May The Torske Be With You
It’s extremely well-established that we here at Disco Horror are unabashed fans of all things Scandinavian- especially if we’re talking disco. And with incredible releases from acts like the Meanderthals, Mungolian Jet Set, and L&PT themselves, this year has been something of a renaissance for dudes like us. But sometimes other deserving artists can get overlooked in the process, and until recently (for me) Bjørn Torske was one of those artists.
I had always enjoyed Torske’s 2007 album Feil Knapp, but for some reason never investigated any further. But after hearing both his 2008 single “Kokt Kveite” and stellar remix of Lindstrøm’s “The Contemporary Fix” on Prins Thomas’ Live at Robert Johnson mix (the latter was also featured here on this very blog earlier in the year), I decided to stop being lazy and check out the rest of the guy’s music. It turns out that Torske has been recording in Norway since the early ’90s- making his own productions, frequently collaborating with Rune Lindbaek (Meanderthals), doing remixes and starting multiple record labels.
While I couldn’t track down any of those old Lindbaek collaborations, I did discover a wealth of amazing remixes and 12″ cuts that might even impress more than anything Torske put on his proper albums. Along with his inimitable remix of Sunburned Hand of the Man’s “The Parakeet Beat” (which I will eventually post to the blog as well), my favorite ‘discovery’ was Torske’s Kan Jeg Slippe? EP from last year. The title track is a flute-y forest seance that slowly gets subverted by shambling bongos and sinister atmospherics, all the while subtly turning into a full-on hippie-disco freakout sometime within it’s sixteen-minute duration. “Kan Jeg Slippe?” proves to be worthy of it’s epic length; not unlike the best Mungolian Jet Set remixes or anything Lindstrøm or Prins Thomas have produced in the last year, the track has a way of always noodling yet staying rooted to irresistibly heavy percussion throughout. Enjøy!
Bjørn Torske – Kan Jeg Slippe?
Tags: bjorn torske