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viewing 1 To 14 of 14 items
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BROADCAST 019LP
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Ólafur Stephensen was born in Reykjavik. His parents were Stephan Stephensen, a shopkeeper at Verðandi, and Ingibjörg Stephensen, a housewife. Ólafur graduated from The Commercial College of Iceland on June 16, 1956 and then studied public relations as well as marketing and propaganda at Columbia University in New York where he graduated in 1962. Ólafur was a pioneer in the advertising services in Iceland which with him turned away from being solely a profession of illustrators to a new era of marketing. Ólafur touched on many subjects through his career. Alongside his study Ólafur worked for NBC News and META educational TV. He reported for UN Radio and Voice of America as well as for AFRTS under the pen name of Sonny Greco. Ólafur was the managing director of The Icelandic Red Cross, a jazz pianist in Harlem, the spokesperson for the media center of the NATO ministerial summit in Reykjavík in 1968 and hosted a program on the Icelandic National Television. Ólafur was the first Scandinavian citizen to become a member of the Advertising Club of New York, the first president of the Reykjavik chapter of JC as well as the first vice-president of JC International, the host of a jazz program on Icelandic National Radio, a judge for the American Advertising Awards and an active Freemason in Iceland as well as Portugal. Ólafur was awarded a Badge of Honour by the Finnish Red Cross in 1967. Ólafur founded both ÓSA advertising agency and later Gott Fólk and was the first elected president of the Icelandic Advertising Association. He wrote a large number of published newspaper and magazine articles on his trade of advertising and marketing and released a book on the subject, New and Better, in 1987. Ólafur Stephensen released three jazz albums with his jazz trio named Tríó Óla Steph, played music both in Iceland as well as internationally with various jazz combos and was a big fencing enthusiast. Just A Closer Walk With Thee is a tribute to Ólafur Stephensen, a jazz lover and advertising man who passed away in 2016. The piece is an American folksong; a New Orleans funeral march. The film describes in an abstract way a funeral but at the same time a new beginning, a lifespan, and freedom. Limited and numbered.
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BROADCAST 018LP
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Les Adventures de President Bongo: Named and shaped in loving tribute to Tintin, the fabled Belgian journalist who defined what it meant to be an adventurer in the 20th Century. Les Adventures de President Bongo is a unique work that will reveal itself over the next seven years, give or take, in the form of 24 LPs. Edition of 300.
SAGA: There is a transient photo kept by two whale hunters that have been left to oversee equipment and housing. At the world's coldest nook they share a single memory of mercy and beauty. The portrait of Dolores del Rios that reaches just below her thin shoulders. Printed on a label of canned fruits she never gets cold during hibernation at 73° North at Mosquito Bay. The almond shaped eyes and the high cheekbones of the goddess is the last memory from the world her custodians were never to see. The glacier made its demands, it received Dolores the goddess like it acquired everything else with its incessant presumptuousness. No one got to know of the passions and desires of the custodians of Dolores del Rios; no one got to know of the childish envy of them who loved the portrait of the goddess and both wanted to keep it to themselves.
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BROADCAST 017LP
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Chateau: O you singer, solitary, singing by yourself -- projecting me; O solitary me, listening -- nevermore shall I cease perpetuating you;
Never more shall I escape, never more the reverberations, Never more the cries of unsatisfied love be absent from me,
Never again leave me to be the peaceful child I was before what there, in the night,
By the sea, under the yellow and sagging moon,
The messenger there arous'd -- the fire, the sweet hell within, The unknown want, the destiny of me. O give me the clew! (it lurks in the night here somewhere,) O if I am to have so much, let me have more!" Bjarni Frimann Bjarnason presents Chateau on Radio Bongo. Limited and hand-numbered.
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2LP
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BROADCAST 016LP
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Three may be a mystical number and seven a holy one, but two and four and sixteen and so-forth are the numbers of science and rationality. When deprived of instruments, only with logic at hand, it is but natural to split subjects in two, to split them again and again, until the desired number or amount is reached or can be added up from the newly created parts. Divide a circle, first in half, then again, into four equal parts --into quadrants. On a compass, each represents the space between cardinal points, from North to East or from South to West. On the face of a clock it represents a quarter of an hour. On the weather charts of yore, they represent gradations of cloudiness. The precision of the quadrants is attractive, so experiment. You have precise instruments now, so divide the cycles into equal parts based not only on two but on three or other prime numbers. Some cycles are longer than others but they all revolve at the same speed and thus exciting, infectious polyrhythms are created. Like numerous clocks ticking away in a hotel lobby, only the minutes are sometimes made up of 60 seconds, sometimes 40, sometimes 17. This is how you tick away: different people in the same park on a beautiful day, minding our own business but inhabiting the same world. A cacophony of emotions and feelings. Hundreds of hearts, sometimes beating in time, sometimes singing in harmony; all spread across the horizon, each happy or sad in his or her quadrant. Edition of 300 (hand-numbered).
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BROADCAST 015LP
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Hand-numbered limited edition of 300 copies. Amidst destruction on the mainland, the two locomotives Minør and Pionér transported wagons full of rock and gravel to the Icelandic seaside during the construction of the Reykjavík harbor in 1913-1917. The two metallic giants ushered in a new age in Iceland. However, soon after construction ceased the two trains were parked and have never driven since. Minør is on display near the waterfront and Pionér stands lifeless in an outdoor museum on a hill. They are the only trains ever to have graced the Icelandic landscape. Now they only serve as a reminder of the grandeur of a bygone future. At the dawn of the 21st century -- again, tumultuous times -- you allow yourself to dream of new Minørs and Pionérs capable of pulling the tremendous weight of the past strewn all around us and putting it towards constructing an ambitious future.
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BROADCAST 014LP
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What is a groove? It is something that goes on and on, not changing much seemingly, like the growth rings exposed when you cut and fell a tree. It is no coincidence that tree rings resemble the spiral track of a record: they're both grooves of a sort. A groove is a routine, a life lived. It may not always seem like much -- a cup of bitter coffee, another day spent under the flickering fluorescent lights of an office, an overly long queue at the check-out of a suffocating supermarket. But it is also the scent of slightly burnt meat and birch by a gently flowing stream under a pink sunset, a silver fog clearing without notice to expose a starry sky and its familiar twinkling constellations, an impenetrable smile on a crowded morning train. It is the pattern exposed on the tree stump. A proper groove has ups and downs, it has drama. A good groove is a good story, a transmission into the future. Vinyl release only; Edition to 250.
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BROADCAST 013LP
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Edition of 300, hand-numbered and signed. Radio Bongo presents Sonic Deception's Ghost Army. "A few years ago I saw a documentary about the audio trickery employed in WW2. I was totally flabbergasted and soon absorbed anything I could find on the subject. Artists and scientists alike cooked up incredible situations to fool the German army. Inflatable tanks and trucks stacked with speakers projecting recordings of an imaginary reality were used to deceive and deviate from the opponent. This odd scenario influenced me profoundly and drove me towards composing music that related these feelings. The project only collected dust inside my head until Radio Bongo heard of it and encouraged me to finish." -- Sveinbjörn Bjarki Jónsson, aka Sonic Deception.
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12"
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BROADCAST 012EP
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"I've known Róisín a long time now and it was such a pleasure to find out she was releasing new music. I asked and got the stems for the second single, 'Exploitation,' sent to my Bongomachine Studios in Berlin. The results are here on Radio Bongo for a limited vinyl-only release! Welcome back, Róisín! Yours, President Bongo."
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BROADCAST 011LP
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In the fall of 2011 David Thor Jonsson recorded a session and a solo concert at Telus Studio in The Banff Centre, Banff, Canada -- the heart of the Canadian Rockies. These recordings have come to be Piano Improvisations II. In and around Banff are magical places. They are ancient, huge, quiet; some are sacred. Being surrounded by the enormity of the Rockies makes one feel very small, and prone to wander off for many hours, gazing at the endless beauty and power. Lake Minnewanka's name translates to "Water of the Spirits" from the Dakotan Siouan language of Nakoda. Aboriginal people long inhabited areas around Lake Minnewanka, as early as 10,000 years ago. You can still feel the spirits there... Some of this music is a dedication to that invisible power of human energy. This is the second album in the solo piano improv series, following 2012's Improvised Piano Works I (BROADCAST 001LP).
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12"
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BROADCAST 010EP
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"Kid" and a sizzlin' hot remix of Sísý Ey's "Ain't Got Nobody" on vinyl. Check it!
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BROADCAST 009LP
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Tesla Tune is dedicated to the inventor Nikola Tesla. The piece emits sound that comes from an alternating current transformer, which is lead through a programmer (time-adjusted frequency equalizer and switch box) to channel the sound through eight different outputs -- pipes. These eight pipes of different lengths hang from a ceiling, producing what seem to be different sounds, but the frequency is always the same, 60 Hz. The lengths of the pipes affect the pitch. Finnbogi Pétursson, born in Reykjavík, Iceland, has been exhibiting since 1980 and is one of Iceland's most prominent light and sound artists. He is known for works that fuse sound, light, sculpture, architecture, and drawings. Sound -- a crucial element -- is typically incorporated into spare sculptural installations. Pétursson represented Iceland at the Venice Biennial in 2001 with his monumental sound installation Diabolus. His artworks are held in numerous private collections as well as at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna, Austria, and the National Gallery of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland. Permanent installations are at Landsvirkjun, Vatnsfellsvirkjun (an electric power plant), Reykjavík University, and the Reykjavík Energy Headquarters. Finnbogi lives and works in Reykjavík, Iceland.
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LP+CD
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BROADCAST 003LP
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ADRS are: Högni Egilsson, President Bongo (Gus Gus), and Davíð Þór Jónsson (Benni Hemm Hemm). That's Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release. The ADSR envelope is just one type of envelope, but it's a popular one that's been used in electronic music for decades. Attack is the period of time after the initial release, it's typically the loudest part of the sound. Decay is the phase while you're going from the attack to the sustain -- you're "decaying" the volume from this sharp initial phase to the normal volume phase. Sustain is the normal phase of the sound. It is typically less volume than the attack, and can go on for an indefinite period of time, or for a specific amount of time. Release is the draw down from the sustain period to no sound. A fade out.
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12"
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BROADCAST 002EP
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Gluteus Maximus is Iceland's President Bongo and DJ Margeir, the duo behind the remix of Sigur Rós' Gobbledigook. These dysfunctional artists, steeped in the ancient red-art of double-handed beat-synch disorder, have traveled the world jockeying their disks all over the planet. Includes a remix by Kaspar Björke.
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LP+CD
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BROADCAST 001LP
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Restocked. First release on the Radio Bongo label from Iceland, run by Gus Gus. "I am a pianist, composer, improviser, performing artist and a multitasking musician in life, currently living and working in Reykjavík. I was born in 1978 in Seyoisfjörour, Iceland and have been playing the piano and keyboards since the age of 9. My main focus and interest is in improvisation, composition and performance of music -- how improvisation and composition can meet effortlessly as a creation of musical ideas and sounds. I am also mindful of the general passion and drive behind the creation of things, in what way they are presented and passed on to people, in music, arts and life in general. Since childhood I've collaborated with a whole spectrum of artists, from obscure troubadours in the countryside to stadium bands, covering all fields of music, both in Iceland and abroad. I have also composed and arranged a great deal of music for theater, film, art installations, performances and videos of all kinds. I released my first album Rask in 2002, and now I am currently composing and working on a series of records with solo piano music for Radio Bongo with Improvised Pianoworks I as the first Radio Bongo release." --David Thor Jonsson
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