magne f archive

The Voice, part 3

Tue, 29 May 2012 03:29:57 GMT

On Friday afternoon, I was surprised to find The Voice finale available live online, it was exciting to be watching the show at the same time as my friends in Norway and know what was happening as different people tweeted about the show :-)

To open the show, the mentors and finalists performed 'Because The Night':

I just watched both mentor performances - 'Viva la Vida' (video | | download audio) and 'Because the Night' (video | | download audio) - and it seems like the first one was much more energized and fun, the mentors looked like a team there; whereas the last one didn't seem as much fun for everyone somehow. I thought the song choice was excellent in both cases, but perhaps lacked some sparkle I was hoping for in the finale.

Anyway, as I am sure you know already, Martin Halla is the winner! I am so pleased for him and for Magne. Here is the promo page on iTunes Norway:

Now that the season is over, I downloaded a few other songs I liked during the final four weeks, including Hege's single, two tracks by Leif Anders, 'Secret Mission' by Shaun Bartlett, and 'Pumped up Kicks' by Marius Beck. I also grabbed Sondre Lerche & Lars Vaular's single. Then I found Shaun Bartlett's two albums on Spotify and added them to my playlist - he seems to be really talented and I am looking forward to more from him. There are even more performances from the season I would have gladly paid to download, some of the duels were particularly good!

I love how a TV show can open you up to new artists, though it's interesting that I was never this engaged by the US version of The Voice. This might have to do with the fact that we outside Norway can only access the performance clips themselves, plus a few backstage clips - we don't get the backstory clips and the talent interviews and dramatic build-ups. Just performances. And that means you can form an opinion and a connection on your own and not be wading through the media clutter that goes along with these reality shows. Hmm, well actually I don't know if the Norwegian show does all this or not - not having seen anything but the performance clips, I guess I shouldn't jump to conclusions. But the American show does do all that, and maybe that's why I am not as engaged and downloading songs from those artists. It's just a lot of noise.

As much as I enjoyed the season, I am a little relieved that it's finally over. I've been sort of holding my breath waiting for news of Apparatjik concerts and other happenings, in a way everything seemed to be on hold while Magne was focused on The Voice and the other projects he had going on this spring (of course Coldplay has been touring a lot during that time too, and no doubt Martin and Jonas have been busy as well). So now the guys must be preparing for Roskilde...and the rumored fall 2012 Apparatjik shows perhaps? Right now I have a couple of big concerts on the horizon (Keane in a couple of weeks and Coldplay in early July), but there is still a question mark where an Apparatjik show should be in my calendar. I need to plan/save money/organize time off/save money/plan!

In the meantime, I will be pining for Flø and Roskilde. Both events sound amazing in different ways, so I am looking forward to hearing about them from folks who get to go :-)

disconnected randomness 7

Fri, 25 May 2012 02:27:46 GMT

~ Looking back at the SPIARH draft process and my listening stats over the last six months or so, my favorite draft versions are Draft 2, Draft 5 and Draft 8. Also it appears that I spent so much time fiddling with 'Do It Myself' when trying to mix it that I can't listen to it (much) anymore.

~ I have a vague feeling that some things in the draft process flew right over my head. When Martin posted on FB before Christmas, he said something about hidden surprises (or so) and that there were some we hadn't found yet. I'm not sure that collectively we did as much sleuthing as we could have, possibly the time of year was a factor and people were distracted. I am not worried so much about 'missing something' but thinking more about the guys putting Easter eggs out there for us to find and it's a shame if they didn't get to watch us discover them.

~ Tomorrow night is the Voice final, and TV2 reported that the mentors would be performing again. Also today Aleksander sent out a photo on Twitter of Magne (on piano) and Sondre (on guitar) on stage rehearsing for tomorrow. Can't wait to see what they perform!

~ Some friends were at the opening of Magne's exhibition at Blaafarveværket last weekend, and shared pictures of the art on FB. The works span 20 years or so and form an interesting retrospective. For some reason I thought the exhibition ended in August, but apparently it ends in late September - which means I'll be able to visit when I am in Oslo :-) Also, watch this.

Let's see, what else? Oh right ~

~ Apparatjik at Roskilde! Orange stage! No cube! Our faces...somehow incorporated...um...yay! Haven't sent a photo in yet but I guess time is running out so I have to get it done soon.

~ Magne will be at Go With the Flø 2012, where he will perform music he wrote for the largest mobile horn system. He'll also perform with Robyn Hitchcock and his works will be included in a group exhibition. I don't know what it is about Flø, but it seems from pictures to be too beautiful to be true. But then most of Norway is like that :-)

The Voice, part 2

Tue, 22 May 2012 02:36:52 GMT

Now that the season is drawing to a close, I am really pleased that two of my favorite talents are in the finals - Martin Halla (of course!) and Leif Anders Wentzel. On Friday night Martin and Leif Anders sang a song together in the Red Room that was so awesome :-) Will try to figure out how to link directly to the clip so I can add that here.

Anyway a friend of mine in Oslo has bought me a gift card from the Norwegian iTunes store, and I'm like a kid in a candy store, downloading tracks I've never had access to before - and naturally Martin's single 'Take It With Me', which counts as two votes for him towards the finals. [See in iTunes]

It was actually quite simple to set up a foreign iTunes account in order to download the songs, I wish I had known how to do this years ago! Just a few days left until the final show, so be sure to vote for your favorite talent!

Really hoping they broadcast the show in full, and live, like they did for the first episode. We have a bank holiday next Monday so it's possible I'll be out of work early enough on Friday to get home and watch it!

Ok, enough shameless promotion of Magne's talent - I doubt he needs help though, Martin is currently at the top of the iTunes chart and has three other songs in the top 20. Still a lot could change in just a few days, so I'll be crossing my fingers until the end :-)

The Voice, part 1

Wed, 09 May 2012 03:28:14 GMT

---> rushing in, slightly out of breath --->

Yet another long silence from me, which wouldn't be weird if nothing was going on in the mf world, but so much has been going on that it's one of those nowaywillievercatchuponstuffimissedwritingaboutwhenithappened times. But never fear, magnef.us will be updated in due course with posts about 'Rom 13', Magne's upcoming art projects, The Voice, Roskilde, and any other stuff I haven't had time to write about here.

However I have been doing my best to keep up with actual news and media links on Twitter, so be sure to follow there as it's much more timely than this blog lately ;-)

This is just a short post now to share some interesting info I found online last night. I was disappointed that I couldn't download any of The Voice performances from the last two shows from Norwegian iTunes, there have been so many good ones and of course I want to support Team Magne ;-) So I did a search to see if there was a way to download the songs legitimately from a foreign iTunes account - and found this.

Read: if you like the music, download the tracks, support the artists, and help Team Magne win! I am sure there will be some exceptional performances coming up in the final three episodes :-)

Anyway, I have been watching The Voice each week online here, and actually have a lot to say about the season, but no time to do it justice right now. More soon though ~

reason #285 why I want my own iPad

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 04:10:58 GMT

Apparatjik World Issue B is now available in iTunes for free download!

The issue is loaded with content from NNG Berlin, among other things (hell yeah, catch the banana video game!). Love the 'Everyone is a pixel' parts of the magazine, I was almost as captivated by the virtual cube wall image submission rotation interface thingy as I was by the real thing in Berlin. Almost.

EDIT: more screen shots added

Oh yes. The real thing in Berlin.

The virtual cube wall etc. thing in the magazine app:

This one has my image submissions! *happy*

(no, I didn't sit through over 2000 entries until I saw a set that included mine - weirdly, it showed up in the second refresh of images and I grabbed it right away)

The next magazine will come out in July:

Looks like some of the content will be about Moscow 2011 next time.

Here are the people whose contributions were included somehow in the final album:

The following is a list of people who contributed drafts to the 'Everyone is one bar' project:

Here are some drafts they included in the iPad magazine itself (well done, apparats!):

And one more screen shot from the other content, because it's cool 8-)

I was hoping that with the album and iPad magazine release, there would also be some news about concerts - maybe we'll hear something soonish. Right now I'm planning a trip to Oslo in September for the a-ha 30th anniversary weekend, so the travel budget is getting tighter and tighter. Really hoping I can get an Apparatjik concert in this year somehow :-)

'Square Peg In A Round Hole' available now

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 04:10:55 GMT

The final draft of Apparatjik's new album 'Square Peg In A Round Hole' is available now in their official web shop. You have the option to buy just the album download (mp3 or WAV format), or download + CD. The download files are available immediately, CDs will be shipped from March 19.

There will also be a worldwide iTunes album release on April 2.

Apparatjik have also shared a preview of their upcoming free Square Peg In A Round Hole 'Augmented Reality' (AR) App, which will be available for iPhone and iPad in the App Store from March 19, 2012. You'll be able to download the App to enjoy your 'Square Peg In A Round Hole' CD Digipak in 'Augmented Reality'!

Square Peg In A Round Hole 'Augmented Reality' (AR) demo from Apparatjik on Vimeo.

Tracklist:

timepoLice (feat. Auto Goon)
cervux seQuential (feat. Lisa A)
tell the bAbes
signs of waking uP
do IT myself (feat. Auto Goon)
BlastLOCKet (feat. Ceto A and L Gortex A)
pakt
COmbat disco music
your voice needS SUBtitles
(don’t Eat The whole) banana
gzMO
superpositions
control Park

Delighted that 'Tell the babes' made it on the final album, as well as 'Gzmo', both of which grabbed me right away for very different reasons.

As much as I love 'That's the thing about us', I didn't expect it to be on the album, and am content with the simple gifting to us during the draft process; same thing with 'Pixels', 'Quantum Suicide' and 'If you can, solve this jumble'.

I can also happily revel in the fabulousness of '(Don't eat the whole) Banana [Draft 2]', 'Sequential [Draft 6]', 'Control Park [Draft 3]', 'Hidden (banana) clue [Draft 8]', 'Your Voice Needs Subtitles [Draft 5]' etc, without the benefit of them being on an official release. There are so many amazing draft versions out there. I can't believe that the same 13-15 songs could have inspired so many variations and captivated all of us for the duration of the 14 weeks since November 11 when we first heard them.

However I am gutted that '.,,.(dot comma comma dot)' didn't make it on the album! I knew there would be at least one song I would miss on behalf of the unknowing public who won't investigate the draft project. Sigh. Maybe the guys will perform it though - how awesome that would be to dance to :-)

Link to buy the album: The Outland

disconnected randomness 6

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:18:34 GMT

Today's updates in list form:

~ The man himself is on Twitter, follow him here (sidebar link also updated --->)

~ Tonight is the premiere of 'The Voice' in Norway. It is possible to subscribe to TV2 from outside Norway and watch the show on your computer more info here.

EDIT: I can't help but think that if I'd been a little lucky and planned better in advance, I might have been at the taping of this episode on December 5 (I left Oslo on that day, missed it by just a few hours!). Anyway, you can keep track of the talent teams here and you can watch the blind auditions from last week here. So it looks like no subscription is needed to watch the most important parts of the show, which is good!

~ The concensus among fans on Twitter seems to be that the 'nerd glasses and graying chin scruff' are a good look for mf - and I gotta agree

~ The Voice coaches performing 'Viva La Vida' ---> file under 'awesome'

I am not ashamed to admit I have watched that clip a dozen times at least since Friday :-) It's so great to see Magne on stage again, and he sounded amazing.

~ Apparatjik and Bowers & Wilkins have made 'Square Peg In A Round Hole' available in all its 24-bit glory! Download the album (draft 1 version) for free on Apparatjik's Facebook. This is a superior quality sound version of the album and should be listened to in 24-bit with the best speakers you can find, preferably in the semi-dark surrounded by friends in a chilled-out mood on a Friday afternoon ;-) However if you have trouble listening to the files for any reason, you can still download the MP3 version of the album over here and on SoundCloud.

'futuristic robot love stories'

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:32:45 GMT

A post about 'That's the thing about us' has been drafting itself in my brain for a couple of weeks, and this phrase from Epitonic yesterday nudged me to pull together my thoughts in some kind of communicable format:

"Possibly the world’s least-known supergroup, Apparatjik makes eccentric industrial dance-rock music to soundtrack tales of futuristic robot love stories."

(Sorry, but when I read that I couldn't help but think of these unlikely soulmates :-))

Those of us who have been following along from the beginning generally know about the World of the Apparatjik and the storyline around Josie (find it over here in a more readable format), and we're used to lyrics referring to this strange digital love relationship. Some references to it are sweet, some fun, some questioning, and some - like in 'That's the thing about us' - almost painfully beautiful.

The story has changed over time, but what seems to be consistent is that there are two people (Apparatjiks or humanoids or robots or whatever, I'm just gonna call them 'people' because it's easiest when writing) who have an amazing attraction to one another, who for some reason communicate over a distance and seem to never have clearly declared their feelings for each other. So even though there is a wonderful, deep bond there, and we get clues that they belong together, there is some kind of mysterious and tragic disconnect ('supervoid') keeping them apart.

Do they speak different languages?
Are they of different 'ancestry' and thus physically incompatible? Or is there actual danger in being together? ('we are running, we are hiding..')
Are they in parallel universes, only able to communicate via technology somehow? ('can you see the writing on the screen?')
Is their relationship ultimately doomed, or is there a way to be together if they can only find it? ('will you be my digital valentine?')

Yes, this is all modern mythology around artificial beings, but the way the story is told sounds like a very human experience, and I think many people can probably relate to the emotions in the songs.

That's The Thing About Us

How many worlds make a perfect place
Folded inside your secret space?
Have you ever been so lost in time
That you didn’t watch the clock?
Did you think there was a way for us
Or did you even give a fuck?

In nine seconds or less
We’ll be free from this cosmic mess
And nine times I’ll pretend
That I’ve been fixed and I’m on the mend
That’s the thing about us
We find love in choas

Think there's a chance that I might be flying
Billions of pieces of glass left behind
Have you ever been so close to a star
that you could have felt it?
Ever been so close to love
that you could stroke it like velvet?

In nine seconds or less
We’ll be free from this cosmic mess
And nine times I’ll pretend
That I’ve been fixed and I’m on the mend
That’s the thing about us
We find love in choas

Usually we only get one side of the story, so it's great to hear from both of them. We finally know she is attracted to him too :-)

How many worlds make a perfect place
Folded inside your secret space?

It sounds like she must be very private or reserved, protecting her feelings and her deepest thoughts. Since he loves her, it's must be difficult for him to be outside the walls she has around her, and it leaves him wondering where he stands. Has he ever tried to get to know her better? It would be ironic if she is keeping everything safe inside because she has no idea where she stands with him ('did you know?').

Have you ever been so lost in time
That you didn’t watch the clock?

When you're with the one you love, it's easy to lose track of time and just enjoy being together. Implied in this question is that he enjoys being with her, which is sweet, but it seems like he's not sure if she also gets lost in time with him...which is kind of sad if so.

Did you think there was a way for us
Or did you even give a fuck?

This is the part that catches in my heart every time I hear it. One of the best things about being in love is the confidence it gives you. No matter where you are in the world, and how far apart you might be, you know that your love thinks of you last before falling asleep and first when they wake up; you know that no matter what difficulty you face, you face it together; you know that at your absolute worst and at your absolute best, they will accept you as you are; there is a freedom and a peace you get from knowing you are loved. He thinks there could be something special between them, but he has no idea if she wants to be together, and that is heartbreaking. But it's beautiful too, because it's honest.

Why doesn't he know how she feels? Considering she has this 'secret space', my guess is that for some reason she cannot tell him how she feels. There are so many possibilities - maybe she doesn't know how to express her feelings (especially over a distance or through whatever technology they have), or maybe she doesn't feel good enough for him ('did you run / cause you thought that you didn't deserve it?'), or maybe she has been hurt so much before that she is afraid to take a chance. Again, digging into the mythology, maybe there is some actual danger in putting her feelings out in the open, or maybe she is afraid to risk losing everything she has worked so hard for.

But it's clear that at this stage in the game, he's angry and hurt. Still he can't deny his feelings for her in the refrain: 'We find love in chaos.'

Think there's a chance that I might be flying
Billions of pieces of glass left behind

I may be interpreting/hearing this wrong, but it seems like she has just broken free from a painful situation, and is experiencing a new freedom. It's interesting that she only *thinks* she might be flying - so is that a metaphor meaning she thinks she is in love but is unsure of her feelings? Knowing there is some pain or disappointment behind her could help explain why this love is such an alien experience. It could also explain why she keeps her feelings inside.

Have you ever been so close to a star that you could have felt it?
Ever been so close to love that you could stroke it like velvet?

The wonder and longing in these lines is so lovely. She sees love as something outside herself, something beautiful she wants but for some reason she is not actually reaching for...to be so close to love (meaning the person you care about), to feel warmth from it and yearn to touch it, and not be able to do anything about it - again, it's beautiful but heartbreaking.

Slight aside - this reminds me of an Indigo Girls song, "Love will come to you":

Guess I wasn't the best one to ask
Me myself with my face pressed
Up against love's glass
To see the shiny toy I've been hoping for
The one I never can afford

Who hasn't been in that situation at some point in their life, aching for love but not quite there, wondering if you'll ever be on the other side of the glass in the warmth with the one you love? This is a very common human experience, and that's probably why the love story appeals to people so much.

So is there any hope for these two? They both lack confidence and trust in each other's love. The only way to build trust and confidence is to risk everything and be open for once. If she can learn to trust herself - and to trust him - and if he can find a way to let her know how he feels and that she is safe with him, they could actually get somewhere.

If this were a Hollywood movie, it would probably play out like this: he would find the courage to finally declare himself clearly, somehow convince her she is safe with him, and then there would be a passionate kiss and all her defenses would magically disappear and they'd start a new life together, fade to credits, where did we park the car? But in real life and in the World of the Apparatjik, I doubt it could be that simple ;-)

mixing progress

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:48:15 GMT

...or lack of it. Pfft.

Let me start off by saying, yet again, that the 'everyone is one bar' music collaboration project is a brilliant idea. I just wish it wasn't so difficult for an average fan to participate, because for sure we'd have a lot more cool and interesting mixes if people had the tools and knowledge to be able to contribute.

It seems like most people are using GarageBand - fine if you have a Mac, which not everyone does.
Other people are musicians and have ProTools and/or an actual studio at their disposal.
And the rest of us...well, we either gave up at the outset, or we're struggling with other tools to find a way to participate.

I don't have a Mac but I do have an iPad, so I downloaded GarageBand on that and played with the stems there for a few days. I managed to record some vocals (that should be "vocals" with really big air quotes LOL) and add them to a track, so that was fun :-)

Unfortunately when the stems are imported, GarageBand assigned them the 'Audio Recording' track source thingy, so I don't get any of the editing controls you'd get if the stems were recognized as guitars or bass or keys. In the end I had to bag the GarageBand for iPad idea, it wasn't getting me anywhere.

Then I tried Audacity, which is a free software for audio mixing, but the options aren't great and it doesn't come with any loops or instruments to work with.

Next I heard about Adobe Audition, and downloaded the free 30 day trial. I had some difficulty figuring it out, so I asked my neighbor (who knows ProTools and GarageBand) if he could show me what the options were - he wasn't familiar with Audition, but given his other experience, he was able to figure it out and show me how it all works. I've also watched some tutorials on YouTube. So far, so good.

Now I have 12 days left of my Audition trial, and I'm only just getting started..! And I don't have a proper microphone, so I can't re-record the vocals I wanted to add, although my neighbor says he has one somewhere. The key is him finding it before my software trial is over ;-) The world is probably better off without my vocals though!

All this to say that it's not exactly easy for the average person to jump in and play along, even if you really want to. Speaking for myself, it has been a lot of effort just to get the right tools in place and learn how to use them.

With time getting short, I am focusing on 'Control Park' and possibly 'Your Voice Needs Subtitles'. At this point I'll be really pleased if I can get just one decent mix together to submit :-)

EDIT: I just finished my first premix! It came out ok for a first try, I already uploaded it and feel a bit relieved to have done at least one that I like. The rest is (cup)cake(s)!

draft album cover art

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:48:26 GMT

Just a quick post for now ~

A while back, I realized that it was hard to keep all the different 'Square Peg In A Round Hole' draft track versions straight, especially when they turned up on shuffle on my iPod. So I played in PhotoShop a bit and came up with a few sets of album covers, which include the draft number, so I would know which version of a song is playing just by glancing at the cover art.

If you are interested, you can find and download the set of covers here on Flickr. I used four different font variations, the most Apparatjik-like is 'Soviet', but my favorite and the one I am using in iTunes is 'Papyrus'. Here is a sample of each font used:

from the archives - a 'new' interview

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:53:38 GMT

I received a Google alert today about this newly uploaded YouTube clip, it's audio from a 2009 interview with Morten and Magne by Fiona Julian. I thought there were a couple of interesting comments to share here:

FJ - Mags, you're doodling there, you're an artist as well.

MF - I have worked parallel since my first exhibition in 1989, and I've since dedicated approximately half my time to visual art. Having said that, I have about twice the amount of time in me than most people do.

FJ - You don't sleep, Mags?

MF - I start the day on European time, and I restart it when America wakes up and keep going around.

FJ - Has that been forever, or is it since touring and things?

MF - No I used to be one of the world's best sleepers and I think I have slept enough in my youth for my whole life [...] I have my fair share of energy and I have spent it on music and art.

[...]

MH - You are doing very well as an artist.

MF - Yeah for some parts of my life, obviously the fame and the money and the music gave me a unique starting point. (A) I had to be careful not to be kind of seen as a 'celebrity painter' and I had to kind of say no to most of the things that were offered me and (B) I had a financial security so I could work on a professional level from the word 'go'. I could start a project on my own, I didn't need a galleriest, or some guy coming in and funding my projects, I could do it on my own.

At some points in my life, the music was funding the art. But at certain years over the last 10-15 years, the art has funded the music. So it's been a priviledged position to be in.

[......]

MF - We have one advantage, and that is that repetition dulls, and sometimes you lose fascination and interest because you know things too well. I think most people find that in their marriage or in their lives, that something you are exposed to always is something that you take for granted. And I think one of our advantages is that we are guests in the English language.

I am really passionate about English. I kind of got that from my mother, being an English teacher, but I also got it from my high school teacher who was almost a dictator in the way that he taught English, and it made me appreciate the precision of the language and the possibilities. Every time I read a book, I only read in English. Even Norwegian authors these days, ironically, but it's because I am always looking out for linguistic finer points. I am always making notes, I have this kind of advanced way of making donkey's ears, bending down the pages [...] Every time I finish a book I have to re-read all these pages and write down the passages and [...]

(That last bit is timely, since swordznsorcery commented here recently about how it is interesting that Magne presents his art/poetry in English - I knew there was an interview somewhere where he talked about being fascinated by English, but I couldn't find it. This isn't the one I was thinking of, but it's definitely relevant :-) )

draftings

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 04:38:12 GMT

I was going to post about my mixing progress, but the arrival of Draft 5 distracted me. And that's because IMO it's the most distracting draft since #2. If you don't have it yet, what are you waiting for? Go get it.

(psst, it's over here)

Random drafting observations:

~ Draft 5 has already been downloaded 3x as much since yesterday as Draft 4 was in an entire week. That's a good sign that the project is gaining attention! I noticed a slightly minimal and under-informed but nonetheless clearly good-intentioned post by 'It's a trap' earlier today on Twitter, which directed people to Apparatjik's Facebook to download Draft 5, and the guys sent out a newsletter this evening too, so those things may account for the higher downloads this week. Hey, whatever works!

~ The Draft 5 version of 'Your Voice Needs Subtitles' has cool guitars and has greatly increased in fabulousness over the previous versions due to it ROCKING MORE. Do it justice, listen to it turned up loud.

~ 'Sequential' disappeared for Draft 3, returned for a snazzy-fab remix on Draft 4, and disappeared again for Draft 5. I am really attached to that song, I will be mildly devastated if it isn't on the final album. Just saying.

~ Yes, I know other songs have come and gone throughout the draftings and that we still have a long way to go. But the guys keep adding NEW songs that are also COOL and they can't include everything on the album, so statistically some good songs will get the boot. The trouble with packing in so much variety is you're not going to please everyone, but I like that they're going to try :-)

~ Speaking of getting the boot, the only two songs I could do without are 'Pakt' and 'Super-positions', and only because of ranking and not because I don't like them. After that, I could be ok without 'Combat Disco Music', but that's because I feel like we've had it for a long time already.

~ Draft 2 version of '(Don't Eat The Whole) Banana' is still the best of that song IMO. I really hope that one makes the final album, although I somehow think it probably won't.

~ If you haven't done this yet, try sorting your Apparatjik tracks in iTunes/whatever and listening to all versions of a track in a row. I find that I am not too perceptive about the more minor changes between versions, so this is often the only way I can tell what's different :oops:

~ The new song, 'That's The Thing About Us', is stunning. The honesty and the complexity of the bond in the song are so unique. I could probably write a whole post about it, but I'm holding off on that until I have more time with it. For now it's enough to say that there are some truly beautiful lyrics: 'have you ever been so close to a star that you could have felt it? / ever been so close to love that you could stroke it like velvet?' I can so relate.

~ When the weekly drafts are done, what will make Tuesdays interesting? ;-)

'Everyone is one bar' music collaboration project

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:53:41 GMT

I have only mentioned this project briefly so far, mostly because I assume that anyone reading here is probably already following Apparatjik in all the right places (apparatjik.com, Facebook, Twitter, etc). But if you don't know what I'm talking about, there's more info over here. Yes, it's a bit of a hodge-podge post right now, but I'll try to keep it more updated/organized as we go along :-)

For those of you who want an overview of the album tracks, their official release versions and the fan upload versions, I've made a little cheat-sheet. As new drafts and uploads are added, I'll keep the chart updated so people can easily find different versions of each track.

Yes, I am a geek.

It's not clear whether the band is uploading all fan submissions or only a selection. But if it is all of them, I sure hope that loads more are submitted - it is so fun to listen to so many versions of the songs! People are so creative and talented. I was all set to work on some pre-mixes this week, but when I listened to all the tracks uploaded to Soundcloud, I lost confidence a bit. I have no idea what I am doing, and I doubt anything I could come up with would sound as good as what other people sent in ;-) I think I would have been a bit more brave if my track wasn't going to be uploaded next to all those other good ones, for anyone to hear.

Yes, I am a chicken.

There is still a month left though, so I do hope I come up with something I am happy with. The project is so cool and the guys are working so hard on it that I want to participate somehow, even if my mix isn't used for the drafts or album.

Anyway, based on the geeky track chart, 'Signs of Waking Up', '(Don't Eat The Whole) Banana' and 'Your Voice Needs Subtitles' seem to be the most mixed songs, whereas 'Gzmo', 'Pakt' and 'Super-positions' are the least mixed - although stems for the latter two songs were not provided, so maybe people were deterred by that. I would have thought 'Gzmo' would be an obvious choice for mixing, maybe I'll work on that one.

Comparing Draft 2 to Draft 1, in most cases I prefer the 'original' versions of the songs, but I do like the bass addition to 'Sequential', and a few other changes. Probably the most substantially changed song is '(Don't Eat The Whole) Banana'. The new vocals and lyrics are so emotional and rich, and the tone is kind of nostalgic/bittersweet. It's hard to make out the lyrics in some places, though it's clear the meaning of the song has evolved or expanded a bit.

Today we're supposed to get Draft 3 of the album via Facebook, so keep your eyes open for that!

'Echo' at Stolper + Friends

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 04:23:48 GMT

When I was in Oslo earlier this month, I visited Stolper + Friends a couple of times to see 'Echo'. Although I'd seen photos of the works online, they made such a strong impact in person, as a collection. As you know by now, I'm not very good at writing about art, so I am sorry I won't have anything profound to say about the works.

The thing that struck me most was how complex the works are when seen up close.

'stroke' (full):

'stroke' (detail 1):

'stroke' (detail 2):

'stroke' (detail 3):

'post' (full):

'post' (detail):

'core' (full):

'core' (detail 1):

'core' (detail 2):

'core' (detail 3):

'birthcancerdeath' (full):

'birthcancerdeath' (detail):

My full set of photos from the 'Echo' exhibition at Stolper + Friends in Oslo is on Flickr.

The gallery itself is very nice, and has a great location. From what I understand, there was a steady stream of visitors throughout the weekend due to the a-ha party events. Both times I was there, there were at least 10-15 people milling around looking at the art. I had to smile when several different people mentioned to me, 'Look, it says "little black heart"! He included an a-ha lyric in his art!' (this was on the large 'E' shape that recurs a few times, which was also the Alpha Beta print I bought) It was almost like a comforting association for people, a sign that Magne hadn't turned his back on a-ha or something. Whereas I always thought that phrase was uniquely Magne's, and only 'on loan' to a-ha for one song ;-) But that's the interesting thing about art, both or neither of those things can be true, and what we take away of value is what matters.

There was a selection of books available for sale as well as catalogues from past exhibitions: Payne's Gray, Monologues, the Alpha Beta card set, Some Magazine (featuring Apparatjik) and something out of legend: a stack of copies of the stunning 1997 book "Blåtoneboulevardene" ('Blue Note Boulevards').

I had heard of it but had never seen a copy in person, had in fact assumed they were all long since sold and maintained by a few select collectors. As soon as I saw it, I was practically itching to get my hands on it, and when told the price (after a quick visual consultation with a knowledgeable collector) couldn't believe my luck. 'It's a great price' her nod told me, 'Go for it.' It wasn't until I had slowly paged through the entire book, 3000 miles away at home, that I noticed it was signed and numbered: 252/270. A very interesting and moving read, and the wood cut prints are amazingly colorful and varied. I'm really glad to have this in my collection :-)

'Echo' runs through January 15 at Stolper + Friends. Well worth a visit if you're in Oslo in the coming weeks!

spoke too soon

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:58:38 GMT

There is a promising little tidbit of live news today (courtesy of The 405):

"The group are also set to bring 'Apparatjik World' (iPad Magazine/new album/live performances) to 11 cities starting mid 2012 including London, Oslo and Copenhagen and their first dates in the US. More on that soon."

Between last month's iPad magazine release, yesterday's announcement of a collaborative album project with the fans and today's hint of 'dates in the US' (not just one!), I doubt I could be any more excited about 'Square Peg In A Round Hole'. Not only can the fans directly contribute to the album, but we'll be able to hear and see the result live.

So far I only have one concert on my 2012 gig calendar - Coldplay in early July with two of my best gig mates :-) I had been half-seriously considering going to see MH in London, since many friends will be there and it's most convenient for me to get to London from here. But with as little holiday as I get and Apparatjik dates in cities I love any excuse to travel to, MH has lost his tenuous place on my 2012 possible travel concert list ;-)

Now to pre-mix/re-mix/mix-mix.

p.s. If you don't have the album yet, get Draft 1 for free on Facebook (click 'Auditory' in the left menu).

'Square Peg In A Round Hole'

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 21:46:38 GMT

After a month of listening to Apparatjik's new album, I am still having a difficult time putting my finger on what it is I like so much about it. I don't find it as addictive as 'We Are Here'; I listened to 'We Are Here' almost exclusively for weeks after it was released, whereas I usually only listen to 'Square Peg In A Round Hole' somewhere in my daily mix of music.

'We Are Here' got way under my skin, and captured my imagination, and still has a kind of insistent quality to it. It practically forced itself into my brain, which was fun but (as I said back then) left me feeling a bit compulsive listening to it so much. The difference with 'Square Peg In A Round Hole' is it's perhaps more fluid - the tracks are just as compelling musically, but they surround me without grabbing me.

That almost sounds like I don't like it, doesn't it? But I mean it in a good way, for me the key is the 'surrounding' part, not necessarily the 'grabbing' part. For example, I still wrap 'A Dot Of Black In The Blue Of Your Bliss' around me like a blanket on a semi-regular basis, I feel a deep affinity for the songs, but I don't feel 'driven' to listen to them.

Anyway, I recently spent almost an entire day with 'Square Peg In A Round Hole' in the background, and now I have very specific associations with each track. This makes it such a pleasure to listen to, more personal in a way.

‘Square Peg in a Round Hole’ Tracklist:

01. Time Police (3:23) Discussion | | Listen
02. Sequential (3:18) Discussion | | Listen
03. Your Voice Needs Subtitles (4:04) Discussion | |Listen
04. Signs of Waking Up (3:36) Discussion | | Listen
05. Pakt (1:25) Discussion | | Listen
06. Combat Disco Music (3:42) Discussion | | Listen
07. Do It Myself (3:07) Discussion | | Listen
08. .,,. (dot comma comma dot) (5:13) Discussion | | Listen
09. (Don’t Eat The Whole) Banana (3:23) Discussion | | Listen
10. Gzmo (4:14) Discussion | | Listen
11. Super-positions (1:31) Discussion | | Listen
12. Control Park (3:51) Discussion | | Listen

I absolutely love the balance between human/emotional/organic and technology/science on a few of the tracks, 'Sequential' in particular:

"Have you seen the writing on the screen
There will be a time for us, keep watching it"

Technology (writing, screen, time) and humanity (seen, us, watching) play an equal part: interestingly, there is a distance and a bond implied at the same time.

"We are running, we are hiding
In the shadows from the demons that come in the night
We are dreaming and we're finding
That the circuits inside are sequential, we're sequential, we're sequential"

Again there are human actions (running, dreaming, hiding) paired with technology (circuits, sequential). It is such an interesting idea, in a human context, you might use an analogy of 'matching' or 'fitting together', but with machines, compatability could very well be indicated by sequence instead. It's kind of sweet and logical at the same time :-)

In 'Your Voice Needs Subtitles' (great title, by the way ;-)), yet again there are characters who are apart/distant despite a clear compatibility:

"It’s nice to know that
There is evidence
Of emptiness outside my own
A super void is pushing, pushing you away
and that's why I'm alone"

This reminds me of 'Supersonic Sound'; they are both alone, but it's possibly a better situation in that they both now acknowledge the void/emptiness (yearning?) inside themselves. Still it's sad that they are not together, I don't know what is meant by 'super void' or what a possible solution would be. I want them to find one another! Perhaps on the next album :-)

Some of the lyrics on the album have such amazing raw and touching honesty, like the second half of 'Gzmo':

"I didn't know
What I did to you
And I'm so sorry
Oh is there no tomorrow?

And looking back
I was mean to you
I didn't mean to shout
I was numb from trying

So I owe you
An apology
Now please bear with me
Won't you help me
Find the right words?"

It's interesting how the vocals of the first half of the song are so hard to decipher but the second half is so clear. A few people say the song must have been written by Magne, and I think I agree, but that may be because I am most familiar with his songwriting of the four of them.

I really like 'Do It Myself', and was so surprised when I first heard it - what an unexpected style for them! And it is great to have some guest vocals to add a new dimension to the album. People seem pretty divided about this song though.

I won't go through all the songs here, but overall the album is good dance music and I'd love to hear the songs live. We don't have any indication of upcoming Apparatjik concerts though, but according to rumor, Magne told some fans that (1) Graz was the last time the cube would be used at performances and (2) he wouldn't be working on any music apart from Apparatjik in the near future. So...hopefully there will be one or two Apparatjik shows in 2012, it will be interesting to see what they do without the cube. But...it seems that those of us hoping for another Magne F solo album have an indefinite wait ahead of us :-\

And speaking of concerts, last weekend when I was in Oslo for the a-ha fan party, people kept asking each other if they would be traveling for any solo shows by MH next year. Unfortunately I only have two weeks of vacation a year, and just one international trip can easily take up half of that. So if I do travel I need to choose carefully - it would be a shame to go to a MH concert in spring and then find out about a cool Apparatjik event later in the year that I couldn't go to.

Before I close, I want to be sure to link to a couple of official updates about the 'Square Peg In A Round Hole' album:

11/22/2011 | | 11/29/2011 | | 12/06/2011

The highlights are:

"The first widely released Apparatjik album produced by you, our comrades.

The committee has just released the first of 11 versions of the album in our iPad magazine 'Apparatjik World'.
other releasings. 11 more times. other placings. informations soon."

and

"on 131211 you get

ALBUM DRAFT ONE

committee would like you to do special testings"

So it seems there will be some kind of update on Tuesday for those who have liked the post on the Apparatjik Facebook page. Stay tuned!

catching up is hard to do

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 16:12:23 GMT

As always when I step away from here for a little while, a lot of interesting things happen in the MF world and I can't possibly write about it all when I come back. Hopefully you've been getting your MF fix in all the normal places online, but if not here are some highlights:

Shed 13 - On September 22, Stolper + Friends unveiled the ‘Shed 13′ project in Oslo, in which a large warehouse in Tjuvholmen was covered on two sides by six huge butterflies made by Damien Hirst. [More Info | | Video]

Futura Plus - Magne’s previously unseen ‘Futura Plus’ works are represented in a group exhibition taking place at Dunkers Kulturhus in Helsingborg, Sweden. The exhibition opened on November 10, 2011 and runs through August 5, 2012. Over 800 works from 80 artists are included in the exhibition. [More Info]

Photo: magnef.org

'Dance for Daddy' - NRK showed a documentary about Magne on November 7 called ‘Dance for Daddy’, which included – among other things – a lot of footage of Magne’s creative process around ‘Futura Plus’. [YouTube: Part 1 | | Part 2]

ECHO - Magne has a new exhibition at Stolper + Friends gallery in Oslo, which opened on November 26 and runs through January 15, 2012. From the Stolper + Friends web site: "'Echo', showing in place of 'Futura Plus', the previously cancelled show, comprises oil on hospital sheet and oil on paper works.[...] The works were made during the same period, and draw on the same surrounding life and death themes, as 'Futura Plus'." [More Info | | Photos]

Apparatjik in Graz - Apparatjik performed at the Steirischer Herbst Festival of New Art in Graz, Austria on October 15, 2011. Together with Magne and Jonas were Tobias Wilner (vocals) and Bo Rande (trumpet) from the Danish band Blue Foundation. [More Info | | Video Playlist]

Graz Festival Program

Apparatjik World – Issue A - Apparatjik has released a magazine for the iPad, which contains performance videos, photos, fan art, interview clips, links to external press, interactive games – and a brand new full-length Apparatjik album! As far as we know, this marks the first time an artist has released an album embedded within the iPad magazine format. [More Info | | Download]

Square Peg In a Round Hole - The new Apparatjik album is called ‘Square Peg In A Round Hole’, and is currently only available commercially via the iPad magazine. However Apparatjik fans who planted a tree as part of the agreeneryouniverse project were given a free download of the album via e-mail on 11/15/2011. Much more on this in my next post. [More Info | | Apparatjik Bulletin]

'A legendary concert amid the ice in 2004'

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:08:29 GMT

A couple of weeks ago, I received a Google alert that Nils Petter Molvaer had added a video about 'Meltdown' to his website. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was the entire 47-minute NRK 2 television show about his collaboration with Magne for the WinterArts Festival in Lillehammer in February of 2004.

Go watch this (you won't regret it)

It was really great to finally see the 'Meltdown' concert (which begins around 12:00 into the show), where Magne first performed 'Never Sweeter' (starts around 21:45) and 'Past Perfect Future Tense' (starts around 35:40). The trumpet was such an amazing addition to Magne's songs, I really wish I could have a recorded version of them to enjoy with the benefit of a great sound system. And when I was collecting links and info for my site, it was also fun to re-read Monica's fan review on a-ha.com after all this time.

I remember being so surprised when I first read about 'Meltdown' back then, it seemed so unique and experimental, but these days I consider any remotely 'normal' solo concert from Magne as an aberration. I mean really, standing on a stage and playing guitar and singing? Where's the innovation there? ;-) I'm still waiting for the guy to find a way for the audience to participate directly at a show, in such a way that something entirely new and beautiful is created each time. Chainsaws optional.

This video clip also reminded me of going to see NPM at the Kennedy Center in December 2003, just after the WinterArts appearance was announced. He performed as part of the Norwegian Christmas in Washington, which I go to every year, and he was absolutely amazing. I wrote a blog about it at the time but it is long since archived under my previous user name. Here's an excerpt though:

I suppose some folks were a bit surprised by the music they heard, it was by no means 'mainstream', and unfortunately a number of people left in the middle of the performance. The thing is that as part of the Norwegian Christmas celebration, community members attended many of the events without being particularly knowledgeable or interested in them. So although it was sad that people didn't appreciate the performance, once they were gone it was almost like the audience breathed a sigh of relief - those of us who remained were absolutely entranced and we enjoyed it more without having others around us who were clearly not enjoying it. I have to admit it took me a while to get into it myself, but I am so glad I listened with an open mind.

There were instruments on stage I had no name for, the musicians were hunched over their instruments intently, the audience was reserved but clearly eager for it to begin. During the first song, there was an interesting reddish video backdrop that morphed through the progression of the song; during another song there was a moving sketch of a stage and lights, similar to the set we were looking at, which was cool. My favorite was a blue shape that went across the screen, beginning with a similarity to blue sky and moving clouds, and ending looking like the depths of the ocean. It was intriguing and guileless at the same time, so it diverted me when the music droned a bit.

And it did drone. A lot. But there were so many good elements that at first seemed tucked away, evolving and changing shape, that I finally figured out the drone was a necessary bridge. If you were to take all the bits that stood out for you, and tried to pull them together into one composition, you'd need these bridges. By the end of the show I was in a different mental place than when it started, and I am so glad I stuck it out.

I saw NPM again in June 2009, at the House of Sweden:

Next up was a trumpet player whose name I didn't catch, along with Jan Bang, who is fun to watch as he does his electronic - um - stuff. He groves to the music and has a look of concentration that is often brightened by smiles of accomplishment when he's completed some intricate series of - um - sounds and effects, all woven expertly together. As some points there were some vocals mixed in, which I had taken to be samples of some kind, and then discovered that it was the trumpet player singing with this pure, expressive voice (I didn't have a good view of him from where I was sitting so I just assumed he was playing the trumpet the whole time). Just wow.

That part took up an entire half hour, during which I don't think I moved once. As the arrangement neared its end, Nils Petter Molvaer and other performers on keyboard and guitar quietly took their places on stage, followed by a drummer, and they all began to play seamlessly with the first duo, who then faded out of the new musical tapestry as if they hadn't been there.

NPM was amazing as I expected, it was another 30 minute arrangement that was more intense than the first. I found myself quite stiff when it was over, from having been watching and listening so intently. In that regard it was not what I expected, but still I felt fortunate in a way to have been there. I just don't get the opportunity to be transfixed like that very often, usually music gets me completely pumped up and energized and this was the opposite - very introspective and absorbing energy from it, if that makes sense.

Sorry for the digression, it's possible I'll edit this out later on, but since Magne and NPM have collaborated a few times I thought a few impressions of his performances could be interesting to some MF fans.

Anyway, ever since I watched the video, I've had a nagging feeling that I needed to make a blog post and an update to the main site, so here it is. These were arguably Magne's first solo gigs - yes he was collaborating with NPM, so it's not solo in the usual sense, but it's completely separate from a-ha, unlike his performances of 'Dragonfly' during the Lifelines tour - so this bookends the Events page nicely. Just need to fill in the gaps now...one of these days ;-)

Magne on 'The Voice'

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 20:11:37 GMT

As you have probably heard elsewhere by now, Magne is participating as a coach on the Norwegian television show 'The Voice', which will air next spring. I usually hate talent shows, but I really liked the American version of the show and watched it religiously; the overall tone was so encouraging and positive, and often pretty funny when the coaches playfully competed with each other. And in no way was I first influenced to watch the show by the super hot and very charming Adam Levine. Not even a little bit. I digress.

I am surprised to hear that Magne has actually agreed to be on a reality TV show - over the years he's made it clear that being on reality TV was not appealing to him. But as a fan of the show already, I am glad he thinks 'The Voice' is different, and I am sure he'll make a great coach. (I would be remiss if I didn't include the delightful Sondre Lerche in this geek out, BTW - he will be awesome too!)

The small cloud hanging over this fabulous news is the rumor that the TV2 stream doesn't work outside Norway, so I can't watch it; but hey, even if I could watch it, I don't know Norwegian, so I wouldn't be able to understand at least half of the show's content anyway. Still I'm hoping some helpful Norwegians will post clips of the performances on YouTube.

One of the things I am particularly interested in is if the coaches will perform. On the American version of the show, the coaches performed several times during the season, as a group, on their own, together with their team of singers etc.

Maroon 5's original song 'Moves Like Jagger' (with guest vocals from Christina Aguilera) became an overnight #1 single after they performed it on 'The Voice', and was in the iTunes Top 10 for weeks afterwards. So you never know what the Norwegian coaches will do, and what kind of interesting collaborations could happen :-)

They're a likely looking bunch, aren't they? Should be a great season!

Photo: Sandra Mei Ling Noer/TV 2

There are also some links and stuff over here.

EDIT: Thanks to Jakob S., here is some info about the possibility of viewing the episodes outside of Norway:

"According to TV2's website, it is actually possible to watch TV2 Sumo (their web-TV service) outside of Norway. You'll need a TV2 Sumo Utland (Abroad) subscription, which costs 129 kr per month, or 999 kr for a whole year. However, with this particular subscription it's not possible to watch TV2's various channels live. So you'll have to wait an hour or so until after the show has aired in Norway, before it's added to the TV2 Sumo archive."

Stolper + Friends gallery opening

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 05:37:57 GMT

I've just updated magnef.us with all the info and links I have so far on the Stolper + Friends gallery opening last week. Since everything is over there, here's a photo from Stolper + Friends Facebook:

disconnected randomness 5

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:39:42 GMT

~ Tomorrow is the opening of Stolper + Friends in Oslo :-) Some friends are going to be at the reception tomorrow night, and I'll be there in spirit. Anyway, there is a sneak peek photo of the inside of the gallery on Stolper + Friends Facebook today:

The picture is a bit unscharf, but the place is looking good! Hope all goes well for them tomorrow and looking forward to visiting the gallery myself sometime.

~ There is a short article on The Art Newspaper about the cancellation of 'Futura Plus' that has just a little bit more information than we already knew:

Neither Furuholmen, who was previously a member of Norwegian pop group A-ha, nor the gallery, would release images of the withdrawn works, but the artist told The Art Newspaper that “words including 'death' and 'accident', painted on blood-stained sheets collected from hospital autopsy-rooms and similar… seem inappropriate at this point in time.”

~ I bought a signed Apparatjik poster in Berlin, and today I finally went frame shopping for it. The thing is such a weird size, none of our standard poster frames over here are right for it. I am pretty sure the poster would look terrible centered on white backing in an overlarge frame, so I asked about custom framing. Found a very cool black wood frame with a thin silver edge, chose the glass, started to get excited about how awesome it would look, and got the quote - $263. And that's including the 50% Labor Day sale discount, payment in advance of course :facepalm:

On the one hand, I think I paid only $14 (ish) for the poster, so the practical side of me thinks it is ridiculous to consider spending 19x what it cost originally in order to frame it. Especially when I can't help doing the math and thinking "Wow, that's about 1/4 of the cost to go to Norway. I'd much rather save up and go to Norway than have a poster framed on my wall..." Alas, this is why my other framable-but-unframed art/collectibles are still in boxes - travel and real life takes precedence over 'stuff' any day.

But on the other hand, the poster is a great visual memento from an amazing weekend - not to mention a brilliantly branded and marketed music and art event that I am proud to have been involved with even peripherally - so for that reason I am actually leaning towards spending the $263.

Decisions, decisions. Anyway, here is the poster I am talking about (swiped from the Aspire Facebook page):

~ Someone on the a-ha forum wrote to Forlaget Press to ask about the publication of In Transit, and was told that it was delayed again and there is no projected publication date available. So if you pre-ordered the book like I did, you're in for a long(er) wait ;-)

fun with words

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:03:32 GMT

At a meeting the other day, someone did a demo of one of those online tag cloud creator sites. I am sure you've all seen tag clouds before, the larger the word or phrase, the more often it is used in a document or on a web page. You can tell a lot about a web page by seeing which words are used most often, and decide if you want to visit there more often, etc.

Anyway the context was that you can use a tag cloud tool on any text (in this case, a marketing plan) to identify words and concepts that have the most emphasis, and make sure that's the message you want your audience to get. You can then edit the text to de/emphasize things.

When I got home that day, I used this process on some writing projects I have, and it was really helpful. And then, predictably, fan geek that I am, I thought it would be fun to use lyrics to make a word cloud or two.

'Past Perfect Future Tense' word cloud:

'A dot of black in the blue of your bliss' word cloud:

And just for fun, here is a word cloud for this LJ community:

Ok, yeah, nothing earth-shattering today :-) If you wanna play with the tag cloud tool, the one I used is on wordle.net.

update on 'Futura Plus'

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 20:24:30 GMT

According to a newsletter today from magnef.org, Stolper + Friends will now launch with an exhibition by Damien Hirst, instead of Magne's 'Futura Plus':

In light of the recent tragic events in Norway, Magne Furuholmen has decided to cancel his upcoming exhibition 'Futura Plus' due to the potentially upsetting nature of the works.

The new gallery 'Stolper + friends' will launch as planned on the 1st of September, but the first exhibition will be 'The Souls' by Damien Hirst.

More info to follow.

There are also some updates to the gallery web site:

The inaugural exhibition is a stunning group of prints by Damien Hirst entitled ‘The Souls’: a series of shimmering foil-block butterflies.

...

To be exhibited later in the year, STOLPER + FRIENDS will show new works by Magne Furuholmen. Having shown for many years with Paul Stolper Gallery in London and at Studio Hugo Opdal in Flø, Norway, it is only fitting that Furuholmen should exhibit at STOLPER + FRIENDS in Oslo with an exhibition of his latest paintings and sculptures.

EDIT: There is an article in today's paper edition of VG in which Magne explains the cancellation of the exhibition. Jakob was kind enough to post translated excerpts from the article on a-ha-live.com (if you are reading this after September 1, the text will likely be found in the archive at this URL: News Archive August 2011).

Undoubtedly Magne's made the right decision, and I am glad he shared the nature of the works with us, even if we may never see the works themselves. The themes he mentions have universal human relevance, and I'm sure it would have been a very interesting and engaging exhibition to launch the gallery with had circumstances been different.

I am impressed not only with Magne's sensitivity to the possibly upsetting nature of the works, but also with the calm acceptance he has about having created works that now may never be shown. Obviously this implies a personal satisfaction/accomplishment simply in the act of creating them, independent of whatever the public response would have given him as an artist, and that must be a really good feeling.

'Stolper + Friends'

Sun, 17 Jul 2011 19:57:58 GMT

Thanks to a newsletter today from magnef.org, we now know where the new gallery is located and what it looks like from the outside.

It's hard to tell from this picture if they have rooms on two levels, or if the space has high ceilings to let in more light, or if the upper level belongs to another business or so. I guess the lower windows will remain covered until the opening - I love how the door is slightly open, what a tease ;-)

Morepleasekthx!

Tjuvholmen Allé 6, 0252 Oslo | From Google Maps:

This is just a short walk (less than a block) from Bølgen & Moi, and it has an interior aspect - I was hoping the gallery would face the water, but in any case it's a great location.

EDIT: There are new websites for Stolper + Friends: Facebook | | Gallery Web Site | | Twitter