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viewing 1 To 19 of 19 items
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2LP
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BIO 031LP
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The Senja Recordings is a collection of various outdoor recordings and studio improvisations recorded on the island of Senja, Arctic Norway, between 2015 and 2018. Biosphere is the main recording name of Geir Jenssen, a Norwegian musician who has released a notable catalog of ambient electronic music. He is well known for his works on ambient techno and arctic themed pieces, his use of music loops, and peculiar samples from sci-fi sources. His 1997 album Substrata (BIO 005LP/BIO 028CD) was voted by the users of the Hyperreal website in 2001 as the best all-time classic ambient album.
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CD
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BIO 025CD
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Biophon present a remastered edition of Biosphere's The Hilvarenbeek Recordings, originally released in 2016.
Review from A Strangely Isolated Place: "'As The Sun Kissed The Horizon' is one of my favorite Biosphere tracks. It's a recording of (what to me sounds like) the empty fields after a bustling summer's day, as the sun slowly sets and people leave for home. It reminds me of my summer's youth, and every time I listen, I picture myself in that exact field, the same field I spent my summers playing football in, hanging with friends and generally enjoying my childhood. Music has the power to reinvigorate lost memories and despite me never hearing this until years later, this track brings back memories every time Biosphere's The Hilvarenbeek Recordings capture a similar emotional response. Across the eight pieces, we're treated to a similar summer's day in 'tSchop. Biosphere is known for his field recordings, but they are sometimes lost amongst his more electronic productions, or in some instances, slightly too focused on extremely obscure sounds. This album is the perfect middle-ground and defines the Biosphere I enjoy the most. A subtle mixture of beautiful ambient formed from some of nature's finest textures -- sounds that have the power to transport you from your own relatable experiences."
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LP
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BIO 025LP
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LP version. Biophon present a remastered edition of Biosphere's The Hilvarenbeek Recordings, originally released in 2016.
Review from A Strangely Isolated Place: "'As The Sun Kissed The Horizon' is one of my favorite Biosphere tracks. It's a recording of (what to me sounds like) the empty fields after a bustling summer's day, as the sun slowly sets and people leave for home. It reminds me of my summer's youth, and every time I listen, I picture myself in that exact field, the same field I spent my summers playing football in, hanging with friends and generally enjoying my childhood. Music has the power to reinvigorate lost memories and despite me never hearing this until years later, this track brings back memories every time Biosphere's The Hilvarenbeek Recordings capture a similar emotional response. Across the eight pieces, we're treated to a similar summer's day in 'tSchop. Biosphere is known for his field recordings, but they are sometimes lost amongst his more electronic productions, or in some instances, slightly too focused on extremely obscure sounds. This album is the perfect middle-ground and defines the Biosphere I enjoy the most. A subtle mixture of beautiful ambient formed from some of nature's finest textures -- sounds that have the power to transport you from your own relatable experiences."
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2CD
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BIO 007CD
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An album of hard-to-find tracks taken from various compilation albums released between 1991 and 2004. Features tracks from Nova Norvegia - (Get) Into The Arctic Groove (1991), Trance Europe Express 3 (1994), Apollo 2 - The Divine Compilation (1995), Arctic Circles : A Selection Of Sub Zero Soundscapes (1997), Touch Sampler.3 (1998), The Big Chill: Enchanted 02 (2000), Touch 00 (2000), Absolute Zero (2000), The Sky Goes All The Way Home (2000), Krydsfelt - Norpol (2001), Mgrs Rmxs (2001), X-Rated: The Electronic Files (2002), Spire - Organ Works Past Present & Future (TONE 020CD, 2003), Money Will Ruin Everything (RCD 2072BK, 2003), and Mind The Gap Volume 50 (2004). "Heights Of The Depths" is a track performed with Jony Easterby.
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2CD
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BIO 027CD
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Biophon present a reissue of Biosphere's Shenzhou, originally released by Touch in 2002. This expanded reissue includes a bonus album The Samphire Tower. Paul Cooper, of Pitchfork, on the album: "Shenzhou, aside from being the name of the Chinese manned-spaceflight vehicles, means 'magic vessel', and I can't imagine a more apt description for Geir Jenssen's latest excursion into ambient deep listening. . . . Jenssen again relies on found sound as source material for Shenzhou, but this time, the found sound is old vinyl recordings of the orchestral works of French Impressionist composer and ambient precursor, Claude Debussy. Jenssen lifts fragments of these scratched records in a similar manner as he did for Cirque's 'Black Lamb Grey Falcon' and 'Iberia Eterea'. The ten tracks (out of the dozen on the album) that follow this model all begin as a barely audible hum, like a small electrical transformer, out of which the dust-dappled loops of Debussy's woodwind, brass, and strings emerge, condense, and fade out into pink noise rustles. Unlike Steve Reich's phase pieces or Brian Eno's Discreet Music, though, Jenssen doesn't set his loops against each other to produce juxtapositions and piquant dissonance; he uses them to describe imagined terrain, at first glance monotonously flat and barren, but on concentration, replete with minute detailing. The overall effect of these pieces is a sense of immensity. The orchestral loops sound distant, abandoned in a vast wilderness, and strenuously battling against Arctic winds. Jenssen sets the listener down in this wilderness as an aloof observer, a witness to the music's futile struggles against entropic forces. The two tracks not derived from Debussy share the same hypnotic aesthetic. The brief interlude 'Bose-Einstein Condension' is a loop of piano chords lolloping in search of coherence, while 'Gravity Assist' is a longer voyage into woofer-quaking low-frequency manipulation, bell-like drones, and contrails of subdued noise. I can't help but feel that these tracks fit awkwardly and break up the conceptual flow of the album. This, however, is a minor quibble given the power of this music. Shenzhou is unquestionably a magic vessel, but one that reveals its enchantment only to those who pay close attention."
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3LP
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BIO 027LP
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2018 repress; triple LP version. Biophon present a reissue of Biosphere's Shenzhou, originally released by Touch in 2002. This expanded reissue includes a bonus album The Samphire Tower. Paul Cooper, of Pitchfork, on the album: "Shenzhou, aside from being the name of the Chinese manned-spaceflight vehicles, means 'magic vessel', and I can't imagine a more apt description for Geir Jenssen's latest excursion into ambient deep listening. . . . Jenssen again relies on found sound as source material for Shenzhou, but this time, the found sound is old vinyl recordings of the orchestral works of French Impressionist composer and ambient precursor, Claude Debussy. Jenssen lifts fragments of these scratched records in a similar manner as he did for Cirque's 'Black Lamb Grey Falcon' and 'Iberia Eterea'. The ten tracks (out of the dozen on the album) that follow this model all begin as a barely audible hum, like a small electrical transformer, out of which the dust-dappled loops of Debussy's woodwind, brass, and strings emerge, condense, and fade out into pink noise rustles. Unlike Steve Reich's phase pieces or Brian Eno's Discreet Music, though, Jenssen doesn't set his loops against each other to produce juxtapositions and piquant dissonance; he uses them to describe imagined terrain, at first glance monotonously flat and barren, but on concentration, replete with minute detailing. The overall effect of these pieces is a sense of immensity. The orchestral loops sound distant, abandoned in a vast wilderness, and strenuously battling against Arctic winds. Jenssen sets the listener down in this wilderness as an aloof observer, a witness to the music's futile struggles against entropic forces. The two tracks not derived from Debussy share the same hypnotic aesthetic. The brief interlude 'Bose-Einstein Condension' is a loop of piano chords lolloping in search of coherence, while 'Gravity Assist' is a longer voyage into woofer-quaking low-frequency manipulation, bell-like drones, and contrails of subdued noise. I can't help but feel that these tracks fit awkwardly and break up the conceptual flow of the album. This, however, is a minor quibble given the power of this music. Shenzhou is unquestionably a magic vessel, but one that reveals its enchantment only to those who pay close attention."
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CD
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BIO 030CD
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Biosphere is the main recording name of Geir Jenssen -- a Norwegian musician who has released a notable catalogue of ambient electronic music. He is well known for his works on ambient techno and arctic themed pieces, his use of music loops, and peculiar samples from sci-fi sources. His 1997 album Substrata (BIO 028CD/005LP) was voted by the users of the Hyperreal website in 2001 as the best all-time classic ambient album. The Petrified Forest is inspired by the movie of the same name, released in 1936 and directed by Archie Mayo. IMDB description of the film: "Alan Squier, a failed, world-weary British writer, hikes into an isolated, weather-beaten desert diner in Arizona owned by Jason Marple. Jason's daughter, Gabrielle is immediately taken with the disillusioned intellectual, since they share idealistic dreams of escaping the stark reality of their lives." Features: Joan Lorring, Leslie Howard, and Bette Davis. Mastered by Stefan Betke; Designed by Joanna John.
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LP
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BIO 030LP
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LP version. Biosphere is the main recording name of Geir Jenssen -- a Norwegian musician who has released a notable catalogue of ambient electronic music. He is well known for his works on ambient techno and arctic themed pieces, his use of music loops, and peculiar samples from sci-fi sources. His 1997 album Substrata (BIO 028CD/005LP) was voted by the users of the Hyperreal website in 2001 as the best all-time classic ambient album. The Petrified Forest is inspired by the movie of the same name, released in 1936 and directed by Archie Mayo. IMDB description of the film: "Alan Squier, a failed, world-weary British writer, hikes into an isolated, weather-beaten desert diner in Arizona owned by Jason Marple. Jason's daughter, Gabrielle is immediately taken with the disillusioned intellectual, since they share idealistic dreams of escaping the stark reality of their lives." Features: Joan Lorring, Leslie Howard, and Bette Davis. Mastered by Stefan Betke; Designed by Joanna John.
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2CD
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BIO 028CD
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Biosphere is the main recording name of Geir Jenssen, a Norwegian musician who has released a notable catalog of ambient electronic music. He is well-known for his works on ambient techno and arctic-themed pieces, his use of music loops, and peculiar samples from sci-fi sources. His 1997 album Substrata was voted by the users of the Hyperreal website in 2001 as the best all-time classic ambient album. This expanded reissue comes as a two CD set: CD one is a remastered version of Substrata; CD two contains Biosphere's soundtrack to the Russian silent movie Man With A Movie Camera (1929), two bonus tracks from the Japanese version of Substrata, plus the commissioned work "Laika".
Sebastien Crusener via Discogs.com: "Substrata by Biosphere is one of the all-time classic ambient albums, if not the all-time classic album. Chilling atmospheric tones with ambient samples of ice, snow, forests, Twin Peaks-samples and Russian radio broadcasts... Substrata is difficult to describe in words alone. This is one album that every ambient fan needs to hear, if not own. For my own part the album is never far from my stereo. From the initial drone of an aircraft high overhead to the rambling monologues of later tracks every minute sends a chill down your spine. Biosphere's work is often described as 'dark ambient' but to me this sounds too negative as every piece of music Geir Jenssen composed expresses so many different feelings and his albums are not simply a couple of 'drones' thrown together. Neither is Substrata. Substrata is inhabited by the vast spaces spreading across the artic region, endless nights and midnight sun, sub-zero temperatures and northern lights. This is a 60-minute long masterpiece that takes you on the most unique trip you'll ever have experienced. Never has a record been so intimate with nature, so close to the sounds, colours and smells of its environment. Jenssen emphasises the intensity of these elements by bringing them into his beat-less compositions, allowing them to take control of this new organic world. From time to time, more urban sounds come into the spectrum, when voice samples - from Twin Peaks f.e.- telling abstract stories (remember the vision of Dale Cooper?), or a melancholic guitar offering support to an unlikely song emerge, but always, these components get swallowed in by the magma-like ambience. The listener becomes a helpless witness of the beauty and cruelty of this CD."
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3LP
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BIO 026LP
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Triple LP version. Biosphere is the main recording name of Geir Jenssen - a Norwegian musician who has released a notable catalog of ambient electronic music. He is well known for his works on ambient techno and arctic-themed pieces, his use of music loops, and peculiar samples from sci-fi sources. His 1997 album Substrata (TO 050CD/BIO 005LP) was voted by the users of the Hyperreal website in 2001 as the best all-time classic ambient album. Cirque - originally released in 2000 - was Biosphere's first album for the UK label Touch. This reissue comes with six bonus tracks and new artwork.
Jon Savage in Mojo (UK): "Fourth full album from ambient pioneer. Coming to prominence with 1992's Microgravity (BIO 003CD/LP) - which along with the first couple of Aphex/Polygon Window CDs, defined the genre ambient - Geir Jenssen as Biosphere has made three of the '90s best albums, culminating with last year's near beat-less Substrata. The idea - as it always was thanks to Eno's On Land (1982) - is music as environment (reflecting, creating): working from his base in Tromso, Arctic Norway, Jenssen offers a polar, Apollonian exploration of the human psyche. Cirque is a perfectly constructed 47-minute sequence: cold clarity up against real depth of field, synth cycles dissolving into sudden moments of sonic revelation that sound like a waking dream - try the first 20 seconds of 'Black Lamb & Grey Falcon'. (And if you think that's pretentious - your loss). Inspired by the story of a young American, Chris McCandless, who walked alone into the Alaskan wilderness and perished, Cirque balances the tightrope between warmth and unease, resolving into a moon melody that leaves you a peace. What a good record!."
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2CD
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BIO 026CD
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Biosphere is the main recording name of Geir Jenssen - a Norwegian musician who has released a notable catalog of ambient electronic music. He is well known for his works on ambient techno and arctic-themed pieces, his use of music loops, and peculiar samples from sci-fi sources. His 1997 album Substrata (TO 050CD/BIO 005LP) was voted by the users of the Hyperreal website in 2001 as the best all-time classic ambient album. Cirque - originally released in 2000 - was Biosphere's first album for the UK label Touch. This reissue comes with six bonus tracks and new artwork.
Jon Savage in Mojo (UK): "Fourth full album from ambient pioneer. Coming to prominence with 1992's Microgravity (BIO 003CD/LP) - which along with the first couple of Aphex/Polygon Window CDs, defined the genre ambient - Geir Jenssen as Biosphere has made three of the '90s best albums, culminating with last year's near beat-less Substrata. The idea - as it always was thanks to Eno's On Land (1982) - is music as environment (reflecting, creating): working from his base in Tromso, Arctic Norway, Jenssen offers a polar, Apollonian exploration of the human psyche. Cirque is a perfectly constructed 47-minute sequence: cold clarity up against real depth of field, synth cycles dissolving into sudden moments of sonic revelation that sound like a waking dream - try the first 20 seconds of 'Black Lamb & Grey Falcon'. (And if you think that's pretentious - your loss). Inspired by the story of a young American, Chris McCandless, who walked alone into the Alaskan wilderness and perished, Cirque balances the tightrope between warmth and unease, resolving into a moon melody that leaves you a peace. What a good record!."
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2LP
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BIO 004LP
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Double LP version. Patashnik was originally released by R&S Records/Apollo in 1994. It was number 1 in NME's Independent Chart in March 1994 and reached number 50 in the UK official album chart. The track "Novelty Waves" was used in Michel Gondry's Levi's 501 Jeans "Drugstore" spot, and holds, according to the Guinness World Records 2004, the record for "Most awards won by a TV commercial". "One reason why Jenssen's work stands out from the flood of early '90s ambient/techno releases is his strong sense of the quirkily creepy - not in an Aphex Twin mode, but in his own particular way. The contrasting samples of a child quaveringly saying, 'We had a dream last night,' followed by a rougher sample saying, 'We had the same dream,' gives opening number 'Phantasm' an unsettling feeling. Intensified by the, on the one hand, pretty, on the other, disturbing music, buried synth strings and a soft pulse accentuated by clattering noises deep in the mix, it kicks off the striking Patashnik very well. Though not as openly dark as acts like Lull, for instance, Biosphere still has an edge which isn't just melancholic, it's downright ominous at point. There's the slow crawl of 'Startoucher', for instance, with its buried vocal snippets and deep bass drone, or the blend of the space signal atmospheres of 'Mir' into the low, brooding intro to 'The Shield.' Not everything is so shadowy, though; Patashnik is primarily a relax-and-chill listening experience, but not without its gentle high points. 'Novelty Waves', which became a crossover single in some quarters, has a good dancefloor sharpness to it even as Jenssen slyly sneaks in odd drones and samples through the mix. The opening snippet talking about an extraterrestrial disc jockey on 'Seti Project' is good for a smile, as well as acting as a sharp lead-in to a fast rhythm track. Mostly, though, things continue on a deliciously unnerving pace throughout, gentle enough to go down easy but still just off enough to ensure you can't call this new age folderol for the rave generation." - Ned Raggett - AllMusic
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3LP
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BIO 003LP
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Triple LP version. A remastered version of Biosphere's debut album Microgravity with a bonus album of previously unreleased tracks. From Wikipedia: "Geir Jenssen began releasing his music as Biosphere on obscure Norwegian compilation albums. His first Biosphere releases were the 12-inch single The Fairy Tale and the album Microgravity, both of which were rejected by SSR as unmarketable. Microgravity was released in 1991 on the Norwegian label Origo Sound, and saw wider release via the R&S Records subsidiary Apollo in 1992, to much critical acclaim." All tracks written and produced by Geir Jenssen. All tracks on sides E-F are previously unreleased. Recorded in Skippergata 42, Tromsø, Norway, between 1990 and 1991. Mastered by Stefan Betke. Artwork by Philip Marshall.
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2CD
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BIO 003CD
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A remastered version of Biosphere's debut album Microgravity on double CD with a bonus album of previously unreleased tracks. From Wikipedia: "Geir Jenssen began releasing his music as Biosphere on obscure Norwegian compilation albums. His first Biosphere releases were the 12-inch single The Fairy Tale and the album Microgravity, both of which were rejected by SSR as unmarketable. Microgravity was released in 1991 on the Norwegian label Origo Sound, and saw wider release via the R&S Records subsidiary Apollo in 1992, to much critical acclaim." All tracks written and produced by Geir Jenssen. All tracks on CD2 and sides E-F are previously unreleased. Recorded in Skippergata 42, Tromsø, Norway, between 1990 and 1991. Mastered by Stefan Betke. Artwork by Philip Marshall.
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2LP
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BIO 006LP
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Strictly limited edition gatefold 2xLP pressing of N-Plants by Norway's Geir Jenssen aka Biosphere. "Early February 2011: Decided to make an album inspired by the Japanese post-war economic miracle. While searching for more information I found an old photo of the Mihama nuclear plant. The fact that this futuristic-looking plant was situated in such a beautiful spot so close to the sea made me curious. Are they safe when it comes to earthquakes and tsunamis? Further reading revealed that many of these plants are situated in earthquake-prone areas, some of them are even located next to shores that had been hit in the past by tsunamis. A photo of Mihama made me narrow down my focus only to Japanese nuclear plants. I wanted to make a soundtrack to some of them, concentrating on the architecture, design and localizations, but also questioning the potential radiation danger (a cooling system being destroyed by a landslide or earthquake, etc). As the head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said: 'the plants were so well-designed' that 'such a situation is practically impossible.' The album was finished on February 13th. On March 17th, I received the following message from a FB friend: 'Geir, some time ago you asked people for a photo of a Japanese nuclear power plant. Is this going to be the sleeve of your new coming album? But more importantly: how did you actually predict the future?'"
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2LP
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BIO 005LP
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2018 repress. One of the all-time classic ambient albums finally available on strictly limited edition 180 gram vinyl. The vinyl edition of Substrata is released by Geir Jenssen's own label, Biophon. It comes as a double gatefold album featuring the bonus track "Laika" (14:35). Biosphere is widely-regarded as one of the legendary names in ambient/electronic music. Residing in Norway, near the Arctic Circle, he has found the focus to slowly and steadily create a self-contained aural universe, made up of reflective and immersive sound sculptures. For almost 15 years, he has released a string of critically-acclaimed albums. 1997's Substrata, which marked Jenssen's embarkation towards an intensely minimal style, is not only often considered to be Jenssen's best work to date, but is also seen as one of the all-time classic ambient albums. Re-mastered by Stefan Betke @ Scape Mastering, Berlin. New artwork by David Coppenhall.
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7"
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TS 011EP
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7" vinyl was the quintessential format for popular music. Today, it is an undervalued and mostly promotional medium, used as a fetishistic signpost for a time of musical authenticity and a "healthy" popular culture. Two tracks from Biosphere originally recorded for Hågogaland Teater, Tromsø, Norway in 2006 and remastered in 2011. Part of the Touch Sevens series, cut by Jason at Transition. Artwork & photography by Jon Wozencroft.
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CD
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TO 084CD
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The Touch label releases an album by Norway's Geir Jenssen aka Biosphere. "Early February 2011: Decided to make an album inspired by the Japanese post-war economic miracle. While searching for more information I found an old photo of the Mihama nuclear plant. The fact that this futuristic-looking plant was situated in such a beautiful spot so close to the sea made me curious. Are they safe when it comes to earthquakes and tsunamis? Further reading revealed that many of these plants are situated in earthquake-prone areas, some of them are even located next to shores that had been hit in the past by tsunamis. A photo of Mihama made me narrow down my focus only to Japanese nuclear plants. I wanted to make a soundtrack to some of them, concentrating on the architecture, design and localizations, but also questioning the potential radiation danger (a cooling system being destroyed by a landslide or earthquake, etc). As the head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said: 'the plants were so well-designed' that 'such a situation is practically impossible.' The album was finished on February 13th. On March 17th, I received the following message from a FB friend: 'Geir, some time ago you asked people for a photo of a Japanese nuclear power plant. Is this going to be the sleeve of your new coming album? But more importantly: how did you actually predict the future?'" Art Direction: Jon Wozencroft; cover image: Yusuke Murakami.
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CD
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TONE 038CD
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The Touch label releases the first solo live album by Norway's Geir Jenssen aka Biosphere. Recorded live at The Arnolfini, Bristol on October 27, 2007 by the doyen of environmental sound recordists, Chris Watson, using 2 x Sony ECM 77s with a Nagra P11 Ares flash card recorder, and from desk to hard drive. The recording was mixed, edited and mastered by Touch stalwart BJNilsen in Berlin during March of 2009. This concert was part of Touch 25 Live, which also featured a performance of Storm (by Chris Watson & BJNilsen). This is Biosphere's sixth release for Touch. In the early 1990s, he was a pioneer of so-called "ambient techno," but since then, he has refined his sound into something more magnetic and enduring. His last album, Dropsonde, wasn't a soundtrack like the interwoven Substrata, nor an episodic journey in the way that Autour de la Lune is. It pushed new directions towards the jazz colors of Miles Davis and Jon Hassell, while re-invigorating the pulse and projection of his signature sound: a hypnotic combination of pleasure and dread. Here, Geir Jenssen takes this further, incorporating samples of field recordings by Jony Easterby and trumpet by Anders Karlskås, invoking a sparser, more arresting sound. A landmark release for Biosphere -- his first solo live album -- heralding new beginnings without jettisoning the past.
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