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RCD 2188CD
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Formed in 1995, Spunk comprises four of Norway's most innovative musicians: Kristin Andersen - trumpet and recorders; Hild Sofie Tafjord - french horn, toys, live processing and sampling; Maja S. K. Ratkje - voice, theremin, oscillators, live processing and sampling; Lene Grenager - cello. For their 20th anniversary concert in December 2015, they moved to the exotic concert sites of Oslo's Nasjonal Jazzscene, home of the most interesting local and international jazz and improvisation concerts in the capital. Still Eating Ginger Bread For Breakfast is a recording of that concert - divided into two sets - as on the evening. It is also Spunk's ninth album since their 1999 debut Det Eneste Jeg Vet Er At Det Ikke Er En Støvsuger, all on Rune Grammofon. "Last time I heard Spunk was phenomenal! They are among the most exciting improvising groups in the world right now." --Fred Frith.
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RCD 2163CD
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In 1862 Charles Darwin peered between the petals of the Madagascar star orchid and predicted that somewhere there must be an insect that had evolved a snout long enough to reach the nectar inside. He never found one, but 40 years later, in 1903, the hawk moth was discovered, sporting a proboscis exactly the right length. Darwin was speculating on co-evolution, the idea that two species (here, a flower and an insect) might latch onto each other and evolve characteristics that would each benefit the other. And that's just what's going on in this botanical adventure -- or Adventura Botanica -- as Norwegian group SPUNK joins forces with one of Norway's leading modern dance exponents, Odd Johan Fritzøe, to create a sound and movement work celebrating Darwin's legendary, game-changing voyage to Madagascar. Premiered in 2013 at Oslo's trailblazing Ultima Festival of Contemporary Music, Adventura Botanica was the third collaboration between SPUNK and Fritzoe. Inspired by Darwin, this "study of the invisible laws of nature" featured Fritzoe dancing around a three meter high sculpture set among sonic objects illuminated in white, to resemble the star orchid, which were triggered by radio signals. SPUNK provided the accompaniment, feeding off the movements, and allowing their sounds to spontaneously generate in co-evolution with the performance. SPUNK recorded the music on this CD in a studio setting around the same time, as a document of the project, but its lush and ever-mutating jungle of sounds gives a vivid sense of dynamic movement and fertile imaginations as the four musicians extend their sonic probosces into the rich receptacle of the dance amphitheatre. Formed in 1995, SPUNK comprises four of Norway's most innovative musicians: Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje, Hild Sofie Tafjord, Lene Grenager, and Kristin Andersen. The quartet combines talents spanning vocal experiments, instrumental virtuosity, impulsive improvisation, and a witty sense of play. Here, they engage in vertigo-inducing microtonal slides and exotic, tropical textures. Fans of Ratkje's incredible solo vocal works will find plenty to enjoy in her whistling, muttering, or operatic singing. All four work in the indefinable area between modern composition, free jazz, and total improv, a crossover zone increasingly dominated by Norwegian musicians. SPUNK seem to want to surprise each other as much as their audience, and in this piece, the music was also the seed that fertilised Fritzoe's movements, as he took his cue from their intuitive improvisation. Adventura Botanica: it's the natural selection.
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6CD BOX
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RCD 2140CD
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At one minute past 8:00PM on January 20th, 2001, the Norwegian quartet Spunk began playing a drone in the key of B, inaugurating a project that would weave into their musical lives for the foreseeable future. Eleven years, 11 months and 11 minutes later, the same foursome struck up a G, embarking on the final leg of a journey that had taken them through the 12 notes of the equal tempered scale -- one tone per year. Das Wohltemperierte Spunk's thrilling, texturally-complex improvisations can be appreciated in their own right without any knowledge of the underpinning structure or concept. And yet the underlying numerology places the piece in a long line of consciously mathematical music, from the Bach keyboard corpus from which it takes its name, to Anton Webern's "String Quartet Opus 28" (1938), which closes a circle by spelling out B-A-C-H in the first four notes of its 12-tone row. Spunk's own opus uses the same order of tones as the Webern quartet. The 12 concerts took place at a variety of unusual locations around Oslo, including the immense, almost pitch-black interior of the Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum, with its 20-second reverberation time; the Nobel Institute; a cabin on a remote island in the Oslo fjord; in a tent on top of the slanting roof of the newly-built Opera House; the Physics Department of Oslo University; a vibrant high street shopping mall called Oslo City; and a private domestic living room. Hild Sofie Tafjord on the project: "It was unifying, focused and meditative, and it was room for our personalities to color and develop the ensemble sound. I think the core of Das Wohltemperierte Spunk is our love of being in that meditative flow together, playing that single pitch as a meeting point. Kristin Andersen (trumpet and flutes), Lene Grenager (cello), Maja Ratkje (voice, violin, harmonica, accordion, theremin and various), Hild Sofie Tafjord (French horn and various).
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RCD 2085CD
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This is the fourth studio album by the improv quartet of Kristin Andersen (trumpet), Lene Grenager (cello), Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje (vocals), and Hild Sofie Tafjord (horn) aka SPUNK. Free collective improvising is one of the most demanding ways of making music: the pitfalls are many -- self-absorption, incoherence, certain standardized "gestures" of free-jazz, lack of dynamics, humorlessness, etc. -- but SPUNK are alert to the dangers. Bold, sometimes witty, always alert, they make engaging music and keep the element of surprise alive. They have no fear of bringing the music to the brink of anarchy -- they are interested in extremes as well as subtleties -- but their instincts as composers-in-action also serve them well. SPUNK work exclusively with improvised music, in concert as well as on record, and Kantarell marks yet another musical step for this playful and ever-experimenting quartet by possibly being the most acoustic-sounding album they have made -- though SPUNK have always been masters at seamlessly combining acoustic instruments with electronics, often making it impossible to identify what is what. Kantarell was produced by the group together with Sjur Miljeteig and Peder Kjellsby.
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RCD 2048CD
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Spunk's third studio album marks the 10th anniversary of this playful and ever experimenting Norwegian quartet. Members Maja Ratkje (voice, Theremin, electronics), Kristin Andersen (trumpet, violin, flute), Lene Grenager (cello) and Hild Sofie Tafjord (French horn, flute, electronics) have been involved in various musical activities since their debut release in 1999, and they remain four musicians with very different backgrounds -- classical, contemporary, jazz, pop, rock, techno, even country -- that makes a musical landscape which is new for most people, even to well-trained musicians. En Aldeles Forferdelig Sykdom also boasts yet another Pippi Longstocking-related title. The title translates as "'An Absolutely Terrible Disease" and on reflection it gets clearer and clearer why the four young women in Spunk so easily identify with such a character. Coming from a formal, academic music education, it hasn't always been so easy to break almost every rule in the book, and this is exactly what they relentlessly have been doing since forming back in 1995. Free collective improvising is one of the most demanding ways of making music: the pitfalls are many -- self-absorption, incoherence, certain standardized "gestures" of free jazz, lack of dynamics, humourlessness -- but Spunk are alert to the dangers. Bold, sometimes witty, always alert, they make engaging music, and keep the sound of surprise alive. They have no fear of bringing the music to the brink of anarchy -- they are interested in extremes as well as subtleties -- but their instincts as composers-in-action also serve them well. Most of all, perhaps, Spunk convince by the force of their own convictions.
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RCD 2026CD
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"The new studio album from this increasingly exciting and colourful quartet boasts yet another Pippi Longstocking related title. This free spirited and anti authoritarian character is one of the most loved and wellknown from the late, great Swedish author of children's books, Astrid Lindgren. It translates 'The very top of a bluepainted flagpole' and on reflection it gets clearer and clearer why the four young women (all still in their twenties) in Spunk so easily will identify with this character, going their own pathways and relentlessly breaking most rules in the book. In many ways both more accessible, varied and distinct than their debut from 1999."
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RCD 2022CD
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"Central artists from Norway´s flowering electronica and noise scene join forces to remix female chamber anarchist quartet Spunk, the source being the group´s debut album from 1999, Det eneste jeg vet er at det ikke er en støvsuger (RCD 2010). Contributions from Martin Horntveth, Kim Hiorthøy, Upper Rooms, Phonophani, Svalastog, Kristin Andersen, (X, Y, Z), Andreas Meland, Jørgen Træen, Sun Demon, Risto Holopainen, Lasse Marhaug and Andreas Mjøs."
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RCD 2010CD
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"Spunk is a young, all-girl improvquartet with backgrounds from classical, jazz, rock, contemporary and country (!?). The group has been going since 1995 and in spite of their young age, they have built a solid reputation in both jazz and classical circles (three of the members are studying composition). With their unusual line up they are hard to categorize, with soundscapes and musical material from all genres being used in a non-dogmatic and unprejudiced way. The title translates like this: The Only Thing I Know, Is That It Isn't A Vacuum Cleaner. (check your Pippi Longstocking references!)." Kristin Andersen (trumpet), Hild Sofie Tafjord (horn), Maja Solveig Kjeldstrup Ratkje (vocals), Lene Grenager (cello). Another out-of-nowhere, bewildering and idiosyncratic recording from the increasingly faithful Rune Grammofon label.
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