a r t i s t : Krauka
t i t l e : Bylur
d a t e : 2006
l a b e l : Musikpres
g e n r e : Folk
r l s. d a t e : Jul/2006
t r a c k s : 18
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 58,9 MB
_______________________________________________________________________
Door of sound
Since the release of their first album and continuing with the
following two albums, Krauka (Gudjon Rudolf, Aksel Striim and
Jens Villy Pedersen) have followed their own quite unique
agenda.
On their debut album Vikinga Seidur, they sought to faithfully
recreate the tones and songs of the Viking era, using
inspiration drawn in equal parts from compositional and
instrumental archeology. On the follow-up album Stiklur they
opened up for a more modern universe of sound by mixing both
electric and electronic elements and including more of their
own compositions. Their new album makes a surprising
connection between past and present, blending a progressive
modern musicality with thousand-year old tones in a tasteful
dish which bears the title Bylur.
KRAUKA on Iceland
In Rudolfs Icelandic mother tongue, the word "bylur" has the
double meaning of "noise" and "snowstorm," an ingenious play
of words. Not only because the CD is partly recorded in
Iceland, with its both beautiful and violent weatherùbut also
the fact that the tracks themselves often turn to the Nordic
forces of nature for their inspiration. Sun, snow and ocean
are the natural inhabitants of these tracks, which seem to
flourish outdoors, where the campfire burns and the dance is
on, followed by a Viking dip in the ocean. In many ways, we
delve so deeply into the Nordic memory, that nature is truly a
shaping force, both when the snowstorm rages and when the sun
tingles gently on the skin.
In comparison with KraukaÆs earlier, more tradition-bound
albums, Bylur makes something of a ônoiseö in that the group,
while retaining the instruments of the Viking period, have
really stirred things up. Not that tradition has been pushed
to the background, the tracks still resound with strong,
poetic male voices, rebec, hand drums, Jewish harps, lyres and
flutes, and they still draw on Icelandic text sources and
medieval song tradition. On several of the numbers they use an
ambient background with an often harsh and ominous electronic
sound and the ancient instruments are forced to play modern
melody patterns, and the sound of the electric guitar is
naturally interlaced with the sound of the past. In several
places a sampler is used "the most revolutionary instrument of
our times" to form collages of background sounds, which match
those we can encounter in the most experimental end of
electronic music, but which quite naturally drift into
KraukaÆs universe. On one number, electronic and hand-played
rhythms combine to form the whirling base for a sort of
medieval rap. Many of these surprise elements are a result of
the close cooperation between the band and the producers
Thorkell Atlason og Henrik Corfitsen. Out of this fusion a
new, cohesive beauty has been created: as simple and earthy as
the soil of the North, but often riddled with a magic and a
longing, which is just as familiar to us as it was to our
distant forefathers - and not least imbued with an infectious
feel for everything which makes life worth living, for better
and for worseùfrom the pricking of food on your tongue to the
stormy soul of battle.
Bylur is the past at its most radicalùand the present where it
delves deepest into the soil. It is an experiment without many
parallels in modern music, played by three actually quite
old-fashioned musicians with the joy of their work tattooed on
their soulsùand with a captivating, folk sound, which at the
end of the day is hardly foreign to even the most hardcore
avant-garde fan . It is a door, which allows us to recognize
both what we were and what we are becoming in our times, when
the world has come knocking with new sounds and impulses. It
is the row, the snowstorm, and so infinitely much more.
_______________________________________________________________________
01-Intro [01:06]
02-Raftar [02:17]
03-Sµlugaukur [02:30]
04-Fossb·inn [00:50]
05-Koldt Skind [02:56]
06-Skalmeje [01:32]
07-Smeden [04:09]
08-SlΘttuboend [03:22]
09-Sommersol [02:23]
10-Boe≡ulsvisur [01:36]
11-■ursatal [01:15]
12-Nµsti Bar [03:43]
13-Kragevisen [03:22]
14-Loki [02:35]
15-Hj≤naband [03:23]
16-V°lverne [02:50]
17-Lang Linken [03:31]
18-╞≡a Blµda [01:33]
-------
44:53 min