NEWS 2007


MARTIN HALL RECEIVES THE CLUB GOLEM AWARD 2007 (16-11-2007 13:45:11)

On Friday the 23rd of November MH will be given the Klub Golem award 2007, a price given to a person or group of people who have exerted substantial significance on the dark end of the Danish underground scene. The price is given for the first time ever and is appropriately so given to Hall who – if any – was a pioneer and one of the original institutors of the punk and goth subculture in Denmark.

As users of this website will know, MH has been a driving force on the Danish underground scene since the early eighties, an artist who has been emerged in both the dark and experimental avant-garde as well as a lighter pop approach to music during the years. However, his focus has always been on re-defining any fixed terms and his aim has likewise always been to work within the vanguard aspects of any available artistic genre – an endeavour his latest massive box release Catalogue proves perfectly.

The arrangement will take place at Badstuen in Odense (Fyn), the adress being Østre Stationsvej 26. Doors open at 20 and the entrance will be 50 dkr. The evening also fatures a performance with the English band Zombina and The Skeletones as well as the dj’s Ras Bolding, Changeling, Grayskull and BatLuder.


SEX AND DRUGS AND ROCK’N’ROLL AT THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY (16-11-2007 13:42:07)

On Thursday the 22nd of November MH will give a lecture at the Department of Sociology at the University of Copenhagen. This event is part of a on-going series relating to the myths and facts behind the phrase “sex and drugs and rock’n’roll”. MH will talk about the last aspect of this holy triad, the rock’n’roll aspect.

MH’s talk has been given the title What are you doing after the orgy? from the famous question raised by the French philosopher Jean Baudrillard. In this context it becomes an inroad into the question of renewal, excess and tradition.

The lecture will take place at The Institute of Sociology, Øster Farimagsgade 5, building 16 (there will be signposting on the day). It runs from 19.00–21.00 and the entrance is free.

Read more at the website of the institute: Sociologisk Institut.


FANTASTIC ‘CATALOGUE’ REVIEWS IN DK (12-11-2007 13:36:51)

The release of the massive box set Catalogue has been met with incredible reviews in Denmark. Let’s quote a few of the highlights from leading Danish music magazine Gaffa, Copenhagen in-crowd cultural epicure monthly magazine Citadel and the most read Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten:

Gaffa: ”Impressive box set capturing 27 years of uncompromising work … a must for fans and strongly recommendable for beginners.” (5 out of 6 stars)
Citadel: ”The eccentric dandy exposed from A to Z … a piece of Danish music history that no connoisseur should miss. A true ear-opener.” (4 out of 6 stars)
Jyllands-Posten: ”An impressive introduction to one of the country’s most important and most productive songwriters … it’s difficult to point to any other Danish colleague who can put together 81 tracks without putting a foot wrong one single time.” (5/6)

If you have any grasp of the Danish language, please check the following interviews: Geiger, Gaffa and MetroXPress.


MARTIN HALL MAKES HIS LITERARY DEBUT IN GERMANY (27-10-2007 14:09:24)

Recently the German publisher List has released the book Die Schönsten Weihnachtsgeschichten Aus Skandinavien (“The Most Wonderful Christmas Tales From Scandinavia”), a selection of Scandinavian Christmas short stories in which the Martin Hall story “Nine Cigarettes” from 1998 has been included. Quite logically the German translation is called Neun Zigaretten.

This means that Hall finds himself in very distinguished company since other contributors to the book are world-famous authors such as August Strindberg, Herman Bang and H.C. Andersen.

The release is a hardcover edition and costs 14 euro. It can be ordered at websites such as Amazon Deutschland.

The translation of this novel furthermore marks Martin Hall’s literary debut in Germany.


BAL DES ARTISTES (01-10-2007 13:20:49)

At the private arrangement Bal des Artistes, a seance hosted by Martin Hall and fashion designer Dorrit Shoshan at Club Faust on Saturday the 22nd of September, several prominent guests were involved in the different features during the night.

After an introductory performance made by the Master of Ceremonies hansen-hansen.com (a revival of the world’s most famous set of chess, a duel between Paul Morphy and Duke Carl/Count Isouard played in Paris in 1858 – the opening consists of the so-called ”Philidors Defense”, the set itself consists of only 17 moves … on this occasion enacted by two latex-dressed models and commented by an EU-official) the innovative queer-performer Miss Fish went on stage with the composer Giuseppe De Bellis to deliver a stunning 20-minute set.

At this time of the night the audience consisted of approximately 200 people in the most fantastic gowns and dresses: Gentlemen in smokings, ladies in dance frocks and waiters with venetian masks filled the rooms, just like you could find a perfect imitation of the French queen Marie-Antoinette, a walking two meter tall polar bear, The Lady of Justice (alive and kicking that is) as well as a team of sailors dressed in knickers among the attendant guests. The Master of Ceremonies, by the way, wore a kilt.

Supported by dj’s such as Sons of Jobriath and Doctor Miguel Angel from Barcelona (as well as a short sequence of belly dancing performed by She Walked Nameless Among Men) the night came to yet another peak when the mezzo-soprano Andrea Pellegrini performed a hymn dedicated to dark beer at midnight, the song Das Mechanische Klavier.

But the true sensation of the ball first came when the Danish Marquis Marcel de Sade shortly hereafter – being the grand surprise of the night – entered the scene to play Chopin’s world-famous piano piece ”The Polonaise” (Op. 53 in A flat major) on the club’s small and fairly fragile piano. Dressed in one of his infamous dresses from the fifties (a leather costume which supposedly was made from the skin of an orangutan that the Marquis’ brother shot in Africa in 1928), Mr. de Sade raised the roof of the place with his appearance and was applauded off stage by a completely windswept audience who then partied on till the first light of dawn (assisted by an abundance of champagne and absinth).

A blog commenting the party can be read (in Danish) at Berlingske Tidende (one of Denmark’s leading newspapers).


HALL MAKES HIS MOTION PICTURE DEBUT (25-09-2007 14:20:51)

Martin Hall now makes his debut as an actor in the coming film by Danish director Ole Christian Madsen, Flammen og Citronen (“The Flame and the Lemon”). The film is supposedly the most expensive Danish-language production ever made with a budget in the area of 7 million €.

The motion picture revolves around the Danish resistance movement during World War II – with a particular focus on the movement’s liquidations of collaborationists and informers. It tells the true story of the two Danish resistance fighters Flammen (“The Flame” a.k.a. Bent Faurschou Hviid) and Citronen (“The Lemon”, Jørgen Haagen Schmith), in the film played by respectively Thure Lindhardt and Mads Mikkelsen (the latter internationally known from his role as the villain in the latest James Bond movie).

Hall’s film debut is a short, almost cameo-like guest appearance. Probably not very surprising for anyone with any insight in MH’s love of bizarre characters, he plays the part of Captain Østergaard Petersen, a depraved, nazi-friendly persona with a strong propensity to nightly excesses. What happens to this character in the film is yet to be exposed, but the sequence is rumoured to one of the film’s most violent.

The film will receive its Danish premiere on March 28, 2008.


5-CD + DVD BOX: ‘CATALOGUE – MARTIN HALL 1980-2007’ (19-08-2007 12:30:33)

On November 5 Martin Hall releases his so far most extensive project ever, the box set Catalogue (Martin Hall 1980-2007). The release consists of five audio-cd’s and one dvd – all in all 81 music tracks and 15 dvd-features – covering Martin Hall’s musical career from 1980 to 2007.

The cd’s are divided into five categories: The first disc is subtitled Airplay and contains singles and airplay tracks (including the new download-single World On A String, see separate notice), the second is Hallmark featuring MH’s signature songs (the heavier and more theatrical titles in his repertoire) and the third is Soundtracks which consists entirely of instrumental works (soundtracks from various art installations, theatre projects and films). The fourth cd in the box selection is Remakes which primarily includes new remixes of various Hall-songs made by other artists, and finally cd five is entitled Encore featuring a selection of newly recorded works with (mainly) classical ensembles.

The dvd, Visuals, furthermore features 15 tracks (film clips, videos and live performances such as a 27-minute footage filmed at his highly appraised concert at the Glyptotek last year receiving 6 out of 6 stars in leading Danish music magazine Gaffa).

A lot of the older material has never been released on cd before. This time around everything is obviously remastered and edited according to need. Furthermore the box set contains MH’s personal liner notes to each separate cut.

The two biggest surprises on the box, however, probably remain the guest visits by Danish musical legend Else Marie Pade, who at the age of 82 has made her first remix ever, and the appearance of yet another Danish myth, the herostratically famous Marquis Marcel de Sade who by his spectacular and flamboyant lifestyle turned Denmark upside down in the 50’s and start-60’s. Very appropriate for an artist of Hall’s stature, his (so far) last recorded – and in this context final – track, ”Tout Le Monde”, is performed with the latter accompanying him on the piano.

In Denmark the box set will be distributed by A:larm. You can also buy the music as download via sites such as iTunes, musik.dk, tdconline.dk, Payload and Grenzwellen.