Browse by Artist: BENNI HEMM HEMM

Artist:	BENNI HEMM HEMM
Title:	Beginning End
Label:	A NUMBER OF SMALL THINGS (GERMANY)
Format:	7"
Price:	$6.50
Catalog #:	ANOST 012EP

Released in 2006. "Beginning End" is an emphatic overture, reduced to opulence. A lot of instruments -- guitars, a brass section and a glockenspiel -- ensnare just a few sounds, a lively game. The second track is "Beygja Og Beygja," Benni Hemm Hemm's first hit single. This time, it is performed by an acoustic guitar and Benni's Icelandic singing fragments. Reminiscent of Stereolab, Ennio Morricone and any other good-natured dance band, sometime after midnight when the power goes out.

Artist:	BENNI HEMM HEMM
Title:	Kajak
Label:	MORR MUSIC (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	MORR 074CD

The sounds and texts for Benni Hemm Hemm's second album Kajak were written within a few, concentrated weeks.
        The recordings in Sundlaugin, the studio of Sigur Rós, were also done within only four days. During four magical
       days, 11 musicians recorded 13 vibrating tracks with kettle drums and trumpets, with guitars, trombones and a
       glockenspiel. Emotionally, energetically, emphatically. According to the pulsating way these songs come out of the
       loudspeakers, these stories wanted to be told. Still on board: the emphatic wind section of Northern Soul, the whirling
       enthusiasm of dance music. What is new on Kajak is a dramaturgical balance, a giving and taking, especially among
       single tracks. With Kajak, Benedik H. Hermannsson, the passionate narrator and cunning entertainer, became
       a well-versed arranger, as well. "Sorgartár" is situated close to the ocean. A surging and swelling, a ride on the wave's
       crest, constructed of a wind section, organs and one baritone guitar. "Regngalsinn" is an abstract love poem. Birds
       twitter, everything in the garden is lovely. One could call it a power-ballad if power-ballads didn't have such a bad
       reputation. "Mónakó" is an absurd song with three singing-tracks overlapping each other. "Egísa," finally, is a slow
       stroll out of the album into the sunshine. The sun is low in the sky and makes us squint.

Artist:	BENNI HEMM HEMM
Title:	Benni Hemm Hemm
Label:	SOUND OF A HANDSHAKE (GERMANY)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	SHAKE 002CD

Music from the heart of Iceland. A record that wants to boil over because of all its energy, lust and sometimes humor. A
       record, equally peculiar as idiosyncratic. Benni Hemm Hemm throws all possible ingredients in. It's a little big
       band with little big songs. In September of 2005, the record was released on the small label Smákökurnar, based in the
       Icelandic capital Reykjavik for the first time. It was re-released on Sound Of A Handshake, Morr Music's small, curious
       sister. An album that will grow with each time one listens to it, equally as Benni Hemm Hemm's band changes with each
       concert. In the center, there is Benni with his fervor and a mischievous smile, his acoustic guitar and his arrangements.
       Around him there are guitars, glockenspiel and the brass section. There are also raging waves and a deep, pure sea. You
       should listen to this record loudly and often.

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