16.05.2011 : JAGA JAZZIST + TORTOISE + FIELD MUSIC + AUSTIN PERALTA On the 2nd of June, Jaga Jazzist will do an exclusive performance in Bergen, Norway - at the festival Festspillene i Bergen. This is the first concert since the 90s where Jaga invite guest musicians to perform with them on stage, and probably the first concert ever for Jaga where they do not play exclusively Jaga Jazzist material. Guests: David William Brewis and Peter Anthony Brewis of FIELD MUSIC (UK) Dan Bitney + John McEntire + Jeff Parker of TORTOISE (US) AUSTIN PERALTA (US) Brothers David William Brewis and Peter Anthony Brewis are core members of UK act Field Music. Their 2010 album received much critical acclaim, amongst others 5 / 5 in Uncut. Jaga Jazzist saw Field Music play at the Øya festival last year, and have been big fans since then. That Jaga Jazzist are inspired by Tortoise should not come as a surprise to anyone. Jaga's last album was mixed by John McEntire, and by coincidence, Tortoise is starting their European tour in Bergen on the 3rd of June. With Tortoise already in town it was natural to invite some of their members to join in. Austin Peralta is a young classicaly trained pianist. He has performed and worked in many musical fields - both classical, jazz, hip hop, electronica, rock etc. He has cooperated with artists such as Flying Lotus and Erykah Badu. He is also the son of skate-legend Stacy Peralta. Jaga are big fans of both father and son. With this armory of musical force the audience in Bergen can expect an exclusive and explosive concert, with a lot of surprises... Say no more!

16.03.2011 : AMERICA HERE WE COME!!! AMERICA HERE WE COME!!! Finally we're coming back. Hurrrray! The dates are (more dates soon): Tue 06/21/11, Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA Wed 06/22/11, Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, CA Fri 06/24/11, The Triple Door, Seattle, WA Sat 06/25/11, Coastal Jazz, Vancouver, BC Tue 06/28/11, Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis, MN Wed 06/29/11, Lincoln Hall, Chicago, IL Thu 06/30/11, Phoenix Concert Theatre, Toronto, ON Sat 07/02/11 Ottawa Jazz Festival, Ottawa, ON Sun 07/03/11, LPR, New York, NY

26.07.2010 : ROBOT ONLINE STORE Jaga Jazzist T-shirts, new Bananfluer Overalt 12", Live At Cosmopolite DVD ++ much more for sale here. Go to ROBOT and find the JJ stuff you've been looking for

23.07.2010 : JAGA JAZZIST GOES TO CHURCH Check out video of Jaga Jazzist performing a dogma version of the song "Toccata" in Tønsberg's grand church, Tønsberg Domkirke. See Even crawling on the floor doing the pedals on the church organ and Marcus playing guitar from the preachers chair This video is made by the excellent music program, NRK Lydverket. Enjoy!

09.06.2010 : BIG INTERVIEW IN PROG SPHERE "Nick: So, it’s been 5 years since you’ve released What We Must and this year you’re back in the game with a brand new album called One-Armed Bandit. Why that long break? What happened with the band during that break? Some of band members have quit. Tell us a bit more. Martin: Between 2002-2005 we toured constantly and we thought we should take a break before we started going on each other’s nerves. It was supposed to sbe a few months but it ended up being almost two years before we started to rehearse for a new album..." You read the whole thing HERE!

07.06.2010 : FREE DOWNLOAD OF BANANFLUER OVERALT EP MINIMIX You can have a taste from the upcoming remix ep. It's out July 12th on Ninja Tune. Press LINK to download the minimix Or listen here: Jaga Jazzist - 'Bananfluer Overalt' (Mini-mix) by Ninja Tune

19.05.2010 : GREAT PICTURES FROM ROCKEFELLER, OSLO 06.05.10 Photos by Robin Ottersen and Thomas Rodahl Dedekam

18.05.2010 : CHECK OUT NEW WEB RADIO SHOW WITH MARTIN HORNTVETH AS GUEST 99 Minutes #1 A new initiative from MIC Norway: a brand new webcast featuring one of Norway’s most respected music journalists and DJs; Guttorm Andreasen aka DJ99 and a carefully selected playlist offering some of the country’s finest. New and some older music by: Children and Corpse Playing in the Streets, Fjorden Baby!, Unni Løvlid Ensemble, Sternklang, Ras Nas, Elephant9, Hovedøen Social Club, Diskjokke, Jaga Jazzist, Serena Maneesh, Jøkleba, Årabrot, Niko Valkeapää, Datarock, Side Brok, Gjermund Larsen Trio LISTEN HERE!

16.05.2010 : ONE-ARMED BANDIT TOUR 2010 STAGE DECOR The making of...

12.05.2010 : FREE DOWNLOAD: NME Presents 220 v/Spektral (FINAL Mix) FREE DOWNLOAD! NME Blog presents: "Jaga Jazzist - 220 v / Spektral (FINAL Mix)" taken from the upcoming "Bananfluer Overalt EP" FINAL is the solo project of 22 year old Magnus August Hoiberg from Oslo. He writes and performs electro and disco. His first single "What U Just Said" (released late 2009 on his own label FINALBEATS) caught the attention of french label Kitsunè, who asked him to do some remixes. After that he´s done remixes for Jaga Jazzist, Lindstrom & Christabelle, Classixx, Ralph Myerz & The Jack Herren Band, with more to come. www.final.no PRESS LINK TO LISTEN

28.04.2010 : WE'RE COMING TO FUJIROCK, JAPAN WE'RE COMING TO FUJIROCK JAGA JAZZIST | MySpace-musikkvideoer

20.03.2010 : LIVE AT COSMOPOLITE DVD OUT NOW!!! A SMALLTOWN SUPERSOUND RELEASE: "Jaga Jazzist is 15 years! To celebrate this anniversary we have together with the band put together a DVD to celebrate this. We're happy to announce the first ever live documentation of Jaga Jazzist in the band's career. And as Jaga Jazzist is known as a fantastic liveband, we all thought it was about time. The concert was filmed at Cosmopolite in Oslo the 4th of April 2005. The concert was directed by Marius Revold with a big film crew making this a spectacular concert film. Also included on the DVD is exclusive interviews with the band member as well as all the videos the band has ever made. And as if this was not enough, there is a special bonus track here that has never been released, but strangely enough there was made a video for this track (!). So you get a new video and a new track all in one, the beautiful “Synchronize Yr Watches”. You can buy the dvd here:

09.03.2010 : AWESOME LIVE REVIEW FROM LONDON IN MUSIC OMH "Having seen their latest album score them another Top 10 chart placing in their Scandinavian homeland, Norwegian nine-piece Jaga Jazzist have seen their stock rising on these shores too. The band's increasing popularity away from Norway, buoyed by latest long-player One-Armed Bandit, is exemplified perfectly by the crush of bodies inside the Islington Academy tonight, which is so rammed it's almost uncomfortable. But when the band, masterminded by composer Lars Horntveth, do strike up, it's clear to see how they've built such a healthy momentum. Taking over the whole stage and filling it with their presence, the nine members synchronise, breaking into their latest material. They artfully manage to concoct a musical cocktail that combines jazz with prog rock references but is drenched in melody and movement and, thankfully, lacks any self-indulgence; rather, they produce jazz with a modern twist that successfully avoids being overly noodly or pretentious. As another evolving, hook-filled epic twinkles and squirms out of the speakers, each member of the band looks lost in the moment. From the intense closed-eyed reverie of keyboard player Øystein Moen, to the ear-to-ear grin of trombonist Erik Johannessen, to madly bearded drummer, Martin Horntveth who sits at the front of the stage directing, it's this clear passion that makes Jaga Jazzist such an exciting prospect live. With each member successful in their own right, instruments are swapped, at times mid-song, betraying the clear talent and musicianship that runs throughout the band. Visually they may dance along the blurred boundaries between geek and cool but their music transcends all of that. From sax to keyboard to maraca to tuba, countless instruments are thrown into the mix, resulting in a full-bodied sound that's sometimes intense, at others fragile. Together they create and share an energy that washes in waves from the stage, engulfing the audience. The gentle, piano-led beginnings of Toccata gradually build and then burst like an aural firework display over the crowd. Each tightly choreographed track comes across like an organised cohesive jam, as cheery twinkling funk mixes with jazz and post rock. One richly layered jam gives way to another extended brass workout complete with a strobe-lit wigout midway through. Back catalogue favourite All I Know Is Tonight receives a fantastic response from the audience before another new offering Touch Of Evil, which flits from dark atmospherics to jaunty electronics in a stroke, whips the heaving crowd up further. The encore comes in the form of Prognissekongen (which loosely translated means King Of The Prog Gnomes) and while the second encore may stretch proceedings just a little too far (with each composition lasting well over five minutes), this is the sound of a confident, creative and original band on the cusp of wider success and acclaim. As the whooping, sardined audience would no doubt agree, Jaga Jazzist's star is in the ascendant." - by Ian Roullier, 4 out of 5 stars

28.02.2010 : 220 V / SPEKTRAL LIVE AT BYLARM 2010

23.02.2010 : FANTASTIC ALBUM REVIEW IN ALL ABOUT JAZZ "After a five-year break from recording, Jaga Jazzist is back. The Norwegian group's Molde Jazz 2009 performance—its first in four years, barring a single 2007 date in Singapore—provided clear evidence that the touchstones defining this sibling-run group remain intact (multi-instrumentalist Lars Horntveth writes all the music; percussionist Martin Horntveth is the onstage spokesperson for the band; and sister Line Horntveth, in addition to tuba, flute and vocals, acts as the publicity face for the group). But there have been some changes afoot as well. Performing much of One-Armed Bandit at Molde, Jaga Jazzist's mélange of rock energy, jazz vernacular, minimalistic tendencies, episodic composition, expansive instrumentation and electronic manipulation has never sounded better. Not since 1970s British progsters Gentle Giant has there been a group combining so many multi-instrumentalists, playing music so complex and ever-shifting that it's a paradoxically exhausting yet exhilarating experience just trying to keep up with who's playing what. The comparison to Giant is superficial at best, though Jaga Jazzist shares its ability to couch detailed writing with visceral rhythms that ground even the most byzantine tracks. This may be music for the mind in its challenging metric shifts, elaborate counterpoint and textural expansiveness, but it's also music for the body. Even as trumpets, trombones, saxophones and tuba coincide and alternate with angular guitars, vibraphones, harps and keyboards, it's almost impossible to experience propulsive tracks like the riff-driven, near-blues of "Bananfleur Overalt" or the Frank Zappa-esque title track—even the irregularly metered "Music! Dance! Drama!"—without engaging in a little booty shaking. There have been some personnel shifts in the group, even as it trims down from the tentet of What We Must (Ninja Tune, 2005) to One-Armed Bandit's leaner nonet. Most significant is the recruitment of guitarist/harpist/percussionist Stian Westerhus, who returned to Norway after a number of years abroad and has done a terrific job of finding his way into everything from the big band free improv of Crimetime Orchestra and Monolithic's equally extreme Black Science (Vendlus, 2009) to his beautifully packaged solo LP, Galore (2009), on Rune Grammofon's The Last Record Company imprint. He plays far more arrangement on One-Armed Bandit than he did in performance at Molde; a sonic explorer who lends a vital new edge to Jaga Jazzist. But longstanding JJ'ers, including vibraphonist/marimbist/guitarist/keyboardist Andreas Mjøs and trumpeter/bassist/keyboardist/French hornist Mathias Eick—whose own career as a leader has been on an upward trajectory since the release of The Door (ECM, 2008)—keep momentum and color moving forward on tracks like the synth-laden, densely guitar-driven "220 V/Spektral" and tuned percussion-heavy "Toccatta," which suggests how Philip Glass might sound, were he to add a kick-ass drummer to the mix. Jaga Jazzist's international success has been something of a remarkable confluence, but proves that music needn't be dumbed down to find an audience. With the unfailingly exciting One-Armed Bandit, Jaga Jazzist continues to make music as deep as it is danceable, with a revised line-up that will only get even better with more touring under its belt." - John Kelman See the review HERE

19.02.2010 : STEREOGUM ABOUT BYLARM SHOW "The night ended with its most satisfying set, a masterfully seamless performance by Jaga Jazzist. We wrote about the nine-person electro-jazz ensemble during our last trip to Norway, but catching them indoors, in the beautiful sit-down Sentrum Scene theatre, was a bit of a revelation. Live, they sound like one person, not a small army. The stage was decorated with One Armed Bandit slot-machine fruit and a flashing/pulsing light show -- they could've played without any decoration and remained just as immersive. Like if Tortoise were still interesting. With horns. (Check out One-Armed Bandit, if you haven't. It came out the end of January via Ninja Tune.) Not a bad thing to have swarming your head while wandering back to the hotel in even more snow at 2AM." - Brandon Read the whole thing HERE

09.02.2010 : ONE-ARMED BANDIT IS "TRACK OF THE DAY" IN Q MAGAZINE "An experimental Norwegian ten-piece that hover in a sphere where preciously few other acts dare to tread might not instantly entice you, but stick with us, our story most certainly gets better. Their latest album One-Armed Bandit, their fourth, and first in five years, has received standing ovation from a collective ensemble of music lovers, including four stars from the nice people at MOJO. Ambitious, joyous and incomparably fascinating, their world is an eccentric blend of jazz, prog, Frank Zappa and fruit machines. Excruciatingly essential listening."

08.02.2010 : 4 OF 5 IN TINY MIX TAPES "The first thought I had after firing up Jaga Jazzist's new album One-Armed Bandit was, "Oh, this is supposed to be a masterpiece." Somehow, the scent of aspiring mastery I detected didn't reek of ego. This baffled me. If you were leading a 10-piece instrumental jazz band, how would you avoid stinking up the room with ego? Would you take several years off between albums, so that the band had no choice but to adopt side projects or day jobs? Would you accept payment for gigs in food and hugs to avoid having to divide your money 10 ways? Would do you spend several months writing out all the charts by hand, revealing it to the band piece by piece, keeping them in the dark, like American voters, making them blind accomplices in an ingenious master plan? I don't know the answers to any of these questions. As it turns out, there's a lot I don't know; I thought history rendered albums like this impossible. I can only think of two possible antecedents to this sort of thing. The first is albums from guys like Squarepusher, the electronica/jazz hybrids that have been coming out in Europe on Ninja Tune for the last decade and a half. The second is stuff from guys like Chick Corea and Pat Metheny, the sort of self-consciously progressive jazz fusion that was born in the 70s and died with disco. These days, American jazz has too much of an identity complex to attempt anything of this breadth or scope. Nobody in the states writes anything this ambitious without being drunk on either his own ego or high on the fumes of a phony, rhetoric-infused idea of jazz (except maybe Pat Metheny). And nobody in Europe has been able to work effectively on this scale without being a one-man band. Jaga Jazzist is far from being a one-man band. Not because the ensemble is bursting with "personality," but because any of the players is as likely to step into the foreground and carry a melody as they are to step back and take their place as one of the gears of counterpoint. And there is a ton of counterpoint going on, so many tracks to mix that it gave the first engineer a case of tinnitus and they had to send it all the way to John McEntire in Chicago. Between all the different horns, guitars, and synthesizers, it is a miracle that it sounds so damn transparent. This music is light on its feet, like a boxer. It packs a punch, from the assured and swaggering melodic work to Martin Horntveth's muscular drumming, which, at its best, one-ups Steven Drozd. But besides a punch, it also packs a healthy sense of responsibility. 2005's What We Must was beautiful and bigger-sounding, but what One-Armed Bandit forfeits in romance, it gains in subtlety and balance. Then again, the opener "One-Armed Bandit" has tonal shifts that are jarring enough to remind the listener that subtlety was probably not one of this band's goals. This is music you feel in your head; there is a definite prog bent to the way it is put together, which is even more noticeable now that the stylistic leftovers from UK jungle and state-side sample-based hip-hop have faded far into the background. There are a lot of heavy and complex moments on this album, such as the Wagnerian grandeur that peaks four minutes into "Toccata," or the stubbornly un-head-noddable and FX-heavy buildup that occupies center stage in "Music! Dance! Drama!" — and the arrangements prepare the listener for them, when necessary. At heart, they do not feel pretentious or needlessly impenetrable, but a mindfuck is a mindfuck, no matter how polite and well-mannered it is. Don't let yourself be lulled by the fact that "Book of Glass" sounds like a friendly indie rock song for a little while. Don't get startled or upset by the blatant foreshadowing in "Touch of Evil." Through all the heady displays of technique, try to keep your cool. Don't forget the feeling you got during the first track, when it suddenly turned from a fusion jam to something that sounded like slot machines, and then brought the first melodic theme back, in a different key, with a new set of accompaniments, like a man doing magic tricks with a straight face. It is no accident; Jaga Jazzist is trying to blow your mind. It is supposed to feel like a masterpiece." - B McGhee See the review HERE

05.02.2010 : NEW T-SHIRTS FOR SALE ON EURO TOUR 2 designs, 8 colours, 6 sizes

02.02.2010 : #10 AT NORWEGIAN SALES CHARTS We have entered our first week in the Top 10 of the Norwegian national record sales charts (VG Lista) !! Thanks to all of you!

29.01.2010 : ONE-ARMED BANDIT LIVE ON NRK STORE STUDIO

25.01.2010 : #3 AT ITUNES NORWAY!!! We're proud to announce that "One-Armed Bandit" is 3rd most sold album on iTunes Norway right now

24.01.2010 : ONE-ARMED BANDIT OUT TOMORROW One-Armed Bandit album finally out TOMORROW!! We would like to thank: Jørgen Træen, John McEntire, Vegard Waske, Joakim Haugland, Chris Sansom, Mike Hartung, Mark Vaughan, Yngve Næss, Rune Grønn, Anette Andersen & all at Sonet/Universal Norway, Peter Quicke & all at Ninja Tune, Ray Hearn, Shota Wakanabe & all at Beatink Japan, Voices Music & Entertainment, Jonas Holst and Patrick Sventelius at Sony/ATV, Audun Borrmann and Jens Sundbø at Cabin Recorders, Øystein, Erlend, Behnam & Bjørnar at Bureau Storm, Sinan Ors & Elastic Artists, Norsk Kulturråd, Fond For Utøvende Kunstnere, MIC/UD & Fond For Lyd og Bilde for all of their support, Yokoland, Petter Stangjordet and all at Hornaas Musikk, Håvar Gjestvang & Audiomedia for Istanbul cymbals, Kevin Radomski/Marianne Christiansen and Pro-Mark for drumsticks, Frank Østrem, Christian Snilsberg & Lydrommet and Luthman Norge Special thanks to our families and friends + a über humble bow and huge applause to all our wonderful fans! A very special thanks to the Øya Festival and Molde International Jazz Festival for supporting this album. Without you it would not be possible!

23.01.2010 : 4 OF 5 IN THE TIMES "The nine-strong Nordic pranksters bustle energetically between instrumental jazz and prog rock, never letting complexity obscure a good pop tune. The ghost of Frank Zappa’s Peaches en Regalia hangs over the title track, with its skittering keyboards and horns, and Toccata is rocked-up Steve Reich. But mostly Lars Horntveth, writer of these nine tunes, is inventively his own man. After tubas, church organs and electro beats, Touch of Evil brings the album to a suitably dramatic close." - John Bungey See it HERE

20.01.2010 : SUPERDUPER REVIEW AT BBC.CO.UK "Few records of 2010 will contain songs quite so mind-bogglingly broad." According to Jaga Jazzist mainman Lars Horntveth, the ten members of his Wu-Tang-like jazz clan have left their mark on some 300 different records, producing, arranging and playing on albums by Adjágas, Susanna and the Magical Orchestra and assorted Scandinavian acts. It’s further proof, if any were needed, that these are musicians whose ambidextrous talent lets them change direction at the drop of a hat, something they’ve done once again on their latest thriller, One-Armed Bandit. Led by Lars, Martin and Line Horntveth, this Norwegian ensemble are what all modern forward-thinking bands should aspire to – a group who don’t so much cut-and-shut man and machine (a la most indie-dance bands) as they do reconcile the two as a seamless, super-evolved, silver-plated being. Jaga Jazzist have been cutting through this fjord for 15 years now, moving from avant-jazz and lush post-club music to dazzling, horn-blasted future rock, and they show no signs of standing still. Those worlds they’ve already visited – free-jazz, drum’n’bass, rock, electro – all pop up on One-Armed Bandit, but so do some mightily unexpected ones. Paying as much mind to jazz intellects as they do our collective booty, Jaga Jazzist have kicked out the jams on this fifth album, hitting a groovily propulsive, freaky, fun-loving patch of form by flying the “mothership,” as Lars once called the band, to the farthest reaches of electronic jazz-rock. Tweaked with a heavy dose of prog, especially the becloaked OTT style of Zappa and Yes, this is properly cosmic stuff, bringing to the table FX-laden jams, afrobeat, Wagner-inspired bombast, baroque-inflected deep-funk and the knowing, horn-y sound of 1960s spy films, all of this intermingled with Jaga’s terrific fusion of breaks, synths, killer horn lines and taut, muscular rhythms. Few records in 2010 will contain songs quite so mind-bogglingly broad, playful, beguilingly pretty and intense as these slowly unfurling ensemble pieces. Among the gems are the mathematical, angular post-rock of Prognissekongen and Music! Dance! Drama!, the latter doing what it says on the tin as it shifts between celestial electronics, sweeping horns and old-school car chase music rendered for an apocalyptic future. Tocatta is a fantastical, pulsing piece with glassy, repetitive melodies that acknowledges Steve Reich, while album closer Touch of Evil gallops along madly like a kind of ornate version of rave with touches of metal and Middle Eastern music. It’s difficult to imagine where on Earth they could go after this. - Chris Parkin See review HERE

20.01.2010 : LARS HORNTVETH IN CMU DAILY MAILOUT "Q1 How did you start out making music? - My first song ever was written for Jaga Jazzist. I was fourteen years old and the song was called 'Ove's Dream'." Read the whole thing HERE

18.01.2010 : FLYING LOTUS ABOUT JAGA JAZZIST IN PITCHFORK MAG "Pitchfork: Is there anyone else you'd like to work with down the line? FL: Björk is the next one for me. If I work with Björk, then I'll be a happy soul, man. And Jay Electronica. That needs to happen this year. I'd really like that. Prince-- that'd be kind of fun. I have some beats for Prince, man. Pitchfork: That would be amazing. FL: I've been really feeling this Jaga Jazzist stuff. I've been doing a remix for them as well, but it'd be nice to actually work on a track together. They're this really crazy electronic jazz band on Ninja Tune." Read the whole article HERE

17.01.2010 : KIND WORDS FROM ROUGH TRADE "The brand new brilliant and unique album from norwegian supergroup jaga jazzist. it has been four years since we heard from the band that perhaps more than any has defined the contemporary norwegian music scene in the intersecting landscapes of jazz, pop and electronica. jaga jazzist has been referred to as a ten-headed chimera; a sweet sounding powerhouse of swaggering horns, feline jazz, clever electronics and subtle rock; an instrumental panoply brought together in travels along lush melodic ridges or pooled into cascades of catchy music. now a new record is completed, but this time around the ten heads have been replaced with another image; that of the one-armed bandit." www.roughtrade.com

13.01.2010 : 8 Of 10 IN CLASH MAGAZINE In the wrong hands, jazz-fusion and prog can be dangerous musical fodder, but when undertaken by Norwegian alt-musos Jaga Jazzist, the result can be spectacular. While 2005's "What We Must" explored post-rocky Sigur Rós territory with mixed result, "One-Armed Bandit" sees them back to the electronic wonk-jazz that they do so well. Big layers of instruments dual with and complement each other via weird time signatures, and inspired, complex riffs that sound like they're scoring a car chase from a cult Seventies film, mixed with bursts of electronic futurism - perhaps best displayed on the album's title track - a manic, brilliant piece of instrumental songwriting that shows Jaga Jazzist to be at the top of their game 8/10 Tristan Parker

13.01.2010 : 4.3 OF 5 IN THE MILK FACTORY It’s been over five years since Jaga Jazzist were last heard of. Although the band has existed in one form or another for over fifteen years, formed by then teenage brothers Lars and Martin Horntveth, with sister Line, and a handful of friend, it is not until they signed to Smalltown Supersound in 2001, and were later licensed to Ninja Tune for Europe, that the band gained widespread recognition outside of their native Norway, with albums such as A Livingroom Hush (2001) and The Stix (2002) causing more than a stir. Their last album to date, What We Must, saw the band, renamed Jaga for the occasion, adopt a harsher, grittier stance and distil their usual blend of progressive power jazz with a heavy does of rock. More subtle and elegant than its predecessor, One-Armed Bandit is not so much a return to the sound of The Stix as an evolution of whatever genres the band has been amassing over the years. Still firmly driven by a powerful rhythmic section, with at its heart Martin’s flamboyant drumming, and rich orchestrations, this album is once again a vibrant and eclectic collection which obstinately refuses to settle in one particular place, instead erupting in glittering melodies (One-Armed Bandit, Toccata, Prognissekongen), seventies overtones (220 Vv / Spektral), angular rhythms (Bananfleur Overalt), ethnic flavours (Music! Dance! Drama!) or brash progressive stabs (Touch Of Evil). Lars Horntveth began writing the album in early 2008, before the band regrouped and started rehearsing and recording with long term collaborator and producer Jørgen Træen, who had to retire half way through the sessions due to ill health. The mixing of the album was consequently completed in Chicago by Tortoise’s John McEntire. Inspired by Fela Kuti, Frank Zappa and Wagner, according to Lars, One-Armed Bandit is above all a vivid expression of the band’s core sound and of its cohesion as an ensemble. Influences undoubtedly inform some elements of the record, but they are incorporated within the band’s overall sound so as to become integrant part of it. Overall, One-Armed Bandit is much more fluid and open than its predecessor, and while the harsher sound the band developed for What We Must can still occasionally be heard, it is here much more tamed and softened, and integrated into the overall musical structure. Prior to taking a rather long break, Jaga Jazzist were starting to show some signs of fatigue, resulting in a slight loss of focus. Refreshed and reinvigorated, the ensemble is once again bursting with ideas. One-Armed Bandit might not quite have the panache of The Stix, but it is a refreshing offering from a band in its prime. 4.3/5 By themilkman See review HERE!

12.01.2010 : FREE DOWNLOAD OF TOCCATA Free download of the radio edit of 'Toccata' HERE The nine piece Norwegian jazz-rock-experimental behemoth that is Jaga Jazzist return to the fray with their stunning new album, 'One Armed Bandit', released 25th January (EUR) and 23rd February (US). Pre-orders are being taken now at www.ninjatune.net/ninjashop Buy the CD or 2XLP and get previous Jaga Jazzist albums 'What We Must', 'The Stix' and 'A Livingroom Hush' for only £5. All galloping rhythms, and grandiloquent reach, main man Lars Horntveth describes the new sound, tongue-a-little-in-cheek, as “Wagner meets Fela Kuti!” Certainly we find it harder to imagine a better soundtrack being written for the first Nollywood Viking epic.

04.01.2010 : GREAT 4 OUT OF 5 ALBUM REVIEW IN MOJO One-Armed Bandit **** (4/5) Dazzling comeback after five years away by the Norwegian nonet. Jaga Jazzist's main composer and multi-instrumentalist, Lars Horntveth, has described One-Armed Bandit as influenced by Fela Kuti, Frank Zappa, Wagner and the tunes produced by arcade machines. You can hear them all in the mix: even Bayreuth's baddest in some of the heavyweight horn lines. This is more tightly composed than 2005's rockier What We Must, although it carries the Jaga trademark of long ensemble melody lines over shifting rhythmic elements. There is a pinch of prog too, manifested in kaleidoscopic intricacy rather than anything unnecessarily tricksy - their sound remains muscular and funky. Toccata, with it's seesawing piano figures, and staccato horns, adds Philip Glass and Steve Reich to the influences list. Prognisse swaggers with dancing guitar themes, some flamboyant unison passages and a killer tuba solo from Line Horntveth. Mike Barnes

03.01.2010 : ALL ABOUT JAZZ TOP LIST Jaga jazzist's concert at last years Molde International Jazz Festival is on John Kelman's Best Live Shows of 2009 List. Read the whole article HERE

29.12.2009 : BUZZ IN BIG SHOT MAGAZINE 10 DANCE ALBUMS TO LOOK FOR IN EARLY 2010 1. Groove Armada – Black Light (Om) 2. Hot Chip – One Life Stand (Astralwerks) 3. Morgan Page – Believe (Nettwerk) 4. Jaga Jazzist – One-Armed Bandit (Ninja Tune) Multi-member Norwegian outfit Jaga Jazzist deliver another album filled with jazz stylings meshed with a variety of musical genres, bumpin’ rhythms, and a delicate dash of whimsy. “Bananfleur Overalt” could be one of the best instrumentals you will hear in 2010. Interesting fact: One-Armed Bandit was mixed by Tortise’s John McEntire. Release date: Jan. 25 5. Phace & Misanthrop – From Deep Space (Neosignal) 6. Lindstrøm & Christabelle - Real Life Is No Cool (Smalltown Supersound/Feedelity) 7. Bomb The Bass - Back To Light (!K7) 8. Massive Attack - Heligoland (Virgin) 9. Kasper Bjørke - Standing on Top of Utopia (HFN) 10. Sarah Goldfarb & JHK – Heartbeat City (Treibstoff) Read the whole thing HERE

21.12.2009 : Soundtrack 2009 This is the music we've listened to in 2009 ØYSTEIN MOEN: 01. Fever Ray - Fever Ray 02. Justice - † 03. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes 04. Folke - Ordinary Extraordinary 05. Ooleya Mint Amartichitt - Praise Songs 06. Morton Feldman - Rothko Chapel 07. Neil Young - 1971 Live at Massey Hall 08. The Sonics - Here Are The Sonics 09. Toru Takemitsu - Film Music by Toru Takemitsu ERIK JOHANNESSEN: 01. Robbie Basho - Venus in Cancer 02. The Flaming Lips - Embryonic 03. Stein Torleif Bjella - Heidersmenn 04. Hole in the Wall - Hole in the Wall 05. Mikael Ramel - Extra vaganza 06. Echo & The Bunnymen - Ocean Rain 07. Yo La Tengo - Popular Songs 08. Dungen - 4 09. Can - Tago-Mago 10. The Residents - Demons Dance Alone Bonus Track: Trummor & Orgel Featuring Ebbot Lundberg - Tomorrow will tell MARTIN HORNTVETH: 01 Narum - Samma Hen Du Fær 02 Mark Knopfler - Get Lucky 03 Johan Soderqvist - Let the Right One In (Film) 04 Colin Blunstone - One Year 05 Dungen - 4 06 Asbjørn Ribe - Sinna Galning 07 Wilco - The Album 08 In The Country - Whiteout 09 E. Elgar - Lux Aeterna 10 Gabriel Yared & Stéphane Moucha - Das Leben der Anderen (Film) Bonus: Aphrodite's Child - The Four Horsemen

11.12.2009 : FACT MAGAZINE WRITES ABOUT JJ TOUR "Nine-piece Norwegian jazz monster Jaga Jazzist, fresh from announcing a new album for Ninja Tune, One Armed Bandit, will tour Europe this coming February." Read the whole thing HERE PS! You can also read about our friends Susanna & The Magical Orchestra, Deathprod, In The Country..

08.12.2009 : GOOD VIBES IN CMU DAILY "Jaga Jazzist were pretty amazing when they supported Efterklang at the Barbican last month, so it's good news that they'll be back in London on 3 Mar, when they will play the Islington Academy. ... (cont'd) Asked about the inspiration for the new album, Jaga mainman Lars Horntveth recently told us: "I was listening a lot to Steve Reich, Fela Kuti and MGMT before writing the music. One evening I wrote the title track 'One-Armed Bandit', which was very inspired by Fela Kuti. I suddenly started to make all these arpeggios and fanfares that reminded me of the sound of a slot machine. After that we tried to do more of that and added heavy brass on many tracks and crazy arpeggios as a 'theme' for the album". Look out for the full interview right here in CMU in the new year." Read the whole piece HERE

07.12.2009 : OAB SINGLE: THE ARTS DESK REVIEW "Jaga Jazzist are an outfit who pleasingly evade categorization. A nine-member Norwegian group with roots in jazz, they consistently reappear with unpredictable new material, ranging from cinematic orchestration to avant-garde dancefloor. Their latest direction is described by head honcho Lars Horntveth as "Wagner meets Fela Kuti", a wonderfully offbeat idea, but one which this taster single doesn't fulfil in the slightest. Instead 'One-Armed Bandit' sounds like the twitchy harpsichord-led theme to a kitsch Sixties spy flick, tinted with a dash of Elmer Bernstein circa The Man With The Golden Arm, an unforced cocktail that bodes well for the forthcoming album of the same name." (THG)

04.12.2009 : GREAT OAB SINGLE REVIEW IN DMC UPDATE "Having seen Jaga Jazzist play through a lot of their material for next year's new album, I can confirm that 'One Armed Bandit' is representative of the fiercely creative spirits on offer. The ten piece band throw everything but the kitchen sink at this - snares ricocheting all over the place, uncommonly sublime tuba lines and a funky riff that drives forward irrepressibly. It's a marvellously organic piece of work, syncopated and jazzy yet without trying to sound too clever. Just make sure you hear the album of the same name when it drops in February, as this is hot stuff. " Ben Hogwood

29.11.2009 : HEAR NEW SONG FROM THE UPCOMING ALBUM Norwegian spacedisco-hero, Lindstrom played "Toccata" on BBC6 tonight. The link unfortunatelly doesn't work anymore

23.11.2009 : SINGLE OF THE WEEK IN CLASH MAGAZINE "A diverse bunch of new releases assessed in the week's Singles Round Up that sees Ninja Tune's Jaga Jazzist take the Single Of The Week title with 'One-Armed Bandit'. ... Jaga Jazzist - One Armed Bandit More like a 10 two armed Norweigan space orchestra. Jaga Jazzist return to our realm with their epic journeys into sound. One Armed Bandit bends time. Launching from Oslo, a European city most concerned with abstract space travel this 10 piece collective know how to cacophanise in a jazz style. Vibraphones, assorted brass clarinet and even a tuba get worked into a solar adventure that over 7 minutes dips, soars and plunders. Its easy to draw comparisons with label mates Cinematic Orchestra but this is deeper and more lively." Words by Matthew Bennett Read the whole piece HERE

20.11.2009 : JAGA JAZZIST JAPAN TOUR 2009

17.11.2009 : GREAT REVIEW OF "BANDIT" SINGLE IN TIME OUT "When was the last time you heard a three-minute 32-second single and thought, wot - over already? No way! Utterly fabulous return from the brilliant Norwegian instrumental nonet, which suggests Fela Kuti, soundtracking 'Fantasia', taking inspiration from Yes and Ben Britten while David Axelrod lurks in the wings" Sharon O' Connell, Time Out

13.11.2009 : ONE-ARMED BANDIT Jaga Jazzist Press Release for "One-Armed Bandit - Album" FREE DOWNLOAD OF "ONE-ARMED BANDIT" SINGLE HERE! The nine piece Norwegian jazz-rock-experimental behemoth that is Jaga Jazzist return to the fray with their stunning new album, “One Armed Bandit”. All galloping rhythms, and grandiloquent reach, main man Lars Horntveth describes the new sound, tongue-a-little-in-cheek, as “Wagner meets Fela Kuti!” Certainly we find it harder to imagine a better soundtrack being written for the first Nollywood Viking epic. Jaga Jazzist have become something of a musical phenomenon in Norway since they started out fifteen years ago. Not only is this instrumental band regarded as one of the most exciting and innovative in Norway, the members are all involved in other musical projects and have in one way or another contributed to almost every significant recording to come out of that part of the world in the last few years. Their albums sell huge quantities in their own country and massive crowds come to their shows. Their international acclaim is signalled by the fact that the new album was mixed in Chicago by John McEntire of Tortoise. Lars Horntveth began writing the music for “One-Armed Bandit” early in 2008. Looking for a way between and beyond the band’s previous albums, “What We Must” and “The Stix,” Hornveth decided that everything would be charted and written out, noth more focussed and layered than ever before. One night, while listening to Fela Kuti, he came up with title-track “One Armed Bandit” and everything fell into place – a kinf of ride of the polyrhythmic acid-addled valkyries that scarecely lets up across the 53 minutes of the final album. Having taken on two new members, Øystein Moen and Stian Westerhus, the band rented a house in the Swedish forest to rehearse “this new Zappa-esque, more humorous prog-rock music.” On their return they rehearsed endlessly, a new tune each week, until in December 2008 the band went to Cabin Recorders to put down the album with Jørgen Træen, their producer since the early days of the group. Unfortunately, through no fault of the band’s, Træen got tinnitus after three weeks, so the mixing was completed in Chicago by the band and none other than John McEntire. At heart this collective is a restless soul, going in many directions at the same time, but always going forward. Fast. The band always push their boundaries, both personal and musical. That is why they are impossible to categorize. And that's why they're special. Jaga is something natural and beautiful. A necessity. For both them and us.

06.11.2009 : JAGA JAZZIST IN JAPAN

01.11.2009 : Follow Jaga Jazzist on Facebook and Twitter You can read about the Japan Tour on our Facebook and Twitter site

19.10.2009 : TV PERFORMANCE AT STORE STUDIO, NRK1 We'll perform a new song + talk about the Japan tour on the Norwegian tv show Store Studio on NRK1 on the 26th of october at 22.25.

19.10.2009 : JAPAN HERE WE COME!!! Japan here we come!!! We've been waiting for this for 10 years and now it's finally true. In November we'll play shows in Kyoto and Tokyo. Huurrrray!!! 01.11.09 Japan, Kyoto, Kyoto University Of Art & Design 02.11.09 Japan, Tokyo, O-East The band will be: Mathias Eick – Trumpet, upright bass, keyboards + vibraphone Harald Frøland – Guitars + effects Even Ormestad – Bass + keyboards Andreas Mjøs – Vibraphone, guitars, drums + electronics Line Horntveth – Tuba + percussion Martin Horntveth – Drums + drum-machines Lars Horntveth – Tenor sax, bass-clarinet, guitars + keyboards Øystein Moen – Keyboards Erik Johannessen - Trombone + percussion

26.09.2009 : VIOLENT SORROW SEEMS A MODERN ECSTASY NO. 2 Saturday October 10th Oslo Kino/UKS presents the short film trilogy "Violent Sorrow Seems A Modern Ecstasy No.2" by JORUNN MYKLEBUST SYVERSEN. The film has free entry and is shown at 15.00 on Gimle Theater, Oslo. Running time: 13 min. The music is written by MARTIN HORNTVETH and you can check it out HERE Musicans: Flutes: Ketil V. Einarsen Clarinet and Bass Clarinet: Morten Michelsen Clarinet and Tenor Saxophone: Lars Horntveth Trombone: Erik Johannessen French Horn: Trude Eick Tuba: Line Horntveth Cello1: Johannes Martens Cello2: Hans Josef Groh Cello3: Kari Ravnan Cello4: Inga Byrkjeland Vibraphone: Andreas Mjøs Harp: Sunniva Rødland Wettre Piano and Cembalo: Morten Qvenild Guitar: Jacob Young Double Bass: Per Zanussi Drums: Gard Nilssen Orchestral Percussion: Martin Horntveth

06.09.2009 : BLACK FEATHER/HARALD FRØLAND SOLO DEBUT Black Feather is the solo project of former Jaga Jazzist (Ninja Tune/Smalltown Supersound) guitarist Harald Frøland. Silhouette, his forthcoming debut, was methodically composed, arranged and primarily performed by him over the course two years in Oslo, Norway. Further contributions by other Jaga-Jazzist members, past and present, including Lars Horntveth, Ivar Chr. Johansen, Lars Wabo and Ketil Einarsen lend to its heavily orchestrated sounds, huge guitars and intricate percussion. It has been a difficult album to release. After nearly two years of postponements from melted hard drives, a label buyout and territory license negotiations, the album found a home with Portland, OR label Other Electricities. Silhouette is a personal yet thematically universal album. Amidst interstitial atmospheres, epic crescendos and sing-song melodies, lies a dark and deep, contemplative lyrical force that transcends each song’s pop-like delivery. Through mythological, scientific, and sociocultural metaphors, the album’s characters reveal thoughts on isolation, betrayal, dissolution, desire and helplessness. Approaching with careful cynicism, Silhouette conveys a familiar, exalting urge to restructure volatile aspects of life and relationships. Silhouette will be released September 15, 2009 on Other Electricities. BLACK FEATHER on MYSPACE + YOUTUBE Praise for Silhouette: "...a very fine debut album." - All Music Guide "Black Feather keeps you oscillating between emotions, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing." - Decoy

30.08.2009 : CHECK OUT VIDEO CLIP FROM PSTEREO See the clip HERE

17.08.2009 : CHECK OUT PICTURES FROM THE ØYA CONCERT Thanks to all the great photographers who allow us to use their wonderful pictures. We've just posted a few from our øya concert. Check them out!

15.08.2009 : ONE-ARMED BANDIT Photo: Solum, Stian Lysberg Lars speaks about the new album, Zappa and deadline in an interview done by www.mic.no "All of a sudden many of the tunes started exhibiting these arpeggio tendencies, says Lars Horntveth, musical leader of Jaga. And so the notion of the slot machine and the arpeggio element became a kind of guiding concept for the whole record. What often happens when we work is that we take hold of some elements that stand out, often things that are not preconceived, and make these our clue to an overall character for the record." Read rest of the interview HERE

01.08.2009 : Moldejazz Review Photo: Gaburu Read more here: www.allaboutjazz.com Jaga Jazzist, returning after a four-year hiatus (with the exception of one 2007 date in Singapore), was one of the festival's most eagerly anticipated shows. Massively popular in Norway and with no small following abroad, the group's music revolves largely—but not exclusively—around the writing of Lars Horntveth. The multi-instrumentalist—whose Kaleidoscopic (Smalltown Supersound, 2009) is one of the year's most ambitious, largely solo efforts—manages to combine everything from Steve Reichian-minimalism to Frank Zappa-informed structural complexity, all with a strong rock energy, serpentine but singable melodies and a rock and roll stage presentation that made it one of the Molde Jazz's most impressive shows. In order to execute the group's highly arranged charts, Jaga Jazzist needed—and continues to have—a group of nine musicians who all at least double, if not triple, quadruple or more, on a variety of instruments ranging from tuba, flute and to bass clarinet to vibraphone, double-bass, electric guitars, keyboards and more. Lars Hortveth—one of three siblings in a group that also includes sister Line on tuba, flute, percussion, melodica and vocals, and brother Martin who, in addition to being the group's onstage spokesperson, plays drums, percussion and vocals—plays guitar, lap steel guitar, clarinet, bass clarinet, keyboards, and tenor and soprano saxophones, switching between them so quickly that it seems like sleight of hand. If Jaga Jazzist fits within the jazz purview—and it most certainly does, albeit in the broadest possible definition—it's more aligned with detailed construction than it is heavy improvisation. That said, there are opportunities for soloing, with trumpeter Mathias Eick—who also plays double-bass, vibraphone and keyboards, and whose ECM debut, The Door (2008), was one of last year's picks in the New Discoveries category—delivering one of the performance's first great solos, and guitarist Stian Westerhus essentially continuing the same sonic assault as he provided with Crimetime Orchestra earlier in the day. A little less in the spotlight than with Crimetime—crammed, as he was, with so many others on a stage barely large enough to contain what looked like a music store shop front—it's clear that Westerhus, who also plays in the improvising duo Puma, has a singular vision and approach to the guitar, but one that can be transported into many different contexts. Blending unique and ever-shifting combinations of instruments with hints of electronica—though Martin Horntveth's powerful but elastic drumming was a more vivid driver than any programmed beats could be—the set was largely culled from a yet-to-be-released new album that should see the light of day in early 2010. Music from the group's last release, What We Must (Smalltown Supersound, 2005), as well as a smattering of older material, was also included in a lengthier than normal festival performance to a packed house at Bjørnsonhuset, where the seats had been removed for a standing room-only crowd that was clearly as excited to be seeing Jaga Jazzist as the group was to be back in action. If the new music was any indicator, the forthcoming album will fit within the group's overall body of work while moving it forward at the same time. An influential group that has reached even Canadian shores in its inspiration to Bell Orchestre, it's great to have Jaga Jazzist back; hopefully the group is planning to stick around for awhile. By John Kelman

27.05.2009 : STIAN WESTERHUS GOES SOLO ON RUNE GRAMMOFON/TLRC Solo guitar recording from one of Norway´s hardest working young improvisors, currently a member of Jaga Jazzist, Puma, Monolithic and more. During the last few years he has put more energy into challenging the electric guitar alone on stage. Blessed with little or no respect for the instrument his performances balance raw expressiveness, virtuousity and melodic instinct with his Norwegian heritage and growing up listening to Slayer. Mastered by Helge Sten, aka Deathprod. STIAN WESTERHUS GALORE Album out now! Vinyl only, Gatefold cover with 16 page art booklet

05.05.2009 : MIXING THE ALBUM We're just back from Chicago were we've mixed the new JJ album with John McEntire (Tortoise, Stereolab, Teenage Fanclub.) We've been mixing at the great Soma Studios and we are very satisfied with the result. You can see a lot of photos from the trip in the PICTURES section

03.04.2009 : ALBUM + ØYA + MOLDE Hi all, We just wanted to give everyone a little insight into what has been happening in the Jaga camp over the last few months. As you all know, Jaga has been barely sighted in the last few years, this has seen all of our members releasing records with other projects here and abroad and everyone touring with a variety of musical identities in too many countries to mention. Late last year however, we all got together armed with a plethora of different ideas in a studio in Sweden to begin the recording of the next, as yet untitled Jaga Jazzist full length release. However, a couple of months ago, just as things were going perfectly according to plan, and the recording was almost finished, our producer fell ill, which through our plans into a minor crisis. Although this was a setback for us, it was not the end. As recently as the last few weeks, we have been lucky enough to find a way of finishing the end product and we'll be back in the studio in the next couple of weeks to do the mixing and putting the finishing touches to this record. As you may or may not be aware, we have announced two major Norwegian Concerts to showcase this new album. These will take place this summer at two of our favourite festivals, Moldejazz and Øya Festival. We expect the album to be released early this autumn. Extensive touring next year of Norway and Europe is planned to support this album release and this is something we are all very excited about, and we look forward to seeing you all out there this summer and beyond! Best, JJ

21.02.2009 : THE WINNER IS MATHIAS EICK!!!!! Mathias just won the StatoilHydro grant! 800000 NOK (a lot!!!) This is the prize that helped the Norwegian artist, Ida Maria with international success. Congratulations! Read more HERE!

20.01.2009 : MARTIN HAGFORS ALBUM OUT NOW! Martin Hagfors' debut album "Men And Flies" is also Lars Horntveth's debut as a producer. In Martin's own words: "Men And Flies The idea behind the album, the man behind the fly so to speak, was for me to change horses, try riding side-saddle or maybe just shaking my fear of horses.... actually this music has nothing to do with horses but it has a lot to do with Lars Horntveth. Lars is making his debut as a producer besides dissecting and arranging the music. In the process we wanted to cross paths with a waist high pile of vinyl records that included Colin Blunstone, Bergen White, Dr John, Curtis Mayfield, Alice Coltrane, and Allan Toussaint all found floating around my living room floor the color of red wine on one of our first brain-storming cell assassination sessions." Read more and listen to the music at www.martinhagfors.com

06.01.2009 : AND THE NOMINEES ARE... Jaga Jazzist musicians are involved in seven of the albums nominated for the Norwegian Grammy, Spellemannprisen 2009. Mathias Eick - The Door (Jazz) Lars Horntveth - Kaleidoscopic (Open Class) Thom Hell - God If I Saw Her Now (Male Artist, Pop composer & Music Video) Ingrid Olava - Juliet's Wishes (Female Artist, Best New Artist & Pop Composer) Marit Larsen - The Chase (Female Artist & Hit Of The Year) Maria Mena - Cause And Effect (Female Artist & Music Video) Lester - This Village (Pop)

12.09.2008 : MESSAGE FROM LARS "Hi. My new record, Kaleidoscopic, is for sale in Norway now. It will be released in the rest of the world in January. But for those who wish to listen to it now, it is possible to download it on itunes. The album consists of one song (37 min), recorded in Riga, Latvia, with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. The album is produced by Jørgen Træen and myself. I played the music live with the Norwegian Broadcasting Orchestra at the Øya Festival in Oslo in August. I hope to do more conserts next year in Norway and abroad. For those interested in Jaga Jazzist, I'm glad to tell you that we are now rehearsing like mad men every week. We will record the new album in December and hopefully release it next fall. Best wishes, Lars" LISTEN TO A COUPLE OF EXCERPTS HERE!

05.09.2008 : HIMMELBLÅ MUSIKK AV MARTIN HORNTVETH Martin Horntveth har laget musikk til den nye NRK storsatsningen "Himmelblå" som starter søndag 07. september klokka 20.05 på NRK1. SE EPISODENE HER Du kan høre mer Himmelblå musikk her: www.myspace.com/martinhorntvethcomposer HIMMELBLÅ HJEMMESIDE

13.06.2008 : WE'RE BACK!! Hi everyone! for the last two years we've all been busy playing shows around the world with other bands, but finally we've gathered to work together again. This week we've been rehearsing in a beautiful place in Sweden called Fredros. This is the first step towards a new album! Check out PICTURES from the Fredros Session 2008.

23.05.2008 : LARS HORNTVETH: SPECIAL APPEARANCE AT THE ØYA FESTIVAL Lars Horntveth’s new album Kaleidoscopic has been ready since last October. Now it has been decided that it will be released during this year’s Øya festival in August, at which Horntveth will perform Kaleidoscopic with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (KORK) Read more HERE

06.05.2008 : MATHIAS EICK SOLO DEBUT ON ECM Mathias Eick - The Door (ECM) 'The Door' is his first leader album and a fine showcase for his writing and his musicianship - his exceptional trumpet playing, but also his multi-instrumentalism: he's heard here also on guitar and vibraphone. As a trumpeter Eick has absorbed many influences - he cites Miles, Clifford Brown, Kenny Wheeler, Tomasz Stanko, Arve Henriksen and Nils Petter Molvær as inspirations - and shaped his own language, which incorporates the history of the modern trumpet. Eick has assembled a top flight band for 'The Door'. Pianist Jon Balke is in tremendous form, always finding something fresh to intonate, consistently surprising and imaginative both on acoustic piano and Fender Rhodes. Balke's ECM history goes back 30 years, and recent CDs with the Magnetic North Orchestra and his solo 'Book of Velocities' have been acclaimed. Drummer Audun Kleive also has deep ECM roots - with Terje Rypdal's 'Chasers', Charles Lloyd's touring quartet and with Marilyn Mazur. He works well with bassist Audun Erlien, known to ECM aficionados for Molvaer's 'Solid Ether'. Guest Stian Carstensen, previously on ECM playing accordion on Trygve Seim's 'Different Rivers', is one of very few jazz artists to explore the potential of the pedal steel guitar, and also has his own fan base, largely from his popular band Farmers Market. Read more HERE

06.05.2008 : TNB VIDEO WITH MICHAEL JACKSON'S NORWEGIAN FRIEND Check out the brand new The National Bank video HOME video starring Michael Jackson's Norwegian friend Omer Bhatti aka O-Bee. A FANTASTIC DANCER AND PERFORMER! The video is directed by Kaveh Tehrani

25.03.2008 : THE NATIONAL BANK LIVE ON FABCHANNEL.COM Check out The National Bank live from Paradiso, Amsterdam 26th of March 20.00 (Amsterdam Time) PRESS HERE

06.02.2008 : COME ON OVER TO THE OTHER SIDE OUT NOW! The new album from The National Bank is out now in Norway. Du kan nå forhåndsbestille det nye TNB albumet, Come On Over To The Other Side HER! Check out Universal Music in France + Germany for more info. Also check out www.alarmmusic.dk in Denmark

07.11.2007 : KILLL TOUR 2007 For the first time KILLL will do a tour in Europe. Check out LIVE section for dates and website HERE The band: Espen Hangård - guitar & vocals, Martin Horntveth - electronic drums, effects & vocals, Are Mokkelbost - synth, bass, sampler, effects & vocals, Erlend Mokkelbost - guitar, Kyrre Heldal Karlsen - lights. «(...) The best noise act in Oslo, and possibly the best live show I’ve ever seen, is called Kill. The quartet haven’t released any records because the act is a four-part side project, featuring members of Jaga Jazzist, Single Unit, JR Ewing, and No Place to Hide, all of them pedigreed at some point in hardcore and trash metal type acts. (Pitchfork Media - Nick Sylvester)

12.09.2007 : REMEMBER THIS??? AIRBORNE VIDEO 2001

01.09.2007 : FIRST TNB LIVE SHOWS OUTSIDE NORWAY The National Bank will perform a few exclusice shows in Europe this October. They are recording the new album this September so you might get the chance to hear some new material as well. Check out the new TNB single and video HERE! 10.10.07 France, Paris, La Maroquinerie 11.10.07 Germany, Berlin, Lido 12.10.07 Denmark, Århus, VoxHall w/Magnet 13.10.07 Denmark, Copenhagen, Vega w/Magnet

22.08.2007 : NEW SINGLE FROM THE NATIONAL BANK The first single from The National Bank’s second album will be released on Friday 17 August on the Norwegian radio stations. The single is called ”Let go” and the music is written by Lars Horntveth with lyrics by Martin Hagfors. The song will appear in the upcoming Varg Veum movie ”Bitre blomster” (Release date 28 September in Norway) and which is the first in a series of six films. LISTEN HERE!  Buy it on iTunes HERE! The video to the song is directed by Ulrik Imtiaz Rolfsen who also directed the film and the well-known action flick ”Izzat” a few years back. The National Bank’s second album will be released in the spring of 2008.   ”Let go” will be available from all Norwegian digital stores (iTunes, Prefuled og Djuice m.fl.) within next week, but it's already available on: Telenor.no/musikk/WAP: musikk til 2244

09.05.2007 : JAZZISTS ON MYSPACE We're all on myspace as well with our solo material and new projects: Check it out!! LARS HORNTVETH = Lars Horntveth LINE HORNTVETH = Sepultuba MATHIAS EICK = Mathias Eick ERIK JOHANNESSEN = Erik Johannessen ANDREAS MJØS = Andreas Mjøs HARALD FRØLAND = Black Feather KETIL EINARSEN = Okasa MARTIN HORNTVETH = Martin Horntveth + Wolf Whistle + MH Composer JAGA JAZZIST = Jaga Jazzist THE NATIONAL BANK = The National Bank KILLL = Killl MOTIF = Motif

12.04.2007 : LINE HORNTVETH ON TOUR WITH HANNE HUKKELBERG Jagagirl Line is touring all over Europe these days with Norwegian singer Hanne Hukkelberg whos's 2005 debut album Little Things was a charming impression of life in Oslo, notable for its imaginative use of found sounds and eclectic array of instrumentation. Her elfin but idiosyncratic persona coupled with a lazily seductive voice drew comparisons to everyone from Joanna Newsom and Björk, to Stina Nordenstam and Billie Holliday. Her sophomore album Rykestrasse 68, her first since signing to Canadian label Nettwerk, is a tribute to the six months she recently spent living in Berlin and is far less whimsical, with a moodier, more widescreen production. Like her debut, it was produced by Kåre Vestrheim at Propeller Studios in Oslo and features contributions from the cream of the Norwegian music scene, including members of Jaga Jazzist, Dinosau and Shining. Check out live section for Tour dates and myspace link

19.03.2007 : RAVE REVIEW IN SINGAPORE'S BIGGEST NATIONAL PAPER The Straits Times Effortless cool By Yeow Kai Chai WORLD VISION: Norwegian jazz-rocktronica collective Jaga Jazzist was a joyous riot of hipster style and genre-fusing ingenuity. JAGA Jazzist gives globalisation a good name. While growing world interconnectivity may have sparked off angry street protests elsewhere, the only sparks emitted by some ferocious Vikings at the Esplanade were of love, joy and endless fun. They conquered hearts and minds and set people free. You'd be gobsmacked by their genre-fusing vision where impossible is nothing (to steal from a shoe company's smart inversion of a familiar saying). Call them the best little big secret this year's Mosaic has to offer. The 10-member Norwegian jazz-rocktronica collective wooed a largely unsuspecting 800-strong turnout who were intrigued by press comparisons to hipsters such as Talk Talk, Stereolab and Aphex Twin. Nothing could have prepared one for Jaga's heady 14-track, 100-minute set. Here was a phantasmagoria of instruments that came alive in the hands (and mouths) of these affable preppie youths who looked as if they had just sauntered in from a university campus. Yes, these folks are cool without having to scrawl on kohl eyeliner or pierce any part of their anatomy. The same goes for their opening act, Singapore's very own experimenters The Observatory. They gave a hint of where they are going with a four-track teaser (the shape-shifter When I See A Fire is a standout) from their forthcoming album, A Far Cry From Here. Their Norwegian counterparts could well be excellent career mentors. Jaga Jazzist - 'jaga' apparently means 'to bend' in Old Norse - excel in sidestepping conventions. They go heavy-metal loud, pastoral soft, shoegazing intimate, prog-rock epic - sometimes all in the same song. Take the incredible All I Know Is Tonight, taken off their latest album What We Must, which sounds even bolder when performed live. The spy-thriller atmospherics and thunderous rock precision were orchestrated to shards of blinding white light - one second, Martin Horntveth attacked the drums as if there was no tomorrow; the next Andreas Mjos skittered away on the marimba in an interlude of music-box prettiness. There were other highlights: Sigur Ros-like beauty, as in Swedenborgske Rom, which was buoyed by wordless choral purring; and mysterious horns and keys conspiring in I Have A Ghost, Now What?. A breathtaking feat this was, considering how the whole ambition just seemed to insinuate itself without any arty self-importance and eventually compelled the famously sedentary Singapore crowd to stand up in awe. Caught up perhaps in this round of worldly camaraderie, the very funny Horntveth re-named one song, Oslo Skyline, as Singapore Skyline, to great whoops from the crowd. If this is one perk of globalisation, can we have more, please?

08.01.2007 : RAVE UK REVIEWS FOR ADJAGAS One of the foremost exponents of the new wave of Sami acts, Adjagas are finally releasing their debut album internationally this January produced by Jaga Jazzist multi-instrumentalist, Andreas Mjøs.The first UK reviews are now in and make for some very positive reading. Adjagas has garnered rave reviews in the domestic press for their self-titled debut album released in Norway last year through Trust Me Records. Now the release has been licensed to !K7 subsidiary Ever Records which launches the album on the European market in January 2007. The first reviews from the UK music press are now in and it’s safe to say that they are indeed positive. Both Time Out and The Wire magazine praise the album’s many qualities: Time Out’s Chris Parkin writes: Such is the intensity on this record you wouldn’t believe Adjagas has only two members. Norwegian from Sámi families – the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia – they feed their folk tradition into a mesmeric mix that sounds like Sigur Rós reared on alt-americana. Part of this tradition is yoik singing – making sounds rather than words - and this debut is an enchanting snapshot of another world that will keep you going back for more. (5/6) Read more HERE

08.11.2006 : MATHIAS EICK IS "JAZZ TALENT OF THE YEAR!" The IJFO International Jazz Award for New Talent will be presented to Norwegian trumpeter and band leader Mathias Eick from Jaga Jazzist. Presented by the International Jazz Festivals Organization in partnership with IAJE, the award is intended to provide a catalyst for the recipient’s career and includes a fully funded international tour. The member festivals of IJFO are: JazzFest Wein (Austria), Pori Jazz Festival (Finland), Jazz Á Vienne (France), North Sea Jazz Festival (Holland), Umbria Jazz Festival (Italy), Molde International Jazz Festival (Norway), Festival de Jazz de Vitoria-Gastiez (Spain), Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland), International Istanbul Jazz Festival (Turkey), Festival International de Jazz de Montreal (Canada), Vancouver International Jazz Festival (Canada), Monterey Jazz Festival (USA), Ravinia Festival (USA), and the London Jazz Festival (UK). Mathias Eick is for the moment touring with Thomas Dybdahl. Check out live section for dates.

03.11.2006 : SINGAPORE, HERE WE COME!!! We can hardly believe it, but we're finally going to visit Asia! We've been dreaming of this for 12 years and it's with pride we can announce that JJ is visiting next years Mosaic Music Festival in Singapore. Hurray!!

24.10.2006 : JJ KONSERT PÅ NRK Fredag den 27. oktober sender NRK2 Jaga Jazzist's releasekonsert for "What We Must" kl. 21.35. Konserten ble filmet med 18 kameraer og har nylig blitt klippet ned til 50 minutter som vi får se førstkommende fredag. Regien er av Marius Revold. Du kan også se konserten i reprise på NRK1 tirsdag 31. oktober kl. 00.15 LES MER HER!

27.08.2006 : NEW PICTURES FROM THIS YEARS CONCERTS PLUS MORE We've uploaded a lot of new pictures taken by our fantastic fans. Go to pictures section to see pix from Slovakia, Brussels, Fredrikstad, Prague and more..

22.08.2006 : LARS HORNTVETH LIVE PÅ SORIA MORIA Kulturslottet Soria Moria 10 år, jubileumskonsert: Dette kommer til å bli en stor opplevelse. Med referanser til Charles Mingus, Robert Wyatt, Radiohead, Gil Evans, Bjørk, Cornelius og Kronos Quartet besøker unge Horntveth Soria Moria. Han har med seg Mathias Eick på kontrabass og ytterliger seks strykere. Pooka er Lars Horntveth´s svennestykke, spennende og detaljert musikk, vakker og opplevelsesrik. Til strålende kritikker slapp Jaga Jazzist frontmann og National Bank låtskriver Lars Horntveth plata Pooka sent i 2004. Mange av kritikerene nevner filmmusikk og drømmende landskaper, og dette blir jo perfekt i kinosalen på Soria Moria! Vi vil få servert musikk fra plata Pooka i tillegg til ny musikk fra lydsporet til den svenske filmen ”Inga tårar” som kommer i oktober. Horntveth jobber i disse dager med ny soloplate. Vi gleder oss! 28. august Billetter: 150,- i døra

15.08.2006 : LAST JJ CONCERT IN 2006 JJ will perform our last concert this year at the Hodokvas Festival in Piestany, Slovakia. Check out their SITE for more info. Some other great acts on the festival: Iggy & The Stooges (US), Living Colour (US)The Presidents Of The U.S.A (US), The Exploited (Sco)..

07.08.2006 : LARS HORNTVETH ON FOUR TET REMIX ALBUM Domino Records are releasing a double remix album with Four Tet remixes. Four Tet`s great remix of Lars`s Tics track (taken from The Joker EP) is the opening track on the album, an album that also features mixes by Radiohead, Block Party, Beth Orton, Madvillain and Aphex Twin among others. For more info check out the Pitchfork newspiece HERE! Tracklist: Disc One (Remixes) 01 Lars Horntveth - Tics 02 Radiohead - Skttrbrain 03 Madvillain - Money Folder 04 His Name Is Alive - One Year 05 Sia - Breathe Me 06 Aphex Twin - Untitled 07 Madvillain - Great Day 08 Bonobo - Pick Up 09 Rothko - Roads Become Rivers 10 Beth Orton - Carmella 11 Bloc Party - So Here We Are 12 Pole - Heim

19.06.2006 : JJ CONFIRMED TO ØYAFESTIVALEN We're extremely glad to announce that JJ will perform at this years Øya Festival. Check out their SITE for more info. You will also get a seldom chance to see KILLL perform at the same fantastic festival in the middle of Oslo. Some other great acts on the festival: !!! (US), Beck (US), dEUS (BE), Enslaved, High On Fire (US), Hot Chip (UK), Morrissey (UK), Motorpsycho (NO), Noxagt (NO), Serena Maneesh (NO), Spank Rock (US), Susanna & The Magical Orchestra (NO), The Cramps (US), The Knife (S), Yoko Ono !!!! (US)

30.05.2006 : SMALLTOWN SUPERSOUND AT MYSPACE STS finally got a Myspace site up and running. Here you can hear a brand new track by Mental Overdrive, a brand new track from Tussle`s upcoming Telescope Mind album as well as Bjorn Torske`s great Ny Lugg track from the 12" of the same name. You can check out the site HERE

13.05.2006 : MÅNEFESTIVALEN JJ will perform one more exclusive concert this summer at the great Maanefestivalen in Fredrikstad, Norway. Check website for more info We also have to recommend the legendary Royer's One Man Band. He plays banjo, dobro on stand at lap, and the foot controlled Guitar Machine with his feet. He designed and built the machine himself. Check it out HERE We've seen him perform "Duelin' Banjo's" alone!

14.04.2006 : SIV & KNUT - EN KJÆRLIGHETSHISTORIE Høsten 2003 fortalte Dagbladet Magasinet historien om kjæresteparet Knut og Siv, begge to narkomane og hjemløse. Deres eneste mål var å skaffe nok penger til heroin og morfin, og paret levde sitt liv på gata i Oslo. Likevel ønsket Knut og Siv å gifte seg. I en periode på fire måneder tigget Knut 14.000 kroner for å gi Siv drømmebryllupet hennes. Magasinets reportasje fra bryllupet ble opptakten til en unik dokumentarserie. Regissør Are Faaberg har i etterkant fulgt Siv og Knut i over to år. Det hardt prøvede ekteparet byr på seg selv på godt og vondt, og vi får et innblikk i deres fortvilte hverdag, men også grenseløse kjærlighet overfor hverandre. Musikken er skrevet av Martin Horntveth. Dette er Martin's første oppdrag for TV og han har gapt høyt over alle slags musikkstiler. Musikken spenner fra "Neil Youngsk" asfalt-rock via pianojazz og metal til romantisk strykemusikk. SE SIV & KNUT PÅ NETT HER: Følg med fra 17. april og alt i alt seks mandager fremover på NRK 22.15

02.03.2006 : EXCLUSIVE JAGA JAZZIST GIG JJ will perform a exclusive gig at the Les Nuits Botaniques Festival in Brussels, Belgium on the 30th of April. This will be one of the few chances to see Jaga Jazzist perform in 2006. Don't miss it!

23.02.2006 : KILLL CONFIRMED TO ROSKILDE FESTIVAL KILLL will perform at this years Roskilde Festival in Denmark on the 2nd of Juli. The band is very happy to perform at Scandinavia's coolest and biggest festival. Expect loud sounds and epileptic lightshow. Check out Roskilde Website for more info

02.02.2006 : EXCLUSIVE LARS HORNTVETH NEW YORK SHOW Lars Horntveth and his Pooka String Septet is finally doing a show in US. It will only be one show and it will take place in NYC the 9th of February at Tonic. This is Lars` first US show and he will perform music from the critically acclaimed Pooka album. His friend Morten Qvenild and his band In The Country (Shining, Ex-Jaga Jazzist, The National Bank, Rune Grammofon) featuring Marc Ribot (Tom Waitz) will also play the same night. Listen to one of the tracks from the Lars Horntveth debut album, "Pooka" HERE

08.01.2006 : KILLL VIDEOS AND PIX! Check out the crazy sounds and epeleptic light show from the September05 Tour HERE "The best noise act in Oslo, and possibly the best live show I've ever seen, is called Kill" Nick Sylvester, Pitchforkmedia

03.01.2006 : ..AND THE NOMINEES ARE The Norwegian equivalent to the Grammy - have now been unveiled. The committee of the Norwegian music industry’s annual Spellemannspris award has finally unveiled its nominations. What We Must has been nominated in the "Open Class" category Here are the nominees: ARILD ANDERSEN GROUP - ELECTRA (ECM/GRAPPA) BEADY BELLE - CLOSER (JAZZLAND) JAGA JAZZIST - WHAT WE MUST (SMALLTOWN SUPERSOUND) NILS PETTER MOLVÆR - ER (UNIVERSAL) SHINING - IN THE KINGDOM OF KITSCH YOU WILL BE A MONSTER (RUNE GRAMMOFON) The winners of the prestigious Spellemannsprisen will be announced for the 34th time at a major televised show on 28 January. You can read more about all the nominees HERE!

05.12.2005 : WHAT WE MUST NOMINATED FOR THE ALARM PRICE Now in its sixth year, the Alarm prize has established itself as one of the Norwegian music scene’s most central events. The nominations for the sought-after award are finally ready JJ's last album "What We Must" is nominated for the Norwegian alternative "Grammy" in the "Free Music/Electronica album of the year" category. YOU CAN VOTE HERE!

05.12.2005 : CREAM OF THE CROP TURNÉ En av 2003s største overaskelser på festivalfronten var Cream of the Crop med medlemmer fra Home Groan, Jaga Jazzist, Motorpsycho, Hellbillies, Thom Hell Band og Askil Holm Band på Øya Festivalen. De spilte til terningkast seks i Dagbladet. Siden den tid har de blant annet i det siste headlinet på Månefestivalen, Kongsberg Jazz Festival, Varangerfestivalen og Nordland Musikkfestuke. Og skal vi tro hva vi hører har bandet bare blitt bedre. Cream Of The Crop er et band tuftet på respekten for en mann: Martin Hagfors. Hans arbeid opp gjennom årene har knyttet seg nært opp til en kjærlighet til musikken fremfor blikk til profitten. Denne respekten har kommet til gjennom arbeid i en rekke band (Home Groan, Groan Alone og HGH), samt som produsent eller låtskriver for andre musikere. Dermed er Cream Of The Crop blitt et reellt stjernelag fra norsk musikkliv. Det er aldri noen tvil om hvem som styrer skuta. Hovedpersonen utstråler styrke og selvtillit på en fabelaktig tilbakelent måte. I all sin jordnærhet er han fantastisk til stede med blikk, replikker og sin gudegave; stemmen.

30.11.2005 : ALL TOMORROWS PARTIES!!! Mars Volta is curating the next All Tomorrows Parties festival in UK and has invited Jaga Jazzist to play. JJ has of course said YES to this. The date is the 2nd of December 2005 at The Camber Sands Holiday Centre in UK. One of our favorite bands and good friends, JR Ewing from Norway is also playing. LINE-UP: THE MARS VOLTA, DIAMANDA GALÁS, THE KILLS, WEIRD WAR, LES SAVY FAV, CINEMATIC ORCHESTRA, ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE, BLONDE REDHEAD, DAMO SUZUKI + JELLY PLANET, MICHAEL ROTHER, HIGH ON FIRE, THE FUCKING CHAMPS, BEANS FEATURING HOLY FUCK, JAGA JAZZIST, BATTLES, QUINTRON AND MISS PUSSYCAT, THE LOCUST, 400 BLOWS, SUBTITLE, KILL ME TOMORROW, YEAR FUTURE, HELLA, GRIS GRIS, JAI-ALAI SAVANT, THE ETERNALS, LYDIA LUNCH, HOLGER CZUKAY, ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS, SAUL WILLIAMS (SPOKEN WORD), COCO ROSIE, JR EWING, DÄLEK, MASTODON, DJ NOBODY, DUNGEN STONES THROW CLUB NIGHT: MADLIB (LIVE), PEANUT BUTTER WOLF (DJ SET), DUDLEY PERKINS (LIVE), J-ROCC (DJ SET)

30.11.2005 : AMSTERDAM WEB CONCERT While we all wait for a JJ DVD we'd like you to check out the edited version of the JJ concert at Paradiso, Amsterdam on the 14th of May 2005. This concert was webcasted live at Fabchannel.com You can also check out tons of other concerts with great bands at their site. Direct link HERE!

30.11.2005 : ADJÁGAS ALBUM PRODUCED BY ANDREAS MJØS "I thought I have heard most of the music in the world, but this was a totally new language, sound and a way to express feelings which I never have seen or heard before. " - BBC, Olaf Furnish Adjagas is yoik group based in Sapmi (Lapland), located in the desolate areas of Northern Norway. The group consists of Sara Marielle Gaup and Lawra Somby, who both are traditional yoikers, Juhani Silvola and Paal Fagerheim on guitars and Timo Silvola on drums. A yoiker is a singer or a chanter with a Saami origin, and it represents a very historically important part of the musical history of Northern Europe. Since the band started in oktober 2004 they have visiting Glastonbury Festival, played for Nelson Mandela, been a support band for Kaizer's Orchestra and have played a lot of festivals this summer. This weekend they start another support tour in Norway's main hall, Spektrum with Madrugada Their brilliant debut album “Adjagas” is produced på Andreas Mjøs (Jaga Jazzist, Susanna And The Magical Orchestra, Rotoscope, Alt For Norge) and was released in Norway 21st of November. It was recorded in Lars Lien's (Motorpsycho, Tussler) studio and mixed by Mike Hartung (Jaga Jazzist, Jr Ewing, A-ha, Odd Nordstoga) DOWNLOAD VIDEO Video by Håvard Arnstad. HERE!

24.11.2005 : THE NATIONAL BANK CONCERTS IN 2006 The "Bank" will play two exclusive concerts in March 2006. The first will be at UKEN i Bergen and followed by a concert at Rockefeller in Oslo. This concert will be a part of a 20 years anniversary for the legendary Oslo club. Another great thing is that a international release is in the planning. Hopefully the album will be released sometime in 2006.

11.11.2005 : READ JAGA JAZZIST / MARS VOLTA FEATURE IN XLR8R MAGAZINE It's taken a while, but now you can read the interview/conversation between Lars Horntveth and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of The Mars Volta that was printed in the May issue of the great XLR8R Magazine, It was a 4 page feature where Omar/MV brilliance talks music with Lars/JJ. Download and read the interview HERE

29.10.2005 : CHECK OUT NORWEGIAN MUSIC If you want to listen to new, Norwegian and good music you can go to: Independentradio.no You'll find bands such as Magnet, Sondre Lerche, Real Ones, Cato Salsa Experience, Hanne Hukkelberg, Ulver, Jaga Jazzist and many, many others

29.03.2004 - NEW LARS HORNTVETH EP OUT SOON

Cover design: Kim Hiorthøy Lars Horntveth "The Joker" EP release 24th of May After the sucessful split concert at the By:Larm festival and at blå on the 3rd of April , Four Tet have just done a wonderful dark, groovy and free-jazzy remix of Lars`s "Tics" track from the upcoming "Pooka" album. This remix will be released 24th of May. The single, titled "The Joker" will also contain a remix by Mental Overdrive.

22.03.2004 - JAGA JAZZIST AMERICA TOUR 2004

It's unbelievable but true! After ten years we're finally coming to America. Check out the live section for more info, and contact all your friends - We want you to see us live! Hurray!

17.03.2004 - LARS HORNTVETH AT THE DOMINO FESTIVAL

Lars Horntveth and his Pooka string septet will perform live at the great Domino Festival in Brussels, Belgium, the 4th of April. Other acts at the festival are: Peaches, Belle and Sebastian, Einsturzende Neubauten, Le Tigre, Black Dice and more. More info about the festival here.

13.03.2004 - SMALLTOWN SUPERSOUND ON MTV

Smalltown Supersound boss Joakim Haugland was interviewed by MTV on a new show called "This is our music". The episode with STS and fellow norwegians, Supersilent will be shown at Mono in Oslo, Norway on the 25th of March. Martin Horntveth will play at short live-set and Joakim will Dj. You can read more about the broadcasting +++ here, og her...

13.03.2004 - POPULAR QUARTET

TUB Quartet's debut album Red shoes diary has recieved excellent reviews in norwegian magazines and newspapers. Check out Curling Legs Website for links to some of the reviews, and to listen and buy the record!

05.03.2004 - NEW LABEL IMPRINT: SMALLTOWN SUPERJAZZZ

The Smalltown Supersound label is now spilt in two, Smalltown Supersound and Smalltown Superjazzz. The Supersound label will release music with artists such as Jaga Jazzist, Kim Hiorthoy, Martin Horntveth, Sir Dupermann, Mental Overdrive, Yuichiro Fujimoto, Lars Horntveth and new signing; Midnight Drummer. The Superjazz label is our definition of jazz music. Artists on this label are The Thing, Jazzkammer, Paal Nilssen-Love/Ken Vandermark and Lasse Marhaug (and one more act tba).

05.03.2004 - LARS HORNTVETH PRAISE IN THE INDEPENDENT

Lars Horntveth got a nice review in UK`s The Independent after his live show at the By:Larm Festival in Bergen, Norway, in February. The Independent wrote: "Then, Jaga Jazzist's Lars Horntveth followed straight afterwards, debuting his solo work for electronics and string septet, shaking his head and dancing around in front of the immobile violins and cellos, blurting his reeds and strumming hard acoustic guitar. It was an electro-acoustic wonder."

04.03.2004 - TUB QUARTET

TUB Quartet’s debut album, Red Shoes Diary, will be on the 9th of march on the norwegian label Curling Legs. (Check live section)TUB Quartet consists of Hilde Marie Kjersem: vocals, Andreas Hessen Schei (Jaga Jazzist): piano, Magne Vestrum: bass, Pål Hausken: drums. All music and lyrics are composed by Hilde Marie Kjersem and stylistically she is moving between contemporary jazz and pop with a strong emphasis on availability and appeal. Curling Legs strongly think Hilde Marie has a great future and aided by a great band of young and aspiring musicians the audience has some great music to look forward to. Red Shoes Diary is recorded and produced by Even Ormestad (Jaga Jazzist) and Audun Borrmann.

02.03.2004 - KILL LIVE

KILL is the band that formed two years ago to play Digimetal. Members: Martin Horntveth (Jaga Jazzist), Erlend Mokkelbost (Jr Ewing), Are Mokkelbost (Single Unit, Arm) & Espen Hangård (NoPlaceToHide) You can see them live 11.03.04 at Garage in Oslo and 12.03.04 at Nefertiti, Ideal Festival in Gothenburg.

15.02.2004 - DAY CD SINGLE & 12" OUT 16.02.2004

Cover design: Kim Hiorthøy NEWS TAKEN FROM THE NINJA TUNE WEBSITE: The Norwegian fusoid jazznut drum twiddle merchants from the land of the midnight sun. magic mushrooms, busty valkerie characters and non-ironic beardage return. And how they return. “Day” was one of the finest moments of catchy goodness from their recent “Stix” album, mixing up as it does, sunny acoustic guitar, super sharp shooting double bass and the kind of ratchetted, precise drum and bassiness that gives you a dancefloor hernia. Oh, and some sweeping strings. Those kids, those crazy kids. Not content with a reprise, they throw in “Two Things,” a brand new track which ups the glitch quotient until you feel like your brain is skipping but in a deeply felt and rather melancholy sort of way. The musical equivalent of watching a French film in which very beautiful women decide that life is no longer worth living. After which, the remixers are unleashed. The ever-so-famous Herbert, who having spent years crumpling up balls of paper, has found international acclaim with his big band, comes through with a really very sly and rather wonderful take on the original, with a clown car middle 16 and the kind of rhythm which sounds like an aerobic workout for machines who are much cooler than you and all your friends… Last but not least, come the one the only DAT Politics, who start off by making a cup of tea and end up clicking up your life into some kind of hymn. The trio from Lille are becoming renowned at the less erm, rigorous/abstrract end of the glitch spectrum and if this piece doesn’t put a smile on your face, well then sod off and listen to your Eric Clapton records. Or make a cup of tea. Or take some magic mushrooms. Or… well, you know what we mean. Tracklisting: 01 Day 02 Two Things 03 Day (Herbert's Garden Mix) 04 Reminders (Dat Politics' "Cha Cha Laxist" Mix) CD single includes the wonderful AKFF! produced video to the original.

15.02.2004 - ROYAL POOKA

"In stead of flirting with the idea of an Norwegian republic, we rather should throw the Horntveth family in to the Royal House, immediately". This is how Dagbladet opens the review of Lars Horntveth's concert in Bergen last Friday. That would be the day...

15.02.2004 - JOAKIM HAUGLAND & STS IN DAGBLADET

You can read all about Joakim and his Smalltown Supersound label here. But unfortunately it's only in norwegian. Doh!

01.02.2004 - LARS HORNTVETH AND FOUR TET AT BY:LARM FESTIVAL

Smalltown Supersound and Lars Horntveth have invited Four Tet to play a double bill at the Norwegian By:Larm festival/record convention the 13th of February. The concert will take place at Ole Bull Teater in Bergen, Norway.

01.02.2004 - FLASH-FORWARD: JAGA JAZZIST INTERVIEW

'When we first started, we were called "Fucking Jazz Musician", but we changed it after a month or two.' Martin Horntveth is interviewed by Kitty Empire for UK newspaper The Guardian this weekend. Read the whole interview here.

27.01.2004 - POLYPHONIC DAY RINGTONE

On the new Ninja Tune Ringtones page you can buy ringtones and wallpapers for your mobile phone. Impress your friends and annoy people on the train, in the office, down the pub - almost everwhere in fact. Each item on this page costs £1.50 and they are available to people living in the UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain & Portugal. Listen to the polyphonic DAY ringtone here

23.01.2004 - LARS HORNTVETH GOES JAMES STEWART

Today we could read about Lars and his debut solo album, "Pooka" in the norwegian newspaper, "Dagbladet". The picture above shows Lars posing like James Stewart in the role as Elwood P. Dowd in the 60's movie, "Harvey". The "Pooka" title is borrowed from the same picture. You can watch an read it here but unfortunately it's only in norwegian.

22.01.2004 - THE KIM HIORTHØY LOKAL BAND LIVE DEBUT

Kim Hiorthøy and members of Jaga Jazzist will perform songs mainly from the albums Hei and Melke. It all started because Sunkissed and Martin wanted to hear songs from Kim's albums that never had been performed live. The band will consist of Martin Horntveth and Lars Horntveth of Jaga Jazzist, Morten Qvenild (former Jaga Jazzist) and Kim himself, and maybe more guests. This very special concert will take place at Blå in Oslo the 24th of January and is presented by the fine folks at sunkissed.

22.01.2004 - FOUR TET REMIX OF LARS HORNTVETH

Having released one of 2003s best albums, Rounds, it is with great pleasure that we can announce that Four Tet has done a remix of the Tics track from the upcoming Lars Horntveth album, "Pooka". Four Tet has lately done great mixes for artists such as Radiohead, Beth Orton and Super Furry Animals. The remix will be released on "The Joker" CD single and 12". The single will also contain a remix by Norway`s Mental Overdrive. Check out Four Tet`s web site here

15.01.2004 - DAY VIDEO ON MTV

MTV Dance have put the Jaga Jazzist video on the B-list. From friday the 16th of January, the video will run from 15 to 25 plays per week (day & evening). Hurray!!

15.01.2004 - IN THE FISHTANK NOMINATED FOR NORWEGIAN GRAMMY

The recorded collaboration between Motorpsycho, Lars Horntveth, Mathias Eick and Jørgen Munkeby is now nominated for the Norwegian grammy in the "Open Class" category. More info about the album on Konkurrent

06.01.2004 - MARTIN HORNTVETH ON FUNKSTÖRUNG ALBUM

Together with fellow norwegian Nils Petter Molvær, Massive Attack vocalist, Lamb vocalist over 20 other musicians, Martin Horntveth, the drummer of jaga jazzist contributes on the new Funkstörung album. The album will be in store from March 2004.

04.01.2004 - ROLLING STONE ABOUT ANIMAL CHIN EP

This review is a bit old but it's good...and it's written by the Rolling Stone editor himself: I caught this electro-jazz big band, also from Norway, on the same weekend in Denmark -- and was equally blown away. Imagine drum-and-bass music played by a band with real bass, a ferocious drummer, a corps of horns (including a tuba) and a gift for wrapping tricky rhythms in stately melody. This EP, Jaga Jazzist's U.S. debut, combines earlier album tracks with a pair of remixes. And it will make you want to see them live. DAVID FRICKE (Rolling Stone 926, July 10, 2003)

23.12.2003 - THE OBSERVER: LAST-MINUTE CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE

The Observer seems to like us very much these days. On their website they have a "Last-minute christmas gift guide" that says: "Those whose spectacles have 'interesting' frames might appreciate Jaga Jazzist's The Stix (Ninja Tune £13.99). They are an excitable Norwegian jazz nonet who are more fun than the term usually allows for."

23.12.2003 - JAGA JAZZIST 6TH BEST GIG OF THE YEAR IN THE OBSERVER

We`re proud to announce that Jaga Jazzist is voted the 6th best gig of the year by The Observer. Here is the whole list: 01. THE ROOTS - LONDON JAZZ CAFÉ 13/1 02. RADIOHEAD - GLASTONBURY 29/6 03. FESTIVAL IN THE DESERT - SAHARA DESERT AMLI 6-8/1 04. PJ HARVEY - TATE MODERN 1/9 05. N*E*R*D - MANCHESTER APOLLO 7/11 06. JAGA JAZZIST - VOSSA JAZZFEST NORWAY 12/4 07. BADLY DRAWN BOY - EDEN PROJECT 1/8 08. THE STROKES - MADISON SQ GARDENS 30/10 09. BRMC - KENTISH TOWN FORUM 31/7 10. BOB DYLAN- SHEPERDS BUSH 23/11

11.12.2003 - DOWNLOAD NEW LARS HORNTVETH TRACK

Photo: Oliver Lloyd Smalltown Supersound gives you the chance to be the first to discover and experience the magical Lars Horntveth sound. This download is the first track made public from Horntveths amazing "Pooka" album, due mid-March (February in Norway). Lars Horntveth is the songwriter and musical leader of Jaga Jazzist. You can download the track here.

02.12.2003 - LARS HORNTVETH SOLO ALBUM FINISHED

News from Smalltown Supersound: "We`re thrilled to announce that Lars Horntveth`s solo album is finished. And what an album! We have just heard it and were blown away. Absolutely amazing! The album is titled "Pooka" and will be released in March (February in Norway). A 12"/CD single taster will be released in February. The album is recorded and produced by Jørgen Træen (aka Sir Dupermann). Artwork by Kim Hiorthøy and photos by Marte Rognerud."

17.11.2003 - SMALLTOWN SUPERSOUND IN DESIGN BOOKS

Both Kim Hiorthøy and Rune Mortensen are represented with their Smalltown Supersound sleeve design in the "Sampler 3, Radical Album Cover Art". The book is put together by Adrian Shaughnessy and Intro and is released by Laurence King. Both designers has also contributed to the book "CD Art" by Charlotte Rivers. The artwork featured is Jazzkammer/Merzbow "Live at Molde International Jazzfestival". Kim Hiorthoy is also featured with a Motorpsycho sleeve. Hurray!!

13.11.2003 - FRONTPAGE + HIGHLIGHT OF THE JAZZFEST, BERLIN

We have been told that we were on the frontpage of the cultular pages of the German newspaper, Der Tagesspiegel after the gig in Berlin. Thank you very much, Berlin. It was one of the absolute highlights for us, as well. We can't wait to come back! "Jaga Jazzist, ein Ensemble von zehn coolen Norwegern, gelang es im Tränenpalast ohne die geringste Anstrengung, elektronische Club-Grooves und Jazz-Instrumente miteinander zu verweben. Das hatte nichts von der Vorhersehbarkeit, mit der die französische Gruppe NoJazz am Abend zuvor Drum and Bass und Bebop nebeneinander gelegt hatte. Jaga Jazzist schuf aus den sich verdichtenden Themen eine kleine Kunst der Fuge, und damit auch nichts mechanisch wirkte, kamen noch ein paar Sphärensounds obendrauf. Das ließ selbst den inoffiziellen Höhepunkt des Jazzfests, den gemeinsamen Auftritt des Matthew Shipp Trios mit dem Platten-Maestro DJ Spooky, verblassen..." read the rest of it here.

11.10.2003 - BACK AT AB FOR THE 4TH TIME

On Monday the 13th of October we´re back in Brussels to play on our favourite club, Ancienne Belgique. They invited us there in April 2002 and we have been invited back three times since then! We really want to honor them both for promoting us in BeNeLux and connecting us with our record company, Ninja Tune. Quite impressive for a club, in Brussels! This time they also invited our friends and ex-jagas in Shining and Kammerflimmer Kollektief. See you! ...From www.abconcerts.be : To prepare yourself for their fourth and well-deserved visit to the AB, the new JAGA JAZZIST album 'The Stix' (Ninja Tune) is now available, on simple demand, in the specialized record shop. Their debut album 'A Livingroom Hush' was the wet dream of anyone who was looking for the unrealistic combination between John Coltrane, Tortoise & Aphex Twin. Moreover, it was the fine Smalltown Supersound label that presented us that first album, a perfect reason to organize a whole night around that label on our latest Domino edition. Jaga Jazzist still is that 10-piece stage animal bringing a wonderful mix of jazz, post rock, computer and drum 'n' bass. Probably one of the most adventurous bands of the 21st century. According to De Morgen they were one of the highlights of the dowsing Sónar festival in Barcelona this year.

11.10.2003 - MOTORPSYCHO + JAGA JAZZIST HORNS

What has Sonic youth, Tortoise, The ex, Low and Nomeansno in common with Motorpsycho and Jaga Jazzist? They´ve all made albums in the Fishtank. 'In The Fishtank' is a project of Konkurrent Onafhankelijk Muziekbedrijf. In this collection of short length albums, Konkurrent invites bands to whom they are strongly related, to record while touring in Holland. These bands are given two days to put down on 24 tracks 20 to 30 minutes of whatever they like: regular songs, funny versions, improvised pieces... The fishtank offers a space for expression and experimentation. Motorpsycho + Jaga Jazzist Horns "In the fishtank" out now: The recorded collaboration between Motorpsycho, Lars Horntveth, Mathias Eick and Jørgen Munkeby is now availabel on Konkurrent. More info: www.konkurrent.nl

11.10.2003 - JAGA JAZZIST - MY FAVOURITE NEW BAND!

Omar Rodriguez (Mars Volta) on Jaga Jazzist This article will be featured in next weeks NME: "I'm really fond of this band called Jaga Jazzist. They're a live drum'n'bass group from Norway. Its more on the electronic sounding and dancier side of things but its all people really playing. On the new record there are up to ten people listed on as contributing! A full orchestra of people playing that normally are just sampled or brought in for sessions, yknow? Im really into things that make me wanna dance... when I heard it, it was really exciting. I signed it to my label in the States, Gold Standard Laboratories, although it comes out through Ninja Tune over here. Whats my favourite song? I dont ever have a favourite song of a group, especially a band like this, yknow? You really should check them out." (Note: Jaga Jazzist is not signed to Omars label GSL, but Omar released an one-off EP named "Animal Chin" this spring.) For more info check http://www.goldstandardlabs.com/

03.09.2003 - GOOD REVIEW FROM THE LONDON GIG

"There aren't many better spectacles than a big band in full flight." Read the rest of it here.

03.09.2003 - VELDIG FIN ANMELDELSE

Her er en kjempefin anmeldelse av konserten (og mange andre fine tanker) på samfundet i Trondheim den 23. august. Du kan lese den her. Hot review in Norwegian only. Sorry.

27.08.2003 - THE WIRE REVIEW FROM SONAR

.....In the stifling underground hall, Jaga Jazzists fusion blowout was a breath of fresh Baltic air. Many of the tentets tracks are heavily punctuated with sharp interruptions or pauses for breath while a horn, guitar, or vibes carries the melody, only to explode into life again at a more frantic pace. Drummer and nominal leader Martin Horntveths hurting drum nbass rhythms or gossamer breakbeats occasionally spray out a fine jet of beats which the rest of the group scramble to plug, like a panicky fireman..... Ben Borthwick/Anne Hilde Neset/Rob Young www.thewire.co.uk.

26.08.2003 - BEST BAND ALL YEAR!!

We got a great live review in The Independent on Sunday for our performance at Big Chill Festival (see complete review HERE.). "...Running partly concurrently with Matthew Herbert was Jaga Jazzist. A Norwegian 10-piece whose members double and even triple instruments to create an incredibly flexible unit, the band plays a blend of music that is entirely it’s own, mixing virtuoso solos (including bass clarinet) with complex ensemble arrangements. While there’s a slight touch of prog rock in the compulsive time changes, Jaga Jazzist is the best band I’ve seen all year. Real music may be catching up with the Big Chill aesthetic after all." (Phil Johnson, The Independent)

11.08.2003 - ANDREAS MJØS INTERVIEW ONLINE

You can check it out here www.musiquemachine.com

23.07.2003 - JAGA TJØMLING

We`ve finally met the new generation jaga people. Last week Martin was on a Jaga Tjømling concert at Tjøme, Norway. (Tjøme is a small island outside of our hometown, Tønsberg). The band concist of seven musicans between 14 and 16 years old, playing instrumental music. Fantastic!

21.07.2003 - JAGA JAZZIST & HERBERT

Herbert has delivered a beautiful remix of Jaga Jazzist`s "Day". The track will be released on a 12" this autumn (together with a Dat Politics mix) on Ninja tune/Smalltown Supersound. Members of Jaga Jazzist will also play with Matthew Herbert Big Band at Oslo Jazz festival the 16th of August.