SELECTED PRESS QUOTES
LISTEN TO GIRL:
“Sounding out of step and out of time from many of the Nordic guitar and pop scenes, it’s this uniqueness which makes Girl such a refreshing act”.
– Line of Best Fit
“Catchy and unique, it is an art to write such songs. … an experience of both something familiar and yet undiscovered.”
– Susanna
“One acoustic guitar and two voices. It has been done before. Still there is something unique with the Norwegian duo. … Reminding a bit of the acoustic bossa nova-influenced projects all post-rockers from Chicago was doing for a while.”
– Audun Vinger, Dagens Næringsliv
“The magic is in their voices: The duo often sings together, and their voices kind of sounds the same, everything could be his or hers, and they’re gliding into each other in completely unique ways”
– Marius Lien, Morgenbladet
MONKEY PLOT:
“De tre musikerne i bandet er hver for seg strålende. Personlig mener jeg gitarist Christian Skår Winther er et av de største talentene i landet for tiden.”
– Arild R. Andersen, Aftenposten
“Monkey Plot har utgitt en av årets skjulte perler og jeg elsker hvert sekund!”
– Panorama.no, Mats Johanson
Aventureux sans être abscon, dissonnant sans être inaudible, sophistiqué sans être démonstratif, minimaliste sans être creux, l’album arrive à éviter tous les pièges d’un rock instrumental que l’on penserait “arty” et un véritable capital sympathie se dégage de l’ensemble.
Ainsi pour l’utilisation déviante de ses guitares on pense souvent à Sonic Youth, lorsque le groupe était en partie pris sous la houlette des compositions savantes de Jim O’Rourke (“The Couriers”, “Shyly Upon Everything”). On pense aussi à Fugazi pour l’énergie contenue de certains morceaux, ou sur d’autres à Tortoise pour une forme de groove décalé (“Here I Sit, Knowing All of This”) mais ces influences quelque peu écrasantes sont balayées fissa par une fraîcheur laissant deviner un groupe constitué de membres bien plus authentiques qu’il n’y paraît, loin des bons faiseurs. L’album sait par ailleurs inviter la poésie à sa table comme en témoigne le beau spoken words “Kalla Handen” sur lequel le poète suédois Pär Thörn vient lire ses propres vers.
Avec ses ritournelles lo-fi légèrement biscornues, Here I Sit, Knowing All of This est un album empruntant également au jazz une certaine technicité mais celle-ci reste toujours au service des compositions, notamment lorsqu’il s’agit de tricoter des toiles harmoniques à deux guitares, ces dernières étant magnifiquement entrelacées. Pour toutes ces raisons, Monkey Plot signe là une pure merveille se hissant parmi les meilleurs albums de rock instrumental de l’année.
– dMute (FR)
The third album from Monkey Plot guitarist Christian Skår Winther, bassist Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard, and drummer Jan Martin Gismervik signifies a return to electric form following a largely acoustic period. Here I Sit, Knowing All of This is no abrasive, high-decibel throwdown, however, but rather an intimate set that sounds a bit like sketches Television might have developed in the studio before adding Tom Verlaine’s vocals. There are moments on this explorative album when Winther’s multi-tracked acoustic and electric playing makes the Norwegian trio sound more like a quartet than trio, too.
With six years of playing under their collective belts, the band is a tight unit that locks into a groove with ease, even if it’s sometimes an intricate one. Eschewing power trio conventions, the members downplay soloing, preferring instead to function as a multi-limbed entity whose participants are equally integral to the collective sound (yes, the guitar does generally assume the lead melodic role, but it’s more by default than anything else). If one had to start somewhere, “Dry Ground” would be as good a place as any, given how effectively the bass-and-drum pulse underpins the range of tremolo and scabrous snarl Winther coaxes from his guitar, though “Kalla Handen,” with Swedish poet Pär Thörn intoning one of his own texts alongside the band, can’t help but be ear-catching for including a voice element.
– Textura (CA)
TORG:
“Den nye vinen i norsk jazz, pop, elektronika og impro!”
– NRK P2, Svein Terje Torvik
“Gathers a bunch of the country’s most interesting musicians .. Groovy post-rock performed by open minded musicians with a certain jazz connection, mixing Brazilian charm and Lower East Side skronk?”
– Dagens Næringsliv, Audun Vinger
ICH BIN N!NTENDO:
«What we find here is something else, and gigantic.» – Shhpuma, Portugal
«With a name like ICH BIN N!NTENDO you’d be forgiven for diving in expecting an undulating ocean of chiptune to swim around in. However, there is nary a bleep to be found in ‘Growth’, the latest offering from ICH BIN N!NTENDO – this is raw, brutal, atonal post-punk noise: more Mordor than Mario, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that! ‘Growth’ is one you’ll need to turn up loud.»
– JaJaJa
«It ain’t soundtrack music to your first kiss, or music you jog to, or music for sweet dreams. It’s a tad bit headache music, and bit o’ revolutionary music»
– Bad Sounds Magazine, Essi Tam
“Their sound is a strong, spirited post-punk powerhouse of rage: somewhere between The Ex and the Fall. The vocalist sings in English, occasionally straining his voice, screaming and twisted his words into just bent sounds. Their six songs are actually catchy and compelling in their own twisted way. It feels good to get into their intense, rocking groove. Even when they slow down on “Looks”, they still sound great, their guitarist shredding at a medium pace, the howling like he is about to lose it. Since it is so rare that I get a chance to hear bands like this, it is a breath of somewhat fresh air, pounding on body. So turn it up and let it rip hard!”
– Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery