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Thread: AAJ Review: sPacemoNkey, The Karman Line

  1. #1

    AAJ Review: sPacemoNkey, The Karman Line



    My review of sPacemoNkey's wonderful debut, The Karman Line, today at All About Jazz.

    According to Wikipedia, the Kármán Line ..."lies at an altitude of 100 kilometres (62 mi) above the Earth's sea level, and commonly represents the boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and outer space." It's as good a name as any for the debut album from sPacemoNkey, a collaboration by two of Norway's most impressive and increasingly influential musicians, despite still being in their early-to-mid thirties: keyboardist Morten Qvenild and drummer Gard Nilssen. Largely the result of spontaneous composition, with just three of its nine tracks being preconceived by Qvenild, sPacemoNkey's music is both as grounded as the world and as ethereal as outer space: music that challenges preconceptions of sound, melody, harmony and rhythm, but also music that remains strangely accessible, ranging from majestic and beautiful to chaotic and cacophonous.

    Qvenild—when he's not singer Susanna Wallumrod's Magical Orchestra, both a band member and duo partner for vocalist Solveig Slettahjell, or performing with the collaborative In The Country, which has, since its 2005 debut with the enticingly titled This Was the Pace of My Heartbeat (Rune Grammofon), become one of Norway's most popular trios— has been honing an electro-acoustic concept called "hyper piano" for the last few years. This extension of an acoustic grand piano into something possessing broader textural capabilities has been heard in performance with In the Country at festivals including this year's Mai Jazz festival in Stavanger, Norway, but sPacemoNkey may be the first place where Qvenild's hyper piano assumes real prominence...though it's not necessarily easy to discern without careful listening because Nilssen also employs electronics to augment his percussion array.

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  2. #2
    Member markinottawa's Avatar
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    Really like this disc ( played a track on last week's show). Picked up a copy of this and the other Hubro / Bushmen's Revenge releated release Astro Sonic - Come Closer and I'll Tell You (damn artist merch tables). Very good listens both of them

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by markinottawa View Post
    Really like this disc ( played a track on last week's show). Picked up a copy of this and the other Hubro / Bushmen's Revenge releated release Astro Sonic - Come Closer and I'll Tell You (damn artist merch tables). Very good listens both of them
    Glad you dig 'em, Mark; we really outta get together one of these days! There' da lot of great Norwegian stuff I could IP you to...and for your radio station, if you're not already connected, I might be able to help you within else like Rune Grammofon and Hubro.

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    Member markinottawa's Avatar
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    > we really outta get together one of these days!

    indeed

    > lot of great Norwegian stuff I could IP you to...and for your radio station

    t'would be wonderful

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