Stage 25, Norway

Hello again, it's stage 25 already and from now on the ocean is with us again. Don't know why Totally Fuzzy ignored my last post as ive been regularly posting twice a week wednesdays and saturdays, maybe they didnt like my little promo for Linux or they thought Finland to be the end of the line, well it isnt. Infact still 8 stages to go starting with Norway, land of the fjords and crosscountry skeeing, which isnt that hard east to west. Next time more about Norways.

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Bel Canto - Shimmering, Warm & Bright (92)
Butti 49 - Habit (04)
Annie - Anniemal (04)
Øye, Erlend - Unrest (03)
Niels Petter Molvaer - Remakes NP3 (05)
Kaizers Orchestra - Ompa till du dor + ep (01)

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Bel Canto - Shimmering, Warm and Bright (92 ^ 260mb)

Bel Canto (Italian for 'beautiful song') play a blend of alternative pop-rock with medieval atmospherics recreated by synthesizers. The idea behind the songs was "drawn from energy fields, be the female power or the earth's gravitational pull, with vocals delicately etched by the alto of Anneli Marian Drecker". The orchestration by Nils Johansen and Geir Jennsen on the debut combined electronics with traditional instruments, sometimes departing from the pious imagery for upbeat Arabic numbers or cultured ambient soundscapes.

Before the recording of this their third release, Geir Jenssen left the group to pursue a solo career as Biosphere. Perhaps because of this, Shimmering, Warm & Bright is dressed in less frosty tones, although the music remains beautifully solemn as always. Angelic lead vocalist Anneli Drecker, together with Nils Johanssen responsible for the electronic rhythms with all the vivacity required of Drecker's ambitious vocal melodies lends his electronic sonics aswell as his occasional acoustic guitar creating aural depth with just a few simple chords.

During the years from 1985 to present (2006) Bel Canto have occasionally taken breaks in order for Anneli Drecker to pursue a solo career and to perform with other bands and artists, as well as playing in films and theatre plays. Nils Johansen has composed music for film and television as well as working and performing with his other band, Vajas.



01 - Unicorn (5:19)
02 - Summer (4:47)
03 - Waking Will (5:16)
04 - Shimmering, Warm & Bright (3:18)
05 - Sleep In Deep (2:45)
06 - Buthania (2:52)
07 - Le Temps Degage (4:43)
08 - Spiderdust (3:59)
09 - Die Geschichte Einer Mutter (6:54)
10 - Mornixuur (7:51)

Bel Canto @ Base
Bel Canto @ Amazon

Bel Canto - Birds of Passage live
Bel Canto - Tierre Obletz Live @ NRK '95

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Butti 49 - Habit ( 04 ^ 465mb)

Based in Stavanger, the Butti's have been a main stay of their hometown scene for several years now, with a growing reputation that spread first of all across Norway, and then to many other parts of the world. They have already released a series of well received singles, both on their own imprint, and on a number of other well respected labels such as Guidance and Nuphonic which spread the word even further. In addition, Snorre and Oyvind's services have been much in demand as remixers. Their list of remix credits is extensive. Their first full length album features their inimitable and eclectic mix of funk, soul, beats, breaks, electronica and jazz with an an excellent end result.

This album is a treat to listen to from start to finish with Emo providing the vocals to Flying the first track on the album as well as Action. Incurable featuring the vocals of Mayia James has the feel good vibe of a laidback jazzy summer house anthem. It's the first single off the album and it's a strong track. Kongo Mongo and Alan Accelerates are both strong upbeat instrumental tracks Kongo Mongo utilizing the an upbeat guitar rhythms and Alan Accelerates having the more energetic jazzy sort of a Latin vibe with horns.



01 - Flying - ft. Emo
02 - Kongo Mongo
03 - Incurable - ft. Mayia James
04 - Act'on - ft. Emo
05 - Loving You - ft. Mayia James
06 - Alan Accelerates
07 - Habit ft. - Kay Pt. 1
08 - Habit ft. - Kay Pt. 2
09 - Boogaloo
10 - Hustle On The Vessel
11 - Sun Vs Moon - ft. Azhar

Butti 49 @ Base
Butti 49 @ MySpace
Butti 49 @ Amazon.de

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Annie - Anniemal ( 04 * 316mb)

In 1999, Annie ( Anne Lilia Berge Strand) and her boyfriend/producer, Erot, made a slippery-sexy single called "The Greatest Hit." It didn't take off, at least not in the traditional sense. It floated around the underground, saw release on labels in different territories, and eventually became a pseudo-secret smash. Erot's life was claimed by a heart defect in 2001; Annie his partner, quite understandably, went quiet for a while.She picked herself up, took a very active role in the Bergen, Norway, music community, and recorded Anniemal, this debut is decidedly into the groove, filled with pop hooks, propulsive dance rhythms, and trippy avant-garde production from Richard X, Röyksopp, and Timo Kaukolampi. 2005 she released a DJ Kicks album on !K7, since then things have she's released another 12" , the Crush, and been promoting in the states, working on her new album.



01 - Intro (0:54)
02 - Chewing Gum (3:56)
03 - Always Too Late (4:16)
04 - Me Plus One (3:38)
05 - My Heartbeat (3:06)
06 - Helpless Fool For Love (3:58)
07 - Anniemal (3:35)
08 - No Easy Love (4:02)
09 - Happy Without You (3:16)
10 - Greatest Hit (3:39)
11 - Come Together (7:49)
12 - My Best Friend (3:57)

Annie @ Base
Annie @ Amazon

Annie - Chewing Gum
Annie - Heartbeat

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Øye, Erlend - Unrest ( 02 ^ 249mb)

Erlend Øye is a Norwegian musician from Bergen, best known for being part of the pop duo Kings of Convenience together with Eirik Glambek Bøe and released their first album, Quiet is the New Loud in 2001.

Øye had become interested in electronic music and spent the next years in Berlin or travelling around the world, recording his solo album Unrest in ten different cities (including Barcelona, Helsinki, Rome, and Turku) with ten different electronica artists such as Metro Area, Prefuse 73, and Schneider TM. Erland has been touring as a DJ who and sings along with the records he plays, in 2004 this resulted in a remix CD in the DJ Kicks serie.

Erlend Øye's most recent project is the band The Whitest Boy Alive. The band originally started as an electronic band, but slowly developed into a band with no programmed elements. The Whitest Boy Alive released their debut album, Dreams, June ,2006, via their record label Bubbles.



01 - Ghost Trains (4:32)
02 - Sheltered Life (3:24)
03 - Sudden Rush (4:22)
04 - Prego Amore (3:55)
05 - Every Party Has A Winner And A Loser (4:57)
06 - The Athlete (4:42)
07 - Symptom Of Disease (4:22)
08 - The Talk (3:39)
09 - A While Ago And Recently (7:00)
10 - Like Gold (4:22)

Erlend Øye @ Base
The Whitest Boy Alive @ MySpace
Erlend Øye @ Amazon

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Niels Petter Molvaer - NP3 Remakes (05 ^ 414mb)

Molvær was born and grew up on the island of Sula, Norway, and left at the age of nineteen to study music at the conservatory in Trondheim. He joined the band Masqualero, they recorded several albums for ECM Records, and Molvær recorded with other ECM artists before his debut solo album, Khmer, in 1998, a fusion of jazz, rock, electronic soundscapes and hip-hop beats, Molvær's muted trumpet sound, sometimes electronically processed, had an obvious debt to Miles Davis's work of the 1970s and 1980s. Khmer was followed, by Solid Ether (2000). The Cherry/Davis-inflected trumpet sound was as exquisitely brooding as before but often the arrangements dissolved into a hectic clatter of drum'n'bass. True to this belief NPM had the tracks of "Solid Ether" remixed by like-minded artists such as Funkstoerung, Bill Laswell, Joakim Lone and Jason Swinscoe/Cinematic Orchestra, and the resultant "Recoloured - The Remix Album" was released in April 2001.

NPM's album NP3 released by Universal Music Group in 2002, continues the concepts that were developed through "Khmer" and "Solid Ether" by putting significant differing elements together to combine contrasting structures. The question is all about timing - when to stop the 'moment' and then freeze it and squeeze it." Time changes, sound changes, music changes "Being from a generation that didn't grow up with the traditional standards, this is a taste of my tradition…." To enhance the 'musical travel' experience that this is meant to be, NPM has added small ambient islands that bind the whole production together. “NP3” was followed by the DVD “Molvær live”. ”NP3” was remixed and released as “Remakes” in 2005. A critic stated : “Remakes confirms once again that Nils Petter Molvær’s music upholds its quality from here to eternity, and that it is a small kingdom for the world’s best sound manipulators”.

NPM is well known for his unique live performances, and born out of the successful world tour in 2002, “Streamer” was produced by the recordings of the amazing live performances at London's legendary Marquee and Tampere Jazz Festival in Finland. “Streamer“ was released in 2004 and has been called a celebration of NPM’s live performances . In the same period as NPM starts working on his latest studio album “ER” he produces music to Henrik Ibsen’s “Ghosts”, and also the musicscore to the French downbeat comedy “Edy” . Nils Petter Molvær has taken a new direction with “ER” even if the soundscapes will be recognised from his previous releases. This time he has given more creative space to programmers like Knut Sævik, DJ Strangefruit , Reidar Skaar and Jan Bang.



01 - Axis of Ignorance (Funkstörung's Mass Destruction Remix) (3:58)
02 - Hurry Slowly (Herbert's Moving Mix) (6:18)
03 - Marrow (Sofa Version) (7:12)
04 - Axis of Ignorance (Pavel and March Remix) (4:47)
05 - Frozen (Side Brok's Dagen Derpå Remix) (4:25)
06 - Little Indian (Aggie Frost's Månestråle-miks) (4:16)
07 - Little Indian (Bugge's Indiana Jens Mix) (5:23)
08 - Frozen ( Bill Laswell Remix) (7:59)
09 - Simply So (Teebee Mix) (4:53)
10 - Simply So (Rune Arnesen Mix) (6:08)
11 - Little Indian (Koller Mix) (3:42)
--Xs--
12 - Ligotage (Teebee mix) (5:08)
13 - Song of Sand II (Rockers mix)(4:17)
14 - Tlon (Mental Overdrive mix) (6:18)
15 - Platonic years (Herbaliser mix) (5:15)



Niels Petter Molvaer - NP3 ( 02 ^ 304mb)

01 - Tabula Rasa
02 - Axis Off Ignorance
03 - Hurry Slowly
04 - Marrow
05 - frozen
06 - Presence
07 - Simply So
08 - Little Indian
09 - Nebulizer

NPMolvaer @ Base
NPMolvaer @ Amazon

Nils Petter Molvaer - Song of Sand
Nils Petter Molvaer - Live @ Rockefeller
More live tokyo jazz with Material

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Kaizers Orchestra - Ompa till du dor + ep (01 ^ 351mb)

Kaizers Orchestra is a hard-hitting, alternative rockband, with heavy eastern European influences singing in Norwegian, so don´t feel bad if you don´t understand a thing, just know that they treat un-Norwegian themes like war, mafia and religion.

In 1998, childhood friends Janove Ottesen and Geir Zahl released their only album by their band Gnom called Mys. one of the songs they wrote after Mys called Bastard got good crowd response. A line from Bastard inspired them to quit playing as gnom, and they started a new career as Kaizers Orchestra.
In 2000, Kaizers Orchestra recorded an EP containing four songs: Bastard, Bøn fra Helvete, Katastrofen and Dekk Bord. . Kaizers Orchestra's special sound and creative use of instruments was noticed by the small, Scandinavian label Broiler Farm. Their first album, Ompa Til Du Dør (Ompa 'Til You Die), was released on this label in September 2001. It was critically acclaimed and became a success, first in Norway, later in Denmark and the Netherlands. The album won a Spellemannspris (Norwegian Grammy) for “best rock album”, as well as two Alarm-awards, “Ompa til du dør” also made Kaizers Orchestra the highest-selling rock debut to be released in the Norwegian language. The second album "Evig Pint" came out in 2003, and sold 50 000 copies in Norway, and 20 000 outside of Norway.

In 2004, KO, as the first band singing in Norwegian, signed a record deal with Universal Music Germany. Their third album "Maestro" was released in nine countries August 2005. "Maestro" got rave reviews, and was backed by a new European tour. 32 shows in 38 days, through ten countries. The DVD Viva La Vega captures gig no. 30 at Vega on the Maestro tour.



01 - Kontroll på kontinentet ( 4:02)
02 - Ompa til du dør ( 5:04)
03 - Bønn fra helvete ( 4:00)
04 - 170 ( 4:15)
05 - Rullett ( 2:49)
06 - Dr. Mowinckel ( 3: 09)
07 - Fra sjåfør til passasjer ( 4: 59)
08 - Resistansen ( 3:00)
09 - Dekk bord ( 3:36)
10 - Bak et halleluja ( 1:57)
11 - Bris ( 3:32)
12 - Mr. Kaizer, Hans Constanse og meg ( 3:30)
bonus EP
13 - Død manns tango ( 4:20)
14 - Katastrofen ( 2:35)
15 - Sigøynerblod ( 2:34)


Kaizers @ Base
Kaizers @ MySpace
Kaisers Orch @ Amazon.de

Ompa lyrics in english
Flashmovie Bak et halleluja
Kaizers page @ YouTube

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* All downloads are in * ogg-7 (224k) or ^ ogg-9(320k), artwork is included , if in need get the nifty ogg encoder/decoder here !