Årets danske crossover jazz udgivelse 2009

BLACKOUT MUSIC - the Danish crossover label 2009

The 3 albums nominated as crossover album of the year 2009 are all from the new indie label Blackout Music. We have talked to label manager Emil Jørgensen.

Q: What is the musical tendency that you have grasped so well?

Emil: We generally work with musicians who move on several different musical scenes - the rest comes as we go along.  We try to adopt an attitude to non-mainstream releases as if  they were commercial successes. We value digital distribution and commuication.

Q: Bandaparts album Vision du Lamarck is described as ’cinematic’ and Towards the Light is a soundtrack to a Danish silent movie.  Is the interplay between sound and vision a trademark for Blacout Music?

Emil: Blackout Music has a subpublishing deal with EMI Music Publishing and that opens a world of opportunities.  Our Scandinavian releases often have a different sound than their own and the American office really digged our albums.

Q: What is the significance of tha fact that the musicians on a number of Blackout releases are young veterans on the Danish jazz scene?

Emil: It obviously makes a qualitative difference, when trying to make international  releases, that many of the musicians have a great deal of experience. That is what’s cool about jazz musicians: They can really play!

3 ALBUMS WORTH LISTENING TO

Label manager Emil Jørgensen depicts the central features of this years crossover albums.

BANDAPART
Vision du Lamarck

Bandaparts album Vision du Lamarck is extremely moving. It is an album that deserves to be put in the spotlight. This album has drawn much attention from outside Denmark, especially from Japan, Malaysia and China. The title alludes to the musics cinematic character as well as the Paris metro station where much of the music was composed.

ASTA NIELSEN PROJECT
Towards the Light

“Towards The Light” came into existence as a live-event, but because of the strenght of the music Blackout Music started clearing the legal rights to the old silent movie from 1919. It was quite an effort, but fortunately we had the support of Nordic Film and the Danish Film Institute, who are the owners of the rights. The release is a combined CD/DVD  with an updated soundtrack for an old silent movie, staring one of Danish films most well-known actresses Asta Nielsen.It really deserves the attention for it’s very precise and thoroughly prepared content.

GRAMMOFUNCH
Grammofunch

Grammofunch is definitely the vanguard of crossover releases. Rune Funch, the guitarist, comes from 10 years at the London rock scene. Jeppe Gram, the drummer, has mainly played jazz. Their composisitions and their expression moves between jazz and rock and creates a new sound.