CD Feature/ V.A.: "NUCD#1"
TobiasStavanger is well-known as a lovely harbor town in Norway. Located at the west coast of this Scandinavian country, it is situated in the middle of beautiful fjords and spectacular mountains. There are slightly more than 100,000 inhabitants and the city, founded in the year 1125, has developed into a major player of the oil industry. Besides that, a nearby NATO base provides the population with all kinds of international influences.
So far, so good.
What surely draws some attention is that Stavanger will proclaim the title 'European Capital of Culture 2008' very soon, together with Liverpool, UK. And this is not a coincidence. The town not only has a major port, which had its origin maybe more than a thousand years ago, but has also developed into a safe haven of many cultural activities.One of those is the numusic festival, that will have its 8th edition this year, during the 5th and 8th of September. The festival's last year edition culminated for the first time in the release of a CD appropriately called NUCD#1. It consists of twelve pieces of music, contributed by twelve different groups or solo artists respectively.
The music is sometimes fresh and innocent, then again absolutely inventive and provocative at the same time, ranging from the pop electronics of Sunday Productions to the rap and rock induced “what up?” by HOH.
In between are all kinds of electronic productions, sometimes experimental and sometimes based on more common structures. Very impressive: NES, contributed by Torgeir Nes. Extremely good and varied in a dark style, with electronics of great variety and a beautiful female voice. Just extraordinary.
All the pieces on this CD have their own, original appeal and are great examples of what unbelievable musical potential is hidden in a town of a mere 100,000 inhabitants.
In quoting the CD booklet: 'The cities usually hidden bedroom producers are now out in force…' This musical presentation is extraordinary, no less, and it perfectly mirrors the cultural activity of numusic. There are many events this year, and its sibling, nuart, is currently making a name of its own.
Since the comment on every composer and artist of this CD would surely go beyond the scope of this review, I will name each and every protagonist and their work. Without any doubt, this publication of fine music serves as a great contribution to the international music scene and should encourage others to follow numusic's lead. It deserves all the attention and respect possible of the world wide community of musicians, artists and listeners. A great example of artistic freedom and new means of publication, giving voice to all those, who under the old rules of the music industry would hardly ever get a chance to expose their work to a greater public. Thus numusic is amongst those labels, who pave a way for all those, whose creativity should have an outlet and be heard in the process.
The NUCD#1 titles and artists:
Sunday Productions / Factory / Yngve Sortland, Michel Hoyland
Elektrofant / Charlize PSP / Klaus Skrudland, Knut Jonas 5000
Nes / Bla Majornes / Torgeir Nes
Prügelknaben / Grosstummler / Nils Christian Fossdal
Jan-M Iuersen / Hafrsfjord By Night / Jan-M Iversen
Fistfight / Path of Blood / Kurt Bolianatz
Nordic Rebell-Z / Fear / Malcev Vasyl, Timur Samarin
Hoh / What up / Helge Olav Oksendal
QRT / Path of Blood / Kurt Bolianatz
P / Hellraisers / Pal Asle Pettersen
Kjetil Egeland / If I could change the world, I would change it into a diamond / Kjetil Egeland
Chechoslovakia / Make it easy on yourself / Burt Bacharach, Hal David
By Fred M. Wheeler
Homepage: Numusic Festival
Homepage: Numusic Records/Zang
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