© Flemming Ege

»Musik er for mig som at trække vejret. Jeg har levet som rejsende musiker i over 50 år. At vælge fem sange ud er helt umuligt, fordi jeg hører så meget, og det vil også let komme til at lyde frygteligt gammeldags, da Kinks, Stones, Dylan, Cohen, Fairport Convention og Beatles jo er lydtapetet til min ungdom. Jeg prøver alligevel. Og kigger langt ud over 60'erne og 70'erne og bliver i Danmark, næsten. Efter jeg i Toppen af poppen 2015 mødte Shaka og Nanna (Oh Land) har jeg fulgt dem. Jeg har turnereret flere gange med Shaka og jeg har indspillet og optrådt med Nanna. Myrkur har jeg aldrig mødt, men jeg hører ofte hendes album Folkesange fra 2020. Peter Sommer arbejdede jeg lidt sammen med i 2013, og han bliver bedre og bedre. Endelig tager jeg et fantastisk Dylan-outtake med. »The girl from the red river shore«. Dyrk hans stemme, det er bare så rørende.«

Første gang Lars Lilholt fik penge for at spille, var i 1973, da han var 20 år. Han har skrevet sange, siden han fik sin første guitar 1964, og på dansk siden 1968, hvor han opdagede, at Eik Skaløe fra Steppeulvene kunne synge som Bob Dylan på dansk. Lilholt har udgivet 40 albums i løbet af de 50 år, senest Kosmiske kindkys i 2024. 

© PR

»Music has been a healing balm for me.«

John William Grant is an American singer, musician, and songwriter holding both American and Icelandic citizenship. He first came to prominence as a co-founder, lead vocalist, pianist, and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band The Czars. After releasing six albums between 1994 and 2006, the band disbanded, and Grant withdrew from music for four years before embarking on a solo career.

He returned in April 2010 with a critically acclaimed debut album recorded in collaboration with Midlake. Queen of Denmark was named Album of the Year 2010 by Mojo magazine and was also selected as one of the ten best albums of 2010 by The Guardian’s music critics and writers.

© Malthe Folke Ivarsson

»In his music, composer Allan Gravgaard Madsen tries to create a better version of himself.« 

Allan Gravgaard Madsen is a Danish composer based in Copenhagen. His most recent works include Träume nicht and Nachtmusik. He tries to create a better version of himself in his music – where his personality tends to be restless, chatty and has an active inner life, his music is controlled, simple and merciless in its expression. He is the recipient of the Carl Nielsen & Anne Marie Carl-Nielsens Hæderspris 2022.

in briefrelease
23.01.2022

Finnish Space Travel

Tomutonttu: »Hoshi«
© Tomutonttu: »Hoshi«
© Tomutonttu: »Hoshi«

The Finnish multimedia artist Jan Anderzén has, with the album Hoshi, released under the solo moniker Tomutonttu, created a true little star. Not only because »hoshi« literally means »star« in Japanese, but above all due to the music itself. There is something cosmic, yet infinitely minute, about the sonic worlds Anderzén conjures—like a galaxy reflected in a puddle, or a space journey in a rocket carved from a hollow tree trunk. Synths emit busy, warm blips and bloops, while ultra-short vocal and instrumental samples create a recognizable blur. At once artificial and organic – soft, rounded, jagged, crackling.

Anderzén approaches sound with a playfulness I simply adore. His music is strange in an incredibly comforting way. It places me in a kind of colorful, trance-like state, only interrupted when, several times over the course of the album, I find myself smiling in delight at a particularly great sound. The synths on »Katse osuu sähköön!« The choral samples on »Kesä oli äkkiä ohi!« Milo Linnovaara’s flute on »Malta lausua ‘AH’!« And many more. Hoshi is an album packed with microscopic moments that together form a frayed, exploding, radiant, idiosyncratic whole—a stellar moment of just under 38 minutes.