Norwegian Poem musified

"At du lo høgt av gldeje"

A friend came to me around 2005 and showed me a norwegian poem he had made a song out of with his guitar. He wanted me to put some more arrangements on it, and I did. The song has been laying around in my archive on my computer since then until I heard it now recently and thought it had something magical about it. Check it out for yourself and tell me what you think.

Music from the Mountains (recorded in Nepal, Kathmandu)

In 2003 I went to Kathmandu to record an album in Nepal. There were very few plans and most of the work with the arrangement of the music was done in Kathmandu during the six week long stay. Instruments such as Sarangi, Citar, Didgeridoo, Tabula and wooden flute were among the ethnic instruments used in this recording. We also had a sextet violin section playing for us. In Norway the vocal, gitar and a few other things were recorded the following year, and the CD released on Plate Record in 2004. 



There was also recorded a music video for "Sanidapa", but after ten years of trying to get a hold of this video I finally had to realize that it was lost for good. The album was sold online for about 6-8 years after its release, but the record company completely neglected the project and after spending around 15 - 20 000 dollars on the project they just pulled out of it and was not interested any more. 



I am happy that the project was came into being, although I would have hoped to finish the music video. However, after ten years of trying to locate and retrieve the raw material for the music video I decided to make my own interactive videos. Hope you guys enjoy this ten years anniversary, and please leave a comment, preferable on youtube, if you do. 



If anyone is interested it is still possible to get the project as a whole digitally. Please contact me on facebook for such a request. 

The Christmas song by Bill Makatowicz

I Wishing everybody a merry Christmas with this little music video that I sang and recorded:

Saint Deamon – the best live band in the world?

“Saint Deamon” is a not so well known band from Sweden and Norway. The style of music they play can be characterized as party metal and in my opinion it is more progressive rock than progressive metal.

The band has released two full-length albums. However it is not their recordings that I want to praise them for. If you want to see a really, really dedicated live band you should absolutely check these guys out. This is the absolute best live band I have seen.

Their technical performance is not beyond anything else, but they are truly authentic and they have a karma filled with enthusiasm and pure pleasure when playing on stage. This is something that is really rare to see in bands that has been playing for a while and they can manage to attract listeners that are not all that intested in the music in the first place.

Under normal circumstances most bands ends up playing on routine and without much playfulness, but “Saint Deamon” plays all their gigs as if it was their first live performance.

I’m not talking about making big gestures on stage and being cool. With Saint Deamon it really shines through that they love playing. This is especially true with the bass player, Magnus Nordberg, or “Nobby” as he is called among friends (to the left)

The vocalist, Jan Tore Grefstad (number two from right), is also known from the band “Highland Glory”. He is, in my opinion, one of the most (if not the most) interesting Norwegian vocalists within the genre: www.flickr.com/photos/silverinferno/6083112806/

For more info info on their future live shows check them out online. I know they are playing in Europe this summer.

Myrath – opening the “heavy metal” window to the east

For those who don’t know Myrath I can tell you that it is a progmetal band from Tunisia. This band is the first from the east that I have heard really kick ass in this genre (I would like to say with exception of some bands from Japan). Myrath origionally started covering symphony x songs, but moved over to their own repertoire, and that was a good move.

The vocalist is solid and he is quite unique in the way that he uses quartertones when he sings. This, in itself, is an art that is difficult to do as one is basically balancing between two half tones. Usually we call it off tune, but when it is done with great skill and artful precision we call it great music.

My understanding is that the band has released 4 albums and the last one hit the stores about one month ago. All have gotten good critics and the band seems to be doing well. I have kept my eyes on them since their second album “Hope” came out. Back then they were new and undiscovered. For those who have not yet discovered Myrath you can find them here: www.myspace.com/myrathband.

So how does this band relate to what is going on in the east? As it were Metallica just played a concert in India, Linken Park in Bangkok and you can hear about many Asian/eastern countries that are visited for the first time by western metal bands.

I remember back when Illusion Suite was started I used to say that metal would be almost mainstream in about 5-10 years. I think bands like Myrath gives us a glimpse into a future where Asia and the east has just started to fumble its way towards something I would refer to as a musical revolution. Perhaps the metal audience will double in a few years throughout the world. Maybe we will see a lot of eastern or Asian bands in the future playing awesome metal…

What is the point of discussing genre?

I have never really understood why people are so interested in what genre a certain type of music is. Of course putting music into different genres has its purposes, but sometimes putting it into a genre becomes the purpose itself.

I have a good example of this. In university I studied linguistics among other subjects. However, when you come to think of it, this particular field of science is based upon how people talk in real life. All they have done is to write down how the rules of the language works at the present time and put it into writing. Then, when the language is subject to change, they pull out the linguistics rules and hold them up as the law, which then has become outdated because it originally was based upon the contemporary language at the time when the rules were made. The person then claims someone’s writing or speech to be incorrect.

This very same principle can be applied to music and genres as well. All the time I see two or more people discuss what genre a particular band belongs to. If they both enjoy the music and know what the music sounds like what does it matter…?

Hope you guys can give me some feedback on this...Do you agree or not?