Artist:Johann Johannsson
Album: Fordlandia
Year: 2008
Genre:Neo-classical, Ambient, Electronica
Country:Iceland
melodia
The power of Beethoven and the beauty of Tchaikovsky...in our days.Listen to this absolute masterpiece of art!!
Jóhann Jóhannsson is an Icelandic-born musician, composer and producer. He also runs the record label Kitchen Motors in Reykjavík, the art organization/think tank/record label which specializes in instigating collaborations, promoting concerts and exhibitions, performances, chamber operas, producing films, books and radio shows based on the ideals of experimentation, collaboration and the search for new art forms. He has also written music for theatre, documentaries and soundtrack music for three feature films.Amazing..Highly Recommended!
Release Notes:
An American magnate builds a doomed utopia in the depths of
the Brazilian rainforest. A Victorian poetess laments the
death of Pan. A pagan rocket scientist blows himself up in his
Californian garage. A crippled German physicist draws up the
equations, which can make faster than light travel possible,
unseen by the rest of the world.
Jóhann Jóhannsson's spellbinding new album draws these
tantalizing threads together, weaving a musical tapestry of
hypnotic richness and surprising emotional depth.
Englabörn was derived from music that Johann wrote for an
Icelandic play using string quartet, piano, organ,
glockenspiel and percussion. These elements were processed and
manipulated, adding delicate electronic accents to the
otherwise entirely acoustic recordings. Virthulegu Forsetar
was a one hour-long piece for eleven brass players,
percussion, electronics, organs and piano. It shares
Englabörn's quiet, elegiac beauty, but replaces the brevity of
the first album's exquisite miniatures with an extended sweep
of sound that reveals a long, slow process of evolution.
Jóhann is involved in many different projects in his native
Iceland, including the all-analog Apparat Organ Quartet and
Kitchen Motors, the art organization/think tank/record label
which specializes in instigating collaborations and art
projects across diverse art forms. Among many other things, he
has also recently composed scores for the award-winning
animator Marc Craste (Varmints, 2008) and the American
independent film Personal Effects (David Hollander, 2008).
After IBM 1401, A User's Manual, Fordlândia is the second
installment in a proposed trilogy based on technology and
iconic American brand names. Whereas IBM 1401, A User's Manual
was a personal response to technology and its inevitable
obsolescence (inspired by his father's work with mainframe
computers in 1960s Iceland), Fordlândia springs out of a far
more diffuse set of influences. It brings together the soaring
grandeur of its predecessor – some sections were recorded with
the same orchestra in Prague – and the intimacy of Englabörn,
moving between heady, melting cadences and crystalline motifs
with gorgeous, dreamlike logic.
In short, Fordlândia is Jóhann Jóhannsson's most complete and
beautiful piece of music to date; a fascinating, immersive and
deeply rewarding web of ideas and melodies, which is sure to
win him a legion of new listeners.
beautiful piece of music to date; a fascinating, immersive and
deeply rewarding web of ideas and melodies, which is sure to
win him a legion of new listeners.
