Ulver
Scary Muzak CD
€10
Knock, knock. The most terrifying of all terrifying nights is here,
and they are back, ready to make your skin crawl.
But first, rewind exactly one year. Enter the newly restored 1920s
cinema at Frogner in Oslo. Frescoed stars, cobweb, myrrh, and
pumpkins. On the big screen: John Carpenter’s cult classic Halloween
(1978). In the pit: Ulver, performing a reimagined version of the
iconic score. A surprising and timely one-off right before the capital
city shut down for real.
After the lights were turned off that evening, the All Hallows’ Eve
quartet – Ole Alexander Halstensgård, Kristoffer Rygg, Tore Ylwizaker
and Stian Westerhus – went full isolation in their studio below the
haunted hill, fantasizing about bygone nights of slasher,
exploitation, and giallo. Three or four months went by, the band
returned to the living, and sent their radiophonic workshop
experiments off to the Dogs of Doom, France, where friend and fellow
film freak, Carpenter Brut did a razor-sharp mix before taking it to
Thibault Chaumont (Deviant Lab) for the master.
Scary Muzak, on one hand a homage to Carpenter’s themes – five out of
twelve tracks are covers whereas the rest comes from the outer realms
– and on the other zooming out on the aesthetics of the late ’70s and
early ’80s popular culture. It is perhaps the Norwegians’ most
hauntological moment, whirling up themes and moods, horrors and
mysteries hidden in the foggy back alleys of your youth. Imagine the
gloomy siblings of Les Humphries, Gert Wilden, and their respective
orchestras, armed to their teeth with synths, pads, FX. Sometimes
classy and chilling, other times amusingly smooth and sleazy, and at
times outright beautiful in its suspense-filled vigour, Scary Muzak is
an inspired, goblinesque addition to the ever-expanding Ulver
catalogue. Interior films, remember?
It’s Halloween, and everyone’s entitled to one good scare.
Tracklist:
1. ALEEN HOWL
2. ATELIERS HUME
3. GENET NIGHTINGALE
4. ADDI FLED HON
5. ALCHEMIST SALK
6. BOO SACKLOTH
7. EVIL LONGBOWS
8. CLUB FUEGO
9. ACHILLES MILK
10. ECM PANORAMA
11. REDRUM AL BRUT
12. RIP BROUHAHA
and they are back, ready to make your skin crawl.
But first, rewind exactly one year. Enter the newly restored 1920s
cinema at Frogner in Oslo. Frescoed stars, cobweb, myrrh, and
pumpkins. On the big screen: John Carpenter’s cult classic Halloween
(1978). In the pit: Ulver, performing a reimagined version of the
iconic score. A surprising and timely one-off right before the capital
city shut down for real.
After the lights were turned off that evening, the All Hallows’ Eve
quartet – Ole Alexander Halstensgård, Kristoffer Rygg, Tore Ylwizaker
and Stian Westerhus – went full isolation in their studio below the
haunted hill, fantasizing about bygone nights of slasher,
exploitation, and giallo. Three or four months went by, the band
returned to the living, and sent their radiophonic workshop
experiments off to the Dogs of Doom, France, where friend and fellow
film freak, Carpenter Brut did a razor-sharp mix before taking it to
Thibault Chaumont (Deviant Lab) for the master.
Scary Muzak, on one hand a homage to Carpenter’s themes – five out of
twelve tracks are covers whereas the rest comes from the outer realms
– and on the other zooming out on the aesthetics of the late ’70s and
early ’80s popular culture. It is perhaps the Norwegians’ most
hauntological moment, whirling up themes and moods, horrors and
mysteries hidden in the foggy back alleys of your youth. Imagine the
gloomy siblings of Les Humphries, Gert Wilden, and their respective
orchestras, armed to their teeth with synths, pads, FX. Sometimes
classy and chilling, other times amusingly smooth and sleazy, and at
times outright beautiful in its suspense-filled vigour, Scary Muzak is
an inspired, goblinesque addition to the ever-expanding Ulver
catalogue. Interior films, remember?
It’s Halloween, and everyone’s entitled to one good scare.
Tracklist:
1. ALEEN HOWL
2. ATELIERS HUME
3. GENET NIGHTINGALE
4. ADDI FLED HON
5. ALCHEMIST SALK
6. BOO SACKLOTH
7. EVIL LONGBOWS
8. CLUB FUEGO
9. ACHILLES MILK
10. ECM PANORAMA
11. REDRUM AL BRUT
12. RIP BROUHAHA