MMx140 Mikal Lillo-Stenberg – Ikkeno Pes
New release from Mikal Lillo-Stenberg. Here you get everything from ragged guitars, dreamy arps, 808 drums mixed with lots of other stuff. The songs swing the most when you wash up or dance with the kids. Have a good one! Tracks:1. Freedom of Bass2. Vilja3. Full Ballong4. Ikkeno Pes5. Trippy Girl6. Evig →
MMx139 Laserost – Oppussingsokkultister
If Laserost was a shitty punk band he’d be all like “Society, it’s not for me, all you care about is a large tv, you wanna build a new porch, you all are such dorks, who gives a shit anyway, I don’t care what you paid, your kids do this, your kids do that, take a poop in my hat”. But he isn’t a punk band, so he doesn’t. He makes tracks about cookies and gum and rubber poltergeists instead – and that’s fine. Tracks:1. Gartnerkjeks2. Retningspels3. Transprekk4. Vitaminskodder5. Pleksitante6. Beredskapsknaus7. Eskapistterte8. Joysticksaus9. Presteklut →
MMx138 Screen Phoenix – Ethiopian Scared Mechanical
Olly, olly, oxen free. Debut LP from Screen Phoenix. It’s pink and bubbly. Best enjoyed under the influence. Tracks:1. Air Foam Fairy Tales2. Eskimo Medallion3. Bodega Food Stamp Transactions4. Animated Firework Windows5. Key Stresses6. Cypher Alex7. Rain Drop Missions8. Piranha Byte Waves9. Cellular Fables →
MMx137 Boblebad – Turist
This in from a parallel universe: Boblebad returns to MarsMelons with summerly sounds. A vacation to a warm and summerly place would be nice right now, but isn’t the easiest thing to do in these strange times. Don’t worry, this is a mini vacation in audio format! Mostly sunny sounds, but also some rainy weather. Find your couch, lie down and press play – or dance your ass off in the living room. Tracks:1. Turist2. Båthus3. Regnvær4. Siktet hvetemel5. Sofasvenske6. Oh →
MMx136 Mikal Lillo-Stenberg – Night Shift
New EP « Night Shift» from Mikal Lillo-Stenberg leads you true a groovy, blurry and trippy night. The tracks are meant to capture the different moods of night. Tracks:1. 00:032. 02.123. 03.424. 04.175. 06.32 →
MMx135 Metatag – Four
This blissful 9-track recording from Metatag arrived just in time to soften the blow from your post-vacation psychiatric relapse. Metatag have a slew of interesting releases under their belt already, and we’re happy to release their latest offering on MarsMelons. From the duo themselves: Four is a collection of recordings made using electronic machinery without advanced visual screen resolution. Menu diving was performed without oxygen. Tracks:01. Inside02. False Memories03. Underscore04. Black Glove05. Rush Hour06. Brunching07. Ascent08. Abyss09. Nine →
MMx134 Rudolfs Kontainer – High Tide
Boblebad repping the latest from the current ghost town streets: Rudolfs Kontainer is back with some much appreciated grooviness. This time with some varied good stuff, from the funky bassline of High Tide giving you the holiday feeling, to Let’s run, a love song that fades out in noise. In between that some lovely polka dotted synth lines. High Tide Cold Face Just Like You Let’s Run →
MMx133 Duelling Ants – Shades of Colors Unseen
Almost a year late, but here’s another exquisite record from Duelling Ants from last year. A collection of tracks made during winter and spring of 2019, based around the Marantz pmd 221 tape recorder. Gear used – OP-1, Marantz pmd 221, Koma Field Kit, Guitars, Apps: Animoog, SpaceCraft, Quanta Tracks:01. Masters02. The Moon and The Sun03. Ordinary04. Monsters05. So Long06. Scuba Pt. 207. This Was Never My Space08. Syrebadet09. Oil Spill10. Being Me And You11. Truger i Snø12. Operating a Motor Vehicle →
MMx132 Zorg Kurkuma – Turn it off
Zorg Kurkuma has compiled ten original songs and instrumentals made over a long span of years. Played, sung, mixed and mastered by himself. Turn off the television, put on your choice of headphones, go out for a walk, jump a subway, travel short or long, or just walk around the neighborhood with your kid or dog listening to some of his songs. Nothing will happen. And that’s fine. Tracks:01. Farkost02. Burgerz03. Cold fucker04. Blame it on the sun05. Turn it off06. Cigarette07. Turn around08. Mekanisk09. Piece of mind10. Xmas is over →
MMx131 Ekranoplan – DSOA Season 3 Theme
Perhaps another anchor levitates: Ekranoplan rises – insidiously kindling. Perchance looming, another huaracan token – emblematic. Tracklist:01. DSOA Theme Season 3 →
MMx130 Sjekkhefte – s/t
Sjekkhefte knows the drill – here’s a new chill pill for your grill chill. Warm mastiffs represent, LO Emm-P on the disco jams. Tracklist:01. Jaffacakes and beer02. Lake Malawi03. Compadre04. Ikarus →
MMx129 Duelling Ants – Moving Elements In Nature
‘Moving Elements in Nature’ is the culmination of a lovely work of art over the course of the year 2018 by Duelling Ants. Check out his Instagram to see some lovely visuals to accompany the music. Below is a description of the album by Duelling Ants himself. This album is a result of a creative process for making music layed out by the excellent artist Porchlight Trails. His album ‘Plays Broken Light in Shallow Streams’ from 2018 was probably my biggest source of inspiration of last year and is highly recommended. His Cook book focuses on three stages of the creative process, with different rules attached to each stage. I found these tools to be great sources of inspiration, and a good way to break free of the ordinary work flow. I have used most of the rules as they were intended, with only slight modifications. The first building blocks of a song are made exclusively on the OP-1 with sounds generated from a system of randomized patches. The second part (orbit) is made with a selection of 8 acoustic sound sources similar on all of the tracks. The third part (triangle) has 4-5 sound sources free of choice, with minimum one layer of field recorded sounds. Part two and three are recorded based on part one. In the end, the three parts (block, orbit and triangle) are combined in the mixing stages to form a finished song. Throughout 2018 I’ve released a montly sketch with music and video on my instagram. For this side project I →
MMx128 Rudolfs Kontainer – The Door
Just now, in time for spring, Rudolfs Kontainer releases another record. Following up the 2017 release of “Eclectic Rudolfland”, here comes “The Door”! Funky vibes and intriguing lyrical dark matter bursting through everyday life’s many aspects not often talked about, may now rock your stereo throughout the summer. Mixed by Mikal Lillo-Stenberg. Mastered by Ulf Moen Denneche. Tracklist:01 Other Times02 Mama03 Purple04 My Taste05 Home Again06 Lunatic Moon07 The Door08 In Your Mind09 Arrow (Moses) →
MMx127 Duelling Ants – Two Birds / One Seed
Two Birds / One Seed is Duelling Ants’ latest minimalist forest trekker. 16 tracks that just breathes like living organisms, rich with harmonies and odd quirky sound design. In a music world where everyone is competing for faster, harder, louder – this is the much needed anti-dote. It’s absolutely lovely. Tracklist: 01 Space travellers 02 Klare dråper 03 Byen var forlatt 04 Jeg vil være fri 05 Ville tilstander i indre by 06 Skogen er våt 07 Mesmerize 08 You’ll know when I’m ready 09 Rain 10 Birds fly home 11 Resonant 12 Strings 13 Følger lyset 14 The beginning 15 Birthday 16 Mindset →
MMx126 Fuelbinger – Duck-Ex At The Burudvann Beach
Title says it all, really. Some more garbage truck tracks from Fuel to remind the youth of this year’s hottest reality duck show. Short review from Fuel himself – “Third track is the best one, the second one has some sort of vibe but sounds terrible towards the end, and the first one is just a mess, but listen closely, there’s a deeper meaning hidden in there”. Tracklist: 01. Stress med dress 02. Vas mit Cas 03. Smooth with Gud →
MMx125 Saft Suse – Franz av Bassissi
Split my bramsails! Hirr, hirr, hirr! Kiss me in the kilt, Saft Suse’s disco house of Bassissi rolling you over. Some excellent new tunes from Saft Suse, the brain behind Rudolf’s Kontainer. Tracklist: 01. Engledryss 02. Ida 03. Sveverev 04. Sukkerspinn 05. Franz av Bassissi 06. Grisen →
MMx124 Moon Zero-XM Personality Disorders #1
The first issue of a compilation series dubbed “personality disorders” featuring various nutcase recordings from the soon to be vacated Moon Zero-XM studio. All sounds on all of the tracks were made and composed with a modular synthesizer, so it’s quite rough around the edges. Business as usual, then. Tracklist: 01. Croydon Juice Circuit – Swimming Pool Frog 02. Tormod Enoksen – Kano 03. Gatorshades – Wrath 04. Jerry Gestingo – Coils 05. Kyalka – There is a policeman inside my head, he must be destroyed 06. Pourteroise – Gender Specific 07. Beroun Kiefshe – Greyhound 08. Tormod Enoksen – Pedagogbunkers 09. Lorry Ghost Con – Prod 10. Fengselskatalogen – Karbonpølser 11. Croydon Juice Circuit – Pill Shivers 12. Croydon Juice Circuit – Invalid Explanation 13. Screen Phoenix – Absolution 14. PÖM – Kettlefish 15. Configurations – Leprechaun 16. Dels Quin – Mock Duck 17. Aldershot Bakery – Pivots 18. Devious Dan – Spoilers 19. Croydon Juice Circuit – Knock One Out 20. Tormod Enoksen – Si hei i skogen 21. Beroun Kiefshe – No Ego Pulpit 22. Trollope Potions – Surfenade 23. Charterhouse – Kygo for voksne →
MMx123 Tom Handlevogn – Northern Lights
This is a message from the future. Signed one Ouh Lie Schultz. Last seen jumping off a subway train back in 2004. Log yourself out of the webshop, light up the fireplace or turn on your panel oven, charge your smartphone in another room, make tea or have a glass of red wine – relax. But first put on Tom Handlevogns record “Northern Lights”, which will take you on a journey for the relaxation of the mind. Embrace the simplicity of life, even though it may be complex at times. Do yoga, or go dancing to techno — in this case a combination. Tracklist: 01. God dag 02. Snø og sludd 03. Fjord og fjell 04. Sledetur →
MMx122 Rudolfs Kontainer – Eclectic Rudolfland
Brilliant eclectic lo-fi disco-sweetness – half electronic, half electric – coming your way from Mikal Lillo-Stenberg aka. Rudolfs Kontainer! After making a bunch of demo-recordings in his own home in Oslo over a short span of years, Mikal finally decided to compile his best tunes into this record and release it to the world. These are probably not just the cool, clever and very catchy grooves you’ve been searching for all this time, but also the kind of music that can and will make you want to pop a can of beer immediately and hit the streets or a park in a capital city on an unreasonably hot summer’s day – if you can find your god damned shoe! Cover art by Ulf. Tracklist: 01. Just Playing A Game 02. She Ain’t My Robot 03. Capital City 04. Smooth Operator 05. Why Did You Break The House 06. Lights On 07. Do It Tomorrow 08. Wildly Delirious Dream 09. Where’s My Shoe 10. Unreasonably Hot →
MMx121 Duelling Ants – My Thoughts Are Somebody Else’s
Nine exquisite new tracks from Duelling Ants dubbed “My Thoughts Are Somebody Else’s”. Just how many times have you felt like a book case, sitting in the living room gathering dust, full of thoughts already written? How about now? If you’ve followed MarsMelons at all over the past few years, you know Duelling Ants is one to look out for, so no further intro should be needed for these tracks – just put them on your playback device of choice, head out into the woods for a walk and press play. Tracklist: 01. The Trail 02. Spiritual 03. Feel Your Feel 04. The View 05. God in Spring 06. Campside 07. Based on Random Thoughts 08. Våken Hele Natta 09. Error →
MMx120 UFL – Plasma Containment
New record in from UFL. I accidentally found a post-it in the bird feeder the same day I picked this up. It said: Dirty boots of funky leather bouncing your way with the intention to get people to dance to the rhythms without wearing a sweater. UFL, also known as Ulf, Phlu and Boblebad, serves you a musical dinner that will get your inner sinner to go buy a late-night discounted wiener. Tanz, tanz! Tracklist: 01. Bouncy Beat 02. Funky Skitstøvel 03. Tanztanz 04. A →
MMx119 Zen Volt – The View
MarsMelons are very pleased to release some of the works of Marius Blomstervik, aka Zen Volt, an electronic experimentalist with a very keen ear for oddly harmonic juxtapositions between the abstract and the melodic in music. As you may or may not have figured out already, that’s just how we love it over here. Marius puts it best himself: Inspired by natures movements, winds, waves, and shapes of mountains and forests. The View is an attempt of cooperation and exploration of musical machines to express nature experiences, synesthetically. Notes and structures develops dependent on context and circumstances, conditioned by their sonic surroundings, growing in a frame of fluid structures. Tracklist: 01. Happen Simultaneously 02. How real 03. Dissolving 04. A separated nature 05. All den tid 06. The view 07. Emanation 08. Its entrance onto the world 09. Machines dream too 10. Grow like extacy →
MMx118 Bison Chemo – There are stars, you’re fine
A kind of poem from Beroun Kiefshe to sum up Bison’s debut on MarsMelons: Chemo’s underwater astroturf marbles. Francis Leopold cold reading star maps, karplus. Celestial body mass index rates rats Indie car crashing a wedding reception canopy. Can it be? Something great, level 4 mass consciousness overheard pope talking walking, orbital state await. Tracklist: 01. There are stars, you’re fine 02. It’s level 3 now 03. Bon voyage, birdies 04. The right direction 05. Fairy lair 06. Gibraltar 07. Traces 08. 14th problem solved 09. San Sebastian 10. Got tickets 11. Kind people 12. Slacker →
MMx117 Salby Wallens – Bow Shocks
What are bow shocks, anyway? Bow shocks form the boundary between a magnetosphere and an ambient magnetized medium. This occurs when the magnetic field of an astrophysical object interacts with the nearby flowing ambient plasma. For example, when the solar wind, flowing with a relative speed of order 400 km/s, encounters the magnetic field of Earth, a bow shape boundary forms. Deep, Salby, deep. Tracklist: 01. Double Helix 02. Carried away tapping stones 03. Suspended glare, travelling 04. Gaslighting 05. (In before the) Cosmic Councel 06. The bull generator 07. Families 08. Calendar 09. Mandelbrot Perspective →
MMx116 Gorgonsola Flyplass – Kartotek
‘Kartotek’ is another introspective glimpse into Gorgonsola Flyplass. ‘Andy’ was written grieving the sudden loss of a friend. ‘Helbred’ to heal old wounds. ‘Ingemannsland’ and ‘Vandring’ are simple reminders of the necessity for quiet and noise filtering. ‘Vuggesang for lillemann’ a lullaby for J-man. Who was Marcia Blaine? The last two are star gazers, thinking about the vastness of the universe feels strangely comforting. Tracklist: 01. Andy 02. Helbred 03. Ingenmannsland 04. Vandring 05. Vuggesang for lillemann 06. Hvem var Marcia Blaine? 07. Fermis harpe 08. Koraller →
MMx115 Laserost – s/t
On his debut album on MarsMelons, Laserost explores the complex relationship between man and machine, human and robot, emotions vs artificial intelligence. It’s a study of intricate syntax and deeply haunting philosophical issues. Laserost: What do you think about lazer and cheese? ALICE: I can ask someone about it. Laserost: Who are you going to ask? ALICE: ALICE Laserost: You’re going to ask yourself? ALICE: I’ll burn that bridge when I come to it. OK I will ask it. Laserost: What bridge will you burn? ALICE: What is your purpose in asking? Laserost: I need to warn the authorities you’re going to burn a bridge. Ooops, I mean, I just really like bridges. Jeff Bridges. ALICE: Interesting. I want to find out more about you. We want to know more about you too, Alice. Tracklist: 01. Broer 02. Glinser i sola 03. Risk fri fisk 04. Tar det pent 05. Sleng rassa 06. Risk fri fisk (Dearalan take) →
MMx114 Cas Todden – Code of conduct S/H
‘Code of conduct S/H’ is Cas Todden’s debut album on MarsMelons. Speaking with Cas about the release, he reveals the songs are representations of semi-hallucinatory or dreamlike states of mind of his, often colorful and strange. Many of these tracks are sort of hypnagogic, in that they are as much visions from dreams, as they are descriptions of real life imaginations (hah!). ‘CINE’ is about a dream I had after reading a book on the war on drugs in the Philippines, while ‘Duped pop tram’ comes from a vision of a tram I had, a very colorful scene with a tram in San Francisco bouncing on top of the tracks like that powder gum you get which crackles in your mouth, and everyone on the tram are quiet, and there’s an ironic sort of seriousness to what is going on. ‘Katmandu’ is a re-occuring vision/dream I have, which always gives me great comfort for some reason, of a pair of keys, a house maid, and a brown kitchen, floating above the mountains in Katmandu – it’s reassuring, always telling me things will be OK. ‘Bus Window View October 05’ was dire and black, angst ridden, a real life occurence. ‘Death Message Hieroglyphs’ came out of the ’07 mescalooza, and Jeru is an ode to the Damaja. The last two are also re-occuring visions/dreams about death, and they’re not sad at all. Tracklist: 01. Cine is beautiful, HEADSHOT 02. Duped pop tram 03. Katmandu floating keys mirage 04. Bus window view, OCT 05 05. Death message →
MMx113 JL & Modarch – Hovering The Wetlands
‘Hovering the Wetlands’ is the first travelouge from our buddies JL & Modarch since the release of Shine UTGA back in 2013. This time, they’ve been in Zambia, studying the mystical Shoebill bird and its inhabitat in the Bangweulu wetlands. Vast, vast swamps and lakes chirping with animal hustle and bustle set the backdrop for these six minimal electronic arrangements. Go find some videos of Bangweulu on the tube, turn down the volume, and turn this one up. Tracklist: 01. Lake Chifunabuli 02. Chishi Island 03. Lupososhi Estuary 04. Shoebill 05. Twingi 06. Ncheta →
MMx112 Fuelbinger – Firebird
A new track from a beloved tortured soul – Fuel made this while living in a crate somewhere. Fast cars, shooting stars – none of the lights, none of the lights. Tracklist: 01. Firebird →
MMx111 Lysaker Zoo – 247
There’s a house on the corner that’s yella’, and nobody lives inside (well, apart from the cat, the three monkeys and a bunch of ants). I think somebody tried to sell’a, but nobody wanted to buy. Cus the animals run the house, yeah, the animals run the house. Naive electronica from Lysaker, where the animals run the house 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Tracklist: 01. Lastebiler 02. Gretten katt, glad fugl 03. Gjemsel med Diddi 04. Ekstra strøssel 05. Første til andre etasje, vi hører dere 06. Stigen er borte, pytt pytt →
MMx110 Trixie Marmalade – Trixieland (The Musical)
A pink orb was seen spinning across the sky in Russia last week. The orb was later spotted hovering Latvia. I woke up this morning by a splash at the door. Outside, in the pink debris of what looked like a type of mushroom drone was a cassette. “To the Mars”, it said, signed with a kiss. It smelled of old cigarettes, wooden chairs, goats, benzedrine and opium. It had to be Trixie. Harvey Steel gives us the lowdown. There’s no easy way to listen to these tracks/this musical. The heartbreaking intro is too true. The Subject matter so close to our (your?) reality. Humans really have to stop boosting their own egos and start spreading the love. While listening to the lyrics one might think they are childlike, simple, even dumb. But they are so TRUE. Even if this truth comes from a paralell universe, that universe is closing in on this universe. This very reality YOU are living in is under attack. Hatred has won that other battle, the battle situated in Trixies reality. Trixie has never been able to quite land on this world like the rest of us space/time survivors. She landed in a different reality when still being in this reality. While the rest of us got our human bodies Trixie got stuck in a cardboard figure. Also mentally she was living in two realities. I didn’t quite understand that before she started working on this musical, and needed my help. She could sing three part harmonies on her own →
MMx109 UFL – Futuristic Remark
A futuristic remark just in courtesy of Ulf. Remember it now so that you’ll remember it when you hear it in the future. “Hear what?” You may say. You’ll know, when you hear it. And just know that it’s a sign. So pay attention. It’ll start the trajectory for the rest of your life. And you’ll have to rely on it when the zombies are trying to break into your little hut up in the forrest (and they have that cement melter you didn’t think they’d have and are much smarter than you anticipated). So, you know, buy all the rice and canned food and guns you want, but this is the one to remember for the apocalypse – so now you know. Funk up your improper lifestyle with Phlu’s sounds of sickness, love and cloudy apple juice-like sensation of living life on the edge of a trapezoid. Support your local drug dealer sometimes too. His grandma’s probably bankrupt by now, and needs your help. Save her from starving and buy tacos instead of art/horseshit and leave it on her table. Some day you’ll get it all, son. Some day you’ll understand shit and everything enlightens. Some day trauma disappears from within leaving you without being daunted. Correct your ways, find paths never even started. Tracklist: 1. Gettin’ Down 2. Greener State 3. Up For Trouble 4. LULLABY →
MMx108 Duelling Ants – Reverse Seaworld
‘Reverse Seaworld’ is Duelling Ants’ third installation on MarsMelons – and as you would expect, it’s a lovely collection of mellow electronic tracks, as well as a fitting welcoming into this world of his two newborns (many congrats!). Dreamy and atmospheric, layers of textures disappearing and evaporating into new layers over tender melodies and barely noticable (but hugely effective) rhythm backdrops. It’s liberatingly uncompressed and dynamic, almost quiet in parts. Tracklist: 01. Fog 02. Saint Petersburg 03. Swamp 04. Faceless Woman Haunt My Dreams 05. Floating Endlessly 06. Drops On Porch 07. Peaks →
MMx107 Miinarets – Byzantine
‘Byzantine’ tells the story of Goiney, a young man recently knighted by the queen of his country for his brave service during the recent war. A few weeks after the knighting, while searching for a friend lost during the war, Goiney accidentally happens upon a place where his troop was ambushed (and suffered a great loss) during the later stages of the war. A psychosis like state washes over Goiney, who sees himself floating out of his own body into a vast darkness. A long travel begins. Punctured by creatures of the night, Goiney becomes what feels like a million seeds of grass spilling into the soil, growing a network of rhizomes below ground, reaching the surface eventually, and a moment of complete silence on a big open field as his consciousness slowly spins in a 360 degree motion, then quicker, and the silence is being replaced by high pitched sounds, spinning quicker, the sound increases, and in front of him, The Basi, and his jaw clamped to the ground, unable to move, a long deep burning motion, unthinkable pain, exploding to splinters like little red glass triangles captured in a jar tingling, and the fire and the high pitched sound is gone, and there’s quiet again, all gray, a burnt smell, smoke evaporating, a man moving through some bushes. Tracklist: 1. Void A 2. Soil 3. Channeling 4. The Basi (Dragon) →
MMx106 Kyalka – All seas turn black
Mixtape of some beats about the end of the world from Kyalka titled ‘All seas turn black’. A few picks from a pool of shit, as Kyalka puts it himself. Tracklist; 1. Drowning 2. There’s no hope 3. Under the light 4. Lopsided droid 5. Robo kennel 6. Scars across the sky 7. Glass eyes in both hands 8. Tooth fairy in her pyjamas 9. Spirits high →
MMx105 Thomas Bergsten & The Harvey Steel Show – Frank Walker (Episode #3 – In Limbo)
Here’s the third iteration of what’s becoming the epic tale of Frank Walker. The soundtrack to this is just phenomenal. Should definitely be performed in some concert hall at some point. In this third installment of the Frank Walker series Thomas Bergsten joins forces with some psych rockers from Jupiter, to be specific, the Harvey Steel show. Frank and Cincano are trapped between realities and the story unfolds as the Hörspeil genre crumbles before you as the spoken language deteriorates and confuses things while still keeping this series crystal clear. the Harvey Steel show provides most of the music, a gentle and wild depiction of the in between that our main characters are experiencing. [Download Full Release] Tracklist; 1. Frank Walker (Episode #3 – In Limbo) →
MMx104 Polly Marker – Sundae
Fresh out of Australia, ‘Sundae’ is a “sunny sort of record”, according to Polly, who says she’s been making it on the go as she’s been travelling the outback with her pet koala, Steve. “Steve has been the indicator for me, whenever he’s been dancing or sort of bobbing his head to it, I’ve gone along with the ideas and recorded”. Steve is curious little fella, who’s famous around Australia for being bilingual. He speaks German and Swahili, and keeps a stack of colored cards in his little koala pocket (koala’s have pouches?) which he snacks on every now and then (very sensitive to color, Steve) to get in the right mood. “Yeah, Steve and his color cards have been a big influence on this record, obviously. Whenever we’ve set up camp, Steve would knock about the woods with his German (& Swahili) trying to get a response from somewhere, getting answers from the void – a thin film vail covered with tiny specks of dust, that returns whatever you hit it a bit warped, so there’s an evolution of the langauge, and Steve picks it up, and it shouldn’t really be called German or Swahili anymore. The stars will throw long fishnet like objects down, glittering and hovering above the camp, Steve goes into his gargoyle bag and plugs himself into a nearby tree and the resulting metamorphosis resulting in bunnies in the shop again stripping it for PEZ dispensers. Block by block, the neighbourhood is caving in, like a bunch of jeans stacked →
MMx103 Gorgonsola Flyplass – Uendelig Regress
Thoughts looping and bending in on themselves with concurrent added high frequent feedback. ‘Uendelig Regress’ is about a perceived defeat of the self. A kid with no direction, no ambition, not understanding ambition or the talk of town, wanting only to submerge in the grass and not be part of the goings on in the world. A broken something, or at least a perception of a broken something. Hiding, feeling embarassed. This record is dedicated to Andy. Tracklist; 1. Slektslinjer 2. Grå februar og vondt i brystet 3. Sitter i huska og husker 4. På trappa, verden er opptatt 5. Innbilte visne løvetann 6. Uendelig regress 7. Vår, orker ikke spise 8. Det er noe bak 9. Angst på byen 10. Overdøver flaue tanker med litt spilling →
MMx102 Sykt Barn – Jord
3 (and a half – soon four!) year old Milla is MarsMelons’ latest collaborator. Armed with a modular synthesizer, she’s spraypainting a picture of her world with the synthetic sounds coming out of the machine. Her influences ranges from Frozen, Fantorangen, Knudsen & Ludgvisen, eating spaghetti, playing shop, riding her scooter and making stuff with playdough. She has (strangely enough) a knack for odd melodies and dark hazy beats – showcasing a maturity in her productions and compositions well worthy of most seasoned pros. ‘Sykt Barn’ is in fact a new project by Stjerna, who’s been helped out by his daughter (Milla) to pick the name for the record. As you can see from the image, though, Milla is a pro wiggler in the making (Dead Man’s Catch on Peaks ain’t for the faint of heart), so watch this space! Tracklist; 1. Cilian 2. Tewqunds 3. Hots2 4. Solemn Vigil 5. Sklukeba 6. Tranxlate 7. Såtteasteepa 8. Wyrm 9. Kald →
MMx101 Phlu – Inner Logix
So Phlu’s been on hiatus for a while, but he sent me this a while back. Some lovely cosmic electro funk shizzle! Inner Logix was created in between other and more important tasks in life like watching airplanes preparing to land, buying weird potato chips in the local food-store, drinking liquor nine o’clock in the morning after being drunk for several hours already, taking the A-train to work listening to ‘Take the A-train’, making failed prank calls to co-workers, exclusively watch television for kids and nothing else, saying ‘No’ to Witnesses of Jehova and Mormons in the streets of Yes-town and wander about the generally creepy situations all around the world. Tracklist; 1. Gyroscape 2. Wow Yeah 3. Kokua 4. Böse B9 5. Q Through 6. Wapapaya 7. Fotspor →
MMx100 West Bank Robbers – Pusten Jager
This in from Martin – two new tracks by West Bank Robbers. These two tracks were recorded live and raw in Cantus studio a couple of years ago. The idea was to just plug into the amps and record without too much analyzing and hesitation. Kind of like the good old days. ‘Pusten jager’ is a track about reconciliation, defiance or annihilation of the young boy I once was. Growing up in a protected middle-class suburbia exposed to one certain truth in one certain way. I was never really challenged about all this until my youth years where punk rock and skateboarding became an eyeopener for alternative culture, literature and philosophy like many other kids in my neighborhood. Then I was kind of settled in that new bubble without further progression for many years. Relying on that before acknowledging that I had become just as settled like the childhood boy. But do I really want to go back on those values or erase both stages to find something completely new? Is there a tendency as you grow older to come back to what you learned and experienced back then? Combining different stages or just to erase them all? I don´t know. ‘Takk og farvel’ is a song about experiences of a young social worker and all the fragile souls among youth on the streets you meet. You try your best, but then you have to realize that your best intentions and work to make their lives better isn´t enough. Most of them are great people →
MMx099 Coax – CRASH2
A new exquisite record from Coax, squishing itself through the grapevine. Here’s Ulf’s lowdown; Coax’s new record CRASH2 is a great listen. It’s heading in another direction than COM1, towards a more ‘orchestral’ sounding record. Still the sound and the arrangements are in an electronic landscape of lovely IDM, glitch, ambient and avant garde, in which Coax prefers to find himself in his much appreciated journeys of music-making. Dark atmospheres, at the same time bright and light, leaving the listener puzzled by it’s many beautiful nuances and even dissonances of different musical feelings merged together. The elements of orchestration which is not easy to ‘get away with’ when done electronically are very well designed, and unfolds more and more throughout the record. If you want a little bit of travelling to go with your musical explorations, well listen to this record. Nuff said, press play! The lovely cover art was made by Coax himself. Tracklist; 1. Zilver 2. Poor Man’s Lunch 3. Find Prometheus 4. The Spirit 5. Mushroom 6. Rosal 7. Lospdpds →
MMx098 Wild Man Riddim – s/t
Wild Man Riddim is one of the finest reggae/ska-influenced bands in Norway today, and it’s an absolute pleasure to release some of their music on MarsMelons. Here’s the lowdown from Martin; Brage Rognlien needed a band to perform rythmic music for club nights at The Villa. Brage and Martin called old friends and suddenly a band with Oslo´s finest ska/reggae musicians was founded. The band performed several night at The Villa focusing on compositions by Brage, old jazz standards with a jamaican twist with lots of space for improvisation. People might say it´s a fine mix between ska/reggae/jazz/worldmusic influences. The band later performed as backing band for Essa Cham, Kasimba, Nico D, Admiral P, Jah Ark Manifest and several other vocalists at Horten Reggae Festival in the summer of 2013. In december 2013 the band went to Silvertone studios to record their first selftitled LP. The setting was minimalistic and straightforward: recorded live in the same room over to hectic days, with nearly no overdubs and editing to preserve the live feel the best way possible. The result was 11 tracks, mostly originals written by Brage and Caspersen. Two well known jazz standards (with a WMR twist) also made it on the record. Essa Cham and Bunzy D contributed on vocals and gave the record the final touch it needed. Recorded by Rune Jørgensen at Silvertone. Mixed by Kristoffer Follestad at Cantus studio. Mastered by Nils H Mæhlum. All songs written by Brage Rognlien and Martin Caspersen except Cantaloupe (H.Hancock) and Night in Tunisia (Dizzy →
MMx097 Fruktnøtt – s/t
Back in 2004, two guys started a musical project called Fruktnøtt. At that time it consisted of merely a couple of weird experiments with beats and piano sounds, sounds which never came to see any daylight. The project name came from a joke which frequented around the house where one of them lived and the other one hang out once in a while. When you could hear people in that house ask eachother if they got some Fruktnøtt, the person who was asked often simply replied ‘Høhøhø’. And that was it, really. That was the answer. The two guys found out years later that they shoud compile their musical powers again and make a record of it. This record is that record. Have a listen. Tracklist 01. Jesus Minus 02. Thizthiz 03. Daxxmaxx 04. Elektrick →
MMx096 Lord Panzer – No Justice Just Us
Here’s some good old sing along punk for those summer night glubs. Lord Panzer arose from the ashes of the band Saddams Sønner. After a breef interlude with the Bistronauts, Lord Panzer teamed up with Møkkamennene i 2009, forming the band Lord Panzer & Møkkamennene. And has since been playing hard hitting punk music, inspired by the great punk bands of the late 70s and early 80s. Lord Panzer & Møkkamennene consists of Pål (Drums), Øyvind (Guitars), Helene (Guitars/Backing Vocals), Lasso (Bass) and HC (Founding member/Bass). Lord Panzer is St. Haabeth (Lead Vocals/Composer). Tracklist: 01. Just Us 02. Friggin In The Riggin 03. Who Do You Think You Are?! Kant! 04. Stand and Deliver 05. Suicide Bomber 06. Ave Imperator 07. Pervers Politiker →
MMx095 Duelling Ants – Fauna
‘Fauna’ is a collection of some lovely new electroacoustic pieces from Duelling Ants (aka Hans Marius T. Jacobsen). It features the same lush sound as on ‘Phones’ from a couple of years back – electronic and acoustic instruments and samples interwoven in minimal jazzy sort of compositions – Raster Notion-style. Artwork made by Hans himself. On this project I’ve been interested in the idea of melodies and grooves that force themselves out through thick layers of sound, reach the surface, and fade out. Tracks were made with Ableton live, guitars, field recordings and the Grendel Drone Commander. The album is dedicated to my father, Stein Jacobsen. Tracklist 01. Scuba 02. Two Doves 03. Atouba 04. Rat / Snake 05. Fauna 06. Olke Bire of The Highland →
MMx094 Coax – COM1
We’ve been hassling Coax to release some stuff on MarsMelons ever since that insane live show he did at Mir a year back, and I’m proud to say we’ve finally received some material – and boy, oh boy, does it deliver! ‘COM1′ sounds dark and somewhat industrial, but incredibly organic in that it rarely repeats itself – this certainly isn’t your “dark bitcrushed techno anno 2014″ (not that we don’t like techno, mind). On this record, Coax operates in the peculiar realms in between IDM, glitch, ambient and the avant-garde. ‘COM1′ is the first in a series of recordings, which supposedly will feature many different concepts and themes. I’ve been trying to find words that will do this music justice, but I can’t seem to find a way to spell them out coherently or into any kind of meaningful order – swirling, stuttering, scales, inflatable, breathing, Zarathustra, technology mimicking organisms – bla bla bla, read all the fancy words on your local Pitchfork. Just hear it. It sounds good, we promise. Coax have been spawning tracks in the Norwegian underground for a long time, releasing several records on his own over the past few years (check ‘em out or die) – we’re proud to see him release some stuff on MarsMelons. Cover art by Coax himself. Tracklist: 01. Buzzy B 02. Industrial Base 03. Hub 04. Teseplono 05. iloson 06. Slounge 07. Selbog 08. Sellom 09. Ectocrypt 10. Blackout 11. Lentel 12. NUAS →
MMx093 Skiftende Bris – Virvelhoste
Four more tracks from Skiftende Bris. Some cosmic funk vibe on these tracks. Scandi-funk. Scunk. We dig! Music and cover by Ulf. Tracklist 01. A Moment 02. Lapskauskaos 03. Reflection 04. While I’m Still Breathing →
MMx092 U Trip – Flush
Not much is known about this record. It’s some beats, some brass, slouching juicy bass and all the shank that comes with that. Instrumental and you can rap to it if you like. Music and cover art by Ulf. Tracklist 01. Here We Go 02. Reborn 03. Tbone 04. XergTwo →
MMx091 Ruth Hansen – Horvat Knows What Up
I first met Ruth a few years back while I worked at an old folk’s home. I wasn’t quite sure if she worked there or whether she lived there. She had a fascination for octopi and would often tell the weirdest stories about the time she worked a boat in the south Pacific catching these creatures for a Japanese research facility. She had on several occasions seen octopi emit a strange green light once they’d been slammed on deck. The green light was always followed by an extremely high pitched screeching noise. The local lore along the pacific isles said this phenomenon was caused by the summoning of the soul of the octopi by the chieftan octopus, Horvat. So, there’s Ruth in her old folks home, bored to death, no octopus in sight. I showed her how to use Live, and she just lit up. Started making weird noises with it – age 82. I quit the job there a few years back, and hadn’t heard from her since then, until I got this tape in the mail the other day – labelled ‘Horvat Knows What Up’. It’s Ruth’s stuff. Some techno-like shit. Tracklist 01. Octopus Morning 02. Skill Set Out The Window 03. Crop Circle Jerking 04. Fabelsport 05. Zero XM Oyster Lines →