© Tuala Hjarnø

»Mit forhold til musik er dybt passioneret. Ud over at spille og arbejde med mange genrer skriver jeg også om musik – for tiden mest i Gaffa og på min egen blog på www.vaering.com. Jeg anmelder især koncerter, fordi jeg elsker at gå til koncerter og mærke både musikken og dem, der spiller den. Jeg har også en podcast, Værings Musiklytteri, hvor jeg med skiftende musik-nørdede gæster dykker ned i forskellige temaer.

Jeg plejer at sige, at jeg lytter til alt fra post-punk til country. Én rød tråd er dog nogenlunde konstant, nemlig at jeg er mest optaget af de mere håndspillede genrer. Der er undtagelser fra den regel, men som regel gider jeg ikke rigtig musik, der – som jeg kalder det – er undfanget i en petriskål.  Det organiske, det taktile, betyder meget for min oplevelse af musik. Jeg vil have levende mennesker, der river i nogle strenge, slår på noget skind og fortæller mig en historie der ligger dem på sinde. Jeg tager også gerne mine vokaler rørende, inderlige eller ligefrem uregerlige, og så vil jeg gerne have tekster med både vid og bid. Hver gang jeg har sat mig ned for at lave denne liste, er jeg gået i stå, fordi det blev for stort at udvælge fem sange til verden. Nu har jeg bestemt mig for at lægge til føje lige nu til opgaveformuleringen. Her er således fem sange/kunstnere, som jeg har lyttet til i netop denne uge – dvs. sange, der er udkommet inden for de seneste to-tre uger, altså mellem 17. januar og 7. februar 2025. Havde I fanget mig i næste uge, havde det været noget andet.«

Trinelise Væring (1965) er en dansk singer-songwriter, tekstforfatter, guitarist og bandleder. Væring debuterede på den skandinaviske jazzscene i 1992. I løbet af sin karriere har hun udforsket flere genrer gennem samarbejder, bl.a. med det norske ensemble Barokksolisterne, som bandleder for indie-jazzbandet Offpiste Gurus og senest for folk/roots-fusionsbandet Tone of Voice Orchestra. På album og turnéer har hun spillet med navne som Alex Riel, Carsten Dahl og Bobo Stenson. I januar udgav Væring sit ottende soloalbum med titlen A Songwriter’s Odyssey.

Bill Frisell. © Carole D'Inverno

»I like when it's impossible to tell at first if something is black or white, or country or blues, or whatever.«

Bill Frisell’s career as a guitarist and composer has spanned more than 40 years and many celebrated recordings. From Aaron Copeland and Charles Ives to Bob Dylan and Madonna. Born in Baltimore, Bill Frisell played clarinet throughout his childhood in Denver, Colorado. His interest in guitar began with his exposure to pop music on the radio.

© 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.