Runhild GammelsÃ¦ter

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Press release

4...according to our Brian on Wed 02 Jul, 2008.

From the poppiest to the funniest. This week I been mostly listening to dark prog cabaret doom courtesy of Runhild Gammelsaeter. Her CD is called 'Amplicon' and the dual contrasting vocals really make me think of the Tasmanian Devil (cartoon one) tormenting a tragic torch singer lass (Sounds like Runhild is merely trying to pour her tortured heart out to the devil - there's a bit where she actually conjures up Beth Gibbons but overall she only features for a couple of minutes before he eats her...) There's some insane throaty ramblings and schizo guitar abusings not to mention some fine organ prowess (ooeeerr missus) I've really no idea how to "sell" this music to you as it's utterly demented and all over the shop. There's some serious flux/confusion occurring amongst some rather superb ideas. Sinister power electronics mingle with what sound like field recordings from both a wind chime shop and a field of trolls. Then the atmospheric dark ambient & folk textures come meandering in with various shades of voice manipulation. It's a fascinating listen I assure you! To say this music is a bit primal is to understate it's creepy impact. Laugh or you may just be very unnerved. It sounds (possibly) like a black mass conducted by Cookie Monster on crystal meth!

RUNHILD GAMMELSAETER "Amplicon"
Runhild Gammelsæter (Thorr's Hammer, Sunn0))), Khlyst) releases her first
solo recording. The purpose was to create something organic sound with and
about life. A lonely thing, like life, arisen from void. Stillness and a
microphone, vocal chords. An idea, thoughts, a goal. Sounds of cycles of
life and death, birth and cessation, described with terminology from
physics, chemistry and biology. Creating by amplifying an infinitely small
idea creating an Amplimer, an Amplicon. Amplicons are pieces of DNA formed
as the products of natural or artificial amplification events. Like
evolution, giving rise to animal forms with ability to reproduce and die.
Amplifying from a minute non-tangible idea something larger which may be
experienced with the auditory sense. In physics, matter creation is the
appearance of elementary particles in physical processes; the opposite of
annihilation. Amplicon see Gammelsæter as a creation operator, increasing
the number of particles in a given state, taking the operation necessary to
amplify ideas to sound. Mixed by Tore Ylvisaker of Ulver.

URSK SERIES
Utech Records has invoked a connate soul in visual artist Stephen Kasner to
develop a second fine art series of cd releases for the label. The series
will comprise nine volumes of 750 copies each over the course of 2008
beginning in April. Kasner has committed the bulk of his next year's output
to painting original and exclusive canvases. His subject matter has yet to
be disclosed, but the artist has spoken in general terms of a new direction
he wants to explore in his work. A package unique to the series has been
designed to highlight Kasner's residuum and the accompanying music.

The foundation of the series is the belief that a visual device can bind a
disparate body of music in a meaningful way. The genesis of this idea was
first explored with photographer Max Aguilera-Hellweg in 2007 and the result
was Utech Record's acclaimed Arc Series. Fruit borne from that venture has
led to this stab at further examination. Kasner immediately saw value in the
theory and agreed to help cultivate and refine it.