A Taste Of Ra - Morning Of My Life

Nicolai Dunger's A Taste of Ra complete his personal discographic trilogy with “Morning Of My Life”.
After two inspired works, simply titled with his moniker, now one single long track conceived into six movements with the "artistic" contribution of Jari Haapalainen, plus Johan and Andreas Berthling (Tape).
The result is a multiform work, where moments of ambient/drone, free-jazz, experimentation, psychedelia and folk come one after the other, into a transition emphasizing Nicolai’s passion for the music and a polychrome vision of the “morning of his life”.

Label: Häpna
Cat. #: H.36
Format: CD
Release date: 2007

Tracklisting:
01 - Morning Of My Life (41:58)

Previous relesases:


A Taste Of Ra (2005, Häpna, H.23)












A Taste Of Ra II (2006, Häpna, H.30)











Links:
Häpna

Eric Malmberg - Verklighet & Beat

Eric Malmberg’s music is a small miracle.
I don’t want to call him a genius, because I don’t want to jinx him. But I will say that he’s a complete original, in addition to being a vastly talented musician.
I will also say that his recordings and the two performances that I saw by Sagor & Swing merit a place on a short list of most enjoyed musical experiences of the last half decade.
I could bleat about the quality of the work, but “most enjoyed” to me carries the stronger charge. Verklighet & Beat, meaning “Reality & Beat” (as opposed to “Sagor & Swing”: “Fairytales and Swing”), is a second high point in Eric Malmberg’s career. The first came with 2001’s Orgelfärger, the first album by Sagor & Swing. S & S were the duo of Eric on his beloved Hammond organ and Ulf Möller on sympathetic, timeless drums.
The obvious comparison was to Hansson & Karlsson, the Swedish organ and drums duo from the 1970s. Indeed, Eric is the author of a number of comic books detailing the adventures of Hansson & Karlsson. (He’s also the author of the comic Happy Hammond in Slumberland.)
Bo Hansson returned the favor by giving him an organ—as well as by appearing on synthesizer on Verklighet & Beat. Verklighet & Beat is paradigmatic of Häpna in that its execution is improbably beautiful. It’s better in practice than in theory. And Eric Malmberg’s vision now radiates color.

(David Grubbs)

Label: Häpna
Cat. #: H.34
Format: CD
Release date: 2007

Tracklisting:
01 - Finalen (04:42)
02 - Min Kompis Anton (04:24)
03 - Till Minne Av Lilly Lindström (04:28)
04 - Slutet På En Epok (03:46)
05 - Leksand, Tidigt Nittiotal (04:09)
06 - Söndagskonsert (03:09)
07 - Milda Döden Hämtar Oss Alla Till Slut (03:56)
08 - Ackordflödet Och Evigheten (03:44)
09 - Varat Fanns Någonstans I Röran (04:56)
10 - Styx (04:38)

Links:
Eric Malmberg
Häpna

Hans Appelqvist - Sifantin Och Mörkret

from Vital Weekly # 581:

When Hans Appelqvist released 'Naima' I was quite amazed: the combination of sounds, field recordings, 'real' music and the story made great sense. I must admit I was a bit disappointed with his concert which I saw a while after that. Not only did reproduce the CD with quite some accuracy, which for me is not necessary if I go to a concert, but also the guitar sounded very retro - it was at times if I was listening to Mike Oldfield, solo again but armed with a sampler for some weird injections.
This new album (well, twelve tracks in twenty five minutes. Is that an album or a mini album) is therefor met with some reluctancy. Again, I like Hans' daring combination of musique concrete, mediaeval music and radio plays, but somewhere in the back of my head, I still see him at the concert: much pre-programmed on his computer, sweet melodies on the guitar. Perhaps it would be better to entirely (try to) forget that and enjoy the radio qualities of this music. Appelqvist certainly has great style and care and plays his material with a lot of humor. As such 'Sifantin Och Mörket' is another fine album.

(Frans de Waard)

Label: Häpna
Cat. #: H.35
Format: CD
Release date: 2007

Tracklisting:
01 - Wanxian (2:10)
02 - Tänk Att Himlens Alla Stjärnor (3:21)
03 - Mormas Fågel (0:57)
04 - Freckenåges Spa (2:35)
05 - Tiggången (1:05)
06 - Skundgässhallen (1:25)
07 - Sju I Tre (1:06)
08 - Jag En Gök (3:31)
09 - Tilli Talli Tulli (1:06)
10 - Full The Moon (3:04)
11 - Iestapiona (1:09)
12 - Talkijangnas Akt (3:06)

Links:
Hans Appelqvist
Häpna