Hey,

Did you know that Origo Sound actually is part of a bigger, cooler project called Planet Origo? This new website, which is the first of it's kind ever, is a magazine, shop, record label and community for electronic music - rolled into one! But that's not all, the above would only make it one of many on the net. Planet Origo is also a magazine, shop and community for science fiction & fantasy movies!

How can this be? Why these two unrelated artforms? Why such a weird combination? Well, sci-fi and electronica is not unrelated, and the combination is not weird, as we see it...



At the moment, independent artists and record labels are invited to sign up their music to be sold in the shop (write to glenn@planetorigo dot com for info) but Planet Origo has so much more to offer than just another sales outlet. Genuine collaborations, marketing support, editorial coverage, wholesale distribution and artistic development are only some of the free services Planet Origo will offer to it's partners.

Do yourself a favour, email glenn@planetorigo dot com today and join the world's newest specialist of electronic music - that is, if you want your label to be the theme for the first Planet Origo festival!

 

Hey,

Origo Sound will release another album later this year. Noxia is our first album by the Swedish composer and musician (and synthesizer repair man) SynthX, in real life named Rikard Latvala.

Noxia is an epic album of classic melodic space electronica in the vein of Jean Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk, but with an original and contemporary sound. The concept album’s narrative theme is the story about a thief and the various mental, physical and legal processes he goes through.

Noxia will be Origo Sound’s third album to be released in 2008, along with CDs from Nemesis and Winterplanet. The exact release date will be announced later.

Greetings from Glenn Folkvord
Web & content editor, Planet Origo

Origo Sound music: http://www.cdbaby.com/all/origosound
Origo Sound info: http://www.myspace.com/origosound
Origo Sound news: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/origosound

Hi,

Here's a little teaser for you - the artwork for one of our forthcoming albums, our first album of new music since 2004. The CD is hot off the printing press and sounds great!



What else can I say about this album? It's the first album by this group on Origo Sound, but the group has played for 20 years and are not totally unknown in the ambient and electronica scenes. More information later - I just wanted you to wet your mouth!

Hey,

Origo Sound now has it's own page at Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia. Among other things you can find the complete label discography there, samplers and singles included; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origo_Sound

Greetings from Glenn Folkvord
Web & content editor, Planet Origo

Origo Sound music: http://www.cdbaby.com/all/origosound
Origo Sound info: http://www.myspace.com/origosound
Origo Sound news: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/origosound

Hey,

As previously mentioned, on October 13th at the E-Live festival in the Netherlands, we released the first Origo Sound album since 2004 - the sampler CD "Planet Origo", which was given away for free to guests at the festival. The tracklist is as follows:

Karsten Brusad - Sea [2:27]
Nemesis - Karyon [6:18]
Circular - Revolved [3:59]
Current - Ghost Trip (radio edit) [3:27]
Neural Network - Aqueous [10:18]
Dystopia - Core Melt [6:57]
Sverre Knut Johansen - Counterparts [6:19]
Winterplanet - Solstice [4:15]
Neural Network - Modernite part 3 (edit) [11:47]
Current - Stellar [4:24]
Eyeman Reel - Um [2:30]
Green Isac - Kotoba [4:25]
Winterplanet - Sunrays [7:33]
Living Dreamtime - Dancing water angels (edit) [4:17]



The CD has a playing time of 79:23 and the tracks by Nemesis and Winterplanet are from forthcoming Origo Sound albums, to be released this winter.

Greetings from Glenn Folkvord
Web & content editor, Planet Origo

Origo Sound music: http://www.cdbaby.com/all/origosound
Origo Sound info: http://www.myspace.com/origosound
Origo Sound news: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/origosound

Again, it's time to go back 10 years and see what the reviewers (me and one other guy) thought about Origo Sound releases back then. Was it really quality music in 1997? The following reviews are from the Norwegian IMAGES fanzine, published from 1993 to 1998.

Biosphere: Substrata
Reviewed by Glenn Folkvord in 1997
Rated 5 of 6

One of this year's best electronic music albums comes from Geir Jenssen of Tromsø, Norway. Under his nickname Biosphere he has multiple times been hailed as the saviour of ambient music in the 1990s. Which is not a wrong opinion. Substrata is Jenssen's third ordinary studio album since 1991, and the direction is now even more towards the pure ambient. We're talking about music with a movement factor of Jarre's Equinoxe part 2, just to mention a well known reference. Substrata has no rhythms or melodies, only liquid sound as soft as cotton. For the first time we get some really Arctic music; you can genuinely feel the coldness and the wind tear your body when Sphere Of No-form transforms from running water to the sound of the North Pole. It's quite impossible to describe this music. Well, it's of course "ambient". Take Antennaria as an example; it takes you into the endless and infinite outer space where there is nothing to fix your attention to. Actual space music, in other words. I get a sense of something mystical and unreal, a feeling I last had when I watched Stanley Kubrick's movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. You know, that slow motion feeling HAL gets when the curcuit boards are pulled out of him.

Equally fascinating is Kobresia, where the voice of a Russian storyteller is placed on top of the most fragile soundscapes you can imagine. It's not particularly innovative to put mysterious voices over electronic music, but in this case it works and Jenssen manages to hypnotize me.

You can't be a fan of electronic music without Substrata in your collection!

Neural Network: Modernité 
Reviewed by Glenn Folkvord in 1995
No rating given

Three young gentlemen from Bergen, Norway has returned with the sequel to last year's most interesting Norwegian ambient debut album. Modernité is over 90 minutes of music based on the romantic idea from the 1950s and 60s about the urban society; a time when people believed in urbanization as a way to improve quality of life. The previous album Brain-state-in-a-box was characterized by hypnotic rhythms, but this new album is actual listening music of the most excellent class. At last we have fresh recruits from the techno generation making proper electronic music, with the rules of commercialism flushed down a certain place. Modernité is a step forward for Neural Network in musicals terms, while it also is (production-wise) stripped down and sobered up, which are both good things here. The music may appear motionless, but is rather "frozen movement" or "silence with sound added", as it floats and flows untouched by humans. Even if you occasionally hear chilled rhythms and rolling sequencers, most of the album is atmospherical with sleepy, long chords.

On the downside, I am not quite sure wether the shrilling high-frequent "leads" on Moderinté part 4 are a good addition, or not. But all in all, Modernité is a quiet yet wonderful album that quite possibly will turn out to be a classic in the genre.

Exile: Dimension D
Reviewed by Glenn Folkvord in 1997
Rating: 5 of 6

A new CD from the well known Erik Wøllo, who has leaped into exile in order to experiment a little. However, this album is not so far removed from earlier albums by the artist. It's a somewhat sterile sounding, "hard" album that gives the impression of being thought out as an intellectual exercise, rather than arriving from intuitive inspiration. The album opens extremely well with Urban Zoo, which offers sound effects and seemingly random sounds from nowhere, before the bass kicks in, and then comes the melody. The same weird sounds are repeated, but now as the title's rhythm track. A clever song, which holds enough surprises and is appropriately monumental. Even more powerful is Timewind, my favourite track on the album. It has some nice enjoyable filtering effects. Of interest is also I Will Be There, which is different from the other tracks in that it has almost improvised arrangements. Atonal spacey effects, a few sampled sounds and white noise swooshes makes the track unpredictale but yet complimentary to the more traditional ambient/electronica soundscapes that surround it. The only poor track is Blow, which is a left-hand composition we could have accepted 15 years ago.

Exile is a steady album with a good production and good ideas. The album does however lack a perfect song which could have elevated the album to classic status.

Sverre Knut Johansen: Distant Shore
Reviewed by Dag blomberg in 1994
No rating given

Take equal parts Vangelis, Yanni and Øystein Sevåg, spice it up with a dash of Kitaro, and add an ounce of Jan Hammer. Press it onto a plastic disc, and you'll get Distant Shore. It's the debut CD of the year [in the electronic music genre] and one you should order immediately! Johansen has [with this disc] applied to become a member of the exclusive club "Norway's best instrumental artist" as the album has several highlights, like the very beautiful title track. Distant Shore is not only electronic music, but a lovely mix of breathing synthscapes (produced by Erik Wollo, who outdoes himself here), electric instruments and acoustic instruments. Roar Engelberg performs convincingly on the panflute. The album is as varied it can be without sprawling muscially, and Johansen is a master of all styles, from the experimental Fragments, to the hypnotic Ascension and the harsher Eruption. Distant Shore has no weak tracks. If you fall for this CD, you'll fall hard, and I just want more!

Hey,

Origo Sound is the October focus on the Galactic Travels radio show, hosted by Bill Fox in the US. To hear four selected Origo Sound albums during October and get acquainted with the label, tune in to Galactic Travels or listen on the internet:

GALACTIC TRAVELS ON WDIY: http://galactictravels.info
==================================================
Tonight at 11 pm on Galactic Travels, I'll begin a month-long Special
focus on Norwegian record label Origo Sound. The Featured CD at
Midnight will be "Communion" by Current For details, see the Special
Focus page at:
http://wdiy.org/programs/gt/playlists/2007/focus.html

Galactic Travels is an electronic, ambient, and space music show that
airs each Thursday at 11:04 pm on WDIY 88.1 FM, Allentown and
Bethlehem, 93.9 FM in Easton and Phillipsburg, 93.7 FM in Fogelsville
and Trexlertown, on the internet, and in High Definition Radio at 88.1
FM.

All times are EDT / GMT-4.

Listen on-line to WDIY at http://wdiy.org and click LISTEN or go
directly to: http://rm1.refugemedia.com/ramgen/encoder/wdiy.rm

Greetings,
Glenn Folkvord

Hey gang,

Before the internet existed as we know it today, which is not longer ago than the early and mid 1990s, people had to depend on fanzines (and some technical magazines) to get information about electronic music, as little was covered in mainstream media. In Norway, one such fanzine was IMAGES, the publication of the Norwegian Jean Michel Jarre fanclub. IMAGES was published between 1993 and 1998 (and the fanclub still exists in email form) and had one or two pages of reviews of non-Jarre electronic music. I have been digging in the IMAGES archives and translated some old Origo Sound reviews from the 90s.

Karsten Brustad: Cape West
Reviewed by Glenn Folkvord in 1994
No rating given

This is Karsten Brustad's second album, though I don't think it outshines his debut album, Intarsia. While Intarsia was beautiful in an enchanted forest way and a fresh gust of air, Cape West attempts to survive on beautiful chord combinations. The album smells of too many preset sounds, and synth strings and electronic voices. In the long run it gets too tiresome with all these clean, pretty, smooth, soft sounds. Open is an example tracks with insignificant electronic sounds. Then there is Danza, which is supposed to sound all acoustic, with avantguarde synth strings, piano and cemballo. Karsten, a suggestion: Please don't use electronic strings and sequencer to make classical music. It's examples like this that make me understand why professors at the conservatoire complain about cheap plastic music.

Those were the bad parts. There are many good sides to Cape West as well. First Light is an exciting song both in terms of form and melody, while Birds has some incredibly beautiful bird's singing sampled into it. Sound filtering is always cool and you find some good examples of that (in combination with stereo panning) in the intro of the title track. Too bad these techniques (along with a bit of phasing) was not used more on the album. Trust is another track and is easily one of my favourites from this album. It's a small masterpiece and has a feeling of grandness and richness.

Cape West is an album it's hard to make up one's mind about. Some is good, and some is booring. You'll have to make up your own mind about this album.

Circular: Nanotopia
Reviewed by Steinar Larsen in 1997
Rated 5 of 6

Look out for a guy called Jostein Dahl Gjelsvik. I suspect that within electronic music from the Nordic countries, he will be one of the most interesting artists in the years to come. Jostein was first part of Neural Network, who created a new standard for urban ambient electronica with their album Modernité. Circular is the new band project from Jostein and Bjarte Andreassen, but their musical style is somewhat along the same lines; atonal boingy sounds jumping out of nowhere, supported by a weird symbiosis of industrual and organic sound. A breathing, living album, not very melodic but still able to grab you. The music also has a uniqe sound design which makes it hard to compare it to other albums. Furthermore, it's no disadvantage that the sleeve is among the coolest cover artworks I've seen in a long time!

Current: Enter the dream
Reviewed by Dag Blomberg in 1997
Rated 4 of 6

Future Proof is the name of a series of three CDs released on Origo Sound; three albums that have similarities but are still different from eachother. Current is one of the three artists, whose album in the series is his debut. Marketed as ambient dream-house, almost Robert Miles (ca 1997), except more serious and creative. The album opens really well with Enter, which develops from atmospherical with lovely minimalistic sounds to a rhythmic structure with a Miles-esque piano theme. So far so good.

Track number two is unfortunately  a step back, with a poor melody and some clichéd voice samples ("it's a dream" and "get up" is not enough these days). The sounds are not as exciting either. The album as a whole is just like the first two tracks; ups and downs, although if a track is not good, it's not really bad either, just halfway good. Most of the time it's the melodies that are wanting. They are not completely rubbish, but the really good themes are often absent. In terms of arrangements and sounds there is also too much of the "nice, clean piano" stuff. Now and then there are some really good and interesting sounds in cool arrangements, which I believe shows the potential of the artist, who will need some guidance to become really good. A good try, though!

We spoke to Robert Solheim this summer (July 2007), one of Norway's finest electronic music artists who is mostly known for his Current albums of dreamy space electronica, of which 3 were released on Origo Sound. He also has a few other projects lined up.

Origo Sound: What are your musical influences, and what is it about them that you like?

Current: Through the years I have come to think that this question is a trick question (smile). There are so many influences; I guess I will have to say that David Sylvian and Kraftwerk have always been great influences. I love the complexity AND the simplicity of them both. I also listen to a lot of minimal, electro, tech-house and so on and with all the new electronic music that comes out these days it's hard not to get influenced by new artists as well. I really like the things that comes out of labels like Soma and Kompakt to name a few. I will also have to mention jazz, especially on the mellow side, artists like Abbey Lincoln and last but not least, Led Zeppelin. First time I heard them back in the early 70´s it was on a reel to reel tape machine that my brother had, it was magic. You could also play 8 track tapes on it and they went on and on in an endless loop. I kind of inherited the machine and I still have it.

Origo Sound: Do you have other influences in your music, beside other artists/music?

Current: Berlin; it's absolutely fantastic. I think you can travel around Berlin for months and still experience new and innovative things and the music scene is fantastic. Street noise, trains, sci-fi, people and nature, especially the sea, travelling, hmmm, did I say reading? How about Averøy (that's my beautiful home"town")? And Oslo.

Origo Sound: Do you have a specific composing technique?

Current: Not really. I spend most days in the studio working on something and if I get an idea I record it and if I'm not home, I record it on my mobile or write it down. It can be triggered by a sound or a rhythmic pattern from the shower dripping or someone working in the streets. Or I might just play around with a favourite synth making new patches. The best part is when I have a great sketch and when I start working on the details, that's when the music starts to get its own life.

Origo Sound: Where does your artist name Current come from?

Current: It used to be Quiescent Current, which means something in the direction of still or inactive current, but people had problems pronouncing it and remembering it, so after trying different combinations with other words I ended up with Current only. It has various meanings and all of them fit one way or another into the philosophy behind the music

Origo Sound: Your first album Enter the Dream came out 10 years ago. How did you feel about releasing your first album?

Current: I remember I felt happy and surprised, and nervous. I think I knew when I was a child already, that to make my own music and releasing it was something that I would do one day. It has just been there like a natural part of my consciousness or maybe sub-consciousness. Anyway, when I had the CD in my hand it felt kind of unreal, but my intentions were exactly what happened, to compose and release my own music.

Origo Sound: To record and release albums over a period of 10 years is quite an achievement in a small subgenre where artist survival is a daily struggle. How do you think you have developed since the beginning?

Current: Without doubt, I have developed a lot musically and I see how the music is slowly changing through the years, I can see that the possibilities are endless. I used to have this ridiculous thought that one day all the music that is not yet made, will be made and then, what do I do? A composer's nightmare I'll tell you. Spiritually I have also developed a lot through the years and, as you say, it's not easy to survive with this kind of music, but at the end, what do you actually need to live? Not much and the fewer things you possess, the better.

Origo Sound: Tell us about your latest album, The Dream Cabinet.

Current: I think it has bits and pieces of most of my musical styles in it. A kind of a 10 years anniversary maybe, and like most of my music, it's about dreams. Enter into The Dream Cabinet and watch a dream. I have always been interested in dreams and they have helped me a lot in understanding myself. Nightmares are good; they can solve problems you know. There are three tracks on this album that has become my favourites; The Discovery, Searching for planet Klingklang and Taking the challenge. Three different styles, but they still have the Current "sound". I felt the urge to do different kind of electonics this time and it was difficult staying inside the "ambient-frame". At the end I decided to leave the most upbeat tracks for another project. Mixing upbeat electro or techno into Current doesn't feel right. It should continue its path between ambient and down-tempo. On the other hand, about a month ago, CurrentMusik released The Remix Cabinet vol. 1. It's a download EP only available from Juno Records at the moment. The first track, "Origin Unknown" was remixed by an up-and-coming artist here in Spain called Rubeck, its very techno or tech-house if you like, and it has been played on various clubs already. The other track is "Tin Man", remixed by Eidetaker (other ½ of Aquavit), a lovely chilled-out version. I think that The Dream Cabinet is an end of an era. I am working on new material for Current as we speak, but there are other parts that I need to explore as well.

Origo Sound: You are a Norwegian living in Spain, why is that? Does your "exile" from the frozen north influence your music differently than if you lived in Norway?

Current: Living is Spain makes me enjoy Norway much more than I have ever done before. I think, on the contrary, I am more influenced by the frozen north now then ever. Whenever going to Norway (which has been rather often lately), I feel at home and very inspired. Spain gives me the opportunity to go out, living in the streets so to speak. Tapas and wine with friends is hard to beat and there's a lot of music here. So much, you could go to concerts all year round. Spain is also becoming a very important country for electronic music with festivals like Sonar in Barcelona, Creamfields in Almeria and Clubbers night in Madrid etc.

Origo Sound: What is the challenge of creating good electronic music today, since it has become relatively cheap and accessible to everyone with a computer?

Current: Having the equipment is not enough to compose good music, and I don't see composing as a challenge, more as a necessity. If I don't make music I think I would eventually go mad. A I said earlier, I listen to a lot of new music and I must say that there's a lot of stuff that I don't understand why it's being released. Some of it has a great sound, but no soul and some of it sounds really bad. With the equipment we have today, why do people want their music to sound like it was done years ago? I think it just proves that you need more than the right equipment.

Origo Sound: Norway has a small, but good reputation internationally in terms of electronic music with artists such as Biosphere, Royksopp, Erik Wollo, and not least yourself. Why do you think quality electronica emerges here?

Current: I will have to answer from my own experience, so, I think we have a kind of darkness/light struggle in us, from the lack of light in wintertime and from days without nights in the summertime. I think that makes good art. If you only had light, the dark side of the music would be gone. I think that if you're always happy, would you make moody music?

Origo Sound: You used to be a drummer in bands, and it is said that drummers are more clever with rythm and beats programming.

Current: Absolutely, the drums are a very important part of my music, even though I try to stay away from drum rolls and stuff that's typical for rock, jazz and other styles. I always react when I hear a crash cymbal that's not doubled by a bass or snare-drum, traditionally you do that to emphasize it, to say, here is a change or a stop etc. In electronic music you can use the sound of a light bulb smashing as a snare, or scratched record noises as hats and I don't think that would sound good in traditional jazz for example. Or maybe that's the next thing?

Origo Sound: How is your studio set up today?

Current: I use Ableton Live on a laptop and a bunch of soft-synths. I use a Korg microX and a Novation Xio synth as controllers and hardware sound sources. Alesis M1 Active monitors, changing to Dynaudio as soon as I can. I love working in Live, it's very inspirational and I also use it for my DJ sessions. I also have the Audio Kontrol 1 from Native Instruments which sounds amazing and works great as a controller.

Origo Sound: How do you feel about software synthesizers compared to hardware synths, and what do you think about the softsynth revolution in general?

Current: I have had lots of hardware synths through the years, and I have sold them all except for the microX and Xio which I use mainly as controllers. I love Reaktor from Native Instruments, I made this synth called Rubiter Ate in Reaktor which I use a lot. I've just got Massive, Absynth4 and FM8 from Native Instruments as well. Last time I was in Norway I got ImpOscar from GMedia. I can't say how much I love these synths, they sound amazing. Guru from Fxpasion and all the stuff from Arturia are all next on my to-get list. If I'm getting a hardware synth again, it might be the new Nord Wave with wave-tables and possibilities to load your own samples. But frankly, I am more than happy with the soft synths I am using. I also use the Sampler in Live which is a full on control of your samples. It's great to have the possibility to take the studio with me wherever I go. I can start a new idea on Averøy in Norway and finish it in Murcia in Spain. Eventually, I think that softsynths sound as good as hardware. Analogue synths still have that natural drift but I don't feel that's important anymore.

Origo Sound: You have done some DJ sessions in Murcia, Spain this spring, tell us about them.

Current: I have been a DJ on and off ever since I started out in a discotheque in Kristiansund when I was like 18 years old. I starting playing here in Murcia last year in a club called Ocio. In the beginning, I played mainly chill-out and laid-back electronica. Then, after a trip to Berlin I saw like 25 DJ´s playing different sessions in Tiergarten. It was amazing. The next day I went out and bought everything I could find from labels like Bpitch, Kompakt, Audiomatique etc. and back in Murcia I started getting into this amazing collection of music. Since then I have played many sessions in different clubs and I love it, and it's a great way to get into the electronic music scene. I've been booked for several sessions in September and October already and we are also planning some Current/AkkuratD live performances this fall, kind of a joint DJ/live show. I have a session tonight so right after this interview, I am on my way to play as AkkuratD(j). I have tried to get into the scene in Oslo, but it's difficult, you need to have a reputation before they dare to let you play, or, you need to be "in the circle".

Origo Sound: You have another project/band in the works, called Aquavit.

Current: Aquavit is collaboration between Michael Snyder (aka Eidetaker) and me. It started out some years ago after Michael took contact with me and stating his interest in Scandinavian music. After developing a friendship through mutual interest in electronic music, although Michael on the more industrial side of the genre, we started sending Reason-files (Propellerhead) over the net. Michael would send me an idea that he has been working on, I did my tweaks and ideas and sent it back. Things started to develop and Ableton Live came into the picture. I had been working in Cubase since the 80´s and was strongly against the idea of getting into Live. But I did and haven't looked back since. The files kept growing in size and eventually Michael came to Murcia to visit and to finish the last ideas for the debut Aquavit CD to come; Telepatia. It's an amazing mix of audio(visual) soundscapes, noises, electronic and acoustic instruments and I also sing on several tracks. We even have a track which is strongly influenced by flamenco. I would say that the flamenco you see at the bars in Spanish holiday resorts have little to do with the real thing. It's as complex and various as any modern or classic jazz piece you can hear. We have been searching for the right person to do the master and finally we ended up getting Robert Rich to do it.

Origo Sound: And your future plans?

Current: I have started collaborating with Billie Ray Martin, singer and former of Electribe 101. She also had several hits back in the 90´s and she is to be seen and heard in clubs around the world with her new single Undisco Me as we speak. She asked if working together would be interesting and at first it was mainly to do new arrangements for an ambient project on 2 tracks that she had already written. We are now up to 7 tracks and a new project called The Opiates and as the tracks are developing, the ambient part is fading and electro/electronica would be a better word to label it. I've also composed the music for a track on her new solo album and we are talking about doing some arrangement on others. The Aquavit CD is going to be released this fall and I'm composing new music for my new project AkkuratD, purely experimental, minimal, techno, electro, something in that style. As for the future plans for Current, I am working on something there as well.

Origo Sound: What do you do when you are not playing or listening to music?

Current: Spending time with friends, tapas, wine, family or just walk on the beach in Spain or in Norway, or in Berlin. Did you know they have beaches in Berlin? Artificial, but still beaches and there's electronic music everywhere.

Origo Sound: Robert, thanks for the chat, and see you around!

Current discography:

2006 - The Dream Cabinet ( http://cdbaby.com/cd/current6 )
2005 - underCURRENTS ( http://cdbaby.com/cd/current6 )
2003 - Communion ( http://cdbaby.com/cd/currentsounds2 )
2001 - Musik ( http://cdbaby.com/cd/currentsounds3 )
1997 - Enter the Dream ( http://cdbaby.com/cd/currentsounds1 )

Official website:
http://www.currentmusik.com/