absolutely the most spine-chilling piece of doom we've ever heard; a subterranean journey of pure evil and soiled intimacy, so terrifying that it could make an eskimo zombie apply for a welfare apartment in Rhodos. Staggering bloodstained guitars and wounded feedback pile itself upon heaps of rotting digital debris and withering noise swirls. Gee, one never knew it felt so good to be dead!"

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